Tag: southern

Apple Orchard Snack Cake – Southern Plate by Gordon Ramsay

Apple Orchard Snack Cake


Apple orchard snack cake combines the flavor of graham cracker crumbs, fresh apples, butter, and sugar for a snack cake unlike any other!Apple Orchard Snack CakeWe have a tradition each year which has held since I was old enough to remember. My entire family piles in the car and we drive to Toney, Alabama to pay a visit to Scott’s Orchard. As a child, I remember riding back home in the back of the truck, munching on all varieties of fresh apples and trying to guess what Mama would bake first with our bounty. She would buy several baskets of different varieties and once we got home, my mother would get to cooking. Each day, it seemed, there was a new apple dish waiting on us when we came in from school. We relished each and every one. 

The year my son was born, we took him to Scott’s Orchard, even though he was only two months old at the time! We’ve held up this tradition just about every year and I really enjoy taking family photos to see how the kids have grown. Of course, over the years these photos have started to show how Ricky and I have grown, too! Funny how that happens. The focus of the passing of time slowly moves from the kids growing up to us growing older. All in all, the pictures show blessings unfolding in each generation.

Katy Rose, in 2008 at Scotts Orchard in Toney, Alabama

I often find with recipes, as with memories, it is the simple things which satisfy us the most. This recipe is the perfect example of that. A classic snack cake that is not too sweet, the simple ingredients make it a breeze to throw together. Add in the full flavor of locally grown apples (preferably from a family orchard trip!) and you can’t go wrong. It is perfect for breakfast, with a cup of coffee while visiting friends, or any other time of day. I also think of it as the ideal after school snack. The beauty of this recipe that makes it remarkably different, is that instead of flour, you use graham cracker crumbs. Combine that flavor with sugar, melted butter, chopped apples, and nuts and you have a snack cake unlike any other. I hope you’ll try it soon. If you do, share a photo with me on Instagram (@southernplate) or you can email it to me, too! 

Ingredients for Apple Orchard Snack Cake

Ingredients are simple: Graham cracker crumbs, butter, eggs, sugar, and apples.

The recipe also calls for pecans or walnuts, which I highly recommend. However, I do leave them out sometimes as certain people in my house have voiced their objection to having “those nut things” in their snack cake.

Making up Apple Orchard Snack Cake

Melt and slightly cool butter. Then, pour into medium sized mixing bowl. Add sugar and then eggs. 

Stirring in graham crumbs for Apple Orchard Snack Cake

Add in graham cracker crumbs. Stir all of this up.

Adding in apples for Apple Orchard Snack Cake

Stir in chopped apples and nuts, if using.

adding in pecans for Apple Orchard Snack Cake

Like this.

batter for Apple Orchard Snack Cake

Behold! Our beautiful apple orchard snack cake batter.

ready to bake Apple Orchard Snack Cake

Pour this into a greased 8×8 baking dish.

I usually use cooking spray but if you want to be fancy you can use parchment paper. (See fancy, above)

Baked Apple Orchard Snack Cake

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until lightly browned all over top. 

 

Sugar Dusted Apple Orchard Snack Cake

Remove from oven and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar. Allow to cool in the pan before cutting into bars.

cut slice of Apple Orchard Snack Cake

Oh my goodness! This cake is just ridiculously delicious and makes the prettiest apple studded bars.

 

Delicious Apple Orchard Snack Cake

I’m telling you, if you can’t imagine what a snack cake is like when you replace the flour with graham crumbs,

you need to understand that it is half a step away from Heaven. In other words… 

Taking a bit of Apple Orchard Snack Cake

Make this TODAY! 

 

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter melted and slightly cooled
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • 2 to 3 apples (any variety) peeled and diced
  • 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts optional

Instructions

  • Blend sugar, butter, and eggs in bowl with a spoon.

  • Stir in graham cracker crumbs, apples, and walnuts until blended.

  • Spread batter into greased 8×8 pan.

  • Bake at 350 for forty to forty five minutes or until firm to the touch.

  • Sprinkle liberally with confectioner’s sugar.

