Apple Caramel Crisp with Homemade Caramel Sauce

Now that Bryant's back on inpatient and having to work part of the weekend, we're back to our tradition - I bring him and his coworkers dinner at the hospital.  If you have to work on the weekend, you might as well have some good food and enjoy it a bit.  And it is a lot of fun - often, the residents' wives/girlfriends will come and hang out and eat (well, for an hour or two until the boys need to get back to work).

This time, I made buffalo chicken calzones (which will be my next entry) and apple caramel crisp (oh, and threw a spinach salad on the side to add a vegetable or two!).  I obviously didn't judge the recipe enough because this apple crisp was just MASSIVE.  Seriously. Perhaps good for a potluck or a Thanksgiving style feast but not exactly what I had in mind for feeding 4 or 5 people.  So we currently have a lot of leftovers.  Luckily, it was absolutely delicious. (I suggested to Bryant we could have it Thursday and he replied, "Well, if it lasts that long.")

The homemade caramel sauce for the crisp was simple, easy to make ahead of time and so, so good.  It's a perfect combination with tart Granny Smith apples.  The buttery oatmeal crust is on the top and bottom; the top layer is crisp and the bottom layer soaks up all the extra caramel and juices.  I allowed myself to lick the bowl, spoon and spatula as a reward for a job well done.

Below, I've actually halved the recipe (which I think could still serve 6 or 8). 

Apple Caramel Crisp
 Taken from: A Hint of Honey
Serves 6-8 (This is half of the original recipe but it would be easy to double  - just cook in a 9 x 13" baking dish)

• 1 cup all-purpose flour + 1/4 cup for thickening the caramel sauce
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 small/medium apples (or 2 large), chopped or thinly sliced (tart green ones works best for baking)
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

-Make the caramel sauce below.
-Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, oatmeal, baking soda, and pinch of salt. Add the softened butter, and with your hands, incorporate until the mixture is crumbly. Press half of the crumb topping into a 8x8 baking dish (or 9" round pan) and bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven.
-Meanwhile, bring the caramel sauce and 1/2 cup flour to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and cook until it thickens, about 5 minutes.
-Toss apples with 1/2 tsp. cinnamon until coated.
-Sprinkle apples and nuts on the baked crust. Pour caramel sauce over the apples. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture on top. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven.
-Let sit for 30 minutes before serving warm with vanilla ice cream. (If you serve it immediately it will be too runny.)
 
Caramel Sauce

• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp (packed) brown sugar
• 1/4 cup salted butter (salted is necessary; you can soften unsalted butter and mix in 1/4 tsp salt if you don't have salted on hand)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (I used fat-free half and half)

-To make the caramel sauce, whisk sugar and butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat until it melts. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and whisk in cream and stir until sugar dissolves and sauce is smooth, about 3 minutes. I also used a spatula to scrap the bottom toward the middle of the pan to make sure all the sugar dissolves.
-Let cool. It can be stored in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Roasted Butternut Squash Pizza & Menu Plan

This wasn't even supposed to be our main meal of the day. This was the kind of lunch where you scrounge through the refrigerator to see what you can throw together.  And luckily for us, that something that started as the last ingredients in our fridge ended with a delicious roasted butternut squash pizza with caramelized red onions, sauteed spinach and rosemary. 

We love, love, love pizza but I such a marinara fan that I've only made pizza with different toppings on top of tomato sauce. However, I had some leftover pizza dough that needed to be used today (since it wasn't on my menu plan for the week). However, we didn't have any good toppings to be used on tomato sauce and wasn't about to go to the store.  I did, however, have a leftover half of a butternut squash, half a bag of baby spinach and leftover fresh mozzarella.  I vaguely remembered reading that that to use up leftover butternut squash, someone suggested making a pizza of roasted butternut squash, spinach, feta and pine nuts. And this is a very versatile recipe. I added caramelized red onions but nixed the pine nuts. Feel free to do the same - throw in something extra or leave out what you don't have.  Even as a marinara lover, I highly recommend this pizza!

