Hi all, I hope you are having a grand Wednesday. Before I start on today’s really fun post I just wanted to mention again that if you have not voted yet for my recipe on goodbite you can do so by going over here now.  You can only vote once per day but together I hope we can make a difference and donate a $1000 to Heifer International.

On to the Food

Who said chips had to be made with potatoes?  Not me that’s for sure.

Today I wanted to create something a little different and of course use one of my favorite kitchen products – my swissmar slicer.  If you have never tried this slicer – it is a must have in your kitchen.  You can pick one up at Opensky today.  Parsnips have a very unique flavor but there is something about them – that I just love.  For this recipe I thought I would kick them up and add a little cinnamon and honey.  They turned out almost candy like but were very yummy.

Let’s just say I probably should have peeled a few more parsnips into the mix but it was all I had left.  This is great for an appetizer or even a side dish with a nice piece of fish.

Ingredients

• 1 Large Parsnip
• 1 Tbsp. Honey
• 1 Tsp. Cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• Ground pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and peel the parsnip





2. Using your slicer, slice the parsnip into discs.
3. In a large bowl toss the parsnips slices with olive oil, pepper, cinnamon and honey







4. Arrange on a pre lined baking sheet and bake for about 25-30 minutes



5. Turn parsnips after 15 minutes and continue cooking
6. Remove when golden brown
7. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Be careful not to burn this little chips.  Because of the high sugar content they will burn if left unattended.  I like to move them to the top rack after the first 15 minutes and turning once.  This will allow them to dry out and crisp up without burning.

Around the Blogsphere

• Janna over at Just Flourishing is having a fun Valentine’s giveaway.  You have to check this out and you may be just in time to be the lucky winner.
• Late last week Deb from smitten kitchen made one of my all time favorite dishes…. Ginger Fried Rice.  I would so eat the whole pot.

How are ya?  That’s good!  Let’s just say I have been better.  I will take a few minutes to recap yesterday and all its glory.  Well in order for the full story you will need some background from the weekend.

On Saturday we had a lot of rain and high winds – which always concerns me as far as the new house – so I drove out Sunday morning to have a look.  Ran down the basement to check for water… all is clear.  I take a walk up stairs around the perimeter of the house just checking the floors to make sure the roof is not leaking… all is clear.  I wander around a little longer to the south  side of the house and I see wet marks on the floor next to the windows.  My heart beats faster and I say ” Oh Dear”.  I look to another window and see the same thing.  WINDOWS ARE LEAKING!

I call the builder on Monday morning and tell him and he says “ I know Cory… I was down on Sunday at 7:00am because I couldn’t sleep last night”. What are we too do?  Well the guys decided to do a water test yesterday and sure enough the windows are leaking - but how and where.  We call in the siding guys and they take some siding off and do a few more tests.  It turns out the window is leaking itself.  It is not an installation issue but even worse – a product issue.  Now I am upset and borderline cranky.  I got the call as we are waiting in a three hour line up for our H1N1 immunization.   So I immediately called the supplier of the windows and asked to have a rep sent out on site ASAP to get this fixed. As I type this I feel like I am pounding on the keys a little harder than normal so I am going to stop now and get to the good part of this post.

On to the Food

As promised from yesterday’s post I have the easiest tasty apple crisp ever for you today.  We had about 8-10 apples left over from the orchard pick so I thought I would use them up and make a sweet treat.  7 ingredients for a dessert is pretty easy so here goes.

Ingredients

• 8 Cups sliced apples
• 1/4 Cup White Sugar
• 2 Tbsp. Flour
• 1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon
• 1 Cup flour
• 3/4 Cup brown sugar
• 1/2 Cup soft butter

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare baking dish by rubbing butter all over it
2. Combine apples, white sugar, 2 Tbsp. Flour and cinnamon in a large bowl and mix together.



3. Toss into baking dish and spread evenly



4. For the topping combine the final 3 ingredients and spread evenly over the top of the apple mixture.



5. Bake for 45-60 minutes depending on your oven.



6. Remove and let rest
7. Serve warm or cool



8. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: I like to make a thicker apple crisp in a smaller pan because as the apples cook they will begin to shrink and your crisp will fall.

This is a super fast dessert and goes great on a cool fall day.  I like to serve with homemade whip cream or my favorite… vanilla ice cream.  It can also be a great breakfast or even a nice mix into oatmeal.

Question of the day?

Does anybody like oatmeal?  What is your favorite oatmeal topping of all time!

Speaking of oatmeal, I need to try the new Autumn Medley recipe recommend by Chef David from the Quaker Challenge.  For those of you who haven’t already, please vote for me by giving my video a thumbs up!

Have a great day and just so you know – by the time I got to the end of this post, I think I feel better.  it must have been working with the apple crisp pictures.  Have an awesome Thursday.

Take care

zesty