Tastes of Fall: This Way and That

I have a theory I'd like to share with you. It's about the seemingly-universal obsession with all things autumnal , and the popularity of fall-flavored foods. I've always wondered why we all get swept up in the season, and how it is that no other time of year can illicit the same kind of exhilaration as can the change from summer to fall. My theory is this: blame the thermometer. To my mind, no season change is felt so drastically, so immediately, as that of balmy summer to chill autumn; it's that very first moment which steals away your breath when you walk outside and realize... holy moley, it's COLD out here!, sending a signal directly to the brain and triggering all five senses.

Well, here are three more entries in the annals of sensory yumminess: pumpkin spice cookies with browned-butter frosting, apple cranberry crisp, and apple cinnamon pork chops.

The first is a new recipe for me, though not a new concept. These cookies were easy to make, and produced a soft and cakey cookie that is extremely satisfying. They're tasty enough sans sugar, but the sweet frosting is really what makes this dessert shine. I baked a batch for my work friends -- gone! And another batch for J and my in-laws -- gone again! Something tells me that won't be the last batch I ever make.

J calls them the best cookies... ever. I'll take it!

Next up is a seasonal favorite in the family. Again, it's a relatively simple dessert to make, and with fresh apples and local cranberries, it probably qualifies as J's most-requested treat. I received the gorgeous pie plate last year, and was so happy to dust it off and fill it with all the tangy-sweet flavors that make this crisp so rich.

Autumn Baking (or Mmm that Smells Good!)

I rarely mention my personal life while blogging -- the focus here is in the kitchen, after all -- but I owe my readers an apology for the steep drop-off in posting regularity. The beautiful fall season has brought with it the usual round of apple picking, candle-purchasing, and early leaf-peeping, but also an uptick on the Busy Scale. I've been working to open a brand new outlet store of a well-known outdoor retailer in a very short amount of time, and now that we've survived a successful Grand Opening, I hope to be back at the stove a bit more. The cooler weather heralds my personal favorite time of year for food: all things rich, comforting, good-smelling, and stick-to-your-ribs filling (not to mention delicious).

With a whole new batch of lovely co-workers, I've gained a range of guinea pigs to try out some recipes I've been meaning to make. I managed to find the time to bake up a German Apple Cake with caramel glaze last week, and brought it to my taste testers.

Dice up those fresh-picked Cortlands...

... mix up a bit of batter...

... and hey presto, a cake is born!

I didn't take my usual range of start-to-finish photos, mainly because I was too busy nursing a very burned finger I received from an accidental brush with the hot caramel. Happily there will be no long-term issues, and the glaze turned out pretty heavenly. 

Here's a look at the finished product, waiting patiently for the forks of my tasters. They deemed it a solidly tasty cake, very rich and sweet, but not overly so. A fellow baker claimed that the caramel topping was the "best part," so I guess that minor injury was worth it!

In the coming weeks, I intend to expand both my autumnal baking and cooking posts to include some old standby favorites and more new dishes I've been waiting to make. As much as I only want to curl up on the couch with a soft blanket, good book, and mug of hot cider, the work must go on. In between the madness I'll take refuge in my favorite room of the house, and fill the air with the wonderful smells of cool-weather cooking. 

Kitchen "Busy"ness

Remember when I said I was back in action? Well, I've been trying to make up for lost time in the kitchen, and last week served to help me along. J and I finally got some time for just us, and it gave me the motivation to cook and bake some treats for us to enjoy as the summer winds its way down.

First task: a trip to the farmer's market.

It's tough to walk through such abundance and not pick up one of everything, but we limited ourselves to some sweet corn, fingerling potatoes, and garden carrots -- the basics, I suppose.

Mealtime

Taking the time to eat a meal is something we have to do every few hours. It may not always be a good meal, but it has to happen. But what about the time it takes to make a meal? And if you're inclined to put in the time and effort in the first place, shouldn't it be a good meal?

