Apple squares

Another entry for the Kitchen Corner's November Bake-off!

This recipe is taken from the King Arthur flours website, but we used to make a very similar thing when I worked at Nabolom Bakery in Berkeley.

The pie crust recipe is to die for. There are lots of recipes out there for crusts, and they don't all involve as many ingredients as this one, but this one is just so buttery and soft and flaky and delicious, that this is the one I am writing in my own personal cookbook to use from now on. It's that good.

Also, there is no excuse to use pre-made pie crust. Homemade is ten times better, easy, and without any weird preservatives.

Pie crust ingredients:

2 1/2 c. flour (I bet the crust would be even better with pastry flour!)

1 t. salt

1 t. baking powder

2 T confectioner's sugar (I used regular cane sugar)

2 T buttermilk powder (I used nonfat milk powder)

1/4 c. vegetable shortening

10 T very cold butter, cut into small cubes (about 1/2")

1 t. vinegar (cider or white)

6-10 T ice water

By hand: whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and milk powder. Using two butter knives or a pastry cutter, cut in the shortening until the mixture is evenly crumbly. Ad the butter pieces and cut in until the mixture looks like coarse sand, or the butter is fairly evenly distributed. Add the vinegar and a few tablespoons of water at a time, mixing until the dough is chunky and fairly cohesive. I find it's easiest at this point to use my hands to smush together all the dry flour and get the dough together into a ball.

By food processer (much easier): add the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and milk powder to the bowl and pulse for a few seconds. Add the shortening and pulse until combined. Add the butter and pulse for about 10 1-second spurts. Add the vinegar and the water, a few tablespoons at a time, mixing after each addition, until the dough comes together in a rough ball.

Both methods: Divide the dough into two balls, one with 2/3 the dough and the other with 1/3 the dough. Shape into discs and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes (up to 20 hours).

Apple filling:

About 1 dozen apples

1/2 c. finely chopped pecans

1/2 c. sugar

2-3 T ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375.

If you have a fancy apple corer-peeler-slicer, use it to core, peel, and slice at least a dozen cooking apples. (Cooking apples are more tart than eating apples, and better for baking). Otherwise, use a knife to core and cut about a dozen apples into thin wedges. I don't peel the apples if I'm doing it by hand, because it takes too long, and the skins give the pie a great color.

Take the bigger disc of dough out of the fridge and unwrap it on a floured surface. I leave the plastic wrap on top of the disc and roll the dough out underneath the plastic. Roll in one direction, then turn the dough 90 degrees and roll in the other direction. This ensures the dough doesn't stick to the rolling surface. Roll until the dough is in roughly a 9x12 rectangle. Transfer the dough to a 9x12 baking dish, but don't worry about rough edges or gaps - just pinch of dough from where there's extra to fill in any gaps on the other side of the dough.

Fill the dough with your apple wedges. Sprinkle with pecans, cinnamon, and sugar.

Roll out the smaller disc of dough, and drape over the top of the apples. Seal the edges as best as possible (perfection is not needed here!) and make six small cuts in the crust to let steam out.

Bake for 45-60 min, ensuring you don't burn the crust.

I let mine cool for a few hours before serving for dessert, and then I had another slice for breakfast.

Popovers with Apple Butter

For the Kitchen Corners November bake off!

My wonderful husband made the popovers and I made the apple butter. I'll start with the apple butter recipe, since it takes longer.

First, you need to make apple sauce. Or, you can buy a jar of apple sauce and skip ahead, but seriously, making apple sauce is so easy.

Core, slice, and peel several pounds of apples, or enough to fill your largest, heavy bottomed pan. I used my giant Le Creuset. Add about one inch of water to the pot and cook on medium heat until the apples have broken down and are all mushy. This won't take as long as you think.

Then, either pull out your fancy food mill (but if you have a food mill, why are you looking to me to tell you how to make apple sauce? You probably know how to do it way better than I!), or a mesh strainer and a wooden spoon. Spoon the apple mixture into the strainer and press it through the strainer. This is hard work. Enlist a friend to help, if you've got one handy!

