Apples Transformed

Last week Adam and I went out to play in the backyard. Adam loves to pick little apples from our dwarf apple tree up off the ground and inspect them. After washing them off he might even take a bite or two! As we were out there I decided to pick the rest of the apples off of the tree-- there were only 5-6 small ones. With these in hand plus a few Gravensteins I'd picked up at the farmer's market I had the makings for a lovely apple crisp.

I had remembered that in a past issue of Cook's Illustrated they had a recipe for apple crisp that looked intriguing. It looked good and was nice because it could all be assembled into a skillet and baked in the oven.

I decided to add a few of my own touches to the recipe- substituting more local hazelnuts for the pecans and adding nutmeg and vanilla to the topping as well as the filling. Also, I used a bit of our own apple cider!

The original recipe calls for Golden Delicious apples- but I combined my unknown variety rosy backyard apples with a few from the market and it turned out divine! So, get creative with your own apples or apples that you find at the market this time of year- just ask the farmer which ones are good for baking and enjoy! This recipe is so good that even my husband who usually doesn't like apple desserts has enjoyed it!


Oregon Apple Crisp:

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Topping:

3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts
3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats (I use Bob's Red Mill- another local product)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons or 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla

Filling:

3 pounds Golden Delicious, Gravenstein or other good cooking apple- peeled, cored, halved and cut into 1/2 inch thick wedges
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup apple cider
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. For the Topping: Adjust the oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450F. Combine flour, hazelnuts, oats, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in butter and vanilla until mixture is thoroughly moistened and crumbly. Set aside and make the apple filling.

2. For the Filling: Toss apples, granulated sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a large bowl; set aside. Bring apple cider to a simmer in a 12 inch oven safe skillet over medium heat; cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, around 5 minutes. Put the cider into a liquid measuring cup, stir in the lemon juice and set aside.

3. Heat the butter in the same skillet over medium heat. When the foaming starts going down add the apple mixture and cook, stirring frequently until apples begin to soften- 12 to 14 minutes. You don't want to fully cook apples. Remove pan from the heat and stir in cider mixture to coat the apples.

4. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the apple mixture- breaking up any large chunks. Place skillet onto a baking sheet and bake until the apples are tender and the topping is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack around 15 minutes- then serve.

Enjoy!

Small Victories

Today Trista and I went out to the garden, the first time we had since last week. In fact, on Thursday of last week, September 16, I picked some lettuce to take to the beach, and that was it. The last picking before that was on Monday of that week. The weather has been difficult, which goes with the rest of the season. It was muggy and wet, and around 70 degrees. This week it will continue to be wet and even foggy, and in the 60s for highs, and 40s for low. As you know from your own experience, not much growth can be expected with weather like that.


We were pleasantly surprised to find our first zucchini (pictured above on a pile of our beans), and another small one beside it. Usually by this time we are heartily tired of that vegetable, but we count it as a small victory for this difficult season. Trista began lifting the cucumber vines, and we noticed many tiny "beginner" cukes, and a few that were pickling size. Another small victory.


Our purple-striped wax beans had a decent crop, and we noticed a few blooms still on them. So, victory number three. We're on a roll!

Next we noticed our tomatoes. Hooray! Our pet tomato, the purple calabash, had a beauty ready to pick. The Federle tomato finally gave us some partially ripe ones. The Italian Heirloom and Jaune Flamme also gave up some partially ripe tomatoes.


Next, on to the green snap beans. Yay! we have enough for each of us for dinner tonight. A tiny victory indeed.

Winter squash were surveyed, and found, well, small. For this year, that will have to count for a victory.
Two more small victories - sunflowers and grapes. The grapes are miniscule but ripening nicely, just enough for eating fresh. This is the first year, so we are okay with that. The sunflowers are blooming and pretty, but small. Enough for a bouquet, but probably no seeds, or very few anyway.
While harvesting, we talked about our expectations at the beginning of this season, and compared the harvest to last year. On both counts we came up short. At nearly 500 pounds of tomatoes on half as many plants last year, we don't think we'll get anywhere close this year. in 2009, beans were plentiful and corn grew well so we were able to freeze a lot. Cucumbers also gave us enough to make about 40 pints last year of pickles and 5 quarts of relish. The picture of the tiny pile of veggies below was our harvest for today....


This year we can count 12 pints of pickles on the shelf, and about 1 1/2 gallons of frozen wax beans. Tomatoes and green beans have only produced enough to have for fresh so far, but we should get enough to can some tomatoes, and freeze some beans.

The peppers, brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower are - as Trista says - a big pile of nothing. We'll be able to harvest beets, carrots, basil, and dry beans , though, so still some victory there. Also, potatoes produced less than expected, but we are not disappointed - it is our first effort, and we'll do better next time even if the weather conditions are as bad.

Trista had some news to share about her suburban garden, which fared a bit better. She does have Halloween pumpkins ready to be carved in time for that holiday. She had lots of rhubarb, and was able to put about half a gallon of chopped rhubarb in her freezer. Strawberries produced all season, enough to keep Adam happy finding and eating them. She also harvested some unexpected and delicious huckleberries. Trista also had some apples from her young apple tree, and combined them with a couple of apples from the farmer's market for an apple crisp.

