Yogurt Apple Cake with a Cinnamon Streak

My husband isn't a man that enjoys a lot of frosting on a cake or like a cake that is too sweet.  But a cake like this....he'll gobble up.  I made this for him on Father's Day to enjoy when all the kids were here to celebrate.  It was delicious.  It was very light and moist.  There's about 4 cups of apples in the cake along with a cinnamon and brown sugar streak in the middle with the same topping on top.




If you decide to make this beauty please use  regular plain yogurt or Greek yogurt, but if you do use lowfat yogurt ,drain it before using it.  You could put nuts in the topping if you wanted to, that would be a nice addition.  Whipped cream on the top or a scoop of ice cream on the side would also go well with this cake.  Any way you slice it , this is one good cake!   Enjoy!

To print recipe, click here.

Yogurt Apple Cake with a Cinnamon Streak

The Kitchn

Ingredients
serves 8 or more
1 1/2 cups whole-milk yogurt, well-stirred
2/3 cup olive oil
1 lemon, juiced (about 1/4 cup)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 small tart apples, such as Granny Smith, about 1 1/2 pounds
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch freshly ground nutmeg
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Directions

Heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking pan with baking spray or olive oil.
Whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl. Peel and core the apples, and chop into chunks about 1/2-inch across. You should end up with 3 1/2 to 4 cups of apples. Stir the chopped apple into the liquid ingredients.
Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon right into the liquids and stir just until no lumps remain. In a small separate bowl, mix the remaining 2 teaspoons cinnamon with the brown sugar and butter.
Pour half of the batter into the cake pan. Sprinkle the batter with half of the cinnamon-brown sugar mixture, dropping it on the batter in small lumps. Spread the rest of the batter over top, and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon-brown sugar.
Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, covering with foil at the end if the top is browning. When a tester comes out clean, transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature.
This keeps very well for several days, and it gets even moister as it sits, due to the apples.

Italian Bread Bowls...Use them for Soups, Salads or Dips!

There was a time when bread bowls were the rage.  I don't hear anybody talking about them anymore.  What a pity, they are so good and easy to make!  I got the bread bowl bug sometime last fall and decided I was going to try my hand at it.  I make all the bread we eat now and I figured another bread in the freezer can't be anything but good.  I really should have a nice picture of the bread bowl filled with something delicious like soup or a salad or even a nice party dip.  But it was a baking day here and I was up to my elbows in dough.  I'll do that another day.  As I mentioned, this Italian Bread Bowl can be used for soups, salads or dips.  But around here the way this usually gets eaten is...as a an Italian Bread.  It is absolutely delicious as is, with butter of coarse!  On a day that I make these they get wrapped in plastic and put into the freezer.  You can let it thaw out at room temperature or help it along in the microwave.  This bread is a staple in this house, it goes with everything.



One of the very nice things about this recipe is you can make the individual dough balls any size you want to.  8 balls makes a nice size soup bowl, not to big,and you won't feel like your eating a ton of bread.  Go small to 10 balls and you have some nice Italian Rolls for burgers or sandwiches.  Because I use these as bread to slice, I make 5 or 6 balls.  Just enough for the two of us to slice up and eat along with dinner and have a little left over.     The first time I made this dough I couldn't believe how silky smooth and soft it was.  I loved having it in my hands.   The recipe says to use all purpose flour but I have always used bread flour, I also use extra virgin olive oil instead of vegetable oil. 



This bread gets a nice crispy crust from combining an egg white and water to brush on top of the balls before they're baked.  Bake for 15 minutes .......




And then brush with the water and egg white again.    Bake until golden brown.  I sure hope we have some adventurous bakers out there who'd like to make these, trust me, you will find ways to use them and eat them all the time!  Enjoy!







To print the recipe ,click here

Allrecipes
Italian Bread Bowls

Ingredients

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast

2 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C

2 tsps salt

2 Tbls vegetable oil ( I use olive oil)

7 cups all purpose flour ( I use bread flour)

1 Tbls cornmeal

1 egg white

1 Tbls water

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Add salt, oil and 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with an electric mixer at medium speed after each addition.
3. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.
4. Punch dough down, and divide into 8 equal portions. Shape each portion into a 4 inch round loaf. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 35 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, beat together egg white and 1 tablespoon water; lightly brush the loaves with half of this egg wash.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Brush with remaining egg mixture, and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.
7. To make bowls: Cut a 1/2 inch thick slice from top of each loaf; scoop out centers, leaving 3/4-inch-thick shells. Fill bread bowls with hot soup and serve immediately.

