When I woke up today, I found the wife in the kitchen with three bowls like this one.

I ran to the store a bit ago, and when I walked in the door I could smell hot fresh apple pie. Too bad it was only a tease.

But we do have 21 quarts of apple pie filling, so when the mood strikes, the wife can whip up a delicious, hot, apple pie.

Oh hunny, I think the mood is striking…

Ingredients:

1 pound okra
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 cups self-rising cornmeal
vegetable oil

Preparation:

Wash okra and drain well. Remove tip and stem end; cut okra into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle okra with salt; add buttermilk, stirring until well coated. Let stand at least 15 minutes; then drain okra well. Dredge in corn meal. Deep fry okra in hot oil at 375F until golden brown; drain on paper towels.

This recipe serves 4 to 6.

Photo by Slobokan.

In case you didn’t know, Chef Tom has another blog called The Secret Recipe Blog.

Last week he featured a copycat recipe of Red Lobster’s Schrimp Scampi.

Ingredients:

1 cup White Wine
1/2 cup unsalted Butter
3 tablespoon minced Garlic
1 pound Shrimp, peeled and deveined
salt & pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Combine the butter, wine, garlic and shrimp in a pan.
Bake in a 350 degree F oven for about 7 minutes or until the shrimp turn pink.
Be careful not to overcook the Shrimp.
Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Serve.

This recipe serves 2-4 people (if you’re a shrimp lover like me, this will serve 1). I worked at Red Lobster for a short time, and I can personally vouch that this recipe tastes just like the real thing, except you don’t get the rude waiter, ignorant management, or the high price.

If you’re wondering, no, I didn’t work at Red Lobster very long, the food servers I worked with were rude, the management didn’t have a clue how to run a restaurant (lucky for them they were small fish in a bigger sea), and the price you pay for the food you get? Ridiculous.

Try this copycat recipe, it’s easy, and it’s delicious, or head on over to the Secret Recipe Blog and check out some of the other yummy creations.

Delicious!

Over on Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff, I have done a few posts about diacetyl and it’s effect on people.

But even with all that information at hand, Kraft is still adding diacetyl to new products.

Recently, after numerous complaints of serious illness from popcorn workers and one complaint of illness from a consumer, ConAgra and Pop Weaver removed diacetyl from its microwave popcorn and now proudly announce to their customers that their product is diacetyl free. Kraft, on the other hand, decided that now would be a good time to introduce a brand new diacetyl-based butter flavor into the market.

Now, let’s be clear about something… We’re not entirely sure that diacetyl is harmful to the everyday consumer, but with the cases that have emerged, wouldn’t it be more prudent to stop using it until we found out for sure?

[Source: The Consumerist]

I found it ironic yesterday, that Chef John would post a recipe using apple cider, when the wife and I just got done putting together the ingredients for 45 pints of apple butter, which included apple cider.

So, in keeping with the apple cider theme going on here at our house, tomorrow night we are planning to make Chef John’s Cider Braised Beef Brisket.

Normally I post his videos here, but you can go to his site for this one, since he lists the ingredients over there, and well, it is his video (but don’t hold it against me if I post some here for the lazy readers one day).

Fresh homemade apple butter on fresh homebaked bread.

Here’s the recipe for the apple butter,

Ingredients:

8 lbs of apples
2 cups cider
2 cups vinegar
2 1/4 cups white sugar
2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground cloves

Preparation:

• Wash, remove stems, quarter and core fruit (or use a super cool apple peeler and corer like we do).
• Cook slowly un cider and vinegar until soft.
• Press fruit through a colander, food mill (that’s what we use), or strainer.
• Cook fruit pulp with sugar and spices, stirring frequently.
• To test for doneness, remove a spoonful and hold it away from steam for 2 minutes.
• It is done if the butter remains mounded on the spoon.
• Another way to determine when the butter is cooked adequately is to spoon a small quantity onto a plate. When a rim of liquid does not separate from the edge of the butter, it is ready for canning.
• Fill hot mixture into sterile half-pint or pint jars (we use pint and quart jars, yes we love this stuff) leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
• Adjust lids and process for the correct time in your area.

I will post the recipe for the bread sometime later this week.

Photo by Slobokan.
Recipe from “Complete Guide to Home Canning and Preserving (Second Revised Edition)”

The wife spent the weekend making applesauce (which you can see on the top of the shelf on the left in the picture below).

So far, in our home canning pantry we have,

Applesauce (6 quarts)
Cinnamon Applesauce (6 quarts)
Chicken Broth (12 pints)
Marinara Sauce (5 pints)
Stewed Tomatoes (14 quarts)
Kidney Beans (10 quarts)
Tomato Ketchup (11 pints)
Pear Halves (12 pints)
Blackberry Jam (15 half pints)
Grape Jelly (3 quarts)
Peach Halves (11 quarts)
Vegetable Soup (12 quarts)
Smoky Tomato Ketchup (7 pints)
Pinto Beans (7 pints)
Baked Beans (15 pints)
Pickles (6 pints)
Tomato Sauce (4 pints)
Spaghetti Sauce (11 quarts)

Tonight, we had spaghetti with the homemade sauce. It was the best spaghetti we have had in a long, long, time. The wife was making bread to go with it, but it didn’t rise in time to eat it with dinner…

Now she’s out in the kitchen making some apple butter. Yum!

One of the things we love in our house are fresh, hot, popovers.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup milk (room temperature)
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs (room temperature)
3 tablespoons melted butter

Preparation:

Place oven rack on top position and preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Oil the popover pan and heat it in the oven.

Blend all ingredients in a blender until frothy. Make sure to stir down the sides a few times.
Pour mix in popover pan filling 2/3 full in each cup.

Bake for 20-30 minutes.

* IMPORTANT *

Oven and pan MUST be hot before baking these delicious popovers or they won’t poof!

Chef Tom is doing videos now!!! Check out his video for preparing stuffed tomatoes.

How flipping cool is that. I’ve been doing my podcasts over on Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff, maybe I should start doing recipe videos from time to time. What do you think?