My Mom used to make this special breakfast cake . Her Mother made it for her, and her siblings, quite often when she was growing up. It was called Applesauce Cake. My Mom loved it so much that I grew up with it as well, although, I didn’t love it. In fact, I never ate it as a child, even though we were allowed to have it for breakfast. I sure wish I could return to those days when we were offered “cake” for breakfast!
I’m sure you have guessed that I ended up loving that cake as an adult. Because it became very time consuming for her to make this beloved recipe as she got older, she let me have her special pan to make the Applesauce Cake. I would make it for holidays when I knew I would see her. She hasn’t been with us for several years now, and oh how I would love to have made it for her one more time!
I only saw her bake that cake in one specific pan my entire life. It was a spring-loaded pan with a tube in the middle, just like a bundt cake pan. Once I was the owner of that pan, I only used it for two dishes. The coveted Applesauce Cake and a recipe that I made when I had extra tomatoes to use up before they spoiled. It was the perfect pan for those two things, and tragically, I think I may have given it to Goodwill, years ago, when I found I could no longer eat gluten.
That little story was a slight detour from where I was going for today, but sometimes the memories come flooding back to us, don’t they? I just remember Mom staring at me, when I was little, and making that “yummm” noise, trying to entice me to eat a piece of that cake. It never worked. 🙂
Right now I have a substantial amount of tomatoes to deal with and for some reason, (most likely because I’m burn out from making spaghetti sauce), I remembered this recipe. I haven’t made it in years. I scoured through all of my recipes and cookbooks but could not find the tomato dish I used to make. I thought it came from the Betty Crocker Recipe Book, but, NOPE!
There were many recipes that I quit making when I found I could not eat gluten. Now, with the advancement of gluten-free products, there are countless alternative choices available for those of us who have had to make adjustments to our diet. I can now make that tomato dish once again, however, I had to do it improvisational style.
Start by preheating the oven to 375. Cook the noodles according to directions and set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the onion, mushroom, cottage cheese, mushroom soup, eggs, garlic, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder & pepper.
Coat a 9″ spring form pan with non-stick spray and line the bottom with 1/3 of your noodles. It doesn’t need to be completely covered, just gauge the amount by eyeballing it.
This recipe is very forgiving, so don’t worry about exact amounts.
Add about 1/3 of the mixture from the bowl on top of the noodles and spread it out, evenly over the noodles.
Add a layer of sliced tomatoes and sprinkle with salt. Add several basil leaves and cover with some shredded mozzarella cheese.
Repeat this process 2 more times, finishing with the mozzarella on top, or noodles if you have the extra space.
Cover with foil and bake at 375* for 30-40 minutes. Remove the foil and return to the oven to cook for an additional 30 minutes until browned on top
Take it out of the oven and let it set for a few minutes. Remove it from the spring form pan and place on a plate or cutting board before cutting.
Ok ………. one more story about my Mom. She always had a clean pair of scissors that she kept handy in the kitchen when I was growing up. She used them for the craziest things, one of which was to cut pizza! I must admit, she was on to something. This is one of those dishes that just cuts easier with the scissors, rather than a knife. Try it!
Tomato Spaghetti pie
Ingredients:
- 16 oz gluten-free spaghetti noodles**
- 3 medium tomatoes sliced
- 1/2 large onion diced
- 1 C white mushrooms diced
- 1 C cottage cheese
- 1/2 C organic GF cream of mushroom soup (about 1/2 can)
- 1 C mozzarella cheese shredded
- 2 large eggs (I used 1 egg & 1 chia egg)
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 t oregano
- 1/4 t garlic powder
- 1/4 onion powder
- salt & pepper to taste
- fresh basil leaves
Cooking Directions:
Preheat oven to 375* Cook noodles as directed. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the onion, mushroom, cottage cheese, mushroom soup, eggs, garlic, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder & pepper. Coat a spring form pan with non-stick spray. Start by layering noodles on bottom of pan. Add about 1/3 of the mixture in the bowl and spread it on top, covering the noodles evenly. Add a layer of sliced tomatoes and sprinkle with salt. Add several basil leaves and cover with some shredded mozzarella cheese. (I have cut out a lot of dairy so I use the cheese sparingly, but you can use as much cheese as you want here!) Repeat this process 2 more times, finishing with the mozzarella on top, or noodles if you have the extra space. (This will come to the top of a 9″ pan.) Bake at 375* for 30-40 minutes. Remove foil and return to oven and cook for an additional 30 minutes. Remove from pan and let sit for a few minutes before cutting and serving.
**You will probably not use all of the noodles, but it will depend on how thick you layer the pie. I use about 2/3 of the package.
Cooking Tip: Spray the foil with non-stick spray before you cover the pie. This prevents the cheese on top of the pie from sticking to the foil when it comes out of the oven.
“A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.” Chef Thomas Keller
Enjoy! xoxo, Katy