Apple Cake

I love pretty much all apple-based desserts. However, this recipe had a couple of key attributes that made me extra excited: no slicing the apples in any sort of pretty fashion (as I have to for a decent looking tart), and I got to use my "tube pan" (previously known as "angel food cake pan" as I had never made anything else in it). I used this recipe from one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen.

From Smitten Kitchen:
6(ish) apples
1 tablespoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted
1 T baking powder
Dash of salt (or 1 tsp if you are following her recipe)

1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs


1. Chop apples, mix with the cinnamon and 5 T sugar (I used less, but it probably should depend on how sweet your apples are?)
2. Combine sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla, and orange juice.
3. Add combined mixture of flour, baking powder, salt.
4. Add eggs, one at a time.
5. Pour half of batter into greased pan. Top with half of apple mixture. Add remaining batter, then top with the rest of the apples.

 6. Bake at 350 for approximately 90 minutes, or until tester comes out clean (mine took longer...)

It takes a while to cook, because it is quite thick. Mine could have used a couple less minutes in the oven, but it was still good. And unlike a lot of cakes, even better the next day.


8. Sunshine.

9. Apple cider.

10. Promises of holidays. Especially in my current academic world, I look forward to a bit of a break at Thanksgiving and a real break at Christmas!

Now back to proposal writing. Hope you all have lovely weekends!

Roasted Vegetable Soup with Dumplings

It's no secret that I love soup. And I love roasted vegetables. So of course I love them together. I saw this recipe a few weeks ago. I modified several things, mostly because I didn't have all the ingredients.


Cast of characters:
-Carrots
-2 colored peppers
-Sweet potato
-Onion
-Vegetable broth
-Large can of tomatoes

For dumplings:
-1 cup flour
-2 tsp. baking powder
-2 T butter
-1 egg
-milk (I used a bit less than half a cup)
-Fresh rosemary
-Dried basil


I roasted the vegetables at 400, then added them to a large can of tomatoes and blended it all together. I added vegetable broth until it was about the thickness we wanted (thinner to accommodate some dumplings).

For the dumplings, I just cut the butter into the flour/baking powder mixture, along with the herbs. Then I added an egg (based on a helpful commenter from the Kitchn as a suggestion for better holding the dumplings together), and milk until it's a stiff dough. Drop spoonfuls into the soup,
simmer until cooked through (how one knows this eludes me, because even cutting one open doesn't really answer it, but we simmered for about 15 minutes and they tasted done).

What I am most excited about with this recipe is that I can make it with just about any roast-able vegetable. And Robin and I both love dumplings, which doesn't hurt. It didn't photograph the best, but trust me. It was good. I think it might even be my favorite I've made, mostly because it was a little different than my usual soup variations. 




5. I am thankful for a cute little house, in a neighborhood I love living in.

6. Green space. This city does an impressive job of it, and walking almost every day in my favorite park is my favorite.

7. Free speech. Though I struggle sometimes, at the end of the day, I am grateful that I got to cast a ballot yesterday, and that we are all entitled to say what we think. Most days anyway ;)

Warm Quinoa and Beet Salad

A simple weeknight meal for us - more exciting things coming soon I promise.

I love this because you can use leftovers, and adapt with whatever you have. I roasted  some yellow beets and brussel sprouts - the beets I just wrapped in foil, and the brussel sprouts I added a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I added the tomatoes to the oven for just a few minutes at the end. Everything tossed with a little more vinegar, a teaspoon of honey, and some garlic aioli.

We ate it warm the day I made it, and cold as leftovers the next day.

4. I am grateful for a partner who makes me laugh. Who eats what I cook and says thank you. Who takes care of our puppers and me. Who cleans and tinkers. Who is up for new adventures and new activities. For all of that and so much more, I am thankful.

A Few Not-Really Recipes

Graduate school became real again this week, hence the cooking but not the posting. But I promise I have a couple of recipes coming up. We were sort of slackers, since last weekend we had our friend Steve in town, resulting in some meals out rather than in.

Still, last week we had a couple of great meals, but they weren't really recipes. First up: my very first experience roasting a whole chicken.
We bought a whole (small) chicken at the Farmer's Market. It took a couple of days to thaw in the refrigerator, but then I just rubbed it with a bit of canola oil mixed with pepper, diced rosemary, and a little salt. Then we baked it at 450 for about half an hour, and 375 for another hour or so.

So simple, but so delicious. It gave me faith that one of these years, I will be capable of a celebratory bird for company. 

A couple of days later, I used the leftovers for some chicken soup:
Carrots, potatoes, celery, onion, orzo. And chicken. 

Finally, with Steve we made some chard and red pepper omelets. Onion, a bit of chipotle pepper, and sharp cheddar cheese. Num!



And finally, some pictures of a weekend with Steven:



So there you have it: three things I made last week, that don't really count as recipes. Next time, I will have some real recipes, I promise.

Finally, in honor of November, I am aiming for a second-annual month of thankful. Because focusing on the positive can't be a bad thing. Today, I am thankful for:

1. Long-lasting friendship. Having friends who take the time to come visit us, and are up for anything, makes me feel so lucky.

2. A crazy puppy who, while she drives me crazy sometimes, makes our little house even more a home.

3. Fall in St. Louis. It is pretty impressive, and other than the homework (which will not exist last year), it makes me happy to live in St. Louis.