  • Cool and then cut into squares.

 

 

 


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Homestead Banana Bread – Southern Plate by Gordon Ramsay

Homestead Banana Bread


Homestead Banana Bread

I can never have too many varieties of Banana Bread in my life and so today, I’m bringing you another recipe for another one of my favorites: Homestead Banana Bread. This Banana Bread is one of the most tender crumbed and flavorful ones you’ll find, thanks to the incorporation of an entire brick of cream cheese within the batter itself. It steps further into bliss with the deliciously wonderful topping of seasonal spices and toasted pecans. No matter how recently you’ve made banana bread, Homestead Banana Bread is calling your name! I encourage you to print out the recipe today and keep it close at hand for the next time the baking bug bites ya. If you’d like the recipe, scroll right down to the next photo or to the bottom for the printable recipe card. If you’ve a mind to visit a bit today, keep reading. 

I have this little book of random questions, journaling prompts that I use when I need a little inspiration about what to write about. I’m big on keeping a journal. I think most adults need this but, in absence of it, they use facebook to record thoughts and feelings that are best sorted out in a journal. That’s how you end up with the culture we have today😳and that culture is what keeps me motivated to write a journal!

Today’s journal question was “What is the life you’d have it nothing stood in your way?”. My brain immediately brought this life to mind, clear as a bell. Away from the world, on a wooded mountain, with a cabin, and trees, and peace. My family, my Bibles, my notebooks, and my pens. Rocking chair on the porch and time outside going for walks to gather my thoughts and returning to that rocking chair to write them out. In between this I’d be in the kitchen cooking up heartwarming meals and after that I’d be back on that porch, sitting beside Ricky with cups of coffee, growing our wisdom together. 

But the thing about scenarios like that is that we will never have an ideal scenario. Unfortunately, without even realizing it, many of us take an “ideal or nothing” approach to enjoying our lives. This is a tragic way to live.

There is a photography term known as the bokeh effect. The result of this effect is that a portion of the photo is in tight focus and the rest of the picture is blurred. All you see is what you are focused on. Sadly, I think a lot of our lives end up lost in the blur when we focus on the hope for perfection. But if we adjust our focus, pull out of the shot a bit, and look at the whole picture we are generally surprised by how much beauty is in the scene that may have been entirely overlooked. 

And so rather than waiting for the perfect future that my brain conjures up- I widen my focus, realizing that this very day, where I am right now, I can grab my Bibles and notebooks and pens an walk out onto my back porch, look up and pine trees and process my thoughts. The only thing keeping us from living our dreams on most days is a realization of how much of that dream for the future already exists in the blessings of the present. 

Homestead Banana BreadTo make this, you’ll need: butter, cream cheese, sugar, eggs, self rising flour, bananas, chopped pecans, vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. 

Now, unlike my cream cheese filled banana bread with a ribbon of cream cheese inside it, this cream cheese is going to become part of our batter. By incorporating it into the batter, we’ll end up with a much more tender and flavorful banana bread. 

Note: It is incredibly important that your cream cheese and butter be at room temp so they will blend in well. I usually just sit them on the counter at night before going to bed and make Homestead Banana Bread in the morning. 

Homestead Banana Bread

For the topping you’ll also need brown sugar, more butter, and a wee bit of flour (all purpose or plain is fine). Go ahead and stir these together until they look like this: 

Homestead Banana Bread

Set that aside and we’ll use it in a minute. Now, let’s make our batter.

Homestead Banana Bread

Place butter and cream cheese in mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs and sugar and beat again until mixed. Add in flour, bananas, 1 cup of chopped pecans, and spices. Mix until fully incorporated. Bananas will still have some chunks and batter will be thick.

Homestead Banana Bread

Spray two loaf pans liberally with baking spray. Divide Homestead Banana Bread batter evenly among loaf pans.

Homestead Banana Bread

Sprinkle the topping over the batter in each pan.

Homestead Banana Bread

Sprinkle with remaining pecans.

Bake 350 at one hour, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, covering with foil after 30 minutes to prevent pecans from burning.

