Chicken Garlic Pizza

I found this recipe a while back, and I've made it several times.  It's definitely time for an update.  The first time I made it, I followed the recipe, but I thought there was too much sauce and too much cheese, so I've modified it a bit.  Yes, I know, some people don't believe there is any such thing as too much cheese, so feel free to use as much as you want.

Chicken Garlic Pizza
Papa Murphy's copycat

Sauce

• 1/2 cup ranch dressing
• 1 T minced garlic

(mix together)

 
Toppings:

• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 grilled chicken breast, sliced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced or sun dried tomatoes
• 1/4 cup coarsely sliced green onions

Directions:

1. Spread sauce over prepared pizza dough
2. Add half of cheese, then the toppings, then spread the rest of the cheese on top.
3. Bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
4. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before slicing.

You may not use all of the chicken or green onions.  Just spread them on the pizza until it looks right to you.  I only used about half of the chicken breast - it was rather large.  Also, I didn't measure my green onions, sun dried tomatoes, or Parmesan cheese, just sprinkled them on until it looked good and the pizza was covered.

It's not exactly like the Papa Murphy's pizza, but it's pretty close.  I especially love the garlic sauce.  And there is still plenty of melty, gooey cheese on this pizza.

Jacked Up Pumpkin Butter

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal!  My secret blog assignment this month was Searching for Dessert. Shannon believes baking should be fun and even the most simple recipes can come out beautiful and amazing.  I have to tell you, her recipes really do look beautiful and amazing.  All of them.  As always, I had a hard time choosing.

Here are some that caught my eye:

• Black Bean Breakfast Burritos - with or without enchilada sauce, these look amazing.
• Warm and Crusty Garlic Boule - you had me at crusty! and garlic.
• Apple Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches - Snickerdoodles and apple pie ice cream?  Oh, wow!

I finally decided to try this Pumpkin Pecan Bourbon Butter because it's the season for all things pumpkin, right?  Only, instead of bourbon I added some Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey.  We're kind of a Jack Daniel's house around here.  And I used orange juice instead of apple.

Jacked Up Pumpkin Butter
adapted from Searching for Dessert

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup pecans
• 1 (15 oz) can pure pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons Jack Daniel's (or apple juice)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons orange juice

Directions:

1. Lightly toast the pecans in an oven or skillet until fragrant, 2-3 minutes, cool slightly. Scoop the pumpkin into a food processor and add the remaining ingredients. Puree until smooth.
2. Place the pumpkin mixture into a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until it starts to bubble, stirring frequently.  Cook until mixture thickens.
3. Serve pumpkin butter warm, or refrigerate for later use.

Makes 2 cups

I'd never made pumpkin butter before, so this was a new experience for me.  It was really good on some fresh-baked whole grain sourdough bread, and on that same bread toasted.  I gave my grandson some, and he pretty much licked the pumpkin butter off the toast and wanted more - so I'd say that's a pretty good endorsement.

I am thinking that the only thing I'll change next time I make it, is to add some ginger and nutmeg too, just to give it more of that pumpkin pie flavor.  I need to make some biscuits, too.  I bet this would be great on biscuits.  I keep thinking of new things I can spread it on!

Zesty Zucchini Skillet

My mom gave me this recipe several years ago. It's quick, easy, and really good.

Zesty Zucchini Skillet

Ingredients:

• 4 cups chopped zucchini
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 T olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup salsa or picante sauce
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• grated cheese

Directions:

1. Saute zucchini, onion, and garlic in oil for 2 minutes in large skillet.  Add seasonings, stir in salsa; cook and stir for 5-7 minutes or until vegetables are crisp tender.  Add tomato, cook for 1-2 minutes or until heated through.  
2. Remove from heat; sprinkle with cheese.  (no amount given, and I never measure, so use your own judgement)
3. Optional ingredients: sliced black olives and/or cooked rice stirred in with the tomato.

Makes 4 hearty servings

This makes a great quick summer meal - when there are plenty of zucchini coming out of the garden.  Since I didn't have a garden this summer, I didn't have much zucchini, but I bought a couple from a farm stand, and I used one of them to make this.  It's so good!

