Tarte Tatin, a Fall tradition!

Hello, everybody!! Mary Jane is back with one of our traditional Fall recipes. We're gearing up for the balloon stampede here.

                                           
The Walla Walla Balloon Stampede is a forty year old tradition where balloonists come from all over the world to float the bright blue skies of Eastern Washington. This will be our fifth year crewing, which means we get up long before dawn, work fast and hard to get the balloons inflated, and then either help the school kids get a chance to get in the basket, or send them off on a beautiful ride over the wheat fields!

 We have so many wonderful memories...

 

 This was a special IMAX movie made at a vineyard. They tethered the balloons above the vineyard and spent a few hours getting sunrise and early morning video. It was kind of funny because as the drone went by, my kids had to crouch in the basket so they weren't seen.

 This was one morning last May when we'd had a cold snap. There was frost on the ground and we weren't even sure they balloons would be able to go up, but by the time the sun rose, it was warm enough for them to lift off!

 

A funny thing happened this year: the organizers said that they needed a design for their Tshirts, and they wanted it made with a specific piece of clip art. The prize was a jacket and a balloon ride for two (worth $500) My artistic sixteen year old jumped at the chance... and won! The people who chose the art had no idea it was a person who'd been crewing for the stampede for years, so when we showed up... Surprise! LOL. It's a fun twist to a family tradition...  Our usual crewing shirts will be her design. :D

 

Oh, before I forget, be sure to stop by Seerkerville on the fourth of October where I talk about the "Ten Ways Seekerville Made me a Better Writer"!

 

 

Anyway,  this is what we're up to... besides Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, WW Choral Society, sports, service projects, church classes, First Communion classes, learning to drive, getting driver's licenses, checking out colleges, taking SAT and PSATs, being an RCIA sponsor, setting up etsy stores, and youth group... ETC. (I'm forgetting something. I know I am.) But we still find time to cook!!

 

 

On to the Tarte Tatin!!

1)  France. Specifically, the city of Lyon. I didn't live there but I lived in a town like it, about forty minutes away, toward Troyes.

 

 

 

2) These apples. You can't really celebrate Fall without apples. You can eat them raw, or caramel apples or.... well, you can see all the ways from the cartoon we all remember of Johnny Appleseed, Disney version here!

 

3) Chuck Norris. I read a really funny Chuck Norris joke. (Hi, Jimmy!) You know, those ones like "the boogey man checks under his bed for Chuck Norris" and "Chuck Norris doesn't dial the wrong number, you answer the wrong phone" and "Chuck Norris has a grizzly bear rug in his bedroom; the bear isn't dead, it's just afraid to move".

Well, I read one that said, "When life gives Chuck Norris lemons, he makes an apple pie, and it's the best steak you'll ever eat."

 

I don't know why that struck me as SO FUNNY. But it did. And I started thinking about making an apple pie that wasn't a pie. We've had apple pie here twice lately and but I still have lots of apples and lots of hungry, dessert-loving kids!

 

 

 

So, that brings us to Tarte Tatin!

If you're not sure how to pronounce it, here's the phonological description:\ˌtär(t)-tä-ˈtan, -ˈtaⁿ\

Oh, that's not helpful? Well, I guess we all can't have linguistics degrees, I suppose. (OW! Julie just poked my ego with a sharp stick! Fine...)  I kept saying it to my husband until he told me, "That sounds like the end of a song." HA! Okay, true. Dun dun-DUN.

 

Anyway, moving on!

You'll need:

 

For the filling-

8 TBS butter

3/4 cups sugar

6-8 apples

 

For the crust-

1 stick plus 2 TBS butter

2 TBS sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup flour

pinch of salt

2-3 TBS of cold water

 Like so. What a pretty bowl! It's had an adventurous life so far. Something about a very friendly dog...

 Two eggs from the chicken coop. And a walnut. Not sure why that was brought to me when I asked for two eggs, but kids are funny that way.

 Make a well with the flour, salt, sugar. Add in the eggs and the butter.

 Mix with your fingers. Ok, if Chuck Norris can do it, we can, too! (Don't even ask if he can rub eggs into flour without feeling squicked out. He's CHUCK NORRIS.)

 Add cold water a TBS at a time until the dough forms a ball. Wrap it in plastic and put it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. It seemed like it was an awful lot of dough for crust. I mean, it's actually just one crust, not even two and it's the size of a kitten. And heavy. (Hold me, Chuck! I'm scared I'm doing this all wrong!)

 Add the butter and sugar in a cast iron pan.

 Stir as the butter melts. (Or employ a child to stir so you can go check your e-mail and read more Chuck Norris jokes.) Medium high heat seems way too hot for this, but this is really the way to go. Stay the course approximately 15 minutes. We're trying to get...

 Caramel. YUMMY. Resist the urge to eat it out of the pan. For one, it's SUPER HOT. Two, we need it.

 Chop apples in half. Skin and core. Layer onto the caramel. (Like how I said that so fast? As if chopping 8 apples takes only a few seconds? That is the genius of a food blog, my friends.)

