From the category archives:

Comfort food

We love homemade applesauce

by lcreekmo on December 22, 2008

Apples are one of the few fruits my kids both agree on, so we go through a lot of them here. For the first few years of the 9yo’s life, I just used store-bought applesauce — which no one but her wanted to eat, of course. Even when you spend the money to buy a premium brand, it’s typically no more than one step above runny and flavorless.

One day, I happened to make homemade applesauce on a whim, and I reminded myself how delicious this treat is. It’s one of those magic foods that’s ridiculously simple to make, doesn’t take too long, and tastes so much better than store-bought that it’s like a different food.

The other thing about applesauce is that there’s not really a recipe for it. Here, I’ve basically written up some notes about how I often make it, but I’m also including options you may want to consider.

Homemade Applesauce Recipe
Makes 4 or so cups

6 large apples*
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. allspice
Water

Peel and slice the apples. Here we get into one of your first choices. If you want quick-cooking, fine-textured applesauce, just dice the apples finely. Here, we like chunky applesauce, so I cut the apples into 1/8″-1/4″ slices and let them cook down a bit.

Put the apples in a heavy saucepan — they should no more than half-fill the pan. Just barely cover the apples with water. Dump in the other ingredients. Cover. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.

Basically, all you have to do now is cook the apples til they look and taste done to you. This takes no more than 30 minutes for me, but your cooking time will vary based on how you’ve chopped the apples. Check the apples every 5-10 minutes, more frequently the longer they’ve cooked. You may need to add water after they’ve cooked a while. They should remain “saucy” — if you let them dry out completely, they’ll burn and stick to the pan. Keeping them covered reduces the need for water, but you may still need to add some.

Once the apples seem very close to being done, have a taste. You may want more sugar or spice. Different apples [even among the same cultivar] will have different levels of sweetness and flavor, based on the time of year and how fresh they are. Always start low on the sugar and spice, and add more toward the end if need be.

Variations
I sometimes add butter. I’m from the South, and everything tastes better with butter. [Really.] I never add more than a couple of tablespoons. But it will make your applesauce richer and smoother.

You can certainly experiment with different spices, too. I recommend sticking with small amounts, and one or two spices total, however. It’s easy to muddle up the flavor. Other spice possibilities:

  • Ground ginger
  • Cloves
  • Nutmeg [Please, only use nutmeg you grate yourself. Easy, and so much better.]

Also delicious: Serve applesauce warm with chopped, roasted nuts on top [or even better: with nuts you've coated in butter, sugar, a tad of salt and then roasted]. My kids typically don’t like nuts in things, so I rarely do this at home.

While the method I describe here will give you delicious homemade applesauce pretty quickly, I also find Edna Lewis‘ theory on cooking to be so true: Cooking long and slow draws out a deeper, richer flavor. So when I think about it, I’ll put apples on very low in the morning and tend them while I go about other tasks in the kitchen.

* The kind of apples you use for applesauce makes a big difference. Please, whatever you do, do NOT use Red Delicious apples for applesauce. As far as I’m concerned, these tasteless, often mealy blobs should be banned from the earth. Oddly, Golden Delicious apples can make a very nice sauce, and they’re good to use if kids are your primary audience: They’re pretty mellow, even though they are significantly more flavorful than Reds. Granny Smiths make a nice tart applesauce, though I prefer them in pie.

My favorite apples for applesauce are Jonathans. I also use Jonagolds when I find them. I’ve used Galas many times for applesauce, though they are a touch too sweet for me personally [but delicious for eating raw for that very reason].

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Great quick comfort food meal

by lcreekmo on August 27, 2008

Well, I fell off the vegetarian wagon. Actually, I just climbed down. The first weekend of August, we went to camp with a bunch of good friends. Two of our friends got married at Camp Nakanawa more than 10 years ago, and several times since, they’ve rented out the camp for a weekend and invited everyone they know to join them. It was just as much fun as you might imagine — well, for me, anyway. I’m a camp person. A camp cultist, as Slate terms it. Though no one has named a school after me. Yet.

So anyway, while we were at Nakanawa, the camp staff was cooking our meals. Traditional, tasty camp fare. At the very first meal, I thought, what the hell. I’ll have some meat. So I did. And I’ve kept doing it.

I haven’t eaten a lot of meat in the past month, but definitely a bit. Recently, I’ve been thinking about some of my favorite meals my mom made when we were growing up. Of course, they all had meat in them, so i haven’t had most of these dishes in a while. Here’s what I made tonight. It doesn’t really have a name.

1 lb. ground beef [or turkey, or a mix]
1 egg
1/2 c. seasoned breadcrumbs
2 cloves minced garlic
1 T. Worchestershire sauce
1/2 medium onion, diced
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all well with your hands. Shape into 5 or 6 patties. Cook til done in a large skillet.

1 can cream of celery soup
1 can milk [If soup is condensed. If not, try 1/2 can milk to start.]

Whisk together. Pour over patties and simmer for 10 minutes, until sauce thickens slightly. Serve with rice.

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Rotel risotto

by lcreekmo on November 27, 2007


Don’t be fooled by the name.
It doesn’t taste like the dip.

