Kale Chips

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope you enjoyed your holidays.  We had a nice Christmas and New Years with the boys.  They got a play kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa.  So far, though, there is about zero pretend cooking going on.  They use it as a jungle gym instead.  Sigh.  Maybe someday they will want to cook like their mamma!  And maybe by then I will be able to have kitchen chairs again (I had to move them out because the boys push them to climb to the counters, stove, etc.)

One of my New Years resolutions this year is to post more often in my blog, so hopefully you will be seeing more of me in 2012!  My other main resolution is to be more organized.  I feel like I am super organized in some areas, but very unorganized in others.  Mainly, I want to de-clutter and organize my house!  So if you have any tips or good blogs on that, toss them my way!

I did not make a specific resolution on dieting or eating, because realistically I would never keep it!  But after eating so many rich, delicious foods over the holidays, I do feel like I just need some simple, healthy foods for awhile.  I keep hearing about Kale Chips so I decided to give them a try this week.  I am absolutely a potato chip girl, and not a huge kale fan, so I was a little skeptical of Kale Chips.  I used this recipe with very little changes.  They came out good (not potato chip good, but still pretty good)!  They remind me of my brussel sprout recipe I posted here last March .  And my husband and I both agreed it made the kale taste more edible than any other recipe I have tried.

Kale Chips
1 bunch kale
Olive Oil Spray (or olive oil in a Misto type sprayer)
Seasonings of your choice.  I used a Ranchers Steak Rub seasoning from my sister's Wildtree Store but you can use any seasonings you wish, i.e. sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, etc.

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray baking sheet with cooking spray.
2.  Rinse and dry kale (I used a salad spinner, but you can also blot it dry).  Cut the leafy parts from the stems, discarding tough stems, and tear leaves into bite-sized peices. 

3.  Arrange kale in single layer on baking sheet.  Spray with cooking spray.  Sprinkle with seasonings.  Toss lightly, and spray again with cooking spray and sprinkle with seasonings.
4.  Bake 10-15 minutes, or until crisp (I think it actually took 17 minutes in my oven).  Lightly toss a few times while baking.  Enjoy!

They look a little greasy in the photo above, but I promise they were not!  I served them with baked chicken tenders, using a healthy chicken nuggets recipe I adapted from www.skinnytaste.com.  The only changes I made to the recipe, were that I used chicken tenders instead of cutting them into nuggets, and I did not have seasoned whole wheat bread crumbs, so I used regular seasoned bread crumbs and substituted half wheat germ.  They were not as good as my favorite Secret Chef breaded chicken, however, they have a fraction of the olive oil and parmesan cheese that my recipe has, so these fit the bill and were also pretty tasty! 

Eggnog French Toast

A couple of weeks ago, the boys and I went out to bunch with some friends and we ordered Eggnog French toast.  It was delicious, and I decided I needed to try to replicate it at home.  I found this recipe online at allrecipes.com and it seemed pretty close.  I only modified it slightly.  It would make a perfect Christmas Morning breakfast!  My boys gobbled it up.

Eggnog French Toast
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups Eggnog
2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice (I used this brand, but you can use whatever your favorite is)
Firm white bread (such as Challah or French)*

*I used a particularly yummy loaf of bread from Tabora Farm.  It was a large, rounded loaf and I used 1 1/2 batches of the batter mixture to make the entire loaf.  One batch of batter will probably need at least half a loaf of bread, depending on the size of the bread and how much batter it soaks up.  You can also substitute whole grain bread, it will just be a little denser.  Since the eggnog has about a zillion calories anyway, I figured this would just be a splurge!

1.  In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, eggnog, and pumpkin pie spice.  Pour batter into a shallow dish and thoroughly coat each slice of bread.

2.  Cook french toast on a lightly greased electric skillet (set to 300 degrees) or in a skillet on the stove over medium heat, until golden brown, flipping once.

Enjoy!

Easy Apple Cake

I am so behind this year with Christmas shopping and baking!  I am usually someone who shops and wraps everything way in advance.  This year....  another story.  I am still not done.  But I am really enjoying my boys' reactions to the Christmas lights and decorations and our Christmas tree.  They've only broken one ornmament so far, so I think we're doing pretty well! 
I made that yummy Apple Cake again last night (the one I mentioned in my last post) and was able to get some pictures of it.  I realized after looking at the pictures, that apple cake just does not photograph very well.  Trust me, it tastes better than it looks!

