I’m pretending Southern Utah trees look like this!

Break out the noisemakers! It’s one of my FAVORITE days of the year. It’s the FIRST DAY OF FALL!!

To celebrate, I’m making this yummy slow cooker meal to usher in my favorite season. Savory turkey with sliced fresh apples, dried cranberries and wild rice with cabbage slaw, and warm rolls; with pumpkin cobbler for dessert. As Rachel Ray would say, “Yum-O!” The beauty of this meal, is that so many ingredients are at the ready in my food storage (wild rice, cried cranberries, minced dried onions, and you could use dehydrated apples as well.)

Here’s the simple recipe for the turkey in crock pot:

HARVEST TURKEY MEAL in the SLOW COOKER

Combine in slow cooker:

1 1/2 c. wild rice, uncooked

2 apples, cored, peeled, and chopped

1 onion, finely chopped (I used a handful of dehydrated onion)

1/2 c. sweetened dried cranberries

3 c. water (use a little more if you are using several dehydrated ingredients)

Stir, then place turkey on top:

4-5 lb. boneless, skinless turkey breast

Cover and cook on low setting for 8 to 9 hours. Serves 10.

This is a simple recipe using dehydrated apple slices, a food storage staple, to create delicious boutique-looking gifts. I demonstrated how to make them in my first You Tube video for Alison’s Pantry.  Since it uses these great dehydrated apples from food storage, I thought my readers here may enjoy it too.  The audio is a little off, and I am clearly not a celebrity, but have patience as I’m learning.  Look forward to better video demos as I improve.  Anyway, the recipe is a fun one and I think you’ll enjoy how dehydrated apples can look so fancy with a little caramel and white chocolate. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUXIVPTv1h8

APPLE PUFF PANCAKE

1 cup dehydrated apple slices  (broken into bite-size pieces and rehydrated in 1/2 cup hot water)

1 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. apple pie spice

3 eggs (or 3 T. dehydrated eggs + 1/3 cup water)

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Squeeze any excess water out of apples and saute in a frying pan with butter, sugar and apple pie spice until well coated.

In a blender, whip eggs, flour, milk and salt on high for one minute.  Place hot apples in a greased 8 x 8 pan.  Pour batter over apples. Bake for 15 minutes. I served mine with some Spiced Apple Syrup that I had on hand , but it’s great with maple syrup as well. YUM-MY!!

I love Apple Pie Spice for storage.  I buy it in bulk 1 lb. packages from Alison’s Pantry. If you’ve tried Cinnamon Plus from Pampered Chef, I think Apple Pie Spice is basically the same blend (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves) for a much better price.  I like the depth of flavor and use it in place of cinnamon alone in most recipes.

I altered my favorite whole wheat bread recipe to make it more like a “harvest bread” with apples and pecans, and then added a brown sugar topping.  Great Harvest makes a yummy Apple Crumble Bread, but it is only available on Thursdays at my local store, so I had to find a way to appease my cravings.  This bread makes your house smell fabulous and is delicious toasted, plus it uses dried apples from storage.  You can leave off the topping and it is totally healthy.  It is a really simple recipe, but I’ve tried to include plenty of details for anyone new to breadmaking.   I’m posting my basic whole wheat bread recipe first and then the alterations.  This makes a nice big batch with enough to share a couple of loaves with neighbors and freeze some for later.  My neighbors love breadmaking day!

DELICIOUS WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

2/3 c. oil (I use grapeseed or canola)

2/3 c. honey

2 tbsp. SAF instant yeast (you can use regular RED STAR yeast, just proof in water first)

