Applesauce Raisin Bread

Last week I ventured out to Maple Acres Farm to see if they had any apples around this late in the winter. As luck would have it, they still had a few baskets hanging around. The very kind woman who was working on that frigid day sold me a big box full for $8.00. Not bad. These apples were pretty banged up - just perfect for making applesauce.

After I cooked up a big pot of applesauce, however, I realized that I had neither the time nor the inclination to actually go through the whole canning process. Consulting the Google, I learned that you can freeze applesauce. In fact, some cooks out there claim that freezing actually improves the flavor of the fruit. Even after filling several quart freezer bags, I had some sauce left. So I decided to make applesauce raisin bread. Again, consulting Google, I found lots of recipes, but none of them seemed like what I was looking for. They either used way too much sugar and butter, or they combined the applesauce with pureed zucchini or pumpkin or banana. Not surprisingly, I have all of those other purees in my freezer too. (Have I mentioned how cool I am?) But I didn't feel like searching them out.

Using my favorite banana bread recipe from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook - a great kitchen reference, by the way -  as a template, I made up a recipe. It came out great. Very moist, not too sweet. Delicious toasted with butter, apple butter and/or cream cheese. Plus, it made the whole house smell delicious. (If you are trying to sell your house, pop this in the oven during your open house. The offers will be pouring in.)

Here it is:

• In a mixing bowl combine 1 cup white flour, 1 cup wheat flour, 3 tbsp ground flax, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt.
• In a small bowl combine 1 1/2 cup applesauce, 2 eggs, 3 tbsp oil, 3 tbsp honey
• Combine wet and dry ingredients. Add heaping 1/2 cup raisins.
• Bake at 350 for 1 hour. 

If you really want to take it to the next level, add some streusel topping. It's super easy. Just use a fork or a pastry cutter to combine 3 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 quick oats, 2 tbsp flour and a dash or two of cinnamon. I baked the bread for about 20 minutes and then added the streusel.

Creamy Dreamy Fall Soup

Last week I took the kids over to Maple Acres Farm, one of the few errands that does not provoke a string of complaints from my little girl. We had fun looking at the pumpkins, their amazing water garden with koi, and scoping out deals of second day produce. Ok, that last one was just me having fun.

After 20 minutes or so, I gathered up our stuff and stepped up to the register and was stunned by the huge stalks of broccoli. They were gorgeous and the price, $1.50 for 2 bunches, was unbelievable. Then, my neighborhood farm stand was offering cauliflower for $.50 a head, so I couldn't resist buying a few. Now my kitchen was filled with these fabulous fall vegetables, but after serving us steamed and/or roasted broc/cauliflower three nights in a row, I needed a change.

I remembered that I love broccoli cheddar soup. Even the industrially produced stuff you get in a cafeteria or a Fridays. Love it. So I scoured the internet for some recipe ideas and found quite a few to go on. Given that I had a plethora of seasonal veggies lying around, I adapted the basic principles for making a creamy soup. The result was stupendous. It was really easy, and, as usual, it made a ton of soup. (I am incapable of making a small amount of soup, I have learned.)

Here's the basic idea:
-Cut up and steam 1 large head of broccoli and 1 large head of cauliflower. If you have leftovers, perfect.
-In a large pot or dutch oven, fry up

• one large chopped onion
• 3-4 celery stalks finely chopped
• 3-4 carrots finely chopped

-When the veggies are getting well cooked, add one large potato peeled and chopped in to smallish chunks. You could use a large russet, 5 small red potatoes or 2-3 Yukon golds. You could definitely add more potato, too, I just had so much other stuff, I didn't want my pot to overflow.
-Fry up for a few minutes. When the potatoes start to brown up, dump all of the contents of the pan out into a bowl.
-Now use the same pot to make a cream sauce. Turn the heat to medium/low. You could start by deglazing the pot with stock or white wine. But if you want to skip this step, just put 1/2 stick of butter in the pot and let it melt. Don't burn it. That is tragic. When the butter is bubbly, add a 1/4 cup of flour and whisk for a couple of minutes as the flour gets nice and golden.
-Slowly pour in 2 cups of whole milk. You could use some half and half, too, if you are feeling decadent. Whisk constantly as the mixture thickens.
-Add 3 cups of stock (chicken or veggie) and keep stirring.
-Put the all of the cooked veggies in the creamy liquid. If you need to, add more milk/stock to cover the veggies.
-Cook the soup for about 30 minutes or so. You want all of the vegetables to be soft.
-Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. If you don't have an immersion blender, I urge you to get one. They are inexpensive and invaluable for making soup, tomato sauce, smoothies, etc... Seriously, transferring soup to a blender is a pain. Just say no. And just say yes to immersion blenders.
-Add 2-4 cups of grated cheddar cheese, depending on how cheesy you like your soup. You could also add some swiss or Gruyere. I will admit that I added about 1/2 cup of Velveeta.
-Stir it up until the cheese melts. Add salt, pepper to taste and more milk/stock if your soup gets too thick.
Enjoy!

The Gateway Fruit

Fall has arrived here, that much is certain. Cooler nights, windy days, and a renewed need to wear a sweater and slippers around the house during the day. And of course, there are the apples. At our local farm, they have lined the shopping area with huge wooden boxes and filled them with all kinds of locally grown apples. If you are looking to "go local" with your food shopping, think of apples as your gateway produce. They can be found just about anywhere. They are cheap. And, in my experience, it is hard to find a bad apple.

Now that I think of it, every place I have lived in my adult life has had local apples in the fall. In New York City, I used to grab a bag at the Union Square farmers market on Saturdays or at Fairway on a weekday walk. In DC there were several apple stands at Eastern Market just a few blocks away from our place on Capitol Hill. And here in Philadelphia there are farmers markets, farm stands and even local produce in the big chain grocery stores. My sister in law and her family have their own "Apple Guy" who not only sells delicious fruit, but makes pretty accurate long range weather predictions.

I took my kids out to Maple Acres Farm on Wednesday and we had lots of fun running around inspecting the many pumpkins and gourds for sale. It was my intention to just buy a sampling of apples to see what is tasting good this season. But I was distracted by the big basket with a sign on it that read, "Baking Apples $.50/lb." ("Baking apples"  = bruised and battered apples that no one will buy.) And when the owner agreed to sell the bunch to me for $6.00, I knew that there was an applesauce project in my future. By Friday night our cheapo box of galas, McIntosh and golden delicious apples was transformed into 5 quarts of applesauce. It is so yummy and it made our whole house smell like apple pie. A perfect fall treat.

Making applesauce is so easy, it barely requires a recipe, but here is the basic idea:

• Peel and core apples; cut into small chunks.
• Put chunks in large pot and add a little water or apple cider to help them get steamy.
• Cook on medium heat until they are soft and mushy. You can add sugar or spices if you desire. I usually don't add a sweetener, but I do add cinnamon, ground cloves and nutmeg.
• You can easily preserve applesauce in jars. Here are some good instructions from Pick Your Own, a great website for guidance on how to preserve all manner of produce.
• If you don't want to go through the canning process, you can freeze the applesauce and/or it will keep in your refrigerator for several weeks.