how do you like them apples?

“Yeah? Well, I got her number. How do you like them apples?”

^name that movie and you earn my eternal praise for excellent taste in movies.

Side note: I wrote this recipe in NOVEMBER. It is finally surfacing after all this time. You can even see my unpainted table. And icing.

Well, I randomly came into possession of a giant basket of apples (long story) and I wanted to bake with them. But I’ve already made an apple pie and didn’t have enough vegetable oil for my family’s apple cake…. Then I remembered that always lately I’ve been craving warm, gooey, icing-covered cinnamon buns, and thus was born a semi-healthy cinnamon bun.

The theory behind cinnamon rolls are easy enough. You make a dough, roll it out, make a filling, roll it up, slice, and bake. I can do that.

And I can also snap blurry photos of said cinnamon buns while watching Family Guy on Netflix. It’s part of my charm.

And I can eat them.

Oh, can I eat them.

Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Buns (makes 8 large buns)
Dough:
3/4 cup milk
2 T butter, softened
2 cups all purpose flour (plus extra for dusting)
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 package yeast
2 T white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1 egg
Filling:
1 T cinnamon
3 T butter, softened
1 apple, peeled and diced small
2 T brown sugar
In a small sauce pan, heat the milk until bubbling, remove from heat, and mix in 2 T butter until it melts. Let cool slightly and add the yeast to let it foam. In a mixing bowl, combine whole wheat flour, sugar, and salt, mixing well. Mix in the water, egg, and milk mixture to the flour. Then add the remaining all purpose flour, mixing with your hands. When dough has come together, turn it onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Cover and let rise momentarily while preparing the filling. In a small bowl, combine 3 T butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, and the diced apples. Roll out the dough in a flat, rectangular shape so it is thin but not too thin (about 1/4 inch thick). Spoon the filling mixture onto the dough, stopping about 1 inch from each edge. Beginning on one of the shorter sides of the rectangle, roll the dough up so it forms a log. Cut the log into 8 rolls, discarding the ends with no filling. Place in a buttered baking dish and cover with a towel, allowing the dough to rise 30-45 minutes. Bake in an oven heated to 375* for 20 minutes. Allow to cool and then top with your favorite icing (I made a simple heavy cream, butter & powdered sugar icing). *The raw rolls freeze remarkably well!

sugar high

During my 3.5 years of college, there was one thing that never changed: my addiction to the dining hall’s lemon cookies. Yes, the same dining hall I climbed on top of the night before graduation.

I was lucky enough to go to a college with an award-winning dining service and about once a week or so, “lemon cookies” would appear.  I have no idea what they were actually called, we just called them that. In fact, many of my other friends had an addiction to these chewy, sugary, lemony cookies. One of my friends, Anthony (a really talented artist!), and I were really into them. There was a bulletin board of comments & complaints in the dining hall and once Anthony and I wrote a threat to the effect of “Bring back the lemon cookies or the carrots will get it.” (I’m not kidding.) And we were known to text each other when these delightful cookies appeared in D-hall, lest we decided to dine elsewhere and miss them.

Ah yes, those were the days.

Well recently I attended an alumni luncheon here in Austin for my undergrad and since I was the youngest alum there, everyone was asking about the dorms and the dining hall and it brought back memories… specifically of the lemon cookies.

In essence, they’re really just perfect sugar cookies with a touch of lemon. But in reality, they’re magical.

Oh hey, I got to use my new mixer!

And then I danced around in a sugar high for the next 20 minutes.

Lemon Cookies (makes 18-20 cookies)
Cookies:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
1 egg
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup flour
Glaze:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
For the cookies, Cream together butter and sugar in a mixer on medium for 2 minutes. Add egg, lemon, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Once a thick, wet batter has formed, add baking powder, salt, and flour, and mix throughly in a mixer. Roll into small balls and press down lightly on the cookie sheet. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden brown on the edges. Allow to cool on cooling racks. For the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar and the lemon juice and drizzle on top of the cooled cookies. Allow glaze to dry for a few minutes, then enjoy!

y’all know I hate soup, but…

Okay generally I don’t like soup. We’ve discussed this before. I only have a few soup recipes to my name, and one happens to be a chili so that hardly counts.

