Cinnamon Apple Cake

This recipe out of one of mine and my mother's favorite cookbooks.  My mom was telling me all about what she was making at home (making me not only hungry but jealous) and she mentioned or rather raved about this apple cake recipe. Well I could have made this cake the night before a test it was so easy!  Not going to lie I was a little skeptical as I slid the cake into the oven.  The "cake" part didn't mix very nicely with the apple part of the cake, but when I pulled it out of the oven you would never have known.  Everyone that tried it here LOVED it!

Cinnamon Apple Cake

Ingredients:
3 medium apples
3 Tbs butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg beaten
1c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla

Peel, core, and chop the apples and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350 F
Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl.  Add the egg and mix well.
Sift in the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
Add the apples and vanilla and stir together.  The batter and the apples may not come together very well but don't worry it will still bake fine and taste great.
Put the batter into an 8x8 or 9x9 pan.
Bake for 35-45 minutes.  The apples should be tender and the top of the cake should be a deep brown color.

Snickerdoodles

A couple of weekends ago I bought some snickerdoodles at the grocery store because I ran out of time to make something for a get together I was going to and was inspired to make some of my own. Normally with baking I tend to sick really close to the recipes I find however with these I was feeling brave so I looked at multiple recipes online and in a way combined them all the in the ratios I felt would give me a fluffy but evenly cooked cookie.  Well it worked because I ended up with a super easy cookie to make that wasn't flat at all and tastes great!

Snickerdoodle 



Ingredients:

1/2 c unsalted butter softened
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
11/2 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

2 Tbs sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

In a medium bowl cream butter and sugars until light. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until the dough comes together and is workable.

Preheat oven to 350 F

Combine the 2 Tbs sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll the dough into 1-1.5 inch balls and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar.

Press the cookies on to a parchment lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. The cookies should be small disks about 1/4 inch thick.


Bake for 12-15 mins. The cookies should just start to turn golden on top.  Be careful not to over bake the cookie will set up even out of the oven.

Tomato Basil Pasta

Last night I discovered that I had some tomatoes and basil that were about to go bad in my fridge so I decided to make dinner for myself and a friend.  I usually don't have time to cook during the week but last night I figured I had about an hour that I could use to cook.  It was a simple meal just a quick sauce that I threw together with some capellini. I wasn't planning on posting this recipe but Lyn convinced me that it had to go up so here it is.  
Also just as a note I didn't measure anything while I was making it (like I said wasn't planning on posting it) so the measurements are just estimates add more or less depending on the flavor that you want.

Tomato Basil Pasta


Ingredients:
2 medium tomatoes
1/8 c. chopped fresh basil
1/8 c. chopped fresh parsley
3 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
pinch of salt
capellini (I used a small bunch about the diameter of a quarter)
parmesan 

Place a medium pan on medium high heat and add 1tbsp olive oil to it.  While that heats mince the garlic cloves.  Add the garlic to the pan and cook until some of the garlic starts to turn golden brown (about 3-5 mins).  
Roughly chop the tomatoes removing the seeds.  Add chopped tomatoes to the pan when the garlic is golden brown.  Add a pinch of salt and stir the garlic tomato mixture.  Let that cook down for about 10-15 mins.  
While your sauce is cooking cook the capellini according to the package directions but only for about half the time it calls for.  Drain off most but not all of the water, reserve about 1/8-1/4 cup. water and add that and the pasta to the sauce pan.  
Add the basil, parsley, and a small handfull of cheese.  Mix everything together and reduce the heat to low. Add another tablespoon or 2 of olive oil and allow the pasta to finish cooking (3-5 minutes more).

Makes about 2 servings.