German Apple Cake

Every so now and then I'm required to bring a cake to a get-together of friends or family.
The occasional cook that I am always wants to do something pretty simple.
I have two standby cake recipes which I acquired...you guessed it, from friends. Both are simple, but I'll share one of them with you today - German Apple Cake.
As I mentioned, I like SIMPLE. You can use two kinds of apple, either fresh or canned.
Today I chose to use fresh apple, mainly because I actually had some nice, green Granny Smiths in the crisper. (For the very rare person who doesn't know...it's not a granny I've stowed away in the fridge, but the name of the lovely green skinned, crisp cooking apple.) So all that's a little more fiddly about using fresh apples, is that you have to peel and slice them. If that's going to put you off making this yummy, but EASY cake, just open up a tin of pie apples instead.

To  see the recipe please click the Recipe Tab above or here

The finished product...nomnomnom

Cooking or the lack of same...

You can find my latest recipe contribution by clicking on the Recipe tab above...

As you can see my cooking has become more infrequent than ever. This is not a good thing. Life should be full of good food and yet as I've ( or we - hubby and I) have grown older, we seem to worry less and less about putting in the effort to cook meals regularly. Hubby seems to enjoy the cheese and pineapple wraps he 'cooks' in the sandwich press just about every lunch time. I have late breakfasts because I go to the pool after my school bus run, or 'work out' (a VERY grandiose name for going to the local park and using the new exercise equipment) 2 or 3 days per week on the way home. So I have Organic oats at about 10.30 and don't feel hungry till about 3 pm, which naturally throws the whole hunger/feeding thingy out of whack and then I tend to have a hot drink with several crackers and cheese or sweet biscuits, which in turn throws out my dinner time hunger.

So soups are always a really good option for a quick evening meal. They are satisfying palate wise, fill your tummy up without feeling bloated which is not a good thing before retiring to bed and they are also

Yummy spinach and potato soup.

so simple to make. So when I was browsing through the new batch of gossip mags the neighbour deposits at my front door at least once a week, saw this great spinach soup recipe and knew I had all the simple ingredients available, I jumped to and voila! a beautifully flavoured soup ready in under an hour. Yum Yum!

I was happy that I'd actually got to and created something new to eat and hubby was delighted his wife had actually cooked him a meal for a change. 

I'll certainly be making this one again very soon.

It'a a real winter warmer.

Enjoy.

Remember to click on the Recipe tab under the cover photo to see the recipe...

NYE Dutch Apple Fritters (Appel Beignets)

Mum's Dutch Apple Fritters (Appel Beignets) with icing sugar

This is what you will need:

• Granny Smith apples 2kg  or as many as you want... each apple makes about 5-6 fritters (or any green, tart, apples) 
• Crepe batter - ratio - 1 cup plain flour, 1 egg, 1 -1 and1/2 cup water (or milk and water if preferred), pinch salt. The consistency should by fairly thin, but should still coat the apple slices well (Make double quantity if you want to use about 10 apples)
• Supafry solid white oil for deep frying - 2 pkts  (I have found this oil gives the best results)
• Sifted icing sugar (soft powdered sugar/confectioner's sugar)

You will also need:

• Apple corer (available in any supermarket/hardware/kitchen shop for a couple of $s)
• Bowl with cold water and juice 1/2 lemon
• Saucepan for frying or deep fryer
• Absorbent kitchen paper
• Knife
• Potato peeler

This is what you do: 

1. For batter - Sift plain flour into wide jug or bowl and add egg(s) and water or water/milk and whisk well together until mixture is well blended and of a runny consistency to coat the apple slices. (see ratio in ingredient section)
2. Core, peel and slice apples and place in bowl with water and lemon so they don't go brown before you are ready to use them
3. Dry apples in a clean tea towel or cloth and add about 5-8 slices to the batter
4. Heat the oil till very hot...test with a little batter to see how fast it browns. Adjust heat so that the batter doesn't burn..you want the apple to be cooked through
5. When oil is right temperature, add the coated apple slices one by one to the oil...depending on size of pan, about 4-5 at a time. Turn them over half way through browning
6. Lift out with a fork or tongs, drain in basket and/or place on absorbent kitchen paper towel
7. Repeat until batter/apples are used up.

To serve:

Sift some icing sugar into a bowl and dip fritters into sugar or sprinkle some over each serving to taste. The sugar adds to the flavour as the apples are quite tart (sour).

ENJOY your Dutch Apple Fritters!

ENJOY your New Year's Eve celebration - I wish you a very happy 2013.

Why this blog?

Well for a start, I love blogging. Just love putting 'pen to paper'...yeah you know what I mean. Love to type away and share my thoughts and it really doesn't matter to me if anyone will read them. Nope not at all. However, if you do choose to read on, I hope you enjoy my  scattered thoughts, crazy ideas and have a bit of fun reading my light hearted ramblings about being an infrequent cook.
Back to the subject...
...I really am not mad on cooking. Cooking of any kind does not really excite me, yet we need to eat to continue living. Hence the 'Occasional Cook', well, that's what I wanted to call this blog, but no luck. That title was already taken, by someone who is most likely in the same boat as I am...not a lover of cooking, but who has enough interest, like me, to get into the kitchen from time to time and turn out something quite reasonable. So I settled for 'An infrequent cook'...which is actually what I am. These days my hubby cooks most of our meals. After over 30 years of cooking for my now 'long left home' family, I gave up 12 years ago when I went back to work full time and hubby became the house husband and stay-at-home dad for our then 10 year old.
My cooking is simple, easy and nourishing. Don't expect to find modern, exciting ideas here that go under the heading of 'Modern Cuisine' or come from the Master Chef kitchen. No bits of salad leaves garnished with dots of some fancy sauce, sprinkled with nuts and a crumbed, deep fried prawn on top. No, not at all. From my kitchen will come recipes that my mum used to make, a friend's cake recipe that is just delicious and is easy enough for me to throw together and maybe even some meatless meal ideas from our long ago Noosa days.
So don't get too excited please.
I am ready to put up a recipe or 2 and photos to show how it's done. You really don't need the photos but I also love taking photos of almost anything, so you will get photos with the recipe whether you like it or not :-)). I refrain from giving myself the label 'Photographer' as I don't do fancy pics, but just an average pic to show you how it's done. Most come from my smart phone, others from my Fujifilm Finepix S1600, so nothing too highbrow.
I hope you enjoy my 'infrequent' cooking adventures.
Welcome to my brand new blog.