Bring on fall/autumn and apple season!! Faced with a sea of apple recipes, this recipe for Apple Crumble is by far the best and easiest. My mom makes the recipe with rhubarb, but apples are a show-stopping alternative for fall.

Apple Crumble

Ingredients:

Crumble:

• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup butter

Filling:

• 5-6 cups sliced apples (use a mixture—Granny Smith, Gala, McIntosh, etc.)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 deg F. Coat a 9×9” baking pan with cooking spray.
2. Mix all dry ingredients for the crumble in a large mixing bowl. Cut in the butter until crumbly (coarse crumbs—it’s OK if some larger pieces of butter remain).
3. Press half of this mixture in prepared pan.
4. Mix apple slices, sugar, cinnamon and salt in another large bowl. Pour mixture over bottom crust (it will look FULL but the apples will shrink during baking).
5. Sprinkle the remaining crumble mixture over apples. Press down lightly.
6. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until apples are bubbly.
7. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream. YUM!

Note: if you use rhubarb, please use 1-1/2 cups of sugar in the filling… or prepare to pucker up!

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My brother Michael, superstar German teacher, provided the savory Recipe Central installment for the week. In all honesty, you can compare Zwiebelkuchen to a bacon-onion quiche. It is a very popular autumn dish in the winegrowing regions of southern Germany and is often served with the new wine and perhaps some wurst. Go ahead… create your own little bit of Germany.

Zwiebelkuchen (German Onion Pie)

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 2 cups diced onion
• 4 slices thick bacon, diced
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 Tbsp Flour
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Pepper
• 1 tsp dried Parsley
• 3/4 tsp dried Dill weed
• Pastry for a 9” single pie crust (buy or make your own)

Cook bacon until crisp.  Drain most of oil from pan and fry onions until soft and just about to turn brown.  Mix other ingredients; add in bacon and onions.  Pour into pie crust.  Bake for 20 minutes at 400 deg F; reduce temperature to 350 deg and bake another 15 to 20 minutes or until brown and set.

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We all know that marriage, kids, and a good party are all things that are worth time and effort. Well, so are these amazing little morsels.  Don’t be intimidated by the number of steps (if I can do it, you can do it!), these tender tasties melt in your mouth and will make you the star of the show (um… assuming you want to share  : )

Cinnamon-Burst Mini Scones

Yield: 32 or 64 mini scones

Ingredients:

Scones:

• 2-3/4 cups All-purpose flour                                      
• 1/3 cup Granulated sugar                                      
• 3/4 tsp Salt                                                                 
• 1 Tbsp Baking powder                                   
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) Unsalted butter, COLD, cut into chunks           
• 1 cup Cinnamon chips, chopped                        
• 2 large Eggs                                                               
• 2 tsp Vanilla                                                               
• 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup Milk or half-and-half                                       

Glaze:

• 3-1/2 cups Confectioners’ sugar                                      
• 7 Tbsp Water, enough to make thin glaze               
• 1 tsp Vanilla                                                   

1.  In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients.

2. Work in the butter just until the mixture is unevenly crumbly; it’s OK for some larger chunks of butter to remain unincorporated. Remove mixing bowl from machine.

3. Stir in the cinnamon chips by hand.

4.  In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and 1/2 cup half and half or milk.

5. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until all is moistened and holds together. Stir in additional milk or half and half if the dough seems dry, and doesn’t come together.

6. Scrape the dough onto a well-floured work surface. Pat/roll it into an 8″ to 8 1/2″ square, a scant 3/4″ thick. Make sure the surface underneath the dough is very well floured. If necessary, use a giant spatula to lift the square, and sprinkle more flour underneath.

7. Cut the square into 2″ squares (4 x 4); you’ll have a total of 16 small squares. Now, cut each square in half diagonally, to make 32 small triangles (use a rolling pizza cutter).

8. Transfer the scones to a parchment-lined baking sheet. They can be set fairly close together.

9. Place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered. While the scones are chilling, preheat the oven to 425°F.

10. Bake the scones for 19 to 20 minutes, or until they’re golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven, and allow the scones to cool right on the pan. When they’re cool and if you want, cut each scone in half once again, to make a total of 64 tiny triangles.

11. Make the glaze by stirring together the sugar, water, and vanilla.

12. To coat scones with the glaze, line a baking sheet (with sides) with parchment, and pour about half the glaze atop the parchment. Set the scones atop the glaze, swirling them around a bit to coat their bottoms. Then drizzle the remaining glaze over the top. Use a pastry brush to brush the glaze over each scone, to coat it entirely.  Transfer the scones to a rack set over parchment (to catch drips). Allow the glaze to set before serving the scones.

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While still meat, it’s a lighter version of animal protein.  Load up on the rice and tomato/cucumber salad and there you have it ~ mostly meatless on a Monday!  I prepared this for my family the other night, the flavor the rice absorbs from the beer and sausage is OUTSTANDING!!!

Serves 4

Turkey Sausage with Rice

4 Turkey Sausages – Herbed if you can find them

1 Cup of Beer

1 Cup of Water

2 packets Savory Choice Vegetable Stock (or your favorite)

2 Cups Long Grain White Rice (Substitute Brown or even Quinoa)

In a large sauce pan, add beer, water and vegetable stock.  Let come to a high simmer and add the Turkey Sausage.  Let cook for about 7-10 minutes.  Remove the sausages and set aside. 

Add the rice, stir and reduce to low, cover tightly with lid and cook for twenty minutes or until rice is done.

Fire up the BBQ to medium and finish cooking the sausages, about 5 minutes per side.

Tomato Cucumber Salad

5 Plum Tomatos or Heirlooms if you got ‘em

½ Red Onion, Sliced Thin

1 English Cucumber, washed and sliced

1 Stalk Celery, thinly sliced

3 T. Rice Wine Vinegar

EVOO to taste

S&P to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Add the vinegar and oil to your taste.  I like mine rather tart.  Start with 2 T. of the vinegar if you’re not sure.  Mix it all, taste it, S&P, adjust.  Remember, you can always add more, but you can’t take away what’s already in the bowl.

Slice the sausage on a diaganol and serve over the rice.  Serve the salad in a separate bowl.