Roasted Butternut Squash Pizza
Adapted from: A Hint of Honey

• 1/2 of no-rise pizza dough recipe
• 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• fresh chopped rosemary or dried (and any other herbs you want to throw on - I used dried thyme)
• Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• Asiago/mozzarella/fresh mozzarella, grated
• Feta cheese, crumbled
• Spinach or baby spinach, washed

Roasted Butternut Squash:

• 1/2 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• salt and ground black pepper

Caramelized Onions:

• 2 red onions, thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

-Prepare no-rise pizza dough.
-If using caramelized onions, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and stir to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and caramelized, 30-40 minutes.
-Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 F. Spread cubed squash on baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Toss with minced garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast in preheated oven for 25 minutes, tossing occasionally, until tender and golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
-In a skillet over medium to medium-high heat in skillet (could be the same skillet as the onions), add a little olive oil or cooking spray.  Add spinach and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes until completely wilted.
-Add pizza stone to oven and cover with cornmeal.  Let heat for 10 minutes.
-While stone is heating, roll out the dough into a thin crust.  Transfer dough carefully to pizza stone.
-Bake crust 8-9 minutes (mine actually puffed up and I had to press down with a spatula to let out the air).
-Brush the crust with the remaining Tbsp. of olive oil and sprinkle with rosemary (I also threw in some dried thyme). Sprinkle with a little cheese. Distribute the roasted squash, caramelized onions, sauteed spinach and feta over the crust. Top with any remaining cheese.
-Bake in oven for about 8 minutes until cheese has melted.
-Remove from the oven and let cool several minutes before slicing. 


Menu Plan

Sunday: Balsamic roasted chicken with couscous and salad

Monday: Ground turkey and spinach ravioli

Tuesday: Cajun Shrimp Po'Boys with sweet potato fries and Napa cabbage salad

Wednesday: Mexican seven-layer dip

Thursday:  Butternut Squash and Coconut Curry with rice and green peas

Friday: Buffalo Chicken Calzones (For dessert: Apple Caramel Crisp)

Asian Salmon

Happy Veteran's Day! Bryant and I both had the day off and spent a wonderful day relaxing and doing little chores around the house (I was also trying to fight off a small cold).  This Asian salmon was great for dinner tonight.  All you do is throw some ingredients in a ziploc bag, let it marinate and then broil for about 7 minutes.  It needed to be marinated for 1-2 hours which makes it more difficult to make for a quick weeknight meal, but overall, this is an incredibly simple and easy dish to make for a day at home.   

We served the Asian salmon with not only leftover sweet potatoes (that I wanted to use up) but also with brown rice - this delicious sauce really needed something to soak up all the juices! We also had roasted brussels sprouts but steamed green beans would have also been excellent.


Asian Salmon
Taken from: AllRecipes
Serves: 2-3

• 1 pound salmon fillets (I removed the skin)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 - 1 tsp. freshly grated ginger
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced onion
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

-Make several shallow slashes in the skinless side of the salmon filets. In a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, pepper, onion and sesame oil. Pour half of the marinade  in a ziploc bag and add the liquid.  Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.
-Preheat the oven to broil. In a 8-inch square baking dish or a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, add salmon.  Broil for approximately 4 minutes on one side and 3 minutes on the other, until fish flakes easily.
-In a medium saucepan, add the second half of the marinade.  Warm over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. 
-Pour the heated sauce over the salmon. Serve over rice.

Crumb (Coffee) Cake

To celebrate Bryant taking his Step 3 exam on Friday, I asked him what he wanted as a celebratory dinner and dessert.  His answer? Fish'n'chips.  Let me preface this by saying that was understood that this fish'n'chips was to be purchased from a restaurant. I have a quite a story of my disastrous attempt to make healthy fish'n'chips - let's just say the fish resembled smushed pancakes and I threw a small tantrum and refused to eat anything. Bryant was game enough to try it but before his first bite, he found a worm in his fish (even though it had been purchased from a more upscale grocery store).  Of course, the worm just made this story laughable.  And I've learned not to attempt a healthy version of fish'n'chips and stick with the restaurants (or Uncle John) that do it right.

But I digress.  My point was that while I wasn't going to be making dinner, I knew I could make a celebratory dessert.  However, instead of dessert, Bryant requested a coffee cake for breakfast the next morning.  And not just any coffee cake.  A crumb coffee cake.  Actually, the crumb coffee cake.  The kind that uses more butter than I use in a typical month.  The kind that might as well be dessert (correction: this coffee cake IS dessert - I found an almost identical recipe for crumb cake in my Cook's Illustrated magazine).  The kind that elicited a "Best damn coffee cake I've ever had" (his words, not mine) from a coworker of Bryant's when I brought it to the hospital for Bryant and his team on an overnight shift.

My final words of wisdom: This coffee cake isn't for every day (or even every month).  But it is so, so good, no matter if you're serving it for dessert or breakfast. And if you find a worm in your fish, bring both the fish and the worm into the store as proof and they should give you a refund.