Featured on Cook Lisa Cook March 2014

Apple Bread with Pecans and Dried Cranberries

I've been without an oven for a couple weeks.  The oven just wouldn't heat up - one day it worked, and the next it didn't.  I thought the bake element had gone out (like I would really know why my oven won't heat up), but it was more serious. The oven needed a new control board, and then it took a while to get it fixed because they had to order the new part, and then the guy who came to put it in couldn't get the oven out of the wall.  And it was the wrong part.  So, they re-ordered the part, and two guys came to put it in yesterday. It took a bit, but they finally figured how to slide the oven out of the wall/cabinet enough to put the part in.  And now my oven works!

Of course, I had to test it, so I made this apple bread.  Yep, the oven works again!!!!!!

Apple Bread
from The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups chopped apples
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar together; add eggs.  Mix well and add apples and vanilla.
2. Mix dry ingredients and stir in.
3. Stir in pecans and dried cranberries
4. Pour batter into a well-greased loaf pan.
5. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Turn pan on side to cool on wire rack.

The original recipe did not call for whole wheat flour, so you can make this with all white flour- but why would you want to?  The whole wheat just gives it some extra substance and flavor.   I also used pecans instead of the walnuts called for and added the dried cranberries at the last, just because.  They are so good in this!  Oh, and I reduced the sugar from 1 cup down to 3/4 cup with part of it being brown sugar, for the flavor.

Related articles

• Recipe: Apple Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Rum Raisin Ice Cream

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal! This month I got to choose a recipe from the awesome blog delishhh. The blog is written by Ewa [eva], a happy Swede living in Seattle, WA. Her blog is full of delicious recipes, and once again I had trouble picking just one.  Unfortunately, my oven is not working right now, so I'll have to try the Rhubarb Cheesecake and Rhubarb Chocolate Chip Banana Bread later.  Notice they both have rhubarb.  I think Ewa likes rhubarb as much as I do!

But, since I can't bake, I started looking at some other recipes.  I thought about making some Frozen Strawberry Daiquiris, with frozen strawberries since fresh ones aren't really in season right now. Or this Peach Sorbet with frozen peaches for the same reason - though I did see some huge peaches in the store the other day, and I was tempted to grab some.  Instead, I decided to make some Rum Raisin Ice Cream.

My favorite Haagen-Dazs flavor was always Rum Raisin.  I don't get it very often, and there for a while I had trouble even finding it - so, of course, I always had to check.  Somewhere along the line I kind fo forgot about it, so when I saw this recipe, it brought back fond memories, and I just had to try it.  I also just recently bought a new Hamilton Beach Ice Cream Maker, and I really needed to try it out.

Rum Raisin Ice Cream
from delishhh

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raisins
• ½ cup dark rum (I used Malibu Black coconut rum)
• 1 cup milk
• A pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Soak the raisins in rum overnight.
2. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan, until sugar is dissolved and the mixture starts to steam.
3. Set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks. Gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.
5. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.
6. Strain the custard into the heavy cream and stir over the ice until cool.  Add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly, preferably overnight.
7. Drain the rum from the raisins. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Depending on your ice cream maker, you will either add the raisins to the custard before pouring it into the ice cream maker, or wait and add them when the mixture is partially frozen.
8. Serve immediately or scoop ice cream out of ice cream maker, put into a freezer container and freeze for several hours before serving.

Makes 1.5 quarts

Ewa used a vanilla bean in her recipe, so there was an extra step after she heated the milk and sugar, where she added the vanilla bean and allowed it to infuse the milk for an hour.  I skipped that step because I just plain forgot to even look for vanilla beans when I went to the store.  Also, I forgot to use the strainer to pour my custard into my cream, because I hadn't used it in a while so I rinsed it and set it aside to dry while I was cooking the custard - and then forgot all about it.  I'm not really sure why I needed the strainer, so I don't think that hurt anything.  I definitely had to freeze the ice cream for several hours after the ice cream maker finished, because it was a very soft version of soft-serve ice cream - not the texture I think of when I think of Rum Raisin ice cream.  After freezing, it was hard enough to scoop but still soft and creamy.

