Apple Muffins

These muffins are a great fall treat. Eat 'em for breakfast on-the-go, as an after school snack, or serve them drizzled with warm caramel sauce for dessert.














Apple Muffins
makes 12

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 T cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup vanilla yogurt, stirred well (buttermilk is great too)
2 large apples, coarsely chopped

• Preheat oven to 450 and either grease or line a 12 cup muffin tin.
• In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
• In a mixing bowl, cream the butter until it has lightened in color and become slightly fluffy. Add the sugar, mix until combined, then add the egg. Slowly add the yogurt; mix well.
• Stir the dry ingredients into the wet and, while there are thick streaks of flour, add the apple. Mixture will be very thick.
• Using an ice cream scoop, divide the batter into the muffin cups.
• Bake for 10 minutes, turn the temperature down to 400 and bake for 18-20 minutes.
• Cool in tin for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Enjoy!

Roasted Eggplant Dip

I implore you to double, triple or quadruple this recipe. Seriously, so that no one gets hurt in the rush to scoop up every last bit of dip. It's THAT tasty! The roasted eggplant is silky smooth after a whiz in the food processor. And with loads of parsley and a touch of lemon, it's herbaceous and bright. The perfect antidote for a blustery fall day.














Roasted Eggplant Dip
serves 2

3 small eggplants
2 garlic cloves
juice of half a lemon
1/2 cup parsley, roughly chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

• Preheat oven to 400.
• Pierce each eggplant with a fork several times. Roast until tender, 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and remove the pulp from the skin.
• In the bowl of a food processor, combine the eggplant, garlic, lemon juice and parsley. Pulse until combined.
• With the processor running, slowly add the oil. Combine until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve with toast, pita, bread sticks, vegetables...
• Enjoy!

Stuffed Peppers

This is a great way to finish off extra ground beef. When you're cooking for two, a pound o' meat goes a long way. Use half to make a couple of burgers and the rest to make these yummy stuffed peppers. Oh, and the rice from last nights Chinese takeout is an ideal filler. Waste not and eat well!














Stuffed Peppers

4 small bell peppers
1 T oil
3 jalapenos, chopped
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup rice, cooked and cooled
3 T parsley
1/2 T Hungarian paprika
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/8 t. allspice
1 1/4 cup tomato sauce, divided
1/2 lb. ground beef
1 egg

• Cut the tops off the peppers, scoop out the seeds and stems, and dice the tops.
• In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil and cook the chopped pepper, onion and garlic, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and add the rice, parsley, paprika, salt, pepper and allspice. Stir well and allow to cool, about 10 minutes.
• When rice mixture has cooled, add 1/4 cup tomato sauce, then the beef and egg. Stir to combine.
• Fill the peppers with stuffing and set upright in a small sauce pan. Add the tomato sauce and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower flame to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Spoon a liberal amount of sauce over the peppers and continue to simmer until the peppers are tender, 15-20 minutes.
• Peppers can be prepared 1 day in advance. Chill cooked peppers in sauce and reheat slowly when ready to eat.
• Enjoy!

Peanut butter and Concord grape tart

Luscious Concord grapes beckon to me at the farmers market. Let their musky magnetism draw you in too! Pick up enough to make this crumbly, cookie-like tart (great for adults and kids alike) AND to munch on some straight-up. Go now, before it's too late!

Just-sweet-enough Concords are amazingly juicy and refreshing, and the super healthy seed adds a nice bitter bite. They make a great palette cleanser. Serve a couple of the gorgeous globes alongside the tart. Top it all off with a nice dollop of whipped cream or serve with a tall glass of ice cold milk. Either way, this is a happy treat!




























Peanut butter and Concord grape tart
serves 8

For the crust:
adapted from Martha Stewart

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for fingers and measuring cup
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

• In the bowl of the food processor, pulse flour, butter, sugar, and salt until moist crumbs form. Alternatively, use your fingers or a pastry cutter to combine.
  
• Transfer dough to a 9-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom. With floured fingers, press evenly into bottom and up side of pan. With a floured dry-measuring cup, press edge of dough firmly against side of pan, pushing down with opposite thumb to level top of crust flush with rim.
• Freeze until firm, 10 to 15 minutes; prick all over with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees, until golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Half way through cooking time, use the floured measuring cup to press down the puffed up crust. Check the crust again about five minutes before it's finished and press down again, if necessary. Cool crust completely.

