Caramel Apple Bars

If you know me at all you know that I love fall. I get a little too excited about going to the pumpkin patch, eating everything pumpkin I can find (has anyone tried Trader Joe's pumpkin cream cheese?!), stepping in as many leaf piles as I can, and coming up with new ways to use the delicious apples that grow so well in Oregon.

This fall I was the lucky recipient of a Groupon for 10 lbs of apples from a local farm from my dad. I have used the apples to make dehydrated apple rings, applesauce, apple fruit rolls, and pumpkin apple crumb bread. Its been a few weeks and I still had a few of the beautiful granny smith apples left so I decided to try a new recipe.

I absolutely adore apple crisp but I wanted to make something that I could share with friends and family and that didn't need to be eaten right our of the oven. In my search for recipes I came across this recipe for caramel apple bars. It is like a apple crisp, but in bar form. With caramel! GENIUS!

Lavender Lemon Shortbread Cookies

Hello! Yes, the muffin girl is still alive! I just had a busy month of moving related activities, but I am happy to report that I am all moved in to a lovely 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment with one of my best friends. The apartment complex is very nice, and I love our open kitchen floor plan. I can picture myself baking many wonderful treats there! (Not that I have done much of that yet...).

But I do have a treat that I made about a month ago that I would love to share with you. You may or may not know about my obsession with lavender, but if you do not, than all you need to know is I love eating lavender and experimenting with it in in cooking and baking.

When visiting the Oregon Lavender festival this year I was introduced to Lavender Lemon Shortbread. Oh my! And of course I instantly fell in love.

Orange Almond Blueberry Muffins

Hello! You've found me! After posting to The Fox Foodie blog for over a year I knew it was time for a change. I don't think I was looking much into the future when I created it, as I never thought of what I would do once I graduated from George Fox University and it was no longer as appropriate to call myself the Fox Foodie. 

Although as an alum I could still refer to myself with such a name, but I feel times are a changin' and so must this blog. I am now--as my friends would call me--a "real adult". I am no longer a college student, and am trying to make this blog reflect that (besides I needed to redeem myself after neglecting The Fox Foodie since February!).

How did I become "The Muffin Girl" you might ask? Well, besides being a cute and catchy name, if I had to pick one thing I enjoy cooking or baking the most I would have to say muffins! Muffins are the slightly healthier cousin of the cupcake (and if you know me at all you will know I have a slight obsession with cupcakes), and can be eaten for breakfast without too much guilt!

Banana Crumb Muffins

My idea of a perfect afternoon is one where I don't have class, and have some free time without any of that pressing homework that has to be done now or never. On these afternoons I like to bake. 

I make sure my apartment is perfect and clean, the animals are all happy, candles are lit, and pandora is playing some version of a love song. 

Once everything is beautiful and perfect I begin. I preheat my oven and pull my beloved pink Kitchenaid away from the wall. No matter what I bake I know that this is a time of relaxation and healing. There is nothing better than baking to make a stressful day better. 

There is something simply magical about turning inedible things like flour and raw eggs into an edible little gift that can make anyone smile.

There is also something so reassuring about baking. It reminds me of a quote from the move Julie and Julia. When Julie is asked what she loves she says this, "Chocolate cream pie! You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure and when I say nothing, I mean nothing. You can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. That's such a comfort."

Middle Eastern Tabbouleh

 

I completely missed my birthday. No, not my real birthday, but something almost as important: my blog's first birthday. The Fox Foodie turned one year old on January 30th and no one but me knew anything about it!

I was planning on having a birthday celebration. I thought it would be appropriate to blog a cake recipe of something of that sort like 17andBaking did on her first birthday, but there was a huge dilemma that stood in my way.

My hard drive crashed.

I was without a computer for over a week. And no computer equals no blogging. So, now I am celebrating my first birthday. Not with cake, but with tabbouleh. (Oh, and I bought myself a copy of Will Write for Food as a gift!).

Food Styling and Photography

"When you look at food you have two eyes, when a camera looks at it, it only has one."

-Delores Custer, food stylist

A couple weeks ago I attended a food styling and photography class.  It was put on by the Portland Culinary Alliance, a professional organization of which I am a student member. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this class, but I knew it sounded exactly like something I should do. 

The Fox Foodie is coming up on our one year anniversary, and wow! have we come a long way from January 30th 2010. My writing has improved, my recipes have improved, I have been trying new places and attending new events, but the most obvious change is that my photographs have improved greatly. 

If you don't believe me check out some of my very early posts such as this one or this one. And then look at the photos I upload now. Hopefully you will notice a dramatic difference. 

I am convinced that good photos are one of the easiest and quickest ways to make your blog look professional. If you look at the very best food blogs, you will notice that they have the very best photos.  Sometimes people can even get away with being so-so writers, if they are excellent photographers.

I do not claim to be an excellent food photographer by any means, but I do enjoy it and I love learning more about it. In fact you would be surprised and perhaps appalled if you saw the camera in which I take all of my photos with. Let's just say it is a small point and shoot and it is nearing its fourth birthday. Yeah, I am in desperate need of a new camera.

