Treats from the Tipsy Turtle

 My sister gave me Edna Lewis's fabulous cookbook, The Taste of Country Cooking , for Christmas a few years back. It's exactly the kind of cookbook I love with tried and true recipes from the author along with stories from her youth. Her applesauce recipe is so simple but it quickly became a family favorite. Today's cast! Granny Smith apples are great in applesauce; they are good for cooking and they have a nice tartness taht my family likes. This is the hardest part of the recipe; peeling, coring and slicing the apples. I cut them into fourths, remove the core, then cut each fourth in half. Then I peel each slice. I find it easier to peel thin slices more efficiently. By the time I was halfway through the batch, I was thinking longingly of the apple corer/peeler that is hopefully packed up with the rest of my kitchen stuff. The apple slices go into a large saucepan with a lid. Sugar and a pinch of salt are added, the pan is covered and cooked at medium heat for 10 minutes....

 Once upon a time we were supposed to be moving back into our house at the end of September. For a variety of reasons, that did not happen. To commemorate the return home (even though it hasn't happened yet), my sister sent us a kit from Xi'an Famous Foods via Goldbelly (a really cool food delivery service). The kit contained all the ingredients needed to make their famous hot-oil seared noodles--including the noodle dough that had to be stretched and torn. It was so humid today and me, and dough...let's just say I approached the task with a certain amount of trepidation. Today's cast--it's super important that everything is laid out and ready--including the utensils and pots you want to use. Once things got going, it went rapidly. The noodle dough had a nice feel to it; smooth and elastic and actually kind of oily. You grab each end, making sure not to pinch it too hard. Then you gently stretch it out. When it's about shoulder width long, you gently pull while ...

Energy bars are a family favorite. They're convenient, easily modifiable and as my daughter stated, "easy to eat with one hand." When you have a toddler and newborn, that's a definite plus. Chris likes to take them to work but he had to stop taking the commercial ones; when you work in an elementary school, nut allergies are always a potential issue. So I have been on the lookout for bars that are fiber-rich, easy to eat and nut-free.  Here's today's cast. The recipe is basically an "add everything to the bowl and mix" thing but after I added a lump of raspberry applesauce, I decided to whisk the dry ingredients together first. Then I continued with the rest of the wet ingredients. I lined the dish with parchment paper. I almost forgot the chocolate chips! While I was at it, I threw in a handful of dried cranberries. To keep the parchment in place, I put a large dollop in each corner, then filled the rest of the dish. I used a spatula to press the mi...

 Nadiya Hussain is one of the few Great British Bake-Off winners/contestants that I actively follow. I enjoyed her Netflix special "Time to Eat" and I like the way she uses shortcuts to create satisfying meals for her young family. My family's not young, but I like shortcuts and they like satisfying meals, so here we go. Here's tonight's cast. The eggs were beaten with a bit of salt, pepper and garlic powder. I added a glug of heavy cream. I was looking for a sun-dried tomato paste to spread on the tortillas but found this instead. A bit chunky for my purposes but it was quite tasty. I could have thrown it in the blender for a quick puree, but I didn't feel like it. So there. The sun-dried tomatoes were spread onto the tortillas and put aside for a bit. I heated avocado oil in a small pan. Just enough egg mixture is added to cover the bottom of the pan. Then the toppings were added. I used baby bellos, cheddar cheese and chopped parsley. The tortilla was place...

I am not sure what attracted me to this recipe. Maybe it's because I had a bunch of tortillas to use up. Maybe it's my continued desire to see if I can get things out of a Bundt pan. Hmmm. I don't even remember what I was originally looking for when I came across this, but, here we go. Here's tonight's cast. The recipe didn't call for cilantro but I had some and thought I'd use it. I ended up putting it into a bean dip instead. Chopped onion was added to a hot skillet with a tablespoon of avocado oil. When the onions were nice and brown, the chopped red bell pepper and half a jalapeño pepper were added. When the peppers were softened, the ground beef was added. And when the ground beef was nearly cooked through, the packet of taco seasoning and the juice of one lime were stirred in. Once the ingredients were nicely incorporated, I removed the skillet from the stove and let it sit for a little bit to thicken up and cool.  The tortillas were sliced like so. Th...