Cooking

Well, first I need to say that Miss Ginger seems to be a bit perkier today but as a whole she is still fairly depressed and she’s not eating. Dr. Mike, her vet, instructed us to make her food for her and to feed her 2 or 3 times a day. We are supposed to make 1 portion lean protein like chicken, pork or beef with no fat with 3 portions carbohydrate like white rice or potato. So we have tried chicken and rice, beef and rice, beef and potato, chicken and potato and so on. But she eats very little. We are lucky if we get her to eat a cup or so a day. Now we are discovering that she will eat more if she thinks it comes from our plate rather than her dish so we are now taking the time to “spoon” feed her.
But you can see that she is just so down. She did have some brief activity this morning but this is what she has looked like for days now. We are contemplating the possibility of discontinuing the chemo but we are just uncertain right now. Her next dose is scheduled for Tuesday so we have until then to figure it out.

So in order to make us feel better I decided to make a Caramel-Glazed Apple Cake. It’s a new recipe I discovered in the magazine from Costco. Let me tell you this is one delicious cake!!!

As you can see it’s packed with apples and it’s sooooooo moist. It just tastes like you would expect fall to taste. It’s perfect for today! We’ve got football on the TV and we just finished having some Rotel Cheese Dip and now this cake!!!! It’s sooo yummy!! So here’s the recipe!

CARAMEL-GLAZED APPLE CAKE
Cake
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled a 1.nd diced to 1/2 inch
1 1/4 chopped pecans or walnuts
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Caramel Glaze
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 325. Butter and flour a 9x13 pan.
2. Prepare cake, beat both sugars and oil in a mixing bowl until very well blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; gradually add to egg mixture, mixing just until blended. Stir in apples, pecans and vanilla. Pour into pan. Batter will be very stiff.
3. Bake for 50 to 75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan while preparing glaze.
4. To prepare the glaze, melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in both sugars and salt, cook over medium-low heat for 2 minutes. Add cream and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
5. Poke holes in the cake with a skewer or toothpick.  Pour the glaze over the cake.  Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.
6. ENJOY!