Blazing Sunset Salad

Something about summer just makes me want to devour an inordinate amount of fruit salad, and that desire is simply amplified when it comes to summer cookouts. Blazing Sunset Salad {page 96} was my choice for our last cookout.

This beautiful, quick, and easy fruit salad distributes the limelight gracefully between juicy cherries, refreshing oranges, sweet nectarines, toothsome bananas, and crisp apples, all dancing in a light dressing.

There's really only so much you can say about fruit salad, but this one is definitely a keeper. I truly look forward to testing out the rest of them in the book. Yum!

-- Your Friendly Neighborhood Batgirl

Spiced Apple Pancakes

When the Supertoddler and Ninjahusband were craving pancakes one morning recently, I thought it was a perfect time to try Spiced Apple Pancakes {p. 515} on for size.

Apples and cinnamon are a classic, delicious combination. The pancakes themselves were easy to put together, but lacked a bit in flavor. However, the topping made up for some of the sweetness, and the combination of the two provided a very pleasant pancake experience indeed.

I'm not dying to make these again anytime soon, but this is a good, solid pancake recipe, made a little more special by the apple topping.

-- Your Friendly Neighborhood Batgirl

Quick Apple Crisp

Apple crisp is one of the first things I ever learned how to make back in the olden days of junior high school Home Ec class. I fell in love with the dessert instantly, with its rich crumbly topping and soft sweet apple pieces. Plus...it has apples, so it's "healthy", right? Right! Or something. However, for all the apple crisp I've made in my life, I've never made an apple crisp quite like Quick Apple Crisp {page 472}.

I was drawn to this recipe because of my love for apple crisp in general, and because of a couple of unique ingredients in the recipe. The apple layer is sweetened with maple syrup, which sounded like a genius idea to me. Also, there were walnuts included in the topping.

The maple syrup turned out to be not such a great idea. I generally make the apple layer by tossing apples with sugar, cinnamon, and flour {to help create a "sauce" out of any extra liquid that is exuded from the apples during cooking}. However, adding maple syrup just added to the liquid factor. The bottom layer was basically apple soup when it came out of the oven. It was not the end of the world. I just used a slotted spoon to serve the portions, and dumped the "soup" out of the bottom of the pan at the end. I think that the maple syrup would have been a good idea if some corn starch or flour were included in that part of the recipe, as it gave the apples a really lovely flavor.

The walnuts in the topping were DYNAMITE. The Ninjahusband decreed that I should never make apple crisp again without including walnuts in the topping.

Over all, the topping was delicious. The apple part could use a little work. It was a good recipe, in general, it just needs a little tweaking.

-- Your Friendly Neighborhood Batgirl

Apple and Pear Cobbler

The Apple and Pear Cobbler (page 471) was baked up for a whole bunch of guests, all of whom enjoyed its wonderfully spiced sweetness despite it having long cooled off while hanging out in the kitchen. In fact, it was perfectly yummy straight out of the fridge the next day. It's classic, homey, and spiced just right.

- - Ulpia, ever-thankful for the peeling & chopping help from her grandma - -

Arugula and Apple Salad with Creamy Mustard Dressing

Oh my. Another stellar success. The Arugula and Apple Salad with Creamy Mustard Dressing (p50) is super simple to put together and would be great for a quickie weeknight meal or side, but it would also be just as at home on your fanciest dinner party table. Its flavors and textures are perfectly balanced and impressive. It's the type of salad you would get in a nice restaurant, only it comes from your kitchen for a fraction of the cost.

If you're skeptical of apples and onions together, let that go. They play off of each other in the most delightful way, and the dressing--oh the dressing--brings everything together so stupendously you (and your guests) will be in awe of what you created.

For my trial run, the dressing was made as written (Have I mentioned the dressing? Oh the dressing!). My modifications were slight--romaine instead of leaf lettuce, and a baby arugula/spinach mix instead of straight adult arugula. It was still enough to get that lovely peppery bite from the arugula, which was only enhanced by the creamy mustard dressing. Have I mentioned how good the dressing is?

Both Mr. V and Grandma V were enamored. And me? Well, I was a tad disappointed I had to share. The only thing I would do differently next time--and oh yes, there will be many more to come--is to make more of everything.

--The Divine Miss V

Ulpia's Thanksgiving - Pastry-Wrapped Portobellos with Madeira Sauce; Sweet Potato and Apple Gratin; Chocolate Mousse Cake

This year I celebrated my first Thanksgiving as a vegan and as a devoted cook. My family very obligingly gave me free reign with the meal preparation. So I packed my spices, measuring cups, and a cake pan into my luggage (causing the man at the airport to curiously open said luggage up), enlisted my grandmother's help, and got to cooking. The entire meal, two desserts and a gratin included, took me almost nine hours to complete (with plenty of breaks for snacking in between, and some waiting around the oven). But boy was it worth it! Batgirl's post about the Pastry-Wrapped Portobellos (page 331) with Madeira Sauce (page 546) convinced me I had to make them the centerpiece of my meal. Completely independently, my mom thought so too; minutes after I'd decided, she sent me an e-mail telling me as much.


With my grandma's invaluable cleaning, chopping and dough-rolling help, it came together wonderfully (and a lot faster than if I had been on my own). And it was pure glory. Alongside, we made the Sweet Potato and Apple Gratin (page 379)—oh sweet, sweet baked goodness. I had no gratin dish, but a deep pan worked splendidly.