Filling:

2 1/2 cups Concord grapes
1/8 cup sugar
1/2 t. apple cider vinegar
pinch salt
1 T tapioca starch

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/8 cup sugar
1/4 t. salt

• Preheat oven to 400.
• Using your fingers, pinch the pulp out of grape skins into a small saucepan. Reserve skins.
• Bring pulp to a boil over medium heat and cook 5-6 minutes, or until grapes have softened. Pour hot pulp through a medium mesh sieve over the reserved skins. Discard seeds. Stir pulp and skins until combined. Add sugar, vinegar, salt and starch; mix well. Set aside
• Beat together butter, peanut butter, sugar and salt until smooth.
• Spoon peanut butter mixture into tart shell and spread evenly.
• Pour grape jelly over peanut butter and spread gently until it barely reaches the edges (I like to be able to see that there's a layer of peanut butter underneath).
• Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the grape jelly has just set. Allow to cool completely.
• Enjoy!

turkey burgers

This is Sara Moulton's recipe. It's one of my staples. Not that I eat turkey burgers every week, or even every month, but I've been making these sliders for upwards of nine years. Holy potato that makes me feel old!

I learned to love food and the joys that come with it from my family. I took my first steps learning to cook watching the Food Network (it's a bit different now, no?). Watch, shop, experiment and repeat.... I also channeled Julia Child's make no apologies mentality. (Admittedly, I still struggle with that.) Emboldened by a few successes, I made my first ever Thanksgiving dinner. It was a full spread for ten hobbled together in a teeny weeny kitchen in London. Luckily, I had done my research, learned to chop an onion from Sara on the hugely educational (and fun!) Cooking Live and had someone who was psyched to grill the second turkey outside on the teeny weeny balcony. Oh, and most of the guests were Brits who had no real connection to Thanksgiving and, thus, had no real expectations. Bring on the Champagne!

Whatever you do, get your bad self into the kitchen and start cookin'! Try these burgers. My guess is that you too will make them for years to come.

turkey burgers
adapted from Sara Moulton Cooks at Home

serves 4

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 pound ground turkey
Freshly ground black pepper

• Preheat the oven to 400.
  
• Heat 1 T oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and red pepper and cook, until softened, about 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
  
• Combine the onion, pepper, salt, and turkey in a large bowl. Season with pepper. Mix well and form into 4 large patties.
  
• Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Place the burgers in the skillet and cook until well browned, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to the oven and cook until firm to the touch, about 6 minutes. Serve with peach jalapeno salsa.
  
• Enjoy!

Note: Sara adds 1 T Creole spice mix with the salt and serves the burgers with tomato and corn salsa.

peach jalapeno "salsa"

This really isn't salsa at all. It's basically sliced peaches, sliced jalapeno and a squeeze of lime. Savor the last-of-the-season peaches with a little bit of bite. (If you don't like it hot, dice the pepper and use sparingly.) Serve alongside turkey burgers or grilled chicken. Dinner is served.














peach jalapeno salsa

2 ripe peaches, sliced
1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds discarded; thinly sliced
juice of 1 lime
pinch sugar

• Combine all ingredients and allow to rest for 20 minutes-ish so the flavas meld.
• Enjoy!

David Lebovitz's Cheesecake Brownies

These disappeared before I had a chance to take a photo of the cut brownies. Visualize rich chocolatey goodness and you'll have a pretty good picture.

Cheesecake Brownies

6 T unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup flour
1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 t. salt
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk
5 T sugar
1/8 t. vanilla extract

• Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9-inch square pan with foil or parchment paper, leaving an overhang; grease lightly.
• In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and beat in the 2/3 cup sugar, then the eggs.
• Mix in the flour, cocoa powder and salt, then the vanilla and chocolate chips. Spread evenly in prepared pan.
• In a separate bowl, beat together the cream cheese, the yolk, 5 T sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Using a dull knife of spatula, swirl the cream cheese mixture with the chocolate batter.
• Bake for 35-37 minutes, or until the batter in the center of the pan is just set.
• Cool brownies completely in pan.
• Cut into square and Enjoy!