Fifteen Second Carrot Cake

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Allison Woods

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 (8 ounces total) medium carrots
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup stirred unbleached flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup pecans
  • Cream Cheese Frosting—see below

Cooking Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
  2. Grease and flour an 8 by 4 by 2 -inch loaf pan.
  3. Shred the carrots with the fine shredding disc of a food processor; Remove – there should be 1 1/2 tightly packed cups.
  4. Process the eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla with the metal blade just until blended, about 2 seconds. do not over process.
  5. Evenly sprinkle the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon over the mixture; process until smooth, about 5 seconds.
  6. Sprinkle with the pecan halves; add the carrots and process until the pecans and carrots are evenly distributed, 4 seconds.
  7. Turn into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 60 minutes.
  8. Loosen the edges and turn out onto a wire rack. Cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

4T unsalted butter, cut into equal pieces

4 oz. cream cheese

1t vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups stirred confectioner’s sugar

Process in food processor until smooth. Garnish frosted cake with additional pecan halves.

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Mom’s tuna casserole

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Allison Woods

325F

1 batch bechamel sauce

1-2 cans tuna in H2o, drained

some cooked noodles, preferably slightly undercooked

frozen peas (or fresh)

bread crumbs soaked in a little butter

optional—chopped preserved lemons

Grease casserole dish. Toss cooked noodles, bechamel, noodles, peas, and optional lemon. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stick in casserole dish, top with bread crumbs. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes.

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Spicy Taco Meat Casserole

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Allison Woods

This is a fine way to use any kind of taco meat that you might have left over. Matter of fact, I make extra so I can do this with it. It came to me in a moment of inspiration when I had lots of meat left over and wanted something fairly portable to take to work.

350F

Spicy Meat, chopped fine

corn tortillas

sour cream

small can Hatch chiles or fresh equivalent

black olives, chopped

grated cheese

1 can black beans, drained

1 small can Ro-tel tomatoes

frozen corn (optional)

Layer from bottom: sour cream, tortillas, all of the black beans, meat (1 1/2 cups or so), 1/2 of the tomatoes, 1/2 of the cheese, chiles. Tortillas, sour cream, the rest of the tomatoes, olives, the rest of the cheese. Bake 30-45 minutes.

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Spicy Meat

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Allison Woods

This is an easy taco meat that goes well to a potluck. There are many uses for this tasty stuff. Adjust spiciness by subbing a can of salsa for one of the cans of chipotle sauce if you must. Pork works just as well.

In crockpot or on stovetop, or in oven

stew meat

onions, sliced or chopped

1-3 cans of La Morena chipotle sauce (available online at mexgrocer.com, also at Spanish Table in Seattle)

optional: a little bit of choocolate

Brown meat and onions in a little bit of fat on stovetop. Then put in preferred cooking vessel with chipotle sauce, some water, and a bit of chocolate if you like. Cook beef over low heat until falling-apart tender. Remove, let cool, shred. Take cooking liquid and reduce on stovetop until it’s saucelike. Put meat back in sauce.

Serve with queso fresco, sliced avocados, and warm tortillas, or taco truck style with chopped onions, cilantro, and tiny tortillas.

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Chile Relleno Casserole

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Allison Woods

Old Stebbins family classic. Delicious and a crowd-pleaser, in that American Classics sort of way. Cardiac arrest an option, but worth it.

 

375F oven

1-4oz. can whole roasted green chiles or fresh equivalent

1# cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 # Jack cheese, grated

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 t flour (heaping)

1/2 t salt

1-13 oz. can evaporated milk

fresh salsa

Lightly grease 9×13” baking dish. Rinse, peel and seed chiles as needed. Chop and spread evenly over bottom of pan. Sprinkle cheese over top. Beat eggs, flour, salt, milk. Pour over other ingredients. Bake 35 minutes. Serve with salsa.

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Panini Brutti

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Allison Woods

I think this recipe comes from the Pink Door in the Pike Place Market. It is a bit of work to make, but these little open-faced sandwiches are quite worth it. 4 servings

Heat BBQ grill

4 slices crusty bread
1 clove garlic, halved
1 1/2 zucchini, sliced 1/2″ thick on the bias
1 eggplant, peeled and sliced 1/2″ thick
Evoo
Red wine vinegar
Fresh mint or thyme
Fresh oregano or minced garlic
2 red bell peppers, roasted and cut into wide strips
1-2 balls fresh mozzarella
Salt and pepper

Grill bread. Rub with garlic and set aside. Grill eggplant and zucchini until tender. Create a marinade with oil and vinegar, place zucchini and eggplant in it. Sprinkle zucchini with mont or thyme and eggplant with oregano or garlic. Preheat oven to 350F. Assemble sandwiches as follows: bread, eggplant, zucchini, mozzarella slices, bell pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake 4-5 minutes until cheese is melted.

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Catharine’s Cream Scones

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Allison Woods

From Catharine Stebbins. The most delicious, indulgent scone recipe evah!

Preheat to 425 F.

2c flour
1/4 c sugar
2t baking powder
1/8 t salt
1/3 c unsalted butter, chilled
1/2 c heavy cream
1 large egg
1 1/2 t vanilla
1/2 c currants
1 egg mixed with 1t h2o for glaze

Butter baking sheet lightly. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt. Add cubes of butter, cut into coarse crumbs. Add currants. In second bowl, mix wet ingredients. Add to dry, mix until just combined. Pat dough into 1/2″ thick disc, cut into wedges. Brush with egg glaze. Bake 13-15 minutes until lightly browned. If you have a pizza stone, cook scones on it and you’ll get a nice brown bottom. On the scones. Not on you or anything.

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Green Tomato Bars

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Allison Woods

I knew I’d be coming into some green tomatoes, so I started looking for an appropriate recipe or two. This one showed up in multiple locations. The outcome is delicious, in no small part to the brown sugar, butter, and lemon. It’s sort of like a mazurka, