Apple-Berry Butter

Recently I bought a bag of apples at the store, but after a week, many of them were showing bruises. Likewise, I was at Costco and bought some giant buckets of berries... which were starting to look less than happy. What to do? Apple-berry Butter- in the crock pot. Here's the blog where I got my inspiration: http://therovinglemon.blogspot.com/2011/02/blackberry-apple-butter.html
Perfect yummy flavors filled my house all day. But necessary to be home most of the day for this one.

Step one: Chop and core apples and trow that all in the crock pot. (I used my larger crock pot, but it could have probably worked in the little one too.) There were about 8 small apples. I just barely covered them with a little water and some cherry juice concentrate, because that is what I had. I think it cooked for a few hours. I kind of forgot about it. The apples were all soft and mushy.

Step two: Turn off the crock pot and mix in the berries. I had blackberries and blueberries probably about a pound total. I left those sit a little while to "cook" the berries in the residual heat of the crock pot. So pretty:

Step Three: I took it all out of the crock pot and put it in a bowl so I could puree it in batches and put it back in the crock pot on low for a REALLY LONG TIME. There was really more liquid in there than I expected, but it did help with the puree process.

Step Four: Cook on low with the lid vented for a long, long time. Whenever I thought about it, I mixed the butter and scraped it off the sides of the crock pot. Especially at the end, this was absolutely necessary. I added a teaspoon of lemon juice to brighten the flavors, and brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon to taste.

The finished product: Yes, eventually, it was done. And it filled one of those big peanut butter jars. I plan to can it... another day.

It is yummy, a pretty color and would be fantastic on yogurt or oatmeal or an English muffin, or well, just about wherever you want to put it.

Surprisingly yummy chorizo & quinoa soup

Last night I didn't know what to make for dinner. I didn't have a plan, but I had 1 lb of frozen pork chorizo in the fridge. I was babysitting a toddler (along with watching my own) so I didn't have a lot of time or free hands. I ended up making this soup:

Will & I both had 2 helpings and leftovers for lunch today. It was SO good. Doesn't it LOOK good?

I think I bought the chorizo one time because I thought it looked like it would be interesting for making tacos or burritos or something. This was better.

Ok. The ingredients.
Of course, this was just what I happened to have in my fridge that looked like it wanted to be eaten. Especially the zucchini. And the kale.

1lb ground pork chorizo, browned
1 can crushed tomatoes
3 stalks of curly green kale- chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 carrot, thinly sliced
3-4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 healthy scoop of Better Than Bullion vegetable base
3 cups of water
a bunch of fresh chopped basil (I have some growing in my kitchen)
about 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (This is also growing in my kitchen... why didn't I use fresh?)
a bay leaf
1/2 cup quinoa, well rinsed

Basically, the short story is throw everything in the pot together, except the basil & quinoa. Let it come to a boil. Rinse the quinoa under cold water for a few minutes, then throw it in over a low boil for another 10 minutes.

Voila. REALLY AMAZING soup that's healthy too.

I am certain this could be done with other meat than the chorizo. But it did add plenty of spice and flavor.
Someone else might use 3 cups of broth of their choice, instead of the Better than Bullion & water.
I am pretty sure that other veggies could be added or subbed instead.

Wish I had more. I will for sure make this soup again.

Adventures with Audry in August 2011

This summer we went on a number of fun excursions, especially with Charlotte visiting us from France. Here's some of the August highlights:
Hiking in Garden of the Gods.

Audry LOVES hiking. Hiking Hiking Hiking!

Garden of the Gods is a really interesting rock formation down near Colorado Springs.

She enjoys exploring caves (baves)!

Peek-A-Boo!

 I only have to say something about hiking and caves for her to get really excited.

These rocks are really big!

We also spent a Friday night at the First Friday Artwalk in the art district of Denver. On the way there!

All the art galleries are open for browsing on the first Friday of the month, many have appetizers or boxed wine and some have music.

Our friends Mabry & Brian took us- met us there- introduced us to the idea.

Audry enjoyed it.

But mainly she enjoyed RUNNING FAST!

And this is what she looks like when we keep her out too late! Giggle queen!

We also went for a morning to opening day at the local fair. There wasn't much going on, but there were animals to see.

This is Audry's friend Jack, and Audry, looking at bunnies. The favorite stop of the day.

Even though she was shy of the animals, I think she liked it overall.

Finally, we spent a day in Boulder, Colorado with Charlotte and our next door neighbors. City sightseeing!

We had a picnic and a hike too.

Audry enjoyed posing for some close ups. Silly...

And sweet.

After the picnic & hike we went back to town where we found a fountain to play in. YAY!

Too much fun! Back at home... here's Audry in a box. Playing while mommy is cooking.

Strawberry Lavender Tartlet

I had a bunch of pie crust leftover from the tomato eggplant lamb pie. I don't usually have that much left over. Maybe I just rolled it really thin... or maybe I saved it accidentally on purpose? We will never know. But I knew I had strawberries in my fridge, and in spite of using up all of the cream on the lamb pie recipe, I decided to make a strawberry pie.

Ok, well a strawberry tartlet because I didn't have enough for a whole pie.
I found this recipe- and that was my inspiration.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/neelys/neelys-strawberry-pie-recipe/index.html

I washed and quartered the strawberries I had that needed to be eaten... today. Because that is how strawberries are.

I thought it would be interesting to compliment the strawberry with something. The mint in the watermelon sorbet was so interesting.
Balsamic? No. Not in my mood today.
Hmmm.....
There's all this lavander growing out with my chives and I keep wondering what to do with it aside from the obvious- throw a few sprigs in the bathwater.
Because I have SO MUCH time for baths these days, there's hardly any lavender left on the bush!
(Ha ha ha- just kidding. This is the first time I've picked any yet this summer.)
I picked some lavender.

Chopped it up.

Threw it in with the strawberries, along with a couple tablespoons of sugar, and a tablespoon of corn starch and a squeeze of lemon. Mmm. That looks yummy.

Here's my little tartlet dish getting the pie crust ready. I made like a little bowl with plenty of extra (less rolling of tops & bottoms for me!)

The berry mix goes in (along with some butter so it doesn't explode everywhere).

The lid gets closed.

I am looking for my pastry brush. Remember Where's Waldo? Can you spot it?

(Hint: under the pizza cutter)
Finally brushed with (yet more!) butter and sprinkled with sugar.

Baked at 400 (I find my oven cooks cool and at the higher altitude I prefer the warmer temperature for cooking) for 40 minutes. It could have actually gone for more if I wasn't impatient.

It came out toasty brown- and a little leaky of juices. Tart and yummy!

The lavender didn't exactly pop the way I was hoping that it would, but it added a nice subtle flavor. Perhaps it could have been complimented with a lavender whipped cream... if I had any cream left over. 

Oh, and incidentally, this is the summer storm that was happening outside while I was baking everything...

One more reason to love Colorado. 

Tomato Eggplant Pie- with LAMB!

I'm following what other bloggers do, and putting a picture at the top so you know what you're getting into:

So yesterday or the day before, I was listening to NPR and they were doing a piece on desserts. However, there was one dish they made that sounded like a lot of fun. Tomato pie. (Case if anyone's interested.... here's the link to the NPR story http://m.npr.org/news/front/1053?textSize=large&url=%2Fsections%2Ffood%2F- incidentally, the recipe for Dead Man's Arm also is intriguing.)
PIE
Then I thought to myself.... hmmm... tomato pie. Wouldn't eggplant be yummy in that? I mean, seriously. Eggplant and tomato PIE? Ummm. Yes. Most certainly. I don't get a lot of opportunity to eat eggplant since I have to fairly heavily disguise it from my eggplant-hating husband. Why wouldn't anyone like eggplant? Sure it's purple. But it is so yummy!

Well, so then I thought.... am I the GENIUS who came up with eggplant and tomato pie? Or are there others out there who also thought it sounded like a good idea? Google prooves that sorry, Molly, you're not the first. 

Turns out there are plenty of recipes for eggplant and tomato pie. 

