Apple Tofu Salad

This salad is essentially a take on the Waldorf salad (I had no idea what that was until someone pointed it out to me) and is super easy to make.

You need:
- 1 apple (use a sweet variety like Rome or Red Delicious)
- 1/3 block of extra firm tofu drained
- cranberries
- walnuts
- sunflower & pumpkin seeds
- lemon extract
- crumbled goat cheese

1. Slice apple into tiny pieces (don't peel) and put in a small bowl with a little bit of lemon extract. Toss around to let the lemon extract cover the apple (this helps to prevent it from getting brown, also, if you use a tart kind of apple this will be way too tart and taste horrible).
2. Cut tofu in the same sized pieces as the apple. It is really important you drain the tofu before you use it (whether you do this in a strainer in the sink for an hour or the quick way (by squeezing it a bunch of times with a paper towel), up to you. Just do it). When you add the apple to your salad bowl, put the tofu in the bowl you used before to soak up the rest of the lemon extract left behind.
3. Then mix everything in a salad bowl using as much of all the trimmings as you so desire.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Apples and Goat Cheese

Boy, this is really turning into a food blog isn't it?

Last night for dinner I tried out an experiment from Delish, a recipe for stuffed chicken breasts with apples and goat cheese. Generally, I'm not a poultry fan, but I saw apples and goat cheese and I had to try it. Other than the fact that it turned out I do not have a meat tenderizer (which I thought I did have, so I used a pasta jar instead), I think it turned out to be a success. Just let it cool a little bit before you eat it, that cheese gets hot!

Here is the information from their website with my changes:



* 6 large (about 2 pounds) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
* 3 ounce(s) goat cheese
* 2 teaspoon(s) finely grated lemon rind
* 1 large firm apple, peeled, cored, and shredded (you can do this in your cheese grater or just finely chop it)
* All-purpose flour for dusting
* 1 large egg
* 1 1/3 cup(s) fresh bread crumbs
* 2 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter
* 4 tablespoon(s) olive oil

Directions

1. Place chicken breasts on a large sheet of waxed paper; cover with another sheet of waxed paper. Pound breasts to a 1/4-inch thickness. Remove the top sheet of waxed paper and season with the pepper and salt.
2. Combine the goat cheese, lemon rind, and apple. Divide apple mixture among the chicken breasts and spread the mixture evenly over half the surface of each breast. Fold each breast in half and press the edges together, forming a pocket.
3. Sprinkle the flour onto a sheet of waxed paper. In a small bowl, combine the egg and 1 tablespoon water. Dust each breast lightly with flour and dip into egg mixture, moistening all surfaces. Coat with bread crumbs, patting the crumbs gently in place. (The chicken can be prepared to this point several hours ahead; cover and refrigerate. When ready to cook, bring the chicken to room temperature.)
4. In a large, heavy skillet, heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add chicken; cook until browned and cooked through, about 7 to 8 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and serve.

Cranberry Apple Pear Crumble

A couple of months ago, when we had some guests for the weekend, I came up with a nice dessert for the four of us. Quick, easy, very customizable, and of course delicious! Seems like it would make an even better dessert now that the nights are getting chilly here. And I think this would also make a really good pie filling.

Serves: 4

What you need:

For the insides:
-2 chopped apples (I used one Gala and one Red Delicious)
-1 chopped pear
-1/4 cup dried cranberries
-1/4 cup of sugar
-1/4 to 1/3 cup of flour (Adding more flour will make the juices thicker, so this depends on how thick you like you filling to be.)
-1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

For the crumble:
-4 tbsp softened butter
-2 tbsp white sugar
-2 tbsp brown sugar
-4 tbsp flour
-1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.

2. Mix the ingredients for all the insides together in a large bowl then split them up amongst 4 ramekins.

3. Mix the ingredients for the crumble together and top evenly among the ramekins.

4. Place the four ramekins on a cookie baking sheet (for easier clean up and transporting in and out of the oven). Bake until the crumble starts to brown.

5. Optional, top with one scoop of ice cream! (We did heath bar crunch.)

It's Fall, Shouldn't I be able to Pick my Own Apples?

In the North East, the moment September hits so does fall. The leaves start to change, you break our your scarves, and of course you start thinking about fall foods. New York is famous for its Apples (among other things), so as a friend from college and I planned out a mid October visit for this weekend, we decided that since we both miss New York we had to go apple picking. I immediately went to the website Pick Your Own.org and found an orchard about 45 minutes away from us and we were set. However, this morning when we went to look up directions we discovered that they ended their apple picking season early so we were out of luck. After doing further research on the website, we couldn't find anywhere within an hour that still had apple picking open (which was really disappointing as Nick and I go apple picking every year and I planned a ton of apple themed food for tonight and tomorrow). We ended up at Webb Ranch's pumpkin patch where we picked our own pumpkin and then bought some produce (including apples) from their farm stand, but it still wasn't as good as picking it ourselves.

