Friday, May 22, 2009

Week in Review

The Bag Lady wanted to share a little bit of what her week was like.

This was what Tuesday looked like on the ranch.




It was very sloppy and quite cold, and the cows had nowhere to lie down. The Rancher and the Bag Lady put out several bales of straw for bedding for the cows. The Rancher ran the loader and brought the bales. He shook them out as best he could, then the Bag Lady spread them with the pitchfork. The calves could hardly wait to lie down in the straw.



On Wednesday, the Rancher decided he wanted a cake. Every time the Bag Lady bakes something, he jokingly claims he did the work. This time the Bag Lady encouraged him to actually do it!
Here is a picture of the Apple Cake that he made (the Bag Lady helped a little):

The Bag Lady could scarcely wait for it to cool so she could try it, because it smelled so good:

She is pleased to report that it was excellent.

Here is the recipe:

Rancher's Apple Cake

4 Cups unpeeled apples, diced
2 Cups brown sugar
Mix with 3/4 Cup oil

Add:
1 Cup chopped walnuts or pecans
2 beaten eggs
2 Cups flour
2 tsps cinnamon
2 tsps vanilla
2 tsps soda
1 tsp salt
Pour into 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

The Rancher had some chopped pecans left over. The Bag Lady told him he could sprinkle them on top of the icing after the cake was done, but the Rancher doesn't like icing very much, so he made a streudel topping and spread it on the cake after it had baked for half an hour.

Streudel Topping

3/4 Cup brown sugar
1/2 Cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 Cup butter
1/2 Cup chopped pecans
Mix together until crumbly, spread on cake, continue baking for an additional half hour.

And there you have the Rancher's Apple Cake recipe.

Enjoy!

20 comments:

Leah J. Utas said...

Woohoo! Go Rancher! That cake sounds wonderful.

Charlotte said...

I am a sucker for anythign with struedel topping!! The cake looks delish! Love that the Rancher made it too!

Scrumpy said...

That sounds great! Have you ever tried to substitute the oil with applesauce? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, so I'm curious.

the Bag Lady said...

dfLeah - for his first effort, it was amazing! We gave some to his mom and she called and said he can bake her another one anytime!

Charlotte - I love struedel topping, too. (struedel, streudel, struesel, streusel..... I found several different spellings and names for it, but in the cookbook we used, it was called streudel, so I'm going with that.) :)

SB - I did wonder if applesauce would work in this recipe, but didn't have any, so went with the oil.

Hilary said...

Well darn, that looks delicious! Good thing I don't bake.. or it would be on my hips by now.

I feel for those poor cows but their new straw bed looks quite comfy.

the Bag Lady said...

Hilary - I am thinking of turning the baking duties over to the Rancher entirely!
It was an excellent cake, and if that's the only thing he ever makes, it would be fine with me! :)

Emily said...

You mean he spreads hay & bakes?? Bag Lady, you've got yourself a real man to be proud of there!

the Bag Lady said...

Emily - I know! It's amazing, isn't it? :)

solarity said...

Doesn't like icing? Doesn't like icing??? [head explodes]

Actually, the ingredients for the struedel topping look a lot like the ingredients for my great-aunt's applesauce cake icing, only you cook it and apply it after the cake has cooled. Hmmm.

Missicat said...

That looks soooo good! I love that he made it and you "helped". :-)

the Bag Lady said...

Mary Anne in Kentucky - I know, I know! He is the one who likes sweets, but he doesn't like icing. Can you believe it?

Missicat - I assembled the ingredients for him, but he did the chopping, mixing, etc. (Of course, I did most of the cleaning up, too.....)

Geosomin said...

You have a man who makes strudel topping?

KEEPER :)

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

That cake sounds great! But...still snow? Wow.

Reb said...

The calves look a bit freaked out. I can see them in a few years telling their whiny off-spring, "This is nothing, you should've seen the freak snow storm of '09. The rancher and the bag lady looked after us then and they will do it this year, relax kiddo."

The rancher's cake looks good. Good for him for doing some baking.

the Bag Lady said...

Geo - I think so, too!

BG - the cake really is good (and almost all gone already!). Hopefully that's the last of the snow. It's 21C here today (around 70F, give or take a degree or two)

Reb - yup, those calves will have tales to tell their young'uns!
I need to encourage the Rancher to do more baking! :)

jh said...

Wonderful looking recipe! I will have to try it. Thanks.

jen
Boda weight loss Blog

Karen (formerly kcinnova) said...

I'm hungry and that looks awfully good!

The cake, not the straw. If I was a cow, the straw would look good.

(No comments allowed from the peanut gallery aware of my weightloss needs)

And, just sayin', it should NOT be snowing after May 1st. It's just Wrong.

the Bag Lady said...

jh - you're welcome! Thanks for stopping by.

kcinnova - no comments from this peanut gallery, I can tell ya!
Snow after May 1st is not totally unheard of around here, but it's still not very welcome! I'd rather have the moisture in the form of a nice warm rain.

Sagan said...

YUM! Apple and cake, what could be better? Thanks for the recipe and hurray for the Rancher for baking!

Am so sorry about the snow.

the Bag Lady said...

Thanks, Sagan.