It’s the most wonderful time. . . of the year!
I’m a bit biased when it comes to Halloween. My birthday is Oct. 30th so All Hallow’s Eve always makes me feel like I get an extra day to have fun and eat too much candy!
Getting the house decorated for Halloween also signals a start to a season full of treats and feasts that continues through the darkening days (at least here in the northern hemisphere) bringing light and warmth into the home through fall and winter until the end of the year when the Christmas lights come down. The leaves fall and the chilly rain returns inspiring thoughts of mugs of steaming hot cocoa or cider, cozy comfy sweaters, fuzzy warm blankets, and soft flannel sheets. Visions of big pots of bubbling soups and stews, fresh-baked breads from the oven, a good old pot roast dinner, or comfort foods like meatloaf and mashed potatoes with gravy dance in my head.
Right now the numerous varieties of apples that grow so well here in the Pacific NW are on display at the local grocer’s. I’ve been taking advantage of those!
A small bag of Honeycrisp apples found its way into a couple of dishes so far.
I’ll start with the savory:
Baked Apple Pork Chops and Green Beans
from Damn Delicious
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 (8-ounce) pork chops, bone-in, 3/4-inch to 1-inch thick
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 16 ounces green beans, trimmed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or coat with nonstick spray.
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Rub both sides of the pork chops with sage; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add to the skillet and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.
- Place pork chops and green beans in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle green beans with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Place into oven and roast until the pork is completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 140 degrees F, about 12-15 minutes.
- Return skillet to medium high heat and melt butter. Add apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook, stirring occasionally, until apples just begin to soften, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in maple syrup, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
- Serve pork chops immediately, topped with apple mixture, garnished with parsley, if desired.
And now for the sweet:
Snickerdoodle Apple Bread
from Cookies & Cups
Ingredients:
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 Granny Smith Apple, finely chopped
Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Spray a 9×5 loaf pan with baking spray. Line bottoms and up the ends with a strip of parchment paper (for easy removal) and spray again. Set aside.
- Whisk together salt, baking powder and flour. Set aside.
- In bowl of stand mixer beat butter, both sugars and cinnamon for 2 minutes on medium speed, scraping sides as necessary. Add in both eggs and vanilla and continue mixing until smooth, again scraping sides as necessary.
- Turn mixer to low and add in flour mixture and milk in alternating additions, starting and ending with flour. Mix until just combined.
- Finally add in apples and stir until just combined and pour batter into prepared pan.
- Mix together the sugar and cinnamon for topping and sprinkle on top of batter.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes until bread is set and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes and then remove transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
I used one of my Honeycrisp apples and they are rather small so next time I would use two. There is a LOT of cinnamon in this bread and that cinnamon-sugar topping is over-the-top delicious!
Making cookies and decorating them gets a lot of attention around Christmas but there are wonderful Halloween cookie ideas as well. I dug out my seasonal cookie cutters and am looking at a few good recipes to put them to use.
Milk Chocolate Stuffed Jack O'Lantern Cookies?
Or perhaps Cinnamon Spiced Sugar Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting?
Yum!
Now I don’t have any big plans for Halloween this year but I am going to treat myself to a birthday dinner of Patty Melts and some sweet potato fries. Dinner tonight is still TBD. I most likely will be making this Bacon Ranch One Pot Chicken and Rice because I took the chicken breasts out of the freezer the other day to thaw in the fridge and they need to be used soon!
What’s for dinner at your place tonight? Have a nice hot cup of cocoa or perhaps some cider and join us at our virtual table!
Our upcoming WFD Schedule:
Date
|
Post #
|
Diarist
|
11/03
|
13.14
|
esquimaux
|
11/10
|
13.15
|
OPEN
|
11/17
|
13.16
|
OPEN
|
11/24
|
13.17
|
esquimaux
|
12/01
|
13.18
|
OPEN
|
12/08
|
13.19
|
OPEN
|
12/15
|
13.20
|
esquimaux
|
12/22
|
13.21
|
OPEN
|
12/29
|
13.22
|
OPEN
|
01/05
|
13.23
|
esquimaux
|
If you would like to write a diary contribution for our group it’s really easy! Pick an open date from our schedule and send me a message (ninkasi23) or comment below. We welcome all kinds of food related diaries and you can be as fancy as you want or not. The love and enjoyment of food whether you cook or not is all that matters here and the power of food to unite us in even the most trying of times is universal.