I was amazed at the beauty I found when I sliced into this beet.
The heat is on. For the past few nights it’s been dropping down into the 30s. In my opinion, that is too cold. However, that huge drop in temperature tells me that it’s time to roast some vegetables. I like roasting because it caramelizes the veggies and concentrates their flavor.
Roasted Fall Vegetables with Parmesan-Cheddar Polenta
Here’s what I do:
Preheat oven to 420.
Pick out firm root vegetables, add some garlic cloves (you also can add onions and peppers), peel, cube, toss in olive oil, sprinkle salt, pepper, and sage. *Sage being the key secret ingredient. It smells so yummy! The veggies I used here are sweet potatoes, red potatoes, carrots, and beets.
Now, line a rimmed baking pan with parchment paper. Please don’t skip this step. If you use the parchment paper your veggies won’t stick. Really. No sticking! Plop your veggies onto the baking sheet and spread them around into one layer. Place in oven and set a timer for 20 minutes.
When the timer goes off, take your pan out of the oven and give your veggies a stir. Then, place them back in the oven and set your timer for 20 minutes. Then do it all over again. I usually do 20, 20, 15 for a total roast time of 55 minutes.
You’re all set.
Whip up some polenta and add a bunch of shredded parm and cheddar. Throw your veggies on top. Eat. Enjoy.
Get yourself to your kitchen, pronto. I mean it. This cake is so good. What is it?
Fresh Pear & Apple Cake with Maple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting.
First, you take lots of pretty photos of your picturesque pears. Then, you peel and chop those babies up. Add apples if you don’t have enough pears. I used three pears and two apples. Mix a bunch of sugar with the chopped up fruit and let is sit and marry for an hour. Go and do something for an hour. I vacuumed.
Next, your gonna measure and mix your dry ingredients. Then crack four eggs and separate the whites from the yolks. Or the yolks from the whites, which ever you prefer. You can decide what you want to do with those yolks…just don’t throw them away. That would be wasteful.
Mix up your wet with your dry. Bake. Cool. Whip up some frosting. I taste-tested my recipe until it was perfect. Not too cream cheesy, just right. Now frost your cake and top with chopped nuts. I used walnuts. They’re good for you.
Look! It’s a piece of cake on my freshly painted chair. Remember, it was blue just a few short days ago?
That’s it. If you like, you can carry your piece of cake around and take pictures of it, or you can go ahead and eat it straight away.
Fresh Pear & Apple Cake with Maple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
4 cups peeled and chopped pears and apples
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 egg whites
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
1. Mix pears, apples, and sugars and let sit for one hour.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 13×9 pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper.
3. Mix egg whites, oil, and vanilla. Add to fruit mixture.
4. Whisk flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon. Stir in the fruit mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan.
5. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.
6. Frost and top with chopped nuts.
Maple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
1. Soften butter and cream cheese.
2. Whip all ingredients until soft and creamy.
You read right. Fresh Raspberry Sour Cream Crumb Muffins. Does anything sound more heavenly? You want a peek?
Here’s a birds eye view:
Now, let’s go on a trip down Memory Lane. It was Friday. I went to the grocery store, Harris Teeter, and happened upon a display of beautiful raspberries, five containers for $5. I couldn’t resist, so I scooped up five containers and went straight home (After I grabbed the milk and eggs, of course).
If you know anything about Dameian, my boyfriend, you know that he looked at me with that “What the heck are you going to do with five packages of raspberries?” look. Make some yummy raspberry thingy. Duh.
So, without further ado, I present “Fresh Raspberry Sour Cream Crumb Muffins.” Live and in color.
Dang, her little dress is torn!
Uh oh.
The recipe, courtesy of Williams Sonoma, is for a cake, I made muffins.
Fresh Raspberry Sour Cream Crumb Cake
Ingredients:
For the crumb topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
For the cake:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups fresh raspberries
2 Tbs. confectioners’ sugar
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 10-inch round springform pan.
To make the crumb topping, in a small bowl, stir together the flour, granulated sugar and lemon zest. Add the melted butter and stir with a fork until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.
To make the cake, in a bowl, stir together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla until well blended. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the sour cream mixture. Beat until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Cover evenly with the raspberries. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the berries.
Bake until the topping is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 38 to 42 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes. Remove the sides of the springform pan. Dust the cake with the confectioners’ sugar and serve warm or at room temperature, cut into wedges. Makes one 10-inch cake.
My Tips:
- Use half of the melted butter called for in the crumb topping. I thought it was too much. Or better yet, try an oatmeal crumb topping. Or lose the topping all together.
- Don’t make muffins, make the cake. The muffins were really tough to remove from the muffin tin.
- Try not to eat three in one day.
Metamorphosis Monday
Make Your Monday at Twice Remembered
DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land
Foodie Friday
Hooked on Houses
Friday Feasts
Food on Fridays
Hummus Special
A generous portion of hummus drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with cayenne pepper, with lightly toasted pita triangles and kalamata olives. Served with sliced apples and two cheeses, Gouda and Swiss.
I could eat this every day.
Foodie Friday
Don’t forget to check out my new Etsy store, sweet averie! Plus, if you comment on the giveaway post, you’ll be entered into a great GIVEAWAY!
Oh no she didn’t!
It’s true. I couldn’t help myself. I’m such a pushover. I’ve been thinking about these doughnuts for months and while perusing the biscuit aisle of my grocery, well…you know what happened. I grabbed a can, rushed home, and fried up a batch of pure fried yummy goodness. That’s what I call delicious fried stuff.
Fried. Yummy. Goodness.
How’d I do it?
Biscuit Doughnuts
- Heat canola oil in cast iron skillet to 350. (If you don’t have one of these things, get ye one sometime soon please.)
- Pop open can of buttermilk biscuits (NOT the flaky kind).
- Lay out biscuits and then use a smallish circle thingy and cut out the holes.
- Mix up sugar and cinnamon. (I didn’t measure, just stir around till it looks good.)
- Fry doughnuts for about a minute a side until golden brown.
- Remove from oil and immediately roll them around in cinnamon sugar.
Admire.
Take a picture.
Drool.
Eat.
Eat another while nobody’s looking.
DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land
Foodie Friday
I’ve never known my Dad to have a green thumb. However, having a little spare time, he decided he’d try his hand at a vegetable garden. Enter – the most gigantic zucchini I’ve ever seen. I had to tell my Dad that zucchini is best when picked at around five inches. He brought me three that were almost a big as baseball bats.
Last weekend, my Dad visited us, told Dameian how to fix a leaking pipe, and brought us a laundry basket full of veggies. I’m amazed.
After chopping forever, I came up with this:
Veggie Fajitas
Fajitas of Japanese eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and red onion with a cabbage, apple, and honey slaw. Yes, it was way good!
