Beef Vegetable Soup, September 27, 2015

My wife loves to make soup and she does it wonderfully! She can never replicate what she's done and she can never tell me so that I can tell you. So, all I can tell you is that I awoke this morning to the sound of Jeannene puttering around happily in the kitchen, getting our supper soup prepped. It was full of veggies, both fresh (carrot, zucchini, and yellow squash slices) and frozen, as well as hearty chunks of beef. She served it with slices of Health Nut bread, a big bowl of grapes, and lovely composed Caesar salads. My contribution was a bowlful of addictively delicious herbed sourdough pretzel pieces and my grandmommy & mom's apple crisp for dessert. I decided this year that apple crisp is always going to be our first night of fall dessert. I was in a hotel in Miami, unexpectedly, for the first night of fall this year, so tonight was apple crisp night. Pie's girlfriend loves all things apple and she was completely swooning over this. It's my favorite apple dessert, for sure. Humble and delicious!

Herbed Pretzels

1 bag (16 oz) hard pretzels, broken into pieces

1/2 c. garlic-infused olive oil (you can use less)

1 packet dry ranch dressing mix

1/2 tsp. dill

1/2 tsp. lemon pepper

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Toss everything together and spread on a large baking sheet in an even layer. Bake about 25 minutes, stirring at 10 minutes and 20 minutes. Serve while still warm. 

My Grandmama's Apple Crisp

7 large apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (choose a variety of apples with good flavor---I used Honeycrisp, Gala, and Granny Smith tonight)

A little butter, if apples are not very juicy

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 c. flour

1 c. brown sugar

1 stick butter, cold and cut into small pieces

1 tsp. cinnamon

A pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Layer apples in a 2-quart casserole. Dot with a little butter, if needed. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix the other ingredients together with a pastry blender or two forks. You'll want it to resemble coarse crumbs. Spread over the apples. Bake 30-40 minutes. Allow to settle for about 5 minutes before serving. Serves 6-8.