9th
challege dinner 2
i went with something simple last night because, let’s face it, no one has that much time to cook really!
my original idea was mini pizzas made with english muffins (they were on sale and this is an old college favorite) and salad tossed with granola, chopped apples and a light vinaigrette. (we had a bag of apples and i planned on baking some granola that afternoon)
but alas, my granola was not clumpy enough for a salad. so i deleted the greens (i have got to get more into our food in the next meal!) and here’s what i came up with:
main course:
english muffin mini pizzas:
3 english muffins
tomato sauce (i used one that was on sale that had roasted garlic in it)
unused ground meat from the night before
unused cheese from the night before
preheat oven to 350°
split muffins open and place on a cookie sheet
dollop with tomato sauce
add cheese and ground meat
bake on the bottom shelf for extra crispy crusts for about 20 minutes
check regularly for when the cheese melts
dessert:
light baked apples:
3 small apples
1/4 cup granola (i used my un-clumped homemade kind)
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
dash nutmeg
butter or margarine (i use a light butter even though they say you shouldn’t bake with it, for this it’s not a problem)
leave oven at 350°
slice up the apples and place in the casserole dish
mix sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg
sprinkle over apples
sprinkle granola over apples
dollop in some butter (probably about 3 tbsp worth) it doesn’t matter that it’s spread out at this point
bake for 8-10 minutes, stir, continue baking until apples are soft and coated with the vanilla-sugar mix and butter is completely melted
let cool a bit and enjoy!
the baked apples was completely my own recipe and in the process of devouring i thought of a few things that could have made them better:
brown sugar instead of regular sugar (most recipes for baked apples say as much, but i didn’t have brown sugar on hand)
ice cream. this would have made a delicious topping! but would not have stuck with our plan. so next time.
or baking the apples in some sort of liqueur (like kahlua or amarula)
next time.
