Raw Kale, Carrot, and Cabbage Salad

Trying new foods sometimes feels like a lot of work in the kitchen with disappointing results on the dinner plate. "Under-spiced", "odd texture", and "it would have been better with X ingredient" are the complaints I commonly get when I take a gamble on a new recipe. I love to cook, but I find these situations so discouraging. Sometimes it makes me just want to throw my hands up in the air and tell my husband, "You're right! Ordering a pizza would have been a better idea!"

Luckily, the salad recipe I'm sharing today is neither time consuming to make nor disappointing in the taste department. Bonus points: it contains kale - a super healthy, hearty green that helps this salad hold up for lunch leftovers for the next two days.

You could make this salad more complicated (although fresher and probably even tastier) if you start with all local produce, but I kept it quick and started with some bagged organic kale and shredded carrots from Trader Joe's. You could also cheat and use red cabbage that's already been shredded. Whatever you do, don't cheat with the dressing. A bottled dressing will not have the fresh, acidic, tangy flavor you need for this salad to reach perfection.

Raw Kale, Cabbage, and Carrot Salad with Tangy Lime Dressing 

Ingredients

Salad

1/2 bag (or 6 oz) chopped kale

2 cups (or 4 oz) shredded carrots

1/2 head (or 5 oz) shredded red cabbage

1 apple, peeled and cut into sticks

2 scallions, chopped

1/4 cup raw slivered almonds (optional)

Dressing

Juice from 2 limes

1 tbsp spicy brown mustard

1 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp cold pressed olive oil

salt & pepper, to taste

1. Mix all of the salad ingredients together keeping the nuts separate.

2. Place all dressing ingredients in a small mason jar and shake well until blended. 

3. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well to incorporate.

4. If you are using the almonds, sprinkle them over the salad just before serving.

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

This weekend I realized my apple supply was dwindling AND they were starting to get some soft spots. As we were planning to be out of the house all day, I couldn't dedicate myself to any big baking projects to use them up before they spoiled. I quickly scanned my list of "to do" apple recipes and realized that nothing fit! Always willing to improvise when it comes to cooking, I did a quick google search and decided to switch my overly-ambitious-stand-by-the-stove-for-2-hours-stirring (really, I have no idea what I was thinking...) apple butter for a slow cooker version. I was NOT disappointed by the swap and I don't think you will be either because this recipe is delicious!

 Based off a recipe found here from My Baking Addiction...

4 pounds apples - peeled, cored and sliced
1 cup granulated sugar*
1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed*
2 teaspoons apple pie spice
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup apple cider
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
*I used more sugar because my apples were a tart variety. If you have sweeter apples, scale back your sugar*

1. Chop up all apples and pile into your crockpot.
2. Mix both sugars and all spices together until blended in a medium sized bowl.
3. Pour sugar/spice mixture over apple slices and stir.
4. Add apple cider to crockpot.
5. Cook on low heat setting for approximately 7 hours.
6. Add vanilla extract and stir mixture well. It will have darkened in color and many of the apples will have "dissolved" into the mixture. Cook 1 more hour.
7. Turn off heat and use blender to puree mixture (use immersion blender if you have one!). Be careful as it is going to be very hot!
8. This recipe made four small mason jars (with a little extra that I just spooned into a small bowl). If you can be sure you have people to distribute it to that will use it within 2 weeks, your work is done! I went the extra step and canned it according to the instructions here.

Apple Fritters

Knowing the medical side of things and that healthy weight gain (20-30 pounds for average weight ladies) is the key, I don't believe in the old saying that pregnant women should "eat for two" or eat whatever comes to mind. That said, I've already made it to 35+ weeks and have gained less than 20 pounds because I've had a lot more reflux and sour stomach this time around. It's not horrible, but it's enough that I haven't had much of an appetite for dinner on at least 5 of 7 nights a week. Breakfast is really my only guaranteed "good" meal of the day.

I've used this background to justify making apple fritters (clearly a dessert) for breakfast. I told myself they are kind of the same as donuts right? Right?! And we all know donuts are a SUPER healthy breakfast to begin with. Anyway, enough trying to make myself feel better about consuming over a half dozen of these before 10am...here's the recipe!

Based on the original recipe from The Pioneer Woman

For the fritters:

• 2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp apple pie spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup 1% milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large apple, peeled and diced

For toppings:

Glaze

• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Up to 1/4 cup of milk (add by TBSP til you get a nice consistency)

Cinnamon Sugar

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a fork, then add milk and vanilla.

Gently fold dry and wet ingredients together until just combined. Fold in apples. Make sure you have enough apples to make a very chunky batter.

Heat a couple of inches of canola oil in a dutch oven or pot over medium heat. When it gets hot, drop a little drop of batter into the oil. If it sizzles immediately and rises to the top, the oil is ready; if it burns, turn down the heat.

Drop teaspoons of batter into the oil, six or so at a time. Sometimes they'll flip over by themselves; sometimes you have to flip them. Cook them long enough to make sure the batter's cooked through, about 2 to 3 minutes total.

Remove and drain on a paper towel. Dip fritters in glaze (I dipped one side and then placed on a wire rack to allow excess to drip off as they cooled for 10 minutes) or shake in a bag filled with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Serve warm!

Apple Sheet Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream

This is actually not the first recipe I made with my apples, but it was so good that I am blogging about it first.  So here's the deal, my photo of this cake is terrible. It's dark and does not at all show how amazing this cake is. The truth is that my husband changed photo editing programs and the new one scares me - I've known for months that I need to bite the bullet and ask him for a mini-tutorial on improving my photo quality, but my sad photo of this cake might be the final straw. Alas, here it is...

If you've ever tasted my baked goods (or have enjoyed previous baking posts) and trust my palate at all - MAKE THIS CAKE! I based the recipe from the original that can be found over on Mother Thyme's website. 

For the cake:

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
2 heaping cups peeled grated apples (about 2 medium apples)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare pan (9x13 rectangular pan) by greasing and flouring.
2. Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy with electric mixer.
4. Add eggs one at a time, mixing for 1 minute after each addition.
5. Add milk and vanilla, mixing well after addition.
6. Stir in grated apples.
7. In three additions, gradually add flour mixture just until dry ingredients are incorporated into batter.
8. Pour into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.

For Salted Caramel Frosting:

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

1/3 cup half and half

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1 tablespoons milk

1. Make the caramel by melting butter, light brown sugar, half & half, and cream of tartar over medium heat.
2. Boil the mixture for 3 minutes.
3. Remove from heat, stir in salt, and let the caramel cool.
4. *After making the caramel I realized that the original recipe makes WAY too much frosting for this smallish cake. Once the caramel was cooled, I only used half to make the buttercream. I saved the rest of the caramel to use for a different recipe*
5. Mix 1/2 of the caramel with 1/2 -1 cup of confectioner's sugar at at time. After all sugar is incorporated, add milk and whip the frosting for at least 1 minute.

The frosting is delicious, but this cake really is SO GOOD that it could stand alone or be adorned with a simple scoop of vanilla ice cream or dollop of homemade whipped cream.

FYI - I don't have any "in progress" shots of this cake because I was baking with this little monster:-)