APPLE STREUSEL

After looking through my latest find at an estate sale, I held up the cookbook and told my husband. "This is the best dollar purchase I have made in a while." Stephanie Ashcraft's 101 Things To Do With A Cake Mix is that "find". I started to "mark" the pages for recipes I wanted to try and realized I would be marking just about every page.

Since there were so many recipes in Stephanie Ashcraft's 101 Things To Do With A Cake Mix cookbook, I have decided I will make one of her recipes every week and dedicate one day a week to an extra special cake mix cake.

I didn't go to Hillcrest Thrift Shop last week on my regular Tuesday because I stayed with my MO grandchildren while their parents were at work. Thursday after going through Stephanie's cookbook, I decided I would make this Apple Streusel and take it to Hillcrest Friday as a surprise (since I wasn't working).

I didn't have a yellow cake mix and decided to use a white cake mix instead. I have done this before and had good results. This time was no different. The recipe made a delicious apple streusel cake.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE A PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS RECIPE, CLICK HERE.

APPLE STREUSEL

Batter:
1       yellow cake mix (I used a white cake mix)
2       large eggs
1/2    teaspoon lemon extract
1       can (21 ounces) apple pie filling

Topping:
1/4     cup butter, melted
1/2     cup sugar
1/2     cup flour
1/2     teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 - inch baking dish.

Mix together cake mix, eggs, lemon extract, and apple pie filling.

Beat for two minutes on medium speed.

(Mix on low just to moisten ingredients.)

Scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary. 








Then beat for the two minutes on medium speed.

Pour batter into baking dish. 

Prepare topping with melted butter, sugar, flour, and cinnamon. I combined the sugar, flour, and cinnamon first.

Then added the melted butter.

Mix with a fork until crumbly.

Sprinkle mixture over top of batter.

Bake 42 - 47 minutes. (My cake was done after 42 minutes.)

Cool in pan on wire rack.

I cut in squares to serve.

SELF FROSTING DATE CAKE

Instead of volunteering at Hillcrest Thrift Shop last Tuesday, I had a fun day hanging out with the MO grandkids while their parents were at work. I hadn't even chosen anything to bake when dil Lori sent me the text. The good news is I had gone in on Saturday morning before and did manage to make this Self Frosting Date Cake the afternoon before. (Friend Janice and I have been going to estate sales on Thursday when we have nothing to do on Thursdays. Most sales used to begin on Fridays, but the last year or so most are starting on Thursdays and then running three days.)

This recipe is another one I found in the Amish - Country Cookbook, Volume I. This one was contributed by Fannie R. Yutzy who was/is (?) a Pie Maker at Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury, Indiana. I have made other date cakes, but this one was different. It was so moist and delicious. I don't think I have to tell you that it didn't last long at the thrift shop, do I?

IF YOU WOULD LIKE A PRINTABLE VERSION OF THE RECIPE, CLICK HERE.

SELF FROSTING DATE CAKE

1       cup chopped dates
1-1/2 cups boiling water
1       teaspoon soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 - inch pan.

Sprinkle soda over dates,

then pour boiling water over all.

Cream:

1/2    cup shortening
2       beaten eggs
1       cup sugar (I removed 6 teaspoons)

Then add to date mixture

and sift:

2       cups flour
1/2    teaspoon salt
3/4    teaspoon soda

Add to date mixture and mix well. 

Pour into pan. Spread with the following topping

Topping

1       6 - oz (1 cup) chocolate chips
1/2    cup brown sugar
1/2    cup chopped nuts

Mix and sprinkle over cake.

Bake for 35 minutes.

(Cool on wire rack.)

Cut in squares when ready to serve.

SLOW-COOKER SPOON PEACHES

I don't know what it was about this recipe that made me want to try it. Maybe it was the words "slow-cooker" - it has really been hot here. Seems like we just skipped over spring and went straight to summer. Or maybe the word "spoon". Spoon makes it sound so simple and easy. But it was probably the word "peaches" that sold me. 

Peaches are one of my favorite fruits. Maybe my favorite. When we lived in California, we had a peach tree in our yard. Correction. We had the best peach tree in our yard. We got so many peaches off it. I would spend days of my summer vacation making peach jam so we could enjoy it the rest of the year. I would also make different cobblers. While I always make my peach jam by the same recipe, I do enjoy making cobblers by different recipes. That's probably why I thought this would be a fun recipe to try.

