Shrimp Vindaloo

So I had a picture that came out better, but I wanted to use this one because it was so hot it steamed up my camera lens.  I felt that this picture served as a good warning.  If you don't like really spicy food, don't make shrimp vindaloo.  The point of a vindaloo is to have you screaming for mercy.  If it's not spicy, it's just a blah tomato sauce.  I have been served blah vindaloo in two Indian restaurants now, I guess because they think I'm too white to handle it.  This vindaloo is more like the first authentic one I ever had that had me crying but I loved it.  I've been looking for that same burn ever since.  

1 lb shrimp (preferably raw--it will be nice and tender after being cooked, instead of slightly chewy, which is what you get when you further cook cooked shrimp)

15 oz can whole tomatoes, kind of mushed up a bit

15 oz can of lentils (not traditional, but I like them and had a can, so I threw them in)

1 med onion, thinly sliced

2-3 tablespoons olive or canola oil

2 teaspoons garlic chili paste (she had a brand I've never seen before, but at home I use Sambal Oelek-which is Thai and I can find at most grocery stores, at least Kroger and Harris Teeter)

3 tablespoons vindaloo paste (she had Mother's Recipe brand, but Patak's makes one too, and that's easier to find in the States)

2 teaspoons sugar

Heat the oil in the skillet and brown the onions.  Add the lentils and tomatoes, then the pastes and sugar.  Let that simmer for about 10 minutes and then add the shrimp.  Just cook until the shrimp turns pink and starts to curl (usually 3-4 minutes, maybe longer if it's frozen).  Serve over rice, and have a glass of milk handy to put out the fire in your mouth when you're done :)

Spicy Sweet Potatoes

So I have actually been cooking in Australia.  In fact, I've been cooking a lot as eating out is astronomically expensive.  Fast food will run you $8-10, and a restaurant you looking at spending $20 a person just for fish and chips or a hamburger and chips.  However, because we are only in this apartment for about 2 weeks then are on a road trip for 2 weeks, it seemed silly to stock the pantry and really cook, so we've been eating sandwiches and soup, basic frozen stir fries heated up--whatever looked good at Aldi.  

Our swapping partner loves Indian food, much to my delight.  Not only does that mean my 660 Curries cookbook won't get lonely while I'm gone, but it means she left quite an assortment of curry pastes just begging to be used.  I made a shrimp vindaloo (separate post) and needed a side dish.  They suggested fried potatoes, but that didn't sound particularly healthy.  I was surprised to find that Australia grows sweet potatoes, even a white sweet potato variety I haven't seen before.  So, I decided to improvise something with sweet potatoes instead.

2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into fairly thin chunks about an inch long.  Bascially I quartered my   

    sweet potato longways, and then sliced the quarters as thin as I could manage with a dull knife (my     

    kingdom for a decent knife or at least my Wusthof sharpner!)  However, I will say that the sweet potatoes    

    here aren't the monsters we grow in NC, so you might need to make your chunks even smaller.

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1/2 cup onion, diced

1 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika (or regular if that's all you have)

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (or less if you don't want it as spicy)

1/4 teaspoon of ground coriander 

1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon cumin

Heat oil in skillet and add onion and sweet potatoes.  Stir a bit and get coated in the oil.  Then add all the spices.  Think of this like you are cooking hash browns.  Let them sit some so they get browned and crunchy on the bottom, then stir them to get new sides brown and so they don't burn.  Depending on how thick you cut your potatoes, it should take 15-20 minutes to cook through.  Parts of the potatoes will get a little mushy, but it's still tasty.  Taste a piece of potato every now and then until they are no longer crunchy.  

Brownie Bottom Pudding Pie

This one is brought to you by the good people of Baker's Chocolate.  I had someone ask me today what you do with baking chocolate.  Oh, so many things!  However, if you're stumped, Baker's website has oodles of wonderful recipes to get you started.  I can highly recommend the Oreo truffles and the Jello pudding fudge in addition to this one.  Oh, and if you've never had Baker's one bowl brownies, you should.  I once again lightened it up a bit, but it was still very yummy.

4 squares Baker's semi-sweet chocolate

1/4 cup smart balance stick

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup Splenda

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans (not optional, helps give the brownie stability)

2.5 cups milk

2 pkgs Jello chocolate sugar free pudding (I prefer cook and serve following the microwave instructions, but instant works, too)

8 oz tub of sugar free cool whip, thawed

Chocolate sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a deep dish pie pan.  I tried it first with a regular pie pan and it doesn't fit. Microwave chocolate and smart balance in a bowl on high 2 minutes or until completely melted (this will involve stirring some).  Add sugar, Splenda, eggs, and vanilla and mix well.  Stir in flour and pecans.  Spread into pie pan and bake 22-25 minutes.  Don't overbake.  Pour milk into large bowl (ignore the instructions on the box that will tell you to use more milk).  Add pudding and either follow cook and serve or instant directions.  Spread over pie.  Chill this until set and cooled before you top with Cool whip and sprinkles.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Whole Grain Banana Muffins

I felt very Sue Sylvester-ish making my muffins form a pyramid.  I didn't yell at them while I did it, though, nor threaten to to shoot any of them out of a cannon.  You non-Gleeks will have to forgive me for that one.

