French Apple Cake

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Don’t fret…still cleansing. But all this cleansing frees up all the time we’d spend eatingcookingeatingcooking with time for blogging. Texas may be bigger than France, but what they lack in size they make up for in pastry proficiency. I spotted this recipe last weekend and was immediately drawn to a non-pie recipe for Fall’s favorite fruit! A friend’s birthday was the perfect occasion to give this recipe a whirl in the HungryTexans test kitchen.

Weeknight baking begets little time for lots of ingredient scrutiny — without fail I’m missing something and on weeknights seldom have the time or energy to make that second & third trip to the store for the [INSERT MISSING INGREDIENT DU JOUR]. Per usual, couple substitutions from the orig, below’s this HungryTexan’s spin on Cook’s Illustrated’s French Apple Cake.

4 granny smith apples, cut into 8 wedges and the sliced 1/8 thick

A healthy pour of vanilla

1/2 tsp vinegar (no lemons on hand)

1 cup + 2 tbl flour

1 cup + 1 tbl sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg + 2 egg yolks

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup whole milk

The best trick of this recipe was — zap your apples before you bake ’em! Microwaving them first makes sure their tender, but not mushy. Quick 3 minutes in a glass pie plate. Let them cool and pour in the vanilla & vinegar.

While those babies relax, get your liquids whisking in your stand mixer. Start with the oil, milk, and large egg. In a separate bowl, whisk together 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder & salt. Add the dry to the liquid and whiskwhiskwhisk.

Remove a cup of the batter and set it aside. Then add two egg yolks to your main mixture. Once that’s all wonderful looking, gently fold in your apples. Pour the extra two tablespoons of flour into the mix you set aside.

Assemble your baking dish — I used a springform round pan and covered the bottom with parchment paper. Pour the apple mixture in first — make sure you have a nice healthy layer of evenly-distributed apples. Then, you can add the mixture you set aside on top. Look at you! Double layered, you’re doing great.

Sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar over the top and pop in the oven at 325 for oh…45 to an hour until it passes the toothpick test. When we sliced it the next day, it definitely passed everyone’s tastebud test! Custard meets cake meets apply yumyums! Plus, it’s the kind of cake you can eat unabashedly with your bare hands. Extra bonus, it’ll make your house full of boys smell like a well-kept home for 3 whole days.

Thirsty Texans

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thought we couldn’t get hungrier?  just you wait.  for the next 3 days, we’re juicin’ baby.  that’s right- goodbye, cheese grits & sweet potatoes.  hello, coconut water & kale juice.

we bought a 3-day juice cleanse from Khepra’s Raw Bar and we’re holding each other to it!

stay tuned for our thoughts &  feelings about juice, as well as some sure-to-be-tasty fast-breaking meals.

 

thirstily yours,

hungrytexans

 

football season: oven roasted jalapeno poppers

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just as there are different types of texas girls, boston boys come in all shapes, sizes, and levels of football addiction.  i happen to have found one with an overwhelming addiction to the patriots- so I know that one sacred time each week, he’ll be watching football and i’ll be dreaming of NFL strikes.  just kidding, it’s not that bad.  in fact, i could actually glue myself to a couch once a week…as long as i have these jalapeno poppers to keep me company.   they’re stuffed with goat cheese and neufetchal cheese and baked in the oven so you’ll get all the pop with a fraction of the fat.

 

you’ll need:

10 jalapeno peppers

3 tbs neufetchal cheese

5 tbs goat cheese

2 tbs non-fat sour cream

1/8 cup diced red onion (or chives, but i was using red onion for something else that night)

2 tbs bread crumbs

1 tbs olive oil

 

Start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees.  Slice each jalapeno in half and remove the stems and seeds

(if you love spicy, leave a bit of this in).

In a bowl, mix together the neufetchal cheese, the goat cheese, and the sour cream.  When it’s smooth, add the chopped onion.

Using a spoon, carefully stuff each jalapeno boat with the cheese mixture.

Sprinkle bread crumbs on top for crunch, drizzle the whole thing in olive oil.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until they are golden brown on the top.

Then, plop down on the couch, start snacking, and just remember: 4 hours of football earns you at least 3 installments of Real Housewives of Wherever (including WWHL).

green chile & cheddar grits

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hello and welcome to one of my favorite food groups in the whole world.  what?  grits aren’t a food group?  nonsense.  grits are so versatile- they can be sweetened up with a little brown sugar, buttered and cheesed until they’re delectably savory, or (my personal favorite) spiced with green chiles and white cheddar.  and that’s what i did here!  i let these be the base for roasted shrimp, zucchini, corn and brussel sprouts.