But as you can see, it doesn't take a professional and expensive camera to take good food pictures. Of course, as any amateur food photographer would wish, I do hope to get a Canon Rebel in the year 2011...

Gingerbread Men and Women

OK, before you ask, yes I am aware of the fact that it is after Christmas. I had all the intentions in the world about blogging my gingerbread recipe prior to Christmas, but alas, that failed to happen.

I decided the saying "better late than never" applies to blogs too, and am posting this recipe in case anyone would like to bake New Years gingerbread men. And also because by next Christmas-time I will have probably lost track of the photos...

I suppose I should also take this time to explain myself. My last post was on November 10th. I completely agree that this in inexcusable behavior, and blogging once a week (or at LEAST every other week) is one of my New Years resolutions.

Pomegranate Ginger Muffins

Lately I have been getting very excited because Christmas is fast approaching. Although I have been severely tempted I have resisted the urges to secretly listen to Christmas carols or start buying Christmas presents or decorations (OK, maybe I bought a few, but overall I have been very good!). 

If I had to choose a favorite holiday I would pick Christmas. Everything about Christmas makes me smile. Decorating the tree(s), baking special treats, making gingerbread houses, driving around for hours looking at Christmas lights, and of course remembering and reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas. 

So much of what I think of when I think of Christmas is food. For most families holidays are centered around food. Food is the biggest form of hospitality. Food is also something that is strongly connected to our memory. When I think of Christmas I can almost taste it. 

Hot chocolate. Candy canes. Gingerbread. Sugar cookies. Pumpkin pie. Ham. Spiced cider. Marshmallows. Peanut brittle. Mandarin oranges. Chocolate covered cherries. The list could go on and on. 

The Perfect Newberg Picnic

If you’re looking for a quaint spot to have lunch in Newberg or for a place to pick up a picnic basket for a date, I know just the place. Perfect Picnics is located in the heart of Newberg and offers all this and more.

Perfect Picnics opened on Memorial Day and feeds customer’s appetite by serving lunch and dinner in their charming restaurant, offering catering services, and providing wonderful picnic or boxed lunches to take to a favorite Newberg (or beyond) destination.

Perfect Picnics is located within walking distance of George Fox University in a beautiful historic house across the street from the library. Customers can eat their lunch or dinner inside at a cozy table adjacent to shelves of unique picnic baskets, or enjoy their meal outside at one of the picnic tables that are dressed up with tablecloths and pepper plant centerpieces.

Pumpkin Bread

 

It's officially pumpkin week. Well not "officially", but I have decided that it is the week to celebrate everyone's favorite winter squash.

During the past seven days I have visited the pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins, made my own pumpkin puree, made pumpkin cheesecake and this pumpkin bread.

I didn't just start loving pumpkins recently. I was born in October, so from the start I was personally and deeply connected to pumpkins.

 Homemade pumpkin puree

I think the moment I fell in love with pumpkins was when I was a few weeks old and my parents stuck me in a hallowed out pumpkin for a photo. (Looking back it seems endearing, but when I did this to my puppy a few days ago my friends all looked at me like a was crazy...)

When I was seven years old I had my very own backyard pumpkin patch, as did my brother. He grew large pumpkins, some that got to be almost 50 pounds, and I grew the tiny ones. I have always loved tiny things.

The best thing about my patch in comparison to my brothers was that mine produced a far greater yield than his did. I had hundred of pumpkins by October.

With no idea of what to do with so many pumpkins I opened up a "pumpkin stand" in my driveway. It was similar to a lemonade stand except that it was freezing cold out and I was selling miniature pumpkins. Fifty cents each, or three for a dollar.

Quick and Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake

I am about to share with you my favorite fall recipe of all time.

Get excited.

This pumpkin cheesecake is a modification of a recipe that has been in my family longer than I even have. My mom received the recipe for "company cheesecake" (don't ask me, I have no idea why it's called that) from a coworker about 30 years ago.

It was a recipe for plain cheesecake, but also had suggestions on how to spice it up, such as adding berries to the mixture.

It wasn't until about five years ago that I got the idea to use this recipe to make pumpkin cheesecake. I know, Brilliant, right? I love pumpkin, but don't love pumpkin pie. But I do love cheesecake. Thus, pumpkin cheesecake was born.

Every year the recipe is a little different as we can never seem to find where we wrote down the recipe the year before, but fortunately this cheesecake is very forgiving and you can add more or less or just about anything and it will state taste AMAZING.

Lucky for you, I made it my goal to finally decide on the perfect recipe once and for all. (Ok, maybe I did it more for myself, because now that's its on my blog I will always know where to find it!)

This cheesecake is probably the easiest dessert recipe you will ever find. All you do it add all the ingredients into a blender or food processor, mix, and pour into a crust. That's it! Well, you have to bake it too, of course. 

Butternut Squash Soup

This fall is like so many others, except at the same time it is so different. I went back to school as I have for the last seventeen years, the leaves are changing color as they always have, and the air has a delightful chill to it even with the sun out. But this may be the last fall I go back to school. The last fall I get to quickly walk to class at 8:30 am wishing I had worn more than a sweater with anticipation of afternoon warmth.