The Pickyourown.org website is really great, though. It's a nation wide directory of many different farms that offer pick your own fruits and vegetables. It's organized by state and county. You can search through to see what's offered in your area, and then there is also a listing of local farmer's markets and stands. I think a section has also been recently added for farms in other countries.

Why should you pick your own? Besides the fact that it's a fun activity that the entire family can enjoy, the produce is often better quality because you're picking something when it's in season and it's not traveling thousands of miles to get to your plate. It's also fresher, cheaper, and most importantly you're supporting a local business. Nick and I do our best to participate in pick your own all year round. One year we did raspberries, I've done currants and strawberries too, and every year we do apples. Just call us The Appleseeds...

From two years ago at our favorite orchard near where I went to college in upstate New York:

Rosemary Chicken with Apple Salad and Onions

If you have not already done so, please look to the left of the entry and see the poll I've started. I have tons of entry ideas, but I'm just curious as to what people actually want me to write about. If you have a second, please take the time to answer the poll this way I know where to tailor my entries. Thanks!

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I hate chicken, and since we don't eat meat I rarely eat it. But about 2 months ago my parents and I checked out a new local farmer's market back home and my mom suggested I make dinner. They all eat meat, and the meat there was local, so I picked out a few things and made an awesome meal that even I, who has NEVER liked chicken EVER loved.

I plan on making this again for Thanksgiving (because I know I would never like turkey, and it was a fluke that I even like this chicken). But since I made up the recipe on the spot, I'm doing my best to attempt to explain it now as a way to share the recipe and recreate it again the next time...that sounds bad, but I've got high hopes it'll turn out fantastic.

For Chicken:
1 whole chicken de-gutted
1 bag of pearl onions
Several full cloves of garlic
rosemary
olive oil

For Apple salad:

1 1/2 gala apples (peeled and chopped up)
1/2 stick of butter
1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon
3 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 c walnuts (I'm trying to remember if these were actually in there or not, maybe??)
1/4 c golden raisins
1/4 c regular raisins
3/4 cup sweet white wine or apple juice

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

1. add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When it starts to get hot add the apples. Give them a stir and after one minute add 4 tablespoons of butter. When the butter begins to brown add the sugar and cinnamon. When the sugar begins to caramelize (that's when it bubbles up like it's boiling), add the wine. After you cook it for 2 minutes add the raisins and walnuts.

2. Cook the apple mixture for 5-8 minutes. Let some of the liquid evaporate, but not all of it. When it's done, spoon out the apple with a slotted spoon into ta big bowl and continue to let the contents of the frying pan cook. Keep your slotted spoon handy and keep stirring it so the liquid doesn't burn. Basically you're trying to make a little syrup, so you want it to be thick. When it's done pour that into the bowl with the rest of your salad.

3. Next, take the skins off all the onions and set them aside.

4. Time for the chicken! cover the bottom of your roasting pan/bakers dish whatever with a little bit of olive oil. Put the chicken on top. Then put some olive oil on top and inside. Next put some salt and rosemary on top and on the bottom of the chicken. Make sure you rub it in. Then put some rosemary in the middle of the chicken (I don't put salt on the inside) (that you don't have to rub in if you don't want to, haha). Put a few cloves of garlic on the inside of the chicken and around the dish as well as a couple underneath. I'd say 6-10 total depending on the size of the cloves.

5. Now stuff the chicken with some of the apple salad and onions (don't over stuff it though, maybe 3/4 full), then put the rest in the dish around the sides of the chicken. If you have any leftover juices in your bowl from the apple salad dump that on top of the chicken. I also like to lift up the chicken to let some of the juices flow underneath then set it back down without letting anything get stuck underneath.

6. Cook until the chicken is cooked. Thanks to the apples and the juice/wine from the salad, this will be juicy enough that you shouldn't have to baste or anything.

7. Enjoy!

I think this recipe is big enough for a chicken that'll feed 4-6 people depending on appetite and the kinds of sides you include (we had this with butternut squash ravioli which was a really good match, but I could also see having mashed potatoes as well). So you can always add more or less depending on what you need.

Impressing for Less with Late Summer's Veggies

Peppers, eggplant, cantaloupes, apples, potatoes, figs, shallots, certain tomatoes, grapes, okra, green beans, and a whole host of other goodies are seasonally harvested as the end of summer. And now that fall is approaching some of my favorites are also available, like pumpkin, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, artichokes, brussels sprouts, parsnips and pears. In an attempt to keep cooking with produce that is seasonal, for our first dinner guests in our California apartment, I scoured my cookbooks to come up with a recipe that might include some vegetables from the above lists.

I tend to always go to the same cookbooks, so first I decided to go through all of my books and use post it notes to flag off recipes that I want to try (it helps to cut down on future searching time). And once I had done that I settled on a recipe from Impress for Less. My mom got us Impress for Less and it is one of the perfect cookbooks for us. We're big foodies, and this book basically gives you recipes from famous/expensive restaurants in several different cities around the country so that you can make really good and creative food for less than you would have spent going out to eat.