These are very moist slightly squishy muffins.  It's because they have a lot of banana, and are an excellent way to use up overripe bananas.  Daniel doesn't like it when he hits a particularly large banana chunk, but Brett declared them, "Awesome."  He reminded everyone that they were good for you when he reached for seconds.  

A note about bananas:  We like bananas a lot, so we always have some on hand.  Sometimes they just seem to go bad faster than we can eat them, though.  However, sometimes I don't have time to make banana muffins or bread or cake before they cross over into moldy.  I discovered that you can throw them in the freezer as is--don't even have to put them in a ziploc.  They'll turn black, and when you defrost them they are realllllllly squishy, but they still taste and bake up perfectly.  Black bananas in the freezer do gross out both Daniel and roommates alike, but they put up with it because they know it means yummy baked goods later.

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup oat flour (if you don't have either of the above, use 3/4 cup regular whole wheat flour, and 1/2 cup cake flour)

1 cup oat or wheat bran 

1/4 cup Splenda

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup vanilla yogurt or light sour cream or a mixture of the two

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 eggs

1/4 cup real maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1.5 teaspoons cinnamon

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 cup chocolate chips (or 1/2 cup raisins and 1/2 cup pecans)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease your silicon baking cups (18 of them).  In a large bowl, whisk together flours, bran, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Stir in chocolate chips (or raisins and pecans).  In your mixer, mash up the bananas.  Add the yogurt/sour cream, applesauce, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla.  Add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined.  Spoon batter into cups.  Bake for 8 minutes, turn around for even baking, and then bake 8 minutes more.  Cook on a wire rack.

Mango Sesame Chicken with peas and quinoa

This is adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe.  I get their magazine, and I really like it.  I think it's better than it's predecessor, Gourmet.  My sister also gets the magazine, and she actually made this for me the first time I had it.  I don't know how I missed it, but I'm glad she caught the recipe, because it's a keeper.  I made this over quinoa, because I like it and I had some in the house.  It would be just as good over rice, and Dana served it with couscous.  The original recipe calls for soba noodles, which I also like, but can be hard to find sometimes.

Mango-Sesame dressing (makes about a pint)

3/4 cup olive oil

7 oz jar of Trader Joe's Mango ginger chutney (or 3/4 a cup of your favorite mango/Major Grey's chutney)

6 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar

4 large garlic cloves, peeled

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1.5 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

1.5 teaspoons dijon mustard

1.5 teaspoons crushed red pepper (if you don't like it spicy, don't use more than a half a teaspoon or just omit)

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and mix well.  Store in a jar with a tight fitting lid.  If this happens to be a recycled jelly jar, make sure you label it, so your poor husband doesn't make toast and then ask why his jam is spicy and slightly runny :)

Mango Sesame chicken with peas and quinoa

Mango sesame dressing

2 lbs chicken breasts

12 oz sugar snap peas 

4 green onions, chopped

1.5 cups quinoa

My sister marinates the chicken in some of the dressing, but I used a bottled teriyaki marinade I had hanging around.  The sauce is awesome, so I wanted to use all of it over my dish.  I used chicken tenderloins because it was what I had, and they are easier to cook through then breasts, but I had trouble with some of the smaller ones falling through my grill grate.  Anyway, first you put your quinoa and 3 cups of water in your rice cooker.  It takes about 40 minutes to cook.  Then, fire up your grill.  Next, cut up your green onions and put in a small serving bowl.  Grill your chicken, basting each side with a bit of the sauce.  Set about 1/4 cup of sauce aside for this purpose so you're not sticking your raw chicken juice on your basting brush back into your main source of sauce for serving.  Depending on your grill and how high you have it turned up, the cooking time for chicken varies widely.  Just pay attention to it.  It helps if you have an instant read thermometer, so as soon as it hits 180 you can take it off the grill safely and while it is still juicy.  My brother-in-law was an ace at this. I tend to get distracted making the rest of dinner and not pay attention enough to the chicken.  When the chicken is done, cover it with foil and nuke your bag of sugar snap peas for 3 minutes (follow what the package says, though).  Place the quinoa in another bowl, and the sauce heated up in another.  I like to serve each of these pieces separate so you can mix just the right combination you prefer of chicken/peas/onions/quinoa/sauce.  It also stays better if you have leftovers if they are all separate, otherwise it can get mushy.