Lately I've struggled with both taking and making time and meals. I don't know if it's just been the usual reasons -- stress, busy lives, tight budget -- or a more undefined, general lack of interest in standing in the kitchen for hours at a time. Whatever the reason, I avoided the stove rather a lot lately... and I'm not proud. A coffee cake here, and put of rice there, and I felt I'd somehow done enough. So last night, I put a little more effort into dinner, and I'm glad I did. It was good to be home again.

The dinner wasn't anything new, groundbreaking, or fancy, but it was exactly what I needed to remind myself that I enjoy cooking (most of the time) and that my skills aren't really all that bad. I learned to be a drill sergeant about timing from my mother, and that ability has been vital to the success of my meals. I made a basic onion-roasted potato dish, simple chicken breast, and indulged in a rare baking of my mother's special secret Thanksgiving Rolls. But aside from the taste of good home cookin', the real success was that I did it.

Before I began, I ran through all the recipes in my head. I did a quick calculation for the timing and when we wanted to eat, tied on my apron, and had my mise en place in perfect order.

Camp Cookin'

I have always been a lover of the outdoors, thanks to enthusiastic parents who filled much of my childhood with active, nature-oriented pursuits. Among the best memories of my time spent in the elements are the frequent camping trips, including a particularly lengthy trip from home to Nashville, TN and back -- camping all the way. My mother and I became expert camp surveyors, excavators, and of course, chefs (nothing gets you more hungry than setting up a tent, canopy, and other camping accoutrements in less than ten minutes flat). So I watched and learned as she deftly manipulated a much-abused Coleman stove, tiny pots, plastic implements, and a dash of salt into edible and unbelievably delicious meals. It was magical then, and now that I've taken on the same role for trips with J, I understand the mutterings and occasional curses she uttered in order to get those meals on our table.

My own attempts at such meals aren't always a success, but lately I haven't had many failures  -- I must be getting better. In between the easy stuff (read: boiling water for coffee and sizzling butter for shake-and-pour pancakes) I've somehow managed to nearly perfect the art of stovetop juicy chicken and decent rice pilaf. Nothing fancy, but satisfying nonetheless. As proof, I offer this:

Birds Gotta Fly (and eat)!

I need to take just a moment to acknowledge an important fact: where you work is often as important as what you do for work. I'm sure many of us know that an environment that welcomes and encourages is one where productivity are at a maximum, which is why people strive to create work (and living) spaces that make us happy.

Meet J's work space:

Up, up... oh, you know the rest.

I'll spare you the trite "better view than a corner office" comparisons, but suffice it to say he enjoys his daily toil more than most. And now, he enjoys it from the Captain's chair! 

We're all very proud of his accomplishment, as it's the culmination of a lot of hard work and effort on his part (I'm hoping some of this excellent career karma will rub off on me). Clearly a celebration is in order!

As for my work space (the part that's relevant to this blog, anyway), well... I don't have any cozy kitchen adventures to share, mainly because I just haven't cooked up anything notable of late: pastas and frozen chicken don't exactly qualify as new and interesting. But we have finally returned to our farmer's market these past few weeks, picking up some lovely fruits, veggies, and even some fresh bread to round out the boring-old-standby meals. There's also some camp-stove cooking coming up in our future, as well as some kind of fantastic dessert, TBD, as a special treat. A hard-working Captain (and his co-pilot wife) must eat, after all!

Quick & Tasty: An Oxymoron?

Fast food: two little words that make chefs, dieticians, and doctors cringe, and pressed-for-time home cooks glance away in shame. But what about the "other" fast food -- the meals we can whip up at home, with little or no thought and not much in the way of preparation, yet are still delicious and filling? I call these meals "quick and tasty" in an effort to avoid the FF stigma.

Last night, J and I returned home from an enjoyable family party a little tired and not much inclined to do more than relax on the sofa. I knew I'd be averse to putting much effort into dinner, so I planned in advance a purchase of steak tips and sweet corn. In order to change things up even the tiniest bit, I brought out a kitchen tool I'd yet to fully utilize: the reversible grill/griddle.

Grill today... griddle tomorrow!