This ice cream is SO GOOD!  I haven't bought rum raisin ice cream in ages, so I can't tell you if this tastes the same - or better - but I do know that it is yummy, and I will be making this one again.  Rum Raisin is still one of my favorite ice cream flavors.

Wondering what to do with the rum you drain off the raisins? Drizzle it on top of the ice cream!  YUM!

I'm excited about making all kinds of ice creams now that I've got the ice cream maker. I love that I can have delicious ice cream for probably about the same cost as the store-bought stuff - or less in the case of this Rum Raisin - only I know exactly what ingredients are going into it.

Related articles

• From the Pastry Dungeon: Rum Raisin Ice Cream

Hot Chili Oil

Some friends gave me some of this Eden Foods Hot Pepper Sesame Oil a while back.  They eat it on practically everything, pizza, etc.  I'm not quite so serious about it, but my bottle is running on empty, and I started looking for some more.  I haven't found it in my grocery store, but I did find it available on Amazon (see link above).   Then, I was browsing Pinterest and found this recipe for Hot Chili Oil.  So, of course, I had to try it.

Hot Chili Oil
from A Dash of Soul

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of oil of your choice (I used 2 T. sesame oil and the rest sunflower oil)
• 1/3 cup of dried peppers of your choice

Directions:

1. Pour oil into small pan or sauce pot. Heat on low heat for a few minutes to warm.
2. Crush the dried peppers as finely as you would like. All that matters is that the peppers are broken open so that the spicy membranes on the inside are exposed to the oil.
3. Add the crushed chiles to the heated oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.  Do not let the heat get too high.  You want to infuse the oil with the chili peppers, not fry the peppers.
4. After 10 minutes, remove pan from heat and allow oil to cool before pouring into a jar or container.

 This makes enough chili oil to keep in a small jar.

This was really easy to make, and the oil is really good.

I used my Ninja to chop the chili peppers, and that seemed to work really well.  Remember to wash your hands thoroughly after handling the chili peppers - or wear gloves.  Dried peppers can be just as painful as the fresh ones if you touch your eyes (or nose) afterwards!

So far I've used it to pop some chili spiced popcorn and drizzled it on my Beef Noodle Bowl.  Now that I'm no longer running low on my chili oil, and I know how easy it is to replenish it, I am going to have to start using it on everything.  I know there are a lot more uses for it than I've tried.  Yet.

Do you use Hot Chili Oil?  What do you like to use it for?  I'd love to hear some great ideas.

Secret Recipe Club - so many recipes...

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal! Unfortunately I had to sit out this month because we were out of town for a couple weeks, and with preparing to leave, being gone, getting back, etc. etc., I just didn't feel I had the time.

But, I know there will be lots of amazing recipes shared by my group - the Awesome Group A - so I am posting the blog hop here, because nobody wants to miss out on a great recipe, right?





Tune in next month when I will definitely be sharing another great Secret Recipe Club recipe.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal!  My blog assignment this month was Melissa's blog I Was born To cook.  Born and raised in northern New Jersey, Melissa has always loved to cook, and she shares some great recipes on her blog.  Her Black Bean Quinoa Salad and Turkey Barley Veggie Soup look really good.  When the weather cools down a bit, I am making that soup!

Eventually I decided on these Chocolate Zucchini Muffins for my Secret Recipe Club post.  I wasn't able to have a garden this year, so I don't have any fresh zucchini, but thankfully I still have some in my freezer!

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
adapted from I Was Born to Cook

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• 1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 banana)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 3 cups flour (part whole wheat)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease or line muffin tin with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Beat in sugars and oil. Add the cocoa, vanilla, zucchini, and oatmeal and stir well.
3. Stir the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom together. Mix into wet ingredients, just until moist.
4. Pour batter into prepared muffin tin, filling 2/3 of the way. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack. Store loosely covered.