Sandia and Mango/Peach Agua Frescas

I don't have a picture of this one, as I completely forgot to take one.  These are very forgiving, and it's hard to give exact amounts, so that's good.  They're wonderfully refreshing summer drinks and are a good change from punch if you want something without alcohol.  I discovered these wonderful things at my first La Fiesta del Pueblo.  For you locals, it's a Latin American festival they have every year in September at the NC state fairgrounds.  Honestly, it's gotten kind of lame.  It used to be a really great place to get awesome food and mangos on a stick with chile.  I discovered Super Tacqueria in Durham offers 5 flavors of agua fresca year round all the time for super cheap, so I just get them there now.  I was so enamored with Sandia (watermelon) in particular, Sarah and I have been making batches of it in the summer for years.

Sandia (makes about a gallon)
1 large seedless watermelon
water (2-4 cups)
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of Splenda (or just use all sugar)

Cut large chunks of watermelon away from the rind and put it in the food processor in batches.  You don't have to remove any seeds.  Process until it's liquefied.  Then, pour the watermelon through a fine mesh strainer into a gallon pitcher.  This will catch all the seeds and some of the grainy pulp.  When you are done with the entire watermelon, you should have the pitcher filled about 3/4 of the way up.  Fill the rest of the pitcher with water, a cup at a time, tasting to make sure it's not getting too watery.  If you have a good, sweet, ripe summer watermelon, you should be able to add around 4 cups of water without it tasting watery.  If your watermelon isn't as good, you might not want to put in as much water, if any.  Add your sugar, mix well, and refrigerate.  You serve this cold, but not with ice.

Mango/Peach
6 champange mangos, peeled and roughly cut up
9 peaches, peeled, pitted, and roughly cut up
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of Splenda (or more sugar
2-4 cups of water

If you can't find champange mangos, just use regular ones.  I really liked the slightly tart, citrusy taste of these.  Regular mangos taste very similar to peaches, so I thought this added a bit of contrast to the peach I was already adding.  You can also use all mango if you like.  Again, process the mangos and peach in a food processor until liquified.  You can't really strain this because it's thicker and will always have sort of tiny chunks in it.  I was afraid all the pulp/chunks would sink to the bottom, but they suspend pretty well even after you add the water.  This was a bit less sweet, so I added more sugar, and you might like even more than that, but I liked it a little tart.  Also be especially careful about adding the water a little bit at a time.  This seemed to get watery faster than the sandia.    

Jelly Cake

I can't remember how I came up with this.  I feel like maybe I wanted a lime cake, but wasn't sure how to, but I had lime marmalade around and had this brainstorm.   Also, I don't like buttercream icing (ODed on it after taking cake decorating in 4-H), so I wanted a lighter frosting.  Whatever I was thinking, it has been one of my most successful experiments.  I never fail to get recipe requests when I make it, and it's so easy and versatile.  You can make it with any flavor of jelly you like.  I've tried it with lime and orange marmalades, strawberry, blackberry, mixed berry, plum, and rhubarb jelly just to name a few, and they all tasted good.  You just garnish the cake with whatever fruit that corresponds to the jelly you used.  In the pictures, you can see I did a blackberry jelly cake and a plum jelly cake.  The plum one used the plum rum homemade jam you can find the recipe for in the archives.

1 yellow cake mix (along with whatever oil, water, eggs, it calls for)

1 jar of jelly of your choice, 14-19 oz, there's a decent amount of fudge room.  If it's homemade jell that's just 8 ozs, just use two jars

2 cups heavy whipping cream

Prepare the cake mix according to package directions.  When you get to the part where you're beating the cake mix for 2 minutes, add in half your jar of jelly.  Then bake it in two round cake pans that are very well greased.  This makes a very moist, dense, and sticky cake, so a lot of Pam and some parchment paper are a good idea if you want to get them out of the pan intact.  These don't rise quite as well as normal cakes, but it's not a big deal.  To make the icing, just whip the cream until stiff peaks form, then quickly mix in the other half of the jelly.  Ice the cake with the cream, and then garnish with matching fruit.  That's it.  It really is that easy but looks hard and it absolutely delicious.

Guacamole chicken salad and Fruit Salad with Mint Sugar

These are captured in the same picture, and are both pretty short, so I thought I'd put them together.  The chicken salad is really easy, and the fruit salad is easy, just a bit time consuming halving the grapes and pitting the cherries.  I really like using rotisserie chickens for chicken salad because they are always so moist and well seasoned.  I can get one at Costco for $5, which is hard to beat.  The same amount of money won't buy you a decent canned chicken or chicken breasts or sometimes even a whole chicken.  Plus, it's already cooked for you.

Guacamole Chicken Salad
1 whole rotisserie chicken, the meat removed and cubed
1/2 to 3/4 cup of mayo (your call to how you like it)
1 package Wholly Guacamole (the Costco size--I feel like when I've bought it at other stores sometimes I've had to use two packages.  Basically, you want about a cup to a cup and a half).

