Apple Fritters

Knowing the medical side of things and that healthy weight gain (20-30 pounds for average weight ladies) is the key, I don't believe in the old saying that pregnant women should "eat for two" or eat whatever comes to mind. That said, I've already made it to 35+ weeks and have gained less than 20 pounds because I've had a lot more reflux and sour stomach this time around. It's not horrible, but it's enough that I haven't had much of an appetite for dinner on at least 5 of 7 nights a week. Breakfast is really my only guaranteed "good" meal of the day.

I've used this background to justify making apple fritters (clearly a dessert) for breakfast. I told myself they are kind of the same as donuts right? Right?! And we all know donuts are a SUPER healthy breakfast to begin with. Anyway, enough trying to make myself feel better about consuming over a half dozen of these before 10am...here's the recipe!

Based on the original recipe from The Pioneer Woman

For the fritters:

• 2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp apple pie spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup 1% milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large apple, peeled and diced

For toppings:

Glaze

• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Up to 1/4 cup of milk (add by TBSP til you get a nice consistency)

Cinnamon Sugar

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a fork, then add milk and vanilla.

Gently fold dry and wet ingredients together until just combined. Fold in apples. Make sure you have enough apples to make a very chunky batter.

Heat a couple of inches of canola oil in a dutch oven or pot over medium heat. When it gets hot, drop a little drop of batter into the oil. If it sizzles immediately and rises to the top, the oil is ready; if it burns, turn down the heat.

Drop teaspoons of batter into the oil, six or so at a time. Sometimes they'll flip over by themselves; sometimes you have to flip them. Cook them long enough to make sure the batter's cooked through, about 2 to 3 minutes total.

Remove and drain on a paper towel. Dip fritters in glaze (I dipped one side and then placed on a wire rack to allow excess to drip off as they cooled for 10 minutes) or shake in a bag filled with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Serve warm!

Apple Sheet Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream

This is actually not the first recipe I made with my apples, but it was so good that I am blogging about it first.  So here's the deal, my photo of this cake is terrible. It's dark and does not at all show how amazing this cake is. The truth is that my husband changed photo editing programs and the new one scares me - I've known for months that I need to bite the bullet and ask him for a mini-tutorial on improving my photo quality, but my sad photo of this cake might be the final straw. Alas, here it is...

If you've ever tasted my baked goods (or have enjoyed previous baking posts) and trust my palate at all - MAKE THIS CAKE! I based the recipe from the original that can be found over on Mother Thyme's website. 

For the cake:

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
2 heaping cups peeled grated apples (about 2 medium apples)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare pan (9x13 rectangular pan) by greasing and flouring.
2. Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy with electric mixer.
4. Add eggs one at a time, mixing for 1 minute after each addition.
5. Add milk and vanilla, mixing well after addition.
6. Stir in grated apples.
7. In three additions, gradually add flour mixture just until dry ingredients are incorporated into batter.
8. Pour into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.

For Salted Caramel Frosting:

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

1/3 cup half and half

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1 tablespoons milk

1. Make the caramel by melting butter, light brown sugar, half & half, and cream of tartar over medium heat.
2. Boil the mixture for 3 minutes.
3. Remove from heat, stir in salt, and let the caramel cool.
4. *After making the caramel I realized that the original recipe makes WAY too much frosting for this smallish cake. Once the caramel was cooled, I only used half to make the buttercream. I saved the rest of the caramel to use for a different recipe*
5. Mix 1/2 of the caramel with 1/2 -1 cup of confectioner's sugar at at time. After all sugar is incorporated, add milk and whip the frosting for at least 1 minute.

The frosting is delicious, but this cake really is SO GOOD that it could stand alone or be adorned with a simple scoop of vanilla ice cream or dollop of homemade whipped cream.

FYI - I don't have any "in progress" shots of this cake because I was baking with this little monster:-)

Apple Quest 2012 (or how I plan to use a peck of apples)

As a kid, as a young adult, and as a mommy I remember picking apples nearly every fall. Unfortunately, due to unseasonable warm spring weather followed by a hard frost, the local apple orchards are struggling to harvest their crop this year and most are forgoing the tradition of "pick-your-own." There was hope that Indian Ladder Farms would be able to host PYO this past weekend, but the field was completely picked over on Saturday and they were only selling apples in the store when we got there Sunday morning. Although disappointed, we made the best of the morning by visiting all the animals, snacking on fresh cider donuts and cider, and picking up a peck of Cortland apples from the store. It's pretty traditional to make an apple pie after picking fresh apples, so I'm trying to branch out this year and have a new line-up of recipes to try!

