Apple #Cake with Caramel Glaze

We were invited to dinner at a neighbor's and I wanted to take something along and found this recipe for apple cake.  The best part was I had everything on hand already and didn't need to go to the grocery store.

The cake was wonderfully moist with good flavor.  The caramel glaze was...wait for it...the icing on the cake. 



Cake

2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 tsps vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3 medium apples, peeled and cored and chopped

Glaze
1/2 cup butter
2 tsps heavy cream
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Prepare apples.

Beat sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs until light and fluffy.

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and stir into batter until blended.

Fold in the apples by hand. The batter will be thick.  Pour into prepared bundt pan.

Bake for 55 to 70 minutes. ) Mine took around 55 minutes so be sure to check often.)

Allow to cool for 20 minutes in the pan and then invert onto a wire rack or cake plate.

Caramel Glaze

Heat the butter, heavy cream and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Bring to a boil.  Stir to dissolve sugar.  Remove from heat.

Add vanilla and stir.  Let sit 5 to 10 minutes to thicken.

Drizzle over cake. 

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Turkey Redux #Recipe Turkey a la King @PegCochran

Do you still have leftover turkey from Thanksgiving or Christmas lurking in your freezer?  Raise your hand.  Ah, yes, I see quite a few of you do.  I still have the carcass and some meat to make turkey soup.  But there was enough left for another meal so I settled on this recipe for Turkey a la King from the NY Times.

Measurements in the recipe are theirs--I was a little loosey goosey with mine.  My chunk of white meat turkey yielded 2 cups not 1 1/2 cups turkey so I wasn't about to try to find another use for the 1/2 cup of meat.  Ditto the mushrooms.  We enjoyed this very much over noodles but you can put it over rice, biscuits or whatever suits your fancy.

And as a bonus, it's quick and easy to make!

6 TBL butter
2 TBL flour
1 3/4 cups turkey or chicken stock
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked turkey
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup frozen peas
2 TBL sherry
Salt and pepper to taste
Parsley for garnish if you have some

 

Cubed cooked turkey

Sliced mushrooms

Melt four TBL butter over medium heat.  When it begins to foam, add flour and whisk until the mixture turns approximately the color of straw.  Slowly add a cup of stock and continue whisking (I found that a little more than cup made the sauce the perfect consistency so I didn't add the rest.)

 

Melt butter

Add flour

Cook until the color of straw

Keep the sauce warm.  Instructions have you add the cream later, I added it now and it was perfect.

Heat remaining 2 TBL butter.  Add mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are soft and have yielded their juice.  Add the turkey, warm sauce, cream (if you didn't add it to the sauce) and peas.  Stir occasionally until mixture is hot and peas are cooked.

 

Add mushrooms and cook until soft

Add turkey, sauce and peas

Stir in the sherry, adjust seasonings and serve sprinkled with parsley if desired.

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The USA Today bestselling author of Unholy Matrimony is back with a new Lucille Mystery! This time Lucille must track down the killer of a diet guru who had a lot more to lose than just a few extra pounds.

With her best friend Flo’s wedding approaching, Lucille is desperate to trim down and joins Weigh to Lose, a weight-loss program led by a clipboard-wielding harridan who’s as unattractively thin as she is shrill. When the bossy woman turns up dead with her throat slashed and a tasty-looking cannoli stuffed in her mouth, Lucille figures she got her just desserts.

But when the local police come up empty-handed, Lucille sinks her teeth into the mystery and narrows the list of suspects to a husband with a wandering eye, a sexy young Swedish au pair, and a gambler deep in debt to the wrong people. Until one of the suspects becomes the victim of another gruesome murder.

Afraid she’s bitten off more than she can chew and worried that she might be next on the killer’s list, Lucille puts her own neck on the line with a wild plan to trap the culprit and tip the scales of justice.

“If you want a very funny murder mystery, then this book is for you. I’ve never laughed so hard while reading before.” —Goodreads, on Unholy Matrimony, Book 2 in the USA Today bestselling Lucille Mystery Series

COMING JULY 31!

NYC 1938.  Featuring Elizabeth "Biz" Adams, debutante turned crime photographer! 

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Almond Flour Tart #Recipe @PegCochran

This is a Mark Bittman recipe I discovered and decided to try.  Hubby loves sweets but also has to watch his carbs so I thought this cake would be perfect with the substitution of Splenda for sugar.  I also had blueberries on hand so I decided to live dangerously and threw those in!

I ended up making this again a couple of nights later--that's how much he liked it.  But then he likes anything with sugar in it so take that with a grain of...er...salt.  These pictures are from the first time I made it--I thought my skillet was a little too big so the second time I used an 8" cake pan, and it turned out perfectly.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• ½ to ¾ cup sugar (according to personal taste) or substitute the same amount of your favorite artificial sweetener that can be used for baking
• Pinch of salt
• ½ cup ground almonds
• ½ cup cream
• ½ cup sliced almonds, more if you want to garnish the top of the cake
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Powdered sugar for garnish

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, combine eggs, sugar, salt, ground almonds, cream, sliced almonds, lemon zest and juice.

