2 Minute Mason Jar Apple Crisp

The Mister and I have a bit of a history when it comes to apple crisp.  In fact, the very first time I met his family, his mom made delicious apple crisp for us.  We had all enjoyed a lovely dinner of a Youngstown favorite -- chili dogs from Jib-Jabs (I will personally fight anyone who says that any other place has better chili dogs) -- and then the Mister and I were given leave to go be super nerds and watch the boxed set of Firefly.  As we're snuggled up on the couch, completely absorbed in this space western, the Mister's mom was in the kitchen whipping up some apple crisp for everyone.  As she was baking away, she sent his younger brother to inquire about popcorn and dessert.  Well, somehow, and naturally something like this can only happen to me, the stitching on my shirt became tangled with a button on the Mister's shirt.  So, in walks my future brother-in-law, we sit up and suddenly I realize...I'm stuck.  Which meant here I am grasping at my top, the Mister is grasping at his shirt, and it all looks very shady and quite scandalous.  So, I had now scarred this 18 year old boy who was clearly going to head straight to his mom and tell her he walked in on us fumbling with my top.  I could tell I was going to make a great impression on this family!  Thankfully, everyone was amazed that such nerds actually found someone to date, and somehow his amazing Mom could already sense I was a comedy of errors waiting to happen.  So no one actually thought I was dropping my top in their tv room an hour after meeting all of them.  And thankfully, neither of us were scarred for life when it came to ever eating apple crisp ever again.  So when I saw this recipe for a 2 minute apple crisp in a mug I knew two things...1.) it needed to be made in a mason jar (because everything needs to come in mason jars) and 2.) apple crisp of this speed will surely save future generations of girls like me from haphazard wardrobe malfunctions, as you'd not even be down the hall before the dessert was ready.  Oh 2 Minute Mason Jar Apple Crisp, where were you in the summer of 2010?  Needless to say, I'm sharing this recipe (and surely a good chuckle) with my mother-in-law!

2 Minute Mason Jar Apple Crisp

Ingredients:
1 apple (I used this week's Cameo apples)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Shortbread Cookie Mix for gluten-free and because I prefer the taste of that mix to their all purpose flour blend which can taste a tad metallic)
2 Tbsp oats (again, I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Certified Oats)
2 Tbsp butter, melted (or Earth Balance margarine for dairy-free)
Cinnamon

Core and thinly slice apple, and toss together in a bowl with the brown sugar and flour until evenly coated.  Add in about 3-4 dashes of cinnamon.

In another bowl combine oats with melted butter, and 2 dashes of cinnamon.

Place apple mixture into a mason jar and then top with the oat mixture.  Then place the jar into the microwave and cook for 2 minutes.  Take care when removing jar as it will be super hot!

You can top with vanilla bean ice cream to make it a la mode (So Delicious makes a killer coconut milk based vanilla bean ice cream) or toss in a few chocolate chips and stir up to let them melt into the crisp (we use Ghiradelli semi-sweet chips as they are dairy & gluten free).


**Update: My brother-in-law just contacted me to let me know he's bringing his girlfriend home to meet the family for the first time.  Naturally, he is having her read this.  Good luck girl, you'll do great...just don't wear anything that easily snags.**

Revamping Mon Mama's Stuffed Mushrooms

My mama likes to say I get my cooking skill from my Da because she believes herself to be a paltry cook.  Granted, being the crazy busy woman she is, time for cooking has always been thin on the ground for her, but come to one of her holiday dinners and prepare to feast like you've never feasted before.  There are so many of her dishes that are total comfort foods for me, like her chicken & noodles, beef stroganoff, Thanksgiving stuffing, and of course, her stuffed mushrooms.  Now there's one sad, frustrating ingredient binding all of those dishes together...gluten.  So if I am going to enjoy these favorites of my childhood, I have to stop pouting, gird my gluten-hating loins, and make them in a way that's safe for me.  The noodles and stroganoff were easy, the stuffing I haven't had the heart to try, but those stuffed mushrooms have been calling to me.  Namely because the cremini mushrooms from the final week of the Fall round were eyeing me longingly every time I opened the fridge.  So I called up my mama to get the run down of her recipe and set to work in hopes of contriving something that would generally taste like her version.  While the texture was a tad different and being the nice wife I am I used the Mister's dairy-free cheese so I could share them with him, they turned out nearly identical to her's!!!!  Squee!!!!  So with the holidays coming up, these are a perfect appetizer to quickly whip up, and I'll provide the me version and mon mama's version so you can make them either way you wish.  Oh and to truly enjoy these, you really should pour yourself a glass of wine.  Cheers mama!

