Hot Cinnamon Apples

YUM!!  These are sooo easy and sooo delicious.  I wanted to make something last year on the smoker with cast iron pans so I started googling cast iron recipes.  I ran across this site and found the apple bake recipe and tweaked it a bit.  I thought the smoker would add just the extra bit of autumn yumminess to the recipe.  I was wrong.  The smoker adds an incredible flavor to these hot little cinnamon apples!  Perfect for football season or once the temperature drops below 80 degrees in Texas.

This recipe makes three big cast iron pans full of apples and serves a bunch of people!  I have no idea how many people before we ran out.  Probably 50-75 spoonfuls or so???  If you aren't cooking for the masses, divide as needed for smaller groups.  :-)

24 large apples                                                    
2-3 sticks of butter
small container of quick rolled oats
bag of brown sugar
cinnamon

We peel the apples and cut into 1/4" slices.  Cover the bottom of the cast iron pan with apples slices and a solid second layer over the bottom layer.  As they cook, they shrink a bit.  Start with about a cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of oatmeal per pan and several shakes of cinnamon...probably about 1/8 of a cup of cinnamon per pan.  Slice up butter and we start with about 1/4 stick of butter to each pan.  As they cook, stir occasionally and add more butter, oats or more sugar to get the mixture to a nice thick consistency.  I think the smoker heats to about 300 degrees and it takes about 30 minutes for the apples to get soft.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies (like Whole Foods and Gluten-Free!!)

I have an addiction.  It is to the Chewy Chocolate Cookies at Whole Foods.  Oooey-gooey brownie-like goodness in the middle and light crunchy outside that melts in your mouth. After lots of googling and recipe reading, I found this recipe.  I told Mark that if I had time, I would try to make them for the Texas Tech game.  I described that they were a flourless chocolate cookies with only 3 grams of fat and he said something like they would be hockey pucks and we would feed them to the dogs.  For the record, this may have been the one and only time Mark has ever been wrong.  ;-)  I don't have any pictures of the finished product so I guess I'll just have to make another batch!

I've made these twice now and the recipe may vary depending on how big your egg whites are and how tightly you pack the powdered sugar.  Pack the powdered sugar tightly!  I hand mix everything until it is wet and then let the Kitchen Aide mixer take a turn at the dough for about 30-45 seconds on high.  

I also learned (thanks to a phone call that interrupted my cookie making) that the cookies turn out better if you let the dough sit and stiffen for about 15 minutes before you start scooping it out.  Once you put the dough balls on the cookie sheet, press them down just a bit.  If you put walnuts in, the cookies don't fall and you end up with walnut piles.  Also, be careful not to let them overcook. It's hard to know since the dough is dark.  My oven cooks a bit hot and I never went over 8 minutes.

I love them with walnuts, but the calorie count goes up.  I looked at the walnut label and I'm guessing the cookies end up being about 9-10 calories a piece....but walnut fat has to be good fat, right?!  

Hatch Green Chile Mac N Cheese with Shrimp and Bacon

It's a keeper!  Mark and I have been working on this for almost a year.  Its maiden voyage was made last winter off the back of a label for Green Chile Stew.  After Mark worked his creative magic and I played with the cheese combinations, this glorious dish was discovered.  How can you go wrong with three pounds of cheese, shrimp, bacon and a cup of heavy cream?  It was a hit!  We made three pans and there were no leftovers at the tailgate yesterday.  Always a good sign!

THIS RECIPE SERVES 75-100 PEOPLE!!  

36 oz       elbow macaroni

12 oz       queso quesadilla (queso quesadilla with jalapenos for those up for the challenge)

12 oz       queso asadero

12 oz       sharp cheddar

12 oz       gruyere cheese

3 C          heavy whipping cream

3 pkg       bacon (Oscar Meyer Center Cut-1pound package)

15            hatch green chiles 

2-3 bags raw peeled and deveined frozen shrimp (tail-off) -- we used 41-50 count 2 lb bag

taste        cayenne pepper

taste        cajun seasoning

taste        crushed red pepper

taste        panko bread crumbs

1.  Boil water and prepare noodles.  We had to do it in three rounds.

2.  While noodles are boiling, start shredding all the cheeses and mix together.  You will need a BIG bowl or pan!  Set aside about 1-2 cups of cheese to put on top before cooking.

3.  Chop bacon slices into small strips about 1/4 inch long.  Fry bacon and drain grease on paper towels.  Save the bacon grease in the pan to use when grilling the shrimp.

4.  Begin grilling the shrimp in the bacon grease with cayenne pepper and cajun seasoning to taste.  We use several good shakes of the can.  The grease turns a nice Longhorn Orange color.  (We were tripling the recipe so Mark added olive oil as the bacon grease began to evaporate.)  

5.  Chop shrimp into nice bite size pieces.  

6.  Heat the hatch green chiles and saute in the bacon grease.  Slice chiles into small pieces about 1/8 -1/4 of an inch.

7.  Put all the ingredients into a 13 x 9 inch pan and mix together with your hands.  

8.  Top with remaining cheese, crushed red pepper and then panko bread crumbs.  (We forgot to save any extra cheese so this was topped with an additional 1-2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese.)

9   Bake at 400 F for 45-60 minutes.  It is done when it begins to completely bubble around all the sides of the pan.  One 13 x 9 pan serves approximately 24 people....so 3 pans must have served about 75 people although I did see several nameless people come back for seconds and thirds!