We had the opportunity to go to the Children’s Museum for a birthday party…what a fun day! When we got there, we discovered it was comic book hero day. Everyone got a free comic book and all the attractions were comic book hero themed…very cool!

Children’s Museum from JD Collier on Vimeo.

This is one of my favorite desserts to make.  It can also be adapted to make a caramel apple pie, but the rustic aspect of a Crostada appeals to me.

Ingredients

Crostada
6 cups Baking Apples, Thinly sliced
2 tablespoons Lime Juice
3/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Flour
1/2 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 tablespoons Butter
Pastry for double crust pie
1 tablespoon Demerara Sugar, Can substitute any large crystal sugar.
Topping
1/4 cup Butter
1/2 cup Packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons Heavy cream

Method

1. In a large bowl, toss apples with lime juice.
2. Combine dry ingredients; add to the apples and toss lightly.
3. Combine all pastry dough and roll into large circle (no need to be exact).
4. Place pastry on a heavy bar pan with 1/2″ sides to catch juices, pour apple mixture into the middle of the circle and gently fold the dough toward the center to make the crostada.  This is a rustic crostada so don’t worry about being exact.
5. Wet the outside of the crust with a brush and press Demerara sugar around the outside of the crust.
6. Bake at 400F for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.

For the topping:
Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and cream.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly Remove from the heat.

When crostada is finished, carefully transfer to a serving dish and pour the caramel over the crostada.

Servings: 8
Source: JD Collier

I LOVE to make this recipe!  It is delicious.  My favorite way to prepare it is with Tofu.

Ingredients

28 ounce Plum Tomatoes (6-8 tomatoes)
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 clove Garlic, roughly chopped
1 Sprig Fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Sea Salt or Fleur de sel
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup Heavy cream
1/4 – 1/2 cup White wine, (good enough to drink)
1 cup Fresh Parmiggiano Reggianito (Parmesan is ok too), Grated
1 tbsp butter
1 lb Penne pasta
Tofu

Method

Use a tall pot for this sauce as it is very bubbly as it’s cooking.

1. Puree tomatoes.
2. Heat the olive oil in the pan along with the garlic and rosemary.
3. When the garlic is just beginning to roast, add the pureed plum tomatoes.
4. Add sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
5. Cook puree over high heat, stirring occasionally, until it begins to thicken. Add some white wine and cook down for a few minutes.
6. Add the cream and continue to cook over medium-low heat until sauce is thick enough to coat the pasta.
7. Add 1/2 of the Parmesan.
8. Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente.
9. Add the rest of the cheese, butter, and toss for about a minute.
10. Serve with a few Parmesan sprinkles and perhaps some chopped black olives and crumbled Feta.

Notes

For extra protein and taste, you may want to add fried tofu. Alternatively, sliced up portabella would be yummy! If you use tofu, I suggest you pan fry it and then dry it out in a slow oven so that it’s not soft.

Bonus variations: Sauté a little bit of spinach in a little olive oil and salt and pepper. Mix in the spinach just before serving. I also like to add a little re-hydrated sun-dried tomatoes to this dish. Yummy! Sometimes I substitute Parmesan with Reggianito (a lighter, Argentinean version of Reggiano).
Servings: 6
Source: JD Collier

A new outdoor mall opened up by our house last week.  The Border’s that opened had a bunch of Star Wars characters walking around all day.  It was so cute to see all the little kids walk around in awe that they were seeing this in real life!

Zac and I were so proud that they did a 5K around Geist. Here’s the funny part of the story…all the people finishing behind them got onto the bus that picks up the people who can’t finish the race.  So, Laurel and Ben were heading up the rear of the race. So much so, in fact, that the ambulance was following them for about the last mile.

We have a living history museum here in town where everyone there is living like it was 1836. It’s fun and kids get to learn about history from the “villagers” there.