Baked Apples with Spiced Date-Nut Filling {Fruit-Sweetened, GF, DF}

 

Fall brings apples:  hot mulled apple cider, apple dumplings from market stands in the mountains of Western Pennsylvania, cinnamon-scented applesauce.

 

But my heart is set on plump apples, stuffed with sticky-sweet caramel-like dates, crispy walnuts, cinnamon and spicy black cardamom, then baked until tender, and topped with cream.

 

 

 

This extremely simple recipe can be pulled together in five minutes, but it will perfume your house with the smell of fall for hours to come. 

 

End-of-Summer Zucchini Omelettes

Summer is on its way out, here in Virginia.  In the mornings, we button up cardigans and light coats, and clutch mugs of warm tea.  But by the afternoon, we shed them all and run in the bright golden sunlight, kicking aside the first yellow leaves in the grass. 

While my thoughts are turning to pumpkin spice and warm apple cider, my kitchen is still full of the end-of-summer abundance:  fresh heirloom tomatoes, summer squash, bell peppers, peaches.  If you have zucchini still showing up in your garden or CSA box, here is one mighty tasty way to serve them up this week:  rounds of fried onion-scented egg fritters, full of fresh zucchini and herbs.

 

An Introduction to Sourdough

You could say that I have a thing for bread. 

Real bread. 

The kind with a chewy, springy texture, with a little tang to it.  The kind that steals the show, with nothing more than a little sweet cream butter spread on top. 


















Since we started this journey into traditional foods, one of the first things I started doing was baking all of our bread from scratch, using a sourdough starter.  I was surprised at how easy it was to care for my sourdough starter, at how long sourdough bread stays fresh, and how quickly we all learned to love the sometimes mild, sometimes assertive tang of sourdough.  I found that with a little help from my bread machine, I was able to crank out loaves without over-taxing my time, and the pay-off has been tremendous:  fresh, delicious bread that is truly nourishing and life-giving.

Since then, I have given cups of sourdough away to friends and family and answered many questions about sourdough.  And while I am not an expert, I hope that my answers are useful for those starting out with sourdough.

Middle Eastern Tomato-Cucumber Salad



Salad doesn't get any simpler or more delicious than this:  ripe tomatoes, and crunchy cucumbers dressed with a squeeze of fresh lemon, and a drizzle of sharp olive oil.  Add some minced onion for bite, a sprinkle of sea salt and fresh herbs from the garden, parsley and mint. 

Done.