Apple Cake

Apple Cake
Originally found at My Recipes

1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples (about 4 large), peeled and cut into thin wedges
8 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Stir together butter and next 3 ingredients in a large bowl until blended.

3. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; add to butter mixture, stirring until blended. Stir in apples and 1 cup pecans. (Batter will be very thick, similar to a cookie dough.) Spread batter into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch pan.

4. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack (about 45 minutes).

5. Soften cream cheese to room temperature. Stir in vanilla extract, then slowly add in powdered sugar until creamy and smooth. Spread onto cooled cake.

My Notes:

Original recipe called for nuts, but my roommate is allergic to them, so I made do without. I also used Fuji apples instead of Granny Smith, since they didn't have any more Granny Smith apples at the orchard when I went. Any baking apple should work just fine.

My other roommate is in love with it. She says that despite my complaints that I can't bake, I really can. My response was that I can make cakes and cookies just fine, but anything that requires yeast never turns out right for me. Ever.

The batter is very liquidy, and as it is made up of mostly eggs and butter, it doesn't set up as well as some cakes might, so it will be sticky. It's good, though. Nice and moist, even days after it's made.

The butter and frosting make it dairy. I'm partial to my cream cheese frosting, so I'm sticking with that, but go ahead and modify if you think you have a frosting that will work better.

Almond Joy Cookies

Though not my best recipe, this cookie has been entered into the Culinary Smackdown Battle - Cookies competition. Go check out some of the other awesome and creative cookies!

Almond Joy Cookies
From Grandma's Kitchen

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp coconut extract
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 pkg (5 oz) chocolate pudding mix
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 pkg (12 oz) chocolate chips
2 cups shredded coconut
2 pkgs (2 oz) sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 325. Cream together sugar and butter in a large bowl. Mix in vanilla, coconut extract and eggs. Stir in flour, dry pudding mix, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips, coconut, and almonds. Drop dough by tablespoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 13-16 minutes, or until outside has firmed up. Cool 1-2 minutes on pan, then remove to cooling rack. Makes 5 1/2 dozen.

My Notes:
I did not use all the chocolate chips and almonds called for in the recipe. In fact, I used less than half of each (though more than half my batch I didn't put any almonds in because my roommate is allergic to them). They were still delicious and I felt there was more than enough chocolate chips in each cookie (so many that they weren't sticking to the batter very well).

My roommates both loved them. I loved them, and so did one of my classmates who I originally baked them for. So, all around, excellent cookies.

Really Basic Marinara Sauce

Really Basic Marinara Sauce
Original recipe

1 can diced tomatoes
1 small onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Olive oil
desired pasta (or whatever)

Heat olive oil in skillet until hot. Saute onion and garlic. Add tomatoes, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Allow to reduce slightly, breaking up tomatoes as desired. Stir in pasta and serve.

My Notes:
I don't measure out spices much, so I'm not sure if the recommendations above are good. Just taste it and determine how you like it. Fresh herbs are, of course, the best, but I never have those on hand, so I used dried. I've been using a little bit of jarred pasta sauce, but it's essentially the same as what I'm putting in, so I think it just makes it a little thicker faster.

Tzatziki

Tzatziki
Originally found at Whole Foods

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and grated
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain nonfat Greek-style yogurt
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon chopped mint and/or basil (optional)

Place cucumbers in a bowl and sprinkle with salt. Let sit 15 minutes, then drain excess water. Mix drained cucumbers with yogurt, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and zest. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in herbs if using. Refrigerate until ready to enjoy.

My Notes:

Heh. I actually left out the garlic and the olive oil, and added some pepper. It still tastes yummy. Go me! Grate cucumbers using your box grater, the size just smaller than the one you normally use for cheese. This actually does a pretty good job at sorting out the seeds as well, but I didn't really bother to pull them out of mine. To get the moisture out without making them salty, take a couple of paper towels folded together and press against the mixture. Repeat until they are relatively dry. Also, don't skimp on the Greek yogurt. You cannot use regular Yoplait yogurt. Get the good stuff.

Greek-Style Veggie Burgers

Greek-Style Veggie Burgers
Originally found at Whole Foods

Olive Oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 (14-ounce) cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
2 large eggs
Juice and zest of one lemon
1 cup breadcrumbs, more if needed

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add garlic, onion and bell peppers. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions and peppers are soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in ground pepper, oregano, cumin, and salt, cooking for 1 minute to bring out flavors. Place sautéed pepper and onion mixture in a food processor with beans, eggs, lemon zest and lemon juice. Pulse to combine. Add breadcrumbs and pulse until incorporated. The mixture should be thick yet slightly chunky. Chill mixture 10 to 15 minutes, until firm. Add more breadcrumbs if mixture seems too wet or warm water if the mixture seems dry.

Heat remaining oil in a pan over medium heat. Form patties of desired size and set in pan. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan. While patties cook, grind some extra pepper over the tops of the burgers. Cook 4 to 5 minutes per side, until golden brown. Remove from the pan and cook remaining patties, adding more oil as needed.

Cooked patties can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for 2 months.

My Notes:
Original recipe called for yellow bell peppers, I substituted green. It also called for cashews. I thought about adding tahini instead (since I have a can of it sitting on my pantry shelf), but decided not to. The patties do absorb a good deal of oil, so you'll want to add some more oil to the pan after each batch. That's why you should use olive oil... it's a nice healthy oil :)

These were a lot better than I was expecting. I actually combined the last half with some feta cheese and put them into pita quarters (pita bread cut into quarters) and served with tzatziki (recipe to follow momentarily), but you can serve them however you want. They're just like burgers, only perfectly pareve. And, you know, Greek-like.