October 15, 2012

A is for Apple

Each week, Baby B's little school focuses lessons on a specific letter of the alphabet.  I try my best to re-enforce the learning at home with some sensory use of the letter and examples.  Lucky for me, A came easy for our household.  Not only is fall prime time for apple season, but we found a few great ways to re-enforce that indeed A is for Apple.

The big bowl of apples graces the kitchen counter top.  Not only does it remind us to not go straight for the pantry snacks and to consider this as an alternative, but it's an easy grab for a re-enforcement lesson with B.  Occassionally, I'll grab him and we try making our "a" sound together.  Usually, this ends up with a big mouthful of apple and baby B looking like a little piggy on a bbq with a giant apple hanging out of his mouth!




This week's "a" lesson was perfectly timed for a new recipe I wanted to try for Paula's (that's Deen for those new around these parts) delish apple cake.  It was a smashing success and definitely will be made again and again!  I thought I was being clever by snapping a pic of the finished product as it cooled.  Someone beat me to it and you can see it was well enjoyed by the slice out of the back half in the pic below!  Keep scrolling to the bottom for this FAB recipe!




And then there's the prized bring home from school, baby B's very first school art work.  Awww, my heart melts.  He's growing up way too fast for my taste!  And yes, this pic was taken and the apple picture promptly removed from his clutches.  This is a keepsake, y'all!  Five more seconds with him and it would have been trashed.




Paula's Apple Cake (slightly modified from food.com and the Paula magazine fall 2012)

Ingredients:
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 3 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 cups chopped apples ( about 3 apples)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/2 cup raisins
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 325°F Grease a bunt pan.
  2. Mix flour, soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon; set aside. Beat oil and sugar until blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and then stir in apples and vanilla. Add flour mixture until blended; stir in pecans and raisins.
  3. Transfer to pan and then drop and shake the pan to release bubbles.
  4. Bake 1 1/2 hours until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on rack 15 minutes.  Once cool, remove from pan (I always try to run a spoon or dull knife around pan first before flipping) and dust with powder sugar.