 

you’ll need:

1 cup 5-minute grits

2 cups water

2 cups veggie stock

1 tbs salt

3 tbs butter (sorry I’m not sorry)

1 cup shredded white cheddar

1 can hatch green chiles

Green chile tobasco, to taste

 

Ok, this one is easy.   Bring the water and veggie stock to a boil, add your salt, then add your grits and give it a stir.  Reduce your heat to medium-low and cover the pot.  Stir occasionally for 5-7 minutes.  Add  your butter, shredded white cheddar, and green chiles and stir until smooth.  Season with the green chile tobasco and let it simmer for a couple minutes to thicken.  When the grits are at your desired consistency, serve them up!

Here are mine with roasted Old Bay shrimp and balsamic veggies:

And the veggies:

 

happy eating!

xoxo,

hungrytexans

 

chicken salad, two ways

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sometimes i have everything planned for a quick, healthy dinner at home- and then that last minute call comes with the happy hour i can’t refuse, the movie tickets i’ve been wanting, the list is endless.  and it usually ends up with me abandoning ship on dinner.

so maybe i can’t always predict what will happen between quittin’ time and dinner time.  but i can control what i’m eating for lunch.  which is why i try to spend sundays whipping up lunches for the week- a hearty soup that reheats well, turkey-cheese wraps and sliced bell pepper, even just leftover Pho stretched to last until Thursday.  and if something is delicious, i can eat it for days- no variety necessary.  but this afternoon, i thought i would mix things up, so i made two chicken salads to keep me satisfied through the week.  one curried chicken salad with golden raisins and another lemon-thyme chicken salad with feta and raw corn.  both delicious.  both healthy.  both recipes (and gifs!) follow:

 

for the curried chicken salad, you’ll need:

2 chicken breasts

2 tbs curry powder (divided)

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1 tbs non-fat mayo (you could sub greek yogurt here, but i didn’t want to)

1 tbs non-fat sour cream


season the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and one tablespoon of the curry powder.  grill for about 4 minutes on each side, or until they are done.  chop the chicken breast into rough cubes and add the chopped onion, golden raisins, curry powder, mayo & sour cream.  mix until combined and pop it into the fridge until you’re ready for lunch!

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for the lemon-thyme chicken salad, you’ll need:

2 chicken breasts

6-8 sprigs of tyme

1 lemon

1/4 cup red onion

1/2 cup raw or grilled corn (i did a mixture of both!)

1/4 cup feta cheese

just like the curried chicken salad, start by seasoning the chicken breasts (i used thyme and lemon zest) and grilling them.  i also threw an ear of corn on the grill.  chop the chicken breast into cubes and add the red onion, corn, feta, mayo, sour cream, and a bit more thyme and lemon zest.  mix until combined and munch on it with radicchio, pita chips etc.

Twice-Baked Sweet Po-tay-toes!

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Rich orange autumnal color? Check. Complete protein? Check. Set-it-and-forget-it-esque weeknight dinner? Check.

Carlos planted the seed of this vegetarian delight in my mental recipe book last weekend, and I was quick to try my hand at recreating it! The only regret of this is I made waaaaaaay more than I could eat between cooking ’em on Tuesday & scooting away to the most Magical Place on Earth Thursday night. All you need is this short list of ingredients:

Sweet potatoes (I found itsy-bitsy baby potatoes at Capital Supermarket, and baked way too many)

1 container of nonfat greek yogurt

1 lime

2 cans of black beans (drained)

1 can of corn (drained)

your favorite mix of yummy spices! I did a to-taste mix of cumin, healthy amounts of salt, & pepper

queso fresco at whatever quantities you fancy!

avocado for garnish

Coat your potatoes with a nice olive oil rub, wrap them in aluminum foil, and pop ’em in the oven at 400. Take the hour they’ll take to bake and treat yo’self to some R&R (I did an embarrassing little circuit workout on a yoga mat in my living room). Once your potatoes are soft to a poke, pop ’em out of the oven, and brace your hands for a literal game of hot potato. This HungryTexan is neither patient enough to wait for said potatoes to cool or been cooking for as many years as many Southern grandmothers who can pickup a hot baked potato without flenching. I unwrapped my potatoes, sliced them in half (hot-dog-style), and proceeded to wince in pain from the extreme potato heat as I did my best to scoop each potato’s contents into a big bowl while doing my best not to completely mangle the delicate skins (note: some potato skins were harmed beyond repair in the making of this dish).

