Tipsy Baked Caramel Apples--Oh My!

Sometimes when I'm experimenting in the kitchen, things go terribly wrong. I just don't tell you about them. Yet every so often, my experiments turn out better than I'd expected and today's recipe is one of those.

Last week I baked some apples. They were plain old apples done the plain old way. And while I thought they were delicious, I began wondering if I could step them up a bit. Later in the week, I bought a caramel apple and enjoyed every sticky bite. Then I got to thinking. Could I come up with a baked caramel apple? How would I go about it? Would it be successful or toss in the garbage bad? The only way to know was to give it a try.

I thought on it for three or four days before I decided to try my luck. Surprisingly, I came through with a happy discovery that I'm passing on to you. And even though I'm still trying to figure out how to step-up the caramel taste, this is as close as I've gotten for now.

I would have to say that if you are a baked apple lover, you're going to like this recipe. Those wanting more caramel can experiment themselves or wait for me to come up with a better plan. In the meantime, try these apples that are stuffed with fruit and nuts, topped with gooey caramel, and baked in rum-infused apple cider. You won't be sorry. I promise.

This is NOT my baked caramel apple but a stand in. I cannot find my camera, though I've looked everywhere. Imagine this apple covered in caramel. Can you see it?

BAKED CARAMEL APPLES

Mix  together in a small bowl:

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped nuts of choice, lightly toasted

1/4 cup raisins

Zest of 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. cloves

Core 8 apples of your choice; I used Fuji. Stand them in a baking dish that is no more than 2" high. Fill each apple with the brown sugar/nut mix. If some falls to the bottom of the pan, leave it.

Pour 2/3 cup of apple cider into the bottom of the pan along with 1 jigger of rum. I used spiced rum. Toss about 6 whole cloves into the liquid. They won't be edible, but they'll give the juice a lovely fragrance.

Top the apples with a spoonful of the vegan caramel sauce (recipe follows)

Cover with foil, bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake another 15 minutes. To serve, ladle some of the cider/rum sauce into a bowl, add the apple, and top with a bit more of the caramel sauce. Add vegan whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

Serves 8

VEGAN CARAMEL SAUCE

Into a saucepan put:

2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup agave nectar or white corn syrup

Bring to a low boil, swirling to keep things moving. Do NOT stir with a spoon. Cook about 12 minutes.

When the mixture is a golden brown, stir in:

1/2 cup coconut milk

2 Tbs. vegan margarine

pinch of salt

Stir carefully as the golden caramel mixture will bubble up. That is how it should be. Turn off the heat and let the caramel cool a bit before using.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name."

Psalms 100:4

Seitan, Onion, and Mushroom Pasta

You can use any type of pasta in your cupboard. The first night I used  penne; the second night, I used spaghetti. They were what I had in my pantry. The sauce is what makes this dish. Now if only I could figure out how to take food photos as well as I do scenics, you wouldn't have to take my word for how good this recipe tastes.

Seldom does any dish, vegan or otherwise, taste so good I make it two nights in a row. That all changed when I created the following recipe. You can call it good luck or blessed endeavor. I call it serendipity. I had no idea what I was making when I began throwing things together and nobody was more surprised at how it turned out than me.

While there have been many times in my life that I've eaten the same thing twice in a row because of leftovers, never have I purposely cooked the same thing twice. From someone who hates to be in the kitchen as much as I do, my belief is that every meal should be something quite different than the one before it or else why bother cooking at all?

I suppose that belief came out of living with my husband of 53 years who never ate a leftover in his life until he married me. He came from such a poor family that there was barely enough food to go around, let alone have any left. So when I placed leftovers on the dinner table just a few weeks into wedded bliss, he kindly informed me not to do it again. That began my quest to turn leftovers into something entirely different by dragging things out of the frig and cupboards to disguise the original meal. I got really good at it. And even though Jim figured out what I was up to, he didn't mind because the whole result tasted far different than what I'd started with.

Now all of that to say that when I looked in my frig this week and saw a bunch of mushrooms that needed to be used and a package of seitan, which I'd yet to try, I decided to put them together. The dish was a process of tasting and adding and then declaring it good. Truthfully, the result tasted like I had put meat in it. Perhaps pork or chicken. But it was just a seitan trick to fool my palette. A vegan friend had informed me that seitan tasted nasty and that's why I had let mine sit in my frig for so long. However, the store bought seitan I used was to the point of being delicious. Figure that one out.

The recipe is so simple, you may laugh at me for bragging about how it turned out. Considering I've been a vegan for only 5 months, I ended up patting myself on the back for creating something that was not only edible but enjoyable. Give the recipe a try and see what you think. Then let me know. The people I served it to the second night I made it devoured it with relish and declared it one of my best vegan meals yet. Who knew?

