Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Fruit-Streusel Coffee Cake and Applesauce


Well, I have to get as many posts about Fall in as I possibly can! I love Fall, and one of my favorite things to do in the Fall is cook and bake. I love all the things that are in season, decorating my house, and the smells that often are brewing in my kitchen, especially pumpkin!!
This year, I miss having an apple orchard that is close that we can go to and get tons of apples to bake with! So I will have to make do with store-bought apples that are in season, and still taste good. I have made this recipe for applesauce for the past few years, and continue to make it because I love it! I love the strong taste of cloves in this recipe! And it makes my kitchen smell so yummy! In fact, I love those Fall smells so much that I boil a pot of water with different spices like cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg...you get the picture! Smells like you are making a pumpkin pie!!
Anyways...here is the recipe for the Applesauce. You will probably want to double or triple the recipe, as one batch doesn't make that much.

Applesauce
Allrecipes.com

6 cups of Apples, peeled, cored and chopped
3/4 cup water
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 cup white sugar

1. In a 2 Quart saucepan over medium heat, combine the apples, water, cinnamon, and cloves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the sugar, and simmer 5 more minutes.
2. Add to a blender to get desired consistency.



Really, it takes the longest to peel, core, and chop the apples. Once you have that done, it takes mere minutes to whip up this homemade applesauce!!

Now, onto the yummy Fruit-Streusel Coffee Cake! So great for a brunch or afternoon coffee with a friend. Make it for a friend, and then warm up the leftovers the next morning for breakfast!!


Fruit-Streusel Coffee Cake
The All-New Good Housekeeping Cook Book

Streusel Topping
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 Tbs. cold butter or margarine, cut into pieces

Cake
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup butter or margarine (1 1/2 sticks), softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds ripe pears, apples or peaches, peeled and thinly sliced; or nectarines or plums, not peeled, thinly sliced (3 cups); or fresh or frozen rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces (4 cups); or 1 pint blueberries

1. Prepare topping: In medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. With fingertips, blend flour mixture and butter until mixture is like course crumbs.
2. Prepare cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13 by 9 baking pan. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat butter and sugar until blended, frequently scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Increase speed to high; beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, occasionally scraping bowl. Reduce speed to low; add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. In cup, combine milk and vanilla. With mixer at low speed, alternately add flour mixture and milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating until smooth and occasionally scraping bowl.
5. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Arrange fruit slices on top, overlapping them slightly. Evenly sprinkle steusel topping over fruit.
6. Bake cake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes to serve warm, or cool completely in pan to serve later. Makes 15 servings.

This is such a delicious variation on the traditional coffee cake. I love that I got to use some Fall fruit on top, which made it extra yummy! Hope you enjoy these wonderful Fall recipes, and shoot some my way if there are some I just have to try!!!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

A Birthday, and Puppy, and School!

Well, I haven't done so well keeping up with this 'ole blog! I apologize!! Life has been so busy and writing a post gets pushed to the bottom of the list! I have actually had this post written for a couple weeks and have had problems uploading pictures to the blog, so that took awhile to figure out! So sorry! I feel so behind in writing about all that has been going on with us!! We have had a lot going on!!
Maddy had her 5 year old birthday at the end of August! It was extra special that my grandparents from Ohio came to visit and got to be here for her birthday party! We had a wonderful visit with them, and they enjoyed seeing the new little town where we live! Anyone else brave enough to come visit us down here in Oklahoma? Grin :)

(Maddy, hidden behind the pony, with her friends at her birthday party!)

(My Little Pony birthday party!)

For her 5th birthday present, we decided to get Maddy a puppy. The long-awaited puppy she has wanted since she was old enough to voice it. We promised her we would get one when we had a house in Oklahoma. And finally, it happened!! We have had Minnie for a couple weeks, and the kids have really enjoyed her! She is a sweet, hyper, crazy puppy and fits right into the mix, especially for my sweet, hyper, crazy 5 year old! We have enjoyed getting to the dog park where all 3 little rugrats can get their energy out! Judah thinks the dog park is for him! He plays on the dog stuff more than Minnie does!
(The day we brought her home!)

(Headed to the playground, with Minnie riding in the stroller!)
(Lovin' on the puppy.)
(Tad is so happy to have a dog!)

And finally, Maddy had her first day of kindergarten. Once again, we are homeschooling this year and building on what we did in preschool. We had a good first day, and I enjoyed turning Maddy's room into a little makeshift school room. Hey, it works! It also works out perfect that Tad works the afternoon shift, so he can watch/entertain Judah while Maddy and I get some special, important one-on-one school time. She has a great attitude about school, and is doing really well!
(Maddy's first day of kindergarten!)
(Working at her desk on schoolwork.)

(Little corner nook for school.)
(Luckily we had room to move some stuff around so that her room is her school room too. She loves it!)

So hopefully that catches everyone up on our most recent big events around here! We are finally having an awesome break in the weather, which has been so nice. Especially since that means that we can get outside more! We had up over 100 degree days for over 60 days and someone told me that this is the hottest Oklahoma summer in Oklahoma history! A great first summer for these northerners!! We were melting! But now, with these cooler nights, school starting back up, schedules coming into place, and Fall quickly approaching, I am a happy lady! Not to mention I'm finally in my second trimester, so I'm feeling much better! Hope you all are doing well!