Chicken spinach Alfredo

My husband requested "some sort of Alfredo sauce" over linguine.

So I whipped this up:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon flour
(Melted and blended in the cast iron skillet until bubbly)
Add:
- parsley
- Italian seasoning
- dry mustard
- generous amounts of garlic pepper
Add about 3/4 cups each:
- milk
- half and half
- soy milk
- fresh spinach
- frozen peas
Cook until bubbly.
Add chicken if desired.
Once chicken is hot, add:
- about 1/2 cup grated Romano
Then put over pasta and top each serving with shredded Parmesan

BLT

My husband made BLTs for lunch: bacon purchased at a local farmer, tomato given to us from someone's garden, lettuce and spinach on a bagel (mine was everything) that my mom brought from Dunkin Donuts. Of course, I had horseradish instead of mayonnaise.

Served with a side of sweet potato chips from Aldi.

Apple Butter, part one

I have wanted to make my own apple butter for a long time. My daughter loves the stuff. I occasionally like it. My husband is not real fond of it. So if I buy it, it often goes moldy.

We have awesome apple orchards locally so the idea of canning our own apple butter makes sense.

We can preserve the butter in smaller jars that won't spoil before we use it.

I found a recipe online using the crock pot, from Simply Canning, a canner I also follow on Facebook: http://www.simplycanning.com/canning-apple-butter.html

My Better Homes and Gardens canning book also has a standard on the stove recipe, but that one requires lots of liquid. The crock pot version has no liquid.

We overfilled the crock pot with chunks of fresh apples. 6 pounds seems to be the estimate provided on the recipes. I added a few splashes of local apple cider, a few splashes lemon juice, some local raw honey (about 1/4 cup) and spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves and just a pinch of ginger.

The Simply Canning web site says to cook on high one hour, stirring, and leave on low overnight. By morning you should be able to whisk instead of stir.

We've almost done loading the crock pot.

Fish low-dairy pizza

I apologize in advance for not having a real recipe for this but I didn't know this was going to be the best pizza ever.

Before I went to get my daughter from her after school activity, I made one of my quick pizza crusts:
- 1.75 cups unbleached white flour
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup warm water
- 1+ tablespoon local raw honey
- 2 tablespoons yeast
- parsley
- oregano
- garlic pepper

Mix and set in warm place to rise for one hour.

When preparing the pizza, preheat oven to 450.

Take imitation crab meat and sauté in cast iron skillet in equal parts lemon juice and butter until slightly golden.

Remove to bowl.

In skillet, combine about 2 tablespoons flour with 2 tablespoons butter. When bubbly add about 1/2 cup soy milk and 1/2 cup skim milk. Set aside after warm and bubbly.

Press pizza into large jelly pan/cookie sheet.

Place fish on the pizza. Sprinkle with lots of fresh spinach and peas. Drizzle with the cream sauce.

Sprinkle about 3/4 cup shredded Italian cheeses and 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan across spinach.

Drizzle about 2 tablespoons ranch dressing across the pizza.

Bake 15-20 minutes.

Fall!

Today we ran out to Kline Farm to get honey, eggs & yogurt. While I was there I also grabbed some bacon and a pound of local grass fed beef that came from a farmer with whom I used to serve on the Penn State Cooperative extension board in my county.

Then I also grabbed a gallon of apple cider from a local orchard. So we've been drinking a lot of hot apple cider with fresh ground cinnamon.

For dinner, there was a family effort to make burgers from the beef, which we served on tortillas with fresh spinach, garden tomato, and our own lemon pickles. Sides included homemade French fries and roasted cauliflower.

Man, am I stuffed.

Crock pot stuffed peppers

A friend brought groceries so I prepped stuffed peppers. In the crockpot.

I filled the crock pot with pungent vegetable stock and diluted with water.

Placed three very large red peppers standing up inside with a whole in the bottom to let the stock in.

Made rice. Chicken flavored Uncle Bens and prepped turkey sausage. Diced and mixed it into the rice.

Stuffed the peppers and added enough potatoes to keep it from falling over.

Super Blueberry Crumb muffins

Very loosely based on a Betty Crocker recipe. Use margarine instead of butter for vegan muffins.

Ingredients:
2.5 cups blueberries
1 cup almond milk
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup canola oil
About 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1.5 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1.5 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup Bob's multigrain cereal with flax
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 pinches salt

*crumb topping if desired
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Bob's multigrain cereal
1/4 cup butter (firm)
Hearty amounts of cinnamon
Mix with fingers until crumbly

Method:
Mix wet ingredients. Add dry ingredients, folding into the batter slowly. Add baking powder and salt almost last. Fold in fruit. Plop into muffin tins, top with crumbs.

Bake 20-25 minutes at 400.

Mine deflated and I didn't watch them properly because I had an important conference call. But these ugly things... The whole two dozen... Could be the tastiest muffins I ever made