Vanilla Pear Apple Sauce

I love apple sauce but the standard same old same old boring cinnamon flavored apple sauce gets dull. One variation I often make and I made tonight is Vanilla Pear Apple Sauce. So easy and tasty.
You need the following or some multiple of the following
1 apple
1 pear
1/3 vanilla bean
1/3 cup water
dash of salt

Tonight I used
3 apples
3 pears
1 vanilla bean
1 cup water
a pinch of salt

Cut up the pears and apples into cubes. If you are pureeing later for a smooth sauce you do not even need to cut off the skins. If you keep the skins on the color will be darker but more fiber and healthier. I keep mine on. For a chunky sauce most people prefer the skins removed. Put into a heavy pan. I use my 3 1/2 quart Le Creuset but any heavy pan that hold in heat and moisture well will work. I have also made this in a crockpot several times.Take the vanilla bean and cut in half and then scrape out the inside seeds. Wipe your knife along one of the cut up apples or pears to make sure you get every last delicious seed into the pot. Go ahead and put the remaining pod into the pot as well if you like a smooth sauce if chuncky you may want to skip the vanilla bean pod as it will not mash well but purees great. I used to hesitate to use real vanilla beans in my cooking as at the grocery store they are about six dollars each. A friend of mine taught me that you can buy vanilla beans online for what amounts to about 50 cents each which has me much more willing to cook with the beans. If you do not want to put the pod in here put in it a jar with sugar and over time it will scent the sugar with a hint of vanilla and be great.

see those delicious seeds

Back to our sauce. Add in the water and salt to the pot. Bring the heat up until just simmering and then move to low and simmer until the fruit is beginning to fall apart (time will depend a lot on amount being made and on how low your low is and how well your pot hold heat). If doing this in a crockpot add a little extra water and just let it go all day. Remove the vanilla bean pods if you put them in and then mash with a potato masher if you like chunky sauce. Keep the pod in if you are like me puree with an immersion blender for a smooth sauce.  Chill in the fridge and have as a snack or try it on pancakes or with pork chops. If you want to store it it freezes great.
The color is much more like caramel due to the pureed vanilla bean but oh my the taste is out of this world.

Smooth Vanilla Pear Apple Sauce

No need to add sugar as the sugars in the fruit are enhanced by the vanilla and the whole thing tastes sweet and delicious.

Boat Provisioning Trick

Next week, I am going with my family on a week long trip where we are chartering a sailboat in the islands.( I promise I will show pictures) We have done this several times before and it is always a great time. I am starting to pack and as such I wanted to show you this trick I  learned over the years. So when you bareboat charter a boat you do not have a chef. Thus you either cook aboard yourself for the week or eat out every meal. My family typically cooks breakfast and lunch and goes ashore for dinner most nights. This is interesting in terms of spices. You do not want to travel with a spice rack nor do you want to buy at inflated island prices a bunch of seasoning you will use only for a meal. The solution is recycling. During the year when you use up one of those little containers that hold a bunch of different sugar sprinkles wash it out and keep it. Use a paper funnel to funnel in spices and then close again and put inside a ziploc and place in your luggage.

Now contains Pepper, Old Bay, Salt, Italian spices,  Red Pepper, and  Taco seasoning

You can see on the jar that it is still embossed with the words Holly Leaves and Red Crystals left over from some Christmas sugar sprinkles. Bonus, you can also just leave it there when you are done and not have to worry about it. You can buy prepackaged combo spice dispensers they are similar however you can not control the spice combo. What I like about this is that only those spices I expect to use are contained in the mini canister.

Handy Silicone Cast Iron Skillet Handle Covers

A few weeks ago I bought these silicone cast iron skillet handle via a promotion that Fab was having. They are only $10 +shipping. 

They have been life changing. I love my cast iron skillet and use it just about every day. Seriously if you do not have one you should get one. But anyway onto the subject of the silicone handle covers. They come in a two pack blue and green although I have just permanently put the blue one of my skillet and have not yet used the green. Instead of always having to awkwardly grabbing an oven mitt you can grab directly on the handle and even leave the handle on while cooking. This makes it so much easier to make really anything and even to clean the skillet. 

Total life changer. I saw via dealnews.com  that Fab was having another special that you get 10 dollars off via this link  which means that you can go follow the link and get these just for the price of shipping. Neither Fab nor dealnews has a clue who I am. I just like these handles and thought you might too. 

Websites I love

We all have our favorite websites and blogs and I for one am always looking for more. In case you are wondering these are the ones that are tops on my to read list.