But, my friend Sarah (Mary’s sister!), who helped me out with a lot of the cooking for our big Thanksgiving feast, wrote and asked if I wanted a recipe. Not knowing it was soup, I accepted. Then I got the email where I saw the word soup and wanted to gag. But, being a good friend, I trucked ahead and began reading. Then it started to sound better and better as I kept reading.

To me (and I know this might sound crazy), this soup is like Mexican pho. Does that even make sense? Whatever. All you need to know is that I made it for myself (I halved it) and it was amazing. It had all my favorite flavors from when I lived in Mexico and was hearty and thick enough to make me forget I was eating a soup.

So I’m going to share this recipe with y’all. If it is a soup and I am sharing it, it has to be good.

(Photos & recipe by Sarah)

Sarah’s Chicken Tortilla Soup (serves 6-8)
3 T olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 young chicken, separated into parts
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
3 cups water
1 1/2 T cumin
1 T chili powder
1 can sweet corn, 14 oz.
1 can petite diced tomato, 14 oz.
1 lime, sectioned
1 bunch fresh cilantro
salt & pepper to taste
Tortilla chips (optional)
Remove the tail and discard the bag of entrails from the chicken. Cut the chicken into pieces, yielding 2 drumsticks, 2 wings, 2 thighs, and 2 breast halves. (Save the carcass for homemade stock!) Remove all excess fat and skin except for the skin on the drumsticks and wings — this adds flavor and keeps the smaller pieces from drying out. Set chicken aside. In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil until it glistens. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook on medium to medium high heat until the onions are almost translucent, then add the diced garlic. As garlic begins to brown, add chicken broth, water, and chicken pieces. Bring this to a boil and let cook at a slow, rolling boil with the pot’s lid on but cracked open. Let boil 60 minutes or until chicken is almost falling off the bone. Remove chicken pieces onto a plate and debone. Discard bones and set aside shredded chicken meat. To the stock mixture left in the pot, add cumin, chili powder, sweet corn, tomatoes, and more salt and pepper (if needed). Bring back to a boil, turn heat down to medium low, and let simmer for another 45 minutes with the lid cracked. After 45 minutes have passed, add the shredded chicken back, stir well, and cook another 10 minutes or until the chicken is heated through. Remove soup from heat. Rough chop the bunch of fresh cilantro and cut the lime into several wedges. Serve each bowl with fresh cilantro and fresh lime. Garnish with tortilla chips if desired.

Californication (or, I can’t think of a better title)

This weekend, I had the absolute pleasure of dishing out my Southern hospitality and hosting Bess and her friend Jen, visiting Texas from California!

I’m fairly certain this picture sums up the weekend, as Bess and Jen are vegans and I am basically a tyrannosaurus rex.

We had a great time exploring Austin, including taking them to Mecca (ie, the Whole Foods flagship store). We BYOB’d at Somnio’s, went for drinks at Whip In, and Sunday after church I took the gals to the top of Mt. Bonnell for a unique view of the city.

After Mt. Bonnell, we had amazing food at one of my favorite Austin restaurants, Mother’s Cafe, and then spent the afternoon napping, watching Sex and the City, and I baked more bagels. We may have ventured out in search of cowboys but that ended disastrously so we just ate Cinnaholic vegan cinnamon rolls that Bess sent me all the way from San Francisco!

I dared to teach Bess knife skills and Jen made us a delicious vegan stir fry.

Today they’re going to be exploring the campus area while I’m in class and teaching my niños Intermediate Spanish and then I’m sadly taking them to the airport. I seriously had an amazing time hanging out with my imaginary friend Bess, who has now become a real life friend! (Yes, we had never met in person until this weekend but we’ve known each other almost a year through blogs!)

What did y’all do this weekend? Anyone bake bagels?

my absolute favorite baked good

This is big. There’s no going back from statements like this. Claiming something as my absolute favorite baked good is like asking a musician for a favorite song or band. But seriously, this is my definitive favorite thing that has come out of an oven ever in the history of ovens. For 22 years (or for however long I’ve been eating them) I have loved bagels.