Makes 12

I cut the sugar down significantly in these muffins, because my Chocolate Zucchini Cake recipe calls for less sugar, and it's a cake.  I also used whole wheat flour - 1 cup regular whole wheat and 1 cup white whole wheat - and added 1/2 cup oatmeal, because I like my muffins to be dense and filling.  These definitely were!  They needed just a touch of butter, and they were delicious!  They don't look nearly as chocolatey as Melissa's, but they were chocolate; trust me.  And the spices were perfect.

Melissa was hoping she could get some vegetables into her daughter Bella with these chocolate muffins - but Bella would have none of it, even though she's a chocolate lover.  I had no problems with my adorable grandson Jason.  He loved these!  Of course, he loves green stuff, too, like green beans and peas.

YUMMY!

An InLinkz Link-up

Apple Crunch

Our neighbors have a couple of apple trees, and they are loaded with apples.  They said we could have as many apples as we want because they really don't do anything with them.  So today I walked over and picked a few of them.  Then I went looking in my favorite cookbook - The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals - and found this recipe. I've been using this cookbook for years, but I hadn't tried this recipe yet.

Why?  It's really good and quite easy to make, too.  I guess there are just so many good recipes that it's going to take a bit longer to try them all.  Now that I've tried this one, though - I will be making it again.

Apple Crunch
from The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals

Ingredients:

• 8-10 apples
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• cinnamon
• butter
• 1 cup flour
• 2/3 cup (or less) white sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Peel and slice apples.  Arrange in 9x13" baking pan.  Add 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1/3 cup white sugar to the apples and mix with fork.  Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and dot with butter.
2. Mix together flour, 2/3 cup white sugar, baking powder, and salt.   Add egg and mix with fork until crumbly.  Pour over apples, spreading evenly and then shaking pan slightly so mixture settles down through apples.
3. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned.
4. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

I sprinkled a lot of cinnamon on my apples, but I think it could have used even more.  I really don't think there is such a thing as too much cinnamon with apples.  The first time I made this Cinnamon Apple Dutch Baby, I thought I'd used too much cinnamon - that is, until I tasted it, and it was perfect.  So, use lots of cinnamon!

Ready to bake

I used not quite 2/3 cup sugar in the topping, but for me this was plenty sweet, so I think next time I will cut it down a bit more.  Other than that, it's pretty perfect.  The top bakes up all crunchy, and you get bits of caramelly goodness around the edges where the apples and sugar and butter all bake.  So good!

Just needs vanilla ice cream!

I think I need to go pick some more of those apples...

Related articles

• Apple Oatmeal Scones with Maple-Cinnamon Glaze
• Perfect Peach Cobbler
• Apple Cinnamon Loaf

Really Smooth Hummus

A couple weeks ago I couldn't find my 'regular' hummus recipe so I went looking for one online.  That's when I found this recipe that promised the secret to smooth, better-than-storebought hummus.  So I tried it.

And now this is my regular hummus recipe. 

Smooth and Easy Hummus
from Inspired Taste

Ingredients

• One 15-ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, about 1 large lemon
• 1/4 cup tahini
• Large garlic clove, minced
• 2 T olive oil, plus more for serving
• 1/2 to 1 tsp salt, depending on taste
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 to 3 T water
• Dash of ground paprika for serving

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine tahini and lemon juice. Process for 1 minute. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl then turn on and process for 30 seconds. This extra time helps “whip” or “cream” the tahini, making smooth and creamy hummus possible.
2. Add the olive oil, minced garlic, cumin and the salt to whipped tahini and lemon juice. Process for 30 seconds, scrape sides and bottom of bowl then process another 30 seconds.
3. Open can of chickpeas, drain liquid and rinse. Add half of the chickpeas to the food processor and process for 1 minute. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl, add remaining chickpeas and process for 1 to 2 minutes or until thick and quite smooth.
4. Most likely the hummus will be too thick or still have tiny bits of chickpea. To fix this, with the food processor turned on, slowly add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water until the consistency is perfect.
5. Scrape the hummus into a bowl then drizzle about 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the top and sprinkle with paprika.
6. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate up to one week.

