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Pickin’ Apples

My favorite part of autumn is enjoying the outdoors – the leaves, the cool weather, and the fact that I can wear sweaters again. (Yay!)

So when I was offered the chance to go apple picking, I pulled on my favorite sweater and topped it with a warm trench. The only choice we had was buying half a peck or a peck of apples. I still have no idea what a “peck” consists of, but its a bag of apples, either way, and I’m leaving it at that.

So many apples, so little time.

We just strollin’ along through the apple orchards.

I think I got as many as possible into that bag…. Notice the absurdly large Golden Delicious poking out of the bag.

I’ll be searching for ways to use these apples. Got lots of different kinds, including Golden Delicious that are about the size of a baby’s head, no joke.

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Food, Savory

Birthday Stromboli

Okay, so stromboli is not just for birthdays. It just so happens that my mom and I used to make it a lot and I thought, for her birthday, that it might be nice to make it for her again. I may have traveled 1,300 miles to celebrate with her. Anyway, back to the stromboli. Unlike a calzone, I do NOT put pizza sauce in, nor do I put tomato in it at all. Sooo, with that said, I opted to make my famed stromboli. nom nom

Gathered troops. Note the onion, green pepper, mushrooms, shaved beef from the deli, and american cheese. There’s pizza dough involved as well.

First of all, you must get the oven preheated to 350. While that’s getting all nice and toasty, get a frying pan going with some olive oil. In that, cook up some diced green pepper and slices of onion. Cook it through on medium until the onion is cooked through. I added a half pound of the shaved beef to the pan and kicked up the heat a hair to get the pan hot.

While I had been handed a glass of Moscato wine (that’s a sweet white wine), before I took a sip, I may have dropped a few drops into the pan to keep the meat moist. When that cooked off a bit, I was dropping in the mushrooms. Cooked those through.

Cookin’ up some goodness.

Then I went looking for a rolling pin to roll out the dough. But, being at my mom’s house, a normal rolling pin wouldn’t exactly be found in her kitchen. So I found this random beauty in a drawer…

What kind of rolling pin is this??

It looks like some sort of weird futuristic kitchen device. Why do you need two ends to a rolling thingy?

Anyway, I layered on some American cheese and then started scooping on the filling.

Filling it up!

I may have gone overboard and overfilled it, but I pulled the dough over and then cut a few little holes in the top of the dough to let it breathe. Bake for 25 minutes or until the top is browned.

Will be super hot when it comes out. As much as you want to eat it now, let it cool for 8 minutes.

I wanted to eat the whole thing myself. That’s probably a bad idea.

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Food, Savory

Easy Mushroom Rice

Okay, I might have gotten lazy on this one. Went to the gym with my roomie and said I wanted rice for dinner. I’ve been on this no meat kick, and somehow started eating mushrooms. Also, I’m finding it’s easier to make food when I don’t have to wait for chicken to cook all the way through or the meat to stop mooing. So I decided to make dinner… easy rice from a bag. But apparently that wasn’t good enough. Seemed like I had to at least pretend I was going to cook…

This is the final product. A delicious mass of ricey goodness.

So I started with dicing up the last of the onion in the fridge, about a quarter of an onion, maybe a little less. Tossed that in a pan with olive oil to caramelize the onions. Right at the end, I added about a quarter cup of chopped mushrooms to the pan to cook them through. In another pan, I made this:

See what I meant about easy rice….

Cooked the rice through, then tossed in the onions and mushrooms. Delicious!

nom nom nom

 

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Food, Savory

Spicy Jalapeno Grilled Cheese

I needed something spicy that was meat-free. Going on this kick to see how long I can go without eating chicken, beef, pork, or anything that moves. Eggs and milk are allowed. Seriously, I’m not crazy enough to go vegan here. Just trying to trade some higher calorie food for nutrient rich foods. Although I’m not sure what I made was actually healthy….

Spicy Jalapeno Grilled Cheese

Gather:
Rye bread
Cheddar Cheese
Onion
Jalapenos
Olive Oil
Margarine

Heat the pan with some olive oil and throw in sliced onions. Cook on low with some garlic powder. I cannot stress this enough, you’ll  burn or crisp the onions if you don’t. We’re looking to caramelize them. Right at the end, throw in some diced up jalapenos (right from the jar, not fresh). Pull them out of the pan, place on rye bread with cheddar and throw back in the pan. (Don’t forget to butter the sides of the bread that will touch the pan.

Cook till toasted and you’re golden. I swear, it came out delicious.

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