My dad's words were “This fits everyone's tastes.” and then “I could eat ten of these!” (They're pretty big...and I agree with him completely.) I think I've succeeded in impressing them. No, actually, I floored them. Well, I was just the medium; this book is what came through for me—yes. Just, yes. A hearty, please-more-now yes! This is most definitely and without a shred of a doubt something I will be making again for festive occasions or any time I'm looking to impress. (Don't let that nine-hour-comment deter you from making this, the mushrooms themselves took less than an hour to make. Which means I really did take a lot of snacking breaks.)


And of course, no festive meal is complete without plenty of dessert. The Chocolate Mousse Cake (page 445) which I'd made before for them was requested. I happily obliged. (And baked up a Double-Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake too for good measure.)


My friend and her mother who live a few houses down happened to drop by and I instantly put together plates for them—they had to try this stuff too. They were particularly enamored with the gratin, insisting that I share the recipe. Then I pushed some dessert on them, too, and they loved it. That makes six omnivore vouches for this meal.


My grandma got creative with the stuffing I had left over, added more mushrooms, and made a lovely salad (we use the term “salad” loosely in Romanian, obviously). My dad and I scarfed it down before anyone else even saw it. It was very delicious. Very.

My first vegan Thanksgiving was a smashing success. Simply smashing!

- - Ulpia, thankful for her wonderful sous chef and trusting parents - -

Fruit Salad in Winter

With Fruit Salad in Winter {page 96}, fruit salad need not only be confined to your summer plate, you can enjoy this delicious concoction of fruit and nuts at any time of year.

This salad showcases winter fruits at their finest -- apples, oranges, pears, red grapes, and star fruit combine into a delicious medley of textures and flavors. Chopped walnuts paired nicely with the fruit, for a crunchy and savory surprise. My only gripe with the salad at all is the dressing. I don't really feel like fruit salads need dressing, but in the spirit of being true to the recipe, I made it anyway. It was very oily, and while I didn't find it too off-putting {although it was definitely unnecessary}, the Ninjahusband and a friend I had over joked about it being "greasy fruit salad" and how they felt like their mouths were now primed for eating any number of large or difficult to eat objects. If I made this again, I would definitely avoid the dressing, or maybe skip the oil and just toss it with the lemon juice/agave.

-- Your Friendly Neighborhood Batgirl

Spinach Salad with Fuji Apple and [Dates]

We're still in the what-Ulpia-fed-her-guests series. For an elegant lunch, I served the Spinach Salad with Fuji Apple and [Dates] (page 55) with a French Onion Pie and it got rave reviews from all of my guests (like most everything I made from this book). The salad is simple to put together but looks and tastes sophisticated. The original recipe calls for figs, but seeing as I could strangely find neither fresh nor dried figs, I used dates. They worked beyond well. So well, in fact, that the next time I make this (and there will certainly be a next time), I plan on keeping the dates.


Because I had the pie in the oven and no clue how to roast almonds (and no time to find out); I tossed them into a pan and sprinkled on a touch of olive oil. Super plan; they were incredibly delicious and had my guests coming over into the kitchen to steal some straight from the pan.

The sweetness of the dates paired with the tartness of the Fuji apple and the delectable crunchiness of the roasted almond slivers—not to mention the appearance of my lifelong beau, spinach—make for one stunningly beautiful salad.

I'm running out of adjectives to describe these foods. The English vocabulary lacks the means of conveying all of these glorious tastes I've been trying to blog about. I nearly threw in “umami,” which is what I'd call those almond slivers all nice and roasted, cozied up to the sweet and tart. Anyway, buy the book and make the stuff—including this salad—and then you won't need descriptions.

- - Ulpia, whose lovely grandma chopped the fruit - -

Cran-Apple Muffins

Really, what's to be said about Cran-Apple Muffins ( p410)? They're apple-y muffins with cranberries. What could go wrong? As expected, nothing. Just follow the directions, and in a few short minutes you've got baked goodies in the oven. A dash of extra cinnamon imparts just the right amount of deliciousness. Don't overmix, set your timer, and the next thing you know you've got just-the-right-size flavor-filled muffins ready to enjoy.

They made a proper dozen, which I had intended to serve as quick breakfast grabs for the week. But by some strange Halloweeny mystery, I made them on Saturday and by Sunday evening there were two and a half left. Goblins, I suppose.

--The Divine Miss V

Apple Lover's Cake

Pardon the horrid phone pic.

I followed all directions as written for the Apple Lover's Cake (p451). At first I thought this cake might be a fail as it appeared very dry and didn't look like "cake batter." Sometimes you have to trust the recipe and let it ride. And sometimes it works.

This not-too-sweet apple treat turned out more coffee cakey than I initially thought it would be. Even without a crumbly topping, this cake developed something similar as it baked. This is a quick recipe to put together, and great for new or hesitant bakers as well as a fun kid project. You only need two bowls, and younger kids may need help with the apple peeling and shredding, but it's super simple to bring everything together.

Make sure to follow recipe instructions and use an 8x8 pan. Anything larger or rectangular would make for a too-flat cake. Also, if you like things a bit more moist, I would suggest using a bit more confectioner's sugar and apple juice for the glaze, and watch that baking time closely.

Overall, this is a simple and delicious small cake that would go great with coffee or tea, or with ice cream. The apple flavor is subtle and could certainly be punched up with more applesauce. A little cinnamon might be a nice addition as well.

--The Divine Miss V