Apple Crisp, in an Apple

Despite the many things I love about fall, apples are one of my favourite.  I absolutely love the Honeycrisp apple.  If you have ever had it, you know why.  It's soft, but not too soft, sweet but not too sweet, with a little bit of a bite.  I also happen to REALLY love apple crisp.  So, when my mom gave us a few of their Honeycrisp apples last week, I decided to try and make apple crisp, in 2 of the apples.  I based this recipe off of my mom's apple crisp recipe, although, there are TONS of recipes online for these apple crisp apples.

Materials and Ingredients:

- cutting board and knife

- spoon

- bowl

- baking dish

- apples (which ever variety you choose.  I used Honeycrisp)

- cinnamon

- white sugar

- butter

- white flour

Directions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Then take just the top part of your apple off.  I sliced about half a centimetre off the top of the apple to make it flat.

2. Start hollowing out your apple with the spoon.  Make sure to separate the core from the rest of the delicious apple insides.  Keep the 'good,' apple aside in the bowl. If you are worried about the apples turning brown, just add a little lemon juice to them to prevent that from happening.

3.  Once cleaned out (leave about a centimetre of apple against the peel) take all of the apple insides and cut it up into smaller pieces.  Add the apple pieces back into the bowl.  Add approximately a teaspoon of white sugar, and half a teaspoon of cinnamon. I honestly just poured some in.  If you like it more sweet, add more sugar, if you like it more cinnamon-y, add more cinnamon!

4.     Put your hollowed out apples into the baking dish (I lined mine with parchment, not necessary, I just hate mess...).  Then spoon the apple mixture back into the apples.

5.  Take about 2 tablespoons of butter and melt it.  In a separate bowl, put approximately 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, and 1 table spoon of flour.  Slowly add the melted butter and using a fork, press together so you get a 'crumb like' consistency. 

    

6.  Put this deliciousness on top of the apples, and bake for 35 minutes.

These were absolutely delicious!  Next time (and there will be a next time) I personally would leave them in a bit longer.  The apple wall, and some of the larger apple chunks were a bit too crunchy for me.  But for a cool, Sunday morning, these apples make for a great brunch.  This cat was definitely alive!

Mashed Potato Balls

Alright, we have my first semi failure! I have had this recipe on my Pinterest for a year or so, and never got around to making it...until now.  I was craving something crunchy, cheesy, salty and potato-y.  I figured this would be a great idea!  I based my attempt off of this recipe from Tablespoons (by Bev Cooks): Loaded Cheesy Mashed Potato Balls

I did not have chives, so I substituted them for green onions. I am a huge fan of cheese, so I added a little bit of Parmesan to the recipe. I also really like hot sauce, so I added some hot sauce to mine as well. 

Ingredients and Materials:

- mixing bowl
- fork
- package of instant mashed potatoes (cooked to package specifications)
- 3/4 cup of cheese
- 1 Tbsp of Parmesan cheese
- 2 green onions chopped up
- 3-4 pieces of crisp, cooked bacon
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tbsp of dried parsley
- 1 1/2 cups of Panko (or other breading)
- large pot
- 4 cups of oil (for frying)

Directions:

1.  Make the instant mashed potatoes (according to the package) and let them sit.  They can be plain, or flavoured.  I used garlic flavoured ones.  Make sure you let them cool to be room temperature (I even put mine in the fridge for a bit to cool down.).

2.  While the potatoes are cooling, take this time to shred your cheese, chop the onions (or chives) and crumble your bacon.  Measure out any other ingredients that you will be using and have them ready.  Put your Panko into a shallow dish, so it will be easier to coat the potato balls in it.

3.  Add of your ingredients into the mashed potato bowl, and stir to combine (a fork works nicely for this).

4.  Make balls about 1 inch in diameter, and place into your Panko (or other bread crumbs).  Roll the ball around in the panko and place on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes to set, and cool.

5.  Heat up the oil in your pot.  Make sure that it is hot enough before putting your first ball in.  If you are unsure, grab some Panko and put it in.  If it bubbles and starts to float, the oil is ready.

