Sweet 'n Savory

Apple season is probably my favorite time of year. I get incredibly excited when I see local pecks of apples in grocery stores and I can taste their seasonal freshness. Today I picked up a bag of galas and wanted to dive into it right away, but instead I waited and came up with a recipe to use them with for dinner. Since I was in a "comfort food" mood, I decided to combine apples with one of my favorite comfort dishes: mashed potatoes.


Apple mashed potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 medium Idaho or white potato, cubed
- 1 gala apple, cubed
- 1 tsp Earth Balance
- 2 tbsp unsweetened soy milk
- 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- S&P, to taste.

Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes and boil for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, add the cubed apple. Continue cooking for 5-7 minutes or until potatoes and apples are soft. Drain and return back to the pot.
- Mash with a fork or potato masher until chunky. Add Earth Balance, soy milk, vinegar and nutritional yeast and continue mashing until you reach your desired consistency. Season to taste.
- You can serve here, or place mash in a greased casserole dish and broil until top is lightly brown and crusty.

Serves 1-2

I know this sounds like a weird combination, but it was incredible. The mellow, creamy potato and the tart brightness of the apple worked really well together. If you like a sweet and savoy combo, you'll love this side dish. While I bet it'd taste great with a sweet potato, I think I'd prefer it with white because the sweet potato + apple combination may be almost too sweet. I'd totally still try it, though.

To go along with my mash, I made a simple dijon crusted tofu.



I cut a servings worth of tofu into slabs and coated the pieces in a mixture consisting of:
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tsp olive oil
- Pinch of dried tarragon
- S&P, to taste




and baked it in a 375 oven for 40 minutes, flipping halfway through. The tofu was super creamy, both inside and out. The edges of the tofu were chewy and browned, but the dijon crust almost melted in my mouth. It was simple, filling, and delicious.

Now I'm off to do some lunar flow yoga. Night!