Fried Apples

My oldest son Max loves fried apples, and when he asks for them it's usually because he sees a package in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.

When he requested them for dinner recently, I decided to make them on my own. Super simple and so tasty as a side dish, fried apples also make a great dessert. Max even took leftovers in his school lunch.

Many recipes for cooked apples call for lots of white sugar, but you don't need that much. Use a smaller amount of brown sugar and let the sweetness of the apples stand on their own.

I love to pair cooked apples with pork, which is what we did when I made these. They're also excellent with vanilla ice cream.

Mangia! Mangia!

Andrea

Fried Apples

4 large apples, cored and sliced (I used 2 Fuji and 2 Granny Smith)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Warm a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add butter and let it melt. Add apples, cinnamon and brown sugar. Cook, stirring often, until apples are softened and sauce is bubbly.

Once apples are tender, heat a little longer until sauce thickens. You can up the temp a bit to make this happen.

Serve warm with pork chops or over ice cream.

Teriyaki Chicken with Ginger Veggie Couscous

Take-out meals definitely serve their purpose, but making your own versions at home is more fun, healthier and budget-conscious, too.

I always have chicken in the freezer and a box or two of couscous on hand, so this was easy to whip up. A bag of matchstick carrots in the crisper drawer is the perfect add to the couscous, along with green onions and broccoli. As for the ginger, here's my tip: Instead of buying a piece of ginger root and using a micro-zester or a grater, I buy a tube of minced ginger. It lasts longer in the fridge than the root and speeds things up quite a bit.

You can use this teriyaki sauce as a marinade for grilled chicken or you can pour it over the chicken and bake it in the oven. Either way the flavor is restaurant-worthy.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Teriyaki Chicken

1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced or grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
3 to 4 pounds chicken pieces (skinless breasts or skinless thighs)

If oven baking, preheat oven to 425 degrees. If grilling, preheat your grill to medium about 10 minutes before you plan to cook the chicken.

In a saucepan, combine soy sauce, cider vinegar, garlic, ginger, pepper, brown sugar, cornstarch and cold water. Simmer over low heat until sauce thickens and begins to bubble. Remove pot from heat and set aside.

Place chicken in a 13 x 9 inch pan. Pour teriyaki sauce over chicken, turning the chicken pieces to coat both sides.

If baking, place in oven for 30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken from baking pan and place on serving platter. Top with remaining teriyaki sauce from baking dish.

If grilling, cover pan and put in refrigerator to let chicken marinate for 30 minutes. Preheat your grill. Remove chicken from marinade and grill on medium for 5 to 8 minutes per side, brushing with the extra marinade as you turn the chicken pieces. Cook until chicken is no longer pink inside.

Ginger Veggie Couscous

1 box wheat or plain couscous
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 and 1/2 teaspoons minced ginger
1 to 2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/2 cup carrots, finely chopped
1 cup broccoli florets, chopped
1 to 1 and 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Prepare couscous according to package directions, except omit oil or butter.

Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add ginger, garlic, onions, carrots and broccoli. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat.

Add couscous to skillet and stir to combine. Add sesame oil and soy sauce, and gently mix to combine the sauces.

To serve, plate chicken (slicing breast meat is a nice touch) with veggie couscous and enjoy!

Sour Dough Coffee Cake

When a friend gave me a bag of Amish Friendship Bread starter earlier this year, I had no choice but to experiment.

To me, that's really what these bags of goo are all about. If you have kids (especially boys!) they will love squeezing and 'burping' the bags of starter as the yeast ferments with the milk, flour and sugar. And you can teach them a little science along the way. In fact, I've caught Sam several times sneaking into the dining room to squeeze the starter bags.

My sour dough starter is still going strong since I received it in March. And I've learned quite a bit, as Erin did when she received some starter a few years back.

If you haven't been gifted a bag, I encourage you to make your own. The recipe is here. When you (and your friends) get tired of using the starter, I'm happy to report that the freezing method does work. I made this coffee cake with a bag of starter slush that I thawed and re-started after it spent about two months in cold storage. Those little yeast molecules picked up fermenting right where they left off.

Once you make the traditional Amish Friendship Bread, it's easy to use starter for other things, including cakes, brownies, cookies, pancakes, biscuits and pie crust. If you need ideas be sure to visit the online bible of friendship bread recipes at the Friendship Bread Kitchen.

