Cinnamon Apple Cake

This is one of my favorite recipes. Years ago I subscribed to Cooking Light Magazine when I was trying to eat and cook healthy things for my family. This recipe comes from the October 1997 issue of the magazine. I still try to cook healthy but sometimes fall off the wagon. Too much of a good thing is always too much of a good thing. The article says that it is the cream cheese in the batter that gives the cake lots of moisture. I think the cake melts in your mouth. I served this recipe last week when we had company for dinner.

1 3/4 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup stick margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 ounces block-style fat-free cream cheese, softened (about 3/4 cup)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsps ground cinnamon
3 cups chopped peeled Rome apple (about 2 large)
cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Beat 1 1/2 cups sugar, margarine, vanilla, and cream cheese at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended (about 4 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture, beating at low speed until blended.
3. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. Combine 2 TBS cinnamon mixture and apple in a bowl, and stir apple mixture into batter. Pour batter into an 8-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray, and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon mixture.
4. Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Cool the cake completely on a wire rack, and cut using a serrated knife. Yield: 12 servings.

Note: You can also make this cake in a 9-inch square cake pan or a 9-knch springform pan; just reduce the cooking time by 5 minutes.

Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies

Last night Kerry and I invited family over because Janilee, my son Jonathan's wife, is here visiting and helping to decorate our home. I wanted to make something special for my company so I made a recipe that Kerry's mother had given to me. I made a little variation due to time constraints. The cookie is very rich and the marshmallow is a surprise when you bite into it. These are Kerry's favorite cookies so I hope you will enjoy them too.

1 3/4 cups sifted cake flour

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 tsp vanilla

36 large marshmallows, cut in half

1 can chocolate frosting, or add 5 Tbs cocoa to a can of white fluffy frosting

Sift flour, measure, sift again with soda, salt and cocoa. Cream shortening. Add sugar gradually, blending thoroughly. Add egg, beat well. Add flour mixture and milk alternately, beating after each addition. Add chopped nuts and vanilla, mix. Drop by level teaspoonsful, about two inches apart onto a well greased cookie sheet. Cookies will spread. Bake in moderate (350 degree) oven for eight minutes, top with marshmallow half, cut side down. Return to oven and bake two minutes, until marshmallows soften. Cool and frost with frosting.

Gifts from the Kitchen

I taught a class once on fun and easy gifts from the kitchen. My ideas were already made like making Chocolate Crinkle Cookies and putting them in a new dustpan. I attached a poem to the dustpan that went like this: I baked a batch of cookies and dropped them on the floor. I quickly scooped them up and rushed them to your door. One fun idea I found is to make mixes in a jar and give them as gifts. Here are a few to try.

Hot Chocolate Mix

3 cups powdered milk
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 cup sugar
dash of salt
Sift the ingredients into a large bowl. Pack the mix into an airtight container.

Attach this to the jar:

Hot Chocolate
Serves 1
4 Tbs. Hot Chocolate Mix
8 ounces boiling water
Marshmallows or whipped cream

Double Fudge Brownie Mix
Dense and fudgy, these are the best brownies in the world.
2 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa (not Dutch process)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chocolate chips
Mix all the ingredients together and store in an airtight container.

Attach this to the jar:
Double Fudge Brownies
Makes 24
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
4 eggs 1 package Double-Fudge Brownie Mix
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 12 by 9 inch pan. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the Double-Fudge Brownie Mix and continue to beat the mixture until it is smooth. Spread the mixture into the greased pan, and bake for 40 to 50 minutes.

Snickerdoodle Cookies
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups sugar
In a large bowl, combine the ingredients with a whisk. Store the mix in an airtight container.

Attach this to the jar:
Snickerdoodles
Makes about 5 dozen cookies
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 package Snickerdoodle Mix
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbs cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until light; add the eggs and beat on low speed until the mixture is smooth. Add the Snickerdoodle Mix and continue to beat on low speed until the dough begins to form. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and roll in the cinnamon sugar blend. Arrange on ungreased baking sheets 2 inches apart and bake for 16 to 19 minutes or until light tan. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I grow rhubarb in the garden and find that it's sour/sweet taste goes well with strawberries. My plants were huge this year and so I picked a lot of rhubarb to freeze. It is really easy...all you have to do is cut it up into 1 inch pieces, put it into containers and then put it in the freezer. So for Thanksgiving I made a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. This is my daughter Jenessa's favorite pie.

1 -10 inch double pie crust (I used the Never Fail Swedish Pie Crust)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. orange peel
3 cups rhubarb, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 cups strawberries, cut up
2 TBS butter

Mix flour, sugar and orange peel together. Then mix in the rhubarb and strawberries. Pour into the pie shell and dot with butter. Place the top crust on the pie and spread milk on the top and then sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes.

Mediterranean Salad

I love fresh vegetables especially during the summer time. So I came up with a salad that is healthy and very Greek. The feta cheese gives it the umph that it needs while putting olive oil into the mix adds some healthy oil that the body needs for digestion. I found that I loved the mix and am thinking of adding a yogurt dressing next time I make it. This is a recipe for one person.

1 ounce of feta cheese

1/2 tomato

1/2 green pepper

1/3 large cucumber

2 TBS. chopped red onion

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp olive oil

dash of sea salt

Chop vegetables into bite size pieces and mix together. Sprinkle feta cheese on top then add olive oil and lemon.

Lasagne

For Father's Day this year I asked Kerry what he would like to eat for his special dinner. I thought I would make something like Chicken and Dumplings and he said that he liked that recipe but that was not his favorite. He was a little disappointed that I didn't know him well after 31 years of marriage and what he likes to eat. "Of course" I thought, "Kerry loves my lasagne."

