Granola

Last week, Bbq Jr. asked us why we weren't spending enough time with him. What with towers of boxes in our home, we've been spending nearly all of our waken ghouls unpacking and organizing our home. Quick runs to the hardware store aside, it's been a busy week.

Thank goodness for Oma. My mum flew into town to visit, help unpack, and give our little guy some much needed attention and TLC. The house is now starting to look like a home again and less like a loading dock. And while Oma flies home today, she left us with a few homemade treats to enjoy. Like her home-baked granola:

1 lb butter
1 tbsp vanilla
2 cups honey
½ tsp salt
2 lb rolled oats
½ cups sesame seeds
1 cups chopped nuts
2 cups grape nuts
1 lb coconut
1 cups sunflower seeds

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Heat the butter and honey in a large pot over medium heat.



When it melts into a large, runny slurry, turn off the heat and add the vanilla. Mix well.

Mix in all of the dry ingredients. Oma likes to do it one



ingredient



at a time.



Spread a thin layer of granola on a cookie sheet.



Roast the granola for less than half an hour, until golden brown.



Remove from the oven, let cool. We place it in containers, open overnight (to dehydrate) and then cover them up the next morning.

This is one of my favourite things to have for breakfast (and it's the only granola that Mrs. Dude likes). And it tastes like my childhood.

Thanks for the granola, Mom.



By Bbq Dude

Apple pie

Another day, another visit to Tougas' Farm. It's apple season in Massachusetts, and we're taking advantage of that, so off to Tougas Farm.



What fun, then, to arrive and discover that they are growing at least three dozen different varieties of apple. After reading their apple literature (yes, they have apple literature), we zoomed in on a few snacking apples (Fuji, among them) and three pie apples.

Idared:



Cameo:



And Spencer:



We picked enough for one pie each (6-8 apples of each variety) and wandered through the snacking apple sections, nibbling our way through. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon, really. But we had to know which was the superior pie apple. So we did an experiment. For science.

One pie each. Same recipe. Same crust. Baked at the same time for the same amount of time. Sampled by several members of the Dude family. Again, for science. We were brave. Somebody has to do it.

We used a family recipe. For one 8 ½ inch pie pan, use one crust, as described in Mrs Dude's rhubarb pie:

6-8 apples, depending on apple size
2 tbsp butter

Start peeling the apples.



Pre-heat oven to 375°F. Shave the apples into small fragments.



Mix:

½ cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
pinch salt

Place a layer of apples in the crust. Layer about one third of the sugar mix over the apples, add a second layer of apples, layer another third of sugar mix on top, then a final layer of apples and the rest of the sugar on top. Lay the butter on top.



Cover the apples with a final layer of pastry crust.



Pinch it closed, and poke some holes in the crust to let steam vent out.

We baked three pies like this. Fifteen minutes at 375°F, then another hour at 350°F.



Upon removal, it was clear the Idared pie had a more aromatic scent. It was like smelling perfume pie, really quite striking.

Upon cooling, we discovered that the Spencer pie had become silky smooth, almost too smooth for pie (more an applesauce texture). The Cameo pie was rich in flavor and perfect in texture. The Idared was probably the most interesting flavour, bright and unique, but perhaps too bitter for pie. The hands-down favourite of all was the Cameo pie. Though if we were to do it again, I'd want a pie that was 75% Cameo apple, 25% Idared.



But really, what an experiment. For science!


By Bbq Dude

Settling in

So, about a year ago, we started making a too-stupid-to-cook-chicken every Friday night. It's our little Friday night ritual. I fire up the oven as soon as we walk in the door, I get the chicken ready, and 15 minutes later it's in the oven.

Well, we're finally settling in our home in Arlington. Our boxes arrived on Monday, and we unpacked sufficiently this week that we could find a frying pan and some nice salt. I present to you, our first Friday chicken in the new home.

Cooking (and blogging) will return to it's regular frequency shortly...

By Bbq Dude