Yum!  This is so good with veggies and pita chips.  Does this method really make a difference?  I'm not completely sure, but I had at least one comment about how smooth it was, so I'm going with it.  The flavors are also perfect.  I didn't have any fresh lemons, so I used the lemon juice out of a bottle, and it turned out fine.  I also used home-cooked chickpeas and saved some of the cooking water to add at the end.

I'm making this again as soon as I buy more celery.  Hummus and celery is one of my favorite things.  And those sea salt pita chips from Aldi.  Have you tried those?  The best pita chips ever.  To go with this - the best hummus ever.

Curried Chicken and Barley Salad

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal!  My blog assignment this month was Mellissa's blog A Fit & Spicy Life. Mellissa is originally from Wisconsin, and I lived there until a couple weeks ago, so we have that in common.  She also loves to try new recipes.  Oh, wow - Mellissa says she rarely makes the same thing twice, and with 1800+ posts on the blog, you can believe there are plenty of amazing recipes to choose from.

I kept thinking I had a recipe picked out, and then I kept looking - I could not stop - and kept finding more and more things I want to try.  Here's the short list:

• Curried Quinoa and Cranberry Salad
• Italian Egg and Pasta Scramble
• Chicken and Summer Vegetable Tostada
• Bean and Feta Salad

I finally decided on this salad, which just happens to be Mellissa's latest recipe and the first one I saw when I visited her blog.

Curried Chicken and Barley Salad
adapted from A Fit & Spicy Life's Bombay Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

Salad

• 3/4 cup barley
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• Salt/Pepper
• 1 lb boneless chicken breasts
• 1 mango, diced (How to cut a mango)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 4 green onions, sliced
• 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds

Dressing

• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/4 tsp curry powder
• Salt/Pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook barley according to package directions then rinse with cold water and pour into large bowl.
2. Combine curry powder, sugar, salt/pepper,  and cumin.  Coat chicken with spices and grill until cooked through; 5-6 minutes each side. Allow to rest 5 minutes, and cut into bite sized pieces.
3. Toss  mango, cranberries, green onions, and sunflower seeds with barley.  Add chicken.
4. Whisk together lemon juice, honey, olive oil, curry powder, & salt/pepper. Pour over salad and mix lightly.  Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
5. Refrigerate for at least an hour to let the flavors blend. 

Serves 4

Yum! So many awesome flavors here - the curry, the tanginess of the cranberries, the sweetness of the mango...  We really, really liked this salad.  It's perfect for a cool summer meal, and very filling.  Mellissa's recipe called for Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend, which looks really good, but I couldn't find anything like it in my grocery store, and I didn't have time to get it from Amazon.  So I went with the 'or any grain' part of the recipe and chose barley.  One of our friends brought a barley salad to a potluck a few weeks ago, and it was so good.  I had never had barley in a salad or even thought about using it - and would not have thought of it for this if she hadn't brought that salad.  It is really good.

The only change I really made to this recipe (besides using the barley) is that I added more green onions.  I started out with 2 - the recipe called for 1 - but then I decided it needed at least 4.  They add that extra touch of color to the salad and a fresh, bright flavor.  (Pictures were taken with 2 green onions; I added more later.)

I also made Mellissa's Salmon with Chickpeas and Spinach - because there were so many great-looking recipes to choose from, I couldn't pick just one, could I?  My husband and my brother both thought there was "too much green" in this, but I thought it was wonderful.  The flavor of the salmon?  Amazing!  (You'll have to click the link to get the recipe.)

Be sure to check out A Fit & Spicy Life.  I'm sure you'll find a few recipes you'll want to try!

An InLinkz Link-up

Cinnamon Apple Dutch Baby

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal! My blog assignment this month was Spinach Tiger where Angela posts a wide variety of beautiful delicious food.  It was, once again, a challenge to decide which recipe to try.

A couple recipes that I thought about trying were this Baked Spaghetti and Broccoli Frittata and this Roast Chicken with Lemons - and I'm planning to make both of them soon - but in the end I decided on this Cinnamon Apple Dutch Baby.

