Category: Food

Categories
Food

Jean’s Fresh Apple Cake

My aunt’s MIL, Jean Owens, is a professional caterer. Somehow, I don’t have a copy of her cookbook, At Your Request, but I borrowed my Nana’s to share this recipe. I’ve loved this cake when my mom’s made it before, & we decided it would be perfect for our family for this weekend as we’re gathering to celebrate another shower for my brother. I had a bunch of fresh NC apples I’d picked up from my work’s farmer’s market, so I volunteered to bake.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 c vegetable oil
2 c sugar
3 eggs
3 c peeled & chopped apples
1 tsp vanilla
3 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 c light raisins {omitted & subbed in 3/4 c craisins}
1 c chopped pecans or walnuts

Glaze:
1/2 c butter
1 c light brown sugar
1/4 c evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
In large mixing bowl, combine oil, sugar, eggs, apples & vanilla. Beat well by hand {do not use electric mixer}. In separate bowl, stir together flour, salt & baking soda.  Add the flour mixture to the apple mixer & stir together. Fold in raisins & nuts.

Pour into greased & floured pan. Bake at 325 for 25 minutes for layer pan or 1 hour for bundt pan {I used bundt}. Verify doneness with the clear fork test.

To make glaze:
{I baked the cake Thurs night & we made glaze Friday night in Richmond because I didn’t have the evap milk. Thanks mom!} Combine butter, sugar & evaporated milk in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cook 3 mins to thicken. Add vanilla, cool & spread on cake.

Jean likes Granny Smith apples for this cake. I used local NC Fugi & it still turned out delicious.

Categories
Food

Blackened Grouper

Our standard OIB dinner is fresh veggies & grouper straight off the boat slathered with blackened seasonings & baked. As we were discussing dinner Sunday afternoon, Dad challenged us to branch out a little. Thanks to Google, I found this pan seared foodnetwork.com recipe which served as our inspiration. It was close to 5p when we left the beach so we decided to for-go making our own salsa & instead grabbed the fresh Lowes Food peach/mango salsa.

Since I found the recipe, suddenly I was in charge of cooking the fish! I slathered each side in blackening seasoning & two at a time, threw them onto Nana’s cast iron skillet which was heated with 2 tbsp of EVOO. After 2 minutes, I’d flip then place finished pieces in a just warm oven while I cooked the other fillets.

We served Nana’s fried okra, butter beans, corn, homemade Lexington-style slaw & the fish buffet style. Here’s my plate. The fish was seriously one of the best ever.

The rest of the weekend was spent grubbing on my banana pudding, reading, watching football & catching as much sun as possible. Hope your labor day was as delicious as mine!

Categories
Everything Else Food

Hurricane Party Girls Night In

Fourteen women, old friends, new friends, all online to now in real life friends. We said Hurricane Irene be damned & gathered anyways. For food, drinks, lots of laughs, hugs, stories, shellac manicures & much needed girl time. Hurricane Girls Night

I didn’t take as many photos as normal. Once the big guns aka professional cameras were pulled out by Jenn, Spoe & EB, my lil DSLR got intimidated & sat unused for the rest of the night. Brandy, Marie, BA & I still practiced & played around with ideas & EB’s awesome new lens.

That &/or I was too busy drinking & talking & getting my nails Shellac’d by EB to take photos. You pick the reason!

After a short night on an air mattress with the Mrs, I awoke to eat the heck out of Jenn’s boy bait, my honey bun cake & then EB’s potatoes. We also passed K’s Nolan all around & laughed out loud at BA’s Harrison signing “more” & “more” for K’s Gigi cupcake! Hurricane Irene Girls Night

I can’t think of a better way to spend a hurricane Saturday night. I’m looking forward to hopefully getting together with these fabulous friends again soon!

Categories
Food

Honey Bun Cake

Some people clean during a hurricane, some nap, some watch news incessantly, & some brave the wind/rain to shop {Brandy!}. I cook. First thing Saturday morning I made Jason these blueberry muffins. So glad I remembered I had this recipe as they were easy & pretty yummy.

How is this recipe below not already a blog post?! This cake is the first one I ever made for my coworkers back in 2004. It’s made appearances at brunches, early morning football tailgates, & my holiday dessert spread ever since Mom passed on the recipe years ago. Part coffee cake, part yellow cake, all sweet deliciousness.

When we decided to do the Raleigh version of the girls night, I knew exactly what I’d bring. Spinach & artichoke squares for Saturday night & this Honey Bun cake for late night dessert & brunch.

This is yet another recipe where you doctor your favorite boxed yellow cake {my favorite’s whatever is on sale}.

Batter Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 c sugar
3/4 c vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 c sour cream

Mix the above together & placed 1/2 of the batter in a greased 9×13 pan.

In separate smaller bowl, mix 1 c brown sugar & 2 teaspoons cinnamon.

Place half of this brown sugar mixture on top of the batter & swirl.

Layer the second half of the batter on top then sprinkle & swirl the rest of the brown sugar/cinnamon.

Bake on 300 for an hour. Enjoy {as you can see from the bottom right photo, we did}!

Categories
Food

Baby shower recipes

So a couple yummy food items stood out from Saturday’s shower. The pink/red punch, the garlic hummus, & the fruit dip. 

B used Macaroni & Cheesecake’s punch recipe: one carton of pineapple orange juice to half a bottle of grenadine. They left out the fruit but I think floating frozen pineapple slices would have been fun. I also think rum or champagne could be added for even more fun!

The hummus might be the easiest to share with y’all. Trader Joe’s basic Garlic Hummus. It was so good with pretzels & B’s slightly overdone baked pitas. 🙂

I quizzed Ashley for her toffee fruit dip recipe while the shower was going around us. I found a hidden recipe file Monday & realized I’d already saved this dip for future use. So that I {& y’all} will really remember it, here’s my noted recipe.

Ingredients
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 bag toffee chips

Directions
Mix together. The recipe {& Ashley} said you can add vanilla as well {maybe 1/2 tsp}. Depending on your taste, you can add more or less sugar. My recipe says serve with apples, but at the shower it worked well with strawberries too.