Here are the recipes I've bookmarked to use up my apple supply. These are all in addition to the usual snacking as is, eating with sliced cheddar, slathering with peanut butter, and dipping in caramel sauce that we usually do. I'll try to post the ones I get to with my commentary on how they came out, but for now, feel free to take advantage of my hours of pinning and blog perusing and make some yourself!

Apple Pancakes from Serious Eats

Apple Sheet Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting from Mother Thyme

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars from Made in Melissa's Kitchen

Apple Pie Cookies from Annie's Eats

Apple Fritters from The Pioneer Woman

Apple Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Buttercream from Made in Melissa's Kitchen

Caramel Apple Dip from Made in Melissa's Kitchen

Apple Butter from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy

Friday Five: Children's Books

I'm a book nerd. Always have been, always will be. I'm not ashamed either. I 100% embrace my love of books, reading, and quoting obsure Harry Potter literary references. It's who I am and I'm proud of it! I figured I would celebrate this love today by featuring the five children's books I most enjoy reading to my little bug.

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar: We love reading this book! We have the small board book and it's in our regular bedtime rotation. After reading this literally hundreds of times, bug asked this week as the caterpillar was chowing through the "junk foods" - "Why doesn't he just eat the nice green leaf?! He's gonna get a tummyache!" - lesson learned.

 2. If You Give A Mouse A Cookie: This book has been one of the bug's favorites for as long as she could request books. She loves all the variations (If you give a cat a cupcake, If you give a dog a donut, etc), but I'm a traditionalist and prefer the original because the "flow" of the story feels like that of a child's trail of conscience - meandering here and there and finally back to the start all over again.

 3. Go, Dog, Go! This book has to make my top five because of my history with this book. Although it is definitely one of bug's favorites and she requests it on a regular basis, I have been reading and re-reading this book since my sister was bug's age. This was by far her favorite book (and she is NOT a book lover) and she used to ask me to read it to her over and over and over and over (you get the idea).

4. Ladybug Girl: I adore this feisty little protagonist. Although as Lulu she's "just a little girl", when she steps into the role of Ladybug Girl she "can do anything!" From overcoming scary obstacles (imaginary sharks), to making a difference in the world (picking up a rock to clear the way for some ants), to adding perspective to the situation (noting that her brother looks "little" from far away) there is a very empowering undertone and I love it!

5. The Lorax: I can't remember ever reading this book as a kid, but if I had I would have LOVED IT. I thought of myself as a little hippie-save-the-whales-recycling-club activist when I was younger and this book would have fit right in with that image. Now the bug loves this book and wants to be the Lorax for Halloween. Although she isn't quite big enough to really get what he stands for, it still makes me happy.

Trader Joe's Thursday

Unless you live under a rock, it's impossible that you could be in the capital district and not know that Trader Joe's (finally!) opened in Albany about a month ago. I have been hoping for this for the past 10+ years since I first experienced TJ's in Boston as a college student. Back then, the groceries I could buy were limited to what I was willing to carry back on the T and then lug across campus (one bag usually). For the past few years we have tried to bring home non-perishable items from the TJ's on Cape Cod (snacks and jarred products mostly), but nothing can compare to actually having a local TJ's to try the huge variety of foods they have available - especially the frozen goods, meats, and cheeses.

Now that it's here, I've decided to post a weekly product review of something new. So here's the inaugural review: Frozen Biryani Rice!

This is an amazingly easy and tasty side dish/main meal that we have already eaten at least twice. It is not the same type of biryani that I have had at the local Indian restaurants I frequent, but it's a very tasty at home meal. All you have to do is add a little bit of oil to your pan/wok and stir fry the rice until it is heated through. The dish is not spicy hot, but is spicy flavorful and smells delicious as it cooks. When we make it, we've cooked half a bag for two of us to eat as a side dish. 

I personally would eat this with a piece of naan and call it a night, but I have made it into more of a main meal for my husband by pairing with the TJ's marinated curry chicken tenders and TJ's vegetable samosas. 

