Cinnamon Apple Tacos

 Cinnamon Apple Tacos

Quick & easy - for when you don't have time to make a full apple pie crust.

Apple season is approaching and this recipe is great for when you just don't have time to make a pie crust or you just want to try something different with apples.  You can use your favorite apples, but Granny Smith apples are the traditional apple pie apples because they are tart & firm.  I use gala apples. 

Filling

1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Corn starch
2 Apples peeled & diced
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup vanilla sugar
1/2 cup water


To make the filling, heat the butter over medium heat & add the diced apples.  Cook for a few minutes until apples begin to get soft.  Then add the sugar, cinnamon, corn starch, and water. 
Cook until the syrup is thick and bubbly.  Then spoon the cinnamon apples into prepared taco shells.  

I use Ceylon cinnamon, but any ground cinnamon will do.  I also use vanilla sugar.  I'm not sure this is sold in stores, but I make my own with super easy this recipe.  The better the ingredients you use, the better your results will be.

Taco Shell

Vegetable oil (enough to cover about a 1/4 inch of a pan)
About 8 small corn tortillas
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon


To prepare the taco shells, heat some vegetable oil in a sauce pan over medium high heat.  In a bowl, mix the sugar & cinnamon & set aside.

Once the oil is heated, fold the tortilla shell so only half of the shell in in the oil by holding the other half with metal tongs.  Be very careful.  The oil is really hot & may splash.  

Fry until golden brown and puffy.  Then flip it over & fry the other side until even.  Carefully shake off excess oil and sprinkle it with the sugar & cinnamon mixture.  Rest it between the cups of an upside down cupcake pan to hold its shape until cooled & ready to use.  Repeat for as many apple tacos as you would like.

Makes about 8 cinnamon apple tacos.

Vanilla Sugar

How to Make Vanilla Sugar For Future Recipes

 

Making vanilla sugar is easy. I've never actually seen it for sale anywhere, but its a key ingredient in most of my baking. 

After scraping vanilla beans for recipes like vanilla bean ice cream and cheesecakes, I dry the bean pods off slightly by setting them out for a day and stick them in a large glass jar of sugar.  It's best to leave the pods in the sugar for at least 30 days before using the sugar.  I continually add more bean pods every time I use one and when the sugar gets low, I continue to add more sugar.  I always have vanilla sugar to add to my recipes and it gives them an additional real vanilla flavor that cannot be matched by merely using vanilla extract.

These Are Not The Macarons I am Looking For

Have you tried the macarons at Aldi? These were not the macarons I was expecting.  I previously bought the ones that were in raspberry, vanilla, pistachio, salted caramel, lemon, and chocolate.  The box said may contain wheat.  It was a risk I was willing to take because none of the ingredients were actually wheat.  Usually, this means they are processed in a facility or possibly shared equipment.  I've had several boxes of these.  They didn't seems to have any negative effects on me.  And just so we're clear, macarons are supposed to be gluten free.

One day at Sam's club, I saw macaron's in the freezer section.  I picked up the box & started reading.  I was disappointed that they listed wheat as an ingredient pretty high up.  Put them back immediately.

Aldi has always amazed me.  Things that don't say gluten free, but are a lot of times don't bother me, like the potato skins.  But the gluten free flour, I can't stomach, if you know what I mean.  It tastes fine, but it is not gluten free in my book.  Don't cheap out.  Get Bob's Red Mill.  They have a dedicated plant & know what they are doing.  So... Back to the macarons.

When I opened the box to snap a few photos, I noticed that these were definitely a different color than I was expecting.    I looked at the box & saw the flavors - Coconut, lemon curd, lime, raspberry, blackcurrant, and apricot.  Huh?  Where was salted caramel and chocolate?  Eh. I'll eat some while I'm shooting photos.  Big mistake.

After feeling mildly uncomfortable and not knowing why, I sat down to write this blog post.  I looked at the ingredients & saw the glucose syrup was made from wheat.  This is a common thing.  You have to watch out for glucose syrups.  But this time it was clearly labeled on the box & because the other flavors seemed fine, I didn't bother to read this one's box.  The other flavors were too delicious to care if I have a mild irritation. I don't think I did, though. Maybe it was worth it. 

My mild irritation with these ones are not bad. Really, it's more like a mild cross contamination, but I still must warn you against these treats. And they are not as good as the other flavors. Just not worth the risk. 

I'm pretty sure the other flavors were not labeled as such or I wouldn't have even bought hem in the first place.  Well, coconut isn't a big enough temptation to me to risk feeling sick.  I guess I'll have to gift the remaining macarons to a friend.  Good thing I didn't eat too many. 

Maybe I'll make my own.

Gluuteny Pizza Crust Mix

Gluuteny Pizza Crust Mix

For my birthday this year, a couple of the guys at work bought me some gluten free items.  One was Gluuteny's Pizza Crust mix.  I finally got a chance to try it.

First I must mention that not only is it gluten free, but it is dairy & egg free also.  The pizza crust I make from scratch usually has both.

The package says the only thing you need is 1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water.  Sounds simple.

The instructions say to beat all the ingredients together, roll it on a pizza pan, add the toppings and bake.  That's not usually how I make my crusts.  I like doughy crusts.  I don't like flat cardboard or flatbread crusts that gluten free pizzas are usually associated with.

