Warm Apples

After apple picking, we had millions of apples we didn't know what to do with, so we decided to bake something new!

 

Ingredients

Apples (we used 3 apples)

Cinnamon

Honey

 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

3. Cut each apple in half.  Cut around the core, keeping each apple half intact.

4. Sprinkle each apple half with cinnamon.  Place a little honey right in the middle of the apple half.

5. Put each apple half on the baking sheet and place in the oven.

6. Cook the apples for about 20 minutes, or until they are soft when pushed with a fork. 

These came out even better than expected!  Perfect for a healthy afternoon snack, a dessert, or even a side with dinner instead of a vegetable!

 

~Mary and Caitlin

Chili

This is a recipe that our mom taught us a while ago-it's incredibly quick and easy to make, and perfect for when you need comfort food, a rainy day, or when the weather starts getting cold! This recipe is the McCormick chili recipe, with a few modifications.

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef

1 can (14.5 oz) kidney beans

1 can (16 oz) diced tomato

1 can (8 oz) corn

1 package McCormick chili mix

Optional toppings

1. Cook beef in large skillet over medium-high heat.

2. Add package of chili mix, and stir until the mix is completely combined with the beef.

3. Add kidney beans and diced tomatoes, leaving both cans undrained.

4. Drain can of corn, and add corn to chili.

5. Mix everything together, and bring to a boil.

6. Cover skillet, and let simmer for 10 minutes.

7. Add optional toppings-we added tortilla strips and cheddar cheese!  Also try Fritos, tortilla chips, or sour cream!

This recipe is so yummy and easy to make.  It's perfect for a rainy day (like today!) or when the weather starts getting cold!

~Mary and Caitlin

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Our aunt gave us a huge zucchini that she grew in her vegetable garden, so we decided to make a bunch of different zucchini recipes-and of course the first one we needed to make involved chocolate!

Ingredients

2 ounce squares unsweetened chocolate

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups grated zucchini

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease two 9x5 loaf pans.

2. Microwave chocolate until melted.  Stir occasionally until smooth.

3. In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil, grated, zucchini, vanilla, and melted chocolate and beat well.

4. Stir in the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

5. Fold in the chocolate chips.

6. Pour batter into the loaf pans.

7. Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

As delicious as this sounds-it tastes even better!  The loaf came out moist and chocolately, it was a huge hit!

~Mary and Caitlin 

 

Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta

This was a Pioneer Woman recipe-she has a great blog!  We loved this recipe because it was easy to make, tasty, and had perfect summer flavors!

Ingredients

Chicken breasts

Pasta

1 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese

1 cup milk

Lemon juice

Spicy mustard

Honey

Olive oil

Basil

1. Marinate the chicken breasts in about 1 teaspoon of olive oil, 4 teaspoons of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of spicy mustard, a 1/4 teaspoon of honey, and a dash of salt. These measurements are just what we used so feel free to play around!  Pioneer Woman suggests you marinate the chicken in this concoction for 24 hours, but we marinated for about 1 hour because we forgot about the set up.  Oops!

2. Grill the chicken, set aside, and keep warm.

3. Boil pasta until al dente. We used penne.

4. When draining the pasta, make sure to save about 1 cup of the pasta water, and set aside!

5. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter (original recipe calls for more, but this is what we had!) using the same pot that you boiled the pasta in.

6. Add about 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and the milk.  Whisk together.

7. When this mixture is heated, add the cheese. Stir this together until the cheese is melted.

8. Dump the cooked pasta into the pot with the cream mixture.

9. If the consistency of the pasta seems too goopey, add as much as the pasta water that you set aside earlier as needed.

10. Add half of your chopped basil to the pasta and stir together.

11. Place the pasta in bowls in which you will serve. Sprinkle the rest of the basil on top of the pasta.

12. Top the pasta with the chicken you cooked earlier. 

This recipe was wicked yummy-a great find!  The lemon and pasta combo was perfect for a yummy and easy summer dinner!

~Mary and Caitlin

  

 

Strawberry Balsamic Chicken

 We found this recipe on Pinterest and just HAD to try it for a nice summer dinner on our patio!

Ingredients

Chicken breasts

1 cup balsamic vinegar

1 pint of strawberries

Fresh mozzarella balls

1/4 cup chopped basil

Salt and pepper

1. Marinate the chicken breasts in 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar in a Ziploc bag and keep in the fridge.  The chicken can marinate for up to 5 hours-ours marinated for about 2.

2. When ready to cook, place the chicken breasts in a baking dish.  Make sure to pour all of the balsamic vinegar in the bag on top of the chicken!  Season generously with salt and pepper.

3. Bake in the oven at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked.

4. Bring the remaining 1/2 cup of vinegar to a boil.  Turn down the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes, or until it is reduced by half.  Remove from heat and set aside.

5. In a small bowl, combine chopped strawberries, mozzarella balls, and chopped basil and stir together.

6. When the chicken is ready, transfer to a serving plate.  Top with the strawberry, mozzarella, basil combo and drizzle with the reduced balsamic vinegar. 

This chicken tasted so good and fresh, and was perfect for a nice, summer dinner outdoors!

~Mary and Caitlin