 

Delicious Sour Cherry Crostata

I am blessed to have two neighbors with cherry trees who love to share.  We went cherry picking with Paul's daughter Ciara and her two children Faith and Gabe.  It was a first for all of us.  I've never baked with sour cherries before but with all those cherries ,I needed a good recipe quick.   The first thing that came to mind was a crostata.   I've made a crostata before and knew my husband would love it.  He's a crust kinda guy. 

This crust is absolutely amazing.  Buttery, flaky, tender and melt in your mouth wonderful.  The crust and sour cherry pie filling both came from Epicurious.   You can use this crust to make a crostata or make two 9 inch pie crusts. It takes a little more time to make the crust, only because it's refrigerated twice, once for an hour and then again for half an hour.  But it's totally worth your time to make! You can make this crust in a food processor or by hand, I've done both.  This time I made it by hand  and  I did something a little different when I made the crust. I put the butter , flour and water in the freezer until they were very cold.  I then grated the butter and put it back in the refrigerator till I was ready to use it.  I made this crust when I made an Apple Calvados Tart a few years ago, if you want a visual on how to roll the crust click here to go to the recipe.



The cherry pie filing was so easy to make.  After the cherries are pitted, the filling comes together in about 10 to 15 minutes, then you have a cool down time in the fridge.  If you're pressed for time, you could make the filling one day and the crust the next.  Sour Cherry Crostata, what a combination of flavors and textures.  This crostata was gone an hour after it was cool enough to cut.  You need this kids.  Enjoy!!

To print the recipe, click here.

Sour Cherry Filling
 Epicurious

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
5 1/4 cups fresh or frozen (not thawed) sour cherries (13/4 lb), pitted
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons cold water
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Make filling:
Heat butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides, then add fresh or frozen cherries with any juices and sugar and simmer, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. (Cherries will exude juices.) Continue to simmer until cherries are tender but not falling apart, about 8 minutes. Stir together water and cornstarch to form a thick paste, then stir into simmering filling and boil, stirring frequently, 2 minutes. Cool filling quickly by spreading it in a shallow baking pan and chilling until lukewarm, about 15 minutes.

All Butter Crust Dough
Epicurious

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (not unbleached)
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes ( when I made by hand, I grated the butter)
9 to 12 tablespoons ice water ( I put water in freezer till very cold)
Special equipment: a pastry or bench scraper

Preparation:

Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl, then blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Drizzle evenly with 9 tablespoons ice water and gently stir with a fork (or pulse in food processor) until incorporated.

Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn't hold together, add more ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until just incorporated, then test again. (Do not overwork mixture, or pastry will be tough.)

Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 8 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together with scraper and press into a ball, then flatten into a 6-inch disk. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

Using lightly floured parchment paper, roll the dough out to a 16 inch circle.  Place rolled dough with parchment paper on a baking sheet and fold ends over to fit on sheet, refrigerate for 30 minutes   After 30 minutes, take dough from refrigerator , unfold dough .  Place cherry pie filling onto crust leaving a 2 inch border around crust.  Fold crust over filling, pleating as necessary, leaving middle of pie open.  Bake at 425 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until crust is golden. 

Fresh Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

My strawberries in the garden started coming on a couple of days ago.  I went out everyday and picked them little by little to safe them for this cake.I served this cake to 5 people in our family yesterday.  The first descriptive word that was spoken after eating by each person was....creamy.  They couldn't believe how creamy it was.   I try to pick recipes that are going to be good, I just didn't realize how good this was going to be! 



The original recipe from Food.com was made in a 13x9 in pan.  The reviews on the recipe said some people made it in an 8 or 9 inch cake pan so I opted to make it in the smaller pan. A couple of the reviews said it was difficult to spread the cake batter out into the bigger pan and then spread the cake batter over the strawberries.  Difficult but still achievable and just as good. Making it in a 13x9 inch pan will give you a bar like dessert that will feed more people.  Either way you choose to make it you will be very very pleased with it.   Lets get started making Fresh Strawberry Cream Cheese Cake!




Combine the cream cheese, butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy. 



You know this is going to be good with butter and cream cheese in the batter.



Stir in the milk, eggs and vanilla. Mix well.



Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt...( the wet ingredients).  Add to cream cheese mixture and mix until smooth.  Let's talk about beating wet  ingredients and then incorporating the dry ingredients.  You can pretty much beat wet ingredients ( a combination of but not limited to butter, eggs, milk etc..) together for any cake till the cows come home and they'll be fine.  It's when you add the wet ingredients ( a combination of but not limited to flour,baking powder, baking soda, salt etc..) to the batter that things change.  When you add the dry ingredients to any cake batter beat or mix till  just incorporated.  If your wet ingredients are thoroughly blended, there's no need to add the dry ingredients and mix any longer than is needed to incorporate them, unless stated in the recipe.  The longer you beat the batter after the dry ingredients are added, the tougher the cake will be. 



