better than MCL sauteed apples

I've never been to MCL, but from the way Kira describes it, I can imagine it would be a place where they might offer cinnamon-y apples as an option for dessert. I'm also imagining that their apples might resemble the usual institutional apple-pie filling type served at buffets, and that they'd be kinda thick in consistency and super sweet. Ick.

A few weeks ago, I was looking for a recipe for sauteed apples to use on top of a dutch pancake I was making. When I googled sauteed apples, this was the first recipe that came up (thank you, allrecipes.com!) and I'm so very glad it did! I absolutely loved the way these turned out in texture, in consistency and in flavor! They were so delicious and perfect that they even inspired me to wake up 15 min earlier every day so I could make oatmeal w/these apples and raisins. Impressive!

There's not much to this recipe, but if you're like me and haven't ever sauteed apples before, it's a great first-timer recipe. I had an idea of how sauteeing apples might go, but I would have never been able to guess the proportions of sugar/cinnamon/butter or the need to boil the apples toward the end to achieve the best texture!

Without further adieu, I give you allrecipes.com's recipe for sauteed apples...

1/4 cup butter
4 large tart apples - peeled, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 teaspoons cornstarch (I used flour because I couldn't find my cornstarch and it worked fine, you just have to make a roux with the butter and flour in order to cook the flour before the apples are added so that you don't end up with a flour-y taste)
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
In a large skillet or saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; add apples. Cook, stirring constantly, until apples are almost tender, about 6 to 7 minutes.
Dissolve cornstarch in water; add to skillet. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and serve warm.

Green Bean Casserole for the 21st Century

My mom brought this recipe to Christmas and suggested that we give it a shot. It's one of those recipes that doesn't really tell you a whole lot about amounts and times and specific temperatures, which kind of wigged my mom out, but in the end it turned out to be very good! Luckily for her I'm 100% comfortable with a recipe that doesn't tell me anything. It combines that traditional comfort of the old-school green bean casserole but it adds some distinctly modern twists. No cream of mushroom soup, etc. Anyway, it's tasty and fairly easy...sounds like a holiday dinner winner to me! I added a little bit more structure to the recipe for this blog, so the version below is by no means verbatim from the source.


GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE
From Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients:

2 lbs fresh green beans, cut into smallish pieces
6oz fresh button or Portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 sweet red pepper, diced
6oz of goat cheese or cream cheese (or combination of both)
1 large onion, thinly sliced in rings
Dry packaged breadcrumbs
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Boil green beans for 3ish minutes and drain. Add green beans, mushrooms, and pepper to a 9x13 casserole dish. Add olive oil and balsamic vinegar and roast in 350 oven for 10-15 minutes. While green beans etc are roasting, sauté onions in olive oil until tender. Coat with breadcrumbs so they resemble onion rings. Remove green beans etc. from oven. Add goat cheese/cream cheese and mix well to coat. Add onions on top and return to oven for 8-10 minutes or until heated through. Turn on broiler for extra browning effect.

Green Beans Ah-mahn-DEEN

I hope that Lisa will still try these green beans even though they share a name with Amandine, the dreaded French exchange student at whose hands Lisa suffered for two entire summers. So although Amandine might not have been a delicious dish, these green beans are very easy and SUPER-tasty.

GREEN BEANS AMANDINE
from Allrecipes.com, submitted by Brenda DuFresne

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound fresh green beans, cut into 2 inch pieces
1/2 C water
1/4 C slivered almonds
2 T butter
1 t lemon juice
1/4 t seasoned salt

DIRECTIONS:

In a saucepan, bring beans and water to a boil; reduce heat to medium. Cover and cook for 10ish minutes until crisp-tender; drain and set aside. In a large skillet, cook almonds in butter over low heat. Stir in lemon juice and seasoned salt if desired. Add beans and heat through.

Kira's notes:

I let the almonds/butter mixture go for quite awhile until the butter was brown butter and the almonds were all toasty and a bit salty-tasting. DELIGHTFUL.