apple pie

Lightly spiced slightly tart apples, crisp streusel, flaky pastry...

I’m taking a break from my gluten-free cooking to share a fabulous pie with you.

As an escape on the day before school started, my daughter and I took a drive out to Sauvie Island. This small, lush island is just 10 miles north of us with plenty of small rural farms selling their fresh, organic fruits and veggies. My ambition was to pick up lots of ripe tomatoes to churn into sauce, since the ones growing in my garden are still green. In the warm humid countryside, red tomatoes were scarce. “Come back in two weeks,” the friendly farmers all told us. 

We did find fresh honey... and apples. Gravensteins! 

This means one thing...pie!

The neighborhood where I grew up, a charming place called Garden Home, was once upon a time an apple orchard. Everyone in the neighborhood had at least one Gravenstein apple tree in these oversized suburban yards. We were lucky to have two. The trees were old and very large. Perfect for a tree house, but the apples were well out of reach. So we gathered fallen fruit for pies, and my dad used a homemade picker for reaching the non-bruised variety we ate whole. I love the crisp texture and tart flavor of Gravensteins!

The pie I decided to make is a several step creation. Pick up apples, prepare the pie crust, refrigerate it for two hours, prepare the streusel, roll out the chilled dough, peel and slice apples, make the filling, bake, cool. But don’t let the seemingly long recipe scare you. Many of these steps can be done ahead. You can then assemble, bake and enjoy on the same day, and serve it warm.

Take a closer look. That streusel topping really is incredible!

The recipes...

Flag-raising Apple Pie

(slightly modified from the book, The Simple Art of Perfect Baking by Flo Braker)

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Piecrust:

(Makes one 9-inch crust)

1 cup unsifted all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled

1/3 cup vegetable shortening, like Crisco, chilled

3 Tablespoons ice water

Pour the flour and salt into a food processor and blend for 10 seconds just to mix. Divide the cold butter into 6 to 8 pieces. Pulse blend for a few seconds until the mixture is the texture of bread crumbs. Add ice water, one tablespoon at a time, and blend until the mixture hold together. Gather the dough together and place onto plastic wrap, flatten into a round disk, wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Streusel:

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup unsifted all-purpose flour

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

Combine the sugars in a small bowl. Break up any lumps. Add the flour and mix until combined. Cut the butter into 8 pieces and scatter over the surface. Work the butter in with a fork (or blend in a food processor) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

You will have more than you need for this pie, but no worries, you can put it on coffee cake, ice cream, or ??...

(Note: This can be refrigerated in an airtight container for a week, or frozen for up to one month).

Filling:

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 1/2 Tablespoons unsifted all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3 pounds (about 7) apples (gravenstein, granny smith, or pippin)

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions: Melt the butter; set aside. Mix the sugars, flour and spices in a small bowl. Peel the apples with a vegetable peeler, cut them into halves, and core them with a melon baller. Cut 1/8-inch slices. You need 9 cups of apples, sliced thin. Pour into a large mixing bowl, sprinkle with the dry mixture, and gently toss. Sprinkle with the lemon juice and melted butter, tossing again to combine.

Assuming you’ve already rolled out the crust, spoon the filling into the pan, spreading the apple slices evenly. They will mound higher in the center. Pat out the streusel to form a thin topping over the apples.

Bake in a preheated 450°F oven for 10 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 350°F, and bake for 40-45 minutes more.

Cool on a cooling rack before serving.

Serve warm or room temperature with a scoop of ice cream.

summer barbecue

Gluten-free eating has been fairly easy when it comes to summer dinners on the backyard barbecue. This is my favorite way to cook with simple, fresh ingredients, so it’s not much of a stretch.

Peel and devein a pound of shrimp or prawns. Apparently, prawns is the name for freshwater forms of palaemonids, and shrimp is the term for the marine penaeids. In this case, I used large shrimp (although that seems to be a bit of a contradiction in terms).

Throw them on a hot grill and drizzle with a little melted butter (or olive oil) and finely chopped garlic. Cook until the shrimp turns pink, turning frequently, for about two and a half minutes on each side. 

Serve them with some brown rice, fresh corn (I’ve cut mine off the cob), and sauteed veggies. 

Spicy, gluten-free chili sauce and this yum yum sauce add a little zest.

I purchased this sauce in the sushi department at my local grocery, but you can easily make your own.

Yum Yum Sauce

Approx. 12 servings

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup Best Foods Mayonnaise

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon tomato paste

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon paprika

A dash of cayenne pepper

Directions:

Blend all ingredients by whisking together until mixture is smooth. Refrigerate overnight.

Yum yum!

little free libraries

Have you noticed any small wooden boxes set on posts in your neighborhood? While on an evening walk with the doggies recently, Iz and I discovered this charming painted box just a few blocks away...

It took us a few minutes to figure out what we were looking at. Once we figured out the concept of book trading, we couldn’t wait to come back with books of our own to place in the box. 

The Little Free Libraries is a movement that appears to have started when the son of a former teacher wanted to honor his deceased mother. Todd Bol built a small model of a library, filled it with books, and placed it on the lawn outside his Hudson, Wisconsin home. Sounds like the perfect legacy to a woman who loved books!

