Applesauce ~ Another Produce Plus

For my family there is nothing better than homemade applesauce with apples fresh from produce group, and it is so easy to do! If you want chunky applesauce, use a potato masher to mash the cooked apples. If you prefer smooth apple sauce, run the cooked apples through a food mill. The key is adding a few strips of lemon peel to the apples while cooking. The lemon heightens the apple flavor.

Applesauce – my way

Preparation time: 45 minutes. The sugar amounts are just guidelines, depending your taste, and on the sweetness of your apples, use less or more. If you use less sugar, you'll likely want to use less lemon juice. The lemon juice brightens the flavor of the apples and balances the sweetness.

3 to 4 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. Exactly what I got a produce group this week

1 strips of lemon peel

Juice from lemon, about 1 Tbsp

3 inches of cinnamon stick or 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1/8 cup of dark brown sugar

up to 1/8 cup of white sugar

3/4 cup of water

Method

1 Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

2 Remove from heat. Remove cinnamon sticks and lemon peels.  Let the apples cool and mash to the texture your family loves.

Wordless Wednesday

To Bee or Not to Bee???

Tasty Tuesday – Pollo Fricassee Puerto Rico

Oh my…..the entire house smelled so good while this yummy recipe was cooking in my slow cooker….just imagine the smells in the kitchen within an hour…the alluring aromas of garlic and cilantro and onion...mmmm good.... The chicken was so moist, tender, and falling off the bones.

So with out further lip smacking here is the recipe:

2 – 3 pound chicken drumsticks

1 tablespoon adobo seasoning

1/2 (.18 ounce) packet sazon seasoning

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 large red potatoes, chunked

1 large red bell pepper chopped

1 large green bell pepper chopped

1 large onion chopped

5 cloves garlic minced

1 bunch fresh cilantro chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup dry red wine

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 fresh or dried bay leaves

DIRECTIONS:

Wash the chicken, remove skin, and pat dry; place into a large bowl. Season with adobo seasoning, sazon seasoning, and salt. Place the legs into a slow cooker, and cover with the potato chunks.

Puree the red pepper, green pepper, onion, garlic, cilantro, olive oil, wine, cumin, and oregano in a blender. Pour over the chicken and add the bay leaves.

Cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours, until the chicken is easily removed from the bone.

We served this with a simple green salad and Ali’s 3 bean dish. Lucky for everyone there was a few servings of the Blackberry Crisp from the weekend still left. Good food – Good times!

Book of Mormon in 30 Days

I just completed my goal of reading the Book of Mormon, the last day of April. My goal was to read the book in 30 days. And, I can happily report that I did it and, of course, I feel very blessed by the effort.

The last chapter Moroni 10 has many a versus which ring true with my belief system. Here are a few of them:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

The chapter continues to remind us that the gifts from God are many: wisdom, faith, healing, miracles, prophesy concerning all things.

And verse 18: And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that every good gift cometh of Christ.

I know to some reading this that those verses will/might seem a bit cliché, but they are indeed the most effective means of understanding anything, not just the Book of Mormon. Remember, don't take any human being's word for it that anything is truth. Ask God for the confirmation of truth and, in His time, with your faith, it will be given to you.

Blessings to all....I'm so happy I have read the book. I'm sure I was suppose to do this a very long time ago...like 9th Grade. One of the blessings of growing old is a new found knowledge! I can do it!

Ideal Cafe

 

One of my earliest childhood memories is going out to dinner at an old fashion diner called the “Ideal Café”. I remember driving up to the place and then walking hand-in-hand with my mom and dad into the café, which was on main street those many years ago.  I felt very fortunate today to have found a picture from Google Image search of the place.  What a memory!

The old fashion diner was the best around. Gisela, our waitress, always greeted us with her happy step and cute accent inviting us to make ourselves feel right at home. She was always ready with a friendly smile and big hello whenever we walked in. Of course our order was easy…..we loved the “Hot Roast Beef Sandwich”.  I can duplicate the meal today, but I sure to miss the times when someone fixed everything up and brought it to me!

