This is one of those simple easy recipes. It’s quick to put together and not alot of ingredients. I don’t make hamburgers very often, so I like this healthier turkey burger option. You can pan fry it in a skillet or use the grill.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaVphfRb0iY
When I think of pie, I think my aunt’s thanksgiving pies. Lined up on grandma’s counter tempting me all evening till dessert. There was always several to choose from, the classic pumpkin, apple and perhaps a banana cream pie. My aunt makes the best pie crusts they are flakey salty and sweet. I try to duplicate her recipe but it never seems to come out as good. And I have not mastered the rolling out the dough nice and even. I did just read a recent tip of rolling out the crust between two pieces of plastic wrap, I will have to try this next time. I found this classic apple recipe, I have to be honest it had me at Cider-Bourban Sauce. A nice warm slice of apple pie with some sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. mmmm What else says Fall.
Crust
Filling
Cider-Bourbon Sauce
For Crust :
Mix flour, sugar, salt and apple pie spice in processor. Add butter and shortening and cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add sour cream and blend in using on/off turns just until dough forms. Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Form each half into a ball; flatten into disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
For Filling:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss first 6 ingredients together in bowl.
Roll out 1 dough disk between sheets of plastic wrap to 13-inch round. Peel off top sheet; invert dough into 9 1/2-inch deep-dish glass pie dish. Peel off plastic. Roll out remaining dough disk between sheets of plastic wrap to 13-inch round. Peel off top sheet of plastic. Mound filling in pie dish. Invert dough over filling. Peel off plastic. Pinch edges of dough to seal. Trim excess crust. Crimp edges decoratively. Cut 5 slashes in top of dough to allow steam to escape. Brush top with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden brown, covering with foil if browning too quickly, about 1 hour.
Let pie stand until just slightly warm, about 1 hour. Serve pie with ice cream and Cider-Bourbon Sauce.
For the cider-bourbon sauce:
Boil apple cider in heavy medium saucepan until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 45 minutes. Add butter and sugar and whisk until butter melts. Boil 3 minutes, whisking occasionally. Remove from heat. Whisk in bourbon. Cool sauce completely before serving.
The left over pie crust makes a yummy crust crisp. Melt some butter, smooth over rolled out crust sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and bake till flakey. Enjoy
Apple slice styled by food stylist Barb Standal.
This saturday we went to hang out in the Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery. Where Jeremy Messersmith and Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles performed a benefit concert to restore the cemetery’s 1928 steel fence. It felt great to soak up the warm autumn sun and listen to some really good music. Close to the eve of Halloween, Jeremy played his entire album from “The Reluctant Graveyard”. It was all meshing together. There was the Hola Arepa food truck serving some Latin cuisine. They specialize in Venezuelan stuffed arepas. What is an arepa? It’s a cornmeal patty cooked on the grilled and stuffed with goodness. They have local and sustainable ingredients :black bean, pulled pork and pulled chicken. I had the black bean with tomatoes, picked cabbage and lots of house made salsa. The bright pink cabbage was very pretty in pink. It was tasty, I did like the corn meal arepa, a light corn bread sandwich. Good bargain I would like to go again and try some of the meats. I guess I will have to go to the website and find the next location. http://holaarepa.com/
When I first started my job at the new photo studio, it meant I was going to become another car commuting to work every morning. Not only was I driving from the city to head north to the suburbs. But as I would let everyone know: the studio was across the street from a corn field. It was just all wrong. Well, as I was soon to discover the “corn field” had the best sweet corn in town. Now I wait all season for that first bite of sweet corn, seems to make that daily commute somehow worth it.
It was a sad day when I bought the last dozen corn of the season. So I made this delicious corn chowder over the weekend. The corn has also become a favorite for my cat Belli. Now she demands her own piece of corn to gnaw on.
Poblano Chicken Corn Chowder
It’s always one of my favorite time of the garden harvest when I chop down the basil and make my first batch of pesto. The balance of flavors tastes good simply on it’s own. I slather everything with pesto, can’t seem to get enough. The Pesto Smear on a slice of toasted french bread with a Roma tomato on top. Yum
I’ve read the sequence of ingredients matters when mixing the pesto. Begin with garlic then add pine nuts, then basil, then course sea salt. After a few minutes of mixing then stream in the olive oil, until sauce becomes silky. The cheese is last, it gives it body and creaminess. Every Pesto is unique as it’s creator.
