‘Tis the season for apple cider! Every year, I make sure to pick up some store-bought apple cider to enjoy. But this year, I wanted to try to make my own Fresh Juiced Apple Cider using my Hurom Juicer (paid link) and was surprised with how easy and delicious it was to make!
You can make this fresh juiced apple cider with whatever your favorite apple is, but I suggest aiming for a sweeter apple, like Honeycrisp.
I like to add rye to my cider to make a spiked cider. You can also add bourbon, spiced rum, or drink as is for a non-alcoholic beverage!
Ingredients (makes about 6 cups, multiply as needed):
12 apples, cored and sliced
10 whole black peppercorns
8 whole allspice berries
5 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
the zest of 1 orange
the zest of 1 lemon
9 oz (or 6 shots) rye, bourbon, or spiced rum (omit to make non-alcoholic)
Note: I was sent apples from Stemilt in order to create this Irish Apple Cake recipe. Opinions are mine alone.
I am pretty sure most countries and regions have some form of apple cake recipe. And why wouldn’t they, apple cake is delicious! Irish Apple Cake is a spiced cake with loads of apples within the batter. The cake has a nice crunchy crust and is traditionally served with a custard sauce.
Stemilt, a family owned and operated fruit company based in Wenatchee, Washington, was kind enough to send me a care package of beautiful apples, including some granny smith apples.
With it being St. Patrick’s Day, I knew I had to make an Irish Apple Cake with the apples, of course.
The tartness and juiciness of granny smith apples make them a perfect choice for an Irish Apple cake!
The Irish Apple Cake recipe below is lightly adapted from Stemilt, and their version incorporates whiskey into the sauce for a more modern spin. Yum!
Note: I was sent a Hurom H320 Slow Juicer in order to write this post including a recipe for Green Juice. Opinions are mine alone.
This summer, I have really been enjoying having a CSA share again. However, no matter how hard I try, it is still difficult to use up all of those beautiful fruits and vegetables!
When Hurom contacted me about trying one of their Slow Juicers, I felt like the timing was perfect! What a great way for me to utilize these ingredients more, like in this recipe for Green Juice!
My husband has been making himself “green drinks” for years now in a blender (paid link) but I have trouble getting over the super pulpy texture of it. So Hurom’s H320 Slow Juicer (paid link) called out to me immediately. Not only is the juicer quite the visual stunner (shown in color “Kale”), but it also has two different strainers, one which yields an ultra-low pulp juice.
Despite the name, slow juicers are still pretty darn quick. Hurom’s patented Slow Squeeze Technology uses an auger to squeeze out juice (similar to how you would hand-squeeze an orange). This natural motion minimizes damage to ingredients, keeping their natural taste and nutrition intact.
Photo courtesy of Hurom
I am still learning the ins and outs of juicing and how to create the perfect balance of tasty and nutrient-rich juices, but I figured I’d take inspiration from my husband’s green drinks for my first try to make this Green Juice.
This recipe for Green Juice uses quite the colorful group of fruits and veggies, but the color of the kale and spinach wins out in the end, providing that nice green color to the drink.
Ingredients (makes ~16 oz juice; multiply as needed):
I’m really in canning mode recently! I’m still a relative novice to canning, so I stick to sources I trust so I can preserve safely.
Freshpreserving.com is the ultimate source, so when I saw this recipe for Caramel Apple Coffee Jam, I knew I had to try it!
Using coffee in a jam intrigued me; I was interested to see what the flavor of this jam was like!
This is the first time I’ve worked with pectin in a recipe, which is basically a gelling agent that gives jams and jellies their texture. It is a starch found naturally in fruits and vegetables, so a lot of recipes for canning use a bit of acid to create the thickening needed. (I’ve also used chia seeds to create this texture in the past too.)
Ingredients (makes about 6 half pint jars):
5 apples, peeled and diced (about 7.5 cups) – I used honeycrisp apples
Summer stuck around for a while in Philadelphia; it’s now October and the weather is just starting to feel like fall, so it’s time for some Fall Sangria!
I’ve wanted to make a fall sangria for weeks now, but wanted to wait for cooler weather to truly enjoy it!
It’s September which means apples are right in their prime season! Although apples are available year-round, most apples ripen in the August-October time frame. I’ve had a craving for apples ever since September began so I was so excited when I was contacted recently about trying an apple variety called SweeTango that I’ve never had before.
SweeTango apples a variety bred at the University of Minnesota and are a cross between the Honeycrisp and Zestar! varieties. The apples are crisp and sweet with a hint of citrus, honey, and spice and have a nice crunchy and juicy texture that’s perfect to eat raw. They have a beautiful coloring too — SweeTango is a blush apple with deep red coloration over a yellow breaking background. The variety first hit store shelves in limited quantities in 2009, and has since grown to achieve distribution across the U.S. and Canada.
Photo Courtesy of SweeTango
I received two SweeTango apples in the mail and couldn’t wait to try them! One I saved for me to just enjoy on its own and the other went into one of the most delicious salads I’ve ever had, Autumn Apple Salad with Cinnamon Honey Dijon Dressing! This salad is packed with a bunch of different textures and flavors which is what I really love about it. But the true star of the salad is the SweeTango apple!
