Applesauce, applesauce, applesauce.

That is what this week is going to be about, as I have two other recipes to share with you later too.

I have two apple trees in my yard and it usually yields a lot of apples. This year's crop was smaller but enough to keep me busy. Unfortunately, the majority of them landed on the ground due to blustery winds. This yielded in bruised or gashed apples, not something I am very eager to eat. Instead, I made a big pot of applesauce with them.

Problem is my children are not interested in applesauce. They love apples, whole, but applesauce? No thanks and admittedly, it's not really my thing either. So, I scouted out a couple of recipes that use a larger volume of applesauce.

Enjoy!

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applesauce spice bars
makes 42 bars

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup Splenda granular
3 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1-1/2 cups applesauce, unsweeteneed
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped pecans

Beat butter with splenda until light. Beat in eggs, one at a time.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, soda, salt and nutmeg. Stir into butter mixture, alternating with applesauce, making two additions of each.

Stir in raisins and pecans.

Pour into prepared 9x13 inch cake pan. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and cut.

Recipe from: Applesauce Spice Bars, Splenda recipe card from a magazine.

Shhhhh.....

Do you hear that?

You don't hear anything you say?

Exactly.

I am here, typing on this fine thursday evening and my house is quiet. Yes internet, my house is free of children and hubby tonight and the sound is oh so glorious!

Well, my computer monitor is looking a bit better. Found out what some of the glitches are. I think I'll leave the hooking up of technology to my hubby from now on... it's not really my shtick.

In my pantry, I've got bags of different varieties of lentils that haven't found much use. I'm one of those well meaning people who buys bags of dried beans and legumes to use them in recipes but don't know of many recipes that use beans and legumes. Fortunately, I stumble upon some every once in a while, like this salad.

I've made this salad a couple of times already and I absolutely love it. There are quite a few ingredients but it is very worth it. There is crunch, there is some herbs, some acid, some feta cheese to add some zing and salt. It's all around a great salad and I have had quite a few people comment that they like it.

So break into your pantries and get out those lentils.
...


lentil feta salad
serves 6

1/2 cup slivered almonds (I used whole almonds that I chopped up - feel free to toast them if you like them that way too)
1 cup dry green lentils
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1.5 cups diced cucumber
1 cup halved grape or cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup diced sweet or red onion
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
3/4 cup feta cheese

Toast almonds in a skillet, over medium heat, for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add lentils and whole garlic, reduce heat and simmer for 20 mintues. Grain and rinse with cold water. Discard garlic.

In a large bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper. Add lentils, cucumbers, tomatoes, onion and parsley. Toss to coat.

Add almonds and crumbled feta. Serve.

Recipe adapted from: Lentil Feta Salad, Canadian Living Special Issue Summer 2008.

Meant to post earlier but my computer monitor up and died on me. I think I even heard a tiny screech right before it turned white and then completely black. Oh the sadness. This is especially heartbreaking since I had that monitor properly calibrated and profiled by a photographer friend (he has some hardware that will do that).

Today, I picked up a monitor from my brother in law who kindly offered to loan it to me. Very much appreciate it but the monitor is sorta off. Not sure what I'm going do.

Every once in a while, I like to try a different pancake recipe.

I prefer easy, non-laborous, pancake recipes, especially since it's hard to get going first thing in the morning, but I thought I'd give these a try anyways. Yes, if I have to beat egg whites separately and then FOLD them into the batter, that is an extra step I'm not interested in taking. I like to read the newspaper while sipping my coffee, not spending minutes beating the heck out of egg whites and messing up extra dishes, thankyouverymuch.

But, I was at the grocery store and bought some ricotta cheese for half the price. So, why not. The things I do for the blog :)

These were in fact very tasty. Nice texture and subtle ricotta taste. But, I think I'm still sticking to my easy buttermilk recipe.

...


ricotta pancakes
makes 16

3/4 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1-425g container of ricotta cheese
3 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup buttermilk

Mix together flour, sugar, powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

Beat together ricotta and egg yolks in a large bowl until fluffy. Mix on low, alternating flour mixture and buttermilk in 2 additions until just blended.

Beat egg whites in a separate bowl until light and fluffy. Fold into ricotta mixture.

Drop 1/4 cup batter onto pan over medium heat, brushed with oil. Spread each pancake and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes and flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Top pancakes with vanilla yogurt and blueberries. Serve.

Recipe inspired from: Ricotta pancakes, bon appetit June 2008 magazine.