Once you’ve scooped all your taters into a big bowl, dump in the greek yogurt, and squeeze that lime (faux-sour cream: ‘das it, ‘das it). Mix it all together, add your spices to taste, and then dump in your drained black beans and corn to the mix. Here’s where I started nibbling (such a yummy flavor combo!).

Scoop your mix into each potato skin (don’t worry, your potato shouldn’t runneth over, so load ’em up high!). Sprinkle your desired amount of queso fresco. Pop ’em back in the oven (still at 400 — so convenient!) and bake ’em for another 15-20 minutes or until they seem sufficiently “twice-baked”.

Slice an avocado on top and badabing, there you have a full-protein, complex-carb meal. Also worth noting, since I admittedly made waaaaaay too many of these little guys for just one HungryTexan — I took them to work for lunch and they were good as new with a one minute zap. Also…spoiler alert and a preview of coming attractions: since I had so much potato mix leftover, I made some potato patties and popped ’em in the freezer. I’m going to try pan-frying some latke-esque sweet potato/southwestern pancakes next week!

brussels sprouts with roasted chicken

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you’ll notice that this recipe is for brussels sprouts with roasted chicken on the side.  that’s because, no matter how hard i try, i can’t manage to get these sprouts to step out of the spotlight.  so, i give up.  you can be the star, little sprouts.  try adding a little crunch with toasted pumpkin seeds or walnuts.

For the Sprouts:

1lb Brussels Sprouts

1/2 Small Red onion, sliced

3 cloves garlic

1 tbs balsamic vinegar

3 tbs maple syrup

 For the Chicken:

2 breasts and 2 wings (or any part of the chicken you like)

10 sprigs fresh thyme

1/2 lemon

preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

rinse the brussels sprouts and chop the stems off of each one.  then cut them in half (this makes the inside really crispy).

in a heavy cast iron skillet, heat 2 tbs of olive oil and add the sliced red onion.  let these swim around for about 3 minutes, then add the garlic.  scoot the onions and garlic to the edges of the skillet and add your brussels sprouts.  try to get them face down so that the flat side gets good and brown.  then- don’t touch them!

about 1/2 a glass of wine or bourbon later, give your sprouts a good stir, season with s&p, and drizzle the balsamic and maple syrup over the whole thing.  be sure to use a good maple syrup, of course.  brussell sprouts are like little sponges, so if you roast them with good ingredients, they’ll really shine.  If you’d like to, season a couple chicken breasts (we did wings & breasts) with salt, pepper & thyme.

Add them to the brussels sprouts, skin side down, and let them sizzle for about 5 minutes.  then, pop these babies into the hot oven and let them roast for approx 20 minutes or 1/3 of an episode of The Wire.  

Easy enough?  Absolutely.  Leftovers?  Not in a million years.

xoxo,

hungrytexans

chicken mole tacos

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The long story of this recipe is that it was really an attempt to recreate the most amazing chicken tacos from a little place in Houston called 100% Taquito.  I know, I know, the name is bad.  The name actually kept me from trying it out for many years.  But once I had their chicken mole tacos, I was 100% converted.  Making these tacos cured my tastebuds’ homesickness, if only for the day.  Which is a great thing. The short story is that they’re delicious, and you should make them.

you’ll need:

1 roasted (or poached) chicken
3 tbs mole paste
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 cup chicken stock
2 cups monterrey jack cheese
Flour tortillas (buy these fresh or make your own!)

to garnish:
cilantro, lime, sliced radish, avocado, pico de gallo, etc etc.

What you’ll do:
I started with a two-pound roasted chicken from whole foods.  I think that next time I make these tacos, I’ll roast my own chicken, rubbed in mole paste.  But this time, I was hungry and feeling crummy, so I skipped that step.  I pulled the entire chicken from the bone using two forks.

