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Graham Cracker Apple Crisp with Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce

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Many years ago, we had a cookbook from Maine that had the most extraordinary apple pie recipe. It had a layer of crushed graham crackers and caramel sauce underneath the apples. We lost that cookbook in the move to our new kitchen, but every fall when the apples are being harvested I think back to this recipe. This year, I decided to re-create it in an apple crisp. It sure took less time than making a pie, but the flavor combination was there. 
 
For gluten-free cooking, try substituting gluten-free cookies for the graham crackers and brown rice flour for the flour. I think you might be pleased.
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Graham Cracker Apple Crisp with Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce
SERVINGS
9servings
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
servings
COOK TIME
30-40mins
PREP TIME
20mins
READY IN
50-60mins

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. ​​Lightly grease 8x8” square baking dish​
  2. Filling: Toss apples together with brown sugar, cinnamon,​ flour, salt, lemon zest, lemon juice and the melted butter.
  3. Topping: Melt butter in a medium bowl and add all other topping ingredients. Mix until crumbly and evenly mixed.
  4. Sprinkle over apples and pat down lightly. Bake at 350º for about 30-40 minutes, until apples are soft​ and the filling bubbles and the crisp is golden.​​
  5. Meanwhile make Salted Caramel Sauce​: Add the sugar in an even layer over the bottom of a medium​ saucepan. Heat the sugar over medium-high heat, whisking it as it begins to melt. ​It's okay if the sugar begins to ​form clumps​-​ keep whisking and as it continues to cook, they will melt back down. Stop whisking once all of the sugar has melted, and swirl the pan occasionally while the sugar cooks.
  6. Continue cooking until the sugar has reached a deep amber color. It should look almost a reddish-brown, and have a slight toasted aroma. This is the point where caramel can go from perfect to burnt in a matter of seconds, so keep a close eye. If you are using an instant-read thermometer, it will be around 350 degrees F.​ Watch this step very carefully!​
  7. Remove the caramel from the heat and add the butter all at once. Be careful, as the caramel will bubble up when the butter is added. Whisk the butter into the caramel until it is completely melted.
  8. Slowly pour the cream into the caramel. Again, be careful because the mixture will bubble up ferociously.
  9. Whisk until all of the cream has been incorporated and you have a smooth sauce. Add the fleur de sel ​or kosher salt ​and whisk to incorporate.
  10. Set the sauce aside to cool for 10 to 15 minutes and then pour int​o jars. The sauce can be refrigerated for up to 1 month.
  11. ​Serve crisp warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and salted caramel sauce.

Summer Double Berry Cobbler

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In the coming months, you will from time to time be treated to new recipes from “guest bloggers”. These are old and new friends — dedicated chefs and passionate voices who share our love of cooking. Our lives are enlarged as we welcome them and listen to their unique voices, share in their story and try our hand at their creativity. This week’s recipe is from a dear friend, Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, a wife, mother, grandmother and EWTN TV host. She is an award-winning author of more than two dozen books, including Feeding Your Family’s Soul: Dinner Table Spirituality. She is the founder of the “Feeding the Body and Soul Movement.” More at DonnaCooperOBoyle.com.

From Donna-Marie “Ahh, summertime! A time of well-deserved rest comes with a welcome change of scenery and in-season fruits. While making our plans, let’s not forget about our prayer lives. A change in schedule and eagerness to “get away from it all” might cause us to lose touch with our spiritual needs. We mustn’t let our prayer life go on vacation.


So that family prayer continues to happen throughout summertime, we have to carve out time for it. Many inconveniences pop up in the heart of the family, and God knows we can’t drop to our knees to pray while taking care of pressing family needs. He also knows we are a work in progress, too. When our planned prayer time gets sabotaged or rearranged, we should try again to make it work. If we have done our best, He will surely reward us for persevering, and for training our children and grandchildren to develop committed relationships with Him.

Don’t miss family time in the kitchen, too. Why not make my Summer Double Berry Cobbler together? Make an extra pan and gift it to someone who might need a lift. God bless you! ”

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Summer Double Berry Cobbler
SERVINGS
4servings
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
servings
COOK TIME
30 mins
PREP TIME
20mins
READY IN
50 mins

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Wash berries (if using frozen berries, no need to wash! and mix with sugar (or honey), lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, cornstarch, vanilla and cinnamon (if using). Place in a buttered pie dish or 4 quart baking dish.
  3. Next, make biscuit dough topping. Whisk together flour, 3 Tbsp. sugar (or honey), baking powder and salt in medium bowl.
  4. Cut the butter into the flour mixture. Make a well in the center and stir in the milk (or yogurt) and beaten egg.
  5. Mix just until combined. Drop by spoonfuls on top of the berries. Bake for 30 min. or until well browned and berry mixture is bubbling and dough is cooked.

Amazingly delicious when served warm with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or even a spoonful of greek yogurt. Enjoy!