Easy Apple Cake
1 cup Grape Seed Oil*
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup walnuts, chopped (or pecans or other nuts of your choice)
3 cups fresh apples, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

*I've been really into grape seed oil lately for baking.  I think it helps keeps baked goods moist.  But you can substitute 1-1/2 cups canola or vegetable oil (the math is correct--  you need less oil if you are using grape seed oil).

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2.  Mix oil and sugar thoroughly with electric mixer.  One at a time, add eggs and mix well.
3.  Add nuts and apples.
4.  In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.  Then add the flour mixture to the oil mixture, and fold in vanilla.
5.  Pour into greased tube or bundt pan and bake 1-3/4 hours or until toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Another cookbook update....  I DO still have some left.  The craft show did not seem to be terribly busy this year, and we did not sell out.  I am willing to ship out what is left.  They are $10 each, including tax.  Shipping is $2.90 via First Class Mail, for one book.  If you are not in a rush, Media Mail is $2.41.  Please email me at: savorysecrets@yahoo.com and I will let you know the specifics for how to pay by paypal or check.  It is first come/first serve.  I think I have less than 50 left and I am not planning on doing another printing.

I am hoping to get a blog post up in the next week about an amazing (if I do say so myself!) apple cake recipe I developed this fall.  We went apple picking twice and ended up with something like 46 pounds of apples!  I played around with some apple cake recipes and ended up with one I am really happy with.  It's also really easy!

Limited Number of Cookbooks Left

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Just wanted to let everyone know I have a limited number of cookbooks left and will be selling them at the Central Bucks Family YMCA Holiday Craft Show
I will be there Friday, December 2, from 9:30am - 7:30pm and Saturday, December 3rd from 9:00am - noon.  If you would like a book, they are $10 each (including the tax).  Please send me an email at savorysecrets@yahoo.com if you would like a book, and I will send you a confirmation email and reserve a book for you to pick up at the craft fair.  I am not mailing any books at this time. 

I am sharing a table with my sister, who is a Wildtree Foods rep, so look for the Wildtree table.  It's a natural foods line-- all products are free from preservatives, MSG, high fructose corn syrup, and food dyes, and are peanut free.  So stop by to say hello, pick up a Secret Chef cook book, and try some of the yummy Wildtree samples!

Have a great Thanksgiving and I hope to see you soon!

Apples!

Happy Fall everyone!  I am ready for some real fall weather, please.  Hopefully it is coming soon, and I will be able to drink my pumpkin spiced lattes hot instead of iced!  I am still enjoying my usual fall activities though.  Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch and last week the boys and I went apple picking at Wildemoore in Chalfont with some friends.  We went on a Wednesday morning while school was in session, and we were the only ones there.  I hope to also get to Solebury Orchards later this month.

The boys were more interested in taking the apples out of the bucket.  Here is a picture of my little helpers.  They are 18 months old now and getting so big!

We picked Winesap, Macintosh, and Ida Red varieties, which are all supposed to be good for cooking and baking.  That bucket held about 25 lbs of apples! The apples are very good- nice and tart, and not mealy at all.

I decided to bake some apple pies with some of the apples we picked.  I used this recipe from www.allrecipes.com : http://allrecipes.com/recipe/apple-pie-3/detail.aspx  They came out so delicious!  I used a mixture of all three types of apples in each pie. I was out of nutmeg, so I used a teaspoon and a half of pumpkin pie spice instead of the three different spices (the ingredients were similar).  I also just brushed the crust with milk and dusted with turbinado sugar instead of the egg wash.  The crust got a little over-browned (next time I will cover it part way through- I should have watched that more closely).  I plan to make more this week, along with a huge batch of applesauce.

August in Bucks County: Blackberries and Peaches

Today has been beautiful here in Bucks County, PA.  Sunny, breezy, and not too hot!  The boys and I just got back from red raspberry picking at Wildemoore Farm...  yes, more berry picking!  Hurry over to Wildemoore's in the next two weeks if you want to pick red raspberries.  They are open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9am - 1pm and the berries are delicious.  But that's actually not what I was planning on writing about today.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Penn Vermont Farm  in Bedminster to pick Blackberries and I wanted to write about that.  They are located at Bedminster (Rt. 113) and Rolling Hills Roads.  As you can see from the sign, they have a farm stand with sweet corn, tomatoes, honey, peaches, flowers, and various other things.  They also have pick your own strawberries in the spring, and black raspberries, and blackberries in the summer.  I missed the black raspberries (darn!) but I was able to pick some gorgeous, huge black berries!  If you are in the area, definitely check out this farm.  It's a pretty drive to get there, and the farm is huge.