Sweet Potato Patties

My love of sweet potatoes is nearly boundless. Any time I can try sweet potatoes in a new way I am usually excited. This was a new take on veggie burgers, though as you can see I ended up making them more like falafe. I based it off of this recipe. Some days I am inventive and actually make things up, but my skill level isn't high enough for novel ideas myself.

Cast of characters:
-2 to 3 sweet potatoes
-1 onion, chopped
-2 cloves garlic, diced
-1 cup beans (I used garbanzos)
-2 Tablespoons tahini
-2 Tablespoons maple syrup 
-Curry powder and cayenne, to taste
-1/4 cup flour
-Panko breadcrumbs 

1. Peel and chunk sweet potatoes, and roast in a 400 degree oven until soft.
2. Combine sweet potatoes, beans, onion, and spices.
3. Add tahini, maple syrup, and flour until the mixture is relatively thick. It will be pretty sloppy for burgers, but it worked out ok. If it's really too mushy, add some more flour and some breadcrumbs to the batter.
4. Flatten into patties (we did small like falafel and larger like burgers), and roll in breadcrumbs.

The other blog pan-fried them, but I opted to bake - 400 degrees and they took about 15 minutes. We waited for some hint of brown on the breadcrumbs.

We ate these with avocado on our favorite homemade pita recipe.

Hope you are having a lovely fall week where you are!

Sweet Potato Chorizo Chili

It is embarrassing how long it has been since I have posted anything. Consistency apparently escapes me. But last weekend we had a lovely time with family, and have a few fun meals we've made. First up: Sweet Potato Chorizo Chili.

I tend to like any meal I can cook in the crock pot, particularly on weeknights. So this was no exception: prepped the day before, turned the crock pot on low before I headed to work, and it was done by the time I got home!

Cast of characters:
-3 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
-1 large can diced tomatoes
-Pinto and Black beans (I used canned this time)
-1 large white onion, diced
-4 cups vegetable broth
-1 pound chorizo, cooked
-1 green pepper, diced 
-Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt and pepper to taste - I added 1.5 tsp. of cinnamon, and just a dash of nutmeg.

-Cilantro, yogurt, and cheese for serving 

All of the ingredients ended up in the crock pot all day, except for the chorizo, which we added right at the end.

And I didn't take photos like I should have of the chili, but here's a few other photos from the weekend:

Cake for Robin and Jeff's birthdays

A lovely walk in the park

Hope you all are enjoying this lovely fall weekend!

Carrot Soup and Homemade Pita

Get ready for soup - lots and lots of soup. Fall has officially arrived in St. Louis: leaves, sweater-worthy temperatures, and soup. First up, with carrots, since we got a bunch of free carrots from an event when my parents were here.



Cast of characters:
-Lots of carrots (approx 2 lbs), peeled and diced
-6 cups vegetable broth (or cheater substitute)
-1 large onion, diced
-1/3 cup coconut milk (or more to taste) 
-Cilantro, chopped
-2 cloves garlic
-Salt, pepper, and cayenne


1. Saute the onion in the pan, until brown.
2. Add the broth and carrots, simmer until reasonably soft.
3. Add garlic, cilantro, and spices.
4. Blend to desired consistency (I left some pieces to avoid feeling like baby food).
5. Add coconut milk, warm until heated through.

Note: I don't really have any idea how much liquid I want at the end to make the consistency right (since I don't really know what I'm doing ;) ), so when I'm using the immersion blender I always take some liquid off first and add it back in at the end if I need it.

We ate this with homemade pita bread from this recipe. Game changer. It is so amazing and SO EASY! Here it is:

1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons yeast (I used instant yeast, but supposedly active dry works in the same quantity?)
2 1/2 - 3 cups all-purpose flour
Salt (calls for 2 tsp., I have used little if any)
1-2 teaspoons olive oil ("optional", but most savory things are better with olive oil)

1. Add yeast to warm water, dissolve (~5 minutes)
2. Add 2.5 cups flour, salt, and olive oil. Mix until it resembles dough.
3. Knead 5-7 minutes, until it is "smooth and elastic", adding flour as you need.
4. Coat ball with a little olive oil, place it back in the bowl, and cover with saran wrap until doubled in size. It says 1-2 hours, but I have stopped it 30 minutes and had it doubled already. Maybe with the instant yeast?
5. Deflate, and roll out pieces to desired thickness. I have made about 9 with this recipe, but that is for really little ones.

For cooking, you have two options. We've done both.

1. Cook on a hot cast iron skillet sprayed with a bit of olive oil. Let cook about 30 seconds one side, flip, cook 2 minutes, flip again. It's done when there are some brown spots and it (hopefully) puffs.
OR
2. Preheat oven to 450 with pizza stone (or cookie sheet) inside. Cook pitas for about 3 minutes, or until they puff a little.

Ours have rarely gotten super puffy, regardless of which way we make them. But the dough is not super dense, so they aren't like the previous wood-like discs I have made. Just light and delicious. You can save the dough in the refrigerator too! If anyone has any recommendations for better puffing, let me know. Even with marginal puffing, these were amazing.

Hope you have a lovely fall day where you are!