Well, I did manage to use up the last 5 apples that were still chilling out in my crisper drawer. Nothing as fancy as the cinnamon apple cake squares I made the other day, but still a yummy use for apples.

I cut the rest of them up and baked them with ground cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg, and a little sprinkle of sugar. I’ve been using them over the weekend to top my breakfasts with.

Shown here: Apple crumble flavored Voskos yogurt topped with baked apples and toasted buckwheat crunchees.

I’ve eaten something appley like this every day for a week now and I’m still not tiring of it!

Here’s how easy it is to make baked apples:

Easy baked apples

A simple method for baking apples to use on top of oatmeal, yogurt, ice cream, anything!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

• Any number of apples you need to use up
• as much cinnamon as desired
• pinch of clove, ground ginger, and nutmeg
• sprinkle of sugar
• squeeze of lemon juice

Cooking Directions

1. Peel, core, and dice apples.
2. Add to a baking dish where they will be piled upon each other (to encourage steaming)
3. Add spices to taste and squeeze over lemon juice. Sprinkle on sugar.
4. Mix with a spoon and bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, stirring once or twice throughout.

Washed down with Jeff and I’s twin teas…

And another example of using up what’s in the crisper…pizza! I had 2 lonely button mushrooms and a tomato that was getting squishy and needed to be used up. So, mushroom and fresh tomato pizza!

I always by whole wheat pizza dough from our local farmer’s market and roll it out myself. The first time I bought it I was a little bit intimidated, but now I make pizza like an old pro!

My favorite trick to getting it tasting like a brick oven pizza is to use a pizza stone and put it under the broiler. The edges get that slight charred flavor and the cheese goes all brown and bubbly.

Also this past weekend…a double rainbow!

Decatur experienced a light sunshower on Saturday that produced a vibrant rainbow arching completely across the sky. And if you looked closely you could see another fainter rainbow gleaming above it. Everyone in town just stopped in their tracks to gape at it and snap photos.

We saw it on the way to Leon’s for dinner with some friends. Leon’s has recently changed their menu a bit and several of the things that Jeff and I order regularly are gone.  It was ok though, we got to try some new and interesting things because of it.

Here, the lamb rillettes we all shared as an appetizer…

It was so good slathered on fresh bread studded with the tiny grains of mustard and a glazing of orange marmalade on top. Lamby!

I got a really cool new cocktail called The Wasp. It’s rye whiskey and peach honey and some other stuff I don’t remember, but man it was delicious!

I ordered the new side wedge salad with crispy bacon, hard boiled egg, radish slices, and creamy caper dressing. Pretty good, a nice take on the classic.

And the zucchini casserole with onion jam and salted lemony arugula. I get one of these almost every time we go because it’s just so good.

It wasn’t quite enough food so I ate about half of Jeff’s fries with garlic aioli.

Do you have a dish at a local restaurant you order every single time?

June 28, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 5 comments

I LOVE ginger. I love it in soup, in tea, in applesauce, in ice cream, pickled, raw, any way you can dream it I will love it.

So when I was shopping for bars to review on the site and I came across this lemon ginger Flavor & Fiber bar by Gnu Foods, I was like “Oooo! That’s definitely for me!” In the excitement of finding such a zesty flavor that so perfectly tingled my tastebuds, I failed to realize that this was a bar being marketed as a regularity helper. Oh well. I really just do not get how trendy fiber is right now, but if the bar tastes good then I guess I don’t care.

This is certainly the best-looking ingredient list out of the bars I’ve reviewed so far. Lots of fibery stuff followed by some fruits and of course ginger. I got a little worried that with ginger so low on the list that it might not taste very gingery after all.

It has 130 calories, so it won’t hold off your hunger for too long. With only 10 grams of sugar and all of it coming from fruit sources, this bar is definitely a good choice for a snack and doesn’t edge into the “dessert replacement” category. Since this bar is touting itself as a fiber source, I’ll tell you that it has 12 grams of the stuff.

The bar is definitely a substantial size, no misleading packaging here.

Appearance: Nice golden brown color and plenty of visible textural stuffs. The flax and millet grains are in-your-face and the ingredients look pretty evenly distributed overall. Smells heavily of spicy ginger with a mellow rather than sour lemon aroma.

Taste: Any fears I had that this would not be gingery enough were cast away at first bite! It had a very fresh and real ginger flavor, not fake or faint. It was mildly tingly and warming and with the hint of zesty citrus it really reminded me of a hot cup of ginger-lemon tea with honey. So, so tasty.

Texture: Lightly chewy with firm whole oats and lots of tiny seeds that pop in the mouth without being hard or crunchy. Very enjoyable.

Overall I really enjoyed this rather unusual bar. I think it’s a great break from all the same ole flavors you see everywhere like peanut butter or apple cinnamon. I really feel like a lot of people would pass this up if they’re not looking exclusively for a fiber supplement, which is a shame because it doesn’t taste “fibery” at all. This one might become a repeat for me.

Are you a ginger fan?

June 26, 2011 Alayna Discussion 3 comments

I read a lot of blogs that always feature the most beautiful and decadent breakfast recipes. French toast covered in berries, fluffy pancakes dripping with nut butter and syrup, veggie-stuffed omelets, smoothies in a bowl with pretty toppings, elegant overnight oat parfaits with melty banana soft-serve….and let’s not forget the endless oatmeal permutations.

Here’s a confession: I am just not a breakfast person.

When I wake up I usually just want to shove food in my mouth as fast as possible, so I cannot fathom making homemade waffle batter or processing frozen bananas before I get to eat. I also can never manage to eat very much even though I feel really hungry, so a giant stack of pancakes would go largely uneaten.

You’ve seen my fruit and yogurt bowls, nanner with nut butter, and the occasional bagel with cream cheese, but here’s another one in heavy rotation: muesli.

Essentially a bunch of nuts, grains, and dried fruits that I eat like a cereal with almond milk and seasonal fruit.

For this muesli, I tried my hand at popping amaranth for the first time. It was really easy!

Just heat a pan to medium-low and add about a tablespoon of raw amaranth.

It should start popping within 2 seconds if the pot is hot enough. I clamp on the lid since the little buggers like to jump straight into my eyeballs. Just wiggle the whole thing back and forth to make sure every grain gets heated evenly.

Just like with popcorn, some grains are just not ever going to pop, so get them outta there as soon as things start quieting down.

I love the warm nutty flavor and crispy texture of the popped amaranth.

Mixed in with all my other favorite bits and bobs, it makes for a healthy and filling breakfast.

My muesli

This healthy muesli is quick and customizable, delicious served with cold almond milk.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Yield: approx. 3 cups

Serving Size: 1/3 cup

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup popped amaranth
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup oat bran
• 1/4 cup toasted buckwheat
• 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/8 cup dried goji berries
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder

Cooking Directions

1. Mix everything together thoroughly and serve with almond milk like cereal

The cocoa in this is a little bitter, but once the sweet almond milk hits it becomes the perfect sweetness. You could absolutely leave it out if that’s not your thing. It’s a great breakfast for a hot summer day and it keeps me full for a long time.

Have you ever made your own cereal?

June 25, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 6 comments