Melt butter in an 8-inch ovenproof skillet over low heat.

Add almond mixture to pan, tilting pan to distribute batter evenly. 

Continue to cook tart on stove top until edges just begin to set, then put pan in oven and finish cooking, about 10 to 15 minutes more.

When tart is done, put it in broiler for about a minute or until just golden on top. Mine came out of the oven already quite golden so I skipped this step. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and sliced almonds.  

It doesn't look too pretty--my skillet was too 

big--but it was delicious!

Bon Appetit!

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The county fair is the highlight of the year for the small town of Lovett, Michigan—especially for food-and-lifestyle blogger Shelby McDonald, who writes as the Farmer’s Daughter. She’s submitting jams and jellies she’s created from the produce she grows at Love Blossom Farm in hopes of harvesting a blue ribbon.

But the townspeople get more than just the excitement of hayrides, tractor pulls, and cotton candy when Shelby’s neighbor and volunteer fireman, Jake Taylor, extricates the body of Zeke Barnstable instead of a dummy during a demonstration of the Jaws of Life. The fact that Jake and Zeke were known to be at odds plants suspicion in the minds of the police. As evidence against Jake grows, Shelby knows she has to plow through the clues to weed out the true killer and save her friend.

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San Francisco Pork Chops #Recipe @PegCochran

I found this recipe online but now I've lost the name of the site.  There are numerous recipes for San Francisco Pork Chops but I couldn't find any reference to how they got their name.  I can only guess that the name is a nod to San Francisco's Chinatown because of the inclusion of soy sauce in the recipe. 

Most recipes were similar to this one although some gave directions for making this in your slow cooker.  Either way, we thought it was delicious.  Perfect when served over rice or with mashed potatoes to soak up the delicious sauce.

San Francisco Pork Chops

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 boneless pork chops
1 clove garlic, minced 
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup beef broth
1/4 cup soy sauce 
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons cornstarch 2 tablespoons water 

Directions

Dry pork chops on paper towels.  Recipe is for four but I made only two for the two of us.

Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add chops and brown on each side, approximately 5 minutes per side.  

Remove to a platter.

Add garlic and onions to oil remaining in skillet and cook, stirring, until garlic is fragrant and onions are soft.

  

Whisk broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, 2 tsps. vegetable oil and red pepper flakes in a bowl until combined and brown sugar is dissolved.  

Return chops to pan, add soy sauce mixture and bring to a boil.  Cover skillet and reduce heat to low.  Simmer until pork chops are cooked but still tender.  

This will depend on the thickness of your chops but start checking at 15 minutes.  Chops should reach an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees.

Transfer chops to your serving platter.  Whisk cornstarch and water in a small bowl until smooth.  

Stir into liquid in the pan and stir until thickened, about five minutes.

Pour over chops and serve. 

 

 Bon Appetit!

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The county fair is the highlight of the year for the small town of Lovett, Michigan—especially for food-and-lifestyle blogger Shelby McDonald, who writes as the Farmer’s Daughter. She’s submitting jams and jellies she’s created from the produce she grows at Love Blossom Farm in hopes of harvesting a blue ribbon.

But the townspeople get more than just the excitement of hayrides, tractor pulls, and cotton candy when Shelby’s neighbor and volunteer fireman, Jake Taylor, extricates the body of Zeke Barnstable instead of a dummy during a demonstration of the Jaws of Life. The fact that Jake and Zeke were known to be at odds plants suspicion in the minds of the police. As evidence against Jake grows, Shelby knows she has to plow through the clues to weed out the true killer and save her friend.

Follow me on Facebook to learn about upcoming giveaways! 

 

Easy and Juicy Baked Chicken #Recipe @PegCochran & #Giveaway!

I found this recipe on the blog Give Me Some Oven.  It's a basic recipe that can be played around with to suit your tastes but which will produce delicious, juicy baked chicken breasts.  I find it's very easy to dry out chicken breasts, but this recipe works like a charm.

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts of even thickness, brined
1 tablespoon melted butter or olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika (I used smoked paprika)

      To brine chicken:

    Place 1 quart of warm water and 1/4 cup kosher salt in a large bowl and add chicken breasts.  Brine for 15 minutes and up to six hours covered in the refrigerator.  

     To make rub:

    Combine salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika in a small bowl and mix well.  Feel free to experiment with spices!

I used smoked paprika for a bit of a kick!

    Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

    Remove chicken from brine and dry thoroughly with paper towels.  Place in an oven proof baking dish and drizzle with melted butter or olive oil on both sides.  Sprinkle with rub on both sides.

      Bake for approximately 15 to 18 minutes or until thermometer reaches 165 degrees.  Remove from oven, cover dish with foil and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes while you prepare your side dishes.

      Slice and enjoy! 

Giveaway! Sowed to Death

RT Magazine Top Pick!

Sowed to Death, book #2 in my Farmer's Daughter series, comes out on July 4!  You can pre-order now!  To celebrate, I'm giving away a copy 

of the first book in the series, No Farm No Foul.  

Please leave a comment below to be entered to win.

 

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No Farm, No Foul

RT Magazine Top Pick!

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