Apple Cinnamon Roll Cobbler

There are changes coming in the next few months and this blog will be moving. I don't know if I have shared this before, I apologize if this is a repeat, but I recently re-opened my business. Years ago, I started making soaps and home made bath products. I eventually turned it into a business I called Sara's Soaks. Life constantly changes and soon Sara's Soaks was gone. This year I decided to bring it back from the dead. I opened an Etsy store and started doing some promotions. My life has often felt pulled in so many directions. I didn't feel like I had focus or a real dream to work towards. The reason I felt this way is because I didn't really believe that my big dream was something I could do. It was too big, too unrealistic, too expensive and so on. So I broke it up into little easy bits. I think it made it harder because I felt like I was being divided and I couldn't focus on anything. I had no clear goal any more. This blog shows that more than anything because every few months I announce how I am changing my focus on the blog. It's not because I am wishy washy (okay maybe I am, just a little) but because I can't seem to figure out how to make this blog work. It goes back to my being divided. I'm in the learning stages of my dream but the real focus has always stayed there in the back of my mind. This week, a friend of mine asked for a few volunteers because she wanted to experiment with helping artists with branding (marketing sort of branding not hot iron branding). I jumped up and said "pick me, pick me" because I am struggling. She sent me a questionnaire which asked me what I wanted in the big picture, what I wanted from her and where do I want to go. My first response was "I don't know" and then I proceeded to tell her exactly what I wanted. I didn't know I had a clear picture, it wasn't until she wrote back to say that starting with "I don't know" holds me back because what she saw was someone with a clear picture of what she wanted. I was shocked, I cried. I was the one holding my self back - I'm the one who didn't feel like my dream was feasible so I sabotaged my dream. She said she gave me permission to dream but what she did was allow me to accept what I want as something I allowed to want. I can't say for certain that I will live my dream but I won't know until I try. As part of the work she is doing for me, she is going to help me build a website that allows me to consolidate all the parts of my dream which will include this blog. I love this blog and now that I have a clearer picture of where I want to go, I should be able to be more clear with this blog. Not much will change but the blogs location. I will still share recipes and my foraging experiments. I will still work on offering natural, inexpensive alternatives. However, I will change from trying to come up with a plan for where this blog is going to knowing where this blog is going. My ultimate goal in life is to have a small sustainable farm, to live off of the food I grow or find in nature and to teach others how to do that. I'm going to go back to herbology and maybe even work towards some certifications but I will share that with you. I will share more failed experiments (there are so many that I keep to myself but could be a good lesson for others). More importantly, I will share more of me with you and my dreams. You'll discover that I am absolutely nuts about highland cattle and had a heartbreaking affair with two beautiful nubian goats (and I can't wait to do it again). I currently live in an apartment but I keep trying to figure out how to convince our manager that chickens can be pets or at least beneficial to our complex. I'm a terrible gardener with dreams of having acres of gardens (I think I have some sort of disorder). With all that said, I did have a recipe and some experiments I want to share. I've been working on making my own chocolate chips. They are not working. I found a recipe which made me so happy but the chips are too soft and when I made cookies all the chocolate melted. The cookies looked severely burnt and there were puddles of unsweetened chocolate left behind. My first batch I tried making with sugar to have the sugar sink to the bottom of the pan leaving really bitter chips. I loved them but my family was not impressed. I made a second batch with corn syrup but they are still not very sweet and too soft for chocolate chip cookies. I don't really like the idea of corn syrup and I think I need to add some wax. I will share the recipe once I get it to where my family will eat them. I have been dehydrating fruit. I saw a blog post about dehydrating fruit and the woman dehydrated beautiful slices of orange. I wasn't sure about that but we had some oranges that no one was eating so I dried them. They are amazing. I cut the oranges in half because I didn't think anyone wanted to eat through the rind before getting to the dried pulp. They are really tasty. I figure they would make a fun treat but also would be great for cooking with. I also made a batch of granny smith apples (half sprinkled with cinnamon). My remaining granny smiths went into this cobbler. I saw a peach cobbler that was covered in cinnamon rolls made from biscuit mix. Since we already make our own biscuit mix and have made cinnamon rolls from it before, this seemed like a no brainer. It's so good and we have no whipped cream (or Cool Whip). Apple Cinnamon Roll Cobbler 5 granny smith apples, cored and sliced (because I used the leftovers from the apples I put in the dehydrator this is just a guess, the apple parts filled a 9x13 pan) lemon juice 1 cup sugar 2 Tablespoons flour 2 cups baking mix (with shortening like Bisquick, if none add 1/4 cup shortening) 3/4 cup milk 1/2 cup butter 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon 1-2 teaspoons sugar After cutting apples soak in water with lemon juice while prepping the dough. Mix together the flour and sugar in a small bowl and set aside. In a larger bowl dump the baking mix (cut in shortening if needed). Pour in the milk about 1/4 cup at a time until you have a stiff rollable dough. If the dough gets too wet sprinkle in a little extra baking mix. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle (about 9 x 13). You want it as rectangular as possible and it no more than 1/4 inch thick. Melt the butter. Brush butter on rolled dough until it has a nice smooth layer. Sprinkle on cinnamon and sugar until a nice thin crust forms. Roll the dough along the long edge until cinnamon roll like. Cut into 1/2 inch disks. Drain apples and layer in a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle over sugar and flour mix. Pour over remaining butter. Top with cinnamon rolls. Bake at 350 for up to an hour, checking every 15-20 minutes. The cobbler is done with the cinnamon rolls are fully cooked and the apples are soft.

