A simple sliced apple and a spoonful of peanut butter make a great after-school snack and has become my 15 year old’s newest favorite.

My eldest is suddenly taken with eating a sliced apple at breakfast, along with her Raisin Bran.  She skips the peanut butter though.

I like this for a late night snack/dessert. It would also make a good lunchbox addition. If you spritz the sliced apples with a bit of lemon juice and water they won’t turn brown so quickly.

Oh, and my pediatrician said the apples that do NOT turn brown are generally lacking in iron, among other things. So you actually WANT to eat the ones that do turn brown, but use the lemon juice spritzer trick to keep them from turning brown!

Candied Orange Peels

If you eat oranges, save a few peels to make this treat! I’m lucky enough to have an orange tree in the yard and this is their season so we’re enjoying fresh oranges, orange juice and this treat my daughter whipped up today: candied orange peels. I got this recipe from The Complete Tightwad Gazette back before there were books when I subscribed to the newsletter. This book is a great deal if you’re looking to pinch a few dollars out of your budget.

peels from 3 large oranges
3/4 cup water
2 Tbs. corn syrup
2 3/4 cup sugar  (divided)

Cut peels into 1/4″ strips. Boil in enough water to cover for 15 minutes and then drain. Boil the corn syrup, water, and 2 cups of the sugar and stir till sugar is dissolved. Add the orange peels and simmer for 40 minutes.

Put cookie racks on wax paper. Drain the orange peels. Put the peels onto the racks and drain 5 minutes.

Separate the peels and leave on the racks another hour.

Place the rest of the sugar in a paper or plastic bag, add the orange peels and shake to coat.

You can also make candied lemon peels and grapefruit peels.

peels from 3 large oranges
3/4 cup water
2 Tbs. corn syrup
2 3/4 cup sugar (divided)

Cut peels into 1/4″ strips. Boil in enough water to cover for 15 minutes and then drain. Boil the corn syrup, water, and 2 cups of the sugar and stir till sugar is dissolved. Add the orange peels and simmer for 40 minutes.

Put cookie

racks on wax paper. Drain the orange peels. Put the peels onto the racks and drain 5 minutes.

Separate the peels and leave on the racks another hour.

Place the rest of the sugar in a paper or plastic bag, add the orange peels and shake to coat.

Timing wise I would suggest peeling, coring and dicing the apples, then turning on the oven to preheat while you mix up the rest.

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a loaf pan.

• 2 cups peeled and diced apples
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1.5 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar

They also called for a topping but I totally spaced on it and forgot. It’s still delicious but if you want, crumble this together and sprinkle on top of the loaf.

• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter

Beat the eggs in a bowl, the mix in the oil. Add the vanilla extract, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and mix. Add the flour and sugar and stir. The batter will be thick. Add the apples and stir well.

Spoon into the loaf pan. If you’re using the topping, sprinkle on top of the batter before baking.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour.  It’s best to let the bread cool before slicing although you may find it hard to resist as it smells so good!

Lemon bars

My lemon trees are in overdrive mode these days! And my girl’s packing lunch so I figured these would provide a great dessert.   The recipe is from Mom’s Big Book of Baking.

Crust:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 Tbs cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 7 Tbs butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

Filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 Tbs flour
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp lemons zest
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

To make the crust:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line an 8×8″ baking pan with foil, leaving 1″ overhang on all sides.

Mix the flour, sugar, cornstarch and salt together, then cut in the butter. You can do this by hand with a pastry cutter or in your electric mixer.  Once it hits a stage where it’s all crumbly, you’re done. Pour into the prepared pan and press down with your hands. (The book says to freeze fro 15 minutes, then bake but I skipped that step and it was fine.)  Bake for 20 minutes or so, until lightly browned.

While the crust is baking, make the filling.

Mix the eggs, sugar, flour and salt until smooth, either with a whisk or your electric mixer. Blend in the lemon zest and juice.  When the crust is done, pull it from the oven and pour in the lemon custard mixture. Reduce the oven to 300 and bake about 20 more minutes. Let it cool on a wire rack completely, then lift the foil edges up and put on a cutting board.  Cut into 16 squares. Refrigerate in an airtight container with the layers separated by wax paper.   Dust in with powdered sugar just before serving.

Tapioca Pudding

1/3 cup sugar
3 Tbs minute tapioca
2 3/4 cup milk
1 egg, well beaten
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together everything but the vanilla and let stand for 5 minutes.  Put it on medium heat and bring to a boil, making sure you stir it almost constantly so the milk won’t scorch the bottom. Watch it carefully so it doesn’t boil over either!  Once it boils,  remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla, then let it sit for twenty minutes or so.
Put the tapioca pudding in bowls and refrigerate a bit before eating, unless you like it warm.  Usually we eat half of it still warm, then save the other half to eat the next day once it’s set up a bit.

