Mama's Cinnamon Applesauce

This is a special request from my friend, Jorgie. I brought this treat in to work the other day and her first comment was, "What smells like Thanksgiving and happiness?" It's a perfect and very accurate description of this recipe. It was also a childhood favorite. 

I'm sure my mom made this numerous times when I was growing up, but I especially remember her doing it after purchasing an apple corer-peeler from a Pampered Chef party one year. If you haven't heard of Pampered Chef, it's a bit like Tupperware's fancy relative. 

So my mom bought this contraption that looked sort of like a tiny medieval torture device. And for the apple, it probably was. You would spear the thing on a little spike and then turn the handle, which would crank the apple through the peeling mechanism. Simultaneously it was removing the core from the middle. Took most of the legwork out of any apple dish you could imagine. 

I don't have such a product, so I have to use my hands. Just like the pioneers. There's not really a recipe for this one. It's more a pinch of this, pinch of that sort of thing. But it's also remarkably easy. Here we go: 

Mom's Cinnamon Applesauce (serves me for at least a week)
7-10 Fuji apples (I use medium size)
1 bag Red Hots candies (you won't use the whole thing, probably)
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Cloves
Boiling water

1. Fill a large pot (or two depending on how many apples you're using) with water and heat to boiling. 
2. Peel and chop the apples. They don't have to be small bits. In fact, I usually just chunk them. 
3. Add the apples to the boiling water. 

4. Add spices to your liking. I usually go pretty strong on them because I love the bite you get from the cloves and cinnamon. 
5. Find something to do because you're gonna just let those apples boil for some time. Keep stirring here and there. The smell will become really lovely. It's a completely fall smell to me. I love it. 
6. The apples are going to be boiling until they sort of break down into more of a sauce. This generally takes about 2-3 hours to get to a point I'm happy with. When you get almost done, add as much of the Red Hots as you want and stir. 

*At this point, be more on top of the stirring. I made the mistake once of not being diligent and the sugar in the candy burned to the bottom of the pot, ruining the entire effort. 
7. If the sauce isn't quite thick enough, but the apples are boiled down to where you want, you can add a bit of cornstarch to the mix. Make sure to mix the cornstarch with a bit of cold water first or it will clump. Then stir it into the boiling sauce. Keep adding a little at a time until you're happy with it. 

Sadly, I had finished this off (with the help my co-workers) before getting to this post, and therefore have no beautifully plated picture of the finished product. But I hope you'll give it whirl anyway. It's particularly satisfying if you've been able to pick your own apples rather than getting them at the store. I love choosing the perfect apples, picking them from the tree, and then bringing them home and turning them into something delicious. 

If you have any amazing applesauce recipes, or a great apple-picking story, please share in the comments! Enjoy!




 

A Trio of Pizzas

Good Evening, readers! Tonight's featured recipe is for homemade pizza. After focusing on my dad, who first inspired me in the kitchen, I thought it fitting to shift this entry to my newest kitchen guru - Gordon Ramsay.

If you've only seen him on American shows, you're missing out. I love a shouty episode of Hell's Kitchen as much as the next person, but his real charisma comes out on the British series he's done. It's to the point now that if he's in it, I watch it. Ten million points to the first person who comments that they've seen the romantic comedy he's in!

Alright, so tonight was pizza. I was supposed to make this over the weekend, but after doing the oatmeal bread, plus sweet potato donuts for work, I could not fathom making yet another yeasty bread item. So it was put off until tonight. But this evening's efforts will feed me for the rest of the week!

The base of this recipe comes from Gordon's book, Gordon Makes It Easy: 100 Sophisticated But Simple Recipes. It's in the "Just for Kids" section, which makes it awesome. Here's the ingredients he starts with:
Tomato and Mozzarella Pizza (serves 4-8)
Dough:
2 tsp active dry yeast (I used one packet; I always like to overestimate on yeast.)
1 cup lukewarm water (remember the rule: too hot and it will kill your yeast; warm is good.)
4 1/4 cups bread flour (I ran out just before hitting this, so I used part self-rising to make up the difference.)
1 tbsp olive oil

There is also a recipe for tomato sauce, but I only used olive oil as a sauce. Buy the book if you want to try out what I'm sure is a mouth-watering pizza tomato sauce! I'm going to paraphrase the directions, because I went off them just a bit here and there. Recipes are usually sort of a jumping off point for me.

