Apple Butter

Ingredients:

6 apples

1/3 cup apple cider

2/3 cup maple syrup (or dark brown sugar)

2 tsp spiced rum (or vanilla)

1 tbsp lemon juice

cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves to taste

Peel, seed and cut up the apples. Pull all the ingredients into a pot on the stove and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the apples are easily squished. Remove from heat and use an emersion blender to puree until smooth.

Beans and Greens

Jeremy makes this and I tried to do what he does. :)

2 cans white beans

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

salt

~2 cups vegetable broth

2 onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

bunch of kale, about 4 handfuls, chopped

crushed red pepper flakes

pepper

parmesan cheese

1 loaf of Italian bread

olive oil to drizzle

Heat the butter and oil. Add the onions and garlic, cook for about 4 minutes. Add the beans and cook for another few minutes. Add about half of the vegetable broth and the crushed red pepper and salt. Cook until the onions start to get soft, about 7 minutes. Stir in the kale and keep stirring in until it gets all wilted. Cook for about another 7-10 minutes, depending how squishy you want the beans to get. Add more vegetable broth as needed so it says soup-like. Add in salt and pepper. Top with parm.

Slice the Italian bread and toast in the oven with some olive oil on top.

Apple Oatmeal Cookies

These were super good and really moist. They kind of ended up being a mix between a granola bar and a cookie and therefore it is appropriate to also eat them for breakfast, I think.

Oven set to 375.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp rum (this was a sub because I was out of vanilla)

1 egg

1 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp nutmeg

3 cups oats

1 cup peeled, diced apples (I used red apples)

Blend butter, sugar, milk, rum and egg with mixer for a few minutes in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, nutmeg. Blend dry ingredients slowly into milk/sugar mixture. Stir in oats and apples.

Bake at 375 for ~13 minutes on either a greased cookie sheet or a cooke sheet with parchment paper on it. Space about an inch apart; they didn't flatten too much. This made 24 cookies.

*This recipe originally called for brown sugar, vanilla instead of rum, walnuts, and raisins and a little less of the cinnamon and nutmeg than what I did and listed above.

Pesto with Tomatoes

Ingredients:

3 medium cloves of garlic

2 handfuls of fresh basil leaves

3/4 cup 3 cheese blend: asiago, fontina, parmesan

4 tbsp olive oil

1 can peeled, crushed tomatoes

salt, italian seasoning

~ 1 lb pasta

parmesan cheese for topping

1. Start chopping the garlic. Add about 1/3 of the basil and continue to chop it down. Add 1/3 of the basil, and again with the last 1/3. Start to add in the cheese and continue until all of the ingredients are mined together. Squish into a patty and put into a bowl. Cover with olive oil and put it in the fridge.

2. Boil the water and cook the pasta.

3. Heat the tomatoes for about 5 minutes, adding the salt and spices.

4. Combine pasta, pesto, and tomatoes (without liquid). Top with parmesan.

Chick peas with tomato and onion

The general outline of this recipe came from my friend Saman whose family is from Pakistan.

Ingredients:

~3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp cumin seeds

4-5 cans of chickpeas

4 tomatoes, chopped

3 onions, chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tbsp salt

~1 tsp cayenne pepper (add slowly and test for spiciness)

tamarind sauce (recipe below)

Tamarind Sauce:

1 tbsp tamarind sauce (at Whole Foods)

4 1/2 cups water

bunch of crushed red pepper

1 tsp salt

4 tbsp sugar

Rice:

3 boil-in-bag rice

1 tbsp butter (optional)

~ teaspoon lemon pepper

pinch of garlic powder, salt

Start with the tamarind sauce. Bring the water to a boil and add all the ingredients. This needs to boil down for about an hour. After about a half an hour, start the chickpeas.

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add cumin seeds (seeds should sizzle so test one first). Let them sizzle until they start to brown and then add the chick peas. Fry the chick peas for about 5 minutes.

2. Add everything else! Start a pot of water to boil the rice for 10 minutes.

3. Cook on high heat for about 20-25 minutes and then add about half of the tamarind sauce, which should be down to about a half a cup. Reduce to medium heat and cook for about another 20-25 minutes, depending on how mushy you want the chickpeas to be. Add the rest of the tamarind sauce during that time. They should cook until there isn't any liquid anymore, stirring periodically the entire time.