Category Archives: kitchen stories

>Apple Cinnamon Muffins

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>Apple season is winding down, so I hope all of my favorite readers (that’s all of you, by the way) have stocked up on the best apples available. If you’re a true apple aficionado, you’ll know that some are best for eating and some for baking. While you enjoy that honey crisp in your lunch box, consider these muffins for a warm and cozy weekend breakfast.

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (you can use all-purpose if you must)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 egg (1/4 cup egg substitute)
1 cup peeled, cored apples: tart variety such as Granny Smith works well.
Stir flour, sugar, baking powder, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Add milk, butter, eggs, and apples next, stirring until smooth. Fill muffin tins about 2/3 full. Bake 20 minutes at 365. Let cool five minutes before eating – if you wait that long.
Readers, you know me. I’m already asking myself, “What if I shred these apples in the food processor? Or make them more the consistency of applesauce?” I’m also thinking, “How about raisins? Or dried cranberries?” It’s harvest season, after all, and all of those cranberries need to be used up somehow, somewhere.
Let me know if you try either variation. I’m curious!

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>Packers Bye Week; Racing Sausage Kabobs

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Sometimes simplicity is best. Having a good pantry and fully provisioned freezer have gotten us through some busy days and harried weekends. This weekend should have been easy: the Packers had a bye! No opponent dishes to research and create! Instead, there was a feeling of let-down. Our Packers are doing well, but our Brewers didn’t win quite enough. We decided to celebrate the Brewers’ success, as far as it went, by making Racing Sausage Kabobs.
Here are the ingredients and basic supplies:

A side dish of baked beans – Chuck can never keep himself to just opening a can of beans. He adds several of his own special touches.

Another simple side: a can of fruit with sliced banana creates a fruit salad.

Here we go: Italian, Polish, Bratwurst, Hot Dog (natural casing, of course), and Chorizo – all on a stick for easy eating.

There you go, folks: a taste of Miller Park in our own home. Maybe they didn’t make the World Series this time around, but the team did well. Very well.

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>Yet another Apple Crisp recipe

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>It’s autumn. It’s apple season. It’s been a productive apple season, too. I adapted this from a pie recipe by making the filling without fussing with the crust. If I master the art of crust-making, for pies or pizza, bloggy friends, you’ll be the second to know. My family will be first; they’ll be eating the results.

Back to the topic. Apple recipes are tastiest when they consist of two or more kinds of apples, preferably a mixture of tart and sweet.
Ingredients
3 medium tart apples, pelled an thinly sliced
3 medium McIntosh or other mild apple, peeled and thinly sliced
Topping
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Mix the ingredients without the apples.
In a 2-quart casserole dish or 8 x 8 square baking dish, place the apples on the bottom and top with the topping.
Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Top will be golden brown and have crispy spots.
Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping. Mmm – fresh apples.

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>Eating the Opponent: Minneso-ta style

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It was fried ravioli with Shock Top beer last week.

Amigo had his with Mello Yello.

This week, it’s Minnesota. The guys in purple. The Northern team that plays in a (snort) dome. The dome that couldn’t handle the snow last year and actually collapsed. No players in purple were injured during the perilous storm, but the Vikes had to play their next home game in an outdoor college stadium. Pardon me while I giggle a little at the irony of the whole disaster.

Back to the topic at hand: a Minnesota staple food. I asked my Facebook friends to help, but the two who live in the Twin Cities remained silent. I blogged a plea for ideas on Monday, and two chimed in. So…. we’ve narrowed it down.

We haven’t decided or shopped for ingredients yet. Well, folks? Wild rice? The ubiquitous Minnesot’n hotdish? Lutheran-style after-church pie?
There is still one Farmers’ Market left. I might buy my pie from the Amish baker. She makes delicious – well, everything. And almost next to her booth is the cheese vendor, the one who sells the freshest cheese curds I’ve ever eaten. Oh, wait. Cheese curds are Wisconsin, not Minnesota. Or are they also eaten west of the Mississippi and the St. Croix?
Meanwhile, let’s not forget the whole reason for the Eating the Opponent routine.
Go! Pack! Go!

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>Yet another Zucchini Recipe

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>You guessed it, readers. I am presenting to you one more way to use up the last few zucchini. I liked this as a vegetarian main dish; Chuck preferred it as a side. Either way, it’s delicious.

Cheesy Zucchini Squares
Ingredients:
3 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3 eggs or 3/4 cup egg substitute
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
Directions:
Spray 8 by 8 baking dish (or similar sized pan) with non-stick spray.
Stir together the zucchini and salt in a colander and let drain 15 minutes. Press out the liquid; let drain another 15 minutes. Pick up small handfuls of zucchini and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Transfer to small bowl.
Whisk together flour and baking powder in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until blended, then stir in flour mixture and mix well. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the zucchini, onion, and cheese. The batter will be stiff. Pour into baking dish and press evenly into all corners.
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Let cool 5 minutes; serve warm.
By the way, this heats up well as a planned-over. In true Wisconsin fashion, I’m considering dusting the top with grated mozzarella or Parmesan when it comes out of the oven. I didn’t add nuts and twigs to this dish, either. The possibilities for variation are endless!

