Hello Internet! Long time, no blog. Sorry about that! Some people write their posts in advance when they know they won't be around for awhile. I just let the blog sit stagnant...
But I've been having much more fun hanging out with my favorite new human being.
And by hanging out, I mean staring dreamily into those big gray-blue eyes while running on little sleep and feeling so incredibly inadequate to be responsible for the well-being of this little person.
Not that that has stopped any of you from visiting. Somehow, I've managed to accrue more visitors while I've been away than when I was feverishly blogging. The blame goes to Pinterest, where my chili colorado, tamales, and toasted coconut ice cream are apparently causing quite a stir.
But back to the Bean. She's incredible. Resilient, inquisitive, and incredibly sarcastic. (It's all in the eyes. Trust me, I know.)
She also has decided that my life is now to be lived in 3-hour increments. She eats for an hour. Might sleep for an hour (or more! Praise the Lord!). Enjoys being awake for about an hour (if she's not asleep). And then decides she's hungry again and the cycle begins anew.
What can you do in such a rhythm? Cookies are out of the question. I can't guarantee that in 12 minutes I'll be able to pull them out of the oven. I could be changing a diaper or trying to soothe a screaming banshee. Bread? Far too involved. And requires mental faculties that are elusive currently.
Enter: Granola. The perfect thing to make when your brain is more like a sieve than a bodily organ.
Drag out the nuts, dried fruits, etc. that you've got squirreled away.
I'm using a jar of mixed nuts. Cause I have them. But I needed to whack them with a mallet to break them up into smaller bits for the granola.
Perk: The Bean likes loud noises, so thwacking away with a meat mallet on a ziploc bag full of nut mix didn't phase her one bit.
Into the bowl goes oats, nuts, coconut, and sugar. Measurements were inexact, at best.
Into another bowl goes oil, salt, molasses, and honey. Stir.
Then the wets go into the dries - mix well!
Toss onto a silpat-lined baking sheet. Line it with something, trust me on this one.
Bake. For around 2 hours. Stir when you can, in 30 minute increments. Ish.
Take out and throw in the dried fruit. Stir. Let sit on the counter until you can get back to it.
Crumble, eat, store, toss over yogurt!
Perfect as an afternoon snack, breakfast, or a 3 am nibble when you're up filling a bottle with formula for someone else's 3 am meal....
No-Fuss Granola
Adapted from my Red & Green Granola
3 healthy (overflowing) cups oats
2 healthy cups nut pieces (whatever kind and size you want)
1 healthy c. unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. honey
1/3 c. vegetable oil (I estimated using the 1/2 c measure)
1 healthy tbsp molasses (a good dollop)
1/2 tsp salt
a few handfuls of dried fruit, in small pieces
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar. In a smaller bowl, combine the honey, oil, molasses and salt.
Pour the wets over the dries. Mix well - hands work best. Spread out on a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. Toss in the oven and stir every half hour, ish, for 2 hours, ish, until brown. It's not crisp at this point, just brown and smelling delicious! It hardens up as it cools. Pull out of the oven and stir in the dried fruit. Let cool for 10 minutes, at least. Break apart into chunks and enjoy!
I know, I know. I've been delinquent on the blogging front.
I was so kindly reminded by multiple co-workers over the last few days "Where have all the treats gone?" "What happened to the miracle baked goods that always seemed to be near the coffee pot?" "DON'T YOU LOVE US ANYMORE??!?!?"
Well, let me tell you - I've been baking something pretty sweet. Just not the kind of thing I'm going to leave out on the counter in the office.
And we even picked out a name for our little cream puff:
Not eclair - just move the e from the beginning to the end.
Yes, I have stealthily named my first born after a French pastry. That's gotta give me super foodie status points or something.
In any case. The fig trees in our back yard have been valiantly figging, regardless of whether we beat the ants to the fruit or not. But today, my friends. Today I beat the ants.
And then I made cake.
This cake. From one of my favorite food bloggers, Joy the Baker.
And I added blue poppy seeds. Cause I had some, and I wanted the cake to have some whimsical polka-dots. Poppy seeds make all baked goods whimsical.
Also - the cake took an extra 20 minutes to bake. So it was more like 40 minutes in the oven. Not that I was complaining. The smells coming from the kitchen were ridiculous.
Joy really has an awesome recipe here, great for people who like things simple. Or for people who are 9 months pregnant. I happen to fit into both categories at the moment.
Slice figs.
Dries into bowl. Mix.
Wets into other bowl. Mix.
Wets into dries. Mix.
Butter & flour pan.
Pour in batter.Top batter with figs, almonds, and sugar.
Bake.
Swoon.
Go into labor. (I hope)
She's gotta come soon, right??
Right??
The apple tree is appling!
There are quite a few up high in the branches (which I totally can't reach), but thankfully there are some within grabbing distance - for Mr. S, at least.
