Appetizer: Baked Brie in Pastry with Green Apples

This is one of those recipes that you can whip up in mere minutes when you have a spur of the moment get-together.  Plus, it's incredibly delicious.  I mean, who can say no to melted brie??

Brandi has made this delicious appetizer for us a few times when we've been over.  I made it earlier this summer when guests were over.  In fact, I had bought some more brie to make another one, just before going dairy-free.  Said brie happens to still be sitting in my fridge, all lonely, with no other dairy products to keep it company. 

Here's what you need:

1 package Pillsbury crescent rolls
1 piece of brie cheese (I used a 300g round from Costco) 
4-5 Granny Smith apples, cut into wedges

1.  Unroll the crescent rolls onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

2.  Place the brie on the dough.

Seem simple enough yet?

3.  Wrap the dough around the brie, making more effort than I did to make it look beautiful ;)

4.  Bake in a 350 degree Farenheit oven for approximately 30 minutes, or until pastry is browned.

5.  In the meantime, slice your green apples into wedges, sprinkling with a bit of lemon juice if you are not going to serve them immediately (to prevent browning).

6.  Serve hot, immediately after taking out of oven.  Serve a slice of the dough-wrapped brie on top of a piece of apple.

Difficulty level: easy

Camille's Authentic Tarte Tatin

As with everything else in my life these days, I am so behind in my blogging.  I currently have 31 recipes in my draft folder, plus tons of ideas for other posts I haven't even gotten around to starting.  Plus, I still need to get around to transferring my photos to the new blog so that I can get that finalized and up and running.  Ahhhh life with two monkeys ;)

As its name suggests, this recipe is French in origin.  And it's one of Jérôme's favourite desserts.  Camille made this for us when she came to visit two years ago.  It was the first time I had had it and I also loved it.  Following her departure, I tried in vain to reproduce it a few times.  But none of the recipes I found did Camille's tart justice - or perhaps it was that I just hadn't mastered the technique??

As defined by Wikipedia, "tarte tatin is an upside-down tart in which the fruit (usually apples) are caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked".  Mmm...  It turns out that Josiane had given me a whole tarte tatin cookbook awhile back.  So my new mission is to make a blueberry tarte tatin with some delicious fresh blueberries when I have a chance.  And a rhubarb one.  And a banana one.  And a banana chocolate chip one.  But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Camille made us two of these during her visit.  One of which has already sadly disappeared (of course, its whereabouts are completely unknown).  The other is tucked safely in the freezer.  For the time being at least ;)

Being a French recipe, it is in grams, so you'll need to get out your food scale for this one - which I know you've purchased, having been tempted by other French recipes here on my blog ;) 

Camille said this is typically made with Golden Delicious apples.  She made ours with Red Delicious and it was wonderful.  If you use another variety, just be sure that it is a type that will hold its shape with cooking so that you don't end up with applesauce.

1/2 C sugar
4 1/2 very large (Costco-sized) apples (I think you'd need maybe 7-8 regular sized apples - enough to fill the entire pan)
70g butter
pie pastry (traditionally with puff pastry, but you can try it with any kind of pastry you have - Camille brought us one from France!!)

You will also need a pan that can go both on the stove and in the oven for this recipe.  We used a pie plate for one of the pies and one of our Le Creuset pans for the other.

1.  Peel and core apples and cut into quarters.  Set aside.

2.  Melt butter in the pan. Sprinkle sugar over the entire pan and do not stir (you can mix it just slightly, but barely).

3.  Place the apples on top of the butter/sugar mixture in a circle formation.  Be sure the squeeze the apples tightly together. 

4.  Cook on medium heat until the butter/sugar mixture has caramelized.  You will know that this has happened when the mixture takes on a rich brown colour.

This is what the butter mixture will look like as it starts to cook:

And this is what it will look like when the sugar has caramelized and you can take it off of the stove:

Do not stir anything while it is cooking.
 
5.  Place the pie pastry on top of the apples, tucking in the edges.  Cut a small vent into the centre of the pie.  Place a piece of parchment paper inside the vent to prevent it from closing while cooking.

6.  Cook at approximately 425 degrees for 15 minutes and then lower to 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned.  Camille swears that you don't have to check if the apples are cooked.

7.  To take the pie out of the pan, let the pie cool a bit, but not completely (or otherwise the caramel will harden and everything will be stuck in the pan).  If the pie has completely cooled, you will need to heat it up a bit again to be able to get it out of the pan.  If you turn the pan just upside down, the caramel will all drip out.  You want to take it out by turning it upside down in a circular motion.  And, of course, place a large plate over the crust before unmolding.