Crumb (Coffee) Cake
Taken from: Smitten Kitchen & Cook's Illustrated (May 2007)
Serves 8

For the crumbs:

• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (Cook's Illustrated did not include this)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, melted
• 1 3/4 cups cake flour (I used all-purpose which worked fine)

 For the cake:

• 1/3 cup sour cream (Cook's Illustrated used buttermilk instead)
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup cake flour (same thing as above - subbed in all-purpose)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 Tbsp. softened butter, cut into pieces

-Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan.
-To make crumbs, in a large bowl, whisk sugars, spices and salt into melted butter until smooth. Then, add flour with a spatula or wooden spoon. It will look and feel like a thick dough. Leave it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl and set aside.
-To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream/buttermilk, egg, egg yolk and vanilla.
-Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula.
-Scrape batter into prepared pan.
-Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs (Cook's Illustrated suggests breaking apart crumb dough, and then rolling broken dough between your thumb and forefinger to form crumbs the size of large peas). They do not have to be uniform, but make sure most are around that size. Sprinkle over cake. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter, 35-40 minutes. Cool completely before serving (approximately 20-30 minutes).

Curried Lentils & Sweet Potatoes, Week's Menu Plan

This recipe was pretty impressive.  Not just because Bryant deemed it "blogworthy" but really because it took ingredients like lentils and swiss chard and turned it into a good dish.  Not only a good dish but a healthy dish, too.  Lentils are incredibly good for you (particularly high in folate and fiber), sweet potatoes provide Vitamin A and swiss chard are high in Vitamin A and K.  You can check World's Healthiest Foods for more: http://whfoods.org/.

This lentils & sweet potato dish needs time (about 45 minutes of cooking time) to soften the lentils so I wouldn't recommend it for a weeknight meal. (I actually had it on for a weeknight last week but then wimped out.)  However, it is nice that not only is it a one-dish meal but it doesn't have to be served immediately - it can just simmer until you're ready to serve.  We had it with some good homemade bread on the side and thoroughly enjoyed this meal!

Curried Lentils & Sweet Potatoes
 Taken from: Smitten Kitchen
Serves 6-8

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1-inch piece fresh ginger root, peeled and grated
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded if desired, then minced
• 4 to 5 cups vegetable or chicken broth, as needed
• 2 pounds orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 4 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups dried lentils
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 pound Swiss chard, center ribs removed, leaves thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• Finely grated zest of 1 lime
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/3 cup finely chopped tamari almonds, for garnish (optional, I omitted)
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions, for garnish

-In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and saute until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, garam masala, curry powder and jalapeno. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
-Stir in 4 cups broth, sweet potatoes, lentils and bay leaf. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium, partially cover, and simmer for 25 minutes. (If lentils seem dry, add up to 1 cup stock, as needed.)
-Stir in chard and salt and pepper, and continue cooking until lentils are tender and chard is cooked, about 30 to 45 minutes total.
-Just before serving, stir in cilantro, lime zest and juice. Spoon into a large, shallow serving dish. Garnish with almonds if desired and scallions.

Week's Menu Plan:
Sunday:  Lentils & Sweet Potatoes 

Monday:  pasta primavera

Tuesday: Asian Salmon

Wednesday: beef bulgogi w/ leftover moo shu veggies

Thursday: balsamic roasted chicken 

Friday: out!

Saturday: ground turkey and spinach ravioli

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

I hadn't made this lasagna in almost a year but I definitely remembered it.  It had been on my to-make list while I (impatiently) waited for the right season.  And even though we had unseasonably warm weather this week, I decided I had waited long enough.

I made it for dinner Friday night. I roasted the vegetables the night before and it still took me an hour to make and cook after getting home on Friday.  The reason I say this is not to scare you from making it - it is SO, SO worth it! - but to warn you about trying to make it for a quick weeknight meal.  However, if you do the prep work ahead of time, it could be an easy dinner to stick in the oven. And since lasagna typically makes a lot, the leftovers can also be a quick meal (lasagna is also known for being an easily freezable meal, too)!

While I like meat, I didn't even miss it one bit in this lasagna.  It's incredibly hearty and the flavors meld really well together. I love lots of sauce and this roasted tomato sauce is pretty delicious (I added a little extra marinara because I didn't have enough). There are tons of layers in this lasagna, too - it was almost overflowing out of the pan.

To sum it up, let's just say it was so good, we even took pictures!

