Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I wrote my last FOOD blog. A lot has happened to this Chef over the summer. I was without a computer for sometime due to spillage by my wonderful spouse.
I have tons of notes and I have been keeping a food diary over the summer. I guess I am ready to start. Today was my son's first day of his sophomore year in high school. I now will have my mornings free to write. I will start organizing my notes and pics and begin a new chapter in the life of Chef on Green St.
One thing I must say, I no longer live on Green St. I do, however, eat GREEN. It also takes GREEN to buy the ingredients. My purpose is to inform you of eating great food with little GREEN. It is the 15th day of August and as of right now, we have spent $150 at the grocery this month and we have not eaten out 1 time. How did this happen? well that's what I am going to write about. Stay tuned hungry eaters. I am getting it together!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Well today is Belmont Day. The final race of the Triple Crown. Until yesterday, I was so looking forward to the race, but yesterday, I'll Have Another was scratched from the race because of tendinitis. Bummer. I have been following this horse since February and had him in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. Today will be bittersweet. I hear he will lead the post parade and that will be the last time I see him.
What a week! Beautiful days, cool evenings, no A/C till last night! Monday was our meatless day and we survived on the tuna salad I wrote about in my last posting. For dinner that night it was simple pasta tossed in garlic, EVOO, and cheese. I could eat this everyday. My favorite of all times.
Tuesday was Yoga day and after yoga, went to Cincinnati with a girlfriend. We shopped, laughed , and had a great time. For dinner we drove back to Dayton and went to Elsa's Mexican place. Elsa's is famous here in Dayton because of their Bad Juan margarita. We ordered one and it was the color of antifreeze. The taste was not great, but I must say I sucked it down. I ordered a small plate of Nachos with Chorizo. My total bill with tax and tip was $20.
Wednesday. As I sit here I can't even remember Wednesday and the course of the day. What did I eat? OH, now I remember.....back in April, spouse, son, and I had gone to Smashburger. Love them, but quite pricey for a burger and fries. We had money so we went and the food and service was not up to par. We had had many visits and we were disappointed on this one, so I wrote the company. I received a reply that offered us dinner for 3, so we went. I had a Buckeye Burger which had fried onion rings and banana peppers on it. The burger was great and the onion rings were hot. Our total bill, if we would have paid was $30.00. That's alot of money for a burger and fries when I think I could have gone and gotten a $1 burger off the menu at McDonalds.
In the same location as Smashburger is my new favorite place....Bad Frog Frozen Yogurt. They had just offered a Groupon. Buy for $5 and get $10 in product. I had it in my purse, so we went. I highly recommend this place. They offer a dozen different flavors of frozen yogurt with 100 toppings! You pay .46 cents an oz. Our total bill came to $11 bucks and change. So for dinner for 3 that night, I shelled out $1.75. Not bad.
Thursday was a Wicked day. That's right, we went to see Wicked. It had been my second time and I loved it the first time I went. My Mom, two of her friends, my spouse, son, and I dined at a new restaurant here in Dayton named Roost Modern Italian in the Oregon District. It was delicious. I had a pasta carbonara with zucchini which was crisp and not watery. I had ordered a small Caesar salad which was also great. Crisp and cold without many of the Romaine lettuce veins I hate. (Refer to my earlier post about my anal tendencies toward lettuce). The spouse had a pork chop which was huge. It was served with polenta (Italian cornbread mush) and french green beans. My son ordered spaghetti and meatballs, and my Mom had the mussels. The mussels were delicious. She and I have been on a mussel kick at places we go. All of the food was outstanding. It was at that moment that I discovered that I will not pay $11 for a drink. I knew the drink/bar prices were going to be way too expensive. When I can go buy a 1.75 liter of Stoli vodka for $38, I drink at home before we go out! Lesson learned! My Mom payed for our dinner that night. Our total bill for the 4 of us with 2 desserts, 2 coffees, and 1 Peroni was $115 plus tip. I could see us going again, I having a small Caesar salad and mussels and us getting out of there for about $50 without alcohol.