Mon Mama's Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:
1 doz cremini mushrooms, stems removed and reserved
1/2 cup of breadcrumbs (make your own with the Petite Loaves in this week's share, or make them gluten free with Glutino bread crumbs -- also dairy & egg free)
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
1 tsp soy sauce (Kikkoman has a great gluten-free variety)
3 Tbsp butter, melted (use Earth Balance margarine for dairy free)
1/4 cup jack cheese (I used Daiya mozzarella shreds, which are a dairy free product that's also soy free)
1/4 cup dry red or white wine
Ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Gently wash your mushrooms by rinsing under water and lightly rubbing your fingers over them to remove the dirt.  Don't scrub them as you'll actually lose some of the wonderful earthy, mushroom flavor.  Pop the stems out and allow the caps to dry on a paper towel.  Trim the soil end of the stems and then dice the reserved stems for use in the stuffing.

In a bowl mix together the diced stems, breadcrumbs, garlic, soy sauce, cheese, wine, and half of the melted butter.  Mix well to combine and then season with ground black pepper to taste.

Place mushroom caps on a baking sheet and drizzle the remaining butter over top and around the mushrooms to prevent them from drying out.  Then stuff each cap generously with the stuffing.  I had a good bit of stuffing left over, so I rolled it up into 4 stuffing balls that I placed on the baking sheet too (they turned out tasting a lot like arancini -- fried rice balls).  Bake for 10 minutes at 350.  Then turn broiler onto high and move mushrooms to the top rack of the oven.  Broil for 3-5 minutes or until slightly browned and you can see the stuffing start to bubble and pulsate.  Keep an eye on them in the broiler as they can go from fine to smoking very quickly.

Transfer to a plate to cool slightly and enjoy with some wine...and maybe a call home to your mama.

Move over kale...Collard Chips are here!

So when customers ask us what to do with collards, we love to tell them it's easily interchangeable with kale in recipes.  Being higher in calcium and lower in calories (okay it's a veg, let's not get too concerned over the caloric intake), collards make a great swap for kale.  Plus, collards aren't vogue right now, so that means they're much more affordable.  And then as I was telling all of this to a group for a Juicing With Greens workshop, it came to me...Collard Chips.  In theory, I figured it should work, but I was totally not prepared for how delicious the results would turn out to be.  Not only do they taste just like kale chips, but they are sturdier so they can actually be dipped in things...albeit delicately dipped.  Which was perfect because I had a ton of Radish Dip left over.  Veggies, on veggies, on veggies!  So if you're still staring down that massive bundle of collards from the last week of the Fall round, turn them into a crunchy evening stack!

Collard Chips

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive or coconut oil
1 bundle collards, rough chopped and stems removed
Kosher or sea salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

On a baking sheet, toss collards in oil and sprinkle with salt.  Bake in the oven at 300 degrees for about 10 to 15 minutes.  Mine baked up really quick, so start checking them at 10 minutes and add cook time if they're not crisped up yet.

Serve with Radish Dip for a veggietacular snack!

Reduce, Reuse...Romaine!

WAIT!  Don't throw away the stem end of your leaf lettuce this week.  Make it work again and again for you and get your creative juices flowing.

First up, if one head of lettuce is just never enough.  Then re-grow your lettuce from the stalk scraps.  Just place the stem end into about a half an in to an inch of water in a container deep enough to keep the stalk from just falling over sideways (I used empty jam jars, but soup mugs or even plastic butter containers would work great).  Then place in an area where it will get some nice indirect light, like a windowsill, and watch over the next few days as your lettuce begins to grow again.  It's ALIVE!!!!  Keep an eye on the water as you'll want to change it every few days to prevent it from getting gunky, and make sure you don't fully submerge the stalk as it will rot.  You want just enough water to cover the stem portion and that's it.  In the photo below you can already see the center of my lettuce starting to sprout.  Plus, this is also a great trick for continually re-growing green onions!

Don't want to wait till you've grown a whole other bit of lettuce?  Want instant lettuce scrap gratification?  Then use that veggie scrap as a sustainable stamp!  Pat the it dry to get rid of any excess moisture, and then grab an ink pad (or if you're still hanging onto the beets from a few weeks ago, use beet juice for a natural dye -- though this would work best on fabric, not on a paper product since it would be too wet) and start stamping away.  I had a whole roll of brown butcher paper that I patterned up and I plan to use for gift wrap this year.  Plus I even had some matching card stock, so ta-da wrapping paper and blank note cards to match.  Changing up the ribbon colors and gift decorations means you can use a wrap like this all year round. If you've got some apples that have started to go soft, you can even slice them in half and dip those into a fabric paint and design up some canvas totes for gifts.  

So start looking at your kitchen scraps in a different light and think about all the ways you might be able to reuse them, save yourself some cash, fuel your creative juices, and maybe knock a few holiday to-dos off your list in the process!