Sunday Breakfast

With my work schedule (and love of breakfast foods), my little bug is lucky enough to have a full cooked breakfast most days of the week, but we tend to do it up a little fancier on Saturday or Sunday. I found this recipe on a favorite food blog (Picky Palate) and knew the bug would go CRAZY for it - what three year old (or pregnant thirty year old) doesn't want to have an excuse to eat marshmallows and chocolate chips for breakfast?!

See the link above for her original recipe, here are my modifications (based on what I had available in the house...)

Gooey Marshmallow Chocolate Chip Pancakes

2 Tablespoons melted butter
½ Cup fat free half and half
½ Cup 1% milk
2 eggs
1 ¼ Cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 Cup 60% cacao chocolate chips
1 Cup mini marshmallows

Just about ready to be flipped...

Perfect golden crust on one side

On their way to the table!

I did serve with maple syrup on the side, but we all agreed they didn't need it! I also didn't sprinkle any extra chips or marshmallows on top. Accompaniments included fresh local eggs scrambled with a sprinkling of cheddar and fresh local slices of watermelon with chilled orange juice or organic milk.

DIY Flavored coffee

This may seem so simple it isn't worth making a post about, but I found this idea on a blog a few years ago and have been doing it ever since! This is especially handy right now as there are fewer flavored varieties of decaf coffee and I'm limiting my caffeine during pregnancy.

DIY Cinnamon Coffee

For Keurig single cup (what I use)

Fill brew cup as you normally would with coffee grounds. Sprinkle 1/8tsp (or generous dusting) of cinnamon over the top of the grounds. Brew as normal. Prepare with milk/sugar as you normally would. *I wanted mine iced today, so I chilled in the freezer for 30 minutes before pouring over ice to enjoy.*

For regular coffee maker

Fill coffee filter with grounds as you normally would. Add approximately 1tsp cinnamon for each 2-3 cups you plan to brew. Add less the first time and titrate up to get the spiciness you want. For example, if setting the pot to brew 10 cups, add just 3tsp spice the first time and increase up to 5tsp if you want it spicier.

This works really well with pumpkin pie spice or other spice combos to get a christmas-y gingerbread blend (think 1 part nutmeg, 1 part ginger, 2 parts cinnamon).

Friday Five Favs: Fall Firsts

One of my favorite recurring features on other blogs I follow is a weekly theme of some sort. I've decided to try out a weekly "Five Favs" that can be any five things I am into or thinking about that week (crafts, recipes, books, movies, etc!). I figured I'd go all out with the alliteration for my first installment and give you five things I love about the early fall...

1. Pumpkin coffee
Although Starbuck's pumpkin spice latte is my ABSOLUTE favorite, I have to admit that in the earliest days of fall when it's still warm/hot during the afternoon I do hit up DD for iced pumpkin coffee. DD's pumpkin latte is gross, but I like the syrup in their regular coffee.

2. Apple picking
I've heard rumors that it's going to be a bad year for apple picking due to all the strange weather we have had, but I am hoping to find at least one local orchard that we can visit for our yearly fix of this super fun upstate NY tradition.

3. Cooler weather!!

I am not a summer person and really can't stand humidity ever, but especially this year (as I am carrying around an extra 15lbs) I am thrilled that we are finally starting to have cooler mornings and evenings. Nothing makes me happier than crisp air and a warm sweater. Here's to dreaming I'd actually FIT in one of these cozy J Crew sweaters...

4. Halloween costumes

In my house, planning for Halloween starts early. My little bug (pictured below in her straight-from-Disney World Cinderella dress from last Halloween), has said for months that she wanted to be Ladybug Girl from the book series. Then, she saw the new Lorax movie and is insistent that she is going to be the Lorax because he, "speaks to the trees." With baby #2 due on Halloween and my belly getting larger by the moment, this crafty mamma needs to get working on the logistics of a Lorax costume ASAP...

5. School supplies

I understand that I am no longer a student and my bug is not yet old enough to require school supplies, but I love seeing them out in the stores anyway. I have a very dorky excitement and giddiness that is peaked each time I walk by boxes of crayons for 50 cents and see stacks of embroidered backpacks with matching lunch bags.