Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club- Have a Heart/ Red Food Granny Smith, Radish, and Radicchio Salad

This month's theme for our Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club is Have a Heart/ Red Food. Quite a clever theme for the month that gives us Valentines Day, which is a celebration of red and hearts.

The theme was chosen by Val and she has some great information on her blog about why eating red foods is a great way to add valuable nutrition to your diet.
Here is how the menu turned out this month-
Val - More Than Burnt Toast - Bourbon and Brown Sugar Flank Steak w/Garlic-Chive Mashed Potatoes
Jamie - Mom's Cooking Club - Brushetta with Warm Tomatoes

Sandi - Whistlestop Cafe Cooking - Spanish Salad of Oranges, Fennel, Red Onion and Mint with Dressing

Mary Ann (me) - Meet Me in the Kitchen - Granny Smith, Radish and Radicchio Salad

Jerry - Jerry's Thoughts, Musings and Rants - Roasted Sweet and Sour Beets, Carrots and Parsnips

Roz - La Bella Vita - Almond Jelly Roll with Raspberry Filling

I chose to make this Granny Smith, Radish and Radicchio Salad with Orange-Walnut Vinaigrette which caught my eye a couple of months ago in Cooking Light Magazine. I loved the colors in the salad and the combination of these flavors makes a salad that is spicy, crunchy, tart and delicious. The vinaigrette brings it all together, along with the chopped walnuts on top.
The radicchio and radishes were my red foods.

Check out the rest of the menu above- we have two new members joining our Virtual Supper Club this month, Welcome Jerry and Roz!


Recipe for Granny Smith, Radish, and Radicchio Salad

Curried Butternut Squash and Potato Latkes with Apple Salsa

I've never had Latkes before, so I am certainly not an expert. I have no idea how they should taste, what they should look like, etc. I just saw a section of Cooking Light recently that was dedicated to different types of latkes and these ones, with the combination of butternut squash and potatoes, caught my eye. I liked the idea of the apple salsa too.

I tackled this recipe the day after Christmas.
There was all this talk of it snowing here in Georgia for Christmas and I really didn't think it was going to happen. Maybe it is because I can't stand the white stuff or just because I like to think that it is impossible for snow to come here (even though it has on occasion), but sure enough, Christmas night, it started to snow. And it didn't stop until the next morning. Church was canceled, we were snowed in and it felt like the perfect day to try these guys.

The peeling and shredding of the squash and potatoes is what takes up the most time, but when you are snowed in, what else are you going to do?
Draining the liquid in a colander didn't work for me, I had to literally squeeze out all the liquid. I had read or heard somewhere that this is a very necessary step to have good latkes.
There was a nice bit of heat in these from the jalapeno (I used this instead of a serrano pepper) and I have to say that I think the apple salsa was a really nice compliment to these latkes.

My daughter & I really loved these, some of the others thought they were just okay. I served them with a little bit of unsweetened, natural applesauce and a dab of greek yogurt, alongside the apple salsa.

Recipe for Curried Butternut Squash and Potato Latkes with Apple Salsa
* I used a jalapeno pepper instead of a serrano pepper

TWD- Apple-Coconut Family Cake

My daughter and I just made this delicious cake. Amber chose it for this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe and you can find the recipe on her blog HERE.

We made this as an after-school snack, mostly because I had some leftover coconut milk in the fridge and I figured I could use the coconut milk in place of the yogurt. I also used applesauce instead of the oil. I reduced the sugar by about 1/4 cup since I only had sweetened coconut to use in the cake.

I wasn't sure what to expect. I haven't ever combined apple and coconut in anything, but it worked out really well. The coconut milk really brought out the coconut flavor and the apples were delicious. I skipped the glaze and just sprinkled my cakes with sanding sugar.

I doubled the recipe, since I had a full cup of leftover coconut milk. I made 2 6-inch springforms, 4 4-inch springforms, and 5 little heart cakes.
My daughter wanted to make faces on the heart cakes- one for each member of our family. She used cranberries for the eyes and an apple slice for the mouth. Not too bad for a 4-year old.

You can see everyone else who participated this week by checking out Tuesday's with Dorie!

TWD Rewind- Mini Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecakes

This week we were given the chance to go back and make any Tuesday's with Dorie recipe that we wanted. I made the Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake, but in mini form for a dinner party.

This recipe was the 6th recipe chosen for Tuesday's with Dorie, back in February 2008. It is a wonderful, light cheesecake, flavored with brown sugar & cinnamon which also has apples that are sauteed in butter and brown sugar layered in between the cheesecake.

This cheesecake was amazing. Flavor, texture- everything.
I topped the mini's with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream and they were enjoyed by everyone.

Go check out what everyone else picked to make for this week's Tuesday's with Dorie rewind!