Cook the apples, sugar & cinnamon

I've made Dutch Baby pancakes before, but I never baked the apples right in the pancake.  I don't know why, because it makes complete sense - why use two skillets - one to bake the pancake, and one to cook the apples - when you can use one?

Pour the batter on top

The first time I made this, I followed Angela's recipe - using 4 eggs, 1 cup flour, and 1 cup milk.  It was good, even though I cooked the apples and sugar a bit too much before I put the pancake in the oven so it was almost burnt around the edges.  We drizzled it with a bit of maple syrup, and it was yummy.

The second time I made it - yes, I had to make it again - I used only 3 eggs, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/2 cup milk.  And I made sure to only cook the apples for about 5 minutes like the recipe says.  I really liked the apple/pancake balance better this time, and I didn't even bother with the syrup.  It really didn't need it; the cinnamony, sugary goodness of the apples came through wonderfully.

Cinnamon Apple Dutch Baby
recipe from Spinach Tiger

Ingredients

• 2 large apples (I used Fuji)
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

1. Peel, core and thinly slice apples.  Preheat oven to 450°.  
2. Melt butter in 10 inch frying pan (that can be transferred into oven). Cast iron is optimal. Add in cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar. Once melted, add in apples and cook until apples are softened, about five minutes. Place pan in oven while making batter.
3. Mix eggs with flour until smooth. Add in milk and vanilla.
4. Pour batter over apple mixture.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Dust with confectioner’s sugar. Cut into wedges

 Note: If you don’t have a frying pan that will go in oven, fry apples on top of stove and pour into a round cake pan, add batter and bake.

I will definitely be making this again!

Blackberry Rhubarb Crumble

I'm kind of obsessed with everything rhubarb right now, so when I pulled a package of blackberries out of my freezer, I went looking for a recipe that called for both blackberries and rhubarb.  I found recipes for Rhubarb and Blackberry Snack Cake, Rhubarb and Blackberry Crumble Bars, and this Blackberry Rhubarb Crumble.

Blackberry Rhubarb Crumble
adapted from theKitchn

For the fruit:

• 2 cups frozen blackberries, mostly thawed
• 4 cups frozen rhubarb, mostly thawed
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch salt

For the crumble topping:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), melted

Directions:

1. Place the blackberries and rhubarb in a 9x13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with the 1/2 cup brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and salt; toss gently.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs.  Mix in the vanilla and 3/4 cup brown sugar.
3. Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt and stir into egg mixture to make a clumpy dough.
4. Using your hands, drop clumps of dough evenly over the fruit.  Have some extra flour handy to clean off your hands and clean out the bowl, spreading 'crumbles' over the top of the clumps. Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the top, then pour the melted butter over everything.
5. Bake for 35 minutes at 375°F, or until the top is golden brown and the crumble is baked through. Let sit for at least 30 minutes before eating.

The original recipe called for a bit more (fresh) fruit, but I used what I had - frozen.  One of the comments said that rhubarb and blackberries are not in season at the same time, making it hard to have both at the same time.  Using frozen works very well and solves that problem.  It does not even need to be completely thawed.

I mixed the fruit, sugar, cinnamon and ginger right in the baking dish -
no need to dirty another bowl.

What surprised me - never putting rhubarb and blackberries together before - is that the blackberry flavor really comes through, even though there is twice as much rhubarb.  I did not cut the sugar down in this recipe as I normally do because Faith, who posted the original recipe said the fruit was "proudly tangy and not too sweet" and that rhubarb should not be covered up with sugar - which I completely agree with, of course.  So I took her at her word, and I think it was just right.

Fresh out of the oven

Yum!

I especially love the topping on this.  I'm pretty sure it's the brown sugar.    I'm going to have to try it with different fruits, too.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.  Enjoy!

Related articles

• Rhubarb Crumb Bars
• Rhubarb Crumble
• Rhubarb crumble - with a twist
• Rhubarb Apple Crisp