 Now, several recipes did NOT mention this, but one did, and it was from an actual FRENCH recipe site. (I'm assuming they know what they're doing.) They said add 2 TBS of lemon juice. Sounded good to me. I'm pretty sure it's not so the apples won't turn brown. Boil the apples for 15 minutes on high, turning once.

 It probably seems like a recipe for a disaster. (ha! Recipe! Get it?) Boiling sugar on high for 15 minutes without really stirring?? But, don't wimp out and turn down the heat. The apples will cook more slowly if you do, and then you'll have a huge sticky mess clumped to the bottom of your pan.

 Take the dough out of the fridge and roll out it, so that it's  a couple inches bigger than the diameter of your  pan. (It actually wasn't that much dough so I told Chuck Norris to buzz off. He was getting a little clingy, anyway. I mean, once you've seen a few of those karate moves, you've seen them all, right?) Preheat the oven to 375F.

 Turn off the heat and let it cool for ten minutes. Tuck the crust around the top of the apples but be careful not to burn your fingers. Even thought it's been cooling, these pans stay hot, hot, hot. I have to admit, at this point I was wondering if something had gone wrong. This looked like an apple pie's ugly barbaric cousin.

 Cook about 35 minutes or until the top is browned. (Now I was really sure I'd screwed it up. I was already thinking, "Hm, I wonder what else I can make with all these apples.")

Cool for approximately 20 minutes and invert. You can slip a plate on the top and flip the whole thing over, but that takes some muscle. I actually did a slow slide, turning the Dutch oven until the pie turned gently onto a plate. I had to replace a few apples but it saved my wrists. (And you KNOW how I watch those wrists! These are my writing hands! Must... save... the hands....)

 SHOCKER! It looked so pretty! I was very surprised at how beautiful it was!

 I cut a piece and admired it some more. It held its shape but wasn't tooth-breakingly hard. The apples had softened the caramel and the caramel had seeped into the apples and the crust was like a very sticky cookie, but a bit flaky, too.

 Another shot of the goodness....
I was thinking it didn't quite taste like the Tarte Tatin I remembered from France. I thought it could have used some cardamom or cinnamon or vanilla or... something. But I searched and searched and no recipe ever mentioned any other ingredients (well, unless it was some crazy SoHo New York City one that needed goat cheese and pistachios). So, it's probably just how the memory is better than the reality. Even though the reality is AWESOME.

And here is a last shot of what was left after ten minutes. Mmmm-hmmmmm.
I'll leave you with one more Chuck Norris joke:

 

Chuck's gmail account address is:

gmail@chucknorris.com

 

This took me a second. I assume you'll get it a little faster since I'm overdosed on Tarte Tatin!

 Until next time!

Mini pumpkin tarts with Nilla wafer crust = Happy Fall, Y'all!

Hello, everybody! Mary Jane here and  I have a tasty recipe for Fall. I'm a fool for Fall. You know those people who love pumpkin spice everything? Yes? That's me. 

Sometimes I get out the spices and take a whiff of nutmeg or allspice just so I can pretend that cold weather is on the way! Not that I love cold weather, but it's just the season...

Crisp leaves. Frost in the morning. Dark clouds on the horizon. 

Fall is so.... dramatic. 

My writerly heart feels an affinity for the season that's not all sunshine and clear blue sky. 

The spices of fall. Nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. (In this house, we call them "too much cloves" because I can't ever get the measurement right. There's none at all, and then way too much. We just accept that cloves will be "too much" in every dish.)

But before I begin, I have to say this little doggy makes me laugh. He rolls himself up in his favorite blankie when his person leaves him at home. Goodness gracious. Some people have emotional support animals. Our animal has an emotional support person. 

So! Let us begin. Two cups of crushed Nilla wafers, plus 1/4 tsp cinnamon and a dash of "too much cloves".

 Add a few TBS of melted butter and press into a pan.

 Oops, missed a picture but take a can of pure pumpkin puree and add 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and a dash of ginger. Mix well, then add four large eggs to it will bake together. Most recipes have condensed milk, but I have a child who is lactose intolerant so we skip that part. It gives the pie a less custardy feel, which I like, too.

 Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until done. I let the crusts brown too much but there you go. It's Friday and the 80th birthday of the publication of The Hobbit so we were watching the movie. I remember my dad reading me the series when I was younger than my youngest child, and now I've read the series to them. Bless you, J.R.R. Tolkien, and thank you for the gift of your stories!

 A latte with a dash of bittersweet chocolate is the perfect pairing...

 Happy Fall, everybody!!

 Leaving you with this fun picture I took of a sunflower in my kitchen. (See how the screen made little tiny squares on the leaves?) I hope you find something with pumpkin spice to enjoy, and a few cheerful flowers to brighten your day!

Pumpkin Cake for Kids

Hello, everybody! This here is a repeat from 2012 because as much many good intentions I have to blog ahead, most of the time I write my post at 6Pm on a Friday night! Tonight I didn't have anything to pull out of my hat (hard drive) because I just made secret recipe apple cake and posole, both of which I've done before. But I love this post because my kids look SO TINY. Even the teens! 