I had some leftover fruit salad in the frig so I pureed it, strained it, and then poured the pureed fruit into ice cube trays. When frozen, I took them out and placed in a ziplock bag ready for my cocktail. Boy what a cocktail! Poured Stoli over the cubes, added a little cranberry juice and soda, and I had a cocktail! I had 2 of those before I dined that night, so I guess I saved myself $22.
Friday was catch up day. Catch up on the laundry, catch up on the chores around the house, and go to the grocery. I spent a total of $71 and bought no meat. I looked at the price per pound of meat, pork, and chicken and I was not going to pay the price. So, I turned to the spouse and said it was vegetarian week coming up. I did buy some sliced turkey and ham for sandwiches and that's what we had for dinner last night. Just a sandwich, chips, and a big salad.
So here we are the 9th day of June and I have spent around $90 at the grocery so far this month for the 3 of us. I am not including our liquor store run here but I am keeping track, a stroke tally of 1.75's.
What a week! Beautiful days, cool evenings, no A/C till last night! Monday was our meatless day and we survived on the tuna salad I wrote about in my last posting. For dinner that night it was simple pasta tossed in garlic, EVOO, and cheese. I could eat this everyday. My favorite of all times.
Tuesday was Yoga day and after yoga, went to Cincinnati with a girlfriend. We shopped, laughed , and had a great time. For dinner we drove back to Dayton and went to Elsa's Mexican place. Elsa's is famous here in Dayton because of their Bad Juan margarita. We ordered one and it was the color of antifreeze. The taste was not great, but I must say I sucked it down. I ordered a small plate of Nachos with Chorizo. My total bill with tax and tip was $20.
Wednesday. As I sit here I can't even remember Wednesday and the course of the day. What did I eat? OH, now I remember.....back in April, spouse, son, and I had gone to Smashburger. Love them, but quite pricey for a burger and fries. We had money so we went and the food and service was not up to par. We had had many visits and we were disappointed on this one, so I wrote the company. I received a reply that offered us dinner for 3, so we went. I had a Buckeye Burger which had fried onion rings and banana peppers on it. The burger was great and the onion rings were hot. Our total bill, if we would have paid was $30.00. That's alot of money for a burger and fries when I think I could have gone and gotten a $1 burger off the menu at McDonalds.
In the same location as Smashburger is my new favorite place....Bad Frog Frozen Yogurt. They had just offered a Groupon. Buy for $5 and get $10 in product. I had it in my purse, so we went. I highly recommend this place. They offer a dozen different flavors of frozen yogurt with 100 toppings! You pay .46 cents an oz. Our total bill came to $11 bucks and change. So for dinner for 3 that night, I shelled out $1.75. Not bad.
Thursday was a Wicked day. That's right, we went to see Wicked. It had been my second time and I loved it the first time I went. My Mom, two of her friends, my spouse, son, and I dined at a new restaurant here in Dayton named Roost Modern Italian in the Oregon District. It was delicious. I had a pasta carbonara with zucchini which was crisp and not watery. I had ordered a small Caesar salad which was also great. Crisp and cold without many of the Romaine lettuce veins I hate. (Refer to my earlier post about my anal tendencies toward lettuce). The spouse had a pork chop which was huge. It was served with polenta (Italian cornbread mush) and french green beans. My son ordered spaghetti and meatballs, and my Mom had the mussels. The mussels were delicious. She and I have been on a mussel kick at places we go. All of the food was outstanding. It was at that moment that I discovered that I will not pay $11 for a drink. I knew the drink/bar prices were going to be way too expensive. When I can go buy a 1.75 liter of Stoli vodka for $38, I drink at home before we go out! Lesson learned! My Mom payed for our dinner that night. Our total bill for the 4 of us with 2 desserts, 2 coffees, and 1 Peroni was $115 plus tip. I could see us going again, I having a small Caesar salad and mussels and us getting out of there for about $50 without alcohol.
I had some leftover fruit salad in the frig so I pureed it, strained it, and then poured the pureed fruit into ice cube trays. When frozen, I took them out and placed in a ziplock bag ready for my cocktail. Boy what a cocktail! Poured Stoli over the cubes, added a little cranberry juice and soda, and I had a cocktail! I had 2 of those before I dined that night, so I guess I saved myself $22.