2 tbsp. vital gluten powder

2 tbsp. dough enhancer

2 tbsp. salt

6 c. warm water

whole wheat flour

In a mixer, with dough hook attached, place SAF instant yeast, vital gluten, dough enhancer and 4 cups whole wheat flour.  Pour in warm water and blend gently.  Then add honey, oil and salt.  Continue adding flour and blending until dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.  When the sides of the bowl stay clean, set a timer for 10 minutes and allow the mixer to knead the dough.  This develops the gluten and negates the need to raise the dough so many times for a light bread.  After 10 minutes, remove dough from bowl and divide into 7 or 8 smooth loaf shapes and place in greased 1-lb. loaf pans (I use Vegalene).   Let bread rise until double (about 30 minutes).  When dough has completed rising, place in a preheated 350 degree oven (or 325 degree convection) and cook for 35 minutes (until golden brown).  When done, remove from oven, take bread out of pans and cool on a cooling rack.  When bread has completely cooled, place into bread bags for storage.  This recipe is really versatile.  I usually add 2-4 Tbsp. potato flakes to make it even more tender and to rotate my potato flakes.  You can use it for cinnamon pull-aparts, pizza crust, hamburger buns, etc. but I like it best just for bread.  

KIM’S APPLE PECAN BREAD ALTERATIONS

After mixing in the initial 4 cups of flour, stir in the following:

4 cups dehydrated apple slices (break into smaller pieces and rehydrate with 2 cups hot water for 15 minutes.  Drain excess water.)

2 cups chopped pecans

2 Tbsp. apple pie spice or cinnamon

Continue to add flour as in the recipe above.  The dough is a little bit stickier with the apples but avoid the temptation to add too much flour.  If the dough is pulling away from the sides of the bowl and you can handle the dough to mold it into loaves, you’ve added enough flour.

After you’ve placed the dough into the pans, you can mix up this crumbly topping and spread on top before baking.

BROWN SUGAR TOPPING

8 Tbsp. white flour

1/2 c. white sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

5 – 6 Tbsp.  butter, melted

Raise until it is peaked nicely above the edge of the pan, then bake as directed above.

My next fun recipe is for a Cinnamon Chip Bread made healthier with part whole wheat flour and liquid eggs.  You can make it as unhealthy as you’d like, but my family devoured it with the lower-fat alterations.  Again, it makes the kitchen smell heavenly.

Almost too delicious to be healthy.

HEAVENLY CINNAMON CHIP BREAD

3 Tbsp. SAF instant yeast

1/2 C. sugar

1 c. liquid eggs, like Egg Beaters [Or, 4 whole eggs; or, 1/4 c. dehydrated egg powder + 1/2 c. water]

3 3/4 c. warm water

4 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. canola oil (or grapeseed)

2 1/2 c. cinnamon chips

10-12 cups flour (I used about 4 cups hard white wheat flour and 6 cups all-purpose white flour)

In mixing bowl, combine 4 cups flour, yeast, and sugar.  Add water, eggs, and oil.  Beat well until combined.  Stir in salt, cinnamon drops, and more flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.  Knead with mixer for about 5 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour.  Shape dough into 4 loaves, and let rise again until doubled (about an hour) in pans.  Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.

HOMEMADE INSTANT OATMEAL PACKETS

 6 C. Quick cooking oats

 8 ziploc baggies

Salt, if desired 

Put the following into each baggie: 1/2 cup regular oats, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Store baggies in an airtight container.  (I didn’t do this the last time I made them and the brown sugar turned into rocks in the bags. J)  This makes a larger portion than the store-bought packet. To serve, empty packet into a bowl. Add 1 cup boiling water. Stir and let stand for 2 minutes. Adjust water amount for thicker or thinner oatmeal. Can also be made in the microwave for 90 seconds.

Here are some variations to try:

Sweetened Oatmeal: Add 2 T. sugar

Brown Sugar/Cinnamon Oatmeal: Add 2 T. brown sugar and 1/2 t. cinnamon

Raisins and Brown Sugar: Add 2 T. packed brown sugar and 2 T. raisins.

Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal: Add 2 T. sugar, 1/2 t. cinnamon, & 4 T. Chopped dried apples (I also like to add chopped nuts to this one)

Fruit and Cream Oatmeal: Add 2 T. non-dairy coffee creamer and 4 T. dried fruit

Health Nut Oatmeal: Add 4 T. any kind of wheat germ