The sweet potatoes didn't even put out a vine, and may join the above-mentioned "big pile of nothing" vegetables. We haven't dug them up to see yet, but you'll be the first to know. Her "mystery" volunteer squash may turn out to be a white pumpkin. It is round and very white, so we shall see. It is, at least, providing some entertainment, something the rest of our efforts is sorely lacking.

All the time during our disappointing harvest, we have been discussing what we might do to be successful next year. To be sure, we may not have the same difficult weather, but then again, we might. We decided to plan for the worst and hope for the best. So, we're looking for short-season tomatoes, investigating ways to make all of those "big pile of nothing" crops do better, and figuring out ways to increase the warmth of our soil for all of our crops. One idea I saw was to dig a deep trench or bed, lay in some fresh manure and cover it with soil, then plant seeds. The fresh manure will warm the soil and the seeds, so they will germinate and grow better, then as the manure decomposes, the plant's roots will have grown enough to tap into the rich nutrients it provides at that stage. It sounds good anyway, so if we can figure out how to get some fresh manure we just might do it. We are looking for other ideas too. Do you have any for us? We're listening!

Chocolate Birthday Bliss!

For my son Adam's 2nd birthday as always I wanted to make a cake from scratch. I wanted it to be delicious and fun for him and for all of the party guests. This cake fit the bill very well. I actually made this cake last year for his first birthday in a much smaller version just for him and made other cakes for the guests. This year, I wanted to make a larger scale version of this rich, moist, chocolate cake.

I had searched a long time for the definitive chocolate cake recipe and this is it! I found it last year online when I was searching for recipes for Adam's birthday. He seemed to really love the cake. I feel like I never really need another chocolate cake recipe-- I can always dress this one up or down to suit the occasion.

Adam has loved clocks for a long time. One of his first words was "clock" and he loved pointing them out everywhere we went. He still loves to play with a few pocket watches we have in his toy box. They are some that his Grandpa had collected long ago. He loves to listen to the "tick-tick". So, because Adam loves clocks I wanted his birthday cake to be a clock and I am so happy with the results!

I am so thankful for my sister in law Kim- we make a great cake team because I love baking the cakes and she loves doing the icing and decorating. So, that is exactly what we did. A few days before the party I made the cakes, wrapped and froze them. Then, the day before the party Kim came to make the chocolate buttercream- which is heavenly- and decorated the cakes. She makes magic with frosting and I couldn't be happier! And neither could Adam, who thoroughly enjoyed the cake as you can see below...

Here is the cake recipe- this recipe makes an 8 inch two layer cake or a 10 inch bundt cake. I tripled the recipe for the 12 inch birthday cake. Enjoy!

Rich Chocolate Birthday Cake:

Makes: Two 8 inch layers or One 10 inch bundt cake

Dry ingredients:

2 cups granulated sugar (I used organic sugar)
1 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Liquid ingredients:

2 large free range organic eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

-parchment paper


1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour cake pans. Then, fit a round piece of parchment paper into the bottom of the cake pans if making the two 8 inch layers.

2. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl of an electric mixer or mix them in a large bowl with a whisk.

3. Mix all of the liquid ingredients together except the boiling water in a separate bowl.

4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes or use a small hand mixer or your whisk to beat until thoroughly combined and smooth.

5. Stir in the boiling water. Pour batter into two 8 inch prepared pans or one 10 inch prepared bundt pan and bake in a preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes or slightly less for the two 8 inch pans. Be sure to insert a toothpick into the center of the cake and if it comes out clean the cake is done. Let the cake or cake layers cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack and let cool completely.

6. Make chocolate butter cream (with the recipe below) and fill and frost cake. Decorate with candies if desired!

Quick Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream or whole milk
2-4 ounces of unsweetened baking chocolate, melted- I usually use Baker's brand but feel free to use any dark chocolate that you like.

1. In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

2. Add vanilla and cream (or milk) and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream (or milk) if needed for spreading consistency.

3. Then, add the melted chocolate. Taste after mixing and make sure that the chocolate flavor is to your liking. If the chocolate flavor is too weak, add more chocolate. Make sure to use a rubber spatula to scrape up the frosting from the bottom and assure that it is thoroughly mixed in.


Enjoy your special and delicious cake!

Garden Updates

We are realizing that when we started this gardening project we had high hopes of large yields of many vegetables and also many fruits from the orchard. Since last year was such a good one in both areas we thought we could plant even more varieties and types of plants and thus get much more to store away for winter. Well, it is not panning out very well because many plants are not producing very much- probably enough to enjoy for a couple of dinners or so, but not enough to can & freeze.


We still hold out hope for our very large tomato patch which is mostly green (as you can see in but the tomatoes are starting to get an orange tinge to them. Normally this time of year we'd be gearing up for canning season and we would be starting to harvest many tomatoes and other crops, but aside from my Mom making a few pickles from our cucumbers we haven't even gotten started because there really isn't much to harvest.


