Our fun activity of pick-it-yourself apples at the New York apple orchard resulted in bringing home about 30 pounds of apples. That is alot of fresh sliced apple snacks. Plus these varieties of apples (Empire, Golden Delicious and Ida Red) are very tart. I’m not a person to waste anything and so that sent me searching for recipes to use all these apples. 
I finally got my chance to go apple picking this past week when we visited my daughter in upstate New York. The apple orchard was full of ripe apples — the branches were loaded with plenty on the ground. Within a short time we had picked 30 pounds of apples! 
Thought I’d try to plant something new in my autumn garden in September. Red and White Russian Kale are new to me and they are turning out to be star performers in my garden. This sent me scrambling to learn how to cook the kale. Looks like Braised Kale should be easy.
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The inspiration for “Thai Crunch Salad” is my backyard garden. I planted an autumn garden on the first of September. A month later, I am pleased and proud that the pak choi has grown prolifically with very little help from me. It is ready for harvest and I need recipes.
I remember eating a dish for “Thai Crunch Salad” with chicken and a peanut butter, cilantro and lime dressing at California Pizza Kitchen. Although flavor combination was a bit unusual; the dish was outstanding. I’ve always wanted to try making it at home. Here’s my version. Continue reading
Autumn is the season for apples and I enjoy finding new and interesting varieties of apples in produce markets. I’m calling this pie, “Jazzed-Up Apple Crumb Pie”, and used a new type of apple–Jazz apples–in the pie. This recipe is everything a pie should be–juicy and sweet, the apples are still just a little crisp and the topping is crunchy. And the pie has only a few ingredients; it is very, very easy to make; hence if falls into my category of “Easy Cook”.
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