Food Friday: Quick and Easy Peanut Butter Fudge, Sort Of

 Another thing we were going to take to the party this past week that we had to stay home from was some peanut butter fudge, so to speak.

Quick and Easy Peanut Butter Fudge

16 ounces white candy melts
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts.

In a double boiler place the candy melts and stir over medium heat until they are melted.  Don't walk away because if they get too hot, they will be grainy.

Remove double boiler from the stove.  Stir in the peanut butter and the walnuts then spread in a square pan OR as I did, I used a small portion scoop and placed a scoop in each well of a 24-well silicon pan.

Place in the refrigerator for two or three hours.

Remove from pan and enjoy.

This is the remaining amount of pieces.  Actually, as I am typing there are far fewer pieces still available.  It turns out Dear One really likes this sweet!  I am so happy.  I asked him if he liked them (having seen him eat two in a row!) and he said they were okay.  His favorite fudge is chocolate walnut fudge.  Maybe I can find a recipe for that....

Food Friday: Swedish Apple Pie Again

Three years ago I blogged about a wonderful recipe:  Swedish Apple Pie.  This recipe is a treat to me, in part because two dear friends separately gave me the recipe.  Each time I make it, I think lovingly of them and am so grateful for their friendship even though one of them has crossed the veil.

This time I made it slightly differently.  Because I was concerned about how well glass would travel from Vermont to South Carolina, I left most of our glass kitchen things in Vermont.  For the most part this has not been a problem!  However, when it came to making a pie for company, I was at a loss: no pie dish.  SO...what to do?  I went to the freezer section and purchased a frozen pie crust in one of those cheap-y aluminum pie tins for this pie.  (AFTERTHOUGHT: now is the time to replace the glass pie dish!!)

To make the Swedish Apple Pie you do not normally use a pie crust.  The recipe itself makes the crust somehow.

The method is to peel and slice apples and fill the pie dish 2/3 full of apples.  Some apples are supposedly better than other apples for pies, but I just use what I have.  This time it was McIntosh apples.  Some recipes call for hard apples, or rather, apples that remain pretty hard/firm when they are cooked.  Those are not my favorite. I don't mind if the apples disintegrate into tasty apple-y mush, which is more or less what Macs do.

After the pie dish is full of apples you sprinkle on top 1/4 chopped walnuts then 1 teaspoon cinnamon followed by 1 Tablespoon of sugar which does not seem like much but is perfect. Set aside while you mix the other ingredients.

In a small bowl place 1 cup flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, 3/4 cup melted BUTTER, one egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla if you like vanilla.  Mix well then spread over the top of the apples/walnuts/cinnamon/sugar.  It is a bit tricky (sometimes) to spread the topping evenly.  It will still taste good if it is not perfectly evenly spread.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 35 minutes or more. I am pretty sure I cooked this one for quite a bit longer.  I just kept checking.  It wants to be nicely browned and not at all jiggly in the center.

Having the crust in the bottom of the pie pan was okay but it did make the top crust around the edges of the pan a little bit thick.  I only had one piece and thought it was fine but each piece Dear One eats, he leaves a semi-circle of that thick-ish crust on his plate or puts it down the sink.  Thus, I gather it is better to just make this pie as it is written, without a crust already in the pan...

Munchie Monday: Oil Free Pesto

With the basil on our deck doing so well, I decided to find an oil-free pesto recipe.  I found one on the Oh She Glows page.  I have her cookbook and love it, thanks to my niece Mitsi for pointing it out to me many years ago.  WELL, Oh She Glows had just what I needed.

My iteration is a little different AND IT IS SCRUMPTIOUS!!!  I know, I know.  I always say that, but this time it really is delicious.

You need a food processor or maybe a blender. I used the Cuisinart food processor for the first time since she moved into our house and was washed.

In the food processor bowl with the metal S-blade, put:

1 PACKED cup of basil, including the stems.  Lots of flavor in the stems.
2 large cloves garlic, paper skin removed
1 can (15-ounce) cannellini beans mostly drained.  Save the water just in case you need it later.
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
3 Tablespoons lemon juice.  I used it from a bottle since I had no fresh lemons.
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/2 cup walnut pieces.

Pulse several times then process until smooth and uniformly green.  I stopped the machine twice to scrape down the sides.

This is so good. I could just eat it with a spoon...and that said, there is nothing in it to make that a bad idea!  Regular pesto, the kind with lots of oil in it, hurts my tummy.  It also adds pounds to my body, so this pesto is a win-win situation.

Munchie Monday: A Good Breakfast

In an effort to have healthier breakfasts, we have started having oatmeal sometimes.  Well, at least once a week.  To make this humble breakfast not only palatable, but tasty we make some additions.

For the two of us I use:

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (though I am sure 1-minutes oatmeal would work)
1 apple grated on a box grater, peels and all (except the hard stuff in the middle of the apple)
1/2 cup blueberries
2 Tablespoons ground flax seed (flax seed meal)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Almond milk or coconut milk, even soy milk

Place 1 cup water in a small saucepan.  Stir in the oatmeal and grated apple and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. I use a long-handled wooden spoon so as not to get singed.  When that has come to the boil, lower the heat and simmer 2-3 minutes or until the oatmeal and apple are cooked.  Stir in the blueberries, flax meal, and walnuts.  Serve in two bowls and cover with your favorite nut or soy milk.  I always use unsweetened milks.  If you feel sweetener is needed,  mash half a ripe banana and stir in.

This makes a tasty healthy easy and pretty quick breakfast.  I am thinking of trying to make it in the crockpot overnight but would have to make up maybe four times this size batch and then refrigerate or even freeze individual servings.  If I do that, I will update this post to report how it went the second time eating it.  Thinking about the company would will eat it, I have in mind that it might not be an improvement...