Baked Apples

Tom and I were watching Hallmark channel all day today, and one of the movies, "Love, of Course," made me want to look up some of the recipes that were in it. So, I looked up Baked Apples on Pinterest, and after reading an Epicurious article, I realized that it had to be super simple, and decided to give it a try.

Baked Apples

1. Use a paring knife to start coring an apple. Use a melon baller or sharp spoon to complete making a hollow in the apple. Leave the bottom in the apple.
2. Fill the apple with 1 T sweetener (like brown sugar), a pinch each of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and salt, and ½ T butter.
3. Put the apple in a baking dish with 2 inch high sides. Pour a few inches of water into the dish. Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes.
4. Check on the apple periodically, and add water if it has all evaporated.
5. Remove from oven and let cool.

The filling stayed liquid, even after cooling, and we weren't sure how to eat the apples, but we cut up the apples and let the buttery, sweet spices drizzle over the warm apple. It was delicious, and if we had any, I would have put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Today, Tom requested spaghetti for dinner. Halfway through the day, I realized that I didn't have any spaghetti sauce in the house, so, as usual, instead of heading to the store, I checked the Internet for a clone recipe for Ragu spaghetti sauce. I found two that were similar, and ended up splitting the difference, plus made a change to accommodate what I had in the house.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 cans tomato soup [½ qt tomato sauce]
• 1 pound fresh tomatoes, chopped
• 2½ t sugar
• 1½ t olive oil
• 1 T parmesan cheese
• ½ t dried basil
• ¼ t dried parsley
• ¾ t minced garlic
• 1 pinch black pepper
• [1 bay leaf]

Directions:

1. Put everything in a pot and warm over low heat until the sauce has thickened to the desired consistency.

I didn't have any tomato sauce, so I used condensed tomato soup and I forgot to add the bay leaf. Tom thought the sauce was good, but commented on the sweetness. I thought the sauce was just okay, and was too sweet. Since we both had a comment about the overall sweetness of the sauce, I will follow the second recipe and use 1½ t sugar instead of the 2½ t sugar from the first recipe.