Basic Dinner...but Lovely Dessert....

Alas....our apple streak ended here for the week...as we ended up with pretty much "Dinner: 101" last night:) .... 

Our main dish was a new one for us:  Honey-Mustard Sesame Chicken.  I got all of the ingredients ready to coat the chicken, including the homemade honey mustard....

Made from Pine Barrens (aka-Jersey Devil Territory!) Honey;)....

And coated them in the yummy panko/sesame seed mix...I LOVE sesame seeds!

The coating was nice & crispy and subtly sweet for some reason...so the leftover 'dipping' honey mustard gave this dish a nice ZIP from the Dijon mustard...yum!  Scott LOVED the homemade honey mustard!

Anddd....we had some basic, but beloved, sides:  Baked Sweet Potato & Roasted Baby Broccoli (ok...maybe a little TOO roasted;) hahahahahaha....

I love, love, LOVE that "baked potato" season is upon us!  Remember my baked potato haiku?? ;)

And despite our "basic" dinner, dessert was a LOT more fun, as I finally gathered up all my ingredients to make a mini-Mount Vesuvius:)

The malted powder IS essential.....all I was missing was the Reddi-Whip!

YUM!  The jarred Franklin Fudge tasted just as good as the live & in-person version!  Super thick & mega chocolate-y!  THIS shall hold me over till we make it back to the Franklin Fountain:).... 

JUST. SO. GOOD! :)

Ok...so apples are going to be on hold for ONE more day, as I had to bust out the big guns in comfort food for tonight's dinner!  It has been ONE. GLOOMY. DAY!  I am just ready to curl up on the couch and eat cornbread (ahhh...a hint! :)

Have a good night! :)

That's it, I've had enough....

Humidity, be damned!  I don't care if your rearing your ugly head, turning my hair into Snooki-like proportions!  After nearly an entire day of dark & dreary skies and on & off rain, my soup 'hold-off till it's cool' could wait no longer and damn it: Soup was had! :) hahahhahahahahah....

....rightttttt around the time the skies parted and the sun shone for the first time all day....but let's not go there;)

And if you were quacking in your boots, worried whether apples were involved in last night's dinner as well...Never fear: OF COURSE THEY WERE! :)   All with a little help from Apple Cheddar Soup. 

FIRST:  The healthy ingredients... 

• Onion
• Butternut Squash
• Apple
• Potato

 And then, the decadent ingredients:

I crisped up 2 slices of prosciutto in a dry skillet (no need for that added 2 tablespoons of butter) and found this cheese at the Trader Joe's.  I figured "lite" cheese wasn't a bad idea since you used soo much of it for the recipe:

Tasted fine to me....I couldn't really taste any difference.  Maybe it helped that it was CELTIC cheese;)

After everything bubbled & boiled together...into the blender it went:

All to emerge as a pure waterfall of squash, apple & sage:)

After reading a few of the reviews, I made sure to add extra sage for added flavor and tasted as I went to add enough salt to give it a boost.....

 And came out with a wonderful bowl of savory & just a little bit sweet soup!  And the crispy proscuitto crumbles are oh-so-necessary!  They gave it just enough of a little salty KICK!  A little goes a long way:)

And soup has now just become our excuse to get another little Pretzel Demi...

How could you NOT?  Pretzels and cheese just BELONG together:)

Perfect for dipping:) 

YUM!!!  Loved, loved this soup!!  (And I'm sure I'll like it even better once this humidity flies south for the winter;) hahahhahahhahhaa....

For dessert...mmmmmmmmmmm....I cracked into one of the brownies I got from the "Fat Witch"...

Which witch???  

Well, a Caramel Witch:)

Mmmmmmmmmmm.....smooooth chocolate brownie with a soft layer of sweet caramel stuffed inside....just outstanding:)  So much better than I even thought it was going to be!  Good thing I saved more for another day....it was too yummy!

