Is she not the cutest baby ever?! I kinda want to sneak into her room and kiss those little chubby hands right now… (Gym Buddy Allison took this pic!)
Jelly Bean is of the opinion that if she can’t see vegetables then I can’t make her eat them. Little does she know that even though I nicknamed her after a candy, I’ve been sneaking in the good stuff to her since the day I first decided that eating an entire watermelon with a huge baby doing jumping jacks on my bladder was a good idea. And really I can’t complain – she may regurgitate even the tiniest piece of onion into my hand but she ate a whole bowl of spinach with miso dressing at dinner tonight.
The miso dressing was just one of many new recipes I’ve been trying out lately. Something about fall always makes me want to cook more and so I’ve been stocking our freezer full of beef and barley stew, chili, 15 bean soup and enough whole wheat zucchini bread to make Bunnicula cool again. But nothing says fall to me like homemade applesauce! The warm cinnamon-y smell, the fresh taste, the little bits of chewy peel stuck between my teeth… Yeah, I health up my applesauce just like I do everything else. In the past leaving all the nutritious peels on has made my applesauce the leper of the lunchbox but this year I was determined it was going to be different!
First stop, the local, organic apple farm down the road! Fresh air, fresh fruit, fresh kids – what could go wrong?
They were out of apples. Yes, the apple farm was out of apples. Trees were picked bare; saw it with my own eyes! But all was not lost – the farm had porcupines and a pot-bellied pig to entertain the children (nothing says fun like a barbed quill in your eye!) plus a free hayride.
The hayride took us to their new corn maze! Which was super fun as long as I didn’t consider how much money we’d just paid to wander around a dessicated field for an hour. Here we are at the entrance to the maze.
And here we are at the exit! The boys were feeling pretty proud of themselves for making it out alive. I told Gym Hubby we officially have children of the corn. He said he could have told me that years ago.
On the walk back to the farm house (where they conveniently had bags of expensive apples for sale) Jelly Bean discovered that while the trees no longer had fruit, the ground sure did! And yes I let her eat those. The fun of being the 4th kid!
Being a cheapskate I refused to pay for the overpriced apples at the farm so we stopped and got some cheap apples at Target – which I suppose you could say I “picked” myself, har, har.
After cutting them quickly into large chunks, I stuck them peel and all (what? I didn’t want to waste all the good store-boughten vitamins!) into my beloved Vitamix and pureed the living crap out of those things. Thanks to the magic of Google, I discovered this is the secret to making homemade peel-on applesauce. Puree then cook.
I added the pureed apples to my supa-fly 80’s crockpot (it works, don’t judge) along with some cinnamon and a small bag of frozen raspberries that someone had left out on the counter earlier in the day causing them to become unfrozen. (Which is why it has the color and texture of bloody entrails.) That’s it! No sugar, no gelatin, nothing else! (Although I found out later I was supposed to add a smidge of lemon juice. I don’t know why but I skipped that and it tastes fine anyhow.) After letting it cook on low overnight, we had it for breakfast the next morning with whole yogurt and the kids couldn’t get enough! Easiest recipe ever.
We will now take a small break from our cooking show to bring you the newest member of the Andersen family: Bubbles the Beta fish! I finally caved this week and let my kids get their first pet. Heck yes Bubbles gets Brita-filtered water!
Applesauce may be my favorite fall recipe but baking is one of my favorite fall activities. Over the past week the New York Times health blog has been featuring healthy cookie recipes and I have made them all. Yes, you read that right. And I’m not sorry – whether we shared them with friends (like the cookie bowls filled with flavored whole cream above) or kept them for ourselves, every single one has turned out fab*. Plus they’re already healthy-ish so I don’t have to monkey with them too much!
I left out the sugar in these Whole Wheat Seeded Scones and they were fab with some butter and a drizzle of local honey.
I halved the sugar in these Sesame Coconut Bars and added a couple scoops of unflavored protein powder and served them for breakfast. They were the hit of the week.
These Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies were a delicious after-school treat that we shared with the neighbors.
After subbing coconut oil and adding some protein powder, these Coconut Granola Bars were my kids’ most requested “dessert” for their lunches. I love that they don’t have any flours or refined sugars.
Chocolate Pecan Bars are definitely a dessert, whole wheat flour or no, but these were so tasty I didn’t feel like I was having healthified treats.
And for all of you just-learning cooks out there like me, Reader Jasmine sent me the coolest article: The Most Common Cooking Mistakes from Cooking Light magazine. Must read!
Have you tried any new recipes lately? What is your favorite fall food?
*Except those pink blob-y cookie cups – I didn’t add any sugar to the raspberry cream filling and they were tart. I didn’t realize how bad they were until after all our guests had left and everyone’s plates still had piles of pink filling left on them. Whoops!