You can find the recipe in many places, like HERE on The Way the Cookie Crumbles

French Fridays with Dorie -Marie-Helene's Apple Cake

This week for French Fridays with Dorie, we made Marie-Helene's Apple Cake.

This cake contains more apples than anything else and I decided it would be perfect as one of the desserts I made for a Fall get-together last week. I was making everything in cupcake form- pumpkin cheesecakes, pumpkin cupcakes, apple cheesecake (by Dorie too- what a great recipe!)- so I decided to turn this cake into cupcakes too.

Dorie suggests using 4 different kinds of apples, so I used Granny Smith, Jazz, McIntosh, and Golden Delicious. I substituted apple cider for the rum in the cake.
My cupcakes baked up in about 30 minutes or so and turned out great. I dusted them with powdered sugar before serving and they were well liked.

Go see who else made this cake and what they thought about it over at French Fridays with Dorie!

You can find the recipe in Dorie's new book- Around my French Table and Here from epicurious.

TWD-Double Apple Bundt Cake

Double Apple Bundt Cake. It just sounds perfect for this time of year. We finally got out of the 90's this past week and had some cool weather, so an apple cake really fit into the beginning of fall.
Lynne over at Honey Muffin chose Double Apple Bundt Cake as this week's TWD pick. She will have the recipe posted on her blog. You can also find many versions of this cake all over the web.

The reason this is called a Double Apple Bundt, is because it contains apples two ways. 2 apples are peeled and shredded into the cake batter and 1 cup of apple butter is also used in the cake.
I don't usually keep apple butter on hand, so I knew I wanted to make mine at home. I knew that way I could control the level of sweetness and spice.

I made 1 1/2 times the recipe so that I could make a normal bundt and 6 minis. I knew I was going to give the big one away, but we really wanted to try this one too, so I kept the minis for us to sample.

I followed Dorie's suggestion and made these the day before, then wrapped them tightly and glazed them the next day. I used granny smith apples and omitted the nuts and raisins.

This was a delicious cake. Moist, with great apple flavor. Absolutely perfect pick.
Check out what everyone else thought by heading over to Tuesday's with Dorie!


Recipe for Oven Apple Butter
* I did not add the total amount of sugar called for. I added 1/2 of it and tasted it, then a little bit more, so it wouldn't be too sweet.
* My apple butter was ready after 3 hours in the oven.

Green Fruit Salad with Rosemary

Please excuse some of these photos lately! When my family was visiting from Utah, I really didn't take the time to get a good picture of some of the recipes that I really wanted to share.

I tasted this at a recent book club get together and knew there was a secret little something in the fruit salad besides the green apple, kiwi and green grapes.
I asked the hostess what is was and quickly decided that I would definitely be making this at home. A Rosemary simple syrup was the secret ingredient that added that punch of flavor.

I used the simply syrup recipe that I have used with other fruit salads before that is usually flavored with citrus juice and zest and just added fresh rosemary sprigs instead of the citrus. I just guessed on the number of fruits to use, so if you want more green apple or kiwi or grapes, feel free to add more of that fruit.

It might sound like a crazy combination, but it is so amazing.
I took this salad to one of our family dinners and everyone raved about it.

Green Fruit Salad with Rosemary
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water
fresh rosemary- I used a lot
2 green apples, cored and chopped
3 kiwis, peeled and chopped
3 cups green grapes, halved

Combine sugar, water and rosemary in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; remove from heat and let cool. Refrigerate until chilled.
Combine chopped fruit in a large bowl. Strain the rosemary from the syrup and add the syrup to the fruit. Stir to combine and chill until time to serve.

MSC Bonus- Applesauce Spice Cupcakes

I decided to do the Bonus recipe for MSC (Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club) yesterday morning. I made 1/4 of the recipe and I got 6 cupcakes.
I would have to say these turned out more like muffins because I decided to use whole wheat flour and they already had applesauce in them.
I upped the spices and instead of adding toasted pecans at the end to the batter, I decided to add gingersnap cookie crumbs that were leftover from the Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake that I made for Thanksgiving.
I also skipped the frosting because I was going for a muffin type breakfast item. I just dusted them with a little bit of powdered sugar.
My sister was very happy about these cupcake/muffins and they did seem a healthier than a normal cupcake.

