Happiness is...Blue Cheese Caramel Sauce

 September

The goldenrod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.

The gentian's bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusky pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.

The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow-nook;
And asters by the brookside
Make asters in the brook.

From dewy lanes at morning
The grapes' sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer's best of weather,
And autumn's best of cheer.

by Helen Hunt Jackson 

I can't deny that I have been enjoying this late Summer/early Autumn weather.  Though the days are clearly getting shorter, we have had clear sunny skies and mild, warm evenings with wonderful briny breezes.  Lovely weather.

Call me crazy, but I've even been enjoying the humidity.  We don't often get hot and humid here in the coastal northwest.  Sticky heat gives me a good excuse to take a mid-day icy cold shower, which I almost never get to do. 

The trees are beginning to change colors, from dark green to gold and amber.  There are pumpkins in the market, and I am often dreaming of soup and sweaters and mufflers and long walks on crisp, smoke tinged nights.  I love Autumn, it's my absolute favorite time of year.

Another reason I love Fall is Apples.  I only eat apples in the Fall, because it is the only time they are any good.  I plan on making Apple Pie, Apple Butter, Mulligatawny Soup, and grilled Apple & Smoked Cheddar sandwiches.  An Autumn Apple Feast!

I picked up 3 delicious looking Honeycrisp Apples at the market the other day.  I planned on making Caramel Apples, but decided I would make a Caramel Dip instead (much easier on the teeth).

When I bought the apples they were sampling them out with Blue Cheese and it was a brilliant combination.  I kept thinking about how good the apple and the cheese go together, so today when I got in the kitchen to make my Caramel Apple Dip I decided I would add Blue Cheese to my sauce.  Why not?  I've had Blue Cheese and Honey before, and how different are honey and caramel anyways?

So good!  I kept wanting to taste it again and again. Sweet, creamy, salty, Blue Cheesy, and delicious with my Honeycrisp Apple slices.  

I can't wait to share this sauce with everyone I know.  I just know it would be scrummy over vanilla ice cream or drizzled over a slice of apple pie.

Blue Cheese Caramel Sauce

25 individually wrapped Caramels, about 1 cups worth

1/4 cup Heavy Cream

1/4 cup Blue Cheese, I used Salemville Amish Gorgonzola

Place the Caramels and Heavy Cream in a small heavy bottomed saucepan, over medium heat.

Stir constantly, until the Caramels have melted completely and the sauce has thickened.

Lower the heat and stir in the Blue Cheese; blend until cheese is completely incorporated into the sauce.

Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Transfer sauce to a jar or bowl; do not cover until completely cooled.

Enjoy warm, room temperature, or chilled with apple slices, pears, pie, ice cream, or anything else you can think to dip or drizzle it on.

Happiness is...a Paper Hat

Today is Make A Hat Day, so of course I had to make a hat, because I love hats!  Big hats, small hats, berets, cowboy, I wear and love them all.

So, some big decisions to make. What should I make my hat out of?
Felt?  Fleece?  Tissue?  I think Paper.  I have lots of newspaper around due to my obsession with doing the daily crossword puzzle...

What type of hat should I make?
Pirate?  Porkpie?  Fascinator? I do have tons of big feathers in my closet...I collect too much crap.  But then again my 'crap' comes in handy for a day like today.

Well here it is, after about an hour of folding and shaping and taping...
My Newspaper Cloche Hat:

 I made my little hat out of newspaper, black electrical tape, a piece of
white grosgrain ribbon, and a bunch of pink silk hydrangea.

 I think is looks really sweet from the side.

I'll definitely be wearing my hat today!

Happiness is...An Impromptu Breakfast

After nearly 2 weeks of truly perfect summer weather, today I woke up to this...

The quintessential Seattle morning; cool, misty, briny, and most of all gray.   Gray from the Sound to the Heavens.  Not rainy, just gray. My favorite kind of gray day.  The kind of day that beckons you to stay in your pajamas, open all your window blinds, climb into your most comfy chair and read challenging books and watch terrible movies all day long, whilst you are cuddled up under your most favorite blanket...mmmmm lovely gray day.

So when my friend rang me in the morning, to invite me to go for breakfast, I instead invited my friend over to my place and I would make us both breakfast, as I had no intention of leaving the coziness of my house to spend my morning sitting on some uncomfortable bench, at a slightly sticky table, while being ignored by some snarky hipster server, and spending too much money on a meal I could make myself...better...and I didn't even have to get out of my jammies.

Some masa flour and a little water, and in minutes I had corn tortillas in my skillet.  Strong pot of coffee brewing. In my pantry I had eggs, some goat chevre. a few strips of bacon, and some fresh jalapeno peppers, the makings for a decent scramble or omelette.  But a gray day like today calls for something a little quirkier than an omelette or scrambled eggs.  I decided to make something I had never had before...Jalapeno Poppers.

I have never had...a Jalapeno Popper.  Basically because I could never say, "I'll have the Jalapeno Poppers."  Poppers.  Poppers.  "I want the Jalapeno Poppers." (never gonna happen out in public.) 

So I got to work, stuffing my jalapeno peppers.

First, I made sure the peppers were washed well, since I bought

them at the 'Used Fruit Store' and I'm sure about 1000 people had

touched them before I bought them.  Then I took the  stems off.

Next I sliced the peppers open, lengthwise.

These were going to be spicy with all those seeds.

*It is also a good idea to wear a pair of rubber gloves during

this whole process, or you could end up with a nice 

capsicum burn in your hands and other parts of your body

if you touch anything.

Using a grapefruit spoon, I scraped out all the seeds and

membrane from inside the peppers.  I want them zesty but not 

mouth burning.

