Some Days I'm Good

And then there are the other days.

My husband has been gone on business trips a lot. I really hate when he goes. But I was good on Monday and Tuesday. He left and I ate well. I was going to make myself a nice Pasta Foozle (maybe better known as Pasta y Fagioli). Or pasta and beans.

The recipe starts off easily. You make a miropoix or since it is an Italian dish I suppose I ought to call it a soffritto. Which is just a fancy way of saying saute some diced onions, celery, and carrots. Then add the beans that have been soaked. I used my Ottawa Cranberry beans that I showed you on Harvest Monday. Add some broth and seasonings (I chose oregano and a bay leaf) and simmer until the beans are done. After add some diced tomatoes or tomato sauce. Or in my case both since I had some nice Cherokee Purples ripe on the counter that really needed to be used up but not quite enough. Throw in a little pasta and you are done. But somehow as the beans were cooking I thought that some hot Italian sausage from the farmers market would taste really good in it. So I tossed that in. I added just one link. But it really turned the soup into a very spicy dish. Regular pasta seemed a bit bland at that point. So I added tortellini. That was good but it needed something else. So I added some Greek yogurt at the end to add a creamy flavor.

Oh it was so good. And good for me too.

Then came Wednesday. My husband was home. I was thinking some fish from the farmers market. But then he called an said he was stuck in a meeting late that day and today too. It made me sad. So I made something else for dinner.

Yes this is an upside down caramel apple cake. I usually make it with a strudel topping, but caramel seemed so much more apropos for a day that I'm going to be bad. So caramel it was. I had two slices for dinner (yes as my dinner, not dessert) with some really good sharp Vermont cheddar. At least I make my cake with some whole wheat flour and it used a lot of apples - apple butter and grated apples in the batter, and the yummy sliced caramelized ones on top. OK so it also had half a cup of butter and a cup of brown sugar in that recipe but whose counts calories when your husband deserts you*.

And since I just know I'll get asked what the recipe is I'll give it to you.

Daphne's Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

Preheat the oven to 375F.

• 1/4c butter
• 1/2c brown sugar
• 2 apples peeled and sliced

Put the butter and brown sugar in an ovenproof 10" frypan over medium heat. Start slicing up the apples. When they are sliced, cover the pan evenly with the slices. Then start mixing up the batter. Keep cooking the apples while you do this.

• 1/2c flour
• 1/2c whole wheat flour
• t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• t cinnamon
  
• 1/4 t nutmeg
• 1/2c applebutter (but you can sub applesauce)
  
• 1/2c brown sugar
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1/4c melted butter
• 3/4c grated apple
  

Mix the dry stuff together(except the sugar) and the wet stuff together (plus the sugar), then mix the both of them together. Take the fry pan off the heat and spread the batter over the top. Put in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Once it is done let it sit for about five minutes and then invert it onto a plate. Then if you are like me fix the apples that fell off during this process.

Then cut and put onto a plate and eat with Cabot cheddar cheese for dinner. Err. OK you can have it for dessert if you want. But really don't you want to eat it for dinner too? Especially if you are all alone and no one can see you?

*puns are always intended