How 'Bout Them Apples! 5 Uses for Homemade Applesauce

It's finally fall in North Carolina.  Granted, the calendar says November 2, but we haven't seen many consecutive cool days until the past week.  And now that the air is crisp and the leaves are so many shades of gold, red and brown it's prime time for apples!

Before a few weeks ago, I never ever had homemade applesauce.  All I ever has was the store bought variety, which I ate and sort of like.  But when I made my own from a bunch of honeycrisp and gala apples, I fell in love and so did Elias. He barely left any for the rest of us! All you do is get a large pot, fill it with your peeled and cored apples, and add enough water to cover.  Add sugar and cinnamon to taste (or maybe brown sugar, or fruit puree...), and cook until the apples reach the desired texture.  If you want some chunky and some a little smoother, remove part of the applesauce when it is chunky and allow the rest to continue to cook down.  I dare even call this a recipe...

Unless you have children, you might think that to make homemade applesauce is more trouble than its worth.  What will you do with such a large quantity? The best part of making things yourself is that you can control the outcome.  You can make your applesauce the texture and level of sweetness you would like, depending on what you will use it for.  I came up with these ways, but I'm sure you can get creative and come up with more of your own.  Comment and let me know what else you came up with!

1.  Yogurt-  Use chunky applesauce as a stir in for plan or vanilla flavored yogurt.  I buy a large container of Stonyfield Farm brand and add the applesauce to sweeten and flavor it.  You save a ton compared to buying the individual cups, especially for organic!

2. Oatmeal-  Add a couple spoonfuls of your chunky applesauce to a pot of oatmeal, or you can even add it to uncooked oats and water to microwave.  Quick, and lots more flavor than those little packets.

3. Fried Pies or apple dumplings-  For a quick fried pie add about 1 tablespoon of filling between two flattened crescent rolls or a rolled out flaky biscuit and fry in hot oil, or use the Pioneer Woman's Recipe for Apple Dumplings using the applesauce instead of sliced apples.  Believe me, you will make these again and again.

4.  Side Dish-  Cooked apples are a great side dish for dinner.  Do you have picky eaters? Sometimes when you can't get them to eat vegetables try a fruit at dinner instead!

5.  Dessert Topping-  Warm up some chunky applesauce with a little caramel and spoon over ice cream or cheesecake.  Then tell yourself it's a serving of dairy and fruit for the day :)

Sweet Smoky BBQ Brisket & Sauteed Corn Salad

Summer is fading fast...according to the calendar.  If you ask the North Carolina weatherman, however, they would conclusively agree that this is way past an "Indian" summer.  Today it was well over 80 degrees in Charlotte, so I when I came across a brisket at Harris Teeter I thought it might not be too late to have a little bit of the flavors of summer again.  The whole meal ended up having a sort of Southwestern feel, with the BBQ and the corn.  I suspect that this rub would be highly successful on chicken, easy oven fries, or stirred into sour cream for a great vegetable dip. You can also replace the brisket with any other cut of beef since this brisket was a whopping $4.98/lb.  Even still, it came in at under $15!

Now, I have to be the first to admit that "Rhymes with Rasheed" usually makes the brisket around here.  But he was not home and I wanted to create a great rub, so I decided to dive head first into making a brisket in the oven.  With the help of a baking rack, some foil, and a dash of Colgin liquid smoke I was able to recreate a little bit of summer lovin' in the oven (<----you so just got rhymed on!)  I made this with what I will call a sauteed corn salad and Perfect Skillet Cornbread.  Try it out, and let me know how it goes with a comment!

Sweet & Spicy BBQ Brisket     BBQ Pan Sauce
2 tb. paprika                                                                   meat drippings
2 tb. brown sugar                                                            2 ts. honey
1 ts. salt                                                                          2 ts. dijon mustard
1/2 ts. garlic                                                                    2 tb. water
1/4 ts. onion powder                                                      

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together in a small dish until well combined and massage into meat, covering thoroughly.
2. Place meat on a rack over a pan and bake for 20 minutes, or until the rub forms a crust around the meat.
3. Remove meat from rack and wrap tightly in foil and add 3 dashes of liquid smoke and a splash of water, lower temperature to 250 and bake for 3 hours.
4. Pour the drippings into the pan, add the honey, dijon and water whisk smooth.  Simmer on low heat until the sauce thickens slightly, and drizzle over brisket.

Print

Sauteed Corn Salad

1/2 c. chopped red onion
1/2 c. chopped green pepper
1 1/2 c. corn kernels
1/2 cup chopped eggplant
1/4 cup chopped tomato
olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Heat a pan to medium heat and drizzle with olive oil.  Add the onion and peppers, allow them to soften.
2. Add the corn and heat the mixture through.
3. Add the eggplant and tomato cook for an additional 3 minutes, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Ranch Makeover: Fat Free Ranch Dip and Dressing

After the easy oven fries recipe post, I had a request for a creamy ranch dip and dressing to eat with them.  This is a little tip, it can hardly be classified as a recipe.  So listen up: Get a Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning packet and a 16 oz. container of fat free sour cream. Mix. Eat.

