Fall apple bounty = apple crisp

Apple Crisp

Lisa James came over earlier this week with a beautiful basket of apples. We had some slices with an extra sharp Vermont cheddar cheese as an evening snack during a heated Wii golf tournament. The rest went into this wonderful apple crisp!

When looking for a recipe, almost all of them had a stick of butter, a cup of sugar plus 1/2 to a cup of brown sugar...a little over the top. I found some 'healthy' apple crisp recipes, and combined them to create this one. I suppose you could substitute local honey or agave nectar in the apples, but it seems a little brown sugar is needed to form the crust.

Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

crisp:

• 1 package instant oatmeal (I used Trader Joe's instant whole grain cranberry oatmeal)
  
• 1/4 cup + a sprinkle all-purpose flour(organic white unbleached flour)
  
• 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (organic)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 Tbsp margarine (non-hydroginated olive-oil based)
  

apples:

• 4-5 peeled and cored apples
  
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice, fresh squeezed (1 small lemon)
  
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp granulated organic raw cane sugar
  
• 2 cups vanilla nonfat frozen yogurt

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Spray an 8x8-inch baking pan with cooking spray or organic canola oil.
3. Squeeze fresh lemon juice into a flat, shallow bowl such as a pie plate.
4. Peel, core, and thinly slice apples. Place each sliced apple into the lemon juice and toss to coat as you work to prevent browning and allow the apples to soak up the lemon juice. Once apples are done, sprinkle in sugar and cinnamon and toss gently to coat. Allow to marinate briefly.
   
5. In a bowl, combine the oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and margarine with a pastry blender. Add a little more margarine or a handful of flour to get the mixture to a crumbly consistency without being too dry or too moist.
   
6. Spread the apple slices evenly over the surface of an 8x8" square glass baking pan.
   
7. Sprinkle the oatmeal-flour mixture evenly over the apples.
8. Bake in the preheated over for 30 minutes or until the apples are tender and the topping is golden brown.
9. Serve warmwith 1/4 cup frozen yogurt (or eat right out of the pan!).

Front Yard Veggie Garden

Alas, we have no more lawn in the front yard, and I have to admit that life is much richer. Since planting this garden, we have fresh veggies for lunch and dinner, have met many neighbors and dog owners, and have new friends.

In spring we planted Early Girl and heirloom Roma tomatoes (which turned out to be little round tomatoes, but they were excellent for sauce and popping right into your mouth), basil, Anaheim, serrano, ancho, habanero, Fresno, and jalapeno chiles, Chile de Arbol, cilantro, Spanish onions, bell peppers, strawberries, eggplant, Lemon and regular cucumbers, yellow crookneck, zucchini, acorn and butternut squash, honeydew and ambrosia melons, Italian parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, various lettuces, a dwarf lime, dwarf satsuma mandarin, and semi-dwarf blood orange. Did I forget anything?

On the ornamental side, Black-eyed Susans and purple coneflower (echinacea) provide splashes of color and attract pollinators. An informal hedge of rosemary will 'hide' the garden in the winter. Purple Euporbia continifolia, silvery Westringia, and multi-color Leucodendron 'Jester' form the foundation planting against the house. Blue chalk sticks and lavender soften the edge of the sidewalk in front of the fence.

We shared our goods via the 'free basket' on the fence, which is how we made really good friends and got invited to dinner! As we're on the way to the neighborhood dog park, our progress in removing the lawn and installing the garden was monitored carefully by 'the regulars'.

This late summer/fall we planted more lettuces, Oregon sugar snap peas, french green beans, yellow and purple Spanish onions, garlic, more cilantro, 3 types of carrots, and potatoes to join the remaining basil, chiles, and early girl tomato. Since it was so darn foggy and cold this year, our early girl is really a late girl who didn't start producing ripe fruit until just this August. As least the chiles are pumping and we have lots of salsa for winter!

For a complete history of the garden transformation, visit my Facebook photo album at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2054722&id=1197488482&saved#!/photo.php?pid=31120029&id=1197488482&ref=fbx_album

It's just so amazing that these tiny little plants grow so quickly to produce baskets of produce a week!