Allow me a science geek moment? The pectin (which acts similar to gelatin) occurs naturally in apples, so you don’t need to add more. This is also why you can add a bit of apple/applesauce instead of pectin when making your own jam or fruit butters. The lemon juice is usually added to retain the color and tame the sweetness when you add a crapton of sugar, neither of which are a problem in your recipe.
Those cookies all look great. Obviously, I enjoy baking cookies, in case my blog name didn’t give me away. 😉
Ah, that makes sense! I didn’t know you could add applesauce to jams and jellies in lieu of pectin. And you don’t need no stinkin’ cookie recipes – you do great inventing them all on your own!
Have I tried anything new? Yes, just posted about oatmeal raisin cookies that I made.
I clearly need to read the NYT’s b/c I love all the links you got from them…NICE!!
Jelly Bean is ADORABLE. And you look like Audrey Hepburn in those shades!
Aw thanks on both counts!
I love the posts with your family in them! It seriously makes my day! Yay!!
I really wish I could get away with jellybean’s adorable hair do, and accompanying ribbons, at work. I feel like it would not help me be taken seriously though, so I will limit my use of adorable high pigtails to when I am at home cooking/cleaning. Your boys also look so sweet!
I miss being further east. Autumn here is a sad shadow of a real season, consisting primarily of rain and completely erratic weather. Seriously, I’d do a lot to see a red or orange leaf, because the ones here just turn sort of yellow, then dry up to brown and fall off. I also miss apple picking, which I did every autumn growing up. All our apples come in from BC.
At least we have mountains for hiking and skiing, otherwise it would be really depressing.
I miss the mountains like crazy! We do have a lot of really beautiful trees here in the fall though:) And I’ll admit to rocking the high pigtails myself on occasion! You are so sweet!!
Nostalgia – I so miss my supafly 80’s crockpot. It was THE BEST and when it died from overuse, I searched and searched for a replacement. I love what I currently have, but, it isn’t quite the same.
Thanks for the tip on pureeing and then cooking – will try today!! And, thanks to Hurricane Irene, we don’t have apples at our apple farms and a lot of farms are missing pumpkins this year, too. Do you think that next year they will be even more plentiful and delicious to make up for it?
I hope so! I heard about the pumpkin shortage this year. Our stores have them but they’re really expensive. And yeah, this crockpot may look ridic but it has never let me down and I’ll be really sad when it dies someday.
Cute li’l Jelly Bean! What a gorgeous family!
I haven’t been trying many new recipes lately, I’m sorry to report. It’s also been quite warm here, so it still feels like summer. Maybe when it does eventually cool off I’ll want to spend more time in the kitchen.
Those cookies look yummy AND pretty!
It’s been weirdly warm here too. I like it. I just read an article in Scientific American though saying that this winter is supposed to be one of the worst ever. Lovely
Oh. Yay.
Oy!
Have been especially lazy about trying new recipes lately, but dang, this post is inspiring. Applesauce, never thought about making that! And those peanut butter cookies sound incredible.
You and your family are so darn good looking and photogenic… and you guys always look like you’re having such a great time! Thanks for sharing that, now I feel like I’ve been on fun outing without actually having to wander around a cornfield myself.
Ah yes, we always have a great time – between Jelly Bean screaming like a tornado siren, my boys alternately clawing and de-pantsing eachother in the corn field and my husband hobbling on a tweaked knee, let’s just say it’s a good thing there are only pics and no video;) But thank you! And yes, applesauce is the easiest stuff ever and it tastes like 200 times better than the store bought stuff – you should try it!
Hm…I thought I clicked the wrong link in my favorites this morning and stumbled across a new food blog. Look at you playing Betty Crocker–I love it!
Morning (all day?) sickness has kept me out the kitchen lately. I can’t wait to try some new recipes. (And I totally heart your old-school crock pot!)
Boo to morning sickness that isn’t confined to the morning:( Hope you feel better soon!
The applesauce looks and sounds delicious! I’ve been thinking about making some and now I’m convince I need to give it a try. Thanks!
Do it!!
Wow, using cookies as a transportation method for piles of cream is pure genius. How have I never thought of that? Speaking as someone who not-infrequently just plain eats cream. Yes, I just… spoon it in. Like soup. Mmmmmmm.
I’m the same way with whole cream! Loooove it!
HOLY JEEBERS you are just what I needed today.
The child and I must play in the kitchen this afternoon.
Homemade applesauce? even the husband may partake.
This totally made me smile:) I hope you did it!
I’ve made Pumpkin cream cheese muffins and Coconut Zucchini Bars – both are excellent and “healthy-ish” as you say! Can we have the recipe for the cookie bowls in the picture?? Your applesauce sounds really good, and i’ll have to remember to mix fruity applesauce w/ yogurt – that sounds good too!