Harris, my best friend, calls me an honorary Jew because, among other reasons, I am obsessed with bagels. In fact, when I told him that I had made bagels from scratch his actual response was, “Stop it you’re so Jewish.” (You can check Facebook if you don’t believe me.)

I just love bagels. LOVE THEM. I don’t discriminate: I love all flavors, all shmears. I will go out of my way to find a good bagel (like walking 20 blocks in NYC looking for just the right one). They take me back to my competitive swimming years when we’d eat them at swim meets. My gym even gives them out for free on the 1st Tuesday of the month. I dream of bagels.

But since moving to Texas, I’ve been sorely disappointed in the bagels. They say bagels from New York are the best (and they are) but it is as if anywhere off the East Coast cannot make a good bagel. Except for chains like Panera and Einstein’s, I have yet to find a passable bagel here in Austin. I don’t think they boil the bagels here. They’re like circular lumps of dry bread.

I searched the Internet far and wide for ideas and recipes and came up with my own, a minimalist type of recipe so all that you taste is the goodness of the bagel. Nothing fancy here, just chewy bagel goodness. And they’re even vegan so I can serve them to Bess when she visits this weekend!

I now plan on baking 50 dozen bagels (of various flavors) and eating my way out of my apartment. I’ll see you when I get out of my bagel coma.

Plain Bagels (makes 6 bagels)
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 T sugar
2/3 cup warm water + extra
1/2 T vegetable oil
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour
In the bottom of your mixer bowl, combine 2/3 cup water, sugar, and yeast and let the yeast develop for about 5 minutes. Add in flour, vegetable oil, and salt and mix with a dough hook (or by hand) until the dough is elastic and tough. You may need to add in a bit of extra water, but do it little by little. Let the dough sit and rise in a warm place for  20-30 minutes. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead. Cut into 6 equal pieces. Roll each individual piece into a “snake” long enough to wrap around your palm. Dip each end of the dough in water and press together in your palm, forming a circle. Place the formed bagels on a floured board and allow to rise another 20-30 minutes. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a heavy-bottomed pot. When the water is gently boiling, place 2-3 bagels into the water for 1 minute and then flip to boil on the other side for another minute. Remove the bagels, place them on paper towels to take off excess moisture, then place on a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining bagels. Bake in the oven on 425* for 18 minutes, turning them over after 10 minutes. Enjoy!

a pile o’ potato chips

Friends, is there anything better in life than butter melting in a cast iron skillet? Anything?

No. No, there is not.

But once you’ve melted the butter, you can use it to create addictive, delicious Crispy Curried Sweet Potato Chips.

It also gave me a chance to try my darndest not to slice my finger tips off while using my authentic Japanese mandolin slicer. Aren’t they pretty?

Be sure to sprinkle salt on these babies when they’re hot. And try not to eat all of them at once.

Crispy Curried Sweet Potato Chips (makes 3-4 servings)
2-3 medium sweet potatoes, skins washed
3 T butter
1 tsp curry powder
salt & pepper
Using a mandolin slicer or a sharp knife, slice the sweet potatoes as thinly as possible and place in a mixing bowl. Melt butter, curry powder, and a pinch of salt and pepper. When that mixture is melted, pour it onto the sweet potato slices and mix well. Place potato slices evenly on several non-stick baking sheets and place in an oven heated to 425*. Bake the chips for 12-15 minutes, longer if your slices are thicker. Stir the chips as they bake, at least once, to ensure even baking. Take out of the oven, sprinkle with salt, and transfer to a plate to cool. Go crazy.

be still my heart

It’s getting serious.

I think we’re in love.

birthday cake

Happy birthday, An Epic Change! Today was the 1st birthday of my blog and I had some fun things planned to celebrate.

No birthday is complete without a birthday cake, and in my family that means one thing: German Chocolate Cake. This recipe is as old as sin and I’ve eaten this cake so many times in my life. Help yourself to a little cake and I hope y’all will stick around for whatever the next year of An Epic Change will bring.

Rereading what I wrote one year ago is so interesting to me — so much has changed since then, the name of the blog included! Who knew a year ago where this would have taken me? I had no idea, I just had things to say.