I bought a homemade mole sauce from a mexican market on 11th street- it conveniently came with zero instructions and it resembled more of a paste than a sauce, so I improvised!  In a saucepan, I heated two tablespoons of vegetable oil and started adding the mole paste/sauce (three tbs in all).  I added about 1 cup of chicken stock (if you poached your chicken, the stock would come in handy here) and watched in awe as the sauce came together.   Once the sauce was reconstituted and tasted y-u-m, i added the shredded chicken.  Easy! To assemble, heat up two flour tortillas, layer a scoop of chicken on top of a small mountain of jack cheese, and let the whole thing melt together in a pan.  I garnish with lots of lime, radish, cilantro, and avocado.   The end.   Love, Hungry Texans

Coconut & Lentil & SplitPea Soup

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Have you picked up on a theme yet? You’ll soon notice a defining characteristic of these HungryTexans is our genetic inability to handle the cold. That’s right, despite three years in the Indiana tundra and a collective 7-years in DC (that’s right…it’s North of the Mason-Dixon line, so we’re allowed our “brrrrrrrrs!”), we continue to wear flats when it’s snowing, layer tights under our jorts, and frequently end up with icicle-locks (whitegrlwethair-lifestyle!).

Despite our inability to live/dress/work in the cold, we do our best to cook for it. Inspired by Liz’s mushroom soup and a craving for something hearty and home cooked (I spent the weekend eating at some charming chains in KCMO), I remembered this Coconut/Lentil/SplitPea Soup I’d made once upon a Texas winter.

My biggest fear when prepping this relatively simple soup was that the entire house would smell like an Indian restaurant. This is what happened the last time I toasted curry, and my fam didn’t let me hear the end of it! Thankfully, my curry toasting this time yielded an oh, so fragrant smell that warmed the house. Throw in the scent of simmering coconut milk, get ovah’ it! Yumyumyum!

Another one borrowed from one of my favorite blogs, 101Cookbooks:

1 cup / 7 oz / 200g yellow split peas
1 cup 7 oz / 200g red split lentils (masoor dal)
7 cups / 1.6 liters water
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 tablespoons fresh peeled and minced ginger
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons butter or ghee
8 green onions (scallions), thinly sliced
1/3 cup / 1.5 oz / 45g golden raisins
1/3 / 80 ml cup tomato paste
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
one small handful cilantro, chopped

It’s pretty simple, so here are the cliff notes:

  1. Combine Split Peas/Lentils & 7 cups of water — bring to a boil!
  2. Add the carrot & 1/2 of your ginger (keep them simmering until they’re soft!) + start your salting.
  3. Toast your curry powder (be careful not to burn it!)
  4. Melt your butter in the pan and add all of the following goodness — curry powder, tomato paste, scallions, raisins & tomato paste
  5. Add your flavorful buttery mixture to the Split Peas & Lentils
  6. Pour in the coconut milk
  7. Let those flavors groove together for 10-15 minutes on low heat
  8. Serve sprinkled with cilantro and scallions

Mmmm, mmmm….good!

xo,

HungryTexans

creamy mushroom-thyme soup

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today was below 60° – in texas, we call this “winter.”  but no matter where you’re living, these chilly days are perfect soup weather.  i’ve been waiting for my new emulsion blender to ship, but i couldn’t put this mushroom soup off any longer!

it turned out to be oh-so-yummy and super simple.  mushrooms are one of my favorite ingredients- so unapologetically earthy and beautiful.  i made a little brie & arugula grilled cheese to dip.  grilled cheese & soup?  fugetaboutit.

recipe!

 

you’ll need:

1 1/2 pounds of mushrooms (I used white button, baby bella & shitake)

1 medium red onion

2 cloves garlic

3 tbs unsalted butter

2 sprigs thyme

pinch nutmeg

1/4 cup dry white wine or sherry

2 cups stock (veggie or chicken, whatever you have on hand.)

2 cups milk (or cream or half & half)

 

What you’ll do:

heat a large pan and add 1 tablespoon of butter.  add the sliced red onion and saute until they are soft, then add 2 tablespoons of butter and saute the sliced mushrooms until they are soft and happy.  season with the sprigs of thyme, a splash of dry white wine, and salt & pepper.  I also threw in a pinch of nutmeg. once the mixture tastes great (let your tastebuds decide!), transfer to a blender (or if your emulsion blender has arrived, use that guy).  pour in the milk and stock and blend until smooth.  i got the soup back on the stove so it was nice and hot when i was ready to eat.

serve this soup with a bit of olive oil drizzled on top, and a yummy dipper on the side.  i did a grilled brie & arugula sammy.

easy, delicious, & enough for lunch leftovers all week!

 

happy sunday 🙂

hungrytexans