I had a lot of apples, alas not from our trees at this time of year, and decided to make them for dessert tonight. My youngest, now in high school, came downstairs and said “Those remind me of 2nd grade!”

So make them bigger or smaller as you’d like, to serve as dessert or snack…or perhaps breakfast in our household.

Pastry:

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter PLUS 3 Tbs for filling
1/3 cup or so ice water

Filling:

3 cups peeled and chopped apples
2/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs minute tapiooca
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

I like to use the food processor to mix up pie crust but you could use the traditional pastry cutter or two knives as well. Mix together the flour and salt, then mix in the butter until crumbly. Add the ice water a spoonful at a time until the dough barely sticks together. Set aside while you deal with the apples.

Peel and chop the apples, then mix with the sugar, tapioca, cinnamon, nutmget and melted butter.

Roll the pie crust out to 1/4″ thickness and cut into circles the size you’d like. If you opt for larger 6″ circles, you’ll get about 6 turnovers. Use a bowl or plate to cut out the circles, inverting it onto the crust and cutting around the edge.

Put some apple filling into the middle and fold the pastry over to form a half circle, pinching the edges together. Place on a cookie sheet. Repeat until the dough is all gone. Cut small slits in the turnovers to let the steam escape.

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 350 and bake another 30 minutes or so. Cool on a wire rack.

Note: These pack well for school lunches! They also freeze.

But once you’re past that stage, you find lots of time where you have a spare 10 or 15 or 20 minutes while you’re waiting for something to happen. If your kids are young, this is fantastic! You can help with homework, engage with their play, or read a very short book.   But when your kids get older, you might find yourself wasting this time. Don’t!  Think ahead to the next meal or the one after that!

Tonight, I pulled out the other half of the filling for  a chicken pot pie I had made last week. I made up a fresh pie crust for the topping tonight since I didn’t have one in the freezer. (I often freeze any extra pie crust for later.)  I defrosted the pot pie filling partially in the microwave and the rest of the time on the stove on low while I made the pie crust. Poured the filling in a pie tin and topped with the crust and put in at 425 to bake for half an hour.

When I put the pie crust over the pot pie there was extra hanging over, so I cut it off and put it on a small cookie sheet and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, then baked for 10 minutes or so. Makes a great snack or dessert.

I still had some time before dinner. Potatoes had been on sale this week, $1.99 for a 10 pound bag, the best price we ever see around here so I bought a bag.  I peeled 4 pounds or so worth and diced, then parboiled until barely done, drained them, and flash froze on a cookie sheet. After dinner I took them off the cookie sheet and put them in a gallon freezer bag. Now we’ll have some quick and easy fried potatoes for lunch or dinner.

• non-stick cooking spray
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled a bit
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla

Spray the inside of an 8×8 glass baking dish.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder and flour.

In a larger bowl, whisk together the cooled butter, eggs, and vanilla. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet with a wooden spoon.

Scrape the batter into the baking dish. Microwave 4-7 minutes on high, just until the brownies are “done” in the middle.

Let the brownies cook on a rack 5-10 minutes, then cut into squares and eat. How easy is that?!

The book is nicely divided into Bar Cookies, Drop Cookies, No Bake Cookies, Rolled Cookies and Shaped Cookies. There’s a nice variety of cookies in each category and some that are definitely far beyond your ordinary cookie. The recipe for Malted Milk Chocolate Brownies is calling my name next I think.

So bonus points for unusual cookies. My only quibble with the book is the layout. While the ingredients are called out nicely, the directions are all in one paragraph, making it hard to find your place.

If you want to try a few of their recipes before buying, check out their web site. You can try out Colossal Double Chocolate White Chip Cookies or their Oranges and Cream Cookies. Hmmm…. maybe the Oranges and Cream Cookies will be next. Or maybe the Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies.

This will certainly add some great variety to our cookie baking around here!

3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
6 slices bread, buttered on one side

Preheat oven to 350. Put a kettle of water on to boil.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and salt.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk until scalded (just below the boiling point). You’ll see bubbles forming around the edge. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour the egg mixture in, whisking all the while. Stir in the vanilla and raisins.

Place the bread, buttered side up, in a 9×9 pan, just fitting in a few layers as evenly as possible. Pour the milk and egg mixture over the bread.

Fill a 9×13 pan (or something else that will hold your 9×9 pan) half full with boiling water. It’s easier to slide your oven rack out, put the larger pan on the rack, put the pan with the bread pudding in it in the larger pan, then pour the boiling water in the outer pan so that it comes up to the halfway point of the smaller pan. Slide your rack carefully back into your oven. Close the door and bake for 30 minutes or so, until the custard is set.