Now you have apple sauce! I put some into a jar and stuck it in the fridge- no need to boil it or worry about canning if you only have one jar, and six housemates. It'll be gone soon enough, with no worries of botulism.

To turn the apple sauce into apple butter, put the remaining apple sauce into a smaller heavy bottomed pot, or, better yet, into a crock pot. Add a cup or two of sugar or some frozen concentrate apple juice, and some cinnamon and other autumn-y spices that you love. Cardamom would be a wonderful touch. Cook for 12-24 hours, until the sauce is very thick and brown. Make sure you are cooking on the lowest heat possible.

Now, let's make popovers. It's best to snuggle in bed in your pjs and wait for someone else to make these for you, but if you have to do it yourself, here's how.

Preheat your oven to 425. Spray a popover pan or a muffin tin with nonstick spray and let pan heat in oven for two minutes.

Blend one cup all purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 3 eggs, 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon melted butter in a medium bowl, until the consistency of heavy cream.

Cut 2 tablespoons of chilled butter into 1/2 inch pieces and place one into each cup in the preheated muffin tin. Place the pan back into the hot oven until the butter is bubbly.

Remove pan from the oven and fill each cup halfway full of batter. Replace pan in the oven and bake 20 minutes. This is important: Do Not Open The Oven Door To Peek.

When twenty minutes have passed, rotate the pan in the oven, reduce the heat to 325 and bake for another 15-20 minutes.

Serve with warm apple butter. I promise I won't tell if you eat them all.

Pumpkin Cornmeal Biscuits

For the Kitchen Corners' October cook/bake-off!



I bought a sugar pumpkin at The Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island, a wonderful place in Portland with farms and farm stores and haunted corn mazes and u-pick peaches, corn, and berries. It's where we went the day before my wedding to pick flowers for the tables.

Yesterday, I cooked the pumpkin and made an Indian Pumpkin soup, but still had pumpkin puree left. The soup wasn't awesome, so I didn't want to enter it into the cook-off, so I baked up some biscuits today.

The recipe comes from the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics (and if you don't know Moosewood, you should), and was super simple and easy to make. These muffins happen to be vegan, but not all the Moosewood recipes are though most are vegetarian. I bet substituting butter for the margarine would not be detrimental, and I think adding an egg could only improve the consistency of these already delicious muffins.



1/4 c. margarine
1 1/2 c. unbleached white flour
1/2 c. cornmeal
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 T. brown sugar
1/2 c. pumpkin puree (fresh, or canned, but not pumpkin pie filling)
3/4 c. plus 2 T. apple juice or cider

Preheat the oven to 425. Generously grease a baking sheet or cover with parchment.

Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in the margarine. Add the brown sugar and mix until lump-free.

Whisk together the pumpkin and apple juice or cider. Pour into the flour mixture and stir briefly, just until well blended.

Drop the biscuits by 1/4 cups onto the baking sheet, 1-2 inches apart. Bake for about 20 minutes until puffed and very slightly brown around the edges and a toothpick tests clean. Serve immediately.



In the middle of baking I unexpectedly discovered my aunt from New Mexico was in town, and had to run out to spend a lovely fall afternoon exploring the city with her, leaving my incredibly and understandably stressed out room mate in charge of taking the biscuits out of the oven, resulting in their well-done status.

Projects!

Just as I say I'm transitioning into wedding blogging... I knit something!

My cousin is due this week - the first baby of the next generation in the family - and I used the occasion as an excuse to knit an oh so adorable Tomten.



The pattern is an Elizabeth Zimmerman classic. I have her book "Knitting Without Tears" and this is my first project from it.

I used some Shibui sock yarn in Peacock (I think that's the color) that had just not been working out as anything else. It clearly wanted to be this sweater, as it knit up nearly perfectly. The pooling you see on the arms is from the additional skein I had to buy to make it through the arms. Now I have enough leftovers to make a cute pair of booties. Probably not for this baby, but one of the other three that will be born in the next six months!

This patttern is fantastic, and pretty easy. No crazy shaping or stitches - it did take some imagination to figure out how to sew the arm seams to the underarms, but really, it just works.

