Jewish Apple Cake and Zucchini Frittata

I published the recipe for zucchini frittata in an early post, so I'll just tell you about a couple of adaptations I made to the recipe. I needed a quick supper and once I started cooking I realized the recipe called for cooked brown rice. Bye, brown rice. That was omitted. To be sure I had enough food for us, I used 6 eggs instead of 4 and I substituted goat cheese for feta cheese. Despite all my tinkering with the recipe, it was still great and everyone (but the one who is boycotting suppers) ate at least one piece of frittata. I must admit the big hit of supper though was homemade strawberry jam on a slice on squash rolls....at least until dessert.

Dessert was Jewish Apple Cake. For a cake, it is not very difficult to make from scratch and if you use the right apples it is oh, so good! Curtis ate a piece for breakfast with a glass of milk. I would have if 2 children weren't watching me (and I would have had to share!). It has apples, so it's healthy right?

Here's how to make it. Peel, core, and thinly slice enough apples to equal 2 quarts. (This is the most time consuming step of the whole recipe! A mechanical apple peeler/slicer/corer speeds up the process considerably). Sprinkle with 2 T fresh lemon juice, 5 T sugar, and 1 T ground cinnamon. Toss gently to coat all apples with lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon. Set aside. In a separate bowl, cream together 2 c sugar and 1 c oil. Add 4 eggs, one at a time, mixing well. In a third separate bowl, combine 3 c flour and 3 t baking powder. Add alternately with 1/2 c orange juice to creamed sugar mixture. Add 1 T vanilla and combine. Pour 1/3 of the batter into a very well greased bundt pan or large tube pan. Top with 1/3 of the apples. Repeat layers 2 more times, ending with the apples. Place the pans on doubled up cookie sheets (2 stacked cookies sheets) and bake in a preheated 375 degrees oven for 1/2 hour. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for 1 - 1 1/4 hours, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in its pan for 20 minutes before inverting it.

A couple of quick notes on the recipe. The cookie sheets prevent the bottom (which becomes the top) from becoming burnt, keeping it instead a nice golden brown. It also doesn't matter if your layers don't come out exactly in thirds. I always some how manage to have just barely enough batter for the final layer. All that means are there are more apples closer together at the bottom. It still tastes great. The cake could take as long as an extra 1 1/2 hours (instead of just one hour). The best apples are the "hard" apples or those that are green or tart.