Homemade Applesauce

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten's Homemade Applesauce. Love Ina!

Ingredients:

- 1 large navel orange, zested and juiced
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 6 pounds sweet red apples, such as Macoun, McIntosh, or Winesap (about 12 to 16 apples)

note: Ina uses granny smith apples for 3 of her 6 lbs, but I find that this makes the apple sauce too tart. I like to use 4 granny smith apples at the most, and sweet red apples for the remainder of the 6 lbs.

- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup molasses

- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the zest and juice of the orange and lemon in a large bowl. Peel, quarter, and core the apples (reserving the peel of 2 of the red apples) and toss them in the juice. Pour the apples, reserved apple peel, and juice into a nonreactive Dutch oven or enameled iron pot. 

note: When you peel your apples try to keep the peel of 2 of them as complete as possible. Doing this will make them easier to remove before mashing your apples.

Add the brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and allspice and cover the pot. 

Bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until all the apples are soft. Remove and discard the red apple peel. Mash with a potato masher or immersion blender until you have a consistency you like, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy! Delicious with potato pancakes...

Royal Icing

This is Paula Deen's recipe for royal icing. This icing hardens shortly after you frost your cookies, so it is perfect for cool designs.
Finn and I used this icing to try out our new owl and truck cookie cutters from Orsen Gygi. So much fun doing cookies with kids! 

We also used it this last Valentine's Day.

You will need: 

- 3 egg whites
- 1 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Food coloring, optional


Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine egg whites, sugar, and cream of tarter. Beat at low speed with an electric mixer until blended. Increase mixer speed to high, and beat 8 to 10 minutes, or until mixture holds a peak. 

Cover with a damp cloth when not in use. Separate into bowls and add food coloring, if desired. You can store any extra frosting in ziplock bags in the refrigerator. Have fun!

Raspberry Chipotle Meatloaf

Last night I dreamt of this meatloaf. I ate it this last summer at the North Creek Grill in Escalante, Utah. The Grill is located directly behind The Slot Canyons Inn. The Blogger (Claire Walter of Culinary Colorado) from whom I have stolen this photo describes said meatloaf as: "...fragrant with rosemary, dill and oregano and baked, then sliced, covered with glazed with a raspberry chipotle sauce and topped with mozzarella and baked." Yeah, she has some grammar issues in her writing, but it is the best description I could find and I am dying to recreate this recipe. Although, I don't remember any dill flavor... 
Maybe I will try to call the restaurant and see if they will give me the recipe. They probably won't, they probably aren't even open this time of year. Most Escalante restaurants are only open in the summer. Frowny face.

Cowan Cowboy Chili (aka: Escalante Beans)

Recipe by: Karen Griffin

I'm hoping not, but I might possibly be murdered for posting this recipe for anyone to see. I wasn't told this was a secret recipe so hopefully I'm not divulging a family secret...
These are sooooooooooo good. I make them for Finn's birthday party every year, and they are, to my knowledge, made every year for the Escalante 24th of July Liston-Pollock-Meisenback-Griffin-etc family party.

You will need:
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb bacon
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 2, 15 oz cans Pork and Beans
- 2, 15 oz cans Ranch Style Pinto Beans
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 T liquid smoke
- 3 T white vinegar
- 1 small can diced green chilies


Directions:
In a skillet, cook bacon, remove and break into pieces. In same skillet, brown ground beef and onions in bacon juices. Put all in a slow cooker with beans.
In a small bowl combine ketchup, brown sugar, liquid smoke, vinegar and green chilies. Add mixture to ingredients in slow cooker.
Stir well, cook low to warm up. Remove lid after heated to let thicken up.

EVERYBODY loves them. Seriously.

Baked Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

This is a recipe from Sunny Anderson's new food network show Made in America. When Jacob and I saw the lady make these sandwiches we new we had to try them. Incidentally, these sandwiches won a $25,000 contest and are Paula Deen approved :)

Yields 12 sandwiches
cook time: 40 minutes total, including prep.

You will need:

• 1 container (8 ounces) cream cheese
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives
• 1 pinch dried thyme
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated onion
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 package (12 count) Hawaiian rolls
• 8 ounces Black Forest deli ham, thinly sliced
• 8 ounces gruyere, grated

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, chives and thyme. Mix until well combined and set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, onions, Parmesan and Worcestershire sauce. Set aside in a warm spot to keep the butter from solidifying.

Cut all 12 rolls in half. Place the roll bottoms in a 9- by 13-inch pan. Place equal amounts of ham (about 3 slices) on each roll. Top with the gruyere. Spread a generous amount of the chive and cream cheese on the roll tops. Place the tops on top of each sandwich bottom.

Pour the butter mixture over the top of the sandwiches. Cover with foil and bake until the cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake an additional 5 minutes to toast the buns.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

This recipe is from Ree Drummond's new food network show The Pioneer Woman. Jacob was watching it with me and asked me to make it for him. No prob babe! Yum...

One change I made: I used chunky instead of creamy peanut butter. The crunch is mo better.

You will need:

Crust:

(note: I doubled this to make sure I ended up with a thick enough crust)

 

- 25 whole chocolate sandwich cookies, such as Oreos
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:

- 1 cup chunky peanut butter
- One 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
- 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- One 8-ounce package whipped topping, such as Cool Whip, thawed

Directions:

For the crust: 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Crush the cookies until they're fine crumbs. 

Pour the melted butter over the top and stir with a fork to combine. Press into a pie pan and bake until set, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

For the filling: 

Beat the peanut butter with the cream cheese until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. 
Add in the thawed whipped topping and beat until smooth, scraping the sides as needed.

Pour the filling into the crust, evening out the top with a knife or spatula. Chill for at least an hour before serving.

Coleslaw (Paula Deen)

I made BBQ pulled pork sandwiches last night and topped them off with this version of Paula Deen's coleslaw recipe. They were delicious! Find her original recipe HERE. 

You will need:

• 1/2 large carrot, grated
• 1/2 cabbage head
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar

Directions:

 Slice the cabbage thinly. Mix the cabbage together with the carrot. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining ingredients together and allow to stand for a few minutes. Combine the mayonnaise mixture with the vegetables and toss. Chill for 1 hour. You can jazz up this recipe by adding grated or thinly sliced apple, or craisens. But when using to top BBQ pork sandwiches I like to keep it simple.