The next project is not knitting, but making the backyard ready for a wedding (we're into the four week countdown!!). Right now, we're working with this:

While it's pretty green, the bed is full of weeds. We took out everything that was planted there, and nothing we planted grew! So, Roomie Liz and I bought a ton of flowers to plant in there:

Foxgloves, hydrangea (four different colors!), a gorgeous red rose bush (that might go in front actually) and a bunch of shade loving annuals.

I also have these to dress up the plain old fence with:

I'll post some "after" shots when it's all pulled together. Cross your fingers for big improvements!

Goin to the Chapel

Well, actually, we are getting married at home.

Last month, I asked if any readers would like me to blog about wedding planning, and a few said yes. Unfortunately, I have not blogged since then. Mike is out of town for the next two weeks, so maybe I'll take this time to post our wedding inspiration on the internet for all to see.

First up, an overview of what we are planning, and a preview of posts to come.

Because we are who we are and we want our wedding to reflect that, our wedding is going to be inexpensive (by industry standards) and every detail is planned with an eye towards sustainability. Most elements are thrifted, homemade, or scrapped altogether if neither is possible.

Source: gathered photos from el internet. I don't have specific links, sorry!

We are getting married at home.

We are having a friend marry us. One to do the ceremony, perhaps another to make it legal. We might actually go to the courthouse. This is still being figured out. Maybe I'll do a longer post on this topic soon.

We (Mike & I & friends) are making all the food for the wedding night dinner!

Our housemate is making the cupcakes.

Source: unknown, apologies!

Mike's friend and his band are playing post-dinner dancing music.

Out other housemate designed the invitations, which we printed at a local print shop on 100% recycled paper. There were no reply cards or envelopes, cutting down both on cost and wasted (in my eyes) paper.

He also is making playlists for dinner music & post-band dancing. Another friend is putting her incredible love for all things Frank Sinatra and post-war era to work making a pre-ceremony playlist for cocktails & lawn games.

My step-mother-in-law and mother-in-law are carefully scouring thrift stores for complete sets of vintage china and dishware.

My mom is making my dress!

Source: A Backyard Wedding
(I'd really just insert myself into her wedding, if I could. I'd bring Mike and all my friends, too.)

We're going to a local farm to pick produce and flowers for eating and decorating.

Most of the lawn decorations will be plants planted about our yard.

We're shuttling our guests between the house and their hotel in a 22 passenger van to cut down on cars & save our neighbors from a parking nightmare.

If everyone is interested, I'll do a separate post about most of these details.

Then, there is also the most important detail - Mike! Perhaps I'll post our vows when the whole thing is said and done.

What's Going On Here?

Something strange is happening... I can't quite make it out...

Oh! Hello there!

Would you believe I haven't knit a stitch since January, and today I whipped up one of these adorable little guys?

Well, it's true.

A combination of a crazy busy semester and my brain focusing on wedding things instead of knitting things led to a complete halt in all things knitting.* Until now. When I realized I have at least four pregnant friends, all of whom will soon have tiny little feet that need covering! (Well, that's not quite true- my friends' feet won't be shrinking, but my friends will soon have babies who have tiny little feet in need of covering.)

The semester is over, and I have one week of vacation before I start my summer job. I plan on making as many booties as possible in the next five days.

Ready, set, go-go-gadget-baby-booties.

*Ahem. Sorry for the four month lapse in blogging. If anyone is interested in wedding-related things that have nothing to do with knitting or baking, speak up in the comments and perhaps something can be arranged that would involve posting at a more frequent interval. ;-)

Did I Promise You Some Buttons?

*Ahem*

Sorry about the recent ridiculously long absence. In my defense, I haven't knit a stitch since we last spoke.

The sweater is the February Lady Sweater, the yarn Brown Sheep Worsted. Needles, size 8.

The verdict... eh. I don't see what all the fuss is about. It looks really good on other people online, but on me, it's more linebacker than hip, swingy cardigan. Perhaps its just too big, but I don't have the time, energy, or inclination to reknit it.

Luckily, I am co-directing a big charity auction for school one month from now, and have a lovely handknit sweater to donate!

