Mom's Apple Cake

As anyone that is from a Jewish family can probably tell you, when Rosh Hashanah comes around (the Jewish New Year), it’s time to break out the family Apple Cake recipes. It seems that every family has their own special version of this recipe. Our family is no different – this is my Mother’s recipe that is being handed down to the next generation. In our family, this recipe was not just served at Rosh Hashanah. This was a family favorite that quite often was made and served as dessert for Shabbat on Friday nights.

I’m sure someone is bound to say, “Hey, that’s a LOT of oil!!!”. All I can say is that this is the recipe I was provided and I can attest to the fact that it’s moist and it tastes good. Try it out and let me know what you think. If you think you can make a version that has less oil that tastes as good, please let me know and I too will give it a try.

As always, Best Regards and BonAppetIT!!!

TheITGourmet

#BonAppetIT, #TheITGourmet

Ingredients

• 3 Cups of All Purpose Flour (not sifted)

• 1 Cup canola oil

• ¼ Cup orange juice

• 3 teaspoons baking powder

• 2 Cups white sugar (use 1 cup for the cake batter and the other cup of sugar for the apple and cinnamon topping)

• 4 Eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 – 2 teaspoons of cinnamon (for the topping)

• 4 large apples (I recommend using a tart apple like Granny Smith apples) – peeled, cored, and sliced into wedges and then slicing each wedge into small, thin pieces (see the picture).

Directions

Step 1 – Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 2 – Put flour, baking powder, and 1 cup of sugar into a large bowl and whisk together. Add, oil, orange juice, and vanilla extract and mix by hand until all ingredients form a smooth batter. Begin adding eggs one by one and you will notice the batter will remain thick, but will get looser with each egg that is added.

Step 3 – Toss the sliced apples with the remaining 1 cup of sugar and cinnamon.

Step 4 – Spray a bundt pan liberally with cooking spray to make sure it gets down into the pans crevices. For this recipe, I would recommend a nonstick pan, but even if using a nonstick pan, I would still suggest spraying the pan with cooking spray.

Step 5 – Pour ½ the apple and cinnamon topping mixture into the bottom of the pan. Pour ½ the batter on top of the apples and carefully spread the batter over the apples (don’t worry if you can’t spread it all the way as it will magically spread itself during baking). Pour the remaining layer of apples over the batter and distribute the apples around the pan. Pour and spread the remainder of the batter and carefully spread on top.

Step 6 - Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

NOTES: Instead of using a bundt pan, you can also use a 9” x 14” rectangular nonstick baking pan or tubed angel food pan with removable bottom (in fact, my mother frequently did exactly that). If this was the case, she would simply reverse the order of how the ingredients were added to the pan (because the cake was baked right side up, instead of upside down) – i.e., batter, apples, batter, apples (with apples ending up on top).

Curried Roasted Butternut Squash (Fight off those Fall and Winter Chills)

Slightly modified version of Marci Stohon's recipe from allrecipes.com

We are fortunate for many things in our little borough in which we live. Beautiful attractions, great old houses, and lots of things to see and do. However, one of the things we really love about where we live is the people - our friends and neighbors. We are especially fortunate to have friends who share the ample bounty from their summer gardens. We have one such friend who always seems to have an abundance of butternut squash from her garden and we're always happy to do her "the favor" of taking some of the beauties off her hands.

Since the timing of the harvest it always seems to correspond with the wet and cold Fall and Winter Months, this recipe is particularly welcome to help combat the cold and rain that accompanies the changes in seasons. This one in particular helps take the chill off because the curry and cayenne provides a little residual heat (but not too overwhelming) that gives leaves your tummy and core warm inside. It's a filling soup, but certainly not heavy!

Try accompanying this soup with a nice plate of warmed naan or pitas to dip in the soup (and of course sop up the bottom of the bowl!!!).

As Always,

Best Regards and BonAppetIT!!!

TheITGourmet

#BonAppetIT, #TheITGourmet

Ingredients

• 1 large butternut squash (approximately 2 pounds when seeded) - washed, cut in ½ lengthwise, and seeded

• Cinnamon (for roasting the butternut squash)

• Extra virgin olive oil – ½ - 1 tablespoon for roasting the butternut squash plus 1 tablespoon for making the soup base (or canola oil can be substituted)

• 1 cup finely chopped onion

• 4 large cloves garlic, minced

• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth (but you could substitute low sodium vegetable broth

• Salt

• Freshly ground pepper

• 2 teaspoons curry powder

• ½ teaspoon ground cumin

• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (use a little less if you’d like it less spicy, especially if your curry powder is on the hot side – TIP: If doubling the recipe – I would suggest not doubling the cayenne pepper)

• ½ cup Greek yogurt (I make my own InstantPot yogurt)

• 2 tablespoons honey

To garnish (for each serving)

• A small dollop of Greek yogurt to taste (Optional), sour cream, or crème fraiche

• Teaspoon of roasted / salted pumpkin seeds

• ¼ teaspoon crystalized ginger

• A sprinkling of cinnamon

Directions

Step 1

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Wash the butternut squash, cut it in half lengthwise, and place cut site up on a baking sheet.