I sneakily tried to play hide and seek whilst we were picking. Though, with baby at 30 weeks now, I'm a bit more obvious to spot.
Especially since every item of clothing sold to pregnant ladies comes in horizontal stripes. What are they trying to do!??! I already look like an elephant. Apparently I should be going for heffalump.
In any case, eventually enough apples were procured (the ants had attacked several so we had to pitch them in the compost bin). Let the cake making commence!
Grandma's apple cake is one that my Mom remembers fondly. The last time I had enough apples and desire to make cake, she managed to call mid-process and seemed absolutely shocked that I wasn't making Grandma's version. I think there might have been trouble if we lived within driving distance.
So I decided that I better make this cake, before Mom caught wind of our apple harvest and I manged to get myself in trouble again.
Start with the apples. You need 4 cups of chopped apples - and leave the peel on. That's where all the vitamins are. (so sayeth the Crane family motto)
Then in a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and eggs. Cream until nice and smooth.
In a sifter, toss in flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
Sift the flour mixture, in 2 parts, into the butter mixture - beating after each addition.
Stir in the apples and chopped nuts (I used almonds cause I had them in the fridge, feel free to use pecans, walnuts, whatever you like).
I know it looks more like cookie dough than cake batter, but trust me. There's enough liquid in those apples to make it all work.
Toss in a 9x13 pan.
Bake for 40-50 minutes, until golden brown.
About 25 minutes into the baking process, start on the topping.
Brown sugar, water, flour, and butter go into a small saucepan.
Bring to a boil and cook on low until thickened.
Stir in vanilla and pour on cake.
Serve to your adoring mother (sorry, Mom! I don't think this one will make it through shipping!)
Or the husband who's been rabidly asking "Is it done yet?" for the last half hour.
Oh, man. I hope that apple tree keeps up it's production schedule. This cake is definitely a keeper!
Grandma's Gooey Apple Cake
Recipe from the amazing, illustrious Sally Crane, grandma (and soon to be - for the 12th time - great-grandma) deluxe
For Cake:
4 c. chopped apples (a nice baking apple)
1/2 c. butter, softened
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c. chopped nuts (I used almonds, feel free to use whatever you like)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and eggs together. In a sifter, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, beating well after each addition. Mix in the apples and nuts.
Bake in a 9x13 pan for 40-50 minutes. Until golden brown. Start making the topping about 25 minutes in to the baking time.
For topping:
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter
1 c. water
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients except the vanilla. Turn on low heat and reduce until thickened. Remove from heat and add the vanilla.
Pour topping over warm cake. Enjoy immediately!
Guess what? I made pie - IN MY NEW KITCHEN!!!
And I'm sure it surprises no one that this was the very first room that got even remotely close to being unpacked and put away since we've moved in.
Mostly cause we've got this orchard in the backyard.
Green plum, red plum, lemon, green apple, nectarine, avocado, fig, orange....
We're gonna have a bumper crop. And currently it's the lemons going bonkers. Seriously.
And I've got this crazy aversion to wasting any sort of produce. Especially if it came from the backyard.
So we make pie! And an easy pie at that.
Cause at 25 weeks, this momma can't see her toes anymore and needs to sit down.
Oh, wait - there they are! Or, rather, half of them. (look hard - they're small)
Back to the pie. Crush up some graham crackers in a food processor.
Once they're crumbled, pour in the melted butter.
Then the sugar.
The mixture will be crumbly, but will pack together. Push into a 8" tart shell. Bake for 5 minutes.
Zest up 2 lemons.
Juice lemons enough to get a 1/2 c. of juice. I needed two of my gargantuan ones. You'll probably need more.
In a medium sized bowl, beat together the lemon juice, lemon zest, a bit of vanilla and 2 egg yolks.
Drizzle in the sweetened condensed milk.
Beat until white, smooth, and thick.
Pour into the baked off shell.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until no longer jiggly. Toss into the fridge for at least an hour (the longer the better).
Top with whipped cream and serve!
Lemon (not Key Lime) Pie
For the crust:
1 package (8 full rectangles) graham crackers (I used low-fat ones, they were what I had)
1/4 c. butter, melted
1/4 c. sugar
For the filling:
1/2 c. lemon juice
zest from 2 lemons (at least - if you need more you get your 1/2 c. juice, zest 'em all)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 egg yolks
1 can sweetened condensed milk
whipped cream for topping
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Crush up the graham crackers in a food processor. Once they're crumbled, put in a medium bowl and pour in the melted butter. Add the sugar and stir until combined. The mixture will be crumbly, but will pack together. Push into a 8" tart shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes.
In a medium sized bowl, beat together the lemon juice, lemon zest, a bit of vanilla and 2 egg yolks. Drizzle in the sweetened condensed milk. Beat until white, smooth, and thick. Pour into the baked off shell.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until no longer jiggly. Refrigerate for 1 hour at least. Top with whipped cream right before serving. Enjoy!
