Brandied Apple Cake

• 4 cups baking apples (4-5 apples)- MacIntosh, Golden Delicious, or Empire
  
• 1 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar (approx)

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
  
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 2 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder (optional)

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup applesauce
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
  
• 2 tsp bourbon/brandy OR 3 tbsp rum
  
• 1 cup walnuts (optional)
  

Peel & slice apples about 1/8 inch thick into large bowl. Cover with sugar and stir to coat. 
Mix dry ingredients & sift over apples, stirring often.
Beat wet ingredients (& add nuts).
Mix wet ingredients into apples.
Spread into greased/lined pan(s) and bake at 350 F for about 1 hr 15 minutes (50 min for muffins) for a nice crunchy crust.
Let cool (upside down/sideways on metal rack) then remove from pan.

Makes 1 bundt cake OR 2 loaves OR 1 loaf plus 8 muffins OR 18-20 muffins.

approx nutrition per 1/18 of recipe (without nuts): 215 calories, 7.5 g (12%) fat, 1.5 g (7%) saturated fat, 34 g (11%) carbohydrates, 1.6 g (6%) fiber, 22.3 g sugar, 2.2 g protein

Thursday Waitrose Visits and Bruschetta

Every Thursday afternoon, after getting picked up from school by Tilana (the driver...it still feels weird to say that I have a driver), we pick up Mommy after her daily gym workout and go to Waitrose! Waitrose is kind of serving as my Trader Joe's and Idylwilde Farms (my favorite grocery stores in Mass) substitute in Dubai, so I always get excited to go. We returned one particular Thursday with a bunch of on-the-vine tomatoes from Holland, goat cheese (I had been wanting to get some ever since I had a lovely bagel breakfast served with salmon, poached eggs, goat cheese, and veggies at Circle in Dubai Media City), onions in balsamic vinegar, soft fresh white farmers' bread that makes heavenly toast, and our usual rustic olive bread loaf. Inspiration struck when I was thinking about what to have for dinner, as I suddenly remembered a pizza we had at Jumeirah Beach Residence with tomato, rosemary, and globs of goat cheese. The pizza was decent, compared to the otherwise not-so-great dinner experience (bad service, crowded, trying too hard to be authentic... and failing). As an added bonus, we had just bought a rosemary plant from a family on the Palm that was moving, and I was excited to try rosemary in EVERYTHING. And so dinner was born... (I gave it a nice fancy-sounding name)

Balsamic Tomato Bruschetta with Goat Cheese and Rosemary

Ingredients

• 2 tomatoes, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cm thick) & sprinkled with salt
  
• 4 pickled onions in balsamic vinegar, sliced into thin wedges (Waitrose)
• balsamic vinegar to taste
• sea salt & pepper to taste
• 4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 2 tbsp rosemary, chopped
• 4 slices farmhouse bread (Waitrose)
• 2 oz/28 g soft goat cheese (Soignon un-ripened, 4 peppers), crumbled
• extra-virgin olive oil to taste (optional)

Preheat oven to about 325 F/160 C.

Wrap garlic cloves in foil and place in oven.

Arrange tomatoes in single layer on baking sheet, top with balsamic onions. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, 1 tbsp rosemary, drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Broil onion-tomatoes (leave oven on & garlic in) about 10 min, until slightly wrinkled and bubbling.

Meanwhile, toast bread until crunchy and golden. Remove onion-tomatoes & garlic from oven, peel garlic cloves (should be squishy), squash with knife and finely chop. Top toast with tomatoes, onions, garlic, remaining rosemary, goat cheese, salt & pepper if desired, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. If you want the goat cheese a bit more melted, throw it back in the oven for 2 minutes.

Variations: use mini bread rounds, crostini, or pizza dough as base