Rachael Ray's Gigi's Apple Cake

Ok, I'm reaching into my archives with this one. I made this so long ago I can't even remember when, but for some reason I kept it a secret, never taking time enough to share it with y'all. Most people who know me know I'm not a Rachael Ray fan. I'm not a Rach-hater, I'm just not a Rach-lover. I do however really like her talkshow, and I love, love, triple lover her magazine, Everyday with Rachael Ray. I don't make too many of the recipes from the magazine, and I have yet to make a recipe from any of her shows, but I really dig the style of the magazine and Rach's talkshow. The recipes in the Sweet Spot section of the magazine always catch my eye and if I'm going to make one of the recipes from Everyday with Rachael Ray, that's 9 times out of 10 going to be the recipe. I found the recipe for Gigi's Apple Cake in the August/September issue. I have no idea who Gigi is, but the cake was gorgeous and sounded absolutely delicious. I love apples and the cake turned out great, nice and moist from the apples. My cake didn't turn out to look like the one in the magazine, but I'm sure it tasted just as good. Gigi's Apple Cake 1 cup canola oil, plus more for greasing 2½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 2 teaspoons baking powder 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon 6 Granny Smith apples (about 1¼ pounds)-peeled, cored and thinly sliced 2¼ cups granulated sugar 4 large eggs 1/3 cup orange juice 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt or tube pan. In a medium bowl, combine the 2½ cups of flour with the baking powder and 2 teaspoons of the cinnamon. In a large bowl, toss the apples with ¼ cup of the sugar and the remaining 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and set aside. In a standing mixed fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the 1 cup of oil with the eggs, orange juice, vanilla and the remaining 2 cups of sugar on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the flour in 3 batches, mixing until just combined. Add the apples and stir to combine. Transfer to the pan, leaving about an inch at the top, and bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 1½ hours. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 30 minutes before unmolding it onto a rack to cool completely.

Whole Lotta Enchiladas!

If you would have showed up at our house the other night, you would have thought we were enchilada crazy. I've been wanting to make chicken enchiladas for a while, but as is often the case with me, for one reason or another I just never got around to it. Well, enough was finally enough. I was tired of just craving them, I was ready to actually make and eat them. So I found a recipe on allrecipes.com, which seems to be my goto site when I'm craving something & don't have a recipe handy. While I was there I thought I'd look around for a recipe for something sorta easy & mexican-ish I could make for dessert. And what did I find?? Yup, you guessed it - a recipe for dessert enchiladas, Apple Enchiladas to be exact. I took a short cut with the chicken for the Chicken Enchiladas. Harris Teeter has whole roasted chickens for $3.99 each every Sunday, so I figured that would be a good deal, save me lots of time considering I would have no chicken to clean, cook and then cool before actually starting my enchiladas. Overall, I thought they were really tasty & will probably use this recipe again. As I was making the filling, I found that it definitely didn't need the water that the recipe calls for. I used Velvetta, as I didn't have enough cheddar & it tasted fine, but that could possibly explain why I needed to omit the water. If you wanted to add some black or pinto beans to the filling, or maybe even some rice, that would probably be good. We had some leftover spanish rice from the night before, so I heated that up & served it on the side. Pretty tasty! The Apple Enchiladas were super easy & made a nice ending our mexican feast. It wasn't a to die for recipe, but it will possibly make a repeat appearance, sometime when we decide to do another mexican night. Chicken Enchiladas 4 cooked chicken breasts or 1 whole roasted chicken 1 onion, chopped 1/2 pint sour cream 8 oz Velvetta, cubed 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional) 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce 1 tablespoon chili powder 1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper 8 (10 inch) flour tortillas 1 (12 ounce) jar taco sauce 3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Cube chicken & place in a medium skillet. Add the onion, sour cream, Velvetta, oregano and ground black pepper. Heat until cheese melts. Stir in salt, tomato sauce, chili powder, and green pepper. Roll even amounts of the mixture in the tortillas. Arrange in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover with taco sauce and 3/4 cup Cheddar cheese. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving. Apple Enchiladas 1 (21 ounce) can apple pie filling 6 (8 inch) flour tortillas 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/3 cup margarine 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup water Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spoon fruit evenly onto all tortillas, sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll up tortillas and place seam side down on lightly greased 8x8 baking pan. Bring margarine, sugars and water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly for 3 minutes. Pour sauce evenly over tortillas; sprinkle with extra cinnamon on top if desired. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Makes 6 large tortillas; may be cut in half to serve 12. *As side note, I apologize to everyone for having to endure the horrible, awful photos that accompany this post. As I may have mentioned before, my camera is trying to punish me by dying it seems. If anyone is knowledgable about low to moderately priced digital cameras, shoot me an email. I would appreciate any help or suggestions anyone may have as I shop for a new one!