 The blackberry patch (above).  The bushes are thorn-free, and the grass is mowed in between, so it is easy picking.

My 4 quarts of blackberries.  I think it took me a little under 45 minutes to pick them.  I did not have the boys with me that day, so it definitely went faster!

I also purchased a peck of delicious peaches.  They are not pick your own, but I passed the trees on the way to the black berry patch so I snapped a picture.

After my morning of picking fruit and visiting the farm, I had 4 quarts of blackberries and a entire peck of peaches to use up!  I remembered a Cooking Light recipe that I had been meaning to try (Bourbon Glazed Pork Chops and Peaches), so I stopped by Blooming Glen Pork to pick up the pork chops.  I still have bourbon left over from The Secret Chef that I have been trying to use up (we're not big drinkers, obviously), and I had honey from the Penn-Vermont farm stand, so I was ready to get started.  I made the recipe as written, with only minor changes, from June 2004 issue of Cooking Light magazine.  It was a fun way to use up some of the peaches in a savory dish.  The green beans were from a farm stand on E. Creamery Road in Perkasie (Hilltown Township), so this was a very locally sourced meal!

Bourbon-Glazed Pork Chops and Peaches

1/3 cup bourbon
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons  low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 (4 ounce) boneless, center-cut loin pork chops
2 peaches, halved and pitted
cooking spray


1.  Combine first 7 ingredients in a medium bowl or large glass measuring cup.  Pour approximately 1/3 - 1/2 the marinade into a separate bowl and add the pork (toss to coat).  Add peaches to remaining marinade (toss to coat). Allow to marinate for a few minutes.

2.  Heat non-stick grill pan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat.  Remove pork and peaches from the marinade (reserve marinade from peaches).  Place pork and peaches on the grill pan; cook approx. 4 minutes on each side, or until pork is done.  Note:  I could not fit all of the chops and peaches together on my grill pan, so I cooked the peaches first, set them a side, then cooked the pork.

3.  While pork cooks, place marinade from the peaches in a small sauce pan.  Simmer over medium heat while you are cooking the other ingredients.  Spoon over the pork and peaches before serving.

I still had all of those blackberries to use, so I decided to try Martha Stewart's Strawberry Cake, only substituting blackberries for strawberries.  It was soooo yummy!  Next time, I would increase the sugar on the top of the blackberries to 3 tablespoons (to compensate for the tartness of the blackberries), so I am making that change here.  It is such an easy cake to make, I will be trying it will lots of different kinds of fruit.

Easy Blackberry Cake
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pan
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk (I used whole)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 cups blackberries

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter 10 in spring form pan.
2.  mix dry ingredients together in medium bowl.
3. Put butter and 1 cup sugar in bowl of mixer.  Mix on medium-high until pale and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.  lower speed to medium low and add egg, milk, and vanilla and mix until combined.
4.  Reduce speed to low.  Gradually add in dry ingredients.
5.  Transfer batter to prepared pan.  Arrange berries on top of batter as close together as possible, in a single layer (or as close to single layer as you can).  Sprinkle remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar over the top of the berries.
6.  Bake cake 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 325.  Continue baking until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, approximately 1 hour.  Let cool in pan on wire rack.  Cut into wedges.  Serve with whipped cream.  Store at room temperature, loosely covered, for up to two days.  I am pretty sure you could also wrap this tightly and freeze it.  We gobbled ours up, so I was not able to try it! 

I also was excited to try a Honeyed Peach Blackberry Crisp recipe, because it called for EIGHT cups of peeled, chopped peaches, PLUS three cups of blackberries...  in other words, the perfect recipe for my situation!  Unfortunately, I didn't realize until after I had already started it, that I was not going to have enough flour.  I tried improvising a topping made out of pancake mix.  It was ok, but not blog worthy!  The filling was a pretty good combo though, so maybe next time I have a ton of peaches and blackberries to use up I will give it another try and post it here.