1. Mix the yeast and water together and let sit to activate. Pour the flour into a big bowl. Now, the first time I made this, I felt the dough was a bit bland. So at this point I threw in some garlic powder, dried rosemary, dried basil, and salt. Then I tasted it and tweaked the salt until it didn't taste only like flour. Throw in whatever herbs or special dried flavors you feel like, but make sure they're not too chunky. Save those items for the toppings! 
2. Add the olive oil to the flour and then add in the yeast/water mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until well-combined and pulling away from the sides of the bowl. I had to get my hands in there for most of this, but it turned out good. Add a bit more water - a little at a time - if the dough isn't pulling together for you. 
3. Once you can get the dough into a ball, let it sit in a warm place until it has doubled in size. I spent this time watching an episode and a half of Murder, She Wrote but that's just me. 
Here's how my dough looked once it doubled: 

Doesn't look like much, but that's a pretty big bowl. As long as it look different and slightly puffy, you should be good. 
4. Slice up any vegetables, meats, or cheeses that you want to include. I had a bunch of stuff from my trip to the Farmer's Market on Sunday. I used green and red pepper, an heirloom tomato, black beans (canned), Italian salami, ciliegine mozzarella balls, and goat cheese. But use whatever strikes you as yummy! 
5. Now, split the dough into multiple smaller rolls. Mine made three medium-ish pizzas. Maybe not medium like in a restaurant, but bigger than a personal size. Roll out each section of dough as thin as you like. Don't make it too thick because it will rise a bit more when cooking. 
6. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the dough onto a heavy baking sheet or an oven-safe cast-iron skillet. Brush the surface of your dough with olive oil and then load on the toppings! 
7.  Bake for about 10 minutes. Mine took 12-15, but start watching it around 10 minutes. When it's golden brown and your cheese is melted, it's done. Let it cool a minute or two and then slice those babies up! 
Here's my trio: 

I've only tried the top one so far, and it was amazing! The additions I made to the crust this time really made a difference. The pepper gave it a little bite. Gordon talks about letting the kids decorate their own pizza, so this is another great option if you've got little helpers! Grab his book. Go by my version. Get cookin'! And then tell me all about it!




 

Dad's Oatmeal Bread

Hello fellow foodie friends! Today's recipe project is Dad's Oatmeal Bread. My dad has been making this bread for as long as I can remember. It's one of my favorite things! He always made it for the church's annual Soup and Bread Dinner, along with loaves of white, anise, and sourdough. All are delicious, but the oatmeal was always the highlight for me.

Well, let's get the recipe out of the way first:
Dad's Oatmeal Bread (yields 4 loaves)
2 cups old-fashioned oats - not instant or quick, get the good stuff
4 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 cup molasses
1 tablespoon salt
2 packages of dry yeast
1/2 cup water
8 cups of flour - go for bread flour or self-rising if you can; otherwise regular all-purpose works fine

Now, onto the steps. Keep in mind that this is a hands-on recipe - there are no bread machines allowed in the Smith Household. Besides, beating down the dough is a great way to release pent up frustrations or just get a good arm workout in. The entire process is going to take about 4-5 hours, so make sure you have a good span of time. It will be very worth it at the end!

1. Put the 4 cups of water on to boil.
2. Mix the oats, salt, molasses and margarine while waiting. When water is at a boil, add it to the oats and molasses mixture. It should look like this now:

3. Let it sit for about an hour, or until the mixture is more room temperature than hot. If it's too hot, it will kill your yeast, so don't rush this step. 
4. When the mixture is ready for the yeast, first mix the yeast and 1/2 cup lukewarm water in a separate small bowl. Let it sit for about 10 minutes to activate the yeast. Again, don't use hot water here. Just warm to the touch is good. The yeast will be bubbly if it's active. Like this:

 5. Once the yeast is ready, add it to the oat mixture. Then start adding the flour. I recommend using a wooden spoon and mixing by hand rather than using a dough attachment on an electric mixer. But if you have a mixer that cost you more than $12 bucks, maybe yours is more effective than mine. By the end of the flour addition, you'll need to get your hands in there and really mix it up. (This is the most fun for kids, in case you need to keep little hands busy.)

6. Once you've got it all mixed together, either leave it in the bowl and cover with a towel. Now go do something else for about an hour while it doubles in size. 

7. Beautiful! Okay, now you get to punch it down. I split it into four portions first because I'm working with a teeny little space. My dad turns the whole thing out and punches it around on the kitchen table. Once you've beat the heck out of it for a bit, do split it into four portions and distribute to four loaf pans or tins. Cover with a towel.
8. Now go do something else again for another hour while it doubles once more. Trust me, the waiting is all going to pay off! 
9. Bake it at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 45 minutes. Try to peek at the bottom of one when you're getting close. If it looks too moist, keep it cooking for a bit. You want the crunch on the outside and a soft center. But you don't want a doughy center. 
10. By now, your whole house should smell divine. That's half the fun, if you ask me. Take the bread out if it's done and turn it out on a wire rack. Let it cool just a bit, but slice off a bit for the baker's spoils and enjoy as soon as possible. 


This bread keeps well in the freezer and reheats in the microwave wonderfully. I toss it in there about 30 seconds and it tastes like it just came out of the oven. The toaster works fine, too - though the slices I tend to cut are too thick for that. I love how the steam rushes out when you first cut into the loaf right out of the oven. (I usually can't wait long for my baker's spoils...)

I hope you love this as much as I do. It's a fall staple for me. Please feel free to leave me comments on your own experience if you give it a try. And if your dad has a great recipe for bread, I'd love to see that too! Bon appetit!