Recent yumminess:

Cranberry-Apple Crumble. Possibly the best crumble I’ve ever made. The sweet/sour mix was just right. Macintoshes essentially melted into applesauce. Mmm.

Veggie chili. How can you tell it’s fall? Urge to cook warm & spicy stew-type things. No biscuits this time, though. Must find excuse to make biscuits. That reminds me: I ran across a discussion on a food blog one day about how the biscuit-in-a-can killed the real biscuit. Is this true? If so, I guess I’m a rebel. My biscuits are real… and spectacular!

Okay, so one day last week I wanted California rolls. They used to have them in the deli at the grocery store, but not any more. Thought about venturing further afield to find some. Then thought, well how hard can they be to make? Googled for recipes. Did not look difficult. Headed to store for ingredients. Cooked rice, rolled ’em up. Did not have bamboo mat, so used aluminum foil (this worked fine). Seriously no harder to make than a sandwich. Verdict: yum! (And also: pretty!)

• New Potatoes (boiled & cooled)
• Vine-Ripened Tomatoes
• English Cucumber
• Purple Onion
• Sundried Tomatoes
• Kalamata Olives
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Sort of a Greek Salad with Potatoes. Forgot to add the feta! >gasp< Guess I must’ve been hungry. I didn’t notice till I’d eaten half of it.

I was told not to forget this recipe, so here it is:

• 1/2 large bag baby spinach
• 6 big strawberries, sliced
• 1 can mandarin orange segments
• toasted slivered almonds (enough to cover toaster oven tray)
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Soooo good!

An experiment. Made off the top of my head. (We wanted green papaya salad but shockingly! the IGA doesn’t have unripe papayas 😉 Will have to look elsewhere…)

So the salad is just papaya, green onions, and cilantro. A less-ripe papaya would’ve been good. This one was really soft. The dressing is fish sauce, lime juice, sambal oelek, sugar, ginger, and a little oil. All measurements approximate, because >cough< I don’t actually measure.

• 1 papaya, cubed
• 3 green onions, sliced
• cilantro (handful, chopped coarsely)
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1/2 tbsp sambal oelek
• 1/2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• grated ginger

More new food photos at Flickr!

This is what happens when I decide to clean out the fridge.

Mango-Orange-Pear Crumble, served with milk.

Crumble is a staple for using up leftover fruit. Bonus: it’s equally good for dessert or breakfast. (Think about it: oatmeal, brown sugar, milk, fruit… it’s cereal.)

*

Carrot Cake (but really Carrot-Pineapple-Apple Spice Cake).

I don’t think I’ve made carrot cake before, but I had a bunch of carrots to use up, so I thought I’d try it. Result: yum. I used vegetable oil & applesauce rather than the butter the recipe called for, and crushed pineapple rather than raisins/nuts. The frosting is light cream cheese/icing sugar/lemon juice.

Now there’s just the matter of eating it… Anyone want a piece?