Friday was catch up day. Catch up on the laundry, catch up on the chores around the house, and go to the grocery. I spent a total of $71 and bought no meat. I looked at the price per pound of meat, pork, and chicken and I was not going to pay the price. So, I turned to the spouse and said it was vegetarian week coming up. I did buy some sliced turkey and ham for sandwiches and that's what we had for dinner last night. Just a sandwich, chips, and a big salad.
So here we are the 9th day of June and I have spent around $90 at the grocery so far this month for the 3 of us. I am not including our liquor store run here but I am keeping track, a stroke tally of 1.75's.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
First 3 days of June
It has been along time since I wrote. I always seem to have stuff swirling in my head to write about. I'm always watching something on TV or at the movies, or just through observation of our world. Alot has happened since I last published a blog. My oldest son left for the US Navy, our house was foreclosed (what a blessing!), our "quick" transition and downsizing (again, another blessing!), and the whole gambit of emotions ones goes through. The one thing that has not stopped, is food. The one constant in our life. So I thought I would write for the month of June 2012, my summer food thoughts, what we eat, what I create, the hits and misses, and just journal our "food" life for the month.
Friday, June 1st here in Dayton, was just miserable. It was cold, low 60's, gray, and raining. Started the morning with a phone call that my Mom had hit a deer (uninsured) and had damaged her car. We were frantic. She was able to get to her destination and finish getting her nails done. She then drove the car home after telling me she could not make left turns. Don't know how she did it, but she called us to say she was home. We rushed to her house and saw the damage. She is fine and well, the car is in the shop.
Since I knew I was going to be blogging about the June food, I thought it was fitting to write all that we eat for the month, so the first meal that day after checking the car damage was Waffle House. My mothers pick of dining destination. In our family a milestone or tragedy is always sponsored by food. When my Dad died, his death was sponsored by Cabo Wabo Tequila, Corona, and Steak and Shake! So you hit a deer, damage a car, and go to Waffle House. The weather miserable, I had the one comfort food at WH.....grits and chili! I love grits and chili. With alot of Tabasco! My first meal I would be mentioning! So good.
After getting my Mother transportation for the weekend, I couldn't have her making all right turns, we went to the grocery. We live so close to our urban Krogers, that I am able to go once or twice a day, mif needed. I had my small list and coupons to save a few pennies and off we went. I needed 3 special items that day....pint of buttermilk, baking soda, and baking powder. The last 2 on my list, I had not purchased since our move. I was fixing cornbread for dinner along with a pot of pinto beans. This is my husbands favorite meal.
I spent $27.70 at Krogers. Bought the 3 mentioned along with yogurt, bananas, fresh romaine and red leaf lettuce, apples, and tuna fish.
I had soaked the beans the night before, pulled leftover spiral sliced ham from the freezer, chopped it up and added the ham to the beans that cooked all day. The cornbread was perfect. Added chopped Vidalia onions and the spouse was in heaven.
So it seemed like my first day of writing about food in the month of June, I ate the same thing for lunch and dinner, beans and corn.
Saturday, June 2nd was a beautiful day. Not hot. No A/C. We had recovered from our cold, dreary day of the day before and the Zombie apocalypse from Friday night. We began our day with a our noon time walk.
As we walked out of our downtown townhouse, we noticed a lot of hustle and bustle on the street where less than 12 hours were Zombies.....it was the Gay Pride parade! I still don't understand how drag queens wear their makeup better than women!
We walked through all the pageantry of the day and began our 2.5 walk. Brisk and beautiful walking along the river bank of the great Miami river. We walked right over to a Dayton tradition....Flying Pizza. Although, we are both watching what we eat, we can't give up pizza. So for $8.50, we got 3 slices of pizza and 2 drinks. It's the best deal in town for pizza. 1 slice is not enough and 2 slices is too much. This is how we settle. I could walk over right now for a slice.
The rest of the day, we settled into our routine and into the evening became hungry again. So, I began to create from leftovers and what we had in the house. I boiled some eggs and began chopping onions and celery. I ended up fixing tuna salad that will get us through the week and a big chopped salad with all kinds of veggies.
Now as everyone who has known me in my professional culinary career, I am extremely anal on how I eat lettuce. A salad does not have iceberg lettuce. Unless it is a wedge of iceberg with bacon and blue cheese or a 7 layer salad. Iceberg lettuce has no nutrition, nothing. I do not buy lettuce already chopped and placed in a bag with a gas of preservatives. I read the bag and its says already washed! Ya, it's washed with a gas. Yum Yum. I only use Romaine, Red Leaf, and Green Leaf lettuce. I take the center stem out of each leaf, tear, and wash in a colander. When I have enough lettuce done, I rinse with cold water, let it drain, the I place the lettuce in paper towels. I roll up the lettuce in the towels and place in the frig. When dried and cold, I then remove the lettuce from the paper towels and place in a vegetable bag. When this is done correctly, the lettuce will last me a week!
I had pepper strips (red, yellow, and orange), celery, and carrots I chopped for the salad and home made Ranch dressing. I do the packet of ranch dressing and add the mayo and milk. Much cheaper than buying the bottle!
Sunday was another beautiful summer day and I knew we were going out for dinner. We were going to my friends restaurant for an evening of music on the patio. How I would have loved chicken wings, fries, and onion rings, but the spouse and I split a pizza and salad. I must say I had 5 draft beers, the spouse said I had 6. I knew someone was counting. Our entire bill with tip came to $40.00.
So, there in a nutshell is our first 3 days of June and eating. I am wondering if I should also mention that we drink vodka and should I add the price of 1.75 liter of Stoli into the equation of our monthly food budget. To be honest, that is one of the reasons we don't eat out is because of the amount places charge for a drink! I may need to ponder that over a cocktail this evening.
Friday, June 1st here in Dayton, was just miserable. It was cold, low 60's, gray, and raining. Started the morning with a phone call that my Mom had hit a deer (uninsured) and had damaged her car. We were frantic. She was able to get to her destination and finish getting her nails done. She then drove the car home after telling me she could not make left turns. Don't know how she did it, but she called us to say she was home. We rushed to her house and saw the damage. She is fine and well, the car is in the shop.
Since I knew I was going to be blogging about the June food, I thought it was fitting to write all that we eat for the month, so the first meal that day after checking the car damage was Waffle House. My mothers pick of dining destination. In our family a milestone or tragedy is always sponsored by food. When my Dad died, his death was sponsored by Cabo Wabo Tequila, Corona, and Steak and Shake! So you hit a deer, damage a car, and go to Waffle House. The weather miserable, I had the one comfort food at WH.....grits and chili! I love grits and chili. With alot of Tabasco! My first meal I would be mentioning! So good.
After getting my Mother transportation for the weekend, I couldn't have her making all right turns, we went to the grocery. We live so close to our urban Krogers, that I am able to go once or twice a day, mif needed. I had my small list and coupons to save a few pennies and off we went. I needed 3 special items that day....pint of buttermilk, baking soda, and baking powder. The last 2 on my list, I had not purchased since our move. I was fixing cornbread for dinner along with a pot of pinto beans. This is my husbands favorite meal.
I spent $27.70 at Krogers. Bought the 3 mentioned along with yogurt, bananas, fresh romaine and red leaf lettuce, apples, and tuna fish.
I had soaked the beans the night before, pulled leftover spiral sliced ham from the freezer, chopped it up and added the ham to the beans that cooked all day. The cornbread was perfect. Added chopped Vidalia onions and the spouse was in heaven.
So it seemed like my first day of writing about food in the month of June, I ate the same thing for lunch and dinner, beans and corn.
Saturday, June 2nd was a beautiful day. Not hot. No A/C. We had recovered from our cold, dreary day of the day before and the Zombie apocalypse from Friday night. We began our day with a our noon time walk.
As we walked out of our downtown townhouse, we noticed a lot of hustle and bustle on the street where less than 12 hours were Zombies.....it was the Gay Pride parade! I still don't understand how drag queens wear their makeup better than women!
We walked through all the pageantry of the day and began our 2.5 walk. Brisk and beautiful walking along the river bank of the great Miami river. We walked right over to a Dayton tradition....Flying Pizza. Although, we are both watching what we eat, we can't give up pizza. So for $8.50, we got 3 slices of pizza and 2 drinks. It's the best deal in town for pizza. 1 slice is not enough and 2 slices is too much. This is how we settle. I could walk over right now for a slice.
The rest of the day, we settled into our routine and into the evening became hungry again. So, I began to create from leftovers and what we had in the house. I boiled some eggs and began chopping onions and celery. I ended up fixing tuna salad that will get us through the week and a big chopped salad with all kinds of veggies.
Now as everyone who has known me in my professional culinary career, I am extremely anal on how I eat lettuce. A salad does not have iceberg lettuce. Unless it is a wedge of iceberg with bacon and blue cheese or a 7 layer salad. Iceberg lettuce has no nutrition, nothing. I do not buy lettuce already chopped and placed in a bag with a gas of preservatives. I read the bag and its says already washed! Ya, it's washed with a gas. Yum Yum. I only use Romaine, Red Leaf, and Green Leaf lettuce. I take the center stem out of each leaf, tear, and wash in a colander. When I have enough lettuce done, I rinse with cold water, let it drain, the I place the lettuce in paper towels. I roll up the lettuce in the towels and place in the frig. When dried and cold, I then remove the lettuce from the paper towels and place in a vegetable bag. When this is done correctly, the lettuce will last me a week!
I had pepper strips (red, yellow, and orange), celery, and carrots I chopped for the salad and home made Ranch dressing. I do the packet of ranch dressing and add the mayo and milk. Much cheaper than buying the bottle!
Sunday was another beautiful summer day and I knew we were going out for dinner. We were going to my friends restaurant for an evening of music on the patio. How I would have loved chicken wings, fries, and onion rings, but the spouse and I split a pizza and salad. I must say I had 5 draft beers, the spouse said I had 6. I knew someone was counting. Our entire bill with tip came to $40.00.
So, there in a nutshell is our first 3 days of June and eating. I am wondering if I should also mention that we drink vodka and should I add the price of 1.75 liter of Stoli into the equation of our monthly food budget. To be honest, that is one of the reasons we don't eat out is because of the amount places charge for a drink! I may need to ponder that over a cocktail this evening.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
January has ALWAYS been Soup Month on Green St
Well here it is the third day of the year and every food site I look at or every Facebook post from a food place is about eating in the new year of 2012. Eat smarter they say. Save money with healthy choices. Eating Organic is expensive. Eat local. (Yeah, that's a good one here in Ohio in January). We can eat well and eat right so here is Lesson 1.....Eat what you want to eat!
Today was our first trip to the grocery since December 23. We had gone 12 days without going to the grocery. We ate 2 times. One time was at Dewey's Pizza here in Dayton. (Not wanting to plug anything, but Dewey's has the best salads of ANY restaurant around and the pizza we brought home, we ate for lunch the next day). The 2nd place we ate was Frisch's. I had to have a Big Boy with extra sauce. That's it. We had gone to Frisch's after we had gone to Big Lots, because I needed Olive Oil. Yes, you heard me. Olive Oil.
Big Lots is one of my favorite places for food stuff. Love the different pastas, cookies, snacks, sauces, ethnic stuff, you name it, they got it. But a word of warning....don't fall in love with anything you buy there. You may not find it again. I go there about every 6 weeks to stroll down the aisles.
The 2nd place that you have to go to is GFS Marketplace. I buy certain things here, I get no where else. With this cold month and hearty soups on our menus, I always buy their chicken and beef base. I also use their roasted garlic puree, vegetable base for vegetarian soups, and Pesto. That's what I buy there.
Where are your favorite places to shop? Do you shop a certain place every time? Well I've shared with you 2 and if you know me, you know I love my Krogers! We spent $137 today. For $.79, I got a one pound bag of Pinto Beans. If you know my husband, than you know one pound will not be enough, so I got two pounds. I had purchased a spiral sliced ham for other holidays from Krogers and I had a ham bone left. That ham had feed us all week and I also had made a big batch of ham salad which I gave to the ex-husband and family with soup once they arrived home from driving from Florida.
As I write this, the beans are soaking in water overnight. I will cook them all day tomorrrow. We won't eat them because I have a Standing Rib Roast that I bought at scary Krogers at $6.99/lb. It's just over 5 pounds and I will cook it for my oldest son's last dinner at home before he leaves for the Navy the next day. Just wait for my blog on the leftover meals from the Roast beast!
Today was our first trip to the grocery since December 23. We had gone 12 days without going to the grocery. We ate 2 times. One time was at Dewey's Pizza here in Dayton. (Not wanting to plug anything, but Dewey's has the best salads of ANY restaurant around and the pizza we brought home, we ate for lunch the next day). The 2nd place we ate was Frisch's. I had to have a Big Boy with extra sauce. That's it. We had gone to Frisch's after we had gone to Big Lots, because I needed Olive Oil. Yes, you heard me. Olive Oil.
Big Lots is one of my favorite places for food stuff. Love the different pastas, cookies, snacks, sauces, ethnic stuff, you name it, they got it. But a word of warning....don't fall in love with anything you buy there. You may not find it again. I go there about every 6 weeks to stroll down the aisles.
The 2nd place that you have to go to is GFS Marketplace. I buy certain things here, I get no where else. With this cold month and hearty soups on our menus, I always buy their chicken and beef base. I also use their roasted garlic puree, vegetable base for vegetarian soups, and Pesto. That's what I buy there.
Where are your favorite places to shop? Do you shop a certain place every time? Well I've shared with you 2 and if you know me, you know I love my Krogers! We spent $137 today. For $.79, I got a one pound bag of Pinto Beans. If you know my husband, than you know one pound will not be enough, so I got two pounds. I had purchased a spiral sliced ham for other holidays from Krogers and I had a ham bone left. That ham had feed us all week and I also had made a big batch of ham salad which I gave to the ex-husband and family with soup once they arrived home from driving from Florida.
As I write this, the beans are soaking in water overnight. I will cook them all day tomorrrow. We won't eat them because I have a Standing Rib Roast that I bought at scary Krogers at $6.99/lb. It's just over 5 pounds and I will cook it for my oldest son's last dinner at home before he leaves for the Navy the next day. Just wait for my blog on the leftover meals from the Roast beast!
Monday, January 2, 2012
Aunt Bonnie's Apple Stack Cake
I have heard about Aunt Bonnie's Apple Stack Cake recipe for 10 years now. It was only this past September that I actually saw one for the first time. We had gone to see the movie The Help and right there on the table in one scene, is an Apple Stack Cake. The man who has been telling me about this cake for all this time, blurts out "there is the apple stack cake" right there in the theatre. I finally saw it.
We came home from the movie starving. Fortunately, sometimes living with a chef does have its advantages. Potato Salad. Other things I really don't remember what they were, there was potato salad. I sat here at the dining table and started searching on the Internet what an Apple Stack Cake was, comparing recipes, and listening to my spouse tell me about the cake, again.
The Apple Stack Cake is the top of the lot of all cakes baked and served in Southern Appalachia. The dried apple stack cake was a favorite at mountain weddings with "in-fares" where people gathered to party. Because wedding cakes were so expensive, neighbor cooks brought layers to donate to the bride's family. The dough for the cake was rolled or pressed out into very thin layers. The family of the bride cooked, sweetened, and spiced dried apples to spread between the layers of cake. The number of layers per stack of her wedding cake often gauged the bride's popularity. Sometimes there would be up to 12 layers, but the most average was 7-8 layers. Along with weddings, the apple stack cake was served at family reunions, church suppers, and other large gatherings.
After reading all the info I could on an Apple Stack Cake, I decided that the dried apples were the most important ingredient. We were going to be traveling in Amish Country here in Ohio in the next couple of weeks. What a better place to find dried apples. So I did. I bought 3 bags at Amish grocery store in Holmes County, Ohio.
Now lets fast forward to November. It was time to make it. For the layers I used Kroger brand yellow cake mix. I did 2 boxes. Baked 4 layers and cut the layers in half. The dried apples took all day to soak and get soft enough to mash. I started with 1 stock pot and ended up with 2 stocks soaking the dried apples. I had a half gallon of apple cider in the frig and started that as my liquid. I cooked them for about 4 hours. Drained the liquid but kept it. (Great deglazing a pan with pork chops or chicken) Pureed the apples is batches in the food processor. Once all the apples were like applesauce consistency, I added 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup sugar, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and ground allspice. Let it cool. When cool, stack layers of cake with spiced, sweetened dried apples. Spread between layers and smooth around the sides. I was told Aunt Bonnie didn't frost the top, so I didn't. It really is quite simple to assemble.
The hard part is the waiting to eat it. Everything I read said it has to sit for 24 hours before you make the first cut. The longer it sits, the better it gets. This is so true. It melts in your mouth. By the 3rd day, the whole mouth feel is ecstasy.
Now I have to admit that I wrote this sometime ago. Say, November 9, 2011 when I originally started this post. So I also must admit that I haven't made one since. It was very difficult to find the correct dried apples. I will not have dried apples from China for this cake. I had even planned to make little ones for Christmas gifts and never got around to it because of the apple situation.
Well last night, the first full day of 2012, I order dried apples from amazon.com. I can't believe it. Organic dried apple slices! So I will post pics when completed.
We came home from the movie starving. Fortunately, sometimes living with a chef does have its advantages. Potato Salad. Other things I really don't remember what they were, there was potato salad. I sat here at the dining table and started searching on the Internet what an Apple Stack Cake was, comparing recipes, and listening to my spouse tell me about the cake, again.
The Apple Stack Cake is the top of the lot of all cakes baked and served in Southern Appalachia. The dried apple stack cake was a favorite at mountain weddings with "in-fares" where people gathered to party. Because wedding cakes were so expensive, neighbor cooks brought layers to donate to the bride's family. The dough for the cake was rolled or pressed out into very thin layers. The family of the bride cooked, sweetened, and spiced dried apples to spread between the layers of cake. The number of layers per stack of her wedding cake often gauged the bride's popularity. Sometimes there would be up to 12 layers, but the most average was 7-8 layers. Along with weddings, the apple stack cake was served at family reunions, church suppers, and other large gatherings.
After reading all the info I could on an Apple Stack Cake, I decided that the dried apples were the most important ingredient. We were going to be traveling in Amish Country here in Ohio in the next couple of weeks. What a better place to find dried apples. So I did. I bought 3 bags at Amish grocery store in Holmes County, Ohio.
Now lets fast forward to November. It was time to make it. For the layers I used Kroger brand yellow cake mix. I did 2 boxes. Baked 4 layers and cut the layers in half. The dried apples took all day to soak and get soft enough to mash. I started with 1 stock pot and ended up with 2 stocks soaking the dried apples. I had a half gallon of apple cider in the frig and started that as my liquid. I cooked them for about 4 hours. Drained the liquid but kept it. (Great deglazing a pan with pork chops or chicken) Pureed the apples is batches in the food processor. Once all the apples were like applesauce consistency, I added 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup sugar, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and ground allspice. Let it cool. When cool, stack layers of cake with spiced, sweetened dried apples. Spread between layers and smooth around the sides. I was told Aunt Bonnie didn't frost the top, so I didn't. It really is quite simple to assemble.
The hard part is the waiting to eat it. Everything I read said it has to sit for 24 hours before you make the first cut. The longer it sits, the better it gets. This is so true. It melts in your mouth. By the 3rd day, the whole mouth feel is ecstasy.
Now I have to admit that I wrote this sometime ago. Say, November 9, 2011 when I originally started this post. So I also must admit that I haven't made one since. It was very difficult to find the correct dried apples. I will not have dried apples from China for this cake. I had even planned to make little ones for Christmas gifts and never got around to it because of the apple situation.
Well last night, the first full day of 2012, I order dried apples from amazon.com. I can't believe it. Organic dried apple slices! So I will post pics when completed.
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