SEITAN, ONION, AND MUSHROOM PASTA

This recipe involved cooking the pasta, making the bechamel sauce, and sauteing the vegetables. You can choose the order in which you build the meal.

In a saute pan put:

2 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 of a medium onion, minced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Cook till the onions are translucent. Turn them onto a place to cool.

In the same pan put:

2 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 of an 8 oz package of purchased seitan, cut into thin strips

Brown the seitan till it resembles meat. Set aside with the cooling onions.

Wipe out the saute pan so it's dry.

Add to the pan:

1/2 lb. of brown mushrooms, chopped. I used criminis.

Cook on low till all the water is evaporated and the mushrooms are completely dry. Do NOT salt the mushrooms and do not use oil for browning. It will make the mushrooms slippery.

Into the saute pan place:

All the onion and garlic mixture, the seitan, and the mushrooms. Add salt and pepper to taste. Put the pan on a back burner to stay warm.

COOK THE PASTA

While the above ingredients are cooking, set a pan of salted water on the stove to come to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package directions. I used 8 oz. for this recipe and it was plenty.

BECHAMEL SAUCE

4 Tbs. olive oil

4 Tbs. flour

Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the flour and cook about 3 minutes or until the flour comes together. The mixture will be lumpy. That's normal. Do not shorten this step or the raw flour taste will ruin your sauce.

Using a whisk, slowly stir in:

2 cups of creamy soy milk, either warm or at room temperature. Do not use it cold as it won't whisk in well.

Cook the sauce, whisking continuously until it begins to thicken. Lower the heat and cook a minute or so longer. If the sauce is too loose, let it cook another minute or so; too thick, whisk in more soy milk.

When the sauce is the consistency you wish, grate fresh nutmeg into it and add salt and pepper to taste. I also added a tiny pinch of cayenne because I like spicy.

Add the sauce to the saute pan with the seitan/vegetables/mushrooms in it. Mix well. Now add the pasta, along with a bit of the pasta water if need be. Stir everything together and let it cook a minute or so to blend flavors. Serves 3-4

Garlic Time

I swear it is my favorite vegetable. There is very little I will not eat it in or on. I have been carrying around a recipe in my head for years, from an Italian restaurant I used to frequent in Ft. Lauderdale. It is for a simple Marinara Sauce that is made delectable by the addition of sliced garlic that has been sauteed in olive oil until it is browned and crispy. I use a whole head more or less. Saute it until brown not burned, add a shake of red pepper flakes and then take off the burner. SLOWLY add a can of whole tomatoes with their juice(San Marzano if you can get em). Breakup the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon or spatula, add a handful of chopped basil, a few grinds of black pepper and a couple of pinches of sugar. Slowly simmer for 20 or 30 minutes, no more. The combination of the hot/sweet with the acid of the tomatoes and the musky taste of the toasted garlic is cosmic. No carrots or onions or peppers here. I am a purist. Some al dente spaghetti, a side salad and a bottle of red, perfect meal.

Tonight we make vegan stuffed shells with spinach and marinara sauce. I adapted this recipe from "Vegan With a Vengance" , the back of the pasta box and memory. I grew up around a lot of Italian Americans and stuffed shells were a staple.

1lb firm tofu pressed

2 tsp lemon juice

1 clove garlic minced or much more according to taste

a pinch of black pepper and salt

a handful of finely chopped basil leaves

4 tsp olive oil

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

12oz package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

12oz package jumbo shells, parboiled for 10 minutes and rinsed

1 recipe John's Fond Memory Marinara Sauce

Preheat the oven to 350. Drain and press tofu for 30 minutes or so. Mash the tofu in a large bowl until it is crumbly. Add the lemon juice, garlic , salt, pepper, basil and nutmeg. Mash with your hands until it is the consistency of ricotta cheese. Add the spinach, mixup and then add the olive oil. Mix with a fork now and add nutritional yeast and mix till incorporated.

Stuff shells with the spinach mixture. Place half of the sauce in a casserole, add the shells and pour the rest of the sauce over the shells. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with garlic bread.

Buon Gusto!

On a more serious note...For those of you not wanting to expose yourself to Roundup Ready genetically modified seed, you might consider buying tofu made from organic soybeans. My local Kroger carries Vitasoy. Roundup Ready seed has been genetically altered so that the farmer can spray his fields with Round Up and it will not kill the plant. Just all the plants around it. I make no judgements but admit that I already have way too many bad habits to take chances. If they listed Roundup as an ingredient, would anyone buy it?