So now that I ended up posting this SUPER late...it's already time to me to go make TONIGHT'S dinner;) hahahahhahaha....Hope you have/had a good Wednesday! 

And speaking of Wednesday....is anyone watching "Hell's Kitchen" this year??  Does anyone think that Raj & Sabrina are actors?????  They just seem SOOOOOOOOOOOOO over the top!  But who knows....there are a boat load of crazies out there;)

Autumn Salad....

Wowwww...it got dreary in Jersey!  Can't complain after nearly 4 straight months of sunshine...but MAN, is this rain a bummer!  I couldn't even get my usual "Monday Motivation" to turn off at the exit for the gym last night.  All I wanted to do was curl up in PJ's and eat soup.....that is if it was 400% humidity out!  BLEH!

OK, enough complaining!  At least dinner was a delicious one (even if it wasn't the warm soup that I wished was 'appropraite';)  Instead, we put MORE apples to use and made the quintessential Autumn Salad with Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette...yum!!!!

The first layer was spinach, lettuce, red onion and a drizzle of the Maple dressing.  The great thing about this dressing is: you really only need a little bit.  It's pretty strong with the maple & mustard flavors that it really spreads the flavors around well.....

And next:  The good stuff!  The salad was topped with:

• Sliced Apple
• A sprinkle of cheddar cheese
• Crumbled TJ's bacon
• Brown Sugar Pecans (ughhh...too good to skip:)
• Craisins

JUST SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good!  The salad looked like that pretty spoked wheel for all of the snap of the camera before I got to choppin' and devoured that baby!  The smoke of the bacon, the sweet crunch of the apples, the tangy craisins, the sweet and savory maple dressing & the LOVELY decadence of the brown sugar pecans just can't be beat for all your Fall flavors:)  I have a feeling Monday will be graced with a LOT of these salads:)...

And in OTHER apple news....I started off my day yesterday with one of my Hungry Girl Chunky Apple-Cinnamon Muffins.  These really are the best low-cal muffins I've ever made/tasted.  They're SUPER moist and ya gotta love ANY muffin with a cinnamon topping:)

Buttttt...don't think ANOTHER Fall flavor wasn't too far from my mind;)  I FINALLY found the elusive Pumpkin Coffeemate!!!!!  (still shocked it to me THIS long)....a little of this mixed with a little US Vanilla Almond Milk & some Pumpkin Spice coffee = One Awesome and SPICY way to start the day:) hahahahahaha....

And in non-Apple news....as part of my lunch yesterday, along with an Apple & Cinnamon Peanut Butter (ok, I had to sneak one in there again:)....I tried one of the new Chocolate Chip Brownie Larabars.....

Ok....I thought the Peanut Butter chocolate chip was good.  And THEN I thought the Chocolate Chip Cookie DOUGH could NOT be beat....but this one, my friends, Oh my God...was OUT OF THIS WORLDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!  Smoothhhh and sweetttt and just...WOW!  Run, do not walk, to the store to try these!  It was awessoomeeee!  

OK...and in non-food news entirely....I must show you the fruits of my 'gardening labor' thus far!  I'm so impressed that NOT ONLY have they not turned into shriveled brown stems, BUT they are actually THRIVING!!!  Maybe I have some green thumbs after all!!

OK...let's not get too crazy...maybe I just have some green thumbTIPS.  And for plants that ONLY need watering;) hahahahahhahahahah...

But anyway, they cheer me up when I come home and I thought they would cheer you up if you were also having a gloomy Tuesday like Jersey is!  Yesshhhh...hope you have a good day!  (& PS-more apples in the forecast for tonight's dinner;)  Stay tuned:)

Apple Day...

It was with some tentative steps that I walked out of my bedroom yesterday morning just PRAYING I would step outside and it would finally be COOLER out.  An thankfully, I was met with a nice September morning chill in the air!  NICE!!!!!  And PERFFFFFFFFFFECT for our Sunday morning "Fall" activity: Apple Picking! :)  We headed for Terhune Orchard in Princeton, NJ and made a beeline for their cute little farm market....