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna
Taken from: Everyday Food
Serves 6-8

• 14 plum tomatoes (about 3 pounds total), halved lengthwise
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced or chopped
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and sliced inch thick
• Feel free to add in extra vegetables - I roasted zucchini and red pepper (but you could also use onions, green peppers, etc) 
• 2 pounds spinach, trimmed and washed (I had some kale to use, so I did about 1/3 kale and 2/3 baby spinach; swiss chard or mustard greens would work well, too)
• 1 container (15 ounces) skim-milk cottage cheese (you can also use ricotta, which is more classic but I prefer cottage cheese)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground or freshly grated nutmeg
• 9 to 12 no-boil lasagna noodles (preferably whole-wheat)
• 1/3 pound fresh mozzarella, cut into pieces 

You can actually prep all the steps up to assembling the lasagna ahead of time (up to 2 days before): 
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. On a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, toss tomatoes with 2 tablespoons oil, oregano, and 2 cloves chopped garlic; season with salt and pepper (I also threw cut zucchini and red pepper on one side of this baking sheet, too).
-Brush another rimmed baking sheet with 1 tablespoon oil. Arrange squash in one layer; season with salt and pepper. Roast squash until tender, about 20 minutes, and tomatoes until slightly shriveled, about 40 minutes.  Stir veggies about every 10 minutes). In a blender, puree 20 tomato halves. Season with salt and pepper; set aside. 

-In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Add 2 cloves garlic and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Gradually add 2 pounds spinach and toss until wilted, about 4 minutes. Transfer spinach to a strainer and press to release liquid. When cool, chop spinach and season with salt and pepper.
-In a large bowl, mix ricotta/cottage cheese, cup Parmesan, egg, and nutmeg until smooth; season with salt and pepper.
-Coat a 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray. Spread one-quarter the tomato sauce in dish (I used about 5-6 oz of sauce), top with 3 to 4 noodles, breaking to fit as needed. Top with half the ricotta mixture, squash (and any other roasted vegetables), one-quarter the tomato sauce, and 3 to 4 noodles. Top with remaining ricotta mixture, cooked spinach, one-quarter the sauce, and 3 to 4 noodles. Top with remaining sauce, mozzarella, and 1/4 cup Parmesan.

 -Set rack in middle of oven. Bake lasagna on a rimmed baking sheet until golden brown at 400 degrees, 30 to 35 minutes. Let lasagna cool 15 minutes before serving.

Light Loaded Potato Soup

I love soup.  I think there was a month there where I might have made a different kind of soup every week. It also might have been a month when it was 90 degrees outside each day.  So imagine my excitement that we finally have (much more) appropriate weather for soup!  And as soon as I saw two different blog posts about this Light Loaded Potato Soup from Cooking Light, I immediately put it on our week’s meal plan.  It didn’t hurt that I had leftover red potatoes, broccoli was on sale and I always have bacon in the freezer.

The soup is remarkably true to its name – it tastes exactly like a loaded potato! The soup is extremely thick and creamy, even though I used skim milk.  Throwing a little bacon on the top (just a little) makes each bowl that much more luxurious. However, I had the leftovers for lunch today without the bacon and it held up just fine without it.  I tweaked the recipe by pureeing ½ of the potatoes in the food processor and mashing the rest. I also threw in some steamed broccoli which I really enjoyed.

Light Loaded Potato Soup
Taken from: Ezra Pound Cake
Serves 4-6

• 4 (6-ounce) red potatoes
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 1/4 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (I did 2 Tbsp all-purpose, 1 Tbsp. white whole wheat)
• 2 cups skim milk, divided
• 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 bacon slices
• 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 4 teaspoons thinly sliced green onions
• 1-2 heads of broccoli, steamed

-Steam broccoli.
-Scrub red potatoes and dice into about 1 inch cubes. Place potatoes in sauce pan, cover with water and then bring to a boil.  Cook for approximately 10-15 minutes until cubes are easily pierced with a fork (meanwhile, start cooking onions as below).  Drain potatoes into a colander.  Mash potatoes (I used a whisk) and then transfer half of the potatoes to a food processor.  Pulse until potatoes are creamy.
-While the potatoes are cooking, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, and sauté for 3 minutes. Add broth.
-In a small bowl, combine flour and 1/2 cup milk. Add the mixture to the pan with 1 1/2 cups milk. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook for 1 minute.
-Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in sour cream, salt and pepper. Set aside.
-Move oven rack to the top-middle section and heat broiler. Place a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet and place bacon strips on top of cooling rack. Broil for approximately 3-5 minutes.  Flip over and cook 30 second to 1 minute on the other side.  Drain bacon on paper towels and then crumble.
-Serve soup with cheese, green onions, crumbled bacon and broccoli.