Sunday, September 12, 2010

Tummy Pleasing Autumn Menu

I just noticed my front yard tree's leaves changing color, and the leaves on my wild rose bushes are changing, too. There's a slight crispness to the morning air: Autumn is coming. Last week, I made beef stew and bought ten pounds of apples. The girls' lunches for Monday reflect my mood's shift from summer to autumn.


The same lunch with one difference. They both have sweet potato rolls, rotisserie lemon-pepper chicken (I have a George Foreman rotisserie that's wonderful! But deli rotisserie chicken is great, too, and usually a good grocery bargain.)with dried cranberries, slow cooker cinnamon apples, bacon-ranch bites, and apple cake with brown sugar glaze. Bayberry also has lettuce and tomato.


Bacon Ranch Bites:

Finely minced 2 carrots and 1 cup steamed broccoli and 1/4 cup red onion. Stir in 3 oz softened cream cheese and 8 oz ranch dip. Add 4 slices cooked, crumbled bacon. Spread on 8" round flour tortillas. Roll tightly. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Slice into pinwheels. (Mine got flattened a bit).

Slow Cooker Cinnamon Apples:

Peel, core, and slice 12 tart apples into 8 slices each. Place in slow cooker. Drizzle with the juice of one lemon.

Combine 1 cup brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, and 1/4 cup flour. Sprinkle over top, stirring to coat all the apples.

Drizzle 3 Tbsp melted butter over top. Cover and cook on low about 4 hours, until apples are soft but not mushy.

These are great warm or chilled.


The apple cake recipe -- I'll share it later in the week and post it here.

4 comments:

  1. just started the slow cooker cinnamon apples a few minutes ago. Looking forward to seeing how my kids like them :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am making the apples this week - they look great and super easy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great pics and lunches. Question about the red container with the movable? divider?? What brand is it? I have the EasyLunchBoxes but am not thrilled with how they close (they don't really "sanp" on - I've made elastic loops for them). Looking for something to add to my collection...is it possible to be addicted/obsessed with reusable/divided containers?? LOL

    ReplyDelete
  4. Definitely, Kim. :) I use my Easy LunchBoxes for my husband only and am careful about what I pack inside.

    The red one is a Hello Kitty Bento box that I bought from Amazon. Search bento box on amazon -- you'll be overwhelmed with how mnay options there are! I chose the Hello Kitty one for both the design and the fact that it came with sealing lids for both layers.

    ReplyDelete