6.  This is where I did something wrong.  Shortly after my potato ball went in the oil, the whole thing started to disintegrate!  I'm not sure if the oil wasn't hot enough, the potatoes were too wet, or too warm.  In the original recipe they are suppose to fry up and become a delicious, golden brown.  All I had left were Panko globs, and bacon chunks.  So I devised a new plan! 

7.  My potato balls were already resting on the cookie sheet, so I decided to crank my oven to 450 degrees.  I baked them for about 25 minutes.

8.  Although they didn't come out really golden brown, the egg at least got cooked, and they were slightly crunchy.

I served the potato balls with a spicy sour cream (sour cream and Sriracha). They did end up being quite tasty.  They were not quite as brown as I would have liked them, so I might leave them in longer next time.  You could definitely play around with this recipe adding other things to the balls (shredded meat, sautéed mushroom or onions, herbs, corn etc.).   I would say that the cat was dead when we opened the box, but we resuscitated it, and it was on life support. I would also say that I realized I am not a mature 27 year old, because I giggled a little bit most times I wrote, or  said balls while writing this post. :D

Eggplant Parmesan

This time I tried something that I thought I would be able to pull off! I LOVE Italian food.  I would eat pasta, pizza, antipasto everyday if possible.  I had a rather large eggplant sitting in the fridge and I didn't know what to do with it. I started looking up recipes for eggplants online and stumbled across a recipe for Eggplant Parmesan, so I thought, why not!?! I really roughly based my recipe off of this one by Martha Stewart: Martha Stewart's Baked Parmesan .  I will warn you all now, I did NOT measure any of the ingredients, so I will just be putting estimations here.  I just sort of threw them into the bowls.

Ingredients and Materials:

-  cookie sheet
-  cooking rack
-  knife
-  paper towel
-  3 containers
-  1 eggplant
-  salt
-  bread crumbs
-  Parmesan cheese (already grated, or powdered)
-  garlic powder
-  dried parsley
-  2 eggs
-  flour
-  tomato sauce
-  Mozzarella cheese
-  fresh basil
-  cooking spray
-  time

Directions;

1.  Slice your eggplant into 1/4 inch rounds.  Place your cooling rack on your cookie sheet.  Salt both sides of all of your eggplant rounds and put them on the cooling rack.  Let them sit for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.  This will pull a lot of the moisture out of the eggplant.

2.  After some time, take the eggplant off of the rack and give them a quick rinse to get the salt off.  Then pat them dry and leave on a paper towel.  Give your cooling rack and cookie sheet a quick wash and dry.

3.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. This is the point where I just sort of disregarded most of the recipe.  I set up 3 containers.  The first with about 1/4 cups of flour, 2 eggs (beaten) in the second, and the breading in the third.  For the breading, I used approximately 1/2 cup of bread crumbs, 1/4 cup of Parmesan, 1/4 tsp of garlic powder and dried parsley.

4.  At this point, I just followed a basic breading process.  Take a round of eggplant, dip it in the flour, on both sides.  Then cover the round in egg.  Finally, coat it in the breading and set aside.  Do this for all of your eggplant rounds.

5.  Give your cooling rack a quick spray with the cooking spray and spread out your breaded rounds.  Bake for 20 minutes, flip them and bake for another 20 minutes

6. At this point, I put all of the rounds on the cookie sheet.  Each round then got a tablespoon of tomato sauce, a slice of mozzarella, and a fresh basil leaf.  I let this bake for another 15 minutes, to warm the sauce and melt the cheese.

7.  I let them cool for a little bit, then served them with some noodles in a rose sauce with mushrooms and zucchini on top.

The verdict?  This was delicious.  I will make this many more times in the foreseeable future.  This cat was very, very much alive.

Béchamel Sauce

I decided to start off with something that is a culinary basic.  Basic that is, for those who have made it before.  As I have previously stated, I am very lazy and impatient. So something that involves low heats and constant stirring, I usually steer clear of.  I decided however to brave it in an attempt to make this basic sauce.