Manheim, PA's Jeannette Oberholtzer contributed her recipe in Phyllis Pellman Good and Dawn J. Ranck's cookbook, Fix-It and Forget-It Recipes for Entertaining, Slow Cooker Favorites for All the Year Round.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE A PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS RECIPE, CLICK HERE.

SLOW-COOKER SPOON PEACHES

1/3     cup sugar (I used stevia)
1/2     cup brown sugar (I used 1/4 cup brown sugar blend)
3/4     cup buttermilk baking mix
2        eggs
2        teaspoons vanilla
2        teaspoons butter, melted
3/4     cup evaporated milk (half of a 12- ounce can)
2        cups mashed peaches, fresh, frozen, or canned (if canned drain slightly) (I used fresh peaches I froze)
3/4     teaspoon cinnamon

Combine the sugars (stevia/stevia blend) and baking mix. 

Add eggs and vanilla.

Mix well.

Add butter and milk.

Mix well.

Add peaches and cinnamon.

Mix well.

Pour into greased slow cooker.

Cover. Cook on low 6 - 8 hours. (I cooked it for 6 hours and then set it on Keep Warm because we weren't ready to eat it.)

Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.








Jeannette added a footnote that "this is a great warm dessert for a cold winter evening". It is also a great warm dessert for a warm summer evening. It is soft and has the consistency of some bread puddings I have had. I used the sugar substitutes so the flavor of the fresh peaches were strong and not sugar.

My peaches are still so pretty even after being frozen for almost a year. You can see how I freeze them here.

MACARONI AND CHEESE

My grandson Tyler LOVES mac 'n cheese. He loves it so much that when his mother, Lori, asked me to come watch the children Tuesday, I considered taking the ingredients to make this Macaroni and Cheese recipe I found in the Fix-It and Forget-It Recipes for Entertaining (Slow Cooker Favorites for All the Year Round) by Phyllis Pellman Good & Dawn J. Ranck. 

The recipe was contributed by Leona Yoder of Hartville, OH. Her personal note on the recipe was "This recipe is an oven-saver. Fifty-sixty children eat this delightedly - in fact, it's one of their favorite meals - at the day school where I cook. Menu Idea - Macaroni and Cheese, Lil' Smokie Sausages, Applesauce, Fresh Veggies with Dip, and Streamed Green Beans." Sounds like a good lunch for a school says I, the retired teacher of 25 years teaching.

After reading her note, I thought, "I am sure Tyler will like this." Well, I didn't make it for them because I got delayed getting ready to leave and I didn't have enough time to get the ingredients together before I had to leave to get to their house on time before Lori had to leave for work. Still wanting to make it though, I just ended up making it for us Wednesday night.

I admit when I ready the directions, I wondered why bother with the slow cooker since I am preparing everything on the stove. I also wasn't sure the time cooking was enough in the slow cooker to do anything. Boy was I surprised when I opened the lid at the end of the 45 minutes. When I poured the mixture in the slow cooker from the pan, there was quite a bit of liquid. Forty-five minutes later it was all gone.

Now I realize it would be a good dish to cook earlier and just lower the temperature to Keep Warm. It was very good and I am surely going to try to find a time to make it for Tyler and granddaughter Madison.

I cut the recipe in half because I only had 8 - ounces (2 cups) dry macaroni. You can probably cut the recipe in half yourself, but I will put the reduced amounts in parenthesis.
I used my 3 - quart slow cooker and it was full at the end of cooking time. So if you make the full recipe, remember to use a large slow cooker.

MACARONI AND CHEESE

2-3     tablespoons butter (1-1/2)
1        quart milk (2 cups)
1        lb. mild cheese grated, or Velveeta cheese, cubed (8 - ounces) (I used the latter)
1/2     teaspoon salt (1/4)
1/8     teaspoon pepper (dash)
1        lb. macaroni, cooked al dente and rinsed (8 - ounces or 2 cups dry macaroni)

Spray slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray.

I used the Velveeta cheese and measured 8 ounces using my kitchen scales and then sliced it and cut it in small cubes so it would melt easier.





Cook the macaroni according to box directions.

While it is cooking, melt the butter in a large saucepan.

Add milk. Heat slowly but do not boil (medium - low temperature)

When very hot, stir in cheese, salt, and pepper. Stir until cheese is melted.

Stir in macaroni that you drained and rinsed after cooking it.

Pour mixture in slow cooker.

Cover. Cook on High 15 minutes, then on Low 30 minutes.

Stir mixture when ready to serve. If not ready to serve, reduce temperature to Keep Warm setting.