Appleicious

It's apple season. Went apple picking. Lydia loved it and there were lots of kids there all picking apples and squealing and running around. We heard one little boy who had climbed to the top of a tree exclaim "This is the best day of my life"

Across the street there is a store full of apple goodies as well as other good homemade countryfied things. A bakery etc... I got a cranberry apple muffin to share with Lydia on the ride home. I also ate some pulled pork which was pretty good for yankee pulled pork. Who knew? It sounds like I have been chowing down but really it's been quite tame. I've been losing weight and feeling healthier. Well, except that Brian's dad keeps bringing those apple squares over. Those are really bad. He goes to an orchard on his weekend drive and gets them and last week no one else wanted them so I had a couple. O.K. 4. NO NOT AT THE SAME TIME. I ate them one at a time for breakfast last week. I'm going to tell him that no one is eating them so STOP THE MADNESS.

In the last few weeks we have had in this house:

apples
apple crisp
apple pie
fried apples (Laura Ingalls always had these with breakfast when they had a feast and they always sounded so good so I was making scrambled eggs and using the leftover potatoes to make potato patties and threw these in the pan)
roasted apples
caramel apples
apple squares

and my favorite so far: Lydia and I had my own version of Apple and cinnamon oatmeal this morning. It was DELICIOUS!

I bought on of those apple peelers that you mount to the table by suction and turn the crank. It peels, cores and slices the apple, and it's FUN. I just made some oatmeal and threw the sliced apple in. I practically melted in there. Lydia liked it too.

I've also used it for potatoes. I don't even break up the spiral of potato for my veggie roast. I just pull the middle off of the corer put that in the bowl, put the potatoes in the bowl and add sweet potatoes too, whole garlic cloves, asparagus, chunks of onion, fresh brussles sprouts (sliced in half), slices of big ol mushrooms or some little ones, and last week I threw on some spiraled apples. Toss everything in olive oil and pour them out on a big cookie sheet, or I prefer a baking stone, the onions caramelize better on this. Sprinkle everything on both sides with a little salt. Kosher is better. It has to do with the shape of the crystal. The salt helps the veggies to "sweat" so they melt a little and get sort of creamy and nummy. Then stick the pan in a 375-400 or so oven until they look done. Usually about 20 min. The asparagus is my favorite part. Sometimes you have to take them out a little earlier than the rest because they can burn.

This is really good piled up next to a big steak...eh, but I'm supposed to be cutting down on that so some fish or shrimp can actually be thrown in the oven wrapped up in a foil pouch and cooked along with the rest.

I lived on this when I was pregnant and had it at least a couple of times a week before we moved. We've made it a couple of times since we've been in the basement but their pans and kitchen SUCK here. Jessica doesn't cook AT ALL. As a matter of fact she has said that she doesn't know how to make mashed potatoes and when I was making blue corn black bean and corn nachos last week she said "How did you get the cheese like that?" Ok. SHE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO GRATE CHEESE. She just buys it in the bag already grated. Yes, it does cost the same nowadays but did you know that they add a "mold retardant" to that grated cheese...

ANYWAY....see next post.