An interesting yet tasty cobbler combination

I modified this from a recipe in Barbara Kingsolver's new book. It is a cobbler that has basil and balsamic vinegar in it....really tasty.

Filling:

2-3 apples

raspberries (fresh or frozen)

handful of chopped basil

3 tbs balsamic vinegar

2 tbs honey (or more...)

Crumble topping:

1 stick butter

2-3 tbs brown sugar

enough flour to make it crumbly

bake at 350

Beans have LOTS of Iron

I went to donate blood on Monday and when they tested me for Anemia the nurse was blown away at how high my iron levels were. I was at 15 which is apparently higher than most men. June had similar results and decided to start looking up foods to see where the massive amounts of iron are coming from. She looked up cabbage first since she has been eating a lot of it, but a serving only has 2% of iron. Then it hit her....BEANS! Did you know that a single serving of beans has 20% of your daily dose of iron? My New Mexican crockpots of beans are like vats of ironie goodness. Yet another reason to eat a burrito a day!

Amazing PIzza

I had been craving pizza for weeks and so I made some on Tuesday night. Ironically enough, on the same day, I was also reunited with about 5 Cooking Light magazines that had been sent to my old apartment, and one of them had a special feature on PIZZA. April and I made 2 kinds on whole wheat crust and both were amazing!

Type1:

Pesto, Mozzarella, Asiago, Chicken, Red Onion, Sliced Red Grapes...this was absolutely mind blowing, such an incredible combination of flavors!

Type 2:

The sauce was diced tomatoes sauteed with onion, cumin, oregano, cayenne peper. Topped with fresh mozzarella cheese and basil.

Persimmon Bread

My fruit bowl has been overtaken with Persimmons! In Korea I loved persimmons, but I think they were a different kind. The ones I have been getting in my veggie box don't have the same texture and their flavor is not as good for eating plain, so I made bread out of them. It was really good! I still don't know where my camera is so not photo, but i am sure you can use your imagination; picture banana bread :)

2 cups white sugar

1 1/2 cups wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups ripe Hachiya persimmon pulp

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a bowl, stir together the sugar, wheat flour, all-purpose flour, oatmeal, salt cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and baking soda, until well mixed. Set aside. In a separate bowl, stir persimmon pulp with applesauce, vegetable oil, and eggs until well blended. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, stirring until free of lumps. Divide batter between two greased 9x5 inch loaf pans.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for one hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaves comes out clean.

Pie Crust

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am going to post my pie crust recipe. It's nothing fancy, but it works for me. There are tons of little tricks that people use to make their pie crust, but I pretty much ignore all of that stuff. Freezing the bowl, using vodka, chilling for hours, etc. My sister literally takes an hour to make pie crust. This recipe is simple and easy.

2 cups white pastry flour (or regular)
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
water (chilled is better)

In a large bowl, mix the flours and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter. When the butter is mostly mixed in, cut in the shortening. Continue until you have pea-sized lumps. Slowly add the water and mix until you can form a ball. Too much water or mixing with make the crust hard and too crunchy. Too little water makes it hard to work with. It may take you a while to realize just how much water is right. I guess that is the hardest part. When you are rolling out the dough, be sure to generously flour the surface. Using parchment/wax paper helps.

For Thanksgiving, I made an apple sour cream pie. It was yummy. Check it out at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Silver-Palate-Sour-Cream-Apple-Pie-106665

Yummy Chanterelles Courtesy of Mols

Molly gave me a bunch of mushrooms that she had hunted last weekend and Aleta and I made a feast out of them. We sauteed onion lots of garlic and chicken then added the shrooms and a little butter. Then we added some beautiful chard and let it cook down a tad. We served it all over red Quinoa (the kind rach and mols went crazy over last week) topped with fresh parmesean. This was the perfect simple fall meal, although it felt extravagant because it was so colorful and beautiful. This picture from Leat's phone really does not do it justice...I gotta find my camera!

Weird Veggies Trifecta

Here's my final installment for the bizarre vegetable series. Now, with the inclement weather arriving, it's time to head indoors and cook up all the pumpkin and butternut squash from this season (heaps of them this year). Happy Fall!

Though not weird, this is pretty much my last harvest from the garden. It's always kind of bittersweet... just like the kale this time of year.

The stuff nightmares are made of...

Sometimes it is best to let the picture speak for itself.

I didn't think it was possible to be hypnotized by a watermelon, until today.

*note: I carved nothing into this thing. Anyone know what causes this?