Because the sure fire way I can ALWAYS get Scott to agree to Apple picking is that it is the perfect excuse for....

An Apple Cider donut breakfast! :)  Yum!!! :)

We look forward to these every year!  They are just the perfect little Fall treat of Cinnamon & Sugar:)

Next, we headed off to the orchard...armed with our map of what apples were prime for picking....

And got down to the serious task of quality control to make sure we were picking some winners;)

That's what orchards are for, no????

Then we got to pickin some Red Delicious, McIntosh, Macons, Jonathan, Empire & Fuji apples....

We usually make it to the orchard a lot later in the season (last year, it was the week of Halloween:), so we were pretty happy at the amount of boulders HUGE apples we found!

And it was just so nice because we went first thing in the morning when hardly anyone was around and it was just so nice & peaceful...

...but as soon as we heard the tractor pullin around a packed wagon full of folks, we grabbed our nearly-full bags and booked on out of there;) hahahahahahhaha....

Think we got enough?????

We even made an effort to be organized and try to keep each variety in order...well, at least we tried to anyways;)  hahahahahaha.....

And then I went into whipping up baked apple treats for the next...hmmmm....3 hours or so:)  hahahahaha...I was ALMOST too tired to make dinner.  Almost;)

Yesterday turned into more PURE FALL COMFORT FOOD...with a little kiss of fresh apple...:)

The apple coming from my quite unphotogenic Pork Chops with Scalloped Apples....

The apples were JUST sweet enough to go with the seasoned pork...soooo good (even if it wasn't the prettiest:)

And as soon as I spied this side dish, I knewwwwwwww Scott was going to love it hook, line & sinker! :)  You started by sauteing 1 diced onion & 5 diced scallions in a hot pan...and then adding 5 cups of frozen hash browns.  I've NEVER bought these before, but I think Scott will now be a fan since he LOVES hash browns:)

After you get the 'browns...well, brown & crispy....you top them with some (low fat) shredded cheddar cheese.....

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...talk about warm & cozy!

We loved, loved, loved these...although, that's not really that hard to imagine!  Potatoes + Cheese = Yes, please!! :)  A perfect compliment to the sweet/salty pork chops!

And speaking of sweet & salty...how 'bout THIS one to tie everything together....SPICED squash with Brown Sugar Glaze....oh heavens!

Not gonna lie...making this was a TOTAL pain.  I mean...a little more work than normal for a side dish....

HOWEVER, they were indeed worth the effort!  The squash was super tender and filled with warm spices from my much-neglected Chinese 5 spice powder and the sweetness of the brown sugar glaze.  this was just TO DIE FOR and is soooooooooo going to be a side dish staple all throughout the Fall/Winter! 

This was one of those meals where we just kept saying "ohh...the squash is so good"...."oh, the pork chops are so good"...."THESE POTATOES ARE SO GOOD!"  hahahahaha...can't beat those kinda meals, huh??? 

And for dessert we cracked into ONE of the treats I made (I'll share more with you tomorrow!)....are you ready for this one???

A Bacon-Crumble Apple Pie!   If this is wrong, I don't want to be right! :) 

I made a few swaps to make this one a TAD on the 'lighter' end of the spectrum;)  I used:

• 2 slices of Trader Joe's bacon, rather than a half a pound
• Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese
• And my no-fail Weight Watchers Pie Crust Recipe:
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 tsp. apple-cider vinegar
• 4 Tbsp. ice water
• 1 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

I pulse all of the dry ingredients together in the food processor.  Add the oil & butter and pulse until the dough forms crumbs.  Then mix the water & apple cider vinegar together and pour in the chute while the processor is on low and allow to mix until the dough is just formed.  Then you flatten into a disk and refrigerate for a half hour. 
This seriously couldn't be an easier crust to throw together!  You could mix it by hand as well, but the food processor just makes it ridiculously easy...and the dough itself is SOOOOOO nice to work with, smooth & not too sticky.  Gotta love that!

