Baked cinnamon apple chips

I'm missing some east coast fall from out west. Big pumpkin patches. Cider doughnuts at Carter Mountain. Apple-picking in Ipswich. Admittedly, it does seem to be a produce-related problem. 

The solution: apple chips.

Ingredients

Granny Smith, Red Delicious, or Pink Lady apples*
Cinnamon

*One apple fills up an entire baking sheet.



1. Preheat the oven to 200F.

2. On its side, slice each apple as thinly as possible. Apples that are too thick won't bake up crispy.

3. Lay apple slices on a cookie sheet that is either lined with parchment paper or very lightly greased. Do not overlap slices.

4. Sprinkle with cinnamon to taste.

5. Bake apples for 1 hour.

6. Remove apples from oven. Turn each slice over.

7. Bake apples for 1 hour (2 hours in total).

8. Remove from oven. Let cool (and crisp!).

Note: This is not a sugary snack. Surprise: it tastes like apple. 

Frozen yogurt bark

At the very least, this froyo bark is beautiful. At the very best, it provides an excuse to eat breakfast (or dessert?) at any point in the day. 

Ingredients
2 cups of yogurt*
2 tablespoons of honey

*Plain Greek yogurt is ideal, but I used Kefir because it's 99% lactose free

Possible toppings
Fresh figs, mango (any sugary fruit that won't get rock hard when frozen)
Dried fruit
Dried coconut
Chocolate chips
Cacao nibs
Chopped nuts

1. Whisk together yogurt of choice and honey.

2. Spread the mixture into an even layer on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. 

3. Top with your choice of toppings.

4. Freeze until set (a few hours). 

5. Break or cut into pieces and store it in an airtight container in the freezer.

One note: When eating, hold the bark with wax or parchment paper. Or feel the frost bite your fingers. Your choice.

All thanks to my Buzzfeed Food addiction.

(Bacon + egg) brussel sprout salad

I'm spending an inordinate amount of time thinking about salad these days. Boring salads—and how not to wind up eating them for five days straight. Non-lettuce salads—and how they won't get sad and wilty when I turn my back. Meaty salads—and how to put all of them directly in my mouth. 

Here is one I came across while googling things like "salad + full + protein" (eyeroll, I know), and that I've been enjoying for lunch this week: 

Soft-boiled eggs, bacon, avocados, and parmesan—all resting on roasted sweet potatoes and raw, shredded brussel sprouts, tossed in olive oil, lemon juice, and honey. What more could you ask for?

Found this at SafeEggs 

Scallion pancakes with ginger dipping sauce

I'm eating this for dinner all week. And I'm pretty happy about it. These mild scallion "pancakes" are complemented well by the soy and rice-wine vinegar based ginger dipping sauce.

Ingredients

2 cups flour (I used cup-for-cup gf flour)

1 cup boiling water

4 teaspoons sesam oil

1 cup scallions, sliced very thinly

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Salt

Dipping Sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon scallion greens (for garnish)

1. In a food processor, slowly add boiling water to flour. Pulse in 10 second intervals. A ball of dough should form. 

2. Remove ball of dough from food processor. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.

3. Cut dough into 4 equal pieces.

4. For each piece: Roll the piece flat into a disc. Baste lightly with sesame oil. Lightly salt.

5. For each piece: Roll up the dough into a log. Fold log into a spiral. It's OK if it comes apart.

4. For each piece: Roll the piece flat into a disc. Baste lightly with sesame oil. Lightly salt. Evenly sprinkle 1/4 cup scallions onto disc.

5. For each piece: Lightly press scallions into the disc so they stick. Roll up the dough into a log. Fold log into a spiral. Now the sesame oil should be evenly incorporated.

6. For each piece: Roll the piece flat into a disc. Now the scallions should be worked into the dough.

7. For each piece: Add 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan. Cook evenly on both sides until brown and toasted. On medium heat, this should take ~7 minutes.

8. When cool, cut into wedges and serve with dipping sauce.

Thanks, Pantelligent, for helping me branch out!

New tea pot

I'm pretty into tea. And by that I mean I'm very, very into tea.

Ritual included, but leaves alone as well.

That is, in part, why I was so excited to get a new, elegant tea-for-one set:

Thanks, David's Tea, for the pot and the picture.