To see who else made this month's bonus cupcake, check out the MSC Blog. You can find the recipe on page 55 of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes or here, where they are called muffins :)

twd-Cran-Apple Crisps

Cran-Apple Crisps were chosen in November for Tuesdays with Dorie by Em, The Repressed Pastry Chef. This pick was for last week, but since we can post out of order this month I am posting these today. You can find the recipe by going to this post on Em's blog.
I love cranberries and apples, but crisps and/or cobblers are one of my least favorite desserts to make and eat. They are so easy and simple, so that is good but, I don't love warm, sugary fruit.
In this case that turned out to be a good thing, because I could take a small bite and walk away without any desire to have another bite.
Another good thing about this recipe was that my 5 yr old and almost 3 yr old (b-day next week) made the crisps with almost no help from me.
I let them mix the topping with their fingers, stir together the filling ingredients and layer them in the dishes.
I made 1/4 of the recipe in 2 small baking dishes. My girls were super excited to eat these, probably because they had made them. They loved them. I tried a bite and thought it was good. I like how the cranberries added tartness, as usually crisps are overly sweet, imo.
I made a couple of changes to the recipe. I used sliced, toasted almonds in the topping instead of coconut+ all whole wheat flour, and let my girls cut the butter into the topping with their fingers, so the topping was nice and oaty/nutty since it didn't get pulverized in the food processor. I also reduced the sugar in the filling, so it wouldn't be as sweet.

My girls loved these. I thought they were good, so if you are a HUGE crisp fan or love apple pie/warm apple desserts & cranberries, you would probably love them.
This recipe would be a good one to serve at Thanksgiving since it is definitely a fall recipe.

Go to the TWD Blogroll to see what everyone else made this week!

CEiMB- Carrot, Green Apple and Mint Salad- tweaked

I wasn't sure about this week's Craving Ellie recipe, Carrot, Green Apple, and Mint Salad. But it was chosen by Jessica, who blogs over at A Singleton in the Kitchen, and who is my blogging/twitter friend. Her blog is great, lots of yummy recipes and she is in most of the baking/cooking groups I am in, so I decided to look at the recipe again and try it out.

My main concern with this recipe was that it was similar to coleslaw(which I don't like), due to the dressing ingredients, basically a combination of mayo and vinegar. I hate mayo. This is a well known fact to people that know me. I can't stand it in anything. The flavor and the very thought of it is just a no-no for me. Not in salads of any kind or grossly hanging off sandwiches or whatever. No mayo for me. No exceptions. If a recipe calls for mayo, I will sub plain or greek yogurt, but even then I don't like "wet" salads and really don't like the combination of mayo and vinegar and sugar. I love vinegar and sugar, just not mixed together.
Anyway, enough about all that.
I decided to make this salad in a way that would be appealing to me. I spend enough time in the kitchen to know how to tweak a recipe a little bit, so that it is yummy to my tastebuds.

I used greek yogurt, lemon juice and a tad of honey in my salad. (So, basically I just left out the mayo and the vinegar). I also just used whatever apple I had on hand, which was a braeburn, in my salad. I think it would have tasted better with a sour apple, which is why the recipe calls for Granny Smith, but I didn't have one.

I also didn't have mint, so I just subbed in some Italian parsley. Not exactly the recipe that Ellie created, but it was quite delicious to me and that is what really matters.

Check out the CEiMB Blogroll to see what the others thought about this salad!

Recipe for Carrot, Green Apple, and Mint Salad

Apple Streusel Coffee Cake

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for an apple cake to bake. I ended up comparing two apple cakes that were very similar and also got lots of great suggestions for other recipes to try.
Maria shared this recipe from her blog, Apple Streusel Cofffee Cake. It was a cinch to throw together and my youngest could not wait to dig into it. I gave her a little taste and she said "I love this cake!"
I used two types of apples because I had about a cup of chopped granny smith apples leftover from one of the other apple cakes I had made. I layered those in with the batter and then added a cup of sliced apples on top.

This was a really quick, delicious treat. Whip it up if you need a simple breakfast or dessert!

Apple Streusel Coffee Cake from Two Peas and Their Pod

Coffee Cake:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons nonfat plain yogurt
2 cups thinly sliced, unpeeled apples

Toppings:

¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray an 8- or 9- inch round spring-form or 8-inch square pan with non-stick spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, mix well. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, blend well. Alternately add flour mixture and yogurt to margarine, beat well after each addition. Spread batter in pan and arrange apple slices over batter.

In a small bowl, combine all topping ingredients except butter. With pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle topping evenly over apples.

Bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. If desired, remove from pan. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream! (We ate ours w/out either and it was still delicious)

The Apple Cake Taste Test- smitten kitchen's Mom's Apple Cake and Gigi's Apple Cake

A couple of weeks ago, I had the urge to make an Apple Cake. Everyone was talking about Autumn, how the leaves were turning and the temperatures were dropping and apple cake just seemed appropriate.
I had an idea of what kind of apple cake I wanted to make. I found a recipe on smitten kitchen that I really wanted to try and I also found another recipe that I remembered tearing out of a magazine years ago.
After looking at the 2 recipes, I realized that they were almost identical, but slightly different.

I decided to make 1/2 recipe of both cakes and compare them. This also meant I got to use my cute mini bundt and mini tube pans.

Gigi's uses granny smith apples that are thinly sliced and mixed into the batter. Cinnamon is also mixed into the batter and it is mixed with a hand mixer.