Camille mentioned that she suspects that restaurants do a double layering of apples to be sure there are no gaps between the apples when cooked.  I'm sure that just makes it doubly delicious.

Difficulty level: difficult for a novice.  Though easier for someone who has experience baking.

Waffle Cone Fruit Cups

Logan and I headed to the grocery store yesterday afternoon by bike to pick up some whipping cream for this dessert.  Which turned out to be a bit of an adventure.  

Logan loves being in our bike hitch, so I took biked around for 30-40 minutes before going to the grocery store.  And when we arrived, I realized that my wallet was nowhere in sight.  My last memory of seeing it... had been... when I had placed it next to him in the bike hitch.

SH****!!

This led to a bit of a frantic panic as I snapped Logan back into the hitch and headed out to re-do the bike ride in reverse order, hunting for my darned wallet. 

Which was nowhere to be found.

So I eventually just gave up and headed home to admit to my husband that I had been dumb enough to leave my wallet in the hands of a 2 year old.

Only to find it lying on the end of my driveway.

Not sure which is worse to admit - that I left my wallet with a 2 year old or that I left it on the end of my driveway...

I'm just glad that my neighbours are apparently honest people.

Back to the grocery store we headed, once again.  

My intention had been to buy some whipping cream, ice cream cones and ginger (not all for the same recipe!).  That'll fit easy into the back of a bike hitch, right?

But then I remembered that we were also out of milk.  And cheese was on sale.  And I bought some stuff to make a cake to give Camille some cake decorating lessons when she comes to visit next week.  And then Logan found the pudding, which we were almost out of.  You get the idea.

In the end, I had way more groceries than I should have, given that I was biking home.  I stuck them in the little spot behind where Logan sits.  Only to realize a short moment later that it is only held together by velcro.  Which burst open from the groceries.  Which I realized as my groceries came tumbling out of the bike hitch, all over the parking lot, as I sped away on my bike. 

SH****!!

So I just piled it all in around Logan.  Looked a little something like this:

Though by the time we got back home, it was looking more like this:

Figured we had to cross a bunny on someone's lawn on our way home.  And that I was dumb enough to point it out to Logan.  Who then insisted he wanted out to see.  Who could refuse their child such an experience, even if it meant having to dig him out from under a mountain of groceries to do so?

In the end, everything got home.  Logan, myself, all of the groceries, and even my wallet (and credit card, which the cashier was kind enough to remind me to take with me).  Phew.

After dinner, we made these delicious fruit cups, which Heather had made for us for dessert a couple of weeks ago.  I love the idea.  Relatively healthy, yet a bit of a treat as well.  And super quick and simple to make, which makes them even better.  Plus, they're kid friendly.

You basically just need some waffle cones, mixed chopped fresh fruit and whipping cream.  Be sure to have the waffle cones or bowls, and not the smaller sugar cones so that you have lots of room for the fruit.  

I put a couple of dark chocolate chips in the bottom of the cone for a little treat at the end.  You then just fill the cone with any mixture of fresh fruit - I used chopped strawberries, blueberries and blackberries the first time I made them and then blueberries and bananas the second time.

little monkey hands, sneaking a blueberry as I try to get a picture

Then you just put a bit of whipping cream on top (I used light).  

Just be sure to fill the cones just before serving, as the fruit will otherwise make them soggy.  If you cut your fruit up in advance and have fruit that may discolour (such as apples), just squeeze a bit of lemon juice on it.

Even Logan liked them.  Really, what kid wouldn't?

Difficulty level: easy

Healthy, Veggie Packed Morning Glory Muffins

Happy Mother's Day to all you mommies out there!!!  I hope that everyone was spoiled and enjoyed a day of relaxation in the sun.

I've had a nice, quiet day.  I woke up this morning to a brand new KitchenAid mixing bowl.  Does my husband know me or does my husband know me?  Or was it just an attempt to get me to make more goodies??  So, I of course had to test run it as soon as I got home from my zumba class. 

So I made some muffins, as it's been quite awhile since I've made any and Logan has been asking for them lately.  Remember here when I said that I had found a delicious, new, healthy recipe for muffins?  I think I love these ones here even more.  I got this recipe from Katie when we were in Vancouver.  These muffins are packed with vegetables, which as any mom of a toddler knows, are almost impossible to get into most kids.  Logan has no idea that he's eating anything good for him here.

