Apple Crisp

This is not your average Apple Crisp (I don't think!!):

Recipe:
Filling
3 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, chopped small
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans (I used walnuts)
3 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Topping
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp chilled butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup coursely chopped pecans (again, I used walnuts)
(I also added 1/4 cup rolled oats)

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Mix all the Filling ingredients together, pour into a square baking pan
3. Topping: Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Blend butter into the mixture until pea size lumps forms. Stir in nuts (and rolled oats). Sprinkle over filling.
4. Bake for 35 to 40mins. Cool 10mins before serving.
5. Serve with whipped cream

Bon Appetite!

Farmers Market Perogies with Grilled Red Peppers and Leeks

The fabulous-ness of this dish is that it's simple, fresh, and quick to make. Isn't that exactly what we want for our weekday meals?!!

Perogies with Grated Romano Cheese, Grilled Red Peppers & Leeks, with an adaptation of Caprese Salad:

Baked Sweet Potato with Black Beans

Baked Sweet Potato with Black Beans:



I thought this meal was pretty yummy, but J thought the sweet potato taste was a little overwhelming ... too sweet. Or bland. What could spice this dish up?? I'm not sure but I'd definitely like to tweak this recipe and give it another try. (May I just say I realized I had forgotten to add the salt and pepper? oops ... that explains a LOT about the blandness of flavor).

Recipe:
Baked Sweet Potato and Blackbeans - serves 4
4 sweet potatoes, skins scrubbed
2 cups black beans
2oz. cheddar cheese, grated
salt and peppar

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Pierce potato with fork and put in oven to cook for 45mins (I must have had an exceptionally large potato ... 45mins was NOT enough time. I added another 20mins baking and then another 10mins in the microwave on high ... and then broiled to brown the top for a few minutes at the end)
3. Once fully cooked, slice potato length-wise and top with 1/2 cup black beans with 1/2oz. cheese.
(I scooped the potato out of it's skin, mashed the potato, added the black beans and minced onion. Put this back into the potato skin and topped with cheese and cilantro).

Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Frittata with Mesclun Salad

Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Frittata:


... with Mesclun Salad


Yum, yum, yum. I would recommend this meal ... it's fresh yet comforting with the ooey gooey cream cheese melted throughout the frittata.
I couldn't find smoked salmon, so I went for smoked Lok. Is this the same thing?? It tasted just like smoked salmon!
The frittata would have been perfect if I followed my natural obsessive instinct to overcook anything that contains any meat-like product. And this includes eggs. I followed the recipe to a T but the centre came out a little undercooked (which totally grossed me out!) so I popped it back in for a few more minutes. The hard part is you just don't know for sure if it's entirely cooked until you cut into it. The bottom was a nice brown and so was the top. Not very helpful in knowing what the centre was all about. Do people use toothpicks for frittatas??

Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Frittata - serves 4 to 6. Cook time: 20mins.
6 large eggs
2 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp fresh dill (I added at least 5 Tbsp!!)
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 oz. cream cheese, softened (I used an entire package ... guilty pleasure)
2 oz. smoked salmon, chopped
2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
Serving Suggestion: Crispy Potatoes and Mesclun Salad

1. Position rack in the centre of the oven and preheat to 375F.
2. Whisk the eggs, milk, dill, salt and pepper in a bowl. Using two spoons or your fingers, separate the cream cheese into small clumps. Fold the cream cheese and salmon into the egg mixture.

3. Heat the oil in a medium non-stick skilled over med-low heat. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet, and stir lightly to make sure the fillings are evenly arranged in the pan.
Cook until the bottom is set, but not brown, about 2mins.
4. Transfer the skillet tot he oven an dbake until the top is set, about 8mins.
Remove from the oven, cover and set aside for 5mins.
5. Invert the frittata onto a large plate. Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.


Mesclun Salad - serves 2
2 Tbsp butter
1 dash cayenne pepper
3 Tbsp sugar (this was waaay too sugary ... I'd use 2 Tbsp next time)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup halved pecans
1 red bell pepper
2 oranges (I used x1)
pepper
2 cups mesclun greens (couldn't find any, so used baby Romaine ... this was a tad bland - would go for arugula next time!)

1. In a small saute pan add butter, cayenne, sugar, salt, pecans. Cook slowly over low heat. Stir occasionally. (The sugar didn't dissolve for me ... when I added this to the salad, the sugar clumped a bit ... don't know how to fix this!)
2. Julienne bell pepper and peel and section oranges into wedges
3. Squeeze left over orange pulp in salad bowl, add oil.
Toss greens in this and place on a salad plate.
4. Arrange orange wedges and pepper slices on top. Garnish with caramelized pecan halves.

Leek and Potato Soup

Saturday is Farmer's Market Day. I love meandering through the stalls and looking to see what might be new in produce.
This week I noticed that almost everyone had these lovely stalks of green tops peeking out the tops of their bags.
I wasn't too sure what this popular item was at first. And then I found the booth that had them: Leeks. They are such a neat variation of the onion. I don't know much about them but I do know they make for a wonderful combination with potatoes in soup! So that's what I made on my Saturday afternoon at home.


I was out of all basic items (no oil, vinegar, butter, amongst many other things but I wanted to make dessert ... namely an apple galette. But - no apples, no butter ... and my puff pastry was mouldy in the fridge! Boo. So for dessert, I tried a mixed berry tart using phyllo pastry with lemon glaze on top. This would have been great if it weren't for the competing "tart" tastes between the berries and the lemon juice!)

Wednesday's Meal ... aka. Cabbage Salad Addiction

What's the deal?? I certainly would not categorize myself as a cabbage fan and yet tonight I found myself (almost as though moving in some hypnotic state) making yet ANOTHER cabbage salad variation to accompany the new Pad Thai variation I found in the Rebar cookbook.

Thai Cabbage Slaw ... with spicy red curry vinaigrette. Lets just say that between the garlic and the ginger, this slaw should keep even the most daring cold bug at bay.


Pad Thai ... with tofu, bean sprouts and roasted peanuts:

Tuesday's Meal

Tuesday night called for Frozen Pizza. And that's what we had. Buuuut ... it was accompanied with a Greek Goddess Salad. That somewhat legitimizes the fast foodiness of a frozen, ready-made item, right?
Did I mention the salad has the word Goddess in it? It was good enough to rival something you would have at a restaurant.
No pictures, sorry.

For the recipe, go here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/greek-salad-recipe/index.html