I'm pleased to say that the grill side has lived up to its hype. A light coating of canola oil was all it took to keep my meat from sticking, and overall I think the surface heated fairly evenly. The meat certainly came out juicy and perfectly cooked (which I also partially attribute both to good meat and my trusty thermometer), with just a little teriyaki glaze for flavor. 

Summer Sips & Bites Part II

Now that I've teased your palate with the edible from last weekend, I think it's time to show off the drinkable. My mother certainly has provided me with invaluable recipes and kitchen tips over the years, but it's time to honor my father with a post dedicated to his own version of sangria.

As a general rule, sangrias should be sweet (but not overly so), fruity (but not overpowering), and entirely refreshing. They should also be relatively simple to make, contain as few ingredients as possible, and not cost a fortune. To me, this drink represents summer in a glass. I can't tell you what kind of wine we use -- part of the secret -- or the quantities of the other "special" ingredients, but I can tell you this: made in advance, with enough time for the wine base to acquire as much citrus juice as possible, sangria can taste so smooth that you'll hardly remember you're drinking anything alcoholic.

Allow me a moment to introduce my newest (and current favorite) kitchen toy: the mandoline. Purchased with the remnants of a wedding giftcard that I'd saved for delayed gratification, this little gem made the sangria-making experience a whole new kind of pleasure. Normally, slicing citrus fruit is everyone's least favorite chore: slippery and tough, the oranges, lemons, and limes have caused me some rather painful moments in the past.

But no longer! After cutting each fruit in half, I simply set the height of the slicer, wet the slide, and got to cutting perfect little slices.

Summer Sips & Bites Part I

I'm back, and with some great seasonal edibles as promised!

A relaxing vacation with family is never complete without homemade goodies, and I very much enjoyed sharing the duties with my mother this year. It should come as no surprise that blueberries were the ingredient of choice this time, and we book-ended our daily meals with blueberry muffins at breakfast (hers) and blueberry bars for dessert (mine).

Mom used a tried-and-true muffin recipe from a book we both love, The Art and Soul of Baking. I think her special touch in the kitchen makes them come out just perfectly, and the very, very few left over certainly prove it.

Mmmm muffins!

Next time I just might put her to work and ask her to document her kitchen experiences for me to share!

As for me, I spent a few days before the trip packing, cleaning, and whipping up my own contributions. I put together a green salad -- sorry, no pictures of that one -- and two featured treats: Dad's Famous Sangria and a new recipe for blueberry bars. In order to pay due attention to each, I'm splitting up my food recaps so you'll have to wait for the next post to salivate over the sangria. 

The bars were relatively simple to make, using only the food processor to create the crumble mixture for the top and bottom. I intend to substitute other seasonal fruit for the blueberries in the future, as I think this recipe is versatile enough for just about anything.

The "Summer Lazies"

In spite of the incredible bounty of fresh, delicious food available in the summer months, I'm a self-professed cold weather woman. I don't adapt to high temps and sticky humidity very well, and much prefer getting cozy with a roaring fire than sweating it out on the beach with the roar of the ocean (at the very least, I'd rather be sailing on that ocean). Right now, the very last place I want to be is my kitchen with the oven on.

One of the ways I'm most affected by the weather is my energy level -- it absolutely plummets in the summer, and it feels like it takes double the usual amount of effort to get anything done. So perhaps you'll forgive me for my dearth of kitchen work lately, as I just haven't been able to muster the motivation to make anything new and interesting. Of course, we've also been away from home a lot these past few weeks making the rounds to our families, kitten in tow, and I haven't even been inside my own kitchen enough to cook.

I can promise to make it up to you this week, however, as I'll be busy preparing all kinds of yummy things for a nearing family mini-vacation. My mother and I have decided to split the burden, so to speak, and prepare or bring enough food for everyone between us. I volunteered immediately to make my father's sangria, a green salad of some kind (she gets the fruit one this time), and some other goodies that I'll be working on as the week progresses.

So, keep an eye out for more posts this week that focus on summer-perfect dishes, including some old favorites and perhaps a new surprise or two. I also plan to document the meals of that trip, assuming I can get a few shots before all that delicious food is devoured!