Cranberry Apple Cake

We were gone all weekend so there was little cooking done and I figured what we ate won't offer any information. We were invited to a family weekend with an organization we have been involved with for ages and they prepared all our meals.
I did have one last recipe from last weekend's bake fest to share so it's perfect for today. This week I'll be working on a couple of lemon recipes. I am running low on several ingredients so baking is not an option. I'll be making lemon curd (after a quick trip to the store to get eggs) and lemon syrup. We'll see how much lemon juice we have left over after that and see what we can make. The lemon syrup takes 3 of our 4 cups of lemon juice but we might halve it to make more curd. Those are what we are looking forward to so it will all depend.

This cake is actually a cranberry pear walnut cake but I ran out of pears and walnuts in my bake fest so I subbed apples. I bought a bag of fresh cranberries in November and threw them in the freezer. Cranberries freeze beautifully and I wanted them for future projects. The bag had more than two cups (1 pound bag) so I cleaned out the less than desireable berries and then dumped what was left in the batter. The cake was filled with the tart berries which I liked. It was less sweet than the other cakes (I also skipped the caramel sauce because everything else was so gooey sweet). If you like cranberries this is a perfect cake for you.
I did use a combination of oat and whole white wheat flours.

Cranberry-Pear-Walnut Cake
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground allspice
3 tablespoons butter, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup pear, peeled, cored, and chopped (or apple)
¾ cup chopped walnuts
1 Caramel Sauce, recipe below
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x9x2-inch baking pan; set aside. Combine 2 cups of the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and allspice; set aside. In a large bowl beat the butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Beat in sugars. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, beating on low after each addition until combined. In a bowl toss cranberries, pear, and walnuts with remaining 1/2 cup flour; gently stir into batter. Spoon into prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from pan; cool on rack. Top cake with whipped cream, cranberries, and pear slices. Serve with Caramel Sauce. Makes 12 servings.

Caramel Sauce
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup butter
½ cup half-and-half or light cream
2 tablespoons light-colored corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
In a large saucepan combine brown sugar, butter, half-and-half or light cream, and corn syrup. Bring to boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil gently for 3 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Cool slightly.

Apple Harvest Cake

We had a busy weekend. Saturday my son and I spent the day in Moscow, Idaho. We started by dropping off our Farmer's Market prototypes for a jury process and spent the time wandering downtown before going back to pick the items up. We came up with some great ideas and found some wonderful stores (the buy local promotion was hosting a scavenger hunt to find local businesses). We tried kumquats for the first time and something called a mandinquat (or something like that). We aren't fans but I'd still like to try making jam or something from kumquats. While out and about we stopped at the Co-op and checked out the meat department. I like stopping in grocery stores to browse because it helps me plan my next shopping trip and there's no real pressure at that time. The guy at the meat department was more than willing to give me a tour of their products. He gave me more information than I could possibly hold but what I learned most was how affordable the prices were. The hamburger is $2.89 a pound and he told me if I buy 3 family packs I can get them for $2.59 a pound. What a bargain for locally grown meat (some is organic but I can't remember what). I rarely stop in the meat department there because I knew I couldn't afford it but taking the time to learn about their meat I discovered I could afford it and I'm happy.
For lunch I made bacon fajitas. We had bacon in the fridge so I thought I'd chop that up with some onions and peppers and serve in corn tortillas. I dowsed the filling with lime juice just before scooping it up into warm tortillas.
We made popcorn for a snack. My mom had this idea of using a spray bottle for me to add butter to my popcorn. I decided that using oil would be better because all I really want is a way to get the seasoning to stick. It worked wonderfully. I air popped the popcorn, spritzed it with oil and sprinkled on some msg and cajun seasoning. I like the flavor of the msg but I over guessed on the cajun seasoning and ended up with spicy popcorn which was really tasty.
Sunday I spent baking. I do have lots of recipes to share. Today I'm sharing the Apple Harvest cake - what a great moist cake. It's not a huge cake - makes 1 pan but it's tasty.
I substituted the egg for 3 tablespoons applesauce, mostly because I had some leftover applesauce and I wanted to try using the oil instead of butter in a cake. I did make the rum glaze with whole milk and nucoa (since that's all we have). The only problem was it kept seperating. I don't know if it will have that problem with butter and half n half but I just had to make sure to shake the container before pouring it over the cake. Also, I didn't have any nuts.

