Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

Yup another salad on the menu this week. I told you it's been hot. This one uses barley and while it might take a while to cook the barley thereby heating up the kitchen until it feels like you're in the inner depths of hell, it is worth it. Barley Salad (Adapted from some book that I photocopied a recipe from - no clue) 1 c barley 2 c water 2 c corn removed from cob 1/2 c dried cranberries 4 green onions, chopped 1 apple, diced 1 carrot, diced 3 T lemon juice 4 T olive oil 2 T honey salt/pepper Rinse barley and cook in water until barley is tender about 20-25 minutes.  Set aside to cool. In a serving bowl toss corn, cranberries, onions, apple, and carrot. Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, honey, salt, and pepper to make a vinaigrette. Pour over corn/apple mixture (this will prevent the apples from turning color). Toss in barley and mix well. The original recipe uses frozen corn - bleh! I really don't think that that would work well here at all. Whi...

I saw this in the November/December Cooks Illustrated magazine and thought it might be nice instead of baking an apple pie. I'm thinking of making it for Thanksgiving. It was absolutely less work and I would say as good as an apple pie but a little different. This is definitely impressive looking and really is not that complicated to make. The press in crust is a breeze. I added cinnamon to the recipe. I fail to understand how you can bake anything apple without adding cinnamon to it. As I've mentioned before, I'm a cinnamon freak. I added a little nutmeg too. They recommend using a 9" tart pan but I only have a 10" It came out fine in the 10" The crust was probably a little thinner but it was fine. I also used granny smith's instead of golden delicious. You need to use an apple that is going to stand up a bit to the heat and not turn to mush. In the base of the tart I mixed granny smiths with Fuji. I wanted the base to be a little sweet to contrast ...

This is another great summer salad.  The only bad part is that you are cooking the grains for nearly an hour and boy does that heat up your kitchen! I found this in my recipe file - another one patiently waiting to be tried (I'm sure some of those recipes are not too patiently waiting - some have been in there a long time). I'm not even sure where I got this one from. I photocopied it so I guess I borrowed the book from someone. I have a few other recipes that look similar. If you know the book, please let me know so that I can give credit. It is a spiral-bound book - if that helps at all? Three-Grain Salad (Adapted from some recipe book??) 5 1/2 c water 1 c wheat berries 1/3 c brown rice 1/2 c hulled or pearl barley 1/3 c dried cranberries 1/4 c diced carrot 1/4 c diced celery (peeled before diced) 1 medium apple, unpeeled chopped parsley, chopped Dressing 1/3 c sugar 1/3 c olive oil 1/3 c white balsamic vinegar 2 t Worcestershire sauce 2 T shallots 2...

This is another standard fare item for Easter Brunch.  Usually I mix all the dry ingredients together the night before so it's all ready to go the next day.  It's really different - sort of like a bowl of oatmeal with lots of good stuff mixed in but in a bar format. Oatmeal Clafoutis (adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini ) 2 1/4 c quick oats (2 3/4 c old fashioned) 2/3 c brown sugar Dry ingredients ready to go 3/4 c raisins, currants, dried cranberries or a mixture of all 1 t cinnamon 1 t salt 1 pear peeled and sliced 1 apple peeled and sliced 1 banana sliced 3 1/3 c milk 2 eggs 1 t vanilla Lightly grease a 13x9 pan. Combine dry ingredients. Spread in the 13x9 pan. In a bowl mix the milk, eggs and vanilla. Pour over dry ingredients. If you are using the old fashioned oats, you can refrigerate this for a few hours to allow the oats to plump).  Arrange apple, pear, and banana over the oats.  Bake 55-60 minutes at 350.  Cut into squares. Be...