Classic Basil Pesto
4 cups basil– 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil–1/2 cup Parmesan–1/4 cup toasted pine nuts– 2 garlic gloves– coarse sea salt
Pesto Rubbed Chicken
Spread pesto between the chicken skin- Place chicken skin side down on grill and cook-turn chicken and spread pesto on top of the chicken. Serve with a salad. Enjoy
this was on set today….oops did someone forget to strike the set. Check out the cake melt movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwQXSH_xCUo
There is a list of requirements when enjoying an Jamaican Ginger Rum. Number One: must have at least one companion, the more the merrier. Number Two: Reggae music perhaps Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley ect. Number Three: a real good time.
This is a rum infusion that will take you back to the beach on Negril. The feel of sand between the toes and and a cool breeze. I start with a 1.75 liter of cheap white rum and a sun tea jug. Slice up a fresh pineapple-several cinnamon sticks-one vanilla bean-a whole nutmeg-slice up some ginger root-a couple cloves and place in the refrigerator for at least three weeks. After like 11 days give the rum a sample, adjust recipe from there, maybe freshen up the pineapple or add a cinnamon stick. 
Since my friend Bob introduced me to this drink there is usually always a rum stewing in my refrigerator. Once you are ready with the rum. Get your favorite glass of ice add ginger ale, splash of coke and a dash of bitters-enjoy. 
I inherited a concord grape vine with my perennial garden when we moved into our home. My records estimate it is at least 20 years old. In past years I have made grape juice this time I was looking for something a little more adventurous. This year I have a bountiful harvest of grapes, which I have been diligently plucking off the vines before the neighboring raccoons get to them before me. Most of the time I enjoy eating the grapes right off the vine, they have a very tart mouth puckering crunch. What to do with all these grapes? I am not a jelly fan and after researching how much time involved peeling and seeding the grapes to make a pie I lost interest. So with a little more research I came up with this concord grape sauce, made with a port wine. Drizzled over a cheesecake it was rich and creamy.
1. Make your favorite cheesecake
2. Concord Grape Sauce 2/3 cup tawny port or sweet red wine 1/2 cup sugar 2 Tbls fresh lemon juice 4 tps cornstarch 4 tps water Combine juice, cornstarch, and 4 tps water, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Stir cornstarch mixture into concord grapes, bring to boil. Reduce heat, simmer 3 minutes or until mixture is slightly thickened and shiny. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature. Cover and chill. Serve over cheesecake. enjoy
We went to San Francisco to attend the Outside Land Festival in Golden Gate Park, a 3 day music festival. Lots of great music it was hard to navigate the set lists and see it all. The food at the festival was the best surprise, so much amazing food booths to choose from, each day we tried something new and delicious. We started with the BBQ Oysters, huge oysters in the shell BBQ’ ed on the grill with garlic butter and a spicy BBQ sauce on top-WOW I’m still thinking about them.
Next on the list was these scrumptious Korean tacos, nori wrapped chicken with a kick of spice.
The classic Funnel Cake taken to a whole new level. Powdered sugar, a dollop of whipped cream and a pile of bacon. Sweet and salty never taste so good.
Wood Fired Flatbread Pizza they bake Certified Organic and Locally Sourced. A majority of the ingredients are from family owned and independent farmers.
For dessert we wondered into Choco Land a wonderland of treats.
I can’t wait till next year to try everything I missed. Check it out yourself
Let’s just start with one of my biggest vices, I can’t start the day without an extra large cup of coffee. No good conversation or clear thought will be had until I have had a sip of my coffee. As I mentioned before it has been a very hot and humid summer, seems we are all enjoying some global warming across the country. So my new favorite habit is as an Iced Coffee.
While flipping threw an issue of Martha Stewart, I came across a great tip. Take an ice cube tray and freeze your left over coffee. Martha’s recipe is to take the ice with some cream a little sugar and blend it up in a blender- Oh yes, it is delicious.
But that is too many calories for me every morning. The coffee ritual begins the night before with making a pot of cold press coffee in my french press. I just leave the press in the frig till morning and then add some coffee ice cubes. Fill up the travel mug and drive to the studio.
There is no such thing as strong coffee, just weak coffee drinkers.
photoappetite 