Caramel Apple Dip-perfect fall treat

My beloved college friend Shauna sent me home from our breakfast date over the weekend with homemade caramel apple dip.  It smelled divine and tasted as even better.  I was careful not to ask for the recipe until after we’d eaten the whole jar in a day!  I knew it couldn’t be any sort of healthy, but for a special thing it would be fun.  So I must share since apple season is in full swing here…

1 cup butter (that’s why it’s so good!)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 brown sugar
1/4 corn syrup

Combine in a small pot and heat over med. heat until butter is melted, and sugar is dissolved (about 5 min)….Make sure you are continually stirring so as not to burn the brown sugar. Whisking it helps to emulsify the ingredients together. Mixture does not need to boil, just be thoroughly mixed. Remove from heat, and add 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp vanilla. Enjoy with apple slices!

Scrumptious Teriyaki Sauce in 20 minutes

This was too tasty and too easy not to share.  My memory lapse on forgetting to buy teriyaki sauce at the store last time I went may have been a good thing!  I skipped the weekly grocery run last night because I was too exhausted and opted to rummage around the cupboards all week instead.  I set out to make teriyaki chicken and rice for dinner but quickly realized we had no sauce.  I briefly thought about going to the store but didn’t feel up to it.  So I read a few recipes, most called for mirin  (sweet Japanese cooking wine), which I didn’t have.  But I did have four common ingredients and felt brave, so I combined all I had read and started out to make some sauce, this is roughly what I did:

2 cups shoyu (just because I’d bought a bottle of it at a local specialty store a while back)
1 cup brown sugar (because I’m almost out of honey)
2 inches of fresh ginger, peeled
5 large fresh garlic cloves

I decided to blend first then cook.  So I tossed the sugar and shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) in the blender.  I pushed the garlic through a crusher, grated the ginger both straight into my blender.  I let it go on high for maybe 30 seconds then poured it into a saucepan on medium heat.  I simmered for a few minutes, then tasted.  Crazy salty.  Too strong for my kids.  But incredible flavor.  And not thick.  So I mixed 3 heaping TBS of cornstarch in at least another cup of water.  Poured that in and let it bubble and thicken to the perfect consistency.  It was still a little sharp on flavor so I added the last little bit of honey I had, maybe 1/3 cup I’d say.

I imagine the quality and kind of soy sauce you use would radically alter the taste, saltiness and flavor.  Tamari would maybe have been even better, because it is even more robust in flavor.  What I used was certainly nicer brand that I usually have and it was close to going to waste in my pantry!

After making dinner I had about two thirds of a quart jar left, a couple more meals worth for certain.  I’m not sure how long it will last in the fridge  but after watching the kids inhale the rice sprinkled with the sauce and the chicken cooked in it….it won’t be a problem!  I’m not sure how the cost compares to buying sauce at the store but there are no preservatives which is certainly great, and at least in my opinion the flavor is beyond comparison.

And yes, for the record I know I spelled it wrong.  But I’m pretty darn stingy with my label maker tape so I wasn’t about to reprint it.

Favorite friday night dinner

It’s almost embarrassing to post this because it truly is one of the most no-brainer meals I make.  But it is a huge hit every time so I can’t help but share.  It’s the perfect meal for a busy day, for feeding a crowd or when you don’t want to heat up the house using your oven in summer.   We had a fun filled day at the beach today (forgot the sunscreen, first sunburn of the summer) and I knew we’d be tired when we got home.  So before we left I threw a 5 pound bone in pork shoulder roast into the crockpot.

We enjoyed the sand and sun with friends and it was hard to peel the kids away from it all.  We came home, rested and then enjoyed the simplest of meals together.  Here’s how it goes:

Buy a pork roast (or three) when they go on sale – my large chunk of meat cost under $5

Place the whole roast into the crockpot on LOW  in the morning, pour 1 can or bottle of root beer over the meat.

Yes, really just root beer that’s all.

Let it cook all day.  Take it out at dinner time.  Pull meat apart and drain juice from crockpot.  Put meat back in and cover with BBQ sauce of your choice.  Stubs is my standby favorite brand but sometimes I make my own from this recipe.

I cannot explain what the root beer does to the meat.  I can only testify to its extreme goodness.  I do only use natural root beer, which is made with spices and cane sugar instead of pure high fructose corn syrup like regular soda.  I don’t know if it makes a difference.  But when my husband asks for thirds every time we have it, I just make it the same way every time.  And a 5 pound roast would feed at least 10 average eaters.  For us, it is two entire meals, I always freeze the other half for a rainy day.

We tend to just eat a protein and raw or steamed veggies and fruit for dinner so we added fresh corn and cantaloupe tonight.  Easy peasy yum!

And for the record, little girls slathered in coconut oil for their sunburn are perfectly yummy too-works better than aloe vera!

My umpteenth attempt at homemade bread

I think I found the secret.  I have been doing a fair bit of reading about the value of soaking grains and how much better our bodies absorb the nutrients in the grains.  So I was delighted to find a recipe for homemade bread that included soaking the grains overnight first.  I can’t believe how much softer, lighter the bread turned out despite being made almost entirely with fresh, whole wheat flour.  Having a large family, being about to make 4 loaves at one time was also a big draw for me.  I did end up having to knead it by hand and my lower back isn’t thanking me for that but it was worth it!  I’ve been grinding our own flour for 18 months now but haven’t used it for bread making much because my efforts seemed doomed to fail.  Now I am armed with confidence and a great recipe, if I can just plan well enough to do it regularly!

If you are interested in the recipe, you can find it over at Passionate Homemaking.

Lentil Taco Night

For many reasons, I’ve been working on making one meatless dinner a week.  And I’ve also been painstakingly trying to incorporate more beans and legumes into our diet.  They pack such a nutritional punch and are so cheap!  This recipe has become a staple and it is a welcome substitution for a greasy bowl of ground beef taco meat.  It looks similar in color, tastes as good or better and a handful of lentils costs less than a dollar.  For toppings, they are required to have a bit of everything healthy.  That means shredded carrots, olives, avocado, fresh tomato or lettuce.  Then they can add sour cream or cheese if they like.

Lentil Tacos

1 cup finely chopped onion
1-2 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp oil
1 cup dried lentils
1 T chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
2 1/2 cups chicken broth

Toppings: salsa, tomatoes, lettuce, olives, sour cream or avocado

In a skillet, saute onion and garlic in oil until tender.  Add lentils, chili powder, cumin and oregano.  Cook and stir 1 minute.  Add broth, bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer about 25 minutes or till lentils are tender.  Uncover, cook 5-10 minutes until mixture is thickened.  Mash lentils slightly if desired.  I stir some salsa in at this point.  Then serve in tortillas or taco shells.