Classic Apple Waldorf Salad

Apples are a delicious healthy food, easy to carry for snacking, low in calories, a natural mouth freshener, and they are still very inexpensive.

The old saying of “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away” has a good deal of merit. Eating one or more apples a day may lower your risk for Alzheimer’s disease and cancers of the breast, colon, and prostate as well as numerous other conditions. To get the full benefit you must also eat the skin.

The health benefit of apples include;

•Lower blood cholesterol
•Improved bowel function
•Reduced risk of stroke
•Help in weight control
•Reduced risk prostate cancer
•Reduced risk type II diabetes
•Help prevent asthma, heart disease, and cancers
•Provide soluble and insoluble fiber
•Providesource of flavanoids and antioxidants


This is a crunchy, sweet and hearty salad of apples, celery, nuts and mayonnaise that was first served in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City around 1891. You can make it a delicious summer luncheon main dish by adding cooked, diced chicken and another 1/3 cup mayonaise. My mother also added halved red or green seedless grapes in addition to the apples.

Ingredients

4 medium red apples or green apples or mixture of both, washed and diced.
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1 cup mini marshmallows (optional)
1 cup halved grapes (optional)

Directions

•Wash, core and dice unpeeled apples.
•Sprinkle lemon juice over them and toss together gently to coat, then sprinkle sugar over the apples and toss again.
•Chill for at least 20 minutes.
•Add celery and nuts then stir in mayonnaise, adding only enough for desired consistency.
•Serve on a bed of lettuce.

How To Make A Dump Cake

To practice a dump cake, you simply dump the ingredients into a bowl and beat them, then pour the batter into a pan and bake it. Although a dump cake is uncomplicated to produce, it's completely as enjoyable as a extra delicate cake. Perhaps that's why dump cakes, including pound cakes, have been popular for hundreds of years.

The secret to the cake is in suitably beating the ingredients, so keep to these tips. Allow the butter soften and take the eggs out of the fridge to warm a bit. For a fresh batter, beat the softened butter and sugar really well until the creamed mixture looks pale and wispy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until all the streaks are gone. Any curdling you might see will disappear as you beat. Turn off the mixer occasionally and scrape the batter at the sides of the bowl into the path of the beaters so everything gets thoroughly mixed.

Switch to low tempo whilst you add the dry ingredients to keep the flour mixture from soaring into the air. Since overbeating the flour can harden a cake, beat simply until the batter has no streaks. Stir in the chips by hand so the mixer does not break them.

Be surefire the cake is completed sooner than you take it out of the oven. You can exercise either a cake tester, a tinny metal wire with a handle on top, otherwise a wooden pick. Gently move forward the tester into the center of the cake and pluck it out. If you see liquid batter on the tester, keep baking. If the tester comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven and let it cool. A silky-textured pound cake is rich and moist all by itself, so you don't need to frost it. Just slice and

Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Pound Cake

1 loaf cake or 8 servings

Butter

Flour

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened baking

Cocoa

1/2 teaspoon salt

1cup butter, softened

(2 sticks)

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

With butter, lightly grease bottom and sides of 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 or 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan. Dust with flour. Shake out excess flour. Set aside. With a sifter or mesh strainer, sift 1 1/4 cups flour together with the cocoa and salt into bowl or onto sheet of waxed paper. Set aside.

In large mixer bowl at medium speed, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla until thoroughly blended, at least several minutes. At low speed, gradually beat in reserved flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, beating just until blended and no streaks remain. Stir in chips. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.

Bake in preheated 325 degree F oven until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan and cake tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 60 to 70 minutes for 9-inch pan or 75 to 85 minutes for 8 1/2-inch pan. (If tester shows dark brown, you've hit a melted chocolate chip. Test again in another spot. To prevent overbaking, remove cake from oven as soon as no light brown batter shows on tester.) Cool on wire rack 10 minutes. With narrow spatula or knife, loosen cake from pan. Gently shake onto wire rack. Cool completely. To retain moisture, store cooled cake in plastic wrap. Serve plain or topped with fruit, ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.

I Can't Believe It's Not Mexican: 3 Tasty But Non-Authentic Mexican Food Recipes

Mexican food is almost as popular in the United States as it is in Mexico. With restaurants spread out across the country (as well as various Mexican meals in bars and clubs), it is not hard to find yourself eating some variation of Mexican food several times a week, especially if you are out often and not picky about your meal style.

But very few “Mexican food recipes” are actually authentic Mexican food, more often than not they are some Mexican inspired American food, often referred to as “Tex-Mex.” Often this food uses names like “Burrito,” which roughly translated means “little donkey.”

Still, though these Mexican food recipes may not be traditionally Mexican, that does not mean that they cannot be enjoyed as delicious meals. There are several ways of cooking this non-authentic Mexican food that can make them taste more like a delicious cuisine and less like a fast food meal.

3 Tasty Non-Authentic Mexican Food Recipes

1.The Super Nacho
One delicious twist on a popular Mexican food recipe is that of the better tasting nachos. Everyone has experienced the standard appetizer – place chips and cheese in a bowl and microwave. But there is a fun, tastier way to make nachos seem like more of a meal. Simply find yourself a package of large, round, fried yellow corn tortillas (approximately 6 inches or larger) and place it on a baking sheet. Get standard refried beans and spread it out across the “chip.” Then layer jalapenos, cheese, and whatever meats you like on top before placing it in the oven. This makes each tortilla its own separate meal, giving it a tastier flavor.

1.Gourmet Burritos
Burritos are another example of Mexican food recipes that are not traditionally Mexican (they are referred to as “soft tacos” and often come in smaller sizes). Still they are easy to make into delicious meals that are filling as well as simple to create. The burritos you get at fast food places tend to be small and containing only beans, cheese and meat. But you can easily make your burritos more gourmet by adding salad, salad dressing, fresh salsa and rice. All of these will essentially turn your burrito into a healthy, full, and flavorful meal.

1.Chalupas
Chalupas actually are authentic Mexican cuisine, but they have been seen on Taco Bell commercials for so long that most people do not know how any of the authentic Mexican food recipes. To make a Chalupa, you simply need to find the bowl-like chalupa shells, fill it with your favorite beans, cheese, vegetables, sour cream, meats and peppers and you have a delicious and fresh meal that you will certainly enjoy.

It is not hard to find Mexican food recipes that make regular Mexican food (and Mexican inspired food) taste more complex and far more delicious than the standard fast food variety. And since this type of food is also easy to cook, there is no reason not to enjoy it whenever you are getting ready to pick your next meal.