Apple Harvest Cake with Rum Glaze
2 c. Chopped peeled apples
1 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg (or 3 TB applesauce)
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1/2 c. flaked coconut
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. half & half
1/4 c. rum (spiced is better)
Cake: Mix together apples and sugar, let stand a few minutes until juice forms. Sift together dry ingredients and add to apples. Mix in oil, vanilla, egg, nuts, and coconut. Bake in a greased 8x8 pan at 350 deg for 40-45 minutes. Serve warm with rum glaze. Rum glaze: Heat sugar, butter and half & half on stove, stir until smooth then add rum.

Dinner for Mama

I ended up all alone at home on Saturday evening. With a free evening I thought about all the things I could do but the first thing I did was made myself a beautiful dinner. There's something about creating a meal that does more than provide calories to the body. I offered up something that nurtured my soul as well.

I started with two boneless skinless chicken breasts. I knew going into this meal that I would have more than enough food for me but I wanted to have extra. I sliced the chicken into medallions. In my cast iron skillet, I heated oil from lime pickles, extracting about five slices to chop up for the meal. I masticated most of the pulp of a lemon (I reserved 4 thin slices to garnish the dish).
I fried the chicken in two batches in the oil so that they were a lovely yellow-brown (the oil contained turmeric which turned the chicken yellow).
I added the lemon and the chopped lime pickles and let the whole thing cook until fragrant and done thoroughly.
For the side dishes, I peeled the bottoms stalks of a bunch of thick asparagus. Laid them out on a baking sheet and drizzles sesame oil over them. I then sprinkled on a little kosher salt (more than actually stuck to the asparagus). Roasted them at 350 until they were tender.
As the chicken and asparagus neared done, I realized I needed something to balance the dinner. The chicken had a bitter, sour sort of taste to it (there are 4 main tastes - sweet, sour, salty, bitter). The asparagus would offer a salty taste so I needed something sweet. I did plan on serving pineapple but that can be sweet and sour and at this point I wasn't sure what I was getting.
I decided to chop up 2 small apples. I poured a thin layer of water in my saucepan and added the remaining orange glaze from cookies I had made earlier (just orange juice and powdered sugar). To that sauce I added the apples and cooked them on the stove, covered, until tender.
I, then, cut up the pineapple.
The end result was a meal that was more than satisfying, it felt elegant. My mouth delighted in the variety of tastes and flavors. The smells were amazing - sweet orange and apple, the bitterness of the limes mixed with the charred smell of meat (smelled better than it sounds), the sour tang of lemon and pineapple, and the salty spicy smell of asparagus in sesame oil.
I was so full but not painfully so.
It was a nice reminder to take time to cook a meal that satisfies more than hunger. My plate was filled with such beauty and love. A reminder that I need to do more for myself, take time to create and nurture.
The boys were a little disappointed but they had gone out for pizza and much needed boy time so they weren't too sad.