Mix all ingredients then serve on croissants.  Terrible for you, but soooo good.

Summer fruit salad with mint sugar
4 peaches, sliced
2 cups green grapes, halved
1.5 lbs sweet cherries, pitted
2 cups blackberries
1/4 cup chopped mint
3 tablespoons sugar

Wash all of your fruit, and then get to cutting.  Place all of the fruit in a large bowl.  Combine mint leaves and sugar in a food processor and mix.  Stir into fruit and serve.

Javachip Scones

I seem to get inspired with events for Sarah.  I think it's partly because she's adventurous and up for trying new things.  She also likes to challenge me into combining some of her favorite foods (end result being Andes Mint Cake) or recreating something she's had at a restaurant (S'mores cups).  She didn't request it this time, but I was trying to think of a scone she would like.  I know she loves mochas and mexican hot chocolate, so I borrowed a few ideas from each, found a basic scone recipe and went from there.  I did both a full fat, full sugar version and a whole grain, low fat, low sugar one.  I had one person taste both and she couldn't tell the difference.  The only difference that was noticeable to me was that the whole wheat ones dried out faster.  Like most scones, these are meant to be eaten the day they are made, at most the next day.  These are pretty moist to begin with, but after a day, I feel that whipped cream helps rehydrate them a bit.  I'm not sure what my excuse is for eating them with whip straight out of the oven is :)

Regular version

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons instant coffee or espresso powder
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons cold butter
1 cup half and half
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400.  Whisk together flour, cocoa, coffee, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar.  Cut in butter with a pastry blender or in your food processor.  Add half and half and just mix until moistened.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Pour into scone pan for best results, or you can gently form it into a circle on a cutting board, and then cut into 8 scones and bake on a cookie sheet.  I borrowed a friend's Nordicware mini scone nonstick pan and it was amazing!  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.  Serve with real whip.  If you haven't made real whip before, just put 1 cup of heavy whipping cream in a mixer and beat until soft peaks form.  Then add about two tablespoons of powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks.

Lighter/healthier Javachip Scones

Prepare the same way, and serve with light whip from a can. Land O Lakes makes a good one--better than Redi-Whip.

1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tablespoons instant coffee or espresso powder

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

5 tablespoons Smart Balance stick

1 cup Land O Lakes fat free half and half

3/4 cup chocolate chips

A Bridal Shower Brunch

Despite what many of my pictures would suggest, I do know how to make things look pretty when I want to. Usually I'm taking a pic right before I'm ready to eat something, and I'm hungry!  Artistry takes a backseat to eating.  I also know how to delegate to people that are even better at it than me.  My friend Ericka and I have actually catered together and done a few events.  I knew I would be hurried at the end, so I asked her to help plate and make things pretty, so I can't claim all the credit.  Nor can I claim the flowers.  My friend Denise is really good with flowers and candles and makes our church look lovely, especially at Christmas and Easter.  Every Easter she goes to a nursery and buys a lot of flowers that you could actually plant in your yard, and then makes them into centerpieces and little displays that are beautiful on their own, and then break down so that everyone can take flowers home for their yard.  This was one such arrangement.  

I wanted to tell you the full menu, and then I'll do an individual post for each new recipe, so you don't have to keep scrolling when you want one in the future.  This fed 20 people with leftovers.  I really wanted to capitalize on summer fruit and produce, which also happened to provide a lot of color for a pretty table.

2 Ricotta Tarts with tomato, basil, and olive topping (this one is already in the recipe archives)
2 batches of Javachip Scones with real whip
Guacamole chicken salad on croissant
Summer Fruit Salad with Mint Sugar
Plum Jelly Cake
Blackberry Jelly Cake
Sandia and Mango Aqua Frescas

Iced Mocha

I've been asked for this recipe three times this week, so I thought I'd better post it.  Keep in mind, this is my idea of a good iced mocha.  That means it is less calories and is strong and sweet.  I've tried to note where you could make it a regular calorie version and other variations.  This makes about a quart, or one 32 oz french press pot worth.

10 tablespoons freshly ground coffee of choice (I used Trader Joe's Smooth and Mellow Decaf)
32 oz boiling water
6 tablespoons Starbucks mocha powder
6 tablespoons boiling water
9 sweet-n-low packets
3 cups fat free half and half

Grind your coffee of choice and measure it into your French press.  Add 32 oz boiling water and ltet brew for 4 minutes.  Alternatively, you can brew 32 oz of strong coffee in an automatic drip coffee maker.  However, at this point I'd like to make a plug for French press coffee.  It's a great way to brew strong coffee without the bitter taste, takes no longer than an automatic drip if you have an electric kettle, and takes up considerably less counter space.  It's also portable, so you can take it on trips or camping.  You'll want to after you get addicted to the taste of it.

