12.17.2009

applesauce cake with penuche frosting



i know i've slacked with the whole recipes on fridays thing... i have no excuse.  anywho, here is a delicious recipe for any time of the year.  the combo of applesauce and spices make for an amazing cake!  here's the recipe:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2  tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups applesauce
1/2 cup raisins, optional
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional
1 recipe penuche frosting

cake
oven:  350-baking pan; 325 baking dish

preheat oven.  In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder & soda, and spices.  set aside.

in a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed about 30 seconds or until softened.  add sugar; beat until combined.  add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  alternately add flour mixture and applesauce to beaten mixture, beating on low to medium speed after each addition until just combined.  spread batter evenly in prepared pan or dish.

bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  cool in pan or dish on a wire rack.  quickly spread penuche frosting over cake.

penuche frosting
in a 2 qt saucepan, melt 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter over medium heat; stir in 1 cup packed brown sugar.  cook and stir over medium heat until bubbly.  remove from heat; add 1/4 cup milk and 1 tsp vanilla.  stir with a wooden spoon until combined and smooth.  stir in 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar--when i made this, i only had about a cup or so of powdered sugar. but the frosting is already so sweet, it turned out fine.. i simply added 4 Tbsp of all-purpose flour to help thicken it up.  continue beating with the wooden spoon about 3 minutes or until smooth and thickened.  immediately spread over cake--i let it cool before frosting the cake.

i, of course, forgot to take a picture... go figure.  one of these days i'll remember.

i love cooking!  to me, it's kind of a way to push everything out of my mind and just go to this place where all that matters is the recipe in hand.  it's relaxing and exciting at the same time.  i thoroughly enjoy cooking.  yesterday, i watched julie & julia.  i very much enjoyed the majority of the movie! however, the ending somewhat disappointed me  wasn't what i expected in a way.... i guess i can't say anymore.. don't want to spoil the movie.

speaking of julie & julia, i would like a copy of mastering the art of french cooking mtaofc).  why?  i'm not sure.  it's certainly not so i can cook through it. i have the feeling that many of the recipes in mtaofc would not be appetizing to me, as i am the world's pickiest eater--i wish i weren't.  despite how many recipes i will or will not make, i still would like a copy.  and i think i want the 1st edition, even though the newer ones might have more tips, etc to make the processes easier... who knows.  i'm rambling.  which is exactly what happens when i'm tired.  i guess i'm off to bed.... lots to do tomorrow.  need to clean, clean, clean the house; finish wrapping christmas presents; and go to the grocery store.  not to mention, just taking care of our 3 animals is a full day's work!  :)

12.13.2009

lately...

first of all, i can't believe it's december 13th! this entire year has just flown by. i remember when i first got engaged and i thought september 26 would never come! and now it's almost 2010.  and secondly, i can't believe i haven't blogged in weeks.  so this post will be a catch up..


a couple weekends ago, i went to west point to stay with celia for the weekend, and we went to starkville to see ms. anabess and mr. billy get married!!  congrats to them! the wedding was sooo beautiful, sweet (short and sweet :), elegant.... it was perfect!  it was so laid back--just family and close friends--and was just wonderful!

i left charleston friday afternoon and got to west point around 4ish and went to c's house.  it was so good to see c!! and her mom and josh too.  (i haven't seen anyone since the wedding :(  so i've really been missing all my friends.)  we had reservations at anthony's at 7:30--which seemed like way too many hours away to wait, as i was already starving by about 6.  so we just got ready and caught up for a while.  then we left for the liquor store-to get some wine-and got to anthony's around 7:45 (you would think that we would have been on time since we were ready by about 6:30.. but anyone who knows me knows that i can't ever be on time!) mallorie met us there... it started out with just me, c, and mal.  but as the night progressed, we saw an old friend from high school, joseph huffman, and his sweet sweet wife, lauren.  then, ty, john michael, steven, bonner, and jack howard joined us.  we had a great time!  i was sooo excited to have anthony's b/c i swear it's been at least like a year and a half since i've had it.  i got chicken anthony-go figure-and got us crawfish for appetizer. everything was very yummy!  after anthony's closed we went to soprano's (i said i would never go there.. but that was my first time and i have to admit that we had fun!). stayed til they closed-at 2-then went to ty's house for a bit. by the time we got back to c's house it was around 3:30 and i was exhausted!! i haven't stayed up that late in years!  but we had a good time! it's always nice to see old friends!


me and c :)

the monday of thanksgiving week, we got a new puppy!  he's a long-haired dachshund, and his name is rocky.  (we kinda have a beatles theme with animal names.... sadie-sexy sadie; ellie-eleanor rigby; rocky-rocky raccoon) here are a few pics...



on our way home with him

he loves to sleep like this

best friends :)


we did thanksgiving here with ju's family then went to aberdeen the week after thanksgiving to visit with my parents.  we took rocky, of course, and all my parents loved him! but who doesn't?!  we did a small amount of shopping in tupelo--just to get some christmas decorations since we don't have anything.  let me take this time to say that i really slacked this year! i was so excited about our first christmas together (well, as a married couple :) and in the end, i just procrastinated.  we did get a few things and mrs. kathy-ju's mom-gave me an early christmas present... a fontanini nativity scene! my first set! i love it!! and we finally got a tree! we went to ju's grandad's land and cut one down! we couldn't find that perfect one at first; but we kept looking and as we were on our way out, we found it! right in the middle of a briar patch.. just our luck! but ju, being the wonderful husband that he is, went right out there and cut it down.  and for our decorations for our tree, i already had bought some of the big bright old-fashioned lights a few months ago; so we put those on and then mrs kathy gave us boxes and boxes of christmas ornaments to go through.  we used a bunch that ju remembers from his childhood.







yesterday we finally got our christmas cards ordered! i know it's almost too late, but i was determined for us to send out a christmas card, as this is our first christmas as hubby and wife :)  it took many, many attempts (and actually, we tried on more than one day), but we finally got a christmas card worthy picture!  i'm, of course, not going to post the ones we used, but here are a couple...








just try to imagine getting 2 puppies and a kitten together for a picture!

here a some more pictures--i know this post has been mainly pics, but it's been so long since i last posted!