Homestead Banana Bread

Oh mercy! This is even more delicious than it looks.

Homestead Banana Bread

Oh my! If you’re in my fellowship group, I may have to bring Homestead Banana Bread to our picnic at the end of October! If you’re not in my fellowship group and would like to learn more, click here.

I hope you get to make this soon. Make sure you print out the recipe to have on hand!

 

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup butter at room temp
  • 8 ounces cream cheese at room temp
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 cups self rising flour
  • 4 medium ripe bananas
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon cloves

Topping

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar dark or light, your preference
  • 2 tablespoons softened butter
  • 2 tablespoons flour plain or self rising is fine

Instructions

  • In small bowl, stir together topping ingredients and set aside.

  • Place butter and cream cheese in mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs and sugar and beat again until mixed. Add in flour, bananas, 1 cup of chopped pecans, and spices. Mix until fully incorporated. Bananas will still have some chunks and batter will be thick. 

  • Spray two 9×5 loaf pans liberally with baking spray. Divide mixture evenly among loaf pans. Sprinkle with topping mixture and remaining pecans.

  • Bake 350 at one hour, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, covering with foil after 30 minutes to prevent pecans from burning. Allow to cool in pan for ten minutes before turning out. Enjoy!

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Big Fat Greek Taters – Southern Plate by Gordon Ramsay

Big Fat Greek Taters - Southern Plate


Big Fat Greek Taters are a favorite in my house and I think the’ll be in yours as well!

My husband is a meat and potatoes type guy. Before we met, he was very basic in his food choices but being married to me (bless his heart) has forced him to expand his horizons. He tried to stick with the “potatoes and Mac and cheese are my only vegetables” attitude for as long as he could but a few years back I sat down and said “You’re over forty now, your body would appreciate a green bean every now and then.” This is what good wives say, right? 😉 To that, I added “You know, everything you eat doesn’t have to be your favorite.”

Apparently, that was a light bulb moment for him because these days, he eats broccoli, green beans, the occasional cabbage, and his favorite side dish is asparagus. Now with each of these, his favorite way of having them cooked is roasted in olive oil. We have become olive oil devotees in our house. So from time to time I still make his lifelong favorite, roasted red potatoes. Only now, they’re roasted, too, seasoned just right and roasted in olive oil with a squeeze of lemon to brighten things up a bit. Red potatoes are my absolute favorite for this recipe because of the added garden fresh flavor that comes from the skins but you can use whatever type of potato you have on hand. 

Ingredients for Big Fat Greek Taters

You’ll need 5-6 medium sized red potatoes. Red potatoes are my favorite for this but any potato will work. You’ll also need Olive oil, Oregano, Kosher Salt, and a bit of Lemon Juice. 

Chopping Potatoes for Big Fat Greek Taters

Chop your potatoes up into bite sized pieces. Make sure to leave the skins on so they will be extra flavorful. 

Preparing Big Fat Greek Taters

Spread potato chunks out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.

Sprinkling Seasoning on Big Fat Greek Taters

Drizzle with oil and lemon juice, toss to coat. (I just use clean hands to toss them around a bit, then wash my hands again). Sprinkle with oregano and salt. Big Fat Greek Taters coming up!

Bake at 375, stirring halfway through, until lightly browned at the edges and tender, about thirty minutes. 

Big Fat Greek Taters are ready to enjoy! 

Ingredients

  • 5-6 medium red potatoes (about two pounds), washed with skins still on
  • 2-3 tablespoons olive oil*
  • 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspooon kosher or himalayan salt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375. Cut each potato into bite size chunks. (do not peel potatoes)

  • Place potato chunks in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Stir to coat, then sprinkle with oregano and salt.

  • Bake, stirring halfway through, until tender and lightly browned at the edges, about 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Notes

*This recipe first appeared in my second cookbook, Come Home To Supper. In the original the recipe called for 2-3 teaspoons of olive oil rather than tablespoons. I’m more generous with the olive oil these days but you can use more or less if you prefer. 

You may also enjoy: How To Perfectly Roast Any Vegetable

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