Next, mix your mocha powder with the 6 tablespoons of hot water to make a syrup.  You can see it in the picture here, in the clear bowl, as well as the container it comes in.

I like the mocha powder because it tastes closer to a Starbucks mocha to me, and it has less than half the calories of the same amount of chocolate syrup.  They sell it at most Starbucks now for about $10.  If you don't want to buy it, though, you can use Hershey's syrup, 6 tablespoons of it.  You might not need as much sweetener then, though, so add it a little bit at a time.

Dump the coffee and syrup in a small pitcher and whisk together.  Add the Sweet-n-low (or sweetener of your choice if you're a pink hater), and then the half and half (or regular half and half, whole milk, 2%, skim, etc.).  Whisk again and then serve over a full glass of ice.  I let the ice melt a bit so it's good and cold and helps make it a little less strong, too.

Vodka Sauce with Spinach and Mushrooms

The only thing authentic Italian about this was I used what I had on hand.  I know, who has this sort of stuff on hand.  I had some of it leftover from a failed recipe the day before (yes, I still have flops--it went straight into the trash).  It might not be real vodka sauce, but it was still very yummy.

4 oz. prosciutto, roughly chopped
3 shallots, minced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
8 oz sliced mushrooms
14 oz bag of spinach
2, 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes
1 cup vodka
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup fat free half and half (Land o Lakes)

In a large skillet/saute pan, cook the prosciutto until crisp.  Add the chopped shallots, mushrooms, and garlic and saute until mushrooms are tender.  Keep it moving so your meat doesn't burn.  Add the vodka and deglaze the pan.  Add in the tomatoes and all the spices.  Simmer 15-20 minutes.  Add half and half and simmer about 15 minutes more.  In another skillet, saute the fresh spinach in a couple teaspoons of olive oil with a sprinkling of salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg (the secret to good cooked spinach).  Drain the spinach as much as possible and add to the tomato sauce.  Serve over your favorite pasta (penne is traditional).

Slightly less loaded Oatmeal Cookies

Paula Deen makes probably my favorite oatmeal cookie, called loaded oatmeal cookies.  I like them partly because she covers them in brown butter icing, but mostly because they taste more like little spice cakes then your normal run of the mill oatmeal cookies.  Once again, I thought an oatmeal cookie would be a good place to start for making a healthier cookie since you already have all that great oatmeal in there.  I honestly could not tell the difference between these cookies and normal oatmeal cookies.  I imagine if they were chocolate chip or something it might make more of a difference, but oatmeal cookies taste like spice and raisins to me, and that's what these tasted like.  Again, just because they are better for you doesn't mean you can go hog wild on them, but a few a day certainly won't do much damage.

1/2 cup (1 stick) Smart Balance stick
1/2 cup Crisco (regular or butter flavored) If you don't like Crisco, just use another Smart Balance Stick

3/4 cup packed Splenda brown sugar blend
2 eggs
1/2 cup fat free or reduced fat buttermilk
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (make sure it's pastry flour if you want soft cookies)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg  (freshly grated on a microplaner smells like heaven!)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
1 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (optional, I didn't use)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease 1 or more cookie sheets. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, shortening, and sugar in a bowl until fluffy. Add eggs and beat until mixture is light in color. Add buttermilk. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice; stir into creamed mixture. Fold in oatmeal, raisins, walnuts, and vanilla, blending well. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Less Sinful Carrot Cake and One You'll Spend Some Time in Purgatory For

My Grandma is an excellent cook.  I also love that she still tries new recipes and emails them to me even though she’s in her eighties.  Most grandmas I know don’t cook much if at all, and they wouldn’t know how to email a recipe, either.  My grandma even knows how to print recipes on cute little 3x5 cards with borders.  She happens to make the best carrot cake I’ve ever tasted, and I like carrot cake, so I’ve tried several.  I’m including her recipe at the bottom so you can try it, but these days I try to not eat it but once or twice a year. 

However, Daniel and I really do love carrot cake, so once a year isn’t really enough for us.  I decided I needed to figure out how to make one that is a bit better for us.  I started with King Arthur flour’s sourdough carrot cake because not only does it use that cup of starter you have to discard, but it was less sweet than most cc’s I’ve had.  Much like a chocolate stout cake that isn’t super sweet but still has great depth of flavor, KAF’s CC is robust without being too sweet.  Then I used some tricks I had learned from a half the fat (but still high sugar) CC from Cooking Light, and still wanted to pay tribute to my Grandma’s that I like.  So after a good deal of thinking, I came up with this cake and icing recipe (although I learned later that I was not the first to think of this icing when I did a Google search).  I was pleased with the results, and half of the cake disappeared quickly, even by those not on a diet.  It’s should be treated as dessert, though, not something good for you. 