On Wednesday of this week- September1st, 2010 Adam and I headed out to my parent's house to take a look at the garden. We saw our "prized" and only little melon which we will surely enjoy when it is time to pick it!


We also took a look at our squash and although they are small there are quite a few forming on the vines- so we'll enjoy a few of those later on.

Next week we're going to pick more blackberries now that they are really in season and there are many ripe ones to be had. I already have a bag full in the freezer ready for something tasty this fall. So, I'm hoping to harvest a lot to freeze and maybe make some into syrup.


In spite of a very small harvest on most of our crops this year there was a very welcome surprise today! We discovered that there were many hazelnuts on the ground near the hazelnut trees. Since there is finally a pollinator tree nearby we were able to harvest nearly a whole large bucket of nuts! We will dry them out and shell them soon! Very exciting to see!! You can see in the picture above that the nuts still have a husk on them, it is fun to see them in their "raw form."


The dry bean harvest will be moderate, but they appear to be producing well. It is the first time we have tried to grow dry beans and it will be fun to try the many different kinds. The pole snap beans are loaded with blossoms, but because the crows ate so many of the bean seeds last spring, we won't get the huge crops we hoped for. On the other hand, they at least didn't take all of them! Some of the blossoms are now small beans, so we should be able to have some next week. Keep your fingers crossed!


The only beans we have harvested so far are the purple-striped wax beans. I've only been steaming and freezing them, as my purpose in growing them is to use them in three bean salad. As I mentioned, the green snap beans are just about ready, so now we are hoping for the limas, or at least the scarlet runners for our third bean.

As Trista said, I have been making pickles recently. Since the harvests are small, I just adjust the recipe to fit the quantity I have, and keep on going. I like to make 14-day sweet pickles, and I have been making dill pickles from the same recipe for many years now. I have tried other recipes for each, but I keep coming back to my old standbys. The 14-day sweet pickle recipe is from an old Kerr canning jar booklet and is similar to other recipes using a long cure. The dill recipe is one I cut from the Oregonian many years ago,Mrs. Neusihin's. She made and sold pickles in the Portland area for many years. Her establishment was close to my school, and she delighted in handing out pickles to passing students. It was a tiny business, to be sure, but she was famous in the area for her dills. You can easily find similar Kosher Dill recipes in canning books, but I use hers, as it brings back happy memories of the delighted kindness of an old lady to those of us who greeted her and enjoyed her pickles. Below you can see Adam sure enjoys these pickles too....

Here is the recipe for those yummy pickles:

Mrs. Neusihin's Pickles:

Makes: 8 of pickles jars

8 cucumbers, per jar approximately
2 cloves garlic, per jar
1 hot red pepper, per jar
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard, per jar
1/2 teaspoon pickling spice, per jar
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish, per jar
2 teaspoons dill, per jar
1 cup salt, noniodized
24 cups water
8 grape leaves

Fill jars with cucumbers, make sure to prick the blossom end with a toothpick first. Put everything but the salt and water in the jars in quantity shown per jar. Boil the water and salt to make a brine. Make sure the salt is dissolved, then pour boiling hot over cucumbers and spices. Put a grape leaf in each jar and then put on lid, but do not seal tightly for 5 days. During each day, shake jar occasionally. Ready to eat in 4 to 6 weeks.

Enjoy!

Onto other gardening news....

Difficulties arising from the weather continue. Today the temperature is in the high 80s, but earlier in the week it was in the low 60s. I liken the weather ups and downs to an erratic driver on the road, making it difficult for fellow travelers to decide what to do to keep safe. I know the tomatoes and other plants like more warmth, and that cooling down the earth and cutting down the sunshine just aren't compatible with the growing season.


We have decided through this difficult weather that we have to look about us for other possibilities to harvest, and as Trista mentioned, the blackberries are looking good to us. We also made some cider from some tiny Lady Apples, on a tree of our neighbor. The deer got to the tree first, so we shared with them and had just enough to make spiced cider at Christmas. The Lady Apple is sweet, and slightly pink inside, so the cider is a rosy color, and a cinnamon stick or two is probably all that will be needed. I think our appreciation of this treat will be all the sweeter as we look back on our harvest year.

Tiny Suburban Garden Report:

The mystery squash continues to grow quite nicely and is now forming some type of squash and has many blossoms! It is great to see such a great volunteer plant. The few volunteer tomato plants are also doing well and forming little tomatoes! So exciting! We might have a few things here after all. Our four large pumpkins are also doing well on the vines, they'll be ready for Halloween!


Stay tuned for more harvest news...


Just as I was adding the photos to this post my Mom who was visiting us and helping take care of Adam as my Dad finished up our roof project said "Quick, get your camera!" Adam had found a large bunch of huckleberries on the two little bushes we have in our backyard!! What a lovely discovery! I didn't know that there were many berries on them at all! You never know...and they were delicious! Adam had fun picking one and then putting it in his little container, then eating it right away!!