An Apple a Day...

Today was the day of our bake sale. We had so much food it was ridiculous, it couldn't all fit on the table. It was incredible. Unfortunately, the event had little to no people attend. It was a bit of a flop and so disappointing. We had all this food laid out so pretty and no one to buy from us. I came home with a lot of leftovers and a sad heart. We have decided to have another bake sale on Monday to try and sell off the mass amount of unsold baked goods. Everything is so delicious and I would be sad to see it go to waste. So, one more plug for the last bake sale. Monday at the CoM Lobby. Come eat our delicious treats! Here is photo proof of how amazing the bake sale looked:

I've decided to write about one of my favorite treats that I made for the bake sale, and probably the most healthy thing too. This is a recipe straight out of Dr. Weil's cookbook called The Healthy Kitchen. I bought this after I attended the Nutrition and Health Conference in May. I haven't made much out of it, but I thought this recipe looked pretty good and it's actually really healthy too. It only has 3 Tbsp of sugar and 3 Tbsp of butter--that's almost nothing in the baking world. The cake gets its sweetness from the apples and dates. Shredding the apples can be a bit of a pain. I peeled and cored them and then threw them into my food processor using the grater attachment. It was super easy, but I know if you don't have a food processor that can be a bit tough. I used red delicious apples only because they were on sale, but you could use virtually any type of apple. This cake is not too sweet with just a hint of spice from the cinnamon and nutmeg. I also used fresh milled flour from our CSA wheat berries. Sprinkle these will a little powdered sugar and they are so pretty. Don't be scared of healthy recipes, this one is a keeper!

Apple Cake Squares
from The Healthy Kitchen by Dr. Andrew Weil

1 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon cinnamon 3 tablespoons sugar 3 tablespoons softened butter or Spectrum Spread 2 eggs 2 cups apples, peeled, cored, finely shredded (about 2 1/2 medium/large apples) 1/4 cup finely chopped dates 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix the flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl and stir thoroughly. Cream the sugar and butter together in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs and whisk until smooth. Stir in the shredded apples and dates until they are completely distributed throughout. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly into the batter. Spray the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray, or grease it with 1/4 teaspoon of butter and pour in the batter. Bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes. Put the confectioners' sugar in a sifter and dust it over the cooled cake a few times until all the sugar is gone. Cut the Apple Cake into 9 squares and arrange each one on top of a decorated plate and serve.