I'm not a huge fan of the instant pudding mix and loads of sugar that many starter recipes use. Luckily for me, when Robin T.  delivered my first starter bag, she included pudding-free recipes developed by her co-worker Claudia T. This coffee cake recipe is a spin off. And it is the best coffee cake. Ever. The day after my recipe tinkering I had to give away batches of cake to my neighbors because we could not stop eating it.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Sour Dough Coffee Cake

For the cake batter
2 cups of sour dough starter
1 1/2 cups of flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the topping
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg or ginger, or 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (experiment!)
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with cooking spray or grease with butter or shortening.

Using a plastic or wooden bowl and spoon, mix together all ingredients for the cake batter. (Do not use metal. It reacts with the yeast in the starter and gives it a funny taste.) Pour mixture into pan and spread out evenly.

Place all topping ingredients in a second bowl. Using two knives or a pastry cutter, incorporate butter into other ingredients until crumbs begin to form. Sprinkle topping generously over cake batter. You might have some left over. (You can freeze the extra topping and use it when you make this coffee cake again — because there will be a next time.)

Place pan in oven and bake for 30 minutes to 40 minutes, until the top is browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let the cake cool. Then cut yourself a piece and indulge. And keep your starter going so that you can make this again.

Here's Max holding one of our starter bags.

Almond Granola Bars

These granola bars are a spin-off of a recipe that's been circulating among the moms in my Peoria neighborhood for years.  I was recently gifted the ingredient list — and of course started making my own variations.

We're lucky to have lots of kids in our 'hood, and one mom and I often trade baked goods (and favorite cook books) when our kindergarten boys get together. Julie B. introduced me to these light and crisp bars.

By way of pure coincidence, these granola snacks originated with Charity J., a mom in an adjacent subdivision — who was my neighbor when we first moved to town.

In my never-ending quest to provide filling nibbles to my boys, I decided to try making these snacks with almond flour. As I'm learning, almond flour is a gluten-free alternative with more flavor, protein and healthy fats compared to regular flour. I even used it to make triple almond chocolate pudding.

With Max and Sam in the house, a tray of these sweet and chewy morsels disappears pretty fast.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Almond Granola Bars
Inspired by the moms of Hawley Hills

2 eggs
4 tablespoons vegetable oil (coconut oil would be delicious)
2/3 cups honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup almond flour
4 cups rice krispie cereal
4 cups old fashioned oats
3/4 cups mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil and honey. Add brown sugar and mix until smooth. Add baking powder, almond flour, rice cereal and oats. Stir until everything is coated in the honey mixture.

Mix in chocolate chips and cherries.

Line a 13 x 9 inch pan with enough parchment paper so that some hangs over the edges. Pour mixture into pan. Using a spatula, firmly press granola into pan. Don't be gentle. You want to really press hard.

Bake for 15 to 25 minutes, depending on how hot your oven is. (Mine runs a little on the cool side, so these took almost 25 minutes.) When the top is golden brown, remove pan from oven.

Let cool completely. Holding the ends of the parchment paper, lift granola from pan and set on cutting board. Slice into bars. Good luck trying to eat just one!

Baby Bok Choy & Mushrooms with Oyster Sauce

I could eat this dish Every. Single. Day.

It's all about the simple sauce, which tastes delicious with the crunchy bok choy and earthy shiitake mushrooms. The combination is so fresh and healthy. We even got Max to eat his first mushroom in six years (!!) — all thanks to this recipe.

This vegetable blend makes a great side dish. The oyster sauce is also divine with broccoli, bell peppers, snow peas and whatever else you have on hand. Serve it along side cashew chicken or Asian glazed pork tenderloin. Or make it a complete meal by adding stir-fried strips of chicken or beef or sautéed shrimp.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Baby Bok Choy & Mushrooms with Oyster Sauce
Adapted from Allrecipes.com

4 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
8 heads baby bok choy, trimmed but leaving heads intact
1 cup water (for microwave steaming)
3 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
1 to 2 tablespoons minced garlic
10 ounces sliced shiitake mushrooms (or substitute your favorite fungi)

In a small bowl, whisk together oyster sauce, soy sauce and brown sugar until sugar dissolves. Mix cornstarch and water, making sure cornstarch dissolves. Combine water and oyster sauce mixtures, stirring until smooth. Set aside.

Steam bok choy in microwave or blanche on stove top. Place bok choy in microwave safe bowl or dish with 1 cup water. Cover with vented lid and cook on high about 4 or 5 minutes until tender and bright green. Alternatively, bring pot of water to boil. Add bok choy and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until shiny and green. With either method, drain and set aside on a serving platter.

Heat oil in large pan. Add onions and garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and cook until tender, stirring often. This should take about 20 minutes. Add oyster sauce mixture and mix to coat mushrooms and heat through. Pour mushroom sauce over bok choy. Serve with white rice.