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>Meal planning, Daisy style

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A typical week looks like this in the OkayByMe kitchen:
Monday: Chuck works late, Daisy makes an omelet.
Tuesday: something good for two.
Wednesday: something good for two.
Thursday: something good for two. Can you tell we’re enjoying the empty nest during the week?
Friday: Crock Pot or other easy dish to accommodate Amigo’s pick-up time around five.

Meanwhile, eating the opponent continues on Saturday nights.

St. Louis Toasted (fried) Ravioli was delicious, but high maintenance. Chuck said “Never again.” I said, “Let’s leave it to the restaurants.”
Next week, Minnesota Vikings. Last year we faced this dilemma, too. No lutefisk, I declared, not in my home! So instead, we made a stuffed meatloaf (good hot-dish, Lake Wobegon style) and bought a can of Spam. Breakfast featured turnovers in honor of former Packer turned traitor, er, Viking, Brett Favre.
No one liked the Spam.
But anyway, we’d like to expand on eating Minnesota next weekend. A search through Swagbucks turned up recipes with rhubarb (too easy), wild rice (a strong possibility), and the ubiquitous hot dish. Hot dish, for the uninitiated, is another name for a casserole. Meat, veggies, pasta or potatoes, all in one pan, stirred with a can of cream soup to hold it all together. Many hot dish formulas call for a can of tuna or a pound of browned ground beef.
We could make a ground beef and tater tot casserole using tater tots made in Plover, Wisconsin.
We could make a wild rice dish with fish or other wild game meat.
Turnovers? Not necessary this year. Take that, Brett.
Well, readers, what do you think? Minnesota friends, weigh in, please. What should we serve for Eating the Opponent when our Packers play the Vikings?

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>Eating the Opponent: meet me in St. Louis, Louis!

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Last weekend we had peach cobbler for dessert and cornbread with peach jam with the meal. We tried Coke with peanuts later in the evening and made grits with maple syrup to go with brunch.

This time, we’re looking to St. Louis. The Brewers were up against the Cardinals, and the Packers are playing the Rams. My sister-in-law lived and taught in St. Louis for several years, so she joined Earth Muffin in recommending some good local fare.
Our tentative plan: Fried ravioli. Chuck will find a beer (not Budweiser, by the way) with St. Louis or at least Missouri roots. We weren’t willing to fry a cardinal – that’s another sport entirely. Besides, I hear cardinal tastes like chicken.
Some of the fun in this project comes from the research. We get ideas from friends and family, we look things up on the Internet, and we get creative to add a bit of Wisconsin to some. Adding maple syrup to the grits was one nod to my state tree, the sugar maple. The peaches in the jam were Wisconsin and Michigan produce, not Georgia, to be honest. It’s the spirit of the project that counts. So on we go, eating our way (we hope) to 6-0!
Readers coming from Plurk or Twitter might know that I’m having my first cataract removal surgery today. Yes, of course I’m nervous. I’m using my irreverent sense of humor to survive it. No coffee in the morning before surgery? I’ll convince Chuck to drive through Starbucks on the way home.

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>Fun with a Can of Baked Beans

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>We keep a few cans of beans in the pantry in case we need a side dish for a simple meal. We almost never make the can plain, as sold. It’s not that they’re bad; they’re quite good. It’s more like gee, we could have fun with this. Let’s make that can of beans into —

Denver (no omelet) Beans
1 can (28 oz.) Bush’s original baked beans
Sautee ingredients:
green pepper
red bell pepper
red onion
Spices:
lemon pepper
cayenne pepper
cumin
white pepper
salt
smoky Tabasco sauce
minced garlic
Simmer beans in medium pan over low heat.
Saute peppers and onions in olive oil until soft. Add to simmering beans.
Add a dash of each spice to simmering beans.
Simmer until warmed through.
Serve with fresh chopped tomato on top to balance the spiciness.

Calico Beans

One can (28 oz.) Bush’s original baked beans
One can (14 oz.) butter beans
Touch of brown sugar
Dash of balsamic vinegar
Mix both types of beans, sugar, and balsamic vinegar, and simmer in a medium pot until warm.
Beans and Weenies
Leftover beans, plain or either of the kinds above.
1 leftover hot dog, bratwurst, or any cooked sausage. Best if grilled.
Slice sausage. Mix into beans. Heat until warm. Serve for lunch or solo supper; a classic leftover.
This is one of Amigo’s favorites. He makes it himself.

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>Eating the Opponent: Green Bay vs. Atlanta

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>It’s time for Georgia peaches and Coke with peanuts!

Last year I made peach cobbler and it was delicious. I also have peach jam this year – made from Wisconsin and Upper Michigan peaches, but tasty. Very tasty. We served Coke products with the meal, of course.
If you’re new to Eating the Opponent, we’ve developed a tradition of looking at the Green Bay Packers schedule and serving a local dish from the opposing team’s locale. Sometimes it’s sincere, sometimes it’s tongue in cheek. We had bear claws for breakfast the day of last season’s Conference Championship game in Chicago.
Lately, Wisconsin sports fans have offered up a lot of great play for fans, and a lot of fun eating for us. Our Brewers keep on hitting and defending their Beast-ly title, too. And the Wisconsin Badgers? Last week was easy; sweet corn on the cob to represent Nebraska. This weekend, we’ll eat our fill of good food and cheer on our favorite team: last year’s Super Bowl Champs, the Green Bay Packers.

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