To make a doughy crust, I usually proof my yeast, let my dough rise in a ball, punch it down, shape it in the pan, let it rise again, prebake the crust, then add toppings & bake again.  But okay, I'll follow the directions on the package, even though I'm not good at following directions.

The package contains a white powered mix & a package of Red Star Active Dry Yeast.  That's a good yeast.  I'd use that in my own pizza crust.  Pretty pleased there.

I was going to use a pizza stone to cook my pizza.  After mixing in the yeast package, adding 1 1/2 cups of warm water to the mix, it seemed to runny for the pizza stone.  I questioned the amount of water added.  It looked way too runny.  But okay, I'm following the directions.

I oiled my large cast iron pan with my favorite olive oil, Oilio.  I love supporting local companies & they are Pittsburgh based.  The Olive farm is in Greece, but they are based here in Pittsburgh.

I preheated the oven to 450 -a bit hotter than I would normally.

I slopped the dough into the oiled pan.  I spread it around.  At this point, it seemed to flow better than my homemade crust.  I added sauce, cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, and more cheese.

When the oven was heated, I put the pie in the oven & hoped for the best.  I set the timer for 18 mins, waited & pulled out a surprizingly doughy pizza from the oven.

It was pretty darn good.  It was doughy.  It didn't fall apart.  It held its shape.  And it tasted delicious.  Thanks guys for the pizza!  If you get a chance, try Gluuteny's Pizza Crust mix!

Gluuteny Backery
1923 Murray Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
www.gluuteny.com

Ten Penny

There are limited gluten free choices here, but I'm a sucker for a good filet.  As an appetizer, I'm a sucker for crab dip. It looked like the salmon could be prepared gluten free, too, if you're into that sort of thing.

The crab dip usually comes with soft pretzels to dip in it.  The server told me she didn't know what to bring me as a substitute, so I suggested celery.  She told me they didn't have celery.  That was funny because there was celery on the veggie platter that our group ordered.  After the crab dip was delivered, I grabbed some celery off our veggie platter & dug in.

It was served in a tiny cast iron pan.  The cheese was crispy with maximum stretch.  I love a crispy cheese right out from under the broiler.  The flavor had a tiny kick, but mostly cheesy crab.  I don't like things too spicy, so this was perfect for me.  It was big enough to share with a friend, but I didn't share.  I actually took half home for lunch the next day.

I chose the filet mignon medium rare with no steak sauce for my main course.  I don't care for steak sauce to begin with, but I also didn't trust it.  The steak was cooked perfectly.  My only complaint was the pepper "crust" it had.  It seamed like it was over seasoned with pepper.  You can see half cracked peppercorns in the picture.  And perhaps they meant to crust it with pepper, but maybe it should have been a finer grind or around the edges instead of on the top & bottom.

I believe that too much pepper is what bad cooks use to cover up their mistakes.  This steak would have been ten times better if the dry seasoning was much less.  Not to say the steak was bad, because it wasn't, just that it could have been better if I could taste the steak more and less of the peppercorns.


https://www.tenpennypgh.com/

Ten Penny
960 Penn Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
(412) 318-8000

The Porch at Siena

 

I've actually been here a few times recently.  This past time was later in the evening.  I felt like someone forgot to dim the lights & the atmosphere would have been a bit better if the lighting was a bit lower.  Well, at least I could see what I was eating.  

They are willing to accommodate groups.  So if you are looking for a place to have twelve to twenty people and have some gluten free options, you may want to look into this place.

The gluten free menu & specials menu are just pieces of paper with items printed out on it and hand cut with scissors crocked.  I wasn't the only person there asking for a gluten free menu last time I went because my server had to retrieve it from another table for me to look at.  I feel like maybe you should do something a little more presentable to attract the gluten free community, but at least menu presentation is no indicator of food quality.

Pictured above, I ordered the steak sandwich without the bread with an onion balsamic relish.  The onions had just the right amount of sweetness and were a great accompaniment to the steak.  The steak had a nice flavor, but there were a good amount of tough gristle parts that, if on a sandwich would have been overlooked, but since I was eating it without, it was very noticeable.  They do not offer gluten free bread here.  I feel like they could really step up their game if they catered to gluten free needs more.  Regardless, they do a good job of not cross contaminating the stuff they can do gluten free.  

I couldn't have the fries that normally come as a side, so they made me a little side salad.

They make a fabulous crab dip that you can get celery to dip in it.  It's cheesy and creamy with just the right amount of crab.  

Over the summer, I had the chicken.  It was really good, but now on the winter menu, I'm told they changed their chicken and it cannot be gluten free.  Hopefully in the summer I can come back & get gluten free chicken again.  It was good.

This time, I ordered the fig and goat cheese salad.  The figs were a sweet addition to the bed of spring mix, radicchio, almonds, and goat cheese.  I added grilled chicken to the salad, as I felt it needed a protein.   The chicken had a decent flavor.  I've had juicier grilled chicken, but it wasn't dried out either.  The salad was large enough to be an entree. I definitely picked out the good stuff & still had a bowl of lettuce left over.  It was enough to fill me up.

All in all, the food was tasty and I didn't get sick, so in my book that's a win! Thank you to The Porch at Siena, I'll be back soon.

Siena at St. Clair

120 Siena Drive
Upper St. Clair, PA 15241

412-833-5385