OK....have you heard about apples enough yet??  Well, get ready because our whole WEEK is planned around using up our fresh pickins:) hahahahhahaha....maybe it will give you some ideas for your own harvest:)  Stay Tuned & Happy Monday....even if it's a rainy one here:P

Even MORE Philly Fun...

Well...first the bummer news:  I didn't advance to Round 2 of "Project Food Buzz":(  I was sad, but was cheered up thinking of all the great comments & sweet words of encouragement I had gotten all week!  I realllllly appreciate all of them:) :) :)  Best of luck to everyone who advanced!  I'll be rooting you guys on! :)

And now....the good news:  "Donna in the City, Day 2" was just as lovely as Day 1:)  This time, Scott & I hit up our OTHER near-by metropolis: Philadelphia:)  While I think New York is all bright lights & glamour, I find Philly just utterly charming with it's pretty tree lined streets....

And quaint historic colonial-style buildings!  It really is such a nice strolling city, since you never know when you'll turn a corner and feel like you've stepped back in time:)

And STROLL we DID, as we had some GREAT eats mixed into our day (of course;)  Our first stop was at "Rouge," which is right across from beautiful Rittenhouse Square...

You could almost imagine you were in Paris while strolling down 18th street, with all of the restaurants spilling out tables onto the streets.  A perfect recipe for a relaxed atmosphere and some GREAT people watching:)

It was just a PERFECT day to relax at a table outside and take in the nice view of the park....

And also to enjoy our Rouge burgers:).....

Hard to beat a burger with gruyere cheese, caramelized onions on a challah roll with (MORE!) pomme frites! :)  hahahahahhaa....Rouge burgers are da bomb:)

After the mega-burgers, we began the strolling portion of our day and headed tooooooooooo.....

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY!!!!

I was sooooooo excited to show Scott around my Alma mater!  This trip was almost like a time warp....I was hit with 10,000 memories at once:)  Good times, STRESSFUL times, but good times too;)....

If you haven't guessed...I love Temple!:)

And after Temple we set out on a looonnnnngggg walk to a SURE FIRE HIT:  The PACKED Franklin Fountain!!!.....

And even though I toyed with the idea of trying out their HOT Caramel Apple Pie Milkshake (yes, HOT MILKSHAKE!), a friend had recently tried "The Great Pumpkin" and it just sounded too drool-worthy AND too seasonally appropriate not to try;)

One bite and I just MELTED.....it was just sooooooooooooooo delicious, spicy & festive!  How could it NOT be?...

• Creamy & spicy Pumpkin Ice Cream  (so good!)
• Hot Caramel
• Salty Pecans
• A sprinkle of crunchy malted milk powder
• Fresh whipped cream
• And a sprinkle of cinnamon....

Yowza!!!  Franklin Fountain is the shiz!  We AGAIN were satisfied customers:)  Love this place!!

And we even got a nice souvenir to take home!  I'm gonna try making our own little "liter" mini-Mt. Vesuivius:) hahahahhahaa....

And speaking of souvenirs, I also managed to get myself properly festooned in new Temple gear!  All of my clothes from when I actually attended are too big:)... even Penny approved;)

Even if my favorite lounging sweatshirt will always be my one that is about 10 sizes too big...but it's just so damn cozy!...

So ANOTHER nice day of good eats & city streets....and one that again got entirely TOO HOT around 3pm!  We were crossin streets left & right just to catch the shade!  The weather is forecasted to drop from mid-80's to a high of 70 today and me thinks that is PERFECT weather for a very Fall-like activity this morning:)  My afternoon & evening may just very well be spent in the kitchen, which sounds like a GREAT way to spend a Sunday to me:)

Hope your enjoying your weekend and having a relaxing & cozy Sunday!