Spread 1/2 the cake batter into a greased and floured pan, your choice of 13x9 or an 8 or 9 inch cake pan.  I used a 9 inch cake pan, this rose up quite a bit.  Spread berries over the batter.  I tried to keep the berries away from the edges of the batter so that when the batter rose up it sealed the berries in the cake. 



Drop the last 1/2 of batter over the berries in the pan.  



I took my cake spatula ( you can use a knife) , wet the spatula with a little water and started spreading the batter over the berries.  At this point in the recipe is where people that used the larger pan ( 13x9) ran into problems.  They had a hard time covering the berries with the batter and used they're fingers to push the batter over the berries.



Combine the brown sugar and chopped nuts and sprinkle over the top of the cake.  You can use any nut you like, I choose almonds because I thought it would go well with the strawberries.  Bake for 35 -40 minutes, the cake rises pretty high.  Make sure that the center of the cake has risen before taking out of the oven. Test for doneness with a toothpick.  Let cool completely or serve warm .  This cake turned out to be such a delicious surprise!  I hope you try it!  Enjoy!






To print recipe ,click here.

Food.com

Fresh Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups strawberries, sliced (I use entire 16 oz. container)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions 

Preheat oven to 350°F. 

  

Combine cream cheese, butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.   

Stir in milk, eggs and vanilla.   

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to cheese mixture and mix until smooth.
  

Spread half the batter in a greased and floured 13x9 inch baking pan. (The batter is VERY thick. It works best to put little blobs of it across the whole pan and then spread them with a knife. One reviewer says they used a 8x8 inch pan, but I haven't so I can't vouch for how it will turn out or how long you need to bake it.). 

Spread berries evenly over batter. Dot remaining batter over berries. Mix brown sugar and nuts; sprinkle evenly over cake.

  Bake 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

Fiesta Chicken Soup

The amount of recipes that come into my in box is ridiculous.  I subscribe to just about any food site you can think of.  Once in a while I'll get a clean fit going on with the computer and just start deleting things I haven't used or will probably never use.  But I just can't seem to unsubscribe to any of the food sites.  What if I miss that one fantastic recipe, whatever it may be.  How could I live with that?  I'm not taking that chance, the recipe sites stay.   How to have firmer thighs in ten days, your gone.  One of the recipe sites I subscribe to is Kraft Recipes, where I saw this soup.  My husband , being the tall dark handsome Texan that he is loves Mexican everything.  The recipe is a good basic soup recipe that you can add or subtract from and make totally your own.  But the one thing you want to definitely keep in the recipe is that first ingredient...Italian dressing!  I know what your thinking...Italian dressing in a Mexican soup?  I'm here to tell you it totally works! It adds lots of flavor. There were some things I adapted in the recipe.  I added black beans, corn and green peppers. I didn't measure out these ingredients, I just eye balled them. I sauteed the onion and green pepper together and added it to the soup.  And with any soup recipe I make I always tweak the broth by adding a little chicken base.  You can , but don't have to broil the cheese on top of the soup, it just melts fine all by it's self! You have to put the cheese on top!  It's soooooo good in the soup!  My husband likes a little dollop of sour cream too. If you are a busy mom, you can have this on the table in no time flat! My adaptions to the original recipe are printed in red.  Enjoy!






To print the recipe, click here.

Fiesta Chicken Soup
Kraft Recipes

Ingredients

1/4 cup  KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing

3/4 lb.  boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1 onion, chopped (  I sauteed onion and green pepper together )

1cup  (1/2 of 14-1/2-oz. can) stewed tomatoes, undrained

1can  (14-1/2 oz.) fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth

1-1/4cups  water

1can  (8-1/2 oz.) peas and diced carrots, drained ( I used corn, green peppers and black beans)

1tsp. chili powder

1/2cup  KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese ( I used Cheddar Cheese)

Directions

HEAT dressing in large saucepan on medium-high heat. Add chicken and onions; cook 5 min., stirring occasionally.
ADD tomatoes, broth, water, peas and carrots and chili powder; stir. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer 8 min. or until chicken is cooked through and onions are tender. Meanwhile, preheat broiler.
LADLE soup into four ovenproof serving bowls; top with cheese. Broil, 6 inches from heat source, 2 to 3 min. or until cheese is melted. 