Not any Lasagne recipe but THE Lasagne recipe that I have always made him. It is the recipe that is found in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book published in 1976.

Cover via Amazon

Lasagne was always a hit at my house. I made it first the day that Jonathan was blessed for all the company that came to our home. Then there were the other celebrations like birthdays. It is probably the most popular dish in our household.

1 pound of Italian sausage or ground beef
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 Tbs. whole basil
1 1/2 tsps. salt
1 1-lb. can tomatoes
2 6-ounce cans tomato paste
10 ounces lasagne noodles
2 eggs
3 cups fresh Ricotta or cream-style cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
2 Tbs. parsley flakes
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced very thin

Brown the meat slowly; spoon off excess fat.

Add next 5 ingredients and 1 cup water. Simmer, covered, 15 minutes; stir often. Cook noodles in boiling salted water until tender; drain; rinse.

Beat eggs; add remaining ingredients, except mozzarella.

Layer half the noodles in a 13x9x2-inch baking dish; (Yes. I know that this is a 9x9 pan but when there are two people eating, I make two smaller pans of lasagne. We eat one and freeze the other which is what I did today. So if you have a bigger crowd go ahead and make the BIG pan of lasagne like I used to when my family was home.)spread with half the Ricotta filling; add half the mozzarella cheese and half the meat sauce. Repeat. Bake at 375 degrees about 30 minutes (or assemble early and refrigerate; bake 45 minutes). Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serves 8 to 10.

Spicy Bean Salsa

This is a great dip to serve with chips. It is a little spicy with the jalapeno pepper so if you like things mild you can make this salsa without it.

1 can (15 1/2 oz) black eyed peas (drained)
1 can (15 1/2 oz) black beans (drained)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped jalapeno pepper
3 oz. or 3 cloves garlic diced
chopped fresh cilantro
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 pkg Good Seasons Italian Dressing prepared with oil and vinegar

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate several hours. Serve with tortilla chips or over rice.

Edith's Whole Wheat Bread

My Great Aunt Edith Whittle lived on a farm in Kimberly Idaho where the Olsens settled after immigrating from Denmark in the early part of the last century. I am sure the my older children remember the birthday cards that she sent to them every year with a dollar. That one small act helped them remember her. She was very kind to us and when we went to visit her she had a picture of my sister Jan and I on the dresser in her upstairs bedroom. When we were at her home we milked the goats and poured the cream on our breakfast cereal. What a treat! Here is her recipe for Whole Wheat Bread.

Beat together:
2 cups of prepared powdered milk, scalded
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup soft margarine
4 tsp. salt
Add and beat well:
4 eggs

Mix together and let sit until yeast bubbles, about 5 minutes.
1 cup warm water
1 Tbs. brown sugar
2 Tbs. yeast

Pour into milk mixture and add 7 cups whole wheat flour. Mix together well, the dough will be sticky. Add 1 1/2 cups of white bread flour. Put in greased bowl and let rise for 1 1/2 hours until double in bulk. Knead down and let rise again. Mold into 2 loaves of bread. Let rise for 1/2 hour and then bake 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Brush with melted butter while hot.


Today we made stone ground wheat bread. Jayden, Ashlyn, Peyton, and Cameron were over at my house for cooking lessons on how to make bread. It takes a couple hours to make bread so we made Marshmallow Popcorn Balls while we waited. Afterwards the kids enjoyed the treats they made.

I have a lot of hard red winter wheat in storage but you can find wheat berries at the store. Bob's Red Mill sells wheat berries in the grocery store or online but you need to have a wheat grinder to make the flour.

Jayden was fascinated to find that my very old Magic Mill wheat grinder, which my mother gave to me to use over 20 years ago and I tried to give it back to her several times but she wouldn't take it, had stones inside it to grind the wheat into flour.
Jayden poured wheat into the grinder and was amazed to find after it went into the little hole that flour came out into the tray at the bottom. We made about 7 cups of flour with the 5 cups of wheat that we put into the grinder. We had a discussion about how wheat was ground a long time ago and how people took their grain to the miller to have it made into flour. Peyton said that her best friend has the last name of Miller and I said that their ancestor probably was a miller a long time ago.

After we finished making the flour we started putting the bread together. First of all we proofed the yeast in 1 cup of lukewarm water and 1 Tbs. of brown sugar. The children watched the yeast bubble and grow and then put it into the milk mixture. Cracking the eggs was a favorite thing to do and each child got to put one into the mix then Cameron added the flour.

After mixing in the wheat flour the dough is very sticky and gooey so I add white bread flour to give the dough some gluten and make it stick together. This helps the solve some of the stickiness problem too.

I use my Kitchen Aide to knead the dough for 10 minutes which is very necessary to give the bread the right texture. Letting the dough rise is the next step. I let the dough sit in a warm place an hour until it doubles in bulk. I know when the dough reaches the top of my bowl that it is double.

There is a trick to making a beautiful loaf of bread and so I demonstrated how to do it with the first loaf and then Jayden did the second loaf. I thought she did a very good job.

First the bread is rolled with a rolling pin to get all the big bubbles out. We made sure that it was put on a well floured surface because the bread dough is still a little bit sticky. I turned the dough over a couple times to make sure that it was floured. Jayden rolled it into a rectangle and then rolled it the long way to form the bread. After the roll was made Jayden pinched the end to the dough to seal the loaf. Then she turned the ends towards the center and pinched them to the loaf. She did a really gread job putting it into the greased loaf pan.

Look at how well formed Jayden made her loaf. I couldn't tell the difference between the two loaves. The bread was given time to rise for a half an hour then it was ready to go into the oven. The smell of bread baking permeated the house and we couldn't wait to taste it.