Sailing
APS Stern scoop- Rare but great gear reviews.
gCaptain - all the maritime news
Sailing Anarchy - Sailing news with a hint of snark
Spinsheet - Everything that is anything in the world of Chesapeake Bay sailing

Food
Bakerella- Cakepops and other cute food
CakeWrecks- A reminder that no matter how bad the dessert turned out it could be worse
Smitten Kitchen- A very pretty food blog with delicious inspiration
Sweetopia- She makes the most impressive cookies ever
The Kitchn- A major food website recipes products everything.
Tide and Thyme- An eastern shore of MD food blog with great ideas

Clementine curd

Everyone knows and loves lemon  curd but I think most people do not realize you can make curd with almost any citrus fruit. Clementines are one of my favorite citrus fruits and make a delicious curd.
Ingredients
3eggs
1/3 cup sugar
4 Clementines
1/2 stick butter

The cast

1 Set a saucepan of with about 1-2 inches water to simmer.
2 Cut the butter into small pieces.
3 Zest the clementines into a metal bowl. Add the juice of the four clementines, 1/3 cup sugar, and the three eggs together. Mix briefly and then put the metal bowl over the pan of simmering water.
4 Stir continuously for about ten minutes. It will slowly begin to thicken. Keep stirring until thick as needed about the texture of a pudding.
5 Remove from heat and immediately stir in butter pieces  Now strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove the zest and to ensure perfectly smooth texture.
6 Allow to cool and store either in a bowl with a piece of saran wrap on top of curd to prevent a skin or inside a ziploc bag with all the air pushed out. It is good in the fridge for one week or frozen for a month.
7. Serve with scones or pound cake or chocolate cake. You will find yourself looking for an excuse to serve the  clementine curd. I hearby give you permission to eat it by the spoonfuls.

Delicious Clementine Curd on a scone.

Boats and Presidents

It is Presidents day weekend. Since this is a sailing and food blog I want to mention the boats that our presidents are famous for.
George Washington
He is most famous for crossing the icy Delaware river on Christmas night 1776. This raid was a bold move of the revolutionary war. The boats were a mishmash cobbled together with the assistance of the Pennsylvania navy however the majority of boats were either ferry boats or Durham boats (flat bottomed with keels steered with sweeps primarily used at the local iron works)

Washington Crossing the Delaware by Leutze

Thomas Jefferson

USS Constelation

Urged and then started the US Navy. He is responsible for the first ships to be commissioned to be built for the US Navy. This bill was the Naval Act of 1794. The ships commissioned that made it to completion were in order of launch the USS United States, USS Constellation, USS Constitution.  Of these USS United States was sunk during the civil war. The USS Constellation you may still and I highly recommend you do visit in Baltimore. The USS Constitution still belongs to the US Navy and may be visited in Boston for great tours as well.

USS United States

USS Constitution

John Kennedy

On August 2, 1943 Kennedy was serving in the US Navy as a lieutenant junior grade aboard the patrol torpedo boat 109(PT-109) when it was sunk by the Japanese. He then led his men to swim first to one abandoned island and then to a second one where they lived for six days off of coconuts.

President Kennedy in his younger days had been a sailor of star class boats. Of all our presidents he is probably the best sailor. As an adult he had two sailboats. The Manitou a 62 foot racing yacht  sometimes called the floating white house and the 26 ft Victura which was given to him for his 15th birthday by his father and remained his favorite boat throughout his life. 

JFK aboard the Manitou

For a nice video of JFK sailing his Victura go here. He was president so we can forgive him his bad sail trim around 1:20 and 4:55.

Chocolate Popcorn

For those of you who are single this valentines day like I am you, you probably want some easy to munch chocolate treat but nothing too hard to make or too high in calories or designed for multiple people. The answer is Chocolate Popcorn.
You need
1/4 cup popcorn kernels
2oz chocolate
salt to taste
Mix ins to taste I frequently use things like craisins, almonds, caramel bits, mini marshmallows, ect

popped with mix ins

Put the 1/4 cup popcorn kernels into your hot air popcorn popper and pop them. While that is popping melt the 2oz of chocolate in a double boiler, metal bowl over pan of water, or microwave until just melted. Add the mix ins to the popped popcorn ( I used craisins and almonds in this example). Then drizzle the popcorn with the chocolate while stirring constantly. Make sure to pull from the way bottom to the top not just around and around. Keep stirring until fully coated and the chocolate has begun to set again. Add a shake or two of salt if desired. Somehow all popcorn needs a slight bit of salt to my taste.

Chocolate coated popcorn with almonds and craisins

Enjoy and Happy Valentines Day!