Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Autumn "Nesting" and Apple Caramel Focaccia

 I love this time of year!  I seem to want to settle in and cook, bake and experiment with new recipes.  I go through the thousands (I am not kidding) of cookbooks I have at hand and I try new "old" recipes (from my vintage collections) and new "new" ones from the likes of Taste of Home. 

Something about when the weather starts to chill, but isn't cold.  You sort of nest and you begin to think about harvest.  Maybe it is my good old New England roots, but it comes naturally around autumn for me.  All the smells of apples, pumpkin, cinnamon gets my mouth to watering and my mind to working.

Always on the prowl, I find many recipes that I keep to prepare later.  Drives hubby crazy!  Sometimes I get to them, sometimes I alter them to being unrecognizable in their original form.  But, that is what I do as a creative cook and recipe developer.

You will get a taste of that from me here at this blog.  One of my many interest, as well as painting and writing.  You could say I am "full brain" dominant... for another time .....  Anyway.
  
I came across this recipe and it looked so fall like!  Something a little special but oh-so-easy to prepare.  I have adapted to my own flavors (like any good cook) So, I share! ;-)

Apple Caramel Focaccia  Serves 12

1 frozen bread dough, thawed (1 pound)
1/4 cup of melted butter
2 cups of THINLY sliced apples that have been peeled and cored.  I think Mac's are a little too soft, so Cortland is often my apple of choice, particularly when there is loads of sugar elsewhere in the recipe
1/8 cup brown sugar, packed
1/8 cup of white sugar
1 Tablespoon of cinnamon
1/8 Teaspoon each nutmeg, allspice, ground cloves
1/4 to 1/2 small chopped nuts now the recipe called for walnuts but caramel and pecans???? yumm
1/4 cup of jarred Caramel Sundae topping


Preheat oven to 350

Spray a large baking sheet with Pam, set aside.  On a floured surface work the thawed loaf into a circle (or the best you can) to about 12 inches in diameter.  Transfer to the baking sheet.

In a bowl mix apples slices with sugars, spices and nuts.

Brush dough with melted butter (save some butter, as when it comes out of the oven you will brush MORE butter...can you say Paula Deen????... on the top.  Spread the apple mixture over the top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until the apples seem tender and the dough is browned golden.  Remove from oven and brush with remaining butter.

While warm, drizzle a bit  of the caramel topping over the Focaccia, cool a bit more (20 minutes)on a wire rack, (and put jar of caramel in refrigerator for about a half hour too) and drizzle MORE caramel on top.  The double layering is yummmmmmy.

Slice and serve!


JUST IN CASE YOU ARE CURIOUS ABOUT FOCACCIA

 From my favorite folks at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Focaccia (Italian pronunciation: [foˈkatʃːa]) is a flat oven-baked Italian bread,[1] which may be topped with herbs or other ingredients.
Focaccia is related to pizza, but not considered to be the same.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Ah, Fall and the Woes of Allergy Season!

Well, folks, I did find out why I was such in a "bum" mood.  Allergies!  By noon that day I was wearing a sweat shirt with a hood (and it is still in the 70's here) and I also just could not get warm.  I started to freeze!  Well, as luck would have it I also started to sniffle.  Now, I am a gal who doesn't get colds real often, and when I do I sometimes start barking (coughing) like a dog, and that is something I find terribly embarrassing.  I "woof", "woof" for weeks, and it often becomes bronchitis.  So, off I went and took my Aire Bourne fizzy, a hit off my nose spray and  gulp  of some purple allergy meds.  Lasted about 12 hours and I was back on my feet, sneezing but feeling much better.

Oh, how cruel a world that makes such a beautiful autumn to fill it with allergens! 

It is now days later and I am still wearing my hoodie, but I at least know why I am feeling the way I do!

I don't know about you, but I get all flustered if I cannot figure out why I don't feel good, either physically or mentally.

For me I will very often get a double whammy and when I feel lousy I also feel down.  There is something to be said about pulling yourself up by the boot straps though.

So, how does one do that?  I think it is different for everyone.  What may work for me, doesn't work for others.  But, here are a few things that I have used that will let me move forward.

1.  Give yourself permission to get some rest.  Hey, when you are absolutely freezing and even your legs are cold, you know something is up.  Your body is telling you it needs to mend and rest.  I am not saying crawl into bed for 24 hours, but what I am saying is allow yourself an hour or two to try to address the immediate issue.  For me I cover in a cozy quilt and put on the electric fireplace/heater and watch TV for an hour.  I often sleep as well. 

