Carrot Cake

I am not generally a fan of carrot cake because of the cream cheese frosting. These cakes were delicious, especially with all the mix-ins and the walnuts. This was a request for Abby's 17th birthday and was found on All-recipes with the most positive reviews. Frosting was one brick of cream cheese softened with one stick of softened butter, a teaspoon or two of vanilla and then enough powdered sugar, added in slowly, until I like the consistency. 

Ingredients

• 6 cups grated carrots

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1 cup raisins

• 4 eggs

• 1 ½ cups white sugar

• 1 cup vegetable oil

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Combine grated carrots and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Let sit for 1 hour, then stir in raisins.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 10-inch round cake pans.

3. Beat eggs in a large bowl until light. Gradually beat in white sugar, oil, and vanilla. Stir in pineapple. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl, then stir into egg mixture until absorbed. Stir in carrot mixture and walnuts. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing cake layers from the pans; let cool completely.

Peach Bundt Cake

 Trying to use up some peaches from our Peach Truck order and made this delightful cake from Spicy Perspective. This we will definitely make again. 

1 cup unsalted butter softened

2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour divided

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 pound diced peaches fresh or frozen, with or without skins

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 tablespoon orange juice or pineapple juice

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan (10- to 15-cup pan.)

In a medium bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the sour cream and vanilla. Mix until smooth.

Scrape the bowl, then slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Scrape the bowl again.

Toss the peaches with the remaining 1/4 cup of flour. Scoop a third of the batter into the Bundt pan, then sprinkle a third of the peaches on top. Repeat two more times with the remaining batter and peaches.

Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake for 60-80 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool at least 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled whisk together the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and orange juice. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake.

Grandma Jackson's Pot Roast

 This is my Grandma Jackson's pot roast recipe. Absolutely the best pot roast I've ever had. Made only more special because it was hers. 

Chuck Roast

Potatoes

Carrots

Onions

Better than Bouillon or your favorite beef broth soup base

First, you will coat both side of your chuck with vegetable oil and a liberal amount of salt and pepper. Then, on medium heat, you are going to sear both sides of your chuck roast. Add your seared roast to your baking dish. Then add your beef broth or water/bouillon mix. For the water/bouillon mix, you add three spoonfuls for every four cups of water and mix well. Then pour this over your chuck. 

Cover with foil and cook for one hour at 375. 

Turn down to 275 and cook that puppy all day. You definitely need to have it in by noon if you're serving at dinner time. 

Add your vegetables to the baking dish. Cut your potatoes in quarters, long ways. I don't know why, but it makes a difference. Salt and pepper the veggies, leaving covered. Bake at 350 for an hour and then uncover for the last 15 minutes or so. 

It is important that you don't let the juice run dry. If you need to make up more of the broth mix, do it. 

Note on the Better than Bouillon. That is what my store had that was like what I was told to use. The original recipe called for a beef soup base from an Amish supply store, and I didn't have it on hand. But I've eaten it both ways and I think the taste is very similar, if not identical. 

Belgian Lemon Tea Cake

 I made this recipe for my last tea party and it was so good! So much lemon flavor in the curd filling with the cake on the bottom. Really good. This was a gluten free recipe or you can use regular flour. Recipe originally from itsnotcomplicatedrecipes.com

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 cup (150 g) self-raising flour I used Orgran Gluten Free SR Flour
• 1/2 cup (115 g) caster sugar super fine
• 1/4 cup (60 g) butter
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• icing sugar/confectioners' sugar optional, for dusting

Filling

• 1/2 cup (120 ml) lemon juice strained
• 1/2 cup (115 g) caster sugar super fine
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup (60 g) butter chopped

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 180 Degrees C (350 F)

  Grease and line the base and sides of a 17cm/6.5” spring-form tin* with non-stick baking paper.
• Add flour, sugar, butter and lightly beaten egg to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade.

  Pulse until the mixture just starts to come together.

  Don’t process until the mixture forms a ball of dough, you want it to still be a little crumbly.

  Tip the mixture onto some cling wrap.
• Divide the mixture and gently press 2/3 into the base of the prepared tin, reserving the remaining 1/3.
• Make the lemon curd as per the instructions below. Pour the hot lemon curd onto the cake base.

  As evenly as possible, crumble the remaining mixture over the top of the curd.
• Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

  Remove from the oven and cool completely in the pan.
• Gently remove the side of the spring-form tin.

  Remove the baking paper, place the cake on a serving platter and dust the tea cake with icing/confectioners’ sugar.

  Lovely served on its own, or with a dollop of cream.

Lemon Curd Filling

• Place all filling ingredients in a saucepan.*
• Over a low heat, stir until the butter has melted and the curd thickens, just below boiling point.

  Don’t be tempted to use high heat to make the process quicker; you will end up with scrambled egg.

Broccoli Salad

 I have made some version of this salad for every holiday since I was a teenager. This is how it's ended. 

6 cups of broccoli, chopped small

1lb of bacon cooked crisp

1 red onion

1 box of raisins, golden or purple

3 ounces of sunflower seeds, roasted, hulled and salted

2 cups of mayo

1 cup of granulated sugar

4 tablespoons of white vinegar

Cut your broccoli, onion and bacon and put in bowl. Add the raisins and sunflower seeds. In a small bowl, mix the mayo, sugar and vinegar until the sugar has dissolved. Add to your broccoli bowl and mix until well coated. Chill. This is best made the day before, but keeps getting better. 

Mexican Street Corn or Elote

Another yummy recipe from Gracie. So good.  

4 T Butter

4c Corn Kernels (I used fresh and cut them off the cob but I’m sure you could also use frozen or canned) 2 Jalapenos, seeded and diced ¼ Mayonnaise ½ Cotija cheese (You can use crumbled or grated) 1 t Chili powder 2 T diced Garlic Juice of 1 Lime Melt the butter in a skillet, add the corn kernels and diced jalapeno and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through and slightly charred. Add in the garlic for the last 1-2 minutes of cooking time. Stir in the cotija, mayo, chili powder, lime juice. Can be served immediately or kept warm in a covered dish in a low oven.

Queso Blanco

 This recipe is courtesy of my sister, Gracie. It is super easy and hands down the best homemade queso I've ever had. 

1lb White American Cheese (Any brand from the deli works, I always ask them to slice it in about ¼” slices and then crumble it) 1 cup Half and Half 4oz can Diced mild green chilies 2T diced pickled Jalapenos 1 T Pickled Jalapenos Juice For a milder queso, leave out the pickled jalapenos, but I recommend leaving in the juice if you have it on hand for more flavor.

This can be made on the stove, in a crockpot or in the microwave. I always do the crockpot. Combine all ingredients and melt in your chosen manner. If you use the crockpot, set it to low and stir every 15 minutes until melted and combined. For the microwave, stir every 1-2 minutes until fully melted and combined. If you use the stove just make sure the heat is really low so you don’t burn the cheese and stir frequently until melted.