PS- I wouldn't hold your breath for more frequent posting. I'm barely staying above water this semester- with the auction, four seminars and two lecture classes, plus all the wedding day-dreaming I'm doing, I have no baking or knitting to share and no time to share it!

February Lady awaits buttons

February Lady awaits buttons
Originally uploaded by castonacupcake

The annual tradition of knitting a sweater over winter break continues. This one was finished with a week to spare!

As long as I can get out of the house to buy buttons...

Snowed In!

Since I last posted, we've gotten another 14" of snow! Portland hasn't seen this much snow since 1968, or so they say. We're most definitely snowed in. Not even the garbage collectors or the mail carriers have been by in days!
I've started on my second annual Winter Break Sweater. This year, I chose the February Lady Sweater (Rav link), which bears a striking similarity to last year's sweater. Top down, garter stitch raglan with lace bodice. Maybe I'll branch out in 2009 and try something different. But, because I'm the last person on the planet to cast on for the FLS, I'm just running with it.
Lamb's Pride, because I had a gift certificate and a specific gray in mind. Even though I desperately wanted Malabrigo or Dream in Color, the yarn shop didn't have gray Malabrigo and doesn't carry Dream in Color. So I settled for a wool/mohair blend. I think it will work out just fine.

And, lastly, a momentous occassion.
My very first (successful) pair of socks have finally worn through! They got felted (you lie, Lion Brand!), and I think lasted longer than they would have otherwise. Mike got two years of good, hard use out of them and I think this is a man who deserves another pair of socks.

Maybe even a sweater, now that the curse is broken!

Dec 15, 2008

Dec 15, 2008
Originally uploaded by castonacupcake

It snowed today! Not quite three inches and the whole city shut down. There was a sign on the highway, telling everyone chains were required in the Portland metro area.

I drove to church this morning and felt pretty good that my winter driving skills lived up to all my talk about other people not knowing how to drive in the snow.

Since Portland has no plows and no sand trucks, and it's not supposed to get above freezing until Wednesday, which means the snow is not going anywhere, school is canceled tomorrow!

Playing Catch-up

Oh jeez- almost a month since my last post! I am so sorry.

There actually has been knitting going on around here.

I started & finished a Koolhaas with yarn my mom gave me last year. Handspun from North Carolina! It's single ply, and gives the hat a nice fluffy aura and plenty of comfy squishiness.


I meant to be knitting the hat to donate to an auction I am co-directing at the law school, but I ended up loving it too much to give it away! So, I immediately cast on for another.


This one is in Cascade 220, in the color "straw wheat" (I think). I bought a sweater's worth back in the spring and when it arrived, I decided it was too bright for a whole sweater. So, I made a pair of fingerless mitts for a friend for Christmas (no photos yet, sorry!) and started this hat.

I am planning on knitting a cropped sweater out of this yarn anyway. I have 5 or 6 skeins left, and just have to pick a pattern. And finish up Christmas knitting.

This holiday weekend has been quite relaxing and (mostly) wonderful. We spent Thanksgiving at our house with roomie Liz - 12 pounds of turkey for the three of us!! It was an amazing traditional feast, and a great day. We swore off the internet and computers all day and challenged ourselves to play every single board game we own. We made it through 5 or 6 games- not nearly all we own, but a big chunk anyway!

Friday we decorated our mantle (I love having a fireplace!!) and hung some lights up outside.


Then, yesterday, after a fairly grumpy and cranky morning and a rejuvenating walk through the arboretum, Mike gave me a ring and asked me to marry him!

We've been engaged since July when I asked him, and I've (especially lately) been really wanting a ring from him. It's a gorgeous deep red stone on a sterling silver band. We both expect these rings to be worn only until the wedding (in a year an a half), so the soft metal isn't a problem. His is sterling silver too, and I think they really look lovely together!

Reading period starts next week, so don't expect to hear from me until right around Christmas!

Have a lovely December, everyone!

Super Secret Knitting

Attention: If your name is Mike, STOP READING NOW!!

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Is he gone?