Yes, that's really it.  It will have the same consistency as sour cream so if you want to use it as a dressing thin it out with a little water.  All the ranch flavor, none of the ranch dressing fat and calories.  A tub of sour cream is about $1.00 and seasoning packet is about $1.27, so for a little over two dollars you have dressing, dip, topping for potatoes, and more.  This seasoning packet is also an absolutely wonderful addition to the oven fried chicken recipe, for a little twist.  Plus, for the halal eaters out there there is NO GELATIN unlike so many other refrigerated dips and dressings.  Just make sure your sour cream is kosher or halal and it's a win-win my friends!

Easy Oven Fries

Tweet

 

Today I faced the same dilemma many of us face on many nights: eat out or eat in.  After a busy week, a night out at a restaurant can be a good break and saves some cooking and cleaning up time so there's more time for fun.  But then there's the EXTREMELY inflated price of restaurant food, and the fact that unless you're going to a unique or upscale restaurant, you're getting an added-fat, added-sodium, added-preservative version of things you usually cook at home.  Not to mention that for  those of us with little ones it means a trip, which in turn means rounding up bottles, diapers, wipes, bibs, baby this, baby that.  It's good for every now and then but it can be more trouble than it's worth.  I started out sending Shaheid to the store for a pizza, and ended up whipping up these darn tasty baked fries with a burger for our Saturday night fare.  The burger is just a 96/4 patty with 2% sharp cheddar cheese slice, grilled onions, pickles, lettuce and tomato on a whole wheat roll.  But the fries....the fries are the real star here.  Sure, they're not as crispy as deep fried potatoes, but what could be more flavorful than crispy potatoes with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a pinch of salt that's just enough so that the flavors pop in your mouth?  All I know is that when I was eating these fries, I didn't care to know.

I used the microwave to prep the potatoes and then finish them in the oven, which makes the whole thing about 20-30 minutes from start to finish.  If you're really in a rush, you can broil them instead of baking them but you better watch out for the broiler monster, who distracts you from watching your foods until you smell the distinct smoky smell of BURNT.  They're cheapier than fast food or frozen fries, plus they taste better and you can make them in about the same amount of time as you'd make some of their flash-fried, evil step-cousins.  Potatoes are cheap, and salt and olive oil are staples, so it's practically free :)  These fries + DVR'd Grey's Anatomy = Mommy time!  You'll come back to these time and time again.  Just try not to make it the same day :)

UPDATE: I tested these fries again, and found that a hot pan makes for a bit of extra crispy-ness so you can put your baking sheet in the oven while it is preheating for added crunch.  And unless you're in a super time crunch, don't skip the baking because it removes moisture from the potato which also adds to the crisp.  Also, the "fries" won't be super brown but I promise you they will be crispy!

Easy Oven Fries
Prep time: 7 minutes  Cook time: 40 minutes
Cost $1.87     Servings: 4 

3 pounds potatoes
1/4 cup water
olive oil
kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Rinse and cut the potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces. 
Place the pieces in a microwave safe bowl with 1/4 cup of water and cover with plastic wrap, cook on high for 8 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender but not completely cooked through.
Drain the potatoes and toss with olive oil to coat.  
Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the fries are crispy.  Use a spatula to toss the fries halfway through.Garnish with kosher salt while hot.

Print

 

 

Warm Roasted Potato Salad

Tweet

The same old side dishes can get reeeeally boring, so I wanted to switch it up a bit with this warm potato salad.  It's really easy, and can be made fairly quickly.  It's sort of like a deconstructed baked potato, and maintains all of the delicious-ness of the original inspiration.  I ate this with Spicy Oven Fried Chicken and the combination was great, with spicy pepper flavors in the chicken and sweet caramelized onions with crispy roasted potatoes.

Warm Roasted Potato Salad

Prep time: 6 minutes   Cook time: 15 minutes

Cost $2.36           Servings :4

1 tb. Smart Balance 

1 large onion, sliced

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2-3 pounds of potatoes, cut into large cubes

olive oil

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, to taste

1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper, to taste

3 strips of turkey bacon, chopped

green onions (optional)

1/4 cup of sour cream

non-stick spray

Hardware

microwave safe bowl (glass please!)

plastic wrap

sheet pan

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, and heat a saute pan to medium heat.  Add the Smart Balance (or butter, or other butter substitute of your choice), the onions and garlic to the pan and allow them to soften.  Thoroughly wash the potatoes and cut them into large cubes (around 1 1/2 inches).  Put them into the microwave safe bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap, poking holes for ventilation before microwaving for 10 minutes on high.  Let the bowl cool for a few minutes and remove the plastic wrap (WARNING: Very, very, very hot steam is under there so be careful!).  Drain any excess water and toss with a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Pour the potato cubes onto a sheet pan prepared with non-stick spray, and bake at 425 for 15 minutes or until the skins are crispy and the potatoes are brown.  When the onions and garlic are caramelized, remove them to the empty bowl, and add the chopped bacon to the pan and brown it.  Remove the bacon pieces and drain on a paper towel.  When the potatoes are done, toss them with the onions, add the sour cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Top with the crispy bacon pieces and green onions.