No library card necessary. The concept is take a book, return a book. Open 24/7. Apparently, many people find this concept as charming as I do. Little Free Libraries are cropping up on lawns all across the country and several places worldwide. They’ve created a web site where you can find everything you need to get started: plans and pre-made boxes for purchase; ideas for setting up and operating your own little library; and book suggestions for stocking one.

Photo courtesy of Little Free Library

They make me smile too!

gluten-free chocolate mousse cake

My baby girl turned 15 this week! 

So I baked her a cake...

A gluten-free cake.

Week two: no wheat. The good and the bad.

So far I don’t miss it. I’ve made some simple, fabulous meals (which I’ll share with you soon). I’ve also started exercising more... running/walking, weight workout, yoga, and now I’ve just added pilates to my routine. It was by accident that I found myself in the middle of an advanced pilates class yesterday while working out at the gym. My daughter and I went into the empty exercise classroom to stretch and use the barre. The room started filling up, and the next thing I knew we were joining in. I learned that my abdominal muscles are not what they used to be, but I can’t wait to go back for more next week.

That’s the good.

The bad: I’ve only lost two pounds. Maybe it was the chocolate cake.

The cake was delicious. Serve it at your next dinner party. If you’re eating gluten-free, no one will need to know.

Chocolate Mousse Cake (gluten-free)

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Cake:

8 oz semi-sweet chocolate

1 cube butter

7 egg whites at room temperature

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup granulated sugar

7 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting:

2 cups whipping cream (Can use less)

1/2 powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease sides and bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan.

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and set aside. 

In a large bowl at high speed, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until very stiff. Beat in 4 Tablespoons of the sugar, 1 Tablespoon at a time. Set aside. 

Without washing beaters, in a small mixing bowl, at medium high speed, beat egg yolks and remaining 3/4 cup sugar for two minutes or until thick and pale yellow.

At low speed, gradually beat in the chocolate mixture, and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla until blended. Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, and carefully fold in the remaining whites.

Pour about 3/4 of the batter into the spring form pan. Cover the remaining batter and refrigerate it. Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes or until dry. Cool in pan on wire rack. 

In a small bowl, beat whipping cream, powdered sugar, and remaining 

1 teaspoon vanilla, until stiff peaks form. 

Remove outer rim of cake pan and place the cake with metal base on a serving plate. Fill the center of the cake with refrigerated mousse. Top sides and top with whipped cream frosting. 

Chill for 2 hours or up to 12 before serving. Decorate with grated chocolate.

no wheat, no gluten?

While waiting for summer weather to arrive, I found myself eating more, exercising less. My brain thinks it’s fall, so it sends my body into comfort food craving mode. In other words, a few extra pounds found its way onto my body, so I need to make a few changes. I’m starting with what I eat.

Due to a fast metabolism, that has allowed me to eat whatever I want without gaining weight, I’ve never dieted (please don’t hate). I’ve heard a lot about gluten-free or wheat-free diets in the last few years. So I decided going wheat-free would be a good place to start.

Four days into it, I’m in the trying-to-figure-out-what-to-eat, or not-eat, stage. I’m still finding the whole no-wheat versus no-gluten thing a bit confusing. Is there a difference between the two? I don’t even know if wheat is the reason I’ve put on a few pounds, but I’d rather start with that instead of say, chocolate! I did find a few blogs on the no-wheat/gluten subject ... glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com, heatherstrang.com/wheat-free (Heather lives in Portland), glutenfreegirl.com

Wish me luck. No doubt I’ll be posting a few of the delicious, no-wheat recipes I try here.

Right now I’m enjoying the fresh fruits and veggies of my small backyard garden. Despite it’s rather uncommon blend of ingredients, this smoothie was really good.

Place one peeled, ripe banana into your blender

Add frozen blueberries, spinach leaves, yogurt, protein powder and lowfat milk

Banana, Blueberry, and Spinach Smoothie
Serves 1-2

1 ripe banana
3/4 cup frozen blueberries (you could also use fresh, but I like the icy quality of frozen)
1 cup fresh spinach leaves
1/4 cup plain or vanilla Greek yogurt
3/4 cup lowfat milk
1 scoop whey protein powder (optional)

Blend it all up until smooth and creamy.

Trust me, you won’t even taste the spinach!

If anyone has knowledge and/or information about eating wheat-free, please share. I hope you have a happy, safe 4th!

little boy Bleu

Work, puppy training, and general summer busyness have been keeping me from blogging. I did find a little time to snap a few pics of our new pup. Little boy Bleu is growing leaps and bounds. Every morning he wobbles around as though he’s navigating the world with a new pair of legs. He’s sleeping through the night now, although only when on our bed. He’s obviously being properly spoiled! 

At times, Bleu is such an ornery puppy. This is the same look he gets when he does a grab and run with one of my daughter’s shoes...

He tries so hard to keep up with his big sister...

They are really pretty cute together.

Bailey gives Bleu plenty of necessary mentoring.

puppy = sleep deprivation

There’s a new baby at our house.

I now sleep in three hour increments. 

We’ve had a hard time coming up with a good name for him. He started out as Benny (sounds too close to Bailey), then Shaniko (my daughter and I could never remember it), and now Bleu.

Bailey thinks Bleu is her own personal toy

He’s quite comical.

Bailey occasionally becomes annoyed with Bleu, and lets him know it... in her gentle way, of course.