I've been working on some super secret knitting for Christmas. Luckily, Mike has been spending nearly 12 hours a day working with the marching band at a local high school for his student teaching, so I've had a lot of time to knit when he's not around.

I wanted to knit him a stocking last year, but just didn't have time. This year, I am much less dedicated to my schoolwork. And, I received a gift of red and green wool yarns, one skein of each. Perfect for a stocking!

The pattern is the Falling Snow Stocking from Jennifer Hoel. I'm making a few modifications: contrast band with Mike's name in white, short row contrast heel in green, and continuing the small snowflakes down the foot. I'm also planning on a contrast, perhaps short row, heel.

Mike finishes marching band this weekend, so I'm knitting my little heart out to get this done!

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post, the Placed Cable Aran Sweater!

I feel a little guilty now that I didn't post a full FO post on the sweater. Without further ado, the full details. (To see the sweater in question, look to the post below this).

Pattern: Placed Cable Aran, from Interweave Knits, Fall 07
Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool, about 5 (maybe?) skeins, in color 4009 (Aporto).
Needles: US 8 / 5 mm circulars
Started: August 19
Finished: October 16

Modifications: I left off the cable design from the back of the sweater (easier to tell front from back, so I won't be afraid of wearing it backwards!), knit in the round, and added some simple waist shaping. I think I did 5 paired decreases and then five paired increases. After blocking, they ended up in just the right place!

I knit the sleeves to the suggested length, 17" I think, but when I tried the sweater on (pre-blocking) the sleeves were about 4" too short! I unpicked the bind-off and knit down four inches. After blocking, the sleeves were too long, but after a few days of wear, they are now just right.

I love this sweater. It was so easy, with minimal finishing. Sew up the sleeves, attach em, and weave in some ends! I highly recommend knitting this in the round, if you're inclined to do such things.

The yarn is great - Cascade 220 wool is a good standby. The color is amazing, a deep bright blue with flashes of green if you're looking at it in the right light.

All in all, a resounding success!

I apologize for not responding to everyone's comments individually - I have not figured out how to get Blogger to give me the email addresses of those who comment. But please know I greatly appreciate each and every comment and compliment! Thank you so much!

A Wool Sweater in Time for Fall

I finished a sweater! And I've been wearing it constantly since I finished it! But, I'm a slacker-blogger and have neglected to share it with you.

I finished it last week (except for two ends I've since discovered I forgot to weave in) and Mike snapped some photos while we were on a walk with our room mate's dog and Mike's aunt and uncle who were visiting for the weekend. (Hi Renee!)


It's the Cable Aran. And I love it. I love the collar, the color, the cables, everything!


I left the cables off the back and had to extend the sleeves by 4" and it is now the perfect sweater! Just in time for fall.

It's definitely fall.

It's definitely fall.
Originally uploaded by castonacupcake

Knitting: Go!

I've been so delinquent in my blogging! I truly apologize. Fall is here, and I've been knitting.

First, the cable aran. I finished both sleeves last night (debate knitting) and am about to pick up the stitches for the neck. Then, it's just finishing!

This isn't the world's most illustrative photo, but I think it shows one important thing: it fits! I think the rolling hem makes it a leeetle too short, but hopefully a good blocking will correct that. I also didn't do the maths to place my waist shaping exactly where my waist is, but at least it isn't an entirely shapeless sweater.

Next, gift knitting!

I sent these out last week, so hopefully they have arrived.

My friend Damaris (check out her awesome cooking blog, Kitchen Corners) asked for a cupcake toy for her two year old back in the beginning of the summer. I finally sat down and cranked this baby out two weeks ago. Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and a cherry on top. Yum!

The booties are good luck booties, as Damaris wants a baby girl when she gets pregnant again.

Funny story: one of my professors has granted me permission to knit in class. The day I brought in the booties was the day we were discussion gender nonconformity and transgender legal issues. I felt so conspicuous, knitting highly gender-conforming and gender-stereotype-enforcing bright pink baby booties. However, hopefully that class just infused the booties withe kick-ass gender nonconformity vibes and the (as yet still wholly potential) baby will wear them, no matter its gender, and will grow up in a gender equal society.

