"Open your taste-buds!"

Lately I've been making tons of apple crisps and apple sauces. There is apples everywhere around here. I'm offering apples for snacks to keep the doctor away (well to get rid of the apples) The tips of my fingers feel tight with several abrasions from the apple peeler. I'm surprised I'm not dreaming about apples. The deer around here are extremely happy receiving the apple peels and cores on a daily basis. I'm going to share my apple crisp recipe that our children love.

Apple Crisp

Slice, dice (watch your fingers) and layer the bottom of your casserole dish with apples.
Add about 2 cups of brown sugar to your apples.

In a separate bowl, mix 2 cups flour, 2 cups white sugar (yes tons of sugar that makes children move) a great breakfast! lol Add a few shakes of salt, approx half a cup of cinnamon, mix 2 eggs into the dry mixture. Then add on top of the apples. Melt a half cup butter and pour on top. Bake at 400 for approx one hour. I also substitute apples using this same recipe consisting of any fruit. It's a great breakfast!

This is my time of year to smoke salmon. So my next task is smoking salmon. My husband and I work together as a team. He fillets and cleans the salmon while I prepared each half in a brine. The brine consists of coarse sea salt, brown sugar, pepper (chilli's) and garlic. I can't really explain the amount as it's by sight, feel and in moderation. A light layer of salt, a fine sprinkle of peppers, garlic throughout topped off with a coating of brown sugar. I layer the salmon and refrigerate for at least two-three days before smoking for another two-three days. I like my smoked salmon cooked like candy with tons of blasting flavor. Sometimes I switch up my brine and my smoked salmon every year comes out just a bit different. When I cook and especially with time consuming foods, I strive for perfection. It can be very upsetting when a weeks worth of work ends in disaster. I choose my salmon wisely as I find for any smoke salmon, the fish has to be a certain type. Sockeye is and will always be my first choice. Thankfully my Uncle is a fisherman and I usually have the supply to smoke every year.



My smoked salmon then becomes the main ingredient to my sushi I make at least once a month. It's a smoked salmon, avocado, sometimes green onion and red pepper roll with roasted garlic and chipotle dressing.  Sometimes I prepare it spicy depending on who's dining. Chipotle is one of my favorite flavors. I always add sesame seeds to the sushi rice. The seaweed paper (sushinori) is located in the inside of the roll. I'm very surprised having as many children as we have and everyone likes sushi. I love cooking, I love experimenting and mostly I love the fact that our whole family will experiment with their taste buds before saying they don't like something.

Now I better get cracking as I'm making a homemade sweet and sour sauce for dinner tonight. My homemade sweet and sour sauce consists of 2 cups ketchup, 2 cups brown sugar, 1 cup vinegar, 7-8 dashes of worcestershire sauce, salt/pepper, garlic of course, red peppers, onions, cilantro and tomatoes! That's just the base. You can add or delete. Experimenting with food is fun! Whatever your fancy is, bitter, sour, salty or sweet - there is something for everyone around here.