Oven-Dried Apple Chips

How is it almost mid-November already? I wrote the date today at work and nearly choked when I realized how fast time has warped forward. I feel old when I say stuff like that, but it's true.

Even though fall is waving goodbye and winter is barreling towards us, I'm still in an apple frenzy. I've used up all the beauties I picked from my 94-year old Grandpa Art's trees in muffins, soup, or applesauce. And I wasn't sick of apples yet, so when I found more Haralsons at my local grocery store for only 99 cents per pound, I pounced.

Every night, I've been making batches of these apple chips, searching for the perfect method. I have tried them many different ways - cooking on parchment, on tinfoil, making slices thicker, thinner and every time they stuck to the pan. I finally put some cooking spray on the sheet and it solved all my problems.

Everyone who has tried these apple chips thinks they are AWESOME, and I have to agree! They're crunchy and sweet and super simple. If you're the potato chip lovin' type of person, I recommend trying these as a healthier substitute.

Oven-Dried Apple Chips

3 apples, cored and sliced to 1/8 inch thickness

2 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 225 degrees.

Mix sugar and cinnamon together. I have a nice little shaker I use for this, but it's not necessary.

Lightly spray baking sheets with cooking spray or brush with oil. Arrange apple slices in a single layer. Sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon mixture.

Bake for 75 minutes or until they're starting to get golden brown. Turn off the oven heat and leave them in there for another 60 minutes or do what I do and just leave them in the oven overnight. They're ready to pack up for lunch in the morning.

ONE YEAR AGO: Mushroom Souffle

TWO YEARS AGO: Spicy Black Bean Tostadas

Chard and Artichoke Stuffed Chicken

Last weekend was the last hurrah for local farmer's markets. I went to Kingfield on Sunday to stock up, and tonight I wanted to stuff everything I got from the market into a meal fit for entertaining.

I got three bunches of rainbow chard at the market. I couldn't find my favorite green veggie, kale, so I settled for the chard instead. If chard and kale were sisters, kale would be the interesting but ugly older sister, and chard would be the boring yet beautiful younger sister.

Rainbow chard really is gorgeous, but I don't think it has as deep and rich a flavor, nor as chewy and substantial texture as kale. Nevertheless, it's green and good for you so I mixed it with sauteed onion and artichokes and stuffed it in some chicken breasts with goat cheese.

Then I used an orange squash (I think it was an ambercup variety) for a salad. Remember back in school when you learned about how the Native Americans used the whole buffalo and nothing went to waste? That's how I felt about this squash. I roasted up the flesh for my salad, then picked the seeds out of the goop and toasted them up with salt and cayenne pepper to top my salad. Pomegranate seeds, more goat cheese, and a balsamic vinaigrette rounded out this pretty little salad.

I got so distracted by hosting dinner that I forgot to photograph the chicken right out of the oven, so this photo is when it's nearly gone. It was such a classy meal to serve to company. It was easy to make, too. Best of all, it tasted great.

Chard and Artichoke Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Serves 4

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 medium onion, diced fine

1 bunch rainbow chard or kale, stems discarded and leaves chopped

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

4 Tbsp fresh goat cheese, crumbled

salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and lightly oil a casserole dish.

In a medium skillet over medium high heat, sweat your onion in a couple Tbsp olive oil or butter for 4-5 minutes or until soft. Add chopped chard or kale and stir. Add balsamic vinegar and a splash of water. Let cook until chard is wilted and soft. Add chopped artichokes and stir to heat through, then remove from heat.

Use a sharp knife to split your chicken breasts open. Lightly coat all over with olive oil and season all over with salt and pepper. Place in casserole dish.

Put 1 Tbsp crumbled goat cheese inside each split chicken breast, then add the chard/artichoke mixture. Bake 18-20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

ONE YEAR AGO: Oven Fried Fish 'N Chips

TWO YEARS AGO: Spinach Artichoke Whole Wheat Penne

Buffalo Tofu Sandwich

Back in the day, I was quite the young happy hour aficionado. I could tell you who had the longest 2-for-1 deals, where you should go for $3 martinis, and most importantly, who had the best discounted happy hour food.

I was shameless in my love of bar food, and I was significantly overweight as a result (shocking, I know). Now if I go to a bar and eat all that crap, I pay for it with a stomachache for two days afterwards. Clearly, my habits have changed. But, my love of bar food remains, just in a different way.

This is bar food done right. Tofu (or chicken) broiled with Frank's Red Hot Sauce until it's chewy on the outside and still creamy in the middle. Tossed with more hot sauce. Layered on some great bakery bread with crisp lettuce and a homemade bleu cheese and yogurt dressing. Served with extra hot sauce.