I would usually leave the cranberries and pumpkin seeds out, as Logan doesn't like to mix textures of food together.  But he has recently fallen in love with dried cranberries and cherries - I've convinced him to eat them by telling him they are candy.  I have no idea how he even knows what candy is, as I've certainly never given him any (daycare???), but it was enough to make him try (and love!) these.  We also tried to sell him on some soup by calling it ketchup, but he was a bit too smart for that one ;)

I left the dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds in and it seems to be a success, as he ate one and a half of these huge muffins within a few minutes of them coming out of the oven.

Before I get on with the recipe, I wanted to share a few of my favourite moments from this week:

- Logan turning to wave to our family doctor as we were leaving his office and saying "bye Soucie".

- how Chloé has started pulling at her hair and her ear when she is falling asleep.

- watching how Chloé watches Logan's every move, wherever he goes.  She cranes her neck at insane angles to not lose sight of him and he eats it up.  It's so special to get to watch such a bond develop between the two of them.  I think of how close I am with my siblings and realize that it likely started way back in the beginning.

- seeing how excited Logan was when Jérôme took him for his first ride of the season in the bike trailer.   He kept begging "vélo, vélo" (bike) even after returning from an hour long ride.  And refused to take off his helmet for at least an hour afterwards. In true Logan style ;)

- the sound of Chloé starting to babble (what S-LP wouldn't love that??). 

- how when I kissed Logan good night tonight to go put Chloé to bed (unsuccessfully), Logan smiled and said "dance".  I usually only kiss him goodnight before he's in pyjamas on the night I go to zumba.  So much better than the tears we used to get at my departure.

Enjoy your muffins.  And your Mother's Day.  I hope you have something special planned for dinner.

Beat together with a fork:

1 egg
1/2 C brown sugar
1/3 C plain yogurt
3 tbsp. canola oil

I used plain Greek yogurt, as this is all that I had in my fridge.

Whisk together in another bowl:

1 1/2 C flour (I used whole-wheat)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix wet and dry mixtures until just combined and then add:

1/2 C grated carrot (Katie mentioned she usually puts in a fair amount more, so so did I) 
1/2 C shredded zucchini
3-4 lumps of frozen spinach, defrosted and well drained (pat with a paper towel to dry well)
1/2 C grated apple (I left the skin on for extra nutrients and fiber)
1/4 C cranberries (I used dried cranberries)
1/4 C pumpkin seeds or walnuts
1/4 C shredded unsweetened coconut

I doubled the recipe, and it took me almost an entire bag of mini carrots to get 1 C grated (didn't have any regular carrots in the fridge), about 1 and a half tiny zucchinis and about an apple and a half.  Just to give you an idea on how much to buy.  And it was maybe total 1/4 C of spinach that I put in.

Next time, I'll also throw in some combination of the following: wheat germ, ground flax seed, hemp seed, and/or chia seed.

defrosted spinach

Mix until just combined.  Do not overmix (lumps are fine).

Pour into well-greased muffin tins and bake for 16-20 minutes at 350 degrees Farenheit.

The recipe says that it makes 6 large muffins, but I got 18 large muffins after doubling the recipe.  Katie always doubles it and makes them in a mini-muffin pan, yielding close to 2 dozen mini muffins. 

Difficulty level: easy to moderate

Breakfast Faves

So here goes my first 'faves' post.  And I'm starting with breakfast faves because this is undoubtedly by 'fave' meal of the day.  I am drooling over this post, having, yet again, eaten a bowl of Vector for breakfast this morning.

Excepting a couple of these recipes, most are weekend faves, as they're more time intensive than any normal human would have time to make during the week.  

I haven't included any muffins here, even though many of them are healthy enough to be eaten for breakfast.  There are just so many of them that I'll do a favourite muffins post one day. So here goes...


baked brie, potatoes, ham and eggs: this was my very first post and I didn't even take any pictures... darn... though I have the goal of progressively adding missing pictures and updating some of the uglier pictures.  But that's slow-going, as many of my recipes (even the ones I love) barely get made once a year.  Pitfall of having so many of them. I still highly recommend making this, despite not being able to see a picture of it, as it is delicious.  Perfect for big group brunch gatherings. 

finnish apple pancake: 

steel cut oatmeal: 

fiber-full bran pancakes:

ricotta strawberry breakfast cakes:

banana cinnamon waffles: 

toast with apple cider cinnamon jelly:

green monster smoothie:

healthy(er) homemade breakfast sandwiches: