Tag Archives: Photos

Fresh Apple Upside-Down Skillet Cake

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I’m so excited about sharing this!

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This recipe, yes. I love upside-down cake. Especially peach upside-down cake. And I have been craving peaches lately. I can’t wait for them. Since peaches aren’t ready yet though, I decided to try an  upside-down cake with apples. Not only do apples top this cake, there are apples throughout the entire thing, too. It’s so good!

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But! What I’m really excited about is the skillet part of this cake. I made the cake in a skillet!

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I showed you last Saturday that I received a cast iron skillet as a sweet + thoughtful gift from Greg’s mom and stepdad. It’s just so perfect. I have been wanting a cast iron skillet and never did I dream that I would get an authentic, beautiful antique one! It is just so exciting!

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When I got it, Greg asked me what would be the first thing I made in my skillet. Sooo many options ran through my head and I just didn’t know how I would choose.

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The decision seemed so important and I felt like I needed to put so much thought into it.

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Well, this apple cake just happened. I wanted cake. I wanted apple cake.

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And I can say, I will always be happy that it is the first thing I made in my beloved cast iron skillet. 🙂

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I will always appreciate beautifully decorated cakes. But there is something comforting about throwing ingredients into a skillet, letting it bake, and then serving it without much thought to decorating. I would call it rustic. A cake that is “rough around the edges.” Beautiful, but in a very different way.

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And the taste. Oh my goodness the taste. I based the batter off of this cake from Sally’s Baking Addiction. I substituted apples for carrots and made a few other minor changes. It is such a good base recipe. It’s perfectly spiced, so moist. The brown sugar/butter/apple upside down part of this cake is soft, sweet and the perfect topping for the already soft cake.

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If you make this, be ready to want to dig in, right after the skillet leaves the oven.

Ingredients

1  3/4 cup brown sugar, divided
4 tablespoons butter
3 large apples, 1 sliced thin and 2 diced small
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup yogurt
1/2 cup milk (I used almond)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350*. Place a cast iron skillet on the stove over medium-low heat and add the butter. Let the butter melt and then sprinkle 3/4 cup of the brown sugar over the butter. Place the one thinly sliced apple on top of the brown sugar and melted butter. Turn stove heat to the lowest setting and let sit while you prepare the cake batter.

In a bowl, beat the remaining 1 cup of brown sugar and vegetable oil. Add in yogurt and milk and beat well. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well between the addition. Add in the vanilla and beat well to combine.

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. With a spoon, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ones. Gently fold in the golden raisins, chopped pecans and diced apples until everything is just combined.

Spoon the batter over the butter/sugar/apples in the skillet. Smooth the top with a spatula. Place the skillet in the oven and bake 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Serve and enjoy!

*Notes:
-If you don’t like raisins, feel free to leave them out!
-If the batter is too thick at the end, add another splash of almond milk at the end, right before you add the batter to the skillet. It should be thick, but stir-able.
-Baking time could vary. I made this once and it took a little under 35 minutes and another time it took a full 45 minutes.
-I used an 8-inch cast iron skillet. It developed a very thick cake. A larger skillet would definitely work too.

DC Day Two: Eats

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To read my other DC posts, click here, here and here. 

Last week I showed you what my family and I did on day two of our spring Washington, D.C. trip. Touring of the city, walking near and far to see the sights of DC. Today I’m showing you the eats.

Our plan was to eat a quick breakfast at the hotel and then to get lunch at the Founding Farmers restaurant that we had heard great things about. When we got there to eat, there was a one or two hour wait (I can’t remember which). We decided not to take up all of that time waiting for a restaurant (even though Founding Farmers looked awesome — I still want to try again next time!).

Turns out, I was not disappointed at all that our original plan hadn’t worked. We stumbled into a little cafe called Paul.Paul was so good. From the second I walked into it, I knew it was an excellent choice. In Paul, you are greeted with freshly made pastries, breads, sandwiches and desserts. Everything looked so appetizing!

It was a tough choice, but I went with smoked salmon on a fresh baked baguette. It was such a good choice! Unfortunately  the picture I took of it came out really blurry.

For dessert, I ordered a pistachio french macaron*. It was my first macaron ever, and I could not believe how much I loved it! I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to have one, and it most certainly won’t be my last.

At the end of day two, we found ourselves in Georgetown, at Baked and Wired. Baked and Wired was out of this world. There were so many delicious looking sweet options, but if you read this post, you know I went with the cherry blossom cupcake. It was so good that I didn’t even save time for a picture. After my first bite, all hope of getting one was lost. I devoured that cupcake! So, so good.

Baked and Wired has a cool atmosphere. It is hip. Their tagline is “get baked.” There is a pink bike outside the shop and on the day we were there, a Charles Dickens quote written on a chalk board. If you are in Georgetown, I think Baked and Wired is the cupcake place you should be.

So, here they are. Photos from day two: the eats.

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*Do you know the difference between a macaron and a macaroon? I didn’t until I typed macaron and spell check told me it was wrong! Click here to read what the difference is.

Fresh Veggie + Cabbage Slaw

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I’ve made you some slaw!

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And I’ve got a couple of things to say about it.

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1. This would be a great side dish (or topping!) for these veggie burgers. Great combo + so delicious!

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2. I’ve done quite a few strange things since I’ve started this blog, but I’ve got to say that photographing a large pile of raw chopped cabbage at 9 a.m. has got to be the strangest. 🙂

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3. I’m calling this slaw (and any other slaw I may someday make) just slaw instead of coleslaw. What does coleslaw even mean? The only thing I think of when I think of coleslaw is what I was served in my elementary school cafeteria. Trying not to compare the two.

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4. This recipe is brought to you by Cabo Fish Taco. Cabo Fish Taco is an amazing restaurant that Greg and I discovered a couple of summers ago in Charlotte, NC after seeing it on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (love that show!). We went once and luckily have made it back a couple of times since and each time was just as good as the last. We always get the BBQ mahi fish tacos that taste like a plate full of fresh. The tacos come topped with this amazing slaw and the recipe is available on food network! The recipe is for the entire taco, and for this post, I just made the slaw. The only changes I made were adding more veggies and less mayo.

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5. As I mentioned above, I never really liked slaw (coleslaw). But this is different.  This tastes so fresh and light! And so flavorful. If you haven’t had a great past with coleslaw, you should definitely try this!

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6. Mayo. Another thing I’ve had a rough past with. I’ve never liked it. And if it is in something I’m eating, I try to forget about it. Like this dip. The dip is soo good, and I wouldn’t change a thing about the recipe. So, if I can forget there is mayo in it, it’s all okay. Does anyone else do this? But now, I’ve discovered something that I can come close to saying I sort of like! This. Has anyone else tried this and/or had this experience?

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7. This slaw is so good. It’s a summer recipe. Light, fresh, bright, delicious. It has a lovely kick with the chili powder and cayenne but is balanced with the cilantro and all of the cool, refreshing fresh veggies. It also isn’t overly creamy like traditional coleslaw, especially if you leave out some of the mayo. I hope you get to try it and love it too!

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Find the recipe here. Enjoy!

Week in Photos

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Happy Saturday everyone!

Enjoy, five things that made my week special.

{This skillet. Because it was sweetly given to me as a gift, and I could not love it more. Taking suggestions on seasoning it! Let me know in the comments.}

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{These decorations. Because they were so nice and it was such a nice time celebrating Greg’s niece being one.}

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{This peanut butter egg. Homemade and delicious, could not be better.}

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{This ring. Because I’m going through a ring phase right now. I’ve been wearing it every day this week.}

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{This book. Because I decided this week that I would read it for a second time.}

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Homemade Balsamic + Dijon Dressing

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What is your favorite salad dressing?

Do you like something creamy or oil-based?

I would say that for me, a lot of times, my favorite salads are undressed.

The first time I made this roasted beet salad for Greg and I, he wanted to know what kind of dressing we were having. Oops. I just thought that everyone liked undressed salads? That thought was definitely off. He liked the salad anyway. 🙂

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For the past couple of years, I’ve struggled with salad dressings.* I grew up  loving ranch, but now, I can’t really stand the thought of drenching beautiful, clean vegetables in creamy ranch dressing. It just doesn’t seem right. Ranch on french fries, yes. Why not? But ranch on lettuce, I’m not loving lately.

Then I have the problem of buying salad dressing. I feel like there are sooo many options and I just get tired of reading all of the different flavors. So I buy one, use it once and then two years later I find it in the fridge and wonder if it’s still good. Does anyone else have this problem?

And one more. The ingredient list on salad dressings. If I’ve never heard of half of the ingredients, I’m not overly excited about eating it. Or dressing my lettuce with it.

So, I guess that’s why I’ve gravitated toward undressed salads. Load lettuce up with sweet, juicy fruits and you won’t even miss the dressing. But now. Now, I’ve played around with this homemade dressing and I am so excited!

Salad dressing problems, no more!

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I love this dressing. You can’t go wrong with balsamic vinegar. And the Dijon** is just so good. It not only adds flavor but also a touch of creaminess. This is definitely a wet-oil-based dressing but the Dijon adds just the right touch of creaminess to make the dressing sort of stick to the lettuce. I love the flavors of balsamic + Dijon together, and the honey adds just the right amount of sweetness to balance the bite from the vinegar. I added 1.5 tablespoons but add as much as you need according to your taste.

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Delicious, easy and only five ingredients! This is my new favorite dressing. 🙂

*I feel bad calling this a struggle, but you know what I mean. 🙂
**Every time I typed dijon, it was correcting it to Dijon with a capital D. I googled it and the d gets capitalized on Dijon because it is referring to the region in which the dressing originated — Dijon, France. Who knew!

Ingredients
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1.5 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1.5 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1/3 c. olive oil

Add all ingredients to a jar or bowl. Shake/stir very well to combine. The dressing should be well blended. If separation occurs after sitting in the refrigerator, shake/stir before eating.

Enjoy!