May  2007

Menu of the Month

A mother-daughter garden party to celebrate Mother’s Day would be the perfect way to enjoy May’s mild temperatures and spring blooms. Set out pretty plates and napkins in bright pastels to match what is blooming in your yard. Serve fresh whole strawberries and an assortment of tea breads, delicate cookies and scrumptious cakes with hot or iced tea, fruit juice and/or coffee. Apple Coffee Cake is an easy, yet delicious cake which derives its moist texture from apples and raisins rather than being loaded with oil. This cake is also very low in sodium.

Apple Coffee Cake

5 cups tart apples, cored, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark raisins
½ cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg, beaten
2 ½ cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly oil a 13- by 9- by 2-inch pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine apples with sugar, raisins, pecans; mix well. Stir in oil, vanilla and egg. Sift or stir together flour, soda and cinnamon; stir into apple mixture, mixing just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Batter will be very stiff.

Turn batter into pan. Bake 35-40 minutes. Cool cake slightly before serving.

Makes 16 servings. Nutrition information per 3 ½- by 2 ½-inch piece: 217 calories,
3g protein, 41g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, 8g fat, 118mg sodium, 147mg potassium.