Ingredients For the Cake:

¾ cup no sugar added applesauce

½ cup Smart Balance (just the regular, although the sticks would work, too)

1 cup sourdough starter (if you don’t have, just omit and will be yummy still)

1 cup sugar

1 cup Splenda

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups carrots, shredded

1 cup crushed pineapple, drained

¾ cup shredded coconut

¾ cup golden raisins

2 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease two 9 or 10 inch round cake pans.  In a mixer, blend your Smart Balance until creamy, then add the applesauce and mix again.  Mix in your starter if using.  Add in your sugar and Splenda and mix well.  Add eggs one at a time and then vanilla.  At this point, you can take your bowl off your mixer stand.  Fold in the carrots, pineapple, coconut, and raisins.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Whisk a bit, then fold it in to the butter mixture.  Think muffin mix here, not your normal cake.  Most cakes you want to whip a lot of air into them to make them light and fluffy.  This is more like a quick bread that over stirring will mean tougher cake that won’t rise as well.  Just fold with a spatula until everything is moistened—about 10 to 12 strokes.  Pour the batter into prepared pans and bake for around 40 minutes.  Let cool before icing.

Light Cream Cheese Icing

Normal cream cheese icing generally calls for a stick of butter, a block of cream cheese, and 3 cups of powdered sugar.  I was at a loss for a long time figuring out how to make it still have a cream cheese taste but be lighter.  I finally thought about a trifle I made not that long ago when I combined pudding and cool whip.  I thought maybe combining cool whip with cream cheese might work the same way and give me the consistency I was looking for.  I was glad to find that it did.  I’ll probably use this icing on a number of cakes in the future, maybe adding some cocoa powder to make it chocolate.

Ingredients:

8 oz block 1/3 less fat cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

12 oz container of sugar free Cool Whip

Whip the cream cheese in a mixer until it gets lighter and fluffier.  Add in your powdered sugar.  This will make it pretty thick and sticky for a moment.  Add your vanilla and mix some more.  Then using the lowest setting on your mixer, add in the cool whip.  At first I thought I’d just fold it in, but then though I don’t really want it that fluffy, I want it to be more like icing, so I went ahead and used the mixer, and the texture was perfect.

As promised, my Grandma’s recipe, called Mae Yeager’s Carrot Gold Cake

Carrot Gold Cake
2 cups sifted flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 cups finely grated carrots
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
1 can coconut or about an 8 oz package flaked

Sift the first five dry ingredients together, then add
sugar, oil, and eggs and mix well.  Blend in
thoroughly the carrots, pineapple, and coconut.  Bake
in three greased and floured cake pans.  Bake at 350
for 35 minutes or until done.  When cool spread with:

Cream Cheese frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 8oz package cream cheese
1 lb confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Cream together in order named.

Coney/Chili Dogs

I love, love, love chili dogs.  I grew up on this one hot dog stand in Logansport that called them Spanish Dogs.  Not sure what is Spanish about a chili dog, but they were g-o-o-d.  I never got into Chicago style dogs when we lived there, but Cook-out has made a believer out of me for the chili with slaw and onions hot dog.  This is a basic coney dog with shredded cheddar.  Again, I was trying to eat something that is terrible for you and make it less terrible, so this is what I came up with.  This is a great party food, because the coney sauces makes enough for 16 hotdogs.  If you have any leftover sauce, it makes good sloppy joe's too.

2 8-count packages wheat hot dog buns
2 packages Hebrew National 97% fat free hot dogs (kind of pricey, but really good)
8 oz reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
1 lb ground turkey
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 six ounce can tomato paste
1 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
1 tablespoon dried, minced onion
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (heaping)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Brown ground turkey in a skillet, adding onions half way through. Add minced garlic when meat is nearly done.  Drain meat.  Add remaining ingredients; stir well to combine. Simmer over low heat 15 minutes.

Grill or microwave hot dogs, place in bun, top with coney sauce and cheese.  Yum!

Biscuit Class Light

So, while all of the biscuit class recipes were very yummy, they didn't really fit with our new way of eating.  So, almost as soon as I got home from class, I began trying them in healthier versions.  The pickled shrimp was fine as is, but the biscuits, grits, gravy, and jam all needed a make over.

First was the biscuits.  I even had one person ask during class if I thought the biscuits could be made with whole wheat flour.  The answer turned out to be a definite yes!  If you use whole wheat pastry flour (remember we want a soft white winter wheat low in protein and gluten) they still turn out light and fluffy.  Great River brand met all of the above requirements.  I added a bit more buttermilk as wheat flour tends to soak up the liquid more.  Other than that, the recipe is essentially the same.  These biscuits are a bit more crumbly than the original recipe, so they don't seem to keep as long, so eat them up!

