Spicy Apple Bundt Cake

This is a wonderfully delicious cake that never lasts more than two days
at my house. Sometimes I'm lucky to even get more than one piece.

Ingredients:


4 medium apples--peeled, and shredded with a cheese grater
(I've used all varieties of apples)


3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4  tsp apple pie spice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ginger

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
4 eggs

1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup walnut pieces


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 12-cup bundt pan with a
no-stick cooking spray, with or without added flour.

In a medium bowl whisk together baking powder, all-purpose flour, sea salt,
and all spices. Set this aside.

In a separate bowl mix on medium speed, sugar, oil, apple sauce, and  eggs.
Add flour and spice mixture. Mix thoroughly and add in the shredded apples,
mixing once again and then adding nuts and raisins.

Pour into bundt pan and bake about an hour at 350 degrees or until a toothpick
inserted in the middle of the cake, when removed, comes out clean.

Let the cake cool on a wire rack about 10 minutes then invert onto a cake dish.


I take 2 tablespoons of orange juice, while the cake is still warm, and
pour it over the top. My mom taught me to make small toothpick holes
in the top of the cake to allow the juice to seep inside for extra flavor and
moisture.

Just to make the cake look more festive I sprinkle a little bit of  powdered
sugar over the top and sides.

Add a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on top if you like.

Enjoy!

Cabbage, Potato, Leek Soup

It's a dark, windy, and rainy day in my corner of the world again today. Feels
as if it's been raining forever. So, it's a good day for my favorite soup. I have
been making it for years and I change it up nearly every time I make it by using
what I have on hand at the time. I think I have finally decided on these ingredients,
after so much tweaking, for this delicious and nourishing soup.

Ingredient list:

1 head green cabbage, cut into strips
3 leeks (white portion only) sliced thin
1 vidalia onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
3 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

3 Tbsp organic cultured butter
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3/4 cup organic half and half
4 cups chicken broth (homemade) or
1 large carton


1/4 tsp parsley, fresh or dried
1/8 tsp rosemary, dried
1/4 tsp garlic powder
sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

Today I added 2 organic chicken breasts that I diced and sauteed separately
and everyone enjoyed the soup even more. I think I will be adding the chicken
more often now.


 In my largest stock pot I combine the butter and oil and get it simmering.
Then I add all the cut up vegetables except the potato and cook on medium
heat until tender, adding chicken broth a little at a time. Now the diced potatoes
are added and all the spices are stirred into the soup. When the potatoes are
cooked through I pour in the half and half and stir thoroughly. And remember
if you are adding the diced cooked chicken to stir it in now. I like to let the soup
simmer for another fifteen minutes for so to thicken up a bit.

We like to sprinkle a handful of shredded cheese into our soup to make it
extra yummy.

Makes 4-6 servings

Blueberry Cake

This little wooden cookbook belonged to my Aunt Anna and then to my mother, Edith, when my aunt passed away. My mother gave it to me a few years before she, herself, passed away. It was published in 1944 and the pages are very worn and tattered causing some to even loosen from the rawhide binding.  I cherish it because it belonged to these two fine ladies who I loved dearly and who also happened to be great cooks.

A have chosen a recipe today from this cookbook for Blueberry Cake and though the measurements are not what I am used to reading, such as a "scant" of an ingredient, I will prepare this and see how it turns out. This recipe also does not even mention an oven setting or suggest a pan size so it will be very interesting to see just how it turns out! Be back after it's completed and my family and I have a taste. I have never tried any of the recipes from this book but wanted to start this recipe blog with one from it in honor of my wonderful mother. One of her greatest joys in life was taking care of her large family of ten and that included cooking for all of us. My mother was always in her kitchen and that's just where she enjoyed being most.


So, here is the recipe:

Blueberry Cake

1/2 cup butter (scant)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 cups blueberries
1 1/2 cups flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. extra flour


Cream the butter and sugar until light, add well beaten yolks, salt, and beat in alternately the flour mixed with baking powder and the milk. Fold in the stiffly beaten whites of the eggs, flavor with lemon juice, and mix in very carefully, to avoid crushing, the blueberries which have been dredged in 1 tablespoon extra flour. Bake in a fairly good oven first half hour then lower the temperature and finish baking in moderate oven. Serve warm and slice like any cake.

OK, we thought the cake was good and it was really easy to make. I felt it was more like a bread instead of a cake though. Still, it was tasty, especially with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. The directions called for baking the cake in "a fairly good oven"  for the first half hour then to lower the temperature and finish baking in "a moderate oven".  I baked it in a 400 degree oven for twenty minutes and then lowered the temperature to 350 degrees for fifteen minutes. I used a 9x9 pan but you could probably use an 8x8 as well. Hope you'll give it a try and enjoy it as much as my husband and sons and I did. If you bake it at a different temperature or time and it turns out more moist please let me know. I think this recipe is sort of a do it yourself one since no firm directions were given. I guess things were just done differently back then!

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog, The Bountiful Plate! First of all, I am not one who lists cooking as one of her favorite things to do in life! I'd much rather be doing something along the lines of any kind of needlework, beading, or drawing. Anything artsy craftsy, you know. I do, however, have a very large collection of recipes I have saved over the years, many which were my mother's, so I have decided to start this blog as a place where I can keep track of them all and share with anyone who may be interested.

I am not a registered dietician or expert on cooking, calories, nutrition, etc., so, you won't find that kind of information here. What you will find is good, wholesome, nourishing recipes made from whole foods. I believe each person is free to eat as they choose and I choose to eat as healthy as possible. That's not to say I don't enjoy desserts because I certainly do. I prepare a dessert for my family almost every weekend. I think it's all about balance and moderation. When I prepare my family's meals I try to use only real foods, not packaged prepared foods. I use lots of fresh vegetables, usually from our garden, and when some fresh item I need is not available from the garden or at the market I use frozen. I don't use canned items that often unless I haven't remembered to, for instance, soak beans overnight. Then, I will use canned, but only organic, as I believe it to be better quality. In short, I try to cook as close to nature as possible and use in season produce so as to eat as fresh as possible. Vegetables just happen to be my favorite food so there will be plenty of good veggie recipes here. I also do not follow the low fat diet beliefs and only cook with wholesome, healthy fats such as organic cultured butter and olive and coconut oils. I use only organic whole milk and organic hormone-free eggs from our farmer friend's free roaming healthy chickens. The poultry and meat we eat is also organic and comes from another nearby farm and we have a fair-sized garden of our own where we grow many wonderful organic vegetables.

So, if this kind of cooking appeals to you, I hope you will stop by a couple of times a week to check out the recipes I will be sharing.

 See you soon!
Sandy