Apple Cheese Torte

1 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

8 ounces cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

5 to 6 medium yellow delicious apples

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cream butter and 2/3 cup sugar.  Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and flour.  Blend well.  Press mixture into bottom and three-fourths of the way up the side of an 8- or 9-inch springform pan.

Beat cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and egg until smooth.  Pour over crust.

Peel, core and thin slice apples.  Combine with 1/3 cup sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice.  Mix well.  Pour apple mixture over top of cheese mixture and sprinkle with sliced almonds.  Using spoon, push crust down on sides until even with apples.  Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees, then for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.  Serve warm or refrigerated.  Store in refrigerator.

Serves eight.

Use lemon to clean rusty cookware

If your cast-iron cookware is covered with rust, here is a safe and easy way to remove it while preserving the cookware's finish.  You'll need a lemon, salt and a bit of olive oil.

First, cover the bottom of a small dish with table salt.

Next, cut a lemon in half and dip it into the salt.  Place the salt-covered lemon into the rusty skillet and rub in a circular pattern.

Periodically re-dip the lemon into the salt.  Once all the lemon juice has been drawn out of that half of the lemon, continue with the other half.

Rinse the skillet with fresh water and place it on the burner to dry completely.  Finish the job by applying a couple of tablespoons of olive oil with a soft dry cloth to the skillet.

A little grapefruit goes a long way in cleaning marble

Many folks think marble and granite are much alike.

Actually, granite is a very hard stone and most varieties of marble are made of a soft substance derived from sea shells.  Marble is damaged easily by cleaning products containing alcohol or acid.  Most perfumes and many medicines contain alcohol.

Citric acid from oranges and lemons can desolve marble, yet mild acids such as grapefruit can be used to clean a marble surface.

If you have a dirty marble surface, try this:  Put a layer of table salt on a small table, then slice a grapefruit in half.  Dip the grapefruit into the salt and rub it on the surface of the marble briskly-in the direction of the grain.  If the marble can be cleaned, this will do the trick.