Thank you, Donna Marie, for such a delightful summer recipe!
The Gourmet Nuns

Vegan Curried Chickpea, Coconut and Kale Soup

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This past weekend, I was a joy-filled member of the cooking team for our remarkable and award-winning marching band, Spirit of America. The band is embarking on a very exciting groundbreaking opportunity to travel to Dubai this January (2017) to assist in starting the first marching field band in the United Arab Emirates!
Over the past few months, they’ve had 4 rehearsals together to pull off this enormous project — creating a field show with 150 people from all over the United States!  One thing we knew for sure, they needed to be fed well! My job was to cook for those with special diets. It was fun to spoil them and experiment with recipes that were gluten free, lactose free and vegan! When the weekend was over, it got me to thinking about creating more healthy recipes that we could add to our diet. This soup is high in fiber and packed with flavor, especially if you like the tastes of curry and coconut.
For more info about our band, click here (link: http://spiritofamericaband.org/).
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Vegan Curried Chickpea, Coconut and Kale Soup
SERVINGS
6people
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
people
COOK TIME
10minutes
PREP TIME
15minutes
READY IN
1/2hour

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. First, sauté the onion in 2 Tbsp of olive oil until softened.
  2. Combine all ingredients​, except the lemon zest and juice, ​in a blender and puree until completely smooth.
  3. Pour soup into a medium pot and heat on medium-high. Allow soup to simmer for 10 min, stirring occasionally.
  4. Add the lemon zest and juice.
  5. Adjust seasonings to your liking and add fresh cracked pepper.
  6. Serve and garnish with the extra garbanzo beans and fresh kale​.

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Summer Peaches and Cream Supreme

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Just out the side entrance to the convent one steps directly into an orchard of fruit trees: peaches, nectarines and pears. Most of these trees were gifts to us back when the convent was being built, and what a gift they have been each year, providing us with beautiful fruit for eating, cooking, and preserving into different forms of gifts. Right now the peaches are at their peak, gorgeous to behold, and luscious to eat.

I have been longing to see some of them turned into a dessert. I love peach pie, peach cobbler or crumble, but my heart was set on something cool, light and summery, so I set about to make this happen. Here’s what came of my efforts which were quick and easy — just as I wanted them to be.

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Summer Peaches and Cream Supreme
SERVINGS
6-8people
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
people
COOK TIME
30 minutes
PREP TIME
30minutes
READY IN
1 hour

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Press one sheet of phyllo into 9 inch pie plate. Shape and crimp edges to form a crust pour beans into shell and bake according to directions on wrapper until golden brown. About 10 minutes. Remove and discard beans. Let cool completely.
  2. Into a medium saucepan cut up 6 peaches. Add ½ cup water, ½ cup sugar, juice of half a lemon and cook until it begins to thicken into a syrupy sauce. After 20 minutes (approx.) add zest, amaretto or extract. Let cool. Add the four remaining peaches, nicely sliced.
  3. Soften ice cream and spread half into cool shell. Spread a layer of peaches and syrup across this. Then spread remaining ice cream over peaches. Finally swirl remaining cool whip over entire top and freeze till serving time.
  4. Cut into wedges, spoon remaining peaches and sauce over each serving and sprinkle with toasted coconut.

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Crispy Baked Seafood Patties

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If you are trying during Lent – as many households are! – to make your meals simpler, less indulgent, and more in keeping with the Lenten spirit, you will want to consider adding these crispy baked seafood patties to your menu. Last week at the convent we made these with tuna, but any seafood of choice (such as salmon or crabmeat) would lend itself perfectly to this recipe. High in taste and low in fat, these golden little cakes made a very satisfying, yet healthy meal which we all thoroughly enjoyed. For the sake of those who prefer a little touch of decadence we offered a modified version of tartar sauce to dress them up a bit. However most of us found them delicious without any added enhancement. Once you try them I’m sure you will agree they should not be reserved just for Lent, but enjoyed all through the liturgical year.

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Crispy Baked Seafood Patties
SERVINGS
4patties
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
patties
COOK TIME
20minutes approximately
PREP TIME
15minutes
READY IN
35minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Mix together and shape into patties.
  2. Place on lightly greased baking pan.
  3. Cook at 400 degrees Fahrenheit until golden brown on both sides, about 20 minutes.
  4. Combine together ingredients for sauce.

 

Vegetable and Lentil Soup from a Monastery Kitchen

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Our Lenten journey has begun.  The church has been dressed in violet and our promises to God for these forty days have been made.  The chants for the season speak of hope, transformation and a return to God.  In the monastery, it is traditional to simplify life, not only in our work but also in our attitudes and our eating.  Many monastic houses fast from meat during Lent – a simple soup and bread for lunch and dinner are the norm.  As we harvest the last of our winter squash from our garden, this simple yet hearty soup is the perfect beginning to this special season of the church year.

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Vegetable and Lentil Soup from a Monastery Kitchen
SERVINGS
6people
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
people
COOK TIME
25minutes
PREP TIME
45minutes
READY IN
75minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Melt the butter and olive oil in a heavy bottomed stock pot. Add the diced leeks, celery, carrots, parsnips, butternut squash and a small amount of the dill and parsley and sauté until golden and the vegetables are beginning to soften, stirring occasionally. Adjust the heat so the vegetables are sauteing, but not burning.
  2. Add the lentils and continue to sauté for a few more minutes.
  3. Add 6 cups of hot chicken or vegetable stock and freshly ground pepper (to taste)
  4. Cook for about 8 min. over medium heat, simmer, but do not boil.
  5. Add the diced zucchini and continue simmering until the lentils are cooked and the vegetables are softened, about 15 min.
  6. Remove from heat and add the baby spinach, the herbs and the lemon zest and juice and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. If desired, serve with grated parmesan cheese.