Pumpkin-Apple-Walnut Spiced Bundt Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 cup plus 2 tbs. oil (grapeseed or canola works best)
or 10 Tbs. butter, softened–or a blend of the two
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup fresh or canned pumpkin purée (Organic canned pumpkin from TJs)
(or sweet potato or butternut squash puree)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups of diced Granny Smith or other apples
½ cup or more chopped walnuts or pecans
Powdered sugar to sift on top. You can make your own in a blender.
Instructions
1. Mix dry ingredients in medium bowl and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
3. In a large bowl, cream the oil and sugar until well blended and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, incorporating each completely. Add the pumpkin and blend well. Add vanilla and blend well. Stir dry ingredients into wet, a third at a time, stirring as little as possible to blend completely. Fold in the apple chunks and walnuts.
4. Spray Bundt pan generously with nonstick cooking spray. Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The cake will be golden brown and the aroma in the kitchen will be good enough to sell a house! Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for five minutes. Check to see if you need to run a plastic knife along to break the edge away from the pan, but be careful not to damage the sides of the cake. Invert onto a plate, sift powdered sugar onto the cake while warm, so it will stick, and then allow to cool completely. You may want to sift more powdered sugar onto the cake before serving. This cake is not too sweet, and has a wonderful moist texture. It may taste better the second day if there is any left.
Avant Garden 
Dana: Do you have any good chutney recipes? Our garden is doing really well, and I would like to make some chutney and relishes. Maybe serve on crostini with a slice of Brie cheese. We tried 7-day pickles with our abundant crop of cukes, but they didn’t taste very good. They were sooooo crunchy, but not enough dill flavor.
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Nixie: Here are a couple recipes you may want to try. I have experimented with the first one using various fruits. I look forward to hearing about what you prepare. If you want a really thick chutney, just cook it down a bit longer. I like spicy chutney with cheese, but consider your own tastes. You might use less heat (chilies) the first time around with this recipe.
BASIC CHUTNEY
5 cups fruit (apples, peaches, plums, pears, whatever is in season) chopped in about 1” pieces
1 lemon (preferably organic), cleaned, seeded and chopped fine (peel and all)
1 cup chopped dried apricots
2 cups sugar (brown or white)
2 cups cider vinegar (can be a combination of red, rice, and wine vinegar if you wish)
1 ½ cups raisins (golden or dark)
4 oz candied ginger, chopped
1 clove garlic minced
¼ cup onion minced
1 ½ tsp salt
3 squirts Tabasco sauce
2 small red chilies (dried or fresh)
Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Simmer, uncovered, until fruit is tender but not mushy (about 1-1½ hours). Stir occasionally with wooden spoon during cooking. The chutney will thicken up. Refrigerate in sterilized jars after cooling. Or pour into sterilized jars, leaving ¼” headspace. Seal. Process 10 minutes.
Most of us need recipes to use up the zucchini, especially the ones that get too big.
GINGERED ZUCCHINI MARMALADE
2 oranges
2 lemons
3 tbsp chopped gingerroot
5 cups shredded peeled zucchini
1 tart apple, peeled, cored and grated. Granny Smith is a good choice.
4 cups granulated sugar
1. Remove peel from each orange in one long strip. Cut the peel into thin strips and place in large pot. Remove white pith from oranges and peel and pith from lemon. Set the fruit aside. Tie orange and lemon pith and peel and gingerroot in a square of cheesecloth, creating a spice bag. Add to saucepan with slivers of orange peel.
2. Working over the pot to catch juice and using a small sharp knife, separate orange and lemon segments from membrane. Place segments in saucepan and squeeze membrane to remove as much juice as possible, collecting it in the pot.
3. Add zucchini, apple, and sugar to pot and mix. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil hard, stirring frequently, until mixture reaches gel stage ,about 45 minutes. Remove from heat and test. If gel stage has been reached, skim off foam. (Or continue cooking a few minutes longer after adding 1 tsp butter while stirring.)
4. While it’s cooking, prepare jars, lids, canner.
5. Ladle hot marmalade into hot jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Wipe rim. Screw on lids.
6. Put jars in canner, so they are completely covered with water and boil for 10 minutes. Allow to cool 50 min. in canner with lid off, remove label and store.
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