Although this fall marks many "ends" for me, it has also held some firsts too. It marks the first time I have my own apartment and therefore my own kitchen. It also marks the first time I have been solely responsible for my own meals. Before this year I was required to purchase a school meal plan which I did not take advantage of nearly as much as I paid for, and before that my mom did most of the cooking.

I have only been in this new cook-for-myself stage of life for one and half months now, but I have already had a total blast learning to menu plan and cook for one.

 

 

I have had the opportunity to try many new recipes and freeze a good portion of my efforts. I have had the opportunity to learn about food dehydration and ways to utilize leftovers. Believe it or not, cooking for one is way harder than it looks! 

Apples, Apples, Apples!

Fall is my favorite season. My reasons include: my birthday is during the fall, I love halloween, I love wearing cozy scarfs and gloves, apple cider is one of the best beverages in the world, pumpkin patches are fun for people of all ages, and apples are plentiful.

 

 

There is a lovely produce stand in Newberg that I have been shopping at since I was a freshman in college. It is always a sad day for me when they close up for the winter (and a wonderful day when they re-open).

This fall I have done a lot of shopping at Ray's Produce, but what i have bought more than anything so far is apples. Fuji, gala, golden delicious, pink lady, jonathan, honeycrisp...apples, apples apples!



First I dehydrated some apples. I sprinkled a little cinnamon sugar over apple rings and slices and cooked them for hours in my new food dehydrator (that I scored at a garage sale for $5!).

Secondly, I did something I have always wanted to do: I made applesauce! It ended up being so easy that I wondered why I hadn't made any sooner!

 

I decided not to can any of it and instead made a relatively small batch and froze some. (While making this I can across the suggestion to try some warm homemade applesauce with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top...oh my! was it good!)

With the majority of the applesauce I made apple butter. If you have not had apple butter you need to try some very soon! It resembles jam and tastes like fall! Contrary to the name, there is no butter in apple butter at all. It is just a cooked and reduced mixture of applesauce, spices and sugar.

I hope this post has inspired you to go out and buy or pick some apples and make something wonderful out of them!

Applesauce

Adapted from Simply Recipes

• 7 to 8 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. (Make sure you use a good sweet cooking apple like Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonathan, Mcintosh, or Gravenstein.)
• 8 strips of lemon peel - use a vegetable peeler
• Juice of two lemons, about 6 Tbsp
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar
• up to 1/2 cup of white sugar (depending on sweetness of apples)
• 2 cups of water
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Remove from heat. Remove cinnamon sticks and lemon peels. Mash with potato masher.

Ready to serve, either hot or refrigerated. Delicious with vanilla ice cream or vanilla yogurt.
Freezes easily, lasts up to one year in a cold freezer.

Apple Butter

• 6 cups applesauce 
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Put all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on low for 8-14 hours. Freezes very well.

* Here is a site with some good information about apple butter

Leavenworth Oktoberfest

 

For my 22nd birthday my generous parents took me to the Oktoberfest in Leavenworth WA. I had been hinting around the fact that I wanted to go this year for a while but I think they made the final decision while I was in Austria and Germany in May. 

If you have never been to Leavenworth, you must go! It is a small Bavarian themed town with plenty things to do, eat, drink and see. I've been to Bavaria (a state in Germany) and I can honestly say that Leavenworth does remind me a lot of it. Even the beautiful mountains behind Leavenworth are reminiscent of the Alps. 

Before we left for Leavenworth I packed the latest copy of Northwest Palate in my bag because they had just done a feature on Leavenworth and all the great destinations and restaurants one has to visit. 

Our first meal was at the very popular Munchen Haus Bavarian Grill and Beer Garden. Despite the usually long line, this place is a must on your dining schedule. The outdoor Beer Garden is a loud place full of German charm and they serve up a mean bratwurst. 

The sausages are prepared right in front of you and once you get your sausage you then have to make the very difficult decision of which mustard you are going to use (they have over 20 options!). After much thought I settled on garlic Dijon and honey and champagne mustard. They also have fabulous homemade apple cider sauerkraut which I personally think is a  condiment no sausage should go without. 

The Oktoberfest itself was actually a letdown. I expected a much better selection of German foods, but what I found was a disgrace to Germany itself. There were about ten different food booths inside the festival but they all had the same drab menu: bratwurst, polish dog, hot dog and some sort of pulled pork dog. That was it! 

One only had to be in the festival a few minutes to realize it really was all about the beer. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against beer, especially German beer, but I didn't go all the way to Leavenworth for beer. I was there for the food!

Take my suggestion, if you are going to Leavenworth for the Oktoberfest don't eat all your meals in the tents. Venture out into the charming town and discover all the wonderful foods Leavenworth has to offer. 

 Guava and raspberry gelato at Via Dolce Gelato

With that said I still did enjoy the Oktoberfest, and if anyone reading this wants to go it is still going on next Friday and Saturday October 15th and 16th. 

Here is a list of other great places to eat in Leavenworth: 

• King Ludwig's
• Via Dolce Gelato
• The Cheesemongers Shop
• Schocolat