But rather than mope, I thought I'd post a retrospective as a bloggy sort of Psalm 148. (It's okay if you don't have it memorized, you can read it here... and then come back!).  Psalm 148
I want to go for one last glorious run through my backyard.

Fresh raspberries. Heaven on earth.

 Squash and zucchini from my friend Barb's garden.

 Piles of cukes from my stepmother's garden. We ate so many cucumbers, I'm surprised we're not green.

 Blueberries from Lampson Blueberries, just twenty minutes from our house, up in the hills. We picked over 150 lbs and they didn't even make it to October. Let's see: 8 people, 3 months, that's approximately 6 pounds of blueberries a month per person in our house. Not very much! Next year, we'll pick more. I say that every year.

Pears from my dad's pear tree. (Like my kettle? Very Pioneer-y.)

Peaches from one of our two peach trees. There were so many that I had to figure out how to freeze them. Ruthy's peach pie is my next project!

Our seedless grapes have finally rebounded from the drought of 2001. Had a wonderful crop this year and about 50 lbs went to a woman who made them into raisins. She bakes panattone for Christmas and ships it all over the US.

Pounds and pounds of perfect plums from my dad's orchard. The tree was so overloaded it was breaking its own branches. We must have picked a hundred pounds. My neighbors started pulling their curtains when they saw us coming with our bags of free plums. You can only eat so many...

Oops, how did this sneak in here?? We're supposed to be praising God's bountiful goodness. But I suppose zucchini bread with walnuts and chocolate chips is worthy of a little praise. :)

We also had bags and bags of our neighbors' goodies because we live in the sort of place that if you're growing it, you better share. It's just good manners. So we've had sweet corn and heirloom tomatoes and apricots, too.

I'm continually in awe of the massive blessings that God showers on us, for no good reason.

He's just that way. And this was a little 'taste' of the way He blesses us out here in ORYGUN.

 (And that pic was taken by Jeff Horner who works at our little hometown paper, the Walla Walla Union Bulletin. The guy is brilliant. Who knows why he lives way out here in podunk east, but we're sure glad he does.)

But as winter closes in, I'll try to remember what Mother Teresa said. "Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand."

When the memories of fresh raspberries and pears have faded and I'm staring out my kitchen window at the frost on the dead lawn, I'll just reach out and snag a toddler... and give them some loving. (Like this little dude, watching his cookies bake. He stared at them for a long time before they were 'done'.)

Hey, here's a cute one... And he's holding walnuts. Bonus.

Better yet, I'll snag a tweener or two. Hey, she looks hug-able...

This one is scaring me a bit. Too many ninja movies?

Oh, wait. This one really needs a squeeze. Cranky, naked toddler out of the bath stole her apple slices and then sat his naked tushie on her lap. Check out her face. She's thinking how much her life stinks right now. Long-suffering tweeners. Gotta love 'em.

 

So, to ease the transition to Fall, we're going to do what we do best. Make a cake!

Oh wait, I'm not good at cake. But I still like to eat cake, so I'll make one anyway. I've picked up a few tips over here on Yankee Belle Cafe, so let's go try them out.

I saw Hershey's has a chocolate cake recipe that didn't look too hard. And it's rated BEGINNER. I'll take that as a good sign...

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cupsall-purpose flour
3/4 cupHERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
· 2 eggs
· 1 cup milk · ( we were out but I used condensed, with some water. Am I just like a pioneer woman or what??)
    1/2 cup vegetable oil
   2 teaspoons vanilla extract
   1 cup boiling water

So, I mixed everything together (really, just like that except for the boiling water and the Hershey's powder, those I mixed separately and then added them) and let Edna do her magic. (Check out that gleaming chrome. Go, baby, go!!)

I think it was Mindy who said to dust the inside with cocoa powder instead of flour. MMMMMM.

And then Missy had a great tutorial on when a toothpick comes out clean it means done. Really clean, not sorta clean, with blobs. THEN she said to let it cool completely before trying to pry it out of the pan. (*lightbulb*)

SUCCESS!!!! And now I stuffed foil in there so the aliens wouldn't mess with its chocolate brain.

No, no, no. I have a plan. and it involves real pumpkin stem. So out I go to the porch...

And mix some frosting until it's just the right shade of.... salmon pink. Whatever. Use your imaginations.
At least the green was okay. And now for the decoration... Because you know I live in a zoo.

Uh-huh. Eat your hearts out, ladies. Multi-colored sprinkles dumped on by a 3 year old.

 

And check out that shirt. HE's ready for Fall! Even if I'm not.
Even if I'm dreading the six month trek through socks and shoes and jackets and coats and mittens and runny noses and being trapped in the house all day. 
Because it will pass, and we'll have some fun while we wait for spring to come around again.

(My friend Patty Jones' pumpkins, straight from the patch! She sold them on the cheap and donated all proceeds to the Humane Society. She rocks.)

 So, I raise my cake and say a prayer for friends near and far. Because LOVE is a fruit always in season, no matter how long this winter will last.

Until next time! Pop on over to my facebook page at Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits where I have all my new book news, or to my blog The Things That Last.