3 cups Great River white whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon Rumford baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
12 tablespoons (3/4 cup) Crisco, cubed
1 1/2 cup buttermilk

Instructions:

1.       Heat oven to 450 or 425 if your oven runs hot.
2. Sift dry ingredients together.
3. With a pastry blender, cut in cold shortening until coarse with a few lumps.
4. Stir in buttermilk with a spatula until a loose ball forms. Do not overmix. Resist the urge to add more flour. This is a very wet dough.
5. Quickly turn onto a floured board and fold over/kneed no more than 10 turns.
6. Pat into a circle, ¾ inch thick and cut with a well floured 2.5 inch cutter, starting with the edges and working to the middle, trying to minimize the amount of dough you have to work twice.
7. Bake close but not touching on a parchment lined sheet pan (helps prevent the bottoms from getting too brown, as well as easy clean up)
8. Bake for 15 minutes, turning half-way through baking.

Turkey Sausage Gravy

1 lb Butterball turkey breakfast sausage

2 tablespoons Smart Balance

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups skim milk

pepper to taste

Again, you're going to cook the sausage to very dry/crisp.  I took a picture so you could see what this looks like: 

With turkey sausage, once you cook it to this stage, you're skillet's going to be bone dry, with no grease left to reserve.  You don't even have to drain the sausage.  So, to make a roux, you take the sausage out and put it in a bowl to add back in later.  Melt your smart balance in the pan, and then whisk in your flour.  Brown for a couple of minutes, then slowly whisk in your milk.  Once thickened, add pepper to your liking.  Daniel and I actually preferred this version as it was not as greasy and didn't hit your stomach quite as hard.

Plum Rum Jam

6 cups mashed red plums (about 20 large, firm plums)

5 tablespoons Ball Low/No Sugar Pectin

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup rum

Dice up your plums, but don't peel them.  Mash them up a bit with a potato masher.  Place in a stockpot with pectin and 1/4 cup of the sugar and lemon juice and bring to a boil.  Add the rest of the sugar, return to a boil, and boil hard for 1 minute.  Add the rum, and let thicken and eat.  If desired, you can process this and it will make about 6 half pint jars.  Everyone at biscuit class preferred this lower sugar, slightly tart version of the jam to the syrupy original one.

Grits

Just follow the previous recipe and substitute skim milk and smart balance for the butter and you're set!

Biscuit Class

I recently took a class on Southern Biscuits at A Southern Season.  SS is a gourmet food store that is the size of a Macy's, to give you some perspective.  In addition to their normal store space and wine cellar, they have an incredible restaurant called the Weathervane (best creme brulee ever, including what I had in Paris) and upstairs they have a professional kitchen set up to teach classes.  This includes video cameras projecting what's going on in the pot on the stove and mirrors so you can see what they are doing on the counters.  Some classes are just demonstrations, some are hands on, and some a mix of the two.  All include a wonderful meal at the end of what was cooked.  They also have wine tastings that are usually pair with some sort of tasty homemade food or cheese every Friday at 5pm for just $15.  I highly recommend checking out the classes.  Some are more expensive than others and the current schedule can be found at Southern Season's CLASS section.  The biscuit class is actually one of their most popular, having sold out three times a year for the last 6 years.  I thought it would be fun to have a party with some friends for Sunday brunch where we recreated the class in a very informal setting and passed on what I learned.  We had ridiculous amounts of fun, so much so that when I get back from Australia we will have to do it again.  Our menu was:
Willard Doxey's Biscuits
Plum Rum Jam
Granny Wim's Sausage Gravy
Grits
Pickled Shrimp and onions
Fruit
Country Ham slices

I'll list the original recipes in this post, and then in another post Biscuit Class Light, I'll show you how I've managed to make each better for you.

Willard Doxey’s Biscuits (makes 12 2.5 inch biscuits)

Ingredients:

3 cups soft white all purpose flour (Southern Biscuit, Martha White, or White Lilly*)

1 heaping tablespoon aluminum free baking powder (like Rumford’s)

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

12 tablespoons cold shortening, cubed (plain Crisco)^

1 1/3 cups buttermilk

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 450 or 425 if your oven runs hot.
2. Sift dry ingredients together.
3. With a pastry blender, cut in cold shortening until coarse with a few lumps.
4. Stir in buttermilk with a spatula until a loose ball forms. Do not overmix. Resist the urge to add more flour. This is a very wet dough.
5. Quickly turn onto a floured board and fold over/kneed no more than 10 turns.
6. Pat into a circle, ¾ inch thick and cut with a well floured 2.5 inch cutter, starting with the edges and working to the middle, trying to minimize the amount of dough you have to work twice.
7. Bake close but not touching on a parchment lined sheet pan (helps prevent the bottoms from getting too brown, as well as easy clean up)
8. Bake for 15 minutes, turning half-way through baking.

9. Brush with soft butter and serve immediately.

To make a biscuit mix to keep in your fridge, just do the first 3 steps and keep in a Ziploc.  Then you just have to add buttermilk and bake.

*Using Southern flours made with soft winter wheat and less protein help make your biscuits lighter and fluffier. 