Here's hoping, anyway!

Placed Aran Cable front

Placed Aran Cable front
Originally uploaded by castonacupcake

Yesterday we made our first fire in the fireplace and I curled up with some law books. When I finished those, I made a soup and sat down to make some serious progress on the Placed Cable Aran Sweater.

It was such a relaxing and productive day. Just what the first day of fall called for.

In Which I Ramble On About Some Things On My Mind

I really apologize for the lack of postings recently. Life is just getting in the way - of both blogging and knitting!

Fortunately, my seminar professor gave me permission to knit in class, and yesterday I was able to complete about four inches of the front of the sweater I'm working on! I love knitting in class- I stay focused on the discussion, and because we don't have to take notes (a huge relief in law school), I get to make productive use of the time!

I don't have a picture to show you because Mike just left with the camera- he's going on a bike ride tonight, which he's very excited about.

I tried knitting socks again out of the Shibui and it is just really not cooperating. I think I might have to give up on the yarn - at least the first few yards. I've now knit it up into the cuff of a sock at least four times, and it has just lost its spring. I am also so frustrated with the pooling! I may have to stop buying Shibui, it's just impossible to knit with and not get ugly pooling (not my socks, but an example of someone else having the same problem with the same yarn).

It just doesn't matter how many stitches you put on the needle, if you alternate skeins, what needle size you use- nothing will stop this yarn from pooling, and it is driving me crazy.

Especially since I have a lot of gift certificate money to use up at Knit/Purl and everything else they stock is ludicrously expensive. Maybe I'll see if my gift certificates contain enough money for a sweater's worth of malabrigo and call it a day.

Except, I've just joined BlueGarter's group, Knit Local, which is a network of knitters striving to knit from yarn produced from local sheep, mills, spinners, and dyers. And Malabrigo, as delicious as it is, comes from Uruguay (I think- somewhere far away, at least). Unfortunately, as it always goes, local yarn is way more expensive than yarn from, say, those online yarn repositories- they're like the CostCo of yarn stores, and I just can't help buying from them because of the price.

Oregon has a great resource in the Oregon Wool Grower's Association, a directory and community of local yarn and fiber producers. I plan on doing some poking around in there and hopefully planning some projects based around that yarn.

Which Comes First?

The Chicken?


Or the egg?
For us, the chickens came first. On Monday, we went out and bought two Araucana chickens from a family in Washington. There was some drama when we got the chickens home- we got one in the coop and the other managed to get away before we could get in inside. We chased her down Monday evening, then gave up after we got her out from under a neighbor's deck, but lost her in the bushes.

Luckily, yesterday the one who got away came back! I was at school, but the roomies chased her down and caught her. Less than 6 hours later, these two eggs were in the nesting boxes in the coop!

Can you see the light green tint in the shells? Yummy.

Also, check out these yolks.
Delicious.

Back in the Saddle

I'm knitting again! It's marvelous, just sitting in my chair, listening to the radio or watching a movie, and knitting away.

I'm working on two new projects, having essentially abandoned the Eliza Bennett until I have the patience to work out the sleeve cap shaping.

Up first, a new sweater! From the Interweave Fall 2007 magazine, the Placed Aran Cable (or, if you'd like, a Ravelry link). A lovely Cascade 220 color, deep blue with flecks of green. This should be a fabulous pullover with a great cowl neck. Lots and lots of stockinette (I'm knitting it in the round), and then some fun cables.
And next, a pair of socks, using Grumperina's Helical Stripes technique. Using the ever-pooling Shibui sock yarn in Peacock and some leftover Shibui in Canary yellow. So far, I love them. I forgot to do all the k2tog I meant to when I switched fromthe ribbing (and size 0 needles) to the stockinette (and size 2 needles), so I'm going to rip back all the stripes you see and start over.

We spent most of the day yesterday working on building a compost bin and a chicken run. (By "we" I mean "Mike with about an hour of help from me") Right as we were starting out, we noticed these little guys in the neighbor's tree.

We know you're getting chickens, and we want your eggs!!