Regarding the Frank's: I know I preach about not using packaged foods and this seems to contradict that. I'm sure you could make your own hot sauce - by all means, knock yourself out and make your own if you feel the need to do so. I didn't because the ingredient list was pretty short - cayenne peppers and vinegar mostly. And I didn't think a homemade version would quite capture the Franky buffalo-ness I wanted here.

So, here's to a happier happy hour with healthy food that won't make you feel like a grease bomb for the next 12 hours. It's also brilliant orange, which makes it a festive thing to eat in celebration of a certain spooky holiday that's lurking around the corner this weekend.

Buffalo Tofu Sandwich

1 package super firm tofu, drained/pressed if needed

Frank's Red Hot, as much as you need

1 tsp butter

1/4 cup bleu cheese crumbles

1 cup plain yogurt (greek or regular)

bread, lettuce, or other sandwich fixin's

Preheat the broiler on your oven. Slice the tofu into planks about 1/4 inch thick. If you make it too thin, it turns into tofu jerky.

Coat the tofu in hot sauce. Broil 6 minutes, flip and broil 6 minutes on the other side.

Melt butter and mix with more hot sauce (about 2 Tbsp). Pour over hot tofu and toss to coat.

Make your dressing: mix yogurt and bleu cheese and add a pinch of salt.

Serve your buffalo tofu and bleu cheese dressing on a sandwich, in a wrap, or on a salad.

ONE YEAR AGO: Welsh Rarebit

TWO YEARS AGO: Winter Hippie Chow

Vegetable Pie with Quinoa Crust

I had a lot of time to think about how I was going to create this dish today. Five hours, in fact. Five very long, backbreaking hours of raking and bagging about 4.3 trillion leaves. Needless to say, my hands are so blistered and sore that it's a challenge even typing these words. Thank goodness this dinner tasted even better than I had hoped, because I was starving.

The inspiration for this pie began when a co-worker mentioned baked spaghetti earlier this week. She described it as cooked noodles mixed with parmesan cheese and an egg, pressed into a baking dish, then topped with marinara and cheese and baked. Sounds good, except I don't really like pasta and I want more vegetables in my dinner.

So I decided to make the same crust, subbing in cooked quinoa (I mixed together some white and black quinoa) spiked with some basil pesto for the spaghetti noodles. You could easily use any other grain you have on hand (rice, farro, wheatberries, etc). I topped my par-baked crust with some balsamic roasted vegetables - tomatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, and onion.

I also had a small hunk of leftover cream cheese I wanted to use up. It worked very well in this pie, however you could easily sub ricotta, goat cheese, mascarpone, sour cream, or cottage cheese. Because I only had about 2 ounces of cream cheese (1/4 of a package), I added some plain yogurt. The yogurt not only helped with the consistency (thinning the sauce), but it also provided a nice tang to offset the richness of the cream cheese. Finally, I added a great 1-year aged cheddar that I brought home from Door County, WI last weekend. This cheese sauce was DELICIOUS.

You could easily throw this together on a weeknight if you do some simple planning ahead (have your quinoa cooked and roast your vegetables in advance). It tastes so good - nutty, herby, vegetabley, and cheesy. You will want seconds.

Vegetable Pie with Quinoa Crust

Serves 3-4

For the crust:

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water or vegetable stock

2 Tbsp pesto (alternatively, you could just use chopped herbs or omit)

1 egg, beaten

For the vegetables:

3 cups or so of your favorite vegetables (I used broccoli, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms)

olive oil, salt, pepper

2-3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

For the sauce:

1/4 cup softened cream cheese (or ricotta, chevre, cottage cheese, sour cream, mascarpone, or anything that sounds good to you)

1/4 cup yogurt (or more of the above substitutions)

1/2 cup milk, cream, or half & half

1 Tbsp dijon mustard

salt and pepper

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of cayenne pepper

1.5 cups or more shredded cheese (I used cheddar but anything will do)

First, roast your veggies. Clean and cut veggies, place on sheet pan. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar. Roast at 400 degrees until charred, about 20 minutes.

While your veggies are roasting, prepare your quinoa. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring quinoa and water or stock to a boil. When it boils, cover and reduce heat to a simmer for 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and add pesto or herbs, if using.

Mix 1.5 cups of your cooked (and cooled slightly) quinoa with a beaten egg. Press into a greased baking dish (I used a glass pie dish). Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Whisk together all the ingredients for the sauce, folding in the shredded cheddar last.

Assemble your pie. Put your roasted veggies in the par-baked crust. Pour over your cheese sauce and shake pan to get sauce to trickle down and coat the veggies. Top with a thin layer of grated parmesan cheese. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees or until hot and golden brown on top. Let cool 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving.

