Bad weather, but the kitchen is lovely

We had single digits overnight, and about the same forecast for tonight. I texted, then left a message for my snow shoveller, the same who knocked on my door last fall and reminded me he would like all the extra money he could earn, and please don't forget him when it snowed.

There were about four inches for his attention, all day yesterday, but as mentioned, he did not show up or let me know. So I carved a path to get to the car that needed cleared off, headlights to tail lights, and windshield not the least of it. Bah, Humbug!

Except for a 10:30 doctor appointment, I would have remained home. Since I had to be out, I took my grocery list. There are enough groceries on hand to last to next week, when it will be in the forties all week. But I needed a reward for getting off my deck this morning.

Swedish Apple Pie: Hilary made this when I visited her. Twice!

8 medium granny smith apples, peeled, sliced and cored
1 Tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 cup white sugar
Pinch of salt
1 egg
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 F
Spray a pie plate with non stick spray and fill pie plate 3/4 full with sliced apples
Sprinkle apples with 1 Tablespoon white sugar and cinnamon mix
In a separate bowl, combine pecans, sugar, salt, flour
Combine melted butter, beaten egg and almond extract
With wooden spoon, mix wet ingredients into dry. Mix well.
Spread the mixture over apples, gently.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until crust is golden.
Serve warm or cold, with whipped cream or ice cream. Or nude.

The original recipe called for 3/4 cup melted butter and 1 teaspoon almond extract. Experiment as you will; the recipe cannot be ruined.

In addition to being totally out of apples, I was totally out of Stamppot. Linda recently told us how to make this. Perhaps not that recently, as I've run through two or three pounds of potatoes. I bought a five pound bag today, and they're in the potato drawer.

Kale Stamppot

Boil 3 large potatoes covered with chopped bunch of kale on top of the potatoes until potatoes are done and kale is steamed. Drain off the water. Mash the two together. In the meantime, cut 5 slices of bacon into bits and fry crisp. Pour bacon and grease over potatoes and stamp the entire pot together.

As you can tell by my refrigerator shelf, I've expanded beyond kale to stamp. Even better, in my opinion, is chard. I've added carrots. I've added onion and garlic to the bacon. In the grocery store this afternoon, I even added two turnips to my stash. Linda told me sauerkraut makes a lovely stamppot. 

This will keep me well into next week, waiting for the snow to melt.