JB IS the cutest ever!!
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Oooh can I get your recipes? Those sound wonderful!! And the cookie bowls – you take any cookie dough recipe you want and then you roll the dough out, cut it into circles and then (tricky!) flip a muffin tin over and place a circle over each bump. Bake them that way and you have cookie bowls! Fill with ice cream or whatever! (I just used a sugar cookie recipe with white whole wheat pastry flour and filled them with lightly flavored whipped cream.)
Sorry for the delay! Here you go! I use 1/2 whole wheat flour and they turn out great. Enjoy!
Pumpkin cream cheese muffins
Makes 18 muffins
Filling:
6 oz cream cheese, softened
¼ sugar
1 T flour
2 egg whites
Muffins:
1 c pumpkin
½ c unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 T oil
1 2/3 c flour
1 ¼ c sugar
1 t baking soda
½ t salt
½ t cinnamon
½ t pumpkin pie spice
¼ t ground cloves
1/3 c chopped walnuts or pecans
Combine the cream cheese, sugar, flour and egg whites in a bowl; set aside.
In a bowl, beat the pumpkin, applesauce, eggs and oil. Combine the dry ingredients and add to pumpkin mixture. Stir in nuts. Divide half the batter between 18 muffin cups. Spread each w/ filling and top w/ remaining batter.
Bake at 350 for 20 – 25 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans. Refrigerate leftovers.
Coconut Zucchini Bars
½ c butter
¼ c sugar
½ c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
½ c plain yogurt
1 t cinnamon
1 ¾ c flour
1 ½ t baking powder
2 c grated zucchini
½ c coconut
½ c confectioners sugar
2 t milk
Cream butter & sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, beat. Stir in yogurt and then dry ingredients. Stir in zucchini and coconut. Spread in 9 x 13 pan and bake for 40 minutes at 350.
Mix confectioners sugar & milk for topping. When cool, drizzle w/ topping.
I can’t wait till we move and I have a kitchen so I can make some of these! Right now we’re living off of microwave dinners and I miss cooking so much!
What’s this word “healthy” you keep mentioning?
We did make 13 Bean Soup yesterday, with carrots, celery, garlic, veggie broth.
It was great for dinner last night, and wonderful for lunch on this rainy Monday.
Mmmm… bean soup is perfect for a rainy day!!
Charlotte, you have the most beautiful family & that Jelly Bean is cuter than cute!!!!!!
OK, I want that applesauce but all I need is a Vitamixer or even a good blender & the crockpot! 😉 Looks yum!
I love the links & will check out later – I LOVE ME A COOKIE!!!!
I have been trying recipes with my NuNaturals Fiber Cooking blend!
You don’t have a crockpot?! Get thee to a thrift store! I love mine:)
Only a person with extremely low vision would not comment on this post – if ONLY to say: is that Jelly Bean the most adorable thing ever, or what?
Luckily, not only must I comment on that sweet face, but also to share that yes, my mother too, has that crock pot and it’s still holding up strong for an old gal.
Looking fantastic as usual, Charlotte. XO, and big hugs to you 🙂
Aw thank you!!
We went apple-picking this weekend too! I love the vitamix and have made the apple raspberry combo as well, it tastes great! Thanks for sharing the great recipes 🙂
I must say, I’m having a bad evening, but that pic of Jelly Bean holding those two apples is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen and made me VERY happy! You are truely blessed and thank you for sharing the fun pics with us!
I’m so sorry you are having a bad evening – I hope today is going better for you! And thanks – Jelly Bean is a powerful bad-mood cure for me too;)
Most adorable post EVER. Love the pictures and I was laughing at the apple orchard being out of apples. I would have totally passed on the expensive apples too! We are so twins!
Hahah! I love us! I’m wearing a Tulle shirt today – made me think of you and wonder if you were wearing the exact same shirt today…
Ooh cookies! And cute kids! Great start to my morning. 🙂
I tend to bake more in the winter. This past weekend my parents came to visit and my Mom brought homemade zucchini bread though. Yum!
Yep, just something about cool temps that makes me want to bake!
This fall I’m obsessed with soups. Lately my favorite has been homemade tomato, carrot, and basil soup. Super simple and a great comfort food and no crazy sugar or salts added!
I need this recipe!!! It sounds divine!
Great post – what a lovely bunch of healthy kids – keep up the good work and thanks for your idea of whizzing the apple, skin and all for apple sauce. Giving you a link from my Hub post!
Blend fruits were probably your secret that you keep your baby girl healthy and cute? Isn’t it? She’s the cutest little girl I ever see for this day. The whole picture of her makes me wonder if I can have as cute as her soon. So cuddly and nice nails. 🙂
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