Béchamel Sauce, or white sauce is the base for a lot of French and Italian classics.  It is usually the starting point for things like cheese sauces, creme sauce and mustard sauce. Many delicious dishes such as; Lasagne, Moussaka and Croque Monsieur incorporate the sauce.

I used this Mario Batali recipe for my jumping off point: Mario Batali's Bechamel Sauce

There were only two of us who would be consuming this concoction, so I decided to half the recipe. That way if I REALLY messed it up, I wouldn't be wasting too much. I also didn't have any nutmeg at home, so I substituted the nutmeg for paprika and mustard powder.

Ingredients and Materials:

- 2 Saucepans (1 medium and 1 small)

- Whisk

- 2.5 Tbsp of butter (I chose unsalted because you will be adding more salt)

- 2 Tbsp of flour

- 1 Tsp of salt (I substituted for No Salt)

- 2 cups of milk (I used 2%)

- 1/8 Tsp of paprika

- 1/8 Tsp of mustard powder

Directions:

1. In the medium sauce pan, heat the butter over medium- low until it is completely melted (This is where you need to know your stove.  Mine is much hotter than the number dials indicate.  Where medium low on most people's stoves would register as like 3-4.  I had to put mine at 2...). Add the flour and keep whisking it until it is smooth. 

2. Continue cooking the mixture for 6 or 7 minutes until the mixture starts to turn a golden sandy colour. This step is making a roux, or the thing that will thicken your sauce!

3. While you are letting the roux do it's thing, take your milk and put it in the smaller saucepan.  Turn it up to medium-low and let it warm up.  You don't want it to boil, just be warm.

4. Once you have that nice sandy colour, add your warm milk one cup at a time. Whisk constantly to incorporate the milk and the roux between each addition of milk.

5. Continue whisking until smooth.

6. Bring the sauce to a boil and continue cooking for 10 minutes.  Stir constantly until your sauce thickens.

7. After 10 minutes, remove your sauce from the heat.  At that this point, add your salt and other spices.

8. Incorporate your spices and then use your sauce! (Or add more things to make a completely different sauce!)

One thing I will say, is that I do believe my pot was too hot.  I barely had the sauce cooking for 5 minutes before I had to pull it off.  It was getting thick really fast. Other than that, I somehow managed to pull it off!

So what did I use my béchamel sauce for?  I put it on top of these lovely ham and gouda croissant sandwiches.

In that picture you can really see how thick the sauce got.  I will say that I kept the remaining sauce in the fridge.  The next day, I put it back in a pot, with milk and some cheddar cheese.  I whisked it all together and added it to some pasta.  The consistency was much better and not near as thick.

Going back to the title of the blog, and after careful observation, I would say that in this case the cat was alive.  I will definitely try this again.

What Does Your Blog Even Mean?

Hi Everybody!

If you have not taken a philosophy class, or watched The Big Bang Theory, the name Schrodinger may not ring a bell.  For those who have, you know he was a physicist who had a philosophical theory about a cat in a box.  He also put poison in the box with the cat (morbid way to start this...). The theory basically said that if you have the cat in the box with the poison, before you open the box, the cat is both alive and dead. The cat exists in both states (living and non-living).  In a weird way, the cat both exists and doesn't exist at the same time.  It is both a success and a failure, while the box is closed.

I like to look at my crafting, cooking and baking endeavors in the same way.  While I am doing them, they are both successes and failures.  Not because I am putting poison in them, but because sometimes I am lazy.  Sometimes I get frustrated, and just lack the confidence.  Sometimes crafts and recipes that I try to do, or improve upon turn out amazing!  Others are horrible, horrible experiences (like Chocolate Flax Seed Cakes...bleh).  So this blog will follow me as I put many recipes, crafts and cooking concoctions into the box (oven), and after opening (finishing) we will see if they are indeed dead or alive.

First full post coming soon!