Creamy Blueberry Pie

I get so excited when I find a good recipe that I want to share ....people must think I'm a baking nerd.  There she is with her miniature rubber spatula and whisk in her apron pocket protector.  LOL!!  It's ok, it's what I've done for 30 years and when you like doing something that much it's a pleasure.  I made a blueberry pie that is a little different and absolutely delicious.    Great summer pie!  It's creamy because it has sour cream in the custard portion of the pie.  Yes ,sour cream not milk.  You don't taste the sour cream, which allows the blueberries to come shining through!  The sour cream just makes it creamy.  Let's get baking, we're gonna make a Creamy Blueberry Pie! 



First we need a 9 inch  pie crust, the recipe said to use a deep dish pie crust, I used a regular 9 inch pie pan and put a baking sheet under it and it worked just fine.  Make a homemade pie crust or buy a premade pie crust.  Some people used a graham cracker crust and that did well for them but I personally think that would have made this too sweet.  It was good with a regular pie crust.  I also used frozen blueberries thawed under warm water and drained well.  Get your pie crust ready and place 3 cups blueberries in the bottom of it.



Next we're gonna make the custard to go over top of the berries.  Combine your sugar, flour, salt, 2 beaten eggs and the sour cream.  Whisk them together and pour over the berries. Next time I make this I think I'm gonna add a little lemon juice to the mix, maybe a teaspoon.  Lemon and blueberry go so well together and it always brighten up the taste of blueberries.



It's got gorgeous color already doesn't it?




Our final step is to make the streusel topping.  You may want to just half the topping recipe, it really doesn't need alot.  It adds a crunch to the pie, put doesn't need to be smothered in it, ( we want to taste blueberries not streusel) a nice layer just to cover the top is sufficient. I didn't use all the topping I made on the pie. Set your oven at 350 degrees and bake 50 minutes.  I put foil over the top of the pie for the first 20 minutes of baking to keep the crust from getting to brown.  Cool completely on a wire rack.  After mine was cooled I refrigerated it, it's so good cold!! This was so easy to make and so very GOOD!!!  Switch out the berries to suit what you have.  You can't go wrong with this pie!  Enjoy!





To print the recipe, click here.

Creamy Blueberry Pie
Allrecipes

My adaptions to the original  recipe are in red.

Ingredients

3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen ( if frozen thaw and drain well)
1( 9) inch deep dish pie crust ( I use a regular 9 inch crust with a baking sheet underneath it)

For Custard.
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream ( I used 2/3 cups sour cream)

For Streusel topping
1/2 cup white sugar ( I used 1/4 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place the blueberries in the pastry shell and set aside.
2. Combine 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and salt. Add eggs and sour cream, stirring until blended. Pour the sour cream custard over the blueberries.
3. In another bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup flour. Cut in the butter with pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle the topping over the sour cream mixture and berries in the pie shell.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack.

I covered the pie with foil for the first 20 minutes of baking to keep the crust from browning to much.

Cheesy Broccoli Rice

I absolutely love it when I find a homemade recipe for a prepackaged food that I use to buy and really liked.  There's a lot of satisfaction in making something home made that tastes better and is healthier for you.  My husband planted early broccoli this year and I happened to have a couple heads of it waiting to be used.  While net surfing for a recipe to use the broccoli in ,I landed on Buns In My Ovens blog where I found this recipe.  She made the recipe with zucchini, but since I had broccoli , her recipe...Cheesy Zucchini Rice became ...Cheesy Broccoli Rice.  And I'm thinking , in the near future it could become Cheesy Cauliflower Rice.  Pretty versatile little recipe we have here, and just as easy to make as the prepackaged rice.  I added a little more cheese than the recipe called for, about a 1/3 cup more so I added an extra splash of milk to compensate. I steamed my broccoli until tender and just chopped it roughly before adding it to the other ingredients.  I also added a teaspoon of garlic powder instead of 1/2 teaspoon, we like our garlic!  I have added my additions to the the original recipe in red.This is a delicious cheesy rice recipe that I will be making often! ENJOY!!







To print the recipe, click here.

Cheesy Broccoli Rice
Buns In My Oven

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup long-grain white rice
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium or 2 small zucchini, grated (I used my food processor but a cheese grater would work well, too) ( I used a nice small head of broccoli, steamed and roughly chopped)
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar ( I added 1/3 cup more)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder  ( I used 1 tsp)
salt and pepper, to taste
splash of milk, as needed  ( I used 2 splashes)

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
Add the rice and stir to coat. Toast the rice, stirring often, just until it starts to turn golden.
Pour in the chicken broth, bring to a boil, turn heat to low, and cover.
Cook, covered, for 15 - 20 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.
Remove from the heat and add the butter, grated zucchini, cheddar, and garlic powder. Stir until well incorporated. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes.
Stir again and add salt and pepper to taste and a splash of milk if you'd like to thin out the texture a little bit.