Old Friends and New Beginnings (Caramel Apple Skillet Cake)

A few weeks ago, some dear friends of ours bought their first home.  In the time between then and now, our area experienced an earthquake, a hurricane, and some massive flooding.  Luckily, their new house has withstood all that nature could throw at it, and they're safely back home to settle in. 

As we were going to visit for the first time and give them a little housewarming, I knew that they had already been through a lot. I'm of the opinion that it's bad luck to visit someone's new house and not bring food.  Something about good luck and best wishes and prosperity and happiness and who knows what else.  Either way, this seemed like a good opportunity for cake.

I don't usually make cakes, as any casual reader of this blog can tell you.  To make an entire cake for hubby and me seems like overkill, so I really need a special occasion that involved a lot of people to even get up the excitement to try.  Also, cake itself just isn't terribly exciting to me.  My entire life I've viewed cake as a mere vehicle for icing.  Even the best, most moist homemade cake seems a little blah.  And don't even get me started on all the birthday parties where I've had to suffer through dry, crumbly store bought cake with hydrogenated oil "icing".  For my birthdays, I always request pie or cheesecake or brownies or something else with some character.  Cake just doesn't trip my trigger like other desserts.

Oooey gooey goodness...

Tate's Bake Shop (Apple Cranberry Crisp)

Recently, I won a give away from The Cilantropist (check her out - beautiful pictures and awesomely yummy food).  It may have been the first time in my life that I've ever won anything, besides a Lisa Frank pencil and paper set in a raffle in fourth grade.  That's a pretty long run, over 17 years.  Hm.  There must have been a $1 scratch off lottery ticket in between there somewhere. Hmmmm...

Anyway, this giveaway was better than a Lisa Frank pencil and paper set AND a scratch off lottery ticket combined.  This giveaway was from Tate's Bake Shop.  A few months ago, I noticed them popping up all over the Internet.  Tate's Bake Shop is a little bakery in the Hamptons that became famous at the beginning for their chocolate chip cookies.  Now they make all kinds of baked goodness, and can ship these treats anywhere.  The gift set included three kinds of cookies - chocolate chip, macadamia white chocolate chip,oatmeal raisin - and a cookbook.  I wish I had some pictures of the cookies, but I don't.

Haul out the holly (Cranberry Pecan Oatmeal Cookies)

Because we need a little Christmas, right this very minute...

I'm back!  Lest you think that I failed all my finals and jumped off the Ben Franklin Bridge, I've returned.  Finals actually went better than expected, a pleasant surprise.  For my first week of vacation, the husband, pup and I drove from New Jersey to the Keys.  

We're going in the car?!?!  The car!!!!!

Keep it going... (Cran-Coco Oatmeal Bars)

Week 6 of clinicals, complete!   This nursing program is all about endurance.  Midterms weren't as bad as they could have been, and the little three day weekend was much needed.  It was hard to get up and go back on Monday, but I'm excited to see what we're going to learn for the rest of the quarter.  We're getting close to being halfway done.  It's weird to think about how much we've learned and how much we can do now, that we couldn't back in March.  It's also humbling to realize how much more we have to learn until we're even close to being nurses!

To keep my spirits and energy up for this marathon, I've been dreaming about some sort of oatmeal/cranberry bar type thing for a few days now.  In my mind, it incorporates my newly discovered almond flour and dried cranberries with chewy oatmeal goodness.  Preferably not dripping in butter or covered in white sugar.  So I set about finding a recipe for this idea of goodness, only to find...nothing.  Zip.  Zilch.  Nada.  So, in typical fashion, I decided, fine, I would do it myself.

These bars are pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.  Hubby and my carpool buddy agreed, so I'm satisfied.  You could probably add whatever dried fruit you wanted, but after much contemplation, I opted for my favorites:  dried cranberries and coconut.  A little sweet and filling without being heavy and overbearing.

 

(chewy goodness with no butter!)

Cran-Coco Oatmeal Bars
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 canola oil
3 egg whites
2 cups rolled oats
3/4 to 1 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup flaked coconut

Beat together sugar, oil, egg whites in a large bowl.  Combine flours, salt and baking powder in a small bowl.   Add dry mixture to wet mixture until incorporated.  Mix in oats, then cranberries and coconut.  Spread in a baking dish (mine was 9x56) and bake at 350 for 25-26 minutes, until edges are golden brown.  Cool completely before slicing.