But in my browsing, I had my MIND COMPLETELY BLOWN by this idea- tomato, eggplant, and LAMB pie! Here is the link to the amazing sounding recipe that I didn't use.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Moroccan-Lamb-and-Eggplant-Matzo-Pie-with-Spicy-Tomato-Sauce-109312
I had been wondering what to cook with the tomato pie to make it a complete meal. And of course! LAMB added into the pie is JUST the thing. And wouldn't you know that I just HAPPENED to buy some lamb at the store Friday. Fate, that is what it was.
So that is what we are having for dinner tonight.
Here's how I did it:
I took a small (probably medium, really) eggplant and 3 large tomatoes and chopped them into 1/4 inch slices.
The slices went into a dish layered with some salt to take the water and bitterness out.

That sat in the fridge... actually overnight, but I guess 30 minutes would actually do the trick.
When I brought them out, I patted them dry with paper towels.

I made a pie crust. This crust was different than ones I had made in the past. More butter and water than the ones I'm used to.

It was 2 & 1/2 cups of flour, 1 cup of butter, a half teaspoon of salt, and a half cup of ice water. I couldn't bring myself to use all the water. I also put about a tablespoon of white vinegar in the ice water measuring cup before I filled it the rest of the way with water. My mom says this helps to keep the crust from getting tough.
Anyway, the crust chilled in the fridge for most of the afternoon until I felt like rolling it out.
I saw somewhere online in my online excursions today, the idea of rolling it out between sheets of waxed paper. With this crust, that was a good idea since it was so buttery that as soon as it touched room temperature, it stuck. The paper on the bottom made funny creases... but no mind.

Next it was on to making the actual pie.
I found this recipe for a creamy rosemary sauce for lamb. That was my inspiration.
http://www.visitgrandjunction.com/cms/d/recipe_lamb.php

I prepped the lamb. I didn't have ground lamb, so I minced the lamb and used about a tablespoon or so of flour, a pinch of salt & a dash of pepper to coat the minced bits.

Next I carmelized some butter in a pan.
That is where the lamb was browned. Can I get an amen?

***(Sadly, the actual picture of the lamb browning in the pan didn't come out)
I removed the lamb from the pan with a slotted spoon and deglazed the pan with some white wine (really, the best thing that white wine is good for). Can I get a hallelujah?
The next part is where it gets interesting.... Here's some rosemary, shallots and garlic. The wine, cream and lemon are in the wings awaiting their entrance.

Minced deliciousness!

That went into the deglazing reduction of white wine (A religious experience? Perhaps. It smelled like one anyway.)

And then- here's the crazy part. I added yogurt. Probably 3/4 cup. I think it will be tangy and delicious with the white wine & lemon juice. Also, yogurt would in theory cut down on the fat (instead of adding all cream) except that this is whole fat yogurt, so it doesn't count.

Then the cream. I added what was left... about a quarter of a cup.

Then the lemon juice. And I think I added some salt too. Oh, and I stirred in about a tablespoon of corn starch too, just to ensure a smooth texture when baking.

Ok. So it was time to take the pie crusts out of the fridge and get them ready to make into real pie, or at least one of them. It went into my beautiful wedding present from my beloved Uncle Scott & Aunt Beth. So useful!
I didn't get too concerned about the perfect placement of the crust.

First, I layered some eggplant.

And then some creamy stuff.

That was two layers. And then went in the lamb.
With creamy stuff.
*** (Sadly the picture of this didn't turn out. My camera hates me sometimes)
Next a layer of my pretty tomatoes.

And the last of the creamy stuff.

One more layer of tomatoes to finish it off.

And then on with the top crust.
It smells great and it isn't even cooked.

I had a bunch of pie crust leftover from the tomato eggplant lamb pie. I don't usually have that much left over. Maybe I just rolled it really thin... or maybe I saved it accidentally on purpose? We will never know. But I knew I had strawberries in my fridge, and in spite of using up all of the cream on the lamb pie recipe, I decided to make a strawberry tartlet. It has its own entry in my blog...

I cut in some vent holes- not the most symmetrical. But well. We do what we can.

The eggplant tomato lamb pie baked at 400 degrees for an hour. (With the strawberry tartlet!)

I find at the higher altitude a higher temperature is needed. Also, I think my oven, compared to my friends' ovens which are also at the same altitude, cook warmer than mine.

In the end, it could have cooked even longer still for an even crunchier crust. It was just barely browned.

I don't normally think of lamb with cream, but this was absolutely yummy! A lighter, yet creamier version of shepherd's pie.