Recipe(tried): Hello From The Smoky Mountains!

Hello Everyone!

Brrrrr, it's 34 degrees and I am loving it! There was frost on the car when we awoke this morning...and in the Smokies yesterday, snow was reported and we saw some beautiful footage of it on the evening news last night.

We left last Wednesday at 4AM and arrived in Athens, Georgia around noontime. We met with our realtor and toured neighborhoods and new developments. Athens is just beautiful! They even have a Publix!! It is home to the Georgia Bulldogs, the University of Georgia at Athens. On Friday, before leaving, we decided on a real pretty wooded lot in a sweet new neighborhood called Sedgefield. We just couldn't find a house that we liked so we have decided to build one. Truth be told, we would love our present house plans but with a Southern farmhouse facade. Out in this area, they call that "Cape Cod".

We will be leaving this Saturday for home...tomorrow we will be visiting Waynesville to go to Barber's Apple Orchard and get apples and jams to bring home for friends and neighbors. When we arrived last Saturday, I made a delicious fresh apple cake that I had downloaded from one of Hendersonville's apple orchard's website. It came out delicious! It was dense, dark, spicy and moist from the glaze Here is the recipe:

Fresh Apple Cake
by Lola D. Coston

3. c. plain flour
2 T. cinnamon
1 T. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 c. brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
3 large eggs
4 c. apples, chopped (I used Rome)
2 c. pecans, chopped
2 t. vanilla

Glaze:
1 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. milk
1 stick margerine, softened (I used butter)
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Flour tube or bundt pan. Combine flour, cinnamon, soda and salt; set aside. Beat sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl. Add flour mixture. Stir in apples, pecans and vanilla. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 55 minutes. While cake is cooling, (10 minutes), make the glaze.

Glaze:
Bring the sugar, milk and margerine to a boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Spoon over cake while hot.

It was easy for me to make the cake in the cabin as I had brought the flour, salt, soda and cinnamon in a zip-lock bag, the oil in a small canning jar, the pecans in another zip-lock bag and the brown sugar and vanilla in another bag. I added the eggs and chopped apples in the cabin. I also had brought another bag of brown sugar mixed with vanilla for the glaze, adding the butter and milk in the cabin. I must tell you though, that the batter was quite stiff, like cement. I had to spoon it into the bundt pan. Mixing it with a wooden spoon was a chore also! But, the cake was well worth the effort.

We visited Franklin yesterday and enjoyed the most delicious Apricot Oatmeal Bars, Cheesecake Bars, Baklava and a Crumb Coffee Cake...the crumb topping was thick and crumbly, about an inch thick! I am now looking for those recipes, so if anyone has them, please post them, I would love to re-create them! The name of the bakery is Town Hill Bake Shoppe and they certainly get a "thumbs-up" from me!

Everywhere we have gone, we've seen festive displays of pumpkins, cornstalks and hay bales. The most interesting pumpkin I saw was one in downtown Franklin's Main Street. It's face was made with little gourds and it's "hair" out of okra standing upright! Fall colors of deep russet, gold and burnt oranges are everywhere. The best part of course, is the nip of cold in the air. We have enjoyed fires in the fireplace and as soon as I get home, I'd love to share some pictures with y'all!

Happy Fall! Gina