2.  After a rest, I get up and say to myself "this isn't a cold" (can you say either self denial or positive thinking?!)  Point is you gave your body something, now let's see where it takes you.

3.  Tell people.  Oh, how many martyrs out there?!?!?!?  "Oh I am fine......" as your eyes look downward and the words whine a bit at the end.  Be realistic and say, 'I am not feeling too well right now, so I am a bit low key".

4.  Prepare others.  If you cannot make dinner the easiest way to feel better about it is to make sure you have something in mind that is easy for people to prepare and feed themselves.  Now, I am not saying my husband is incapable, in fact he very often has had to pinch hit meals.  What I am saying that as a mom, you may be sending a signal that you need some "mom time" and still not get the kids to get overly concerned about it.

5.  Can you say Tuna Fish sandwich?

6.  Smile.  Unless you have meningitis, be grateful.

7.  Medicate.  How  often I have talked to someone, including hubby saying...did you take something for the headache?  No..... well don't whine.  Take the meds then let me know how you feel.  Take your own advice and DO IT.

8.  Drink plenty of fluids.  I am always drinking water, COLD ice water.  You would think that this would be the last thing I would drink if I was cold.  I still do, for health reasons, but there is no reason I can't have a nice cup of instant Chai tea afterward.

9.  Go to bed early.  Or even stay on the couch!  Point is be prepared to put some sleep into being sick.

10.  Don't go to work.  For years I managed about 12-15 people and it would drive me crazy when someone would come into work hacking, sneezing, blowing their nose and "spreading the wealth" so to speak.  Don't go, simply don't go.  No person is irreplaceable for one day.  Also, if you think you are that important, then let them know you can be reached by phone.  Point is YOU are to take care of yourself, so you therefore do not pose a health risk to others.

11.  Finally, know that tomorrow is another chance for a better day.  It is one day in your busy life, but in the scheme of things it is a blip in your timeline.  So, do you really want to stay miserable????


Well, there you go.  Take what you want and leave the rest.  I am not an expert by any means but I am a babbler.


Take care folks, stay healthy and know that you have the right to self heal better than anyone out there!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Bum.....

I feel like a bum today.  Here I sit in my exercise pants, a tee, white socks and the only adornment on me is a headband that I am using because my hair is so darn drab and flat.

I wonder sometimes if other people feel this way.  I got to say it may be a bit to easy for me to do this because I do not work outside the house.

There is a crispness in the air, fall weather is finally arriving.  I wonder how long we will be able to use the new outside patio before the weather settles in.  I look out the window next to the computer onto the shade garden, still lush and green.  I begin to have thoughts of everything dying down...... 

Don't get me wrong , I love fall.  The autumn is "my time" of year.  My favorite, weather wise.  Here in New England the mornings are chilly (60's) and as the sun comes out it warms up nicely.  There are very often breezes that will float through the rooms from open windows.  Then in the evening it starts to cool.  The breezes die down and it takes one more cover on the bed to sleep comfortably.  The sky is so blue and the clouds have a certain look about them in the fall.  They build sideways instead of up and you can see it from the highway as all the clouds seem to have flat bottoms and some are clustered and some stand alone.  The air smells like, well nothing.  Until leaf burning season.

But, I must admit something has got me today.  I am not usually so disengaged.  But, yet I am.  Very often I can self diagnose myself and find a reason for the lack of energy and joy, but I am thinking today it may take some time. 

So, this morning I woke up around 5, let the dogs out, fed them and went back to sleep for a while.  I chose a quick wash up instead of a shower (the reason for the flat and unruly hair) and although I was planning on going shopping for a few groceries, I've decided to put that off until tomorrow.  Chris will just have to go without orange juice tomorrow.  I am so bad.  Then of course I may just go out later.

Lately, I've been busy with many projects and next week I have so many appointments I am tired looking at the calendar.  Maybe that is it.  I am just run down.

Regardless, I think I will make ANOTHER cup of coffee (I usually have only one a day) and hope I don't get "coffee shakes".  But, I feel a need to nurture, to draw inward for comfort.

Comfort.... hmmmm a good subject.   I will attempt tomorrow when my hair is cleaned and prissy, I am in decent clothes and ready to take on the world....and that party we are suppose to go to.

