Recipe - Baked Apple with Creamy Calvados

Baked Apple with Creamy Calvados

adapted from http://www.molliekatzen.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipe=roasted_apples )

This dessert is not nearly as decadent as it appears.  No sugar, greek vanilla yogurt instead of ice cream.

 (Makes 2 servings, about 260 calories each)

Ingredients:

2 gala apples

Cinnamon

1oz Calvados brandy

1/8 tsp Modena balsamic vinegar

16 almonds

2 tb Chobani vanilla nonfat Greek yogurt

Nonstick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425^ degrees F.  You should arrange the top rack near but not tight against the top of the oven.

1. Spray a ceramic baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. Core and cut up apples into thick chunks.  Don’t peel.  Place apple chunks peel down, in a single layer.  It’s fine to crowd.
3. Sprinkle a dusting of cinnamon over the chunks and put the dish in the oven.
4. Bake the apples for 30-35 min, until the apples are soft, and a fork pierces the flesh with ease.
5. Toast the almonds while the apples are baking.  Heat a small skillet with raised edges over medium heat and then add the almonds.  Keep an eye on them and shake the skillet lightly every twenty seconds or so to move them around.  Don’t take your eyes away.  When they start to get a slightly darker brown, and you can smell them, take off heat and spill onto a smooth dry towel. 
6. Fold the towel around the almonds (so you can crush them without losing any pieces), lay over a cutting board and use a mallet or a bowl bottom to crush the almonds into pieces.
7. When the apples are done, take out of the oven and use a spoon to transfer equally between two deep soup/cereal bowls.
8. Pour one ounce of the Calvados and a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar into the baking dish, scrape around with a spatula to deglaze the dish.  Pour off into a small cup and let stand.  It will thicken slightly.  (I like to use the same measuring cup I used to measure the Calvados).
9. Toss each bowl of apples with a tablespoon of the vanilla greek yogurt until the pieces are evenly coated.
10. Sprinkle with the almond bits.
11. Pour half of the deglazed Calvados sauce onto each bowl, sprinkle a little more cinnamon on top, and enjoy!

Food - Beef Barley Soup

Beef Barley Soup with Kale Ribbons

This is a satisfying, super-hearty, meaty stew.  Full of vegetables, beans, and ribbons of kale, and tender chunks of beef.  Pearl barley adds to the heartiness instead of rice, while miso paste adds saltiness and a nice hit of umami that only makes the meaty taste more savory.  Make a big pot, and freeze it in individual servings for a nice treat on rainy day or when you’re feeling under the weather.

You can stick to the same amounts of vegetables, but you can alter the amount of beans, carrot, celery, and diced tomato to your own preference.  The kale will thicken up the broth at the end, and lend a lovely pop of green color to the soup.

Ingredients

Six to eight short ribs with bones (you can use boneless, but the stew will not be as flavorful, and the meat will not be nearly as tender!)

15 cups of beef stock

4 + 4 cups water

1 ½ cup mixed dry beans (I like using a 15-bean soup medley, you can find these in most grocery stores in bags)

1lb pearl barley

10 cups chiffonade-sliced kale

Two tomatoes diced

1 large onion chopped (1lb)

3 cloves chopped garlic

As many chopped carrots as you want

3-4 ribs chopped celery

1 tbl Salt

1 tsp black Pepper

Healthy shake of white pepper

4 tbl Miso Paste

2 tbl tomato paste

1. The night before, soak beans in water.
2. Chop veg, onion, tomatos, etc.
3. Get a really, really big soup pot.  The largest pot you have.
4. Drain the beans, put them, the carrots, onion, barley, tomato, celery and garlic in the pot.
5. Pat salt and pepper onto the dry short ribs, then place them in the pot.
6. Add the salt and pepper in.
7. Pour in 15 cups of beef broth/stock.  Add the tomato and miso paste.  Stir.  Add 4 cups of water, stir.  Turn the stove on to high, and then turn down when the pot begins to boil.
8. Let simmer for three hours, stirring every half hour or so.  Adjust seasoning as you go.  Top off with water if it gets too chunky.
9. Fifteen minutes before serving, fish out the short ribs and cut the meat off the bone into chunks (if it hasn’t fallen off the bone already).  Add the meat back into the pot.  Stir in kale and boil for three to six minutes.  The liquid will thicken and go creamy right away.
10. Take off heat and serve.  Soup is best when served with cornbread and parmesan cheese sprinkled on top, but toasted slices of a hearty bread will be good too.  Yum!