When we bought a house in the burbs two years ago, I REALLY REALLY missed living in San Francisco. It was extremely hard to not have access to all of the awesome restaurants, museums, shops, markets, and of course–my friends! It also was hard getting used to the fact that everything around here closes so damn early.

One of the many pros of living in the ‘burbs is that I have a neighbor who spends most of her day tending to her garden. She grows TONS of veggies & fruits and leaves us bags of her latest harvest in our side yard.

Yesterday I found a large bag filled with apples just waiting for me to pillage! What perfect timing…I was just pining over autumnal dessert recipes while resting on the couch!!!!

So last night I made an apple crisp for this week’s Project Runway get together!

I started with a recipe from The Joy of Cooking cookbook…then decided to add a oatmeal and walnuts to make it a little more hearty. The good part is that adding those ingredients made more topping- which to me is the BEST part ;)

Apple Crisp:
serves about 8 or 4 REALLY pregnant women

-8 large apples (peeled & chopped into 1 inch pieces)
-10 tablespoons unsalted butter (cut into small cubes)
-1/2 cup rolled oats
-1/2 cup chopped walnuts
-3/4 cup flour
-3/4 cup sugar (lessen amount if the apples are sweet)
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wash, peel & chop apples.
Line the bottom of an oven proof baking dish with them.

2. Mix all of the dry ingredients together. Add cubes of butter and with a pastry cutter (two knives will work if you don’t have one), cut the butter into the flour mixture until you have chunky crumbs. Add the walnuts and coat them thoroughly with the mixture.

3. Spread crumb mixture on top of apples. Put in the lower 1/3 of your oven and bake 50-55 minutes until crisp is brown and the apples are bubbling.

Take the crisp out of oven and let it rest for a bit. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Oh HOLY YUM!!

I even had some for breakfast this morning!

Now get up and make some! You won’t regret it!

This is your mom speaking. You are due to arrive in give-or-take 3 weeks!!! Yikes. I am equally prepared and not prepared for your arrival.

This past weekend I ate almost a whole loaf of challah bread. I am TOTALLY convinced you loved EVERY second of it. Didn’t you? I know I did. How could you not? I felt guilty for 2.5 seconds and then realized that I have a bun (that’s you!) in the oven. A bun who will smile at me one day and be a carb addict just like his momma. So I guess it was worth the sacrifice. You will probably be the child who has eaten half the loaf of french bread before the clerk passes the barcode through the scanner…. Just don’t be that kid who eats all of the bread I was going to serve company! That kid makes mommies unhappy.

Besides the challah fiasco…you also went out to dinner with your grandparents, your dad, and your cousins Elaine & Bruce.

This is what you ate:

your dad shared some of this…so you could experience the last of this season’s heirloom tomatoes:

Your momma kept staring at your dad’s wine glass…thinking IF ONLY IF ONLY. Some day soon I will be able to enjoy a glass of wine…

After this meal at Plump Jack in SF— you kicked, punched and stretched your back inside my tum for 3 hours. WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE? Was that your way of telling me you loved my food choices?

I didn’t get to photograph the fig bread pudding with cinnamon ice cream…or the strawberry gelato….or the mint tea….I hope you understand.

Anyways…the doctor told me that you were a “generous” size. Are you finished browning yet? Are you going for that crispy baked look? Like the edge of macaroni & cheese…or that crispy potato your Uncle Ryan & I used to fight over? I don’t care if you are THAT crispy..just be a little brown and fully cooked in the middle. So when you come out, I will nibble on your cheeks. And maybe your toes…

Thank you for your time. I hope you’ve enjoyed the past 9 months of me being your food “dj” You will be momma’s little foodie.

Love Always,

Yer mom

I parked myself on the couch this morning and watched some quality Food Network TV. I NEEDED to make myself a Turkey Meatloaf sandwich STAT.

The Turkey Meatloaf sandwich with onions, lettuce, ketchup & mustard I dreamed of came to fruition!
Food Fantasy actualized in above picture! Damn that feels good.

So at this point…baby room is about 99% done.

Freezer contains:
-Cornbread
-4 bean burritos
-Turkey Meatloaf
-Chili
-a Loaf of Sourdough Bread

I hope to add:
-Sausage Soup
-Curry Zucchini Soup
-Green Curry with Shrimp
-Banana Bread (or zucchini if I don’t get around to the soup part)

perhaps by the end of the week?

Thanks for the food suggestions!

I’m around…but I’m nesting! Here’s a little snippet from the bebe room. This goes over his crib ;)
Contemplating all the meals I should make ahead & freeze. Got any ideas?

For all of you that know me…it’s obvious why I wouldn’t like this kitchen right? I am a high contrast- B&W with bold colors type of person. I am not a warm tone….autumn colored person. I consider a panda my “power” animal for obvious reasons- because not only are they cute, but they go with EVERYTHING!

(excuse the mess above…hubby took the picture…right before he took off all the cabinets….he doesn’t have an eye for these things)

and now we have the AFTER!!!!!!

(cute plate purchased over at www.frecklewonder.com–thanks jenny!)

Please believe me when I say that I am an aficionado when it comes to Oatmeal Raisin cookies!!!! I LOVE them!!! They are simply my all-time favorite #1 cookie. I would take one over ANY cookie…ANY day…Well…maybe if you put a huge chewy ginger molasses cookie in my face I might be tempted…

I was flipping through this month’s issue of EVERYDAY FOOD. They have a lot of the side dishes that I marked to try. Not a lot of the main dishes tempted me cuz we don’t eat pork chops in my household. Never have…Never will. The last page was OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES. HOLY SCHNITZEL. They were calling my name! I looked through the recipe and saw that I had EVERYTHING I needed to make them with. How awesome is that? Don’t you love it when that happens?

So below you will find the recipe. It’s really simple & classic. I am amazed that there wasn’t a whole stick of butter because they taste SOOO buttery. YUM. I confess that I prolly ate about 10 of them. What can I say? My baby likes them too. He gets that from his momma. I hope you try these because I know they will be a hit for you! Next time I might add some nuts to see how it goes.

Happy cookie making!
xoxoxo

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Recipe- from EVERYDAY FOOD

-1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
-1/2 cup all purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
-1/2 cup raisins
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1/2 teaspoon salt (i actually made it 1 whole teaspoon because I love sweet/salty cookies)
-6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
-1/2 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
-1/4 cup granulated sugar
-1 large egg
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl whisk together oats, flour, raisins, baking soda and salt; set aside. Using an electric mixers, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add egg and vanilla. Beat until combined. Gradually add oat mixture; beat just until combined.

2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies are golden brown but still soft. (12-16 minutes) Cool for 5 minutes on the sheet; transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe makes about 24.