Using my (gloved) fingers I placed a small amount of goat

chevre into each half of the peppers.  Just enough to be flush

with the rim of the pepper.

Stick the goat cheese stuffed halves back together again.

I cut my bacon strips in half and wrapped each

pepper in a half of strip of bacon.  You can secure the bacon 

to the pepper with a toothpick or small skewer, but I used the only 

thing I had, some bamboo cocktail picks. 

*I soaked the picks in water for awhile so they wouldn't

burn during cooking.
 

I had preheated the over to 450˚ F.

Then I placed the bacon wrapped peppers on a baking sheet,

I cooked the peppers for 10-15 minutes, until the bacon was very crispy

and the jalapeno was tender and the cheese melty.

We enjoyed out Jalapeno Poppers with corn tortillas, some

fried eggs, a little heated salsa and lots of coffee.

We ate in out jammies too!

Baked Jalapeno Poppers

6 large Jalapeno Peppers

2 oz. soft Goat Cheese, I used Chevre

3 strips of thick-cut Bacon

Kosher Salt & Pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 450˚ F.

Put on some rubber/latex gloves!

Cut Jalapeno Peppers in half, lengthwise. With a spoon, scrape out the seeds and membrane. Fill each jalapeno half with a little Goat Cheese, just to the rim of the pepper. Put the filled halves back together and wrap each jalapeno with a half slice of Bacon. Secure the bacon by sticking toothpick or skewer through the middle.

Bake on a sheet pan for 10-15 minutes, until the bacon is crispy.  If, after 15 minutes, the bacon doesn’t look brown enough, just turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes to finish it off.

Sprinkle with Kosher Salt & Pepper.  Serve immediately, but they’re also great at room temperature.

Nom Nom.

Happiness is...Green Tomatoes

Here it is, the beginning of September, and we are finally getting our summer.  It has just been downright gorgeous for the past week, low 80's, cooling breezes coming in off the Sound, spectacular sunsets...I can't believe Fall is right around the corner.

Fall's coming alright. You can see signs of it everywhere, the leaves are just a little more red or yellow everyday.  The sun is setting a little earlier each day too. You can even smell it wafting in on the misty mornings...it's there, it's real close. Though you'd barely be thinking about it on a day like today.  So nice.

The urban gardens in my neighborhood are definitely telling me summer is coming to a close.  The berries have long been picked, the corn stalks have been cut and are drying in piles along the fences, the peas and beans are disappearing rapidly, and tomato plants are heavy with Green Tomatoes. 

Green Tomatoes everywhere I look.  I'll spy a red one here or there, and there may be more to come with this hot spell, but I have had my eye on the prize of a big bushel of Green Tomatoes.

I got a pail from a friend, I was allowed to pick all I wanted from my Bank's Community Garden, my neighbor said I could take them all as long as I shared what I put up, and the rest I pilfered from some unattended plants in an alley and from an abandoned plot behind a condemned house.  Green Tomatoes Galore.

So far I have made Green Tomato Pizza, BL(G)T Soup (Bacon, Lettuce & Green Tomato Soup), Green Tomato Marmalade, Green Tomato & Grape Chutney, Fried Green Tomato Sandwiches, and Green Tomato Mincemeat (no real meat of course) to be put up for Christmas Pies.

But, by far, my favorite Green Tomato application this year has been My Green Tomato Coffeecake.  Inspired by a co-worker who made Mango Bread, I said,  "Why not?  Green Tomato could be good in a cake."  Little did I know just how good.

I love sweet & tart together, and this cake has that. It is dense but not dry, because the Green Tomatoes make it very moist. Plus it's chock full of goodies like raisins, nuts, and coconut (pretty much everything I had laying around in my pantry).  A little streusel topping and a dusting of powdered sugar and 'voila', Green Tomato Coffeecake.  Nom Nom.

I made sure I froze enough diced Green Tomatoes to make this coffeecake at least two more time this fall.  It will be so good on a crisp Autumn morning with a hot cup of coffee.

GREEN TOMATO COFFEECAKE

For Cake:
2 c. Raw Sugar
1 c. Vegetable Oil
3 Eggs
2 t. pure Vanilla Extract
1 1/2  c. all-purpose Flour
1 1/2 c. Whole Wheat Flour
1 t. Kosher Salt
1 t. Baking Powder
1 t. ground Cinnamon
1/4 t. freshly grated Nutmeg
1 cup Walnuts
1/2 c. Black Raisins
1/2 c. Golden Raisins
2 1/2 c. diced Green Tomatoes
1 c. shaved Coconut (the really big stuff)
Powdered Sugar for dusting

For Streusel Topping:
1/2 c. all-purpose Flour
1/2 c. Oatmeal
1/4 c. packed Brown Sugar
1/4 c. Raw Sugar
1/4 t. ground Cinnamon
1/4 t. freshly ground Nutmeg
3/4 c. chopped Walnuts
a pinch of Kosher Salt
3/4 stick Unsalted Butter, cubed 

Prepare the Streusel Topping:
Combine the Flour, Oatmeal, Brown Sugar, Raw Sugar, cinnamon, Nutmeg, Walnuts, and Kosher Salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add the cubed Unsalted Butter and pulse until it looks crumbly.  Set aside.

For the Cake:
 Preheat oven to 350°.
 Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan, set aside.

In mixing bowl, beat sugar, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla until smooth and a little fluffy. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg; slowly beat into egg mixture. Blend well. Stir in pecans, raisins, green tomatoes, and coconut.  Pour batter into prepared baking pan and cover evenly with the streusel topping.

Bake for one hour, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

Let cool completely and dust with powdered sugar. Eat & Enjoy!

A slice I took to work for lunch.