Fall

Pork, pears and cider are a very natural combination, one I love.  This recipe uses "hard" cider (with alcohol) because of its crispness and acidity.  Never had hard cider?  Look for it wherever beer is sold, it might be your new favorite adult beverage. 

It's very, very good and can be purchased year round.  Non-alcoholic apple cider works great too (not the Treetop or Mott's brand...real, fresh apple cider, which is easily found this time of year).

Anyway, this meal is pretty tasty.  The pork tenderloin stays juicy and the pears are pretty incredible too.  Paired with the easy to make wild rice, this meal is always well received at my home with thumbs up from the husband and my oldest son.  My youngest had spaghetti, he will come around one day.

This meal is also company worthy, it's very satisfying and looks and smells incredible while cooking.

Raise your hand if you have an over abundance of apples right now. I thought so! There are many things I want to do with my apples; make apple challah, apple sauce, apple cake, and an apple slab pie. Well, 1 out of 4 isn’t so bad now, is it?

This past summer I made a cherry slab pie and it was so good. I shared it with my friends and, without tooting my own horn, we are still talking about it. So, why not an apple slab pie? The pastry from the cherry slab pie was near perfect. I made another batch of the dough and then simply switched out the fruit. Apples cook differently than cherries, so I adapted the filling from a recipe from The Cook’s Country Cookbook.

Slab pies are great for a crowd. And this pie fed a huge crowd. It was demolished in about 15 minutes. I had one teeny tiny bite. That teeny tiny bite was really good. ;I am going to make this many times over throughout out the next few months. Next time I will pair my apples with some fresh pomegranate seeds!

October is National Apple Month!

It's apple season (and the upcoming holidays) and hopefully more brisk weather have put us in the mood for apples, any variety, whole in a lunchbox or in any of the lovely versions from our contributors' kitchens!

Apple-Lime-Mint Spritzer
Epic Apple Pie-Buttermilk Shake
Spiced Mulled Cider
Toffee Apple Martini

Beet and Apple Salad with Honey Dressing and Pomegranate Seeds
Brussels Sprout Slaw with Apples and Walnuts
Endive, Apple and Pecan Winter Salad
Autumn Apple and Potato Salad

Homemade Apple Sauce
Acorn Squash Stuffed with Spiced Cranberry Apple Chutney
Baked Butternut Squash with Apples & Cranberries
Pomegranate Glazed Baked Squash and Apples
Apple and Walnut Cornbread Stuffing
Sausage, Dried Cranberry and Apple Stuffing
Sweet Potato Gratin with Apples, Rosemary, Sage and Gruyere

Pork Cutlets with Sweet and Sour Apples
Roast Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Fennel

Cinnamon French Toast with POM Apple Compote | German Apple Pancake | Spiced Apple Waffles | Apple-Maple Walnut Breakfast Quinoa | Mimi's Apple Butter | Old-Fashioned Apple Streusel Muffins

Fall Harvest Cinnamon Apple Cake | Teddie's 1973 Apple Cake | Apple Crisp | Grandma Ople's Apple Pie
Cranberry Apple Cobblers | Easy Apple Phyllo Crisp | Louisa May Alcott’s Apple Slump
Sweet and Salty Caramel Apples | Apple-Pumpkin Delight
Deep Dish Apple Pie | Green Apple Gallette | Pomegranate Apple Pie

Did you know the "Whoopie pie" is the State Treat of Maine? I had no idea states had designated treats. I'm dying to know what the state treat is here...it better be candy bacon.

While making these I started thinking about why these tasty little cakes have such a silly name. I did a little research and found Whoopie pies to be a Pennsylvania Amish and New England phenomenon. I suppose this is why I never had them as a child.

Apparently the Amish women would bake up these little desserts (likely with leftover cake batter) and put them in their husband's lunches. The men would pull out these treats and yell, "whoopie".

So...this is where I laughed out loud. I just don't see a bunch of guys yelling out, "whoopie" for cake. Do you?

Oh well, maybe they did. It was a different time. It just sounds funny. There are also three states that claim to be the birthplace of the Whoopie pie; Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. This little dessert has quite a history!