Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm very pregnant. And tired. And I have a rash all over my body.
SO...I really haven't done anything. No baking. No crafting. Nothing. I have thank-you cards I need to do. I have baby announcements that need to be made. Monty had his 3rd birthday. We got a new dog. I can't even believe the amount of stuff that needs to be done. I'll get there...you just wait.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Apples!
Our heirloom apple tree had a huge crop this year. I picked more apples than I have in my whole life combined. Tons and tons of them. I made apple pie, apple crisp, apple empanadas, and, of course, applesauce.
I have a super easy and delicious recipe for applesauce and it's a nice way to use up apples if you find yourself with a billion of them. I froze almost all of mine, making some with my awesome recipe and some without any sugar or spice for upcoming baby. I gave the two jars above away as a gift (hence the cuteness with the fabric top), but the rest I froze in glass jars from pickles, jams, etc. that I've been saving.
So, here is my recipe:
use about 1/2 cup water
around 8 apples, depends on the size and how many you have
1/2 cup brown sugar
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste (figure about a tablespoon of each)
Peel and core your apples. Put them in a pot with the water and let them cook down on a medium heat. You can move the experience along by mashing them as they go. Add the brown sugar and spices when it's still chunky. The Other likes chunky sauce (yup, I really wrote that), so I don't let mine cook down all the way. However I made some for Monty and I that I let cook for around 2 hours so it was super smooth and had a lot of nutmeg in it. YUM.
We'll have more apples soon (two more trees are coming ripe any moment now). Let me know if you'd like some!
I have a super easy and delicious recipe for applesauce and it's a nice way to use up apples if you find yourself with a billion of them. I froze almost all of mine, making some with my awesome recipe and some without any sugar or spice for upcoming baby. I gave the two jars above away as a gift (hence the cuteness with the fabric top), but the rest I froze in glass jars from pickles, jams, etc. that I've been saving.
So, here is my recipe:
use about 1/2 cup water
around 8 apples, depends on the size and how many you have
1/2 cup brown sugar
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste (figure about a tablespoon of each)
Peel and core your apples. Put them in a pot with the water and let them cook down on a medium heat. You can move the experience along by mashing them as they go. Add the brown sugar and spices when it's still chunky. The Other likes chunky sauce (yup, I really wrote that), so I don't let mine cook down all the way. However I made some for Monty and I that I let cook for around 2 hours so it was super smooth and had a lot of nutmeg in it. YUM.
We'll have more apples soon (two more trees are coming ripe any moment now). Let me know if you'd like some!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Chocolate Heaven
This month's Daring Baker's Challenge was a chocolate symphony in my mouth. Hosted by Tony Tahhan and MeetaK (Google them!), the recipe of choice was Chocolate Éclairs by Pierre Hermé.
I was supposed to post on August 31 (which was yesterday), but I was unable to get a steady enough connection until nearly 5pm on September 1. Sorry fellow Daring Bakers! I guess that's the consequence of peace and quiet out in the country.
No, on to the éclairs. First of all, it has never ever occurred to me to even attempt to make an éclair. It always seemed like one of those things one should save for France or, at the very least, a professional. However, I took it on (despite being very pregnant) and had a very successful outcome.
See? The pastry part was actually very simple, even though the directions at first seemed very difficult. They weren't that much different than a traditional cream puff, which I've made dozens of times.
I splurged a little and got some supa-fine dark chocolate to use for this recipe. Chocolate cream with sub-par chocolate just wouldn't be right. And the filling turned out very very rich, but very very worth it.
I did, however, run out of chocolate for the glazing on top. Luckily I had some plain ol' Hershey bars laying around. I took a risk mixing the delicious dark chocolate with regular milk chocolate, but it actually added a nice milky sweetness to the overall end product that made it just melt in your mouth. Plus, I had a bit of glaze left over that will be perfect on some ice cream sometime in the near future.
The Other (who claims not to like chocolate) ate about half of these already. I made them on Saturday and, although not as good two days later, they are still delicious after being popped in the microwave for about 20 seconds. If you'd like the recipe I can give it to you!
Update on the rag rug for baby's room: it's not as spectacular as I anticipated. I'm not really sure what it's turning into, but it certainly isn't a rug. Once completed, I'll post.
As always, thanks for reading!
I was supposed to post on August 31 (which was yesterday), but I was unable to get a steady enough connection until nearly 5pm on September 1. Sorry fellow Daring Bakers! I guess that's the consequence of peace and quiet out in the country.
No, on to the éclairs. First of all, it has never ever occurred to me to even attempt to make an éclair. It always seemed like one of those things one should save for France or, at the very least, a professional. However, I took it on (despite being very pregnant) and had a very successful outcome.
See? The pastry part was actually very simple, even though the directions at first seemed very difficult. They weren't that much different than a traditional cream puff, which I've made dozens of times.
I splurged a little and got some supa-fine dark chocolate to use for this recipe. Chocolate cream with sub-par chocolate just wouldn't be right. And the filling turned out very very rich, but very very worth it.
I did, however, run out of chocolate for the glazing on top. Luckily I had some plain ol' Hershey bars laying around. I took a risk mixing the delicious dark chocolate with regular milk chocolate, but it actually added a nice milky sweetness to the overall end product that made it just melt in your mouth. Plus, I had a bit of glaze left over that will be perfect on some ice cream sometime in the near future.
The Other (who claims not to like chocolate) ate about half of these already. I made them on Saturday and, although not as good two days later, they are still delicious after being popped in the microwave for about 20 seconds. If you'd like the recipe I can give it to you!
Update on the rag rug for baby's room: it's not as spectacular as I anticipated. I'm not really sure what it's turning into, but it certainly isn't a rug. Once completed, I'll post.
As always, thanks for reading!
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