Passover begins tonight so I wanted to share a recipe I found from Martha Stewart for Haroset Braised Short Ribs that is Passover-friendly. The recipe can be made ahead of time and reheated but I just made it all in one day (this is definitely a recipe that involves some time to make– 5-ish hours. It might work well as a slow cooker dish. I will have to try that in the future!)
The short ribs are braised in Manischewitz wine and then served with a deconstructed Haroset, resulting in a really delicious dish!
Ingredients:
2 pounds boneless beef short ribs
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
5 small carrots (about 1 pound), 1 roughly chopped, 4 halved lengthwise and reserved
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 cups Blackberry Manischewitz wine
3/4 cups red-wine vinegar
1/4 bunch fresh thyme
1/4 bunch fresh curly-leaf parsley, plus sprigs for garnish
You can never have too many pie recipes during the holidays! This one for Caramel Apple Pie is a great spin on a traditional apple pie that adds caramel to really amp up the flavor. The recipe comes from Organic Valley and uses their Salted Butter, Whole Milk, and Eggs. Note: I was sent a coupon to receive one Organic Valley product for free.
Organic Valley is a co-op of organic farmers based in La Farge, Wisconsin. The cooperative was founded in 1988 and markets its products in all 50 states as well as Canada and Japan. Organic Valley promotes organic agricultural methods, with each participating farm certified as organic by the National Organic Program.
A problem I still run into when cooking/baking is I rarely read the directions all the way though before starting (a huge no no). So I made a completely different pie crust by accident because I got confused as to where the sugar and egg was supposed to go in the original recipe. Luckily it turned out fine (whew!) but for the original recipe, be sure to head over to the Organic Valley website.
2 pounds organic Granny Smith apples (10-11 medium-sized apples or 4 large), peeled, cored and cut into ½-inch thick slices (coat slices with juice of 1 lemon to prevent browning)
I love fall treats, but I can’t really justify making a whole apple pie for just my boyfriend and I; we would be eating it for days! So I love that this month’s Cooking Light had a recipe for mini spiced apple two bite tarts that I can also share with friends. I adapted the recipe slightly, adding some more fall spices. I also didn’t have any 1% milk on hand so I substituted heavy cream. I also topped mine with mascarpone instead of crème fraîche because I thought it would taste great with these tarts.
These are really easy to make; the most difficult part (a.k.a. most time consuming) is dicing the apples. But you definitely want to cut them nice and small so that they fit in the tarts. You also need a mini cupcake tin for this, but you can adapt it to make normal cupcake sized ones if you wanted, just increase the baking time.
Ingredients:
CRUST
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
4.5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
1/3 cup very finely chopped toasted pecans
Baking spray with flour
FILLING
2 cups finely diced peeled Granny Smith apple (~4 apples)
If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you may be aware that I went to the most piggy event I’ve ever been invited to, Cochon EPIC, back at the end of July. I went through a considerably long stage in my life where I absolutely refused to have any kind of pork product: no ham, no ribs, not even bacon. As I began cooking for myself, I realized that pig wasn’t nearly as awful as I thought and have since slowly started incorporating it back into my life (although I still don’t fully get ham and probably still need some time before I decided to try it.)
Anyways, going to this event was a big deal for me. I was about to eat pig, and basically nothing but pig, for an entire event. I couldn’t pass up this challenge especially when Crispin Cider offered me a ticket! One thing I’ve definitely learned in cooking is that there is rarely an ingredient I actually don’t “like.” I may not like the preparation, but to discount an ingredient entirely isn’t fair. So what better way to give pork a chance than with some of the best local chefs preparing it? “EPIC” is the perfect way to describe this event. It was absolutely insane. The chefs used all parts, and I really mean all parts, of the pigs to deliver outrageous treats for attendees: pork-fat matzo balls, cured pork loin “lox,” pork blood waffles, pork snow cones, and naturally, a scrabble bar (we are in Philly after all). I also was completely star struck to see all these amazing chefs in one location: David Katz, Kevin Sbraga, Marc Vetri, Jason Cichonski and more! I grabbed a Crispin cider to wash all the porky goodness down and was really pleasantly surprised by the taste. It is, well, crisp, and really refreshing. I tend to think of cider as a fall beverage, but Crispin easily translates into a summer drink as well. And it pairs wonderfully with pork. So naturally, I needed a bit of a break from pork after the event, but I couldn’t stop thinking about making a dish with pork and Crispin Cider. I found a recipe for Slow Cooker Pork and Cider Stew on the Whole Foods website and used it as a base for my recipe below.
I know, I know. You probably read the title and thought to yourself there is no way quinoa can be a tasty breakfast. But hear me out. Quinoa, although a great grain to use as a dinner side, can also hold its own as a sweeter breakfast meal. I actually originally made this recipe so that vegan friends who were visiting for the weekend had a breakfast option. (Vegans have a tough time when it comes to breakfast! Oatmeal, quinoa, fruit. I think that’s about it…) Anyways, I wasn’t expecting much. But it was so tasty I made a batch for my breakfasts all week. That’s right, it even reheats nicely!
I found this recipe on Budget Bytes and made some minor changes. Check out her original recipe here.