For today just call me Minnie, a drawback from my childhood name.  Because today I feel like nesting and remembering.  I will turn on the fireplace (an electric heater kind) and light some candles and begin my journey into fall.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

A Taste of Fall

Here in New England we are looking at a very early fall picking season.  For apples that is.  We had a very warm spring and summer so we find ourselves here in September picking apples, knowing by October there will be only left overs.  It just isn’t same.  Picking apples in shorts is sort of, well, sacrilegious.  No beautiful tree colors of orange, red and yellow.  No fire at the Red Apple farm to warm us as we sip hot cider.  No sweaters and jeans and a crisp in the air that makes you feel like you are blessed to come from this part of the country.  Nope, not this year.

I’ve been married, for a lifetime it seems.  I say that because I have been married longer now than I was single.  So, it  is hard to go back into my adulthood without it actually pertaining to my marriage now.  Although my husband I have a healthy separate personal life as well, it just seems that all those great, warm memories lead back to him. 

Well, let me tell you something when I met my husband I would have never thought I would become the cook I have.  My family was very Irish, very meat and potatoes.  Until I got married I never had a taco (which we lived on the first year we got married) or even a zucchini.  Chris, on the other hand had full course meals, including desserts.  A homemade dessert from my mom was pretty much a purchased graham cracker crust, a box of chocolate pudding and a tub of Cool Whip.  Anyway, you get the picture, very diverse eating styles.  I would argue my husband has a better sense of a balanced meal and found appreciation in all things garden grown.

We got married in the fall and I can remember going to purchase some applesauce to go along with our pork (a left over of the day when applesauce helped in avoiding trichinosis.  Be an old wives tale or not, we always had applesauce with pork).  Well, as I reach you would have thought the heavens were coming down upon my poor husband.  “What is that for?” he ask.  I sort of looked at him funny.  What kind of guy doesn’t know a good jar of Mott’s applesauce?  “I don’t eat jar applesauce”.

God bless my mother in law, she was a regular Mrs. Clever.  She, it turns out made everything by scratch, including applesauce.  I guess the look of confusion was enough for him to remind me of the strange contraption my mother in law made sure I got at my bridal shower.  It was called a “Foley Mill”  (Which, by the way, brings back terrible memories of me trying use the name of this this item in a game where you told a lie or truth and everyone was convinced I was lying.  I lost that stupid game that night because of that dern Foley Mill  I really fought hard to make people believe me)  The Foley is a this bowl type strainer with a handle in the middle which forces the apple meat through these holes, while holding back the skins and the seeds.

So, instead of my faithful jar of Mott’s Applesauce (which I still like) we got a couple bags of Macintosh apples.  So, starts and adventure into making homemade applesauce.  Over the years it begin pretty simply.  Using Mac’s made it so I didn’t have to sugar (a real no-no says my MIL) I proceeded to make homemade applesauce; it really isn’t hard.  I have tweaked the recipe to make it more sophisticated, and hubby actually likes it better.  So, from my New England kitchen I thought I would share my recipe.

Home Made Apple Sauce

About 15 Cortland Apples (which give the applesauce a lovely pink color and a subtle tartness)
10 Mac’s

Remember, this is an approximation, it really does depend on the size of the apples.  I make my sauce in a Dutch oven, and I PACK it.

Oh, you can use any kind of apples.  One year I got a peck (a big bag) of apple "drops" and they actually made a wonderful sauce, but I would never be able to reproduce this because I had no idea what kind of apples were in there!

1/8 c. water in bottom of Dutch oven

Cut apples up, discard core but no need to peel.  I have a neat apple slicer, which can be found anywhere, including the grocery store, which cuts the apple up and separates the core out. It is a push down, push em'out kind of contraption.

Place apples in a large Dutch oven

Cover and start to simmer on VERY LOW heat for about 10 minutes until you can push the apples down a bit, meaning they are starting to cook. DO NOT BURN

Add:
2 T. ground cinnamon
2 T. Apple spice mix (or you can do some “shakes” of allspice, nutmeg, cloves, ginger)
1/8 t. mace (optional) gives a little "kick" to anything apple
pinch of salt
NO SUGAR in my recipe (my mother in law is very proud)!

Add spices after cooking apples about 10 minutes, mix well and continue to cook on low until all the apples are broken down.

Here is where I use a Foley mill and take the broken down mixture and process.  If you do not have a Foley, you can use a strainer and push the meat through and remove the apple skins by hand.  It is messy and doesn’t give the consistency of the food mill.

So, there it is, a little bit of New England in a bowl!  I freeze my applesauce and have it year round.  It taste great and you, too, can “tweak” it to your hearts content.