What does Fall mean to you?

Every September I get excited about one thing, caramel apples. I know that this is a very silly thing but my family and I every year pick fresh apples and at the orchard they have big beautiful apples covered in gorgeous colored caramel. They are delicious however, going up to the orchard every time that the desire for a caramel apple hit I don't think I would ever leave. My father tells me that I should get one from the grocery store but they are always tiny and sticky and well never really good. This Halloween we bought a caramel apple kit that was yummy but the melting of pre-made caramel was tedious, left the apples sticky and really hard to eat. As a family (okay I decided) that we needed our own caramel apple recipe.

Attempt one.

Ingredient

• 2 cups of brown sugar
• 1cup of maple syrup (real syrup not maple favored syrup)
• 1/3 cup of light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 4 tbs of unsalted butter

Before doing anything get your apples ready. If they are store bought their is a good chance that they are covered with a wax coating. Their is an easy way to remove this wax. Simply boil some water. When you have a rolling boil dump your apple in for no more then 30 seconds; we don't want to cook the apple just remove the wax. When you remove it from the boiling water place the apples in cold water. Now that your apples are clean time to put in sticks. If you are not worried about the apples leaving the house I suggest using chop sticks they are slightly pointed and reusable which makes them perfect. However if you are taking them to a party to wow people with your mad cooking skills use Popsicle sticks.

Okay the next step is really simple but do not rush or your caramel will be grainy. Dump the sugar, cream and both the maple and corn syrup into a cold pan. Keep in mind that this mixture will double in size while heating so do not pick a pan that just fits the ingredients. Heat the ingredients on medium heat until a candy thermometer reads 250 degrees. You do not want to stir the mixture while it heating just swirl the pan itself a little if needed. Once the mixture reaches the magic number of 250 immediately remove from the heat and stir in the 4 tbs of butter. Your caramel is done and it cooling quick .



Dip your apples into the caramel. This will be a light coating of caramel you can repeat until the caramel is the thickness you want but less really is more when it comes to this rich caramel.

I loved the fact that this has maple syrup in the recipe but not a fan of the corn syrup. I think that on the next try we will be substituting honey for the corn syrup and we will let you know how it works. Also you need to place finished apples on parchment paper and let it sit for at least 12 hours. I don't know why but the apples we had a few hours after they were done were sticky but the next day they were perfect.

V for Vendetta's "Eggy in a Basket"

If you haven't watched the movie V for Vendetta, well you should. It has been certified fresh on rottentomatoes.com. Twice in that movie Natalie Portman's character had "Eggy in a Basket" made for her. Now I'm a fan of eggs and toast together, its like two small delicious pieces of heaven on your plate. This dish looked like a quick breakfast to make, so I had to try it.

Ingredients:

• One piece of bread
• One egg
• A little bit of butter

First thing you need to do is take a cup or a biscuit cutter if you have one. Really all you need is something round to cut out a circle in the center of the bread.












Butter up one side of the bread kinda of like your making grilled cheese. I prefer to put an obscene amount of butter in to coat the pan. Throw the bread in, let it get nice and toasted before you drop the eggs in. If you like runny eggs flip it earlier if not let it sit. (Lets be honest
this isn't rocket science.)


































Now if you can butter up the other side of the bread. If not just put a pat of butter in the pan after you flip the toast. If you choose this method make sure you lift up the corners of the bread, so the butter gets under there.












Well really that's that. Just toast it to perfection, garnish with some salt and pepper. If your like me hit it with some Franks Red Hot. MMmmm tasty.












Now some people may think I'm crazy, but if you eat eggs regularly get organic. They cost a little more but the taste is exponentially better. I'm not even saying
"Buy organic its better for the chickens."

Screw the chickens, its better for me. Chickens are dumb anyway here's an example.



So all I'm saying is if you like tasty eggs, get organic ones.

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

My wife bought a giant tub of roasted garlic hummus. Which is good, don't get me wrong. The problem was I did not have anything besides carrots to eat it with. So I decided to make some pita. Since we had some whole wheat flour I opted for that. This stuff is incredibly easy to make and damn tasty.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon honey ( 2 or 3 good squeezes of the bear)
• 2 cups wheat flour
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Throwing It Together

Mix the water, yeast and honey together stir until dissolved. Let rest for 10-15 minutes. The mixture should look nice and frothy.










Meanwhile, combine the two flours and salt in a large bowl. Stir them together and make a small depression in the bottom of it. Should look like a crater.










Slowly pour the water mixture into the crater and mix with a spoon or any other tool that's not a whisk. Lightly flour an area and slap the dough on it. Knead for about 10-15 minutes. The ball should be smooth, elastic and not sticky.










Grab another large bowl, coat it with the olive oil. Make sure when you put the dough in the bowl, you roll it around to coat it. Cover it with a clean towel and let it rest for 3 hours in a warm area. The dough should double in size.



















Once doubled roll it out in a rope. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Make sure the rack is at the lowest point in the oven. Pinch off 10-12 similar sized chunks. Roll these into a ball and let stand covered for 10 minutes or so.










Roll out the dough balls until they are about 1/4 of an inch thick.
Bake away! About 3 minutes then flip and bake about another minute. All ovens are diffrent so if the pitas are too crunchy reduce the time slightly.










The pita should puff up nicely. When you remove it from the oven smash the pocket down and let cool. Enjoy.