I am not even kidding when I tell you I made risotto with Rotel tomatoes tonight. Nor am I joking when I tell you I love it, and I’m going to make it again.

I know some of you are now fainting. Wait, if you’re still standing, I had Taco Bell for lunch. [Which just reminded me that I really hate Taco Bell, after years of it being my favorite fast food fetish, and that I don't ever go there anymore because I never like it when I do. Apparently I have to remind myself of that about once a year.]

Back to the Rotel risotto.

I had in the back of my head that maybe I’d make some risotto tonight, when I absentmindedly opened my cabinet. And there — crowded in with everything else — sat the Rotel. I buy the mild version, finding it more than plenty hot for me. And every once in a while I just get a craving for it. Most of the time, I use it in soup — it is so handy. It’s a great shortcut for getting a bit of heat and some spices in a vegetable, bean or tortilla soup.

Tonight I just sat there, trying to decide between risotto and soup, and I realized maybe I didn’t have to decide. Here’s what I did — and unlike most recipes, I can’t think of any way I’d change this one!

Rotel Risotto
1 c. arborio rice
2 T. butter
3-4 cloves garlic
2-3 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. white wine
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes
1 c. cream-style corn [I had some leftover from Thanksgiving, but I'm sure canned would work.]
1 jar Kraft Old English cheese spread
Oregano

Bring chicken broth to a simmer and hold it there.

Melt butter over medium heat and add rice and garlic. Stir frequently until rice begins to turn golden. Add 1/2 c. or so of broth and stir frequently. Turn heat down on rice to medium low or low, just enough to keep it at a slow simmer. Add more broth each time the liquid is absorbed.

When the rice approaches al dente, spoon in three heaping spoonfuls of Rotel, draining the liquid. This is a little more than half the can. Add the corn. Add 1/2 c. wine, and stir until absorbed. Add 1 t. or so of oregano and the cheese spread. Turn off the heat and stir until cheese melts.

This is rating very high on the comfort food scale for me.

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A wall of Girl Scout cookies

by lcreekmo on February 19, 2007

I’m not dead, but I’ve felt that way from last Wednesday til yesterday. Today I finally felt like about 60% of myself again so we have had a busy day.

I took the day off work since the 7yo had a holiday from school, and good thing, too. Look what she brought with her from her dad’s this morning: more than 100 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, around half her total sale. Please don’t be too impressed; as a 6yo she actually sold 300. Nonetheless, we spent about an hour today sorting and pricing these 100+ boxes. Deliveries begin tomorrow!

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So hungry you just can’t eat

by lcreekmo on October 17, 2006

Hungry Toddler [That's my new name for the 1yo. Don't worry, there's not a third one magically running around here. It's just such an accurate description of the boy it's hard not to go with it.] has entered a new phase in his eating development. Perhaps I should say, the second phase. Because as far as I can tell, his whole life til now, you could describe his eating habits like this:

See food. Eat food.

He didn’t care where he was, what the food was, who was eating — nothing. If there was food available, he was having some.

In this fashion he has already distinguished himself from his older sister, who from birth has been, shall we say, more discriminating in her tastes. HT gets comments on his day-care reports like, "Good eater!" as if we are practicing at home for the Food Olympics. I long ago stopped complaining about the 7yo’s eating habits — I have met children much, much worse — but let’s just say that no one’s complimented her healthy eating habits lately.

So HT’s latest habit took me aback the first few times it happened. I know that most children grow pickier — such a negative word — in their second year, but I wasn’t ready for him to refuse breakfast when I knew he was hungry. Or dinner. Or a drink when he was clearly thirsty. This has happened repeatedly in the past couple of weeks, only when he’s desperately hungry, usually right when he wakes up or right when we get home in the evening.

Then it hit me — I had done the same thing as a child. In fact, I remembered a time when I was much older than he when I was practically fainting from hunger. We were in New York and I was 15 years old. And have you ever been so hungry that only one thing will do? We had several things to eat in the hotel room, but I made my dad order room service at 11 p.m. because I had to have a burger and fries. I mean really. What would I have done if we’d been at home, in Bolivar, Tenn.?? I remember crying over this plate of fries. That is a strange thing to remember [ha, it's a strange thing to have done], but I’m telling you, I was h-u-n-g-r-y.

And that’s exactly how HT is acting. He refuses 2, 3, sometimes 4 things, throws his milk cup to the floor, screaming all the while….then the fifth time I hand him something — it might be something new, or maybe what I tried the first or third time — he eats as if he hasn’t seen food in a week.

I sure hope he outgrows this before HE is 15.

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It’s true; everyone loves them

by lcreekmo on August 30, 2006

The NYT today notifies us that pigs in a blanket are back! Apparently they’ve been decreed no-longer-gauche, perhaps solely because people love them so much they can’t bear not to serve them at their fancy parties.

Well, I’ve never been above serving pigs in a blanket. Or Rotel dip. Or that cheese-spread-with-strawberry-preserves-in-the-middle. I try to spice things up with new dishes, but people like to eat the comfort foods. Why must we deny that, or make folks feel guilty?

Bring on the Jello and Kraft Singles!

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