Cinnamon Apple Ornaments

Making all that applesauce coming up on the holidays makes me think of cinnamon apple ornaments. These are a family favorite for gifts and decorations. They are super easy to make - I either roll it out and use cookie cutters or press the dough into cookie molds. This year I plan on making some miniature gingerbread houses out of the dough.
After making all that applesauce and starting to brainstorm ideas to use it, I was reluctant to use it for inedible ornaments. However, when I was getting to the end of the apples, I had a few going bad. I thought what a perfect experiment - use the waste apples to make applesauce for the ornaments and then I have less waste. I still threw out a bit of apple waste (we need to look into composting at our complex) but I managed to salvage enough for the ornaments. I made a quadruple batch of dough from the waste apples, cheap bulk cinnamon and school glue. At this moment, it cost me nothing to make the ornaments because I bought several pounds of cheap cinnamon last year and I stocked up on glue one year when it was 20 cents a bottle. We often decorate the ornaments with glitter glue and ribbon.

Cinnamon Apple Ornaments
1 cup cinnamon
3/4 cup applesauce
1/3 cup white glue
Mix together with a spoon until most cinnamon is incorporated. Knead remaining cinnamon into dough. The dough will be stiff and dry. Roll 1/2 inch thickness and cut into shapes with cookie cutters or press into molds. Make a hole at the top for a hanger using a toothpick or straw.
Lay on racks until completely dry (I use my dehydrator for this). Decorate as desired.

Apple Lasagna

I meant to post this Friday but the holiday messed me up. I injured my wrist yesterday so I am finally getting around to this. I made this Apple Lasagna last weekend using my homemade apple pie filling. I used about 4 cups of filling per 20 oz can. I also only used 3 noodles per layer instead of 4. This was great and everyone loved it.

Apple Lasagna
12 lasagna noodles
2 (21-ounce) cans apple pie filling
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup quick oats
Dash of ground nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook noodles to desired doneness; drain and set aside. Coat a 9- 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Layer 4 noodles on bottom of prepared dish. Spread 1 can of apple pie filling on top, slicing any extra-thick apples. Layer 4 noodles over the apples. In a large bowl, mix together the Cheddar cheese, ricotta cheese, egg and granulated sugar; spread them evenly over the noodles and top with the remaining 4 noodles. Spoon remaining can of apple pie filling over noodles. In a small bowl, crumble together the flour, cinnamon, margarine, brown sugar and quick oats. Sprinkle over the apple filling. Bake 45 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes then slice into serving-sized pieces and serve warm or cold.

Apple Pie Filling

This past weekend, I made a recipe called Apple Lasagna. It's like an apple pie with noodles (will post recipe tomorrow). The recipe called for apple pie filling. There was no way I was going to buy filling when I had a ton of apples. So I went to my trusty Ball Canning book and found a recipe. If you want to follow that recipe, you can find it here. I didn't quite like the recipe so I made up my own version.
Since the lasgana is cooked, I didn't cook the apples. I used about 4 cups of filling to equal a 20oz can and made 2 lasagnas. I still ended up canning 2 and 1/2 quarts.

Apple Pie Filling
12 cups of cubed apples (I wash and cube, removing stems, seeds and bad parts but leave them peeled - drop in cold water with lemon juice while cutting all the apples to keep them looking good)
2 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp gd cinnamon
1/2 tsp gd nutmeg
2 cups apple juice (I used pear juice because I had just juiced pears)
1 1/4 cups cold water
1/2 cup lemon juice

Mix sugar and cornstarch in large pot. Add spices. Add apple juice and water, mixing thoroughly. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring frequently. As it boils, stir constantly until the syrup is thickened. Add lemon juice. Bring back to boil and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and add drained apples. Stir well to coat apples.
Use in pie or other recipe.
To can - ladle into quart jars. Clean rims and cover with lid and rings. Place in lukewarm water in water canner. Bring to boil. Boil for 25 minutes, adjusting for altitude.

Apple Butter

This week my recipes are two part. I made apple butter several weeks ago and made it into granola this past weekend. The apple butter can be made with apples or pears (I will be sharing some pear butter recipes later this month as well). I sauced the apples and then measured it for the apple butter. This stores well in the fridge or cans beautifully.

Apple Butter
12 cups apple sauce/puree
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp gd cinnamon
1/2 tsp gd cloves
In a large stainless steel pot combine all ingredients. Stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens and holds it's shape on a spoon.
If canning, prep jars, lids and rings. Pour hot butter into jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Boil in water bath for 10 minutes (adjust for elevation).

Cinnamon Apple Cake

When Food Now! send out their cake recipe newsletter last week, I knew this recipe was the one for me. I still have a gallon bag of wild applesauce in my refrigerator that desperately needs to be used before it goes bad. This recipe called for sliced apples but I replaced it with applesauce (2 cup vs the 3 1/2 cups of apples). I, also, substituted oil for the butter in the cake and dried elderberries for the cranberries. My only complaint is that I should have cut back the amount of elderberries since they are significantly smaller than the cranberries. But what we got was a wonderful cake that we got to snack on warm just before bed (how awesome is that). My husband liked it so much, he ate another piece before washing the plate.