^Crisco instead of butter will also contribute to a lighter, fluffier biscuit.

Plum Rum Jam

Ingredients: 16 large firm red plums
½ cup lemon juice
7 ½ cups sugar *
2 pouches of liquid fruit pectin
¼ cup dark rum

Instructions:
1. Pit but don’t peel plums. Cut into small pieces. Place in pan and mash with a potato masher thoroughly. Measure 3.5 cups into a large kettle, add ¼ cup water, the lemon juice and the sugar and bring to a full boil, stirring constantly.

2. Boil hard for 1 min., always stirring. Remove from heat and immediately add pectin (keeping stirring) and the rum.

3. Eat warm over biscuits, and keep any leftovers in a Tupperware in the fridge. You can also put them in jars and go through the sealing process, but it doesn’t normally stick around long enough to go bad.

* This makes a jam so sweet it’s like syrup. If you want to make a jam that tastes more like plum, and less like sugar, check the biscuit class light post.


Grannie Wims’ Sausage Gravy

Ingredients:
1 lb breakfast sausage (They suggest Bass Farm or Neese, but I wasn't too impressed with the Neese.  I'm a Jimmy Dean, Bob Evans girl myself)
2 Tablespoons reserved fat
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups 2% or whole milk
Pepper, to taste

Instructions:
1. Cook sausage on medium heat crumbling until VERY crisp/dry. This makes it less greasy, and it will rehydrate when you cook it with the milk. Drain completely in a colander, reserving 2 tablespoons fat. Wipe out the pan.
2. Return 2 tablespoons of the fat to pan on medium heat. Add flour and cook until a tan color, whisking constantly (a basic roux).
3. Add cold milk and whisk constantly until thickened.
4. Return sausage to pan and cook over medium heat until thick. May need to add more milk as it thickens. Keep in mind you want it a little thinner then where you ultimately want it, because when you serve it, it will cool a bit and thicken more.


Grits

Ingredients:
4 cups of milk (not water, no matter what your bag of grits say)
1 cup Crook’s Corner Grits (can be purchased at the restaurant, Foster's, or Southern Season)*
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons chopped chives (optional)

Instructions:
1. Bring milk to a gentle boil. Slowly stir in grits whisking constantly.
2. Reduce heat and continue cooking, whisking frequently, for about 20-30 minutes, or as the grits are thick and tender. You’ll likely need to additional milk as grits thicken.
3. Stir in salt and butter. Adding the salt before this will make your grits tough. Garnish with chives.

*You can use other brands as long as it is the slow cooking grits. Instant or even 5 minute grits are not the same and will not produce the same yummy creaminess. Crook’s Corner is just the only brand I can find that’s not a quick cooker.

Pickled Shrimp

From Frank Stitt’s Southern Table. Serves 15 to 20 as an hors d’oeuvre

Ingredients to boil the shrimp:
1 onion, quartered
1 celery stalk
1 lemon, thinly sliced
4 sprigs flat leaf parsley
3 lbs raw shrimp (the gray kind)

Instructions for boiling:
1. Fill a large pot with water and add onion, celery, lemon, and parsley. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 15-20 minutes.
2. Add a tablespoon of salt and the shrimp. As soon as the water returns to a simmer, remove from heat. The shrimp will have just begun to curl and have turned a bright pink when done (usually takes just a few minutes). Do not allow water to boil, or the shrimp will be tough.
3. Drain, but do not rinse the shrimp, or the flavor will go right down the drain. Allow the shrimp to cool.

Ingredients for the pickling:
3 pounds boiled small to medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 medium onions, quartered and very thinly sliced
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
14 bay leaves
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
4 dried hot chile peppers
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
¼ cup white wine vinegar
½ cup fresh lemon juice

Instructions for the pickling:
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss thoroughly. Pack everything into a large glass jar, cover, and refridgerate overnight to allow the flavors to come together.

You can serve this all by itself, or with grits and biscuits, alongside the pickled onions and some tomatoes.

Wedding jewelry and purses

I have made a number of things for weddings/wedding parties over the years, and even recently, but always forget to post them.  I made two satin flower and rhinestone headbands for a bride and flowergirl last week that I completely forgot to take pictures of, but I did remember to take a picture of the purse I made.  Here it is in the front, and then opened so you can see the satin lining.  They're just simple envelope clutches, but still look elegant.  It's made of silver raw silk and satin, and embellished with flowers I cut out of the silk after I added some stiffener, and some Swarovski crystal flatbacks.

It reminded me that I had made a similar purse for my sister's bridesmaids, and since I was one, I still had it to take a picture of it, too.  

I also made the jewelry for a few wedding parties.  One I forgot to take pictures, and the newest set I don't want to post and ruin the surprise for the bridesmaids who haven't seen it yet.  However, since my sister got married in November I thought it plenty safe to post the jewelry I made for the bridesmaids.