There is something to be said for the small town feel, the mom and pop shops, the diners, and the safe neighborhoods. Gotta love that small town charm and the Good Old Days. Those memories have made a lasting impression on me, I still love to go out to dinner. 

Blackberry Crisp – Blackberry Panna Cotta

• 4 cups fresh blackberries /I also added a few strawberries
• 4 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. In a large bowl, gently toss together blackberries and white sugar and set aside.
3. In a separate large bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cut in butter until crumbly. Press half of mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Cover with berries. Sprinkle remaining crumble mixture over the berries.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until fruit is bubbly and topping is golden brown.

Panna Cotta

¾ lb blackberries (about 3 cups)
1 ¼ cups well-shaken buttermilk
2 ¾ teaspoons unflavored gelatin
¼ cup water
1 ½ cups heavy cream
⅔ cup sugar
2 tablespoons of blackberry syrup

For the Puree:

Wash the blackberries, and place them in a blender. Add the buttermilk to the blender.

Run the purée through a sieve to remove the seeds and any chunks. The heart and soul of a great panna cotta is its texture, so don’t let any chunks through, you'll ruin that.

Now, mix the water and gelatin to hydrate the gelatin. While it's hydrating, heat the cream and sugar over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. When the sugar dissolves, turn off the heat, add the gelatin mixture to the cream mixture. Stir until the gelatin dissolves completely. If it doesn't dissolve after a couple of minutes, put it back on low heat to help the gelatin dissolve. Really, this is the only part of the process that is tricky. If you put gelatin chunks into the panna cotta, you will be very unhappy with the texture, so keep stirring until every tiny-teeny itty-bitty chunk of gelatin is dissolved. Mix in the blackberry syrup (blackberry syrup can be made by mixing ¼ cup blackberry jam with 1 tablespoon water and nuking it until it dissolves - use 2 tbsp of this mix).

Pour the mixture into a panna cotta mold, cover and set in the fridge to solidify (this takes 6-8 hours).

Shortly before serving, make the compote:

½ cup water
½ cup crème de cassis / I use Italian Blackberry Soda Syrup
2 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
½ lb blackberries (about 2 cups)
dash of cinnamon

Mix the cassis, water and sugar, and simmer over medium heat in a double boiler until it reduces to one-third of a cup. Take off the heat, mix in the lemon juice and gently put one dash of cinnamon in there. You want a very small amount of cinnamon. Pour this mix over the blackberries.

To unmold the panna cotta run a knife around the outside of the panna cotta. Then put the hottest water you can get out of your tap into a bowl, and hold the bottom of the panna cotta dish in the bowl. You'll be melting the gelatin again here, so just let it sit until you count to 8. Any longer than that will make for an ugly mess. Pull it out of the hot water, place a serving plate upside down on top of the mold, and flip it over. Shake it a couple times sharply, and lift the mold up. The panna cotta should slide out gently. Spoon some compote over the panna cotta and serve.

My guess is that my new found produce group could be a weighty problem. But a yummy problem that will be! I’ve already had 2 servings of the crisp….panna cotta just tempting me!

Hooray for Produce

Bountiful Baskets…..

I used this service for the first time this weekend. The service has pickup locations all over the valley. I am  lucky enough to have one less than 5 minutes away. I was in and out in less than 10 minutes. I left with a laundry basket full of fruit and veggies.   

Here is the list I received today for just $16.50

1 head romaine lettuce

1 bunch baby spinach

6 roma tomatoes

2 cucumbers

4 artichokes

9 bananas

8 kiwis

1 cantaloupe

1 honeydew melon

3 packages of nice big black berries

5 lb bag of small red delicious apples

I compared prices….yes I had some time on my hands this morning…..and this amount of produce would have cost me $49.00.   Seriously that made my day!   If, like me, you don't generally go out of your way to pick up veggies in the store despite the fact that you really should, BB is the antidote to your ills.  You opt in on an as desired basis any week, and I’m sure your pick up spot is literally just around the corner from you home.  

So just leave your dirty laundry at home and bring your basket........ you won't be disappointed. I loved the great value, super convenient location, and just look at the quality of those fruit and veggies.