Cinnamon-Apple CakeBy: Lisa Saltzman
CAKE
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 Fuji or Braeburn apples (1 lb.), peeled, chopped (3 1/2 cups)
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup dried cranberries

SAUCE
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon orange-flavored liqueur, such as Grand Marnier or orange juice
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour 10-cup Bundt or tube pan.

2. Whisk melted butter, sugar and brown sugar in large bowl; whisk in eggs. Whisk flour, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt in medium bowl; gently stir into butter mixture. Fold in apples, walnuts and cranberries. (Batter will be stiff.) Spoon into pan.

3. Bake 1 hour 5 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes or until skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 15 minutes. Invert cake onto wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.*

4. Meanwhile, beat 1/2 cup butter and powdered sugar in medium bowl at medium-high speed 2 to 3 minutes or until well-blended. Add all remaining sauce ingredients; beat 1 minute or until smooth. Serve at room temperature. (Sauce can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

TIP *To warm cake, cover loosely with foil. Bake at 300°F. for 15 to 20 minutes.

Crabapple Butter

I often turn my apples into applesauce but then I don't do much with it after that. I can't explain why but it happens (changing soon, I hope) so I decided I needed something else. I decided it would be a good time to learn to make apple butter. The result was a thick, creamy substance that has replaced butter on our morning English Muffins and makes us anxious to learn to make our own instant oatmeal to throw a dollup into. Using apple butter in place of butter on our morning toasted bread helps stretch our butter through the month and is lower in calories (and so much better for us). The sweetness of your apples will determine the amount of sugar. Our apples were a little on the bitter side so I used the whole six cups. Because my applesauce was so thick, all I had to do was heat the entire pot up to a boil and it was done (it did mean it wasn't as hot for the canning so I had to boil my jars starting in cooler water).

Applesauce:
Wash apples to remove any dirt or grime. Cut away any questionable spots (don't worry about stems, seeds or worms). Dump into a large pot with about 1-2 inches of water on the bottom to prevent scorching. Put on a lid. If you have a whole day, then heat slowly on medium heat until the apples are really soft. If you have less time, bring water to a boil on a higher heat then reduce to medium and let simmer until the apples are soft. Press the apples through a food mill or small hole colander. (I have a funnel shaped food mill with a pestle that was inexpensive and so useful). You now have applesauce.

Apple Butter
12 cups apple sauce
3-6 cups sugar
1 1/2 teas cinnamon
1/2 teas gd cloves
Dump all the ingredients into a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir to dissolve sugar. Once boiling, stir constantly until the butter is thick enough to stick to the spoon. Ladle into hot canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace (I think 1/2 inch would be better because every one of my jars bubbled over during the waterbath). Boil for 10 minutes in a waterbath.

Red Cabbage and Apples

This is the other cabbage recipe I promised. This is a nice easy recipe because it's cooked in a crockpot. Feel free to switch the cabbage to green cabbage. I am patiently waiting for the cabbage price to drop for the holiday. Some stores are already having St Patrick's day sales but starting Tuesday/Wednesday is when the best sales should start - can't delay though or there won't be anything left.
Red Cabbage and Apples
1 small head red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
3 medium apples, peeled and grated
¾ cup sugar
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup crisp-cooked and crumbled bacon
Fresh apple slices (optional)
Combine cabbage, apples, sugar, vinegar and cloves in slow cooker. Cover; cook on HIGH 6 hours, stirring after 3 hours. Sprinkle with bacon, if desired. Garnish with apple slices.

Apple Snickers Salad

My mother made this once after trying it at a potluck. I re-discovered it at a local deli. It's super easy and the right combination of healthy and sinful.
This is how I made it - feel free to add more or less of any ingredient.

4 granny smith apples, chopped
1 11.29 bag of fun size snickers (remove from wrappers and cut into thirds).
8 oz mini marshmallows
16 oz cool whip
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
butterscotch or caramel ice cream syrup

In a large bowl, combine apples, snicker, marshmallows and walnuts. Mix in cool whip. Drizzle syrup over the top (I used about 1/2 of a standard smuckers jar).

You can chill ahead of time but becareful because the cool whip can get gooey if not properly covered.