• Brush the halves of squash with a little olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and a light sprinkling of cinnamon.

• Place baking sheet in the oven and roast for 1 hour.

• When the butternut squash is fully cooked (and nice and soft), remove from the oven and allow to cool until the squash is warm to the touch.

• Using a large spoon, carefully scoop out the roasted squash into bowl.

Step 2

• Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot (I like to use a 3 – 4 quart oval cast iron Dutch oven) over medium heat.

• Cook and stir onion and garlic in hot oil until softened and is just starting to turn color, 10 to 15 minutes. TIP: I like to add a little water (about ¼ cup) while the onions are cooking to make sure the garlic doesn’t burn and the onions get nice and soft.

• Stir broth, cooked squash, curry powder, salt, cumin, and cayenne pepper into the onion / garlic mixture.

• Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

• Stir yogurt and honey into the squash soup mixture.

• Place back onto the heat and heat for another 5 mins (you want to heat, but not simmer / boil the soup at this time).

• Remove from heat.

Step 3

Carefully pour the cooked squash soup into a blender no more than half full (trust me, you DO NOT want to scald yourself with piping hot soup due to a blender that blew it’s top). Cover the blender and hold the lid down with a kitchen towel; pulse the mixture a few times before leaving on for about 15 seconds to blend. Puree in batches until creamy smooth. I’m fortunate to have a stick blender – you can also blend the soup with one of those.

To Serve

Ladle the soup into serving bowls and top with a small dollop of Greek yogurt (I like to stir the yogurt a bit to make it smooth), sour cream, or crème fraiche.

InstantPot® Spicy Black Bean Soup (Vegetarian)

Photo Credit and Recipe Inspiration to bd.weld from AllRecipes.com™

This soup is quick to make and you don't have to soak the beans overnight because you make it in your multi-function programmable pressure cooker. If you are like me, I think you will agree that this soup recipe is a good one to cut through the chill on a damp and cold day. It's also a great accompaniment to serve over rice (e.g., we just made it last night for our family's traditional blackened fish taco Tuesday meal).

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil

• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped

• 1 carrot, chopped

• 1 rib of celery, chopped

• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped

• 1 orange bell pepper, diced

• 5 cloves garlic, crushed

• 4 teaspoons chili powder

• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin

• 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano

• Salt (to taste)

• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper powder

• 1 bay leaf (whole)

• 6 cups low sodium vegetable broth

• 1 cup water

• 1 pound dry black beans

• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped canned chili peppers (mild), undrained

Garnish:

• Pico de gallo

• Red bell pepper, finely diced or sliced

• Lime, cut into wedges

• Mexican Cheese - queso blanco or shredded cotija are great cheeses

Directions

Step 1

Turn on you multi-functional, programmable pressure cooker (such as Instant Pot®) and select Saute function. Add oil and heat until shimmering. Add onion, orange bell pepper, carrot, celery, and jalapeno pepper; cook and stir until translucent and starting to soften, about 5 minutes.

Step 2

Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, pepper, and chipotle powder. Stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add broth, beans, chili peppers, bay leaf. Add salt to taste until your broth and vegetable mixture meets your desired taste. Close and lock the lid. Select high pressure cooking according to your device's manufacturer's instructions; set timer for 60 minutes.

Step 3

Let the device's pressure to release using the natural-release method according to manufacturer's instructions (usually about 25 minutes - e.g., on my InstantPot - the little pressure relief valve will be fully depressed on its own). Unlock and remove the lid. Remove and reserve approximately 3 cups of the cooked soup. This is also a good time to remove the Bay Leaf. Use a stick blender to blend beans until creamy (if using a countertop blender only fill the pitcher to 1/2 full to minimize the risk of scalding yourself). Return the reserved soup to the pot. Serve this soup hot with pico de gallo, red bell pepper slices, a generous spoon of cheese, and lime wedges.

As Always - Best Regards and Bon AppetIT!!!

TheITGourmet

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