I need to make this again.

You can find the recipe for this delicious bird here. (Actually, the site is down right now. It’s the Lemon-Honey Chicken with Olives from Real Simple. Check it out sometime if you’re interested.)

A few months ago a new little place opened up on Route 66 where it passes through the northern edge of the Oklahoma City metro area. Pops. One of the neatest little places I’ve been to. Where else can you go and find nearly any carbonated beverage your sweet little heart could desire? Beats me. And while they still don’t have my boyfriend’s favorite root beer (Henry Weinhard’s) it is a great place. Drive to Oklahoma. Stop. Go in. Eat their food (it’s good). Drink their pop.

When you see this you are getting close.

When you see this, you need to flip on your turn signal.

Now go inside and have yourself some pop. My favorite is Empire Bottling Works’ Spruce Beer. Their food is good, too.

If ever you’re near Ozark, Missouri, stop on by Lambert’s. You won’t regret it.

As a small child I could never eat bologna. Ever. When I did, it did some VERY bad things to my gastrointestinal tract. So one day after I had eaten a bologna sandwich that I’d conned at kid at Vacation Bible School out of, I was lying on the couch moaning and complaining. My mom who usually told me to suck it up was looking at me intently. Something was clearly on her mind.”You know,” she began, “when I was nursing you, I ate a bologna sandwich once. And that was the worst diaper I ever changed.”

Thanks for the warning.

(And in case you were wonder, no, I do not have those issues with bologna anymore.)

The other day at work we had a surplus of apples left over from Christmas and our cook decided to cook us up some applesauce for the next day’s dessert. I was working with the older kids at the time, in the room that is as far away as you can get from the kitchen, barring being in one of the other buildings. As I sat reading Liz Curtis Higgs’ Fair is the Rose while the “little dears” napped, the scent of cooking apples wafted up the stairs and through the building. Mmm. Only my first thought was, “Who on earth gave a kid apple juice during naptime and why did they spill it all over the floor?” Because, naturally, if you smell anything at a daycare it can be blamed on a child 90% of the time. Or more. I’m bad with math and don’t have the exact statistics on such things.

Either way, that got me in the mood for applesauce. Having a bag full of apples sitting in my own house, waiting for me to pick them up and turn them into some culinary masterpiece (or chop them up for my guinea pig), I decided to make applethauthe. Here’s the recipe, just for you.

Miss Wisabus’s Cinnamon-y Applesauce

10 Granny Smith apples
1 1/2 cups sugar (or more, to taste)
2-3 tablespoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 cups water
Let the water heat in an appropriately sized pot (medium-large) while you are peeling and cutting the apples. You just want it hot, not boiling. Add the apples and let them cook for 15 minutes or until tender. Add remaining ingredients. Apples will begin to fall apart as you stir. Let cook another 15 minutes or until at desired consistency, stirring occasionally. Some recipes call for using a blender, but I have found that it isn’t necessary. If the apples don’t break down enough for you, pull out a potato masher and finish the job.

Now you’ve got yourself a nice pot full of applesauce! Enjoy it while it’s warm, that’s great.

The other day I was watching Emeril Live and he made this divine looking Roasted Garlic & Onion Soup. Tonight I was home with my brothers and since between the two of them the only vegetables they eat are asparagus, beets, and carrots, I skipped out on the onions and made up a little something of my own. It turned out pretty well, but be warned, it’s some spicy stuff. Don’t be scared by the amount of garlic that’s in it. With all the potatoes, it’s really not that garlicky.

Roasted Garlic Potato Soup
Prep time: 2 hours
Serves: Approximately 8
6 medium potatoes
16 garlic cloves
3 cups water
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Essence

Pour 3 cups water into roasting pan and add teaspoon salt. Peel 16 garlic cloves and place them in roasting pan, along with potatoes, cut into pieces no bigger than about 2 square inches. Drizzle 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil over potatoes and sprinkle 2 tablespoons Essence over that. Toss to coat. Place in oven and cook at 400° F for 1 and 1/2 hours. Stir occasionally and add more water if needed. After potatoes and garlic have roasted, remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. (For next step food processor or blender can be used.) Puree potatoes and garlic in blender about 1 cup at a time (more than this can prevent your blender from blending) and add water to create desired consistency. Pour blended mixture into large pan with 2 cups milk. Stir constantly while soup simmers. After about 5 minutes remove pan from burner and serve. Cheese or sour cream may be added (either while making or when served, because, let’s face it, cheese and sour cream make the world go ’round).