I’ve grown as a person, a writer, and a chef and I feel incredible for it. Having my readers means so much to me. I cannot express how much I truly love each and every one of y’all for the simple fact that you’re willing to spend a little time with me each week and read what I have to say. I get so emotional when I think of the people I’ve come to know, the opportunities I’ve gotten, and the mere fact that people care about what I have to say. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sticking with me!

Now let’s eat some cake.

There’s a new sheriff in town. I just bought this mixer with some of the money from winning a prize from my sponsor, Foodbuzz, and Wendy’s, for writing this post. I just found out on Monday and thought my blog deserved a birthday present. Again, I cannot believe where this blog has taken me!

German Chocolate Cake Icing
1 German chocolate cake, prepared as directed (I used boxed)
1 cup evaporated milk
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
Prepare German chocolate cake as directed on box, either in a 13×9 or 2 9 inch cake rounds. Set aside and allow to cool. In a sauce pan over medium heat, mix evaporated milk, butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent scalding. Stir in coconut and pecans and remove from heat. Allow to cool to room temperature and thicken more, about 2 hours. Spread over cake and enjoy!

important facts about my life, vol. 2

Miss the first installment of random facts about me? Check it out here. And now, here’s more trivia about me. Isn’t getting to know each other fun?

I grew up in a one-story house so I now have coordination issues walking down the stairs early in the morning.

I, in fact, did not infect Argentina with H1N1.

I have a serious fear of taking the first step onto an escalator and it takes me a few tries.

While viewing a reenactment of the shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone, AZ, I found my role model.

I named my iPod “The Titanic” so when I plug it into my computer, it says “iTunes is now synching The Titanic”.

Growing up, I used to take apart my food and eat the parts separately. I sometimes still do.

The night before my college graduation, my friends and used industrial cooling racks to climb onto the roof of the dining hall.

I hate celery.

What the heck is a lentil, anyways?

Several months ago, I bought a small package of lentils from the bulk section of my favorite local grocery store (HEB is the greatest, y’all). I attempted once to cook a small serving according to directions I Googled and they were still hard as pebbles when I tried to eat them. Discouraged, I let them sit in the back of my pantry.

This weekend, I was reorganizing said pantry upon my return to Texas from the holidays and I stumbled upon the package. I looked at the lentils long and hard and was forced to ask myself this question: What the heck is a lentil, anyways?

My good buddy Wikipedia informed me that lentils are, in fact, a type of pulse. Well, daggummit! How did I not know that?

Wait… what is a pulse? Turns out I know very little about food, but I continued to read and then discovered that lentils are legumes… so, to me, they’re beans. I’m sure chefs everywhere are cringing at my logic.

Because of my rather challenging history with cooking lentils I searched away and found out that I could cook them in a rice cooker on the “standard cycle”. Well my hand-me-down rice cooker (thanks, Mary!!)  only has one cycle, so I poured in a cup of lentils and 2 cups of water and 1 cycle later, they were plump and hydrated. But now what? What do you do with lentils? (And remember: I don’t really like soup.)

Since I conceptualize lentils as beans, I decided to stew them much like I would stew black beans. I did learn a thing or two when I lived in Mexico for a summer and I love to throw beans in a pot with some spices and let them simmer. The end result turned out delicious and pretty similar to how I like my black beans.

Oh and I recently gave Trevor his pretty, red Dutch oven back that I appropriated for blogging purposes because I got a great deal on my very own Dutch oven! I’m the proud new parent of a “café brown” 6 qt oven from Lodge — I really like it so far!

Spicy Stewed Lentils (serves 4-6)
3 cups cooked lentils (about 1 heaping cup uncooked)
1/2 large white onion, diced
2 cups water
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or less if you don’t want it as spicy!)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp cumin
olive oil
salt & pepper
In a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, heat a splash of olive oil until it glistens on medium-high heat then add in diced onions with some salt. After a few minutes, the onions will be tender. Add in the lentils, water, and spices. Stir well and turn the heat down to medium for 5 minutes, then to medium-low. Cover and let simmer for 30-40 minutes. Remove lentils from liquid with slotted spoon and serve! This makes a great, healthy side dish.