Now I admit, because I was really excited to have people over (two students in my PhD program who were coming over to study for our first quiz) I went a little bit over board. But they claimed to be foodies as well, and I promised them a good meal, so I rationalized that it would be ok to cook so much.

My main dish was the macaroni and cheese I wrote an entry about a little while ago. And while that's definitely enough food for four people, as I said earlier, I wanted to make some seasonal veggie dishes just to pretend to be healthy. So I made up one dish and picked another from the Impress for Less book.

Roasted Tomatoes:
-2 Shallots
-5-6 crimini mushrooms
-1 package of grape or cherry tomatoes
-fresh rosemary
-olive oil

1. Take tomatoes (I like smaller ones like a cherry or grape sized) and put them in a baking dish (like a pie dish) that has sides. Cover with a little bit of olive oil and bake at 350 degrees until they become soft and/or start to pop.
2. On the stove top, cook sliced scallions in olive oil for a few minutes. Then as they start to cook add some crimini mushrooms that you've also sliced up. Once the mushrooms start to look like they're a little cooked add fresh rosemary.
3. When the scallions and mushrooms are just about completely cooked take the tomatoes out of the oven and dump the contents of your frying pan in the pie dish. Give everything a good stir and drop the temperature of the oven to 200 degrees. Let the food cook for another 5 minutes and if everything looks cooked, then it's time to serve otherwise let it cook and keep checking until it's done.

With this next recipe, I changed it around because when I went to the super market I forgot to pick up some ingredients and then purposely left out others. You can click the link to get the real recipe, but mine is listed here.

From Impress for Less - Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, blue cheese, and Green Apples:
-olive oil
-1 cup peel and diced Gala Apples (you can use any but I liked these because they were sweet with only a little bit of tartness)
-8 tablespoons (1 stick) of butter
-2 tablespoons sugar
-1 tablespoon cinnamon
-1/2 cup of sweet dry wine (like Riesling)
-5 slices of smoked bacon
-3 cups of Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
-1 1/2 tablespoons of a good quality smoked BBQ sauce** see note at bottom
-1/4-1/2 cup of crumbled blue cheese

1. Fry bacon until it's semi cooked in a frying pan. You don't want them to be crispy because you will be baking it again later. Save the fat in cup or bowl. Cut the bacon into 1 inch pieces and put them in a baking dish. Preheat the oven for 350 degrees- but don't put the dish in there now.
2. When you've dumped the fat in a bowl, without cleaning out the pan add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When it starts to get hot add the apples. Give them a stir and after one minute add 4 tablespoons of butter. When the butter begins to brown add the 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon. When the sugar begins to caramelize (that's when it bubbles up like it's boiling), add the wine.
3. Cook the apple mixture for 5-8 minutes. Let some of the liquid evaporate, but not all of it. When it's done, spoon out the apple with a slotted spoon into the baking dish with the bacon and continue to let the contents of the frying pan cook. Keep your slotted spoon handy and keep stirring it so the liquid doesn't burn. After a minute or two dump that into the baking dish.
4. Take a paper towel and clean up pan (it doesn't have to be perfectly clean, but make sure you get the bottom of the pan where the dribble went). Then dump the bacon fat you saved back into the pan and heat it up.
5. When the fat is hot again, add the brussels sprouts face down. When they begin to cook a little bit add the rest of the butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When the butter completely melts flip the brussels sprouts over (I found it easiest to use tongs, and don't worry if some of the leaves come off).
6. When they've cooked for another 3 minutes dump the entire contents of the pan into the baking dish, add the smokey BBQ sauce, and stir everything around. Then put it in the oven (do not put a top on) and bake for 10-15 minutes until the brussels sprouts become tender.
7. Serve in the baking dish with the crumbled blue cheese on top.

At first I was skeptical of all the cinnamon and how liquidy this dish seemed to be before putting it in the oven. But after it came out and we were eating it with the macaroni and cheese, it was the perfect side dish to it. Smokey, sweet, with a bit of a kick from the cheese. Sometimes I impress even myself!

**A note about the BBQ sauce. So I think this is the second time I've mentioned using a good quality BBQ sauce and I know it will not be my last. When I keep talking about that, I'm not talking about going to the super market and buying one step up from Heinz, I mean a specialty sauce. My personal favorite is the Smoked Maple Chipotle finishing sauce from Bittersweet Herb Farms. I discovered them at an Artisan Craft fair in Tarrytown, NY and Nick and I are addicted to it. The craft fair is expensive, and we like to go to see the art (both wearable and not), but we save our money for the gourmet food and buy 3 at a time to get a discount. Three lasts us just about a year and I put it in half the stuff I cook, steak, hamburgers, and obviously vegetable dishes...I think at heart I might be from the South...