ONE YEAR AGO: Mexi Turkey Juicy Lucy

TWO YEARS AGO: Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

Squash and Apple Soup with Wild Rice

My t-t-teeth are ch-ch-chattering today because it's f-f-freezing outside! Time for the first soup of the season, I think.

The squash has been out of this world delicious this year. I think I've roasted and eaten 7 of them already this season. Two versions of squash soup currently exist on the blog, one that's plain but with added homemade ravioli, and another that adds spicy chipotle peppers. Both are good, but this one is the best.

I spent some time in Door County, Wisconsin last week enjoying all things cherry-related. Cherry cookies, cherry vodka, cherry wine, cherry cheddar cheese, cherry muffins, cherry salsa, etc. I was envious of the cherrysplosion and complained that we in Minnesota aren't known for any great food items, other than hotdish. Silly me, I forgot about wild rice! Wild rice is amazingly good for you - high in protein and fiber. And after reading about harvesting wild rice by hand, I understand why this rice cost me $19 per pound at the co-op!

I despise pureed soups. I need some texture in my meal or I don't feel satisfied. So, instead of blending, I used a potato masher to make this soup nice and chunky. Then I added the cooked chewy wild rice and got an amazingly flavored fall soup that's deliciously satisfying.

Squash and Apple Soup with Wild Rice

serves 4 as a starter or side

1 medium to large yellow onion, diced fine

2 small apples, peeled, cored, and diced (I used Haralsons from my Grandpa's backyard)

2 dried bay leaves

1 vegetarian bouillon cube (I use Rapunzel brand)

4 cups water

1 buttercup squash, roasted

1.5 cups cooked wild rice

salt and pepper to taste

grated parmesan cheese

In a medium pot, heat some olive oil and/or butter, about 3 Tbsp total. Saute your onion with some salt, pepper, and bay leaves for 5 minutes or so over medium-high heat. Add apples and cook until everything is soft.

Add bouillon, water, and squash and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Mash it all together with a potato masher. Remove bay leaves and add rice.

Serve hot with grated parmesan cheese.

ONE YEAR AGO: Enchiladas Verdes with Cumin Yogurt Crema

TWO YEARS AGO: Fall Salad with Baked Goat Cheese Medallions

3-Course Holiday Dinner for 4 People Under $20

I'm still awaiting word on if I won anything significant from my Cub Foods Plenty for Twenty entry. I won't know until Friday, Oct 14 so I'm trying to be patient!

Cub Foods sure must have liked it, becase they called and asked for another video but this time with a holiday twist. So, I wanted to share with you what I came up with. Thanks again to Colin for the amazing editing skillz.

Here is the video:


And, of course, the bloopers:


Recipes in this episode:
Apple Salsa with Cinnamon Chips

Butternut Squash Risotto

Pumpkin Mousse
Serves at least 4

1/2 butternut squash, roasted and pureed
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

Mix first 6 ingredients together, then gently fold in your whipped cream. Serve chilled.

3-Course French Dinner for 4 People Under $20

I don't like using my blog for any type of advertising or stuff like that. But this is too good to pass up.

I recently was alerted to a local contest called "Plenty for Twenty" in which you buy fresh ingredients from a local grocery chain (Cub Foods) for less than $20 and make something delicious and creative.

Well, with the help of my wonderful friends Marney Olson, and her husband Colin Farbotko, I made a video and entered the contest.

And, lo and behold, I'm a finalist for the GRAND PRIZE, which is a year's worth of free groceries. Imagine the amazing blog entries that you'll see here if I win!!!! I will need the public's help to win, as all voting is done on Facebook.

If you're a Facebook person and you want to vote for me, just search for Cub Foods in Facebook and click on the "Plenty for Twenty" link at the left. You'll have to "like" Cub Foods before you can vote, but you can always "unlike" them later. Vote once per day between September 30 - October 7, 2011. The winner will be announced October 14, 2011.

If you don't want to bother voting, that's OK. As a reader of my blog, you get special perks and I will share my video with you right here!

And, as a special BLOG-ONLY bonus, you lovely readers get to view my blooper reel.

If you're interested in any of the recipes featured in the video, see below!

Mushroom Pate
Serves at least 4 as an appetizer

1 package button or crimini mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped
1 medium union, roughly chopped
olive oil, salt, pepper
french baguette

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Arrange your mushrooms and onion on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. Roast for 20 minutes or until soft. Remove from oven and puree in food processor, you may need to add more olive oil to get the right consistency.

Serve with crostini (sliced baguette)

Spinach and Cheddar Souffle
Serves 4

Don't follow my video instructions. Follow this recipe instead, it's much better.

Chocolate Souffle
Serves at least 4, probably 8

I used this Mark Bittman recipe in the video. But if I were you, I'd make Chocolate Lava Cakes instead. They're much better, plus you can make the batter days in advance.

Have a nice day!
Ali