SK uses macintosh apples, cut in cubes and only the apples are tossed in cinnamon. The batter is layered with the apples, not mixed. This cake has more baking powder and salt and a tad more flour. It does not use a mixer.

The SK batter was thicker, looked more like cake batter, and most of the mini's were done at 30 minutes, although I started checking 5 minutes before that.

Gigi's cake batter was thinner, almost like a quick bread or muffin.
I reduced the sugar in both cakes. SK by about 1/3 cup and Gigi by 1/4 cup.

The definite favorite with most people was smitten kitchen's apple cake. I took these little cakes to my husband's work and both of the cakes were devoured, so both were good.
My son preferred Gigi's, for some reason. He couldn't really put into words why though.

This was a fun little autumn experiment.



Recipe for Gigi's Apple Cake

Recipe for Mom's Apple Cake on smitten kitchen

One Year Ago- Dorie's Pumpkin Muffins

S'mores Variations

Chocolate graham cracker, crunchy pb,milk chocolate, plain marshmallow

A couple of months ago, I took the kids to the store and we loaded up everything you might need to make S'mores. It had been a dreary week, of cold and snow (keep in mind we were in Utah then) and I thought we would have fun making them inside.
We wanted to do a couple of variations, so we got chocolate, cinnamon and regular graham crackers, strawberry, toasted-coconut and regular marshmallows, different kinds of chocolate and fresh fruit.
Then, we got home and started making combinations. We used the microwave to puff our marshmallows, but at this time of year, doing these around a campfire would be fun.
We went a little crazy. Here are a few of our favorite combinations.
We had neighbor kids over and all the kids really loved these fun treats. Well, the adults loved them too.

Have a fun, safe 4th of July. We are in Washington, D.C. and really looking forward to the festivities!

Chocolate graham cracker, white chocolate, strawberries, toasted coconut marshmallow

Regular graham cracker, creamy pb, strawberries, strawberry marshmallow

Regular graham cracker, white chocolate, fresh pineapple, toasted coconut marshmallow

Cinnamon graham cracker, regular marshmallow, granny smith apple slices

Regular graham cracker, milk chocolate, strawberries, regular marshmallow

Chocolate graham cracker, regular marshmallow, Andes mints

Chocolate graham cracker, toasted coconut marshmallow, milk chocolate, creamy pb

Coming Next Week- Quinoa with Veggies and Pepitas

Fresh Fruit Salad with Lemon/Orange Syrup

I love summer. I love the hot sun and now that we are back in Georgia, I have to admit it- I love humidity. I used to crave it when we lived in Utah and I remember the one day that I could actually feel humidity in the air when we lived there. It felt good in my lungs. I know I must sound crazy, but I actually like exercising in the humidity, too.
Another thing I love about summer is the wonderful variety of fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season. Doesn't everything just taste better in the summer?
I love going to farmers markets and enjoying the fresh produce from the garden.
This is a great salad for any season. The simple syrup could be flavored with any citrus flavors and the combination of lemon and orange is really good.
This salad is great with any fruit you might have on hand. I took it to a party, so I threw together the fruit I had and just happened to have red, orange and yellow fruits in the bowl. Yum!

Fresh Fruit Salad with Lemon-Orange Syrup

1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 Tbls fresh lemon juice

1 Tbls fresh orange juice
1 tsp grated orange zest
4 cups diced fresh fruit (I used apples, oranges, strawberries, pineapple, and mango)

Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; remove from heat immediately. Stir in lemon and orange juice and zest. chill.
Prepare fruit. Stir into chilled syrup, so all is coated.
Chill until ready to serve.

Coming Next- Banana Cake with Blackberry Buttercream

TWD-Parisian Apple Tartlet or Plum, Mango, Apricot, Peach and Pear

Pear

Mango

Plum

Apricot above, Peach below

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Parisian Apple Tartlet, was chosen by Jessica, who blogs over at My Baking Heart.
You can find the recipe on Jessica's blog.
This recipe is easy if you use frozen puff pastry. I was just trying to get as many recipes for TWD as I could, out of the way before we moved to Georgia. I used the frozen puff pastry I found at my local grocery store (Pepperidge Farms), even though Dorie suggest using an all-butter puff pastry.
I was in a hurry, so I didn't even think about making the puff pastry from scratch. I did use as many fruits as I could find though. I made the tartlets about an inch smaller than Dorie suggested and made 12- 2 with each kind of fruit. The favorites in our house were those made with peaches and plums. The topping fell off the apple tartlet and it didn't turn out very pretty, so that is why the pic of that one is at the very bottom of this post.
This dessert would be a great ending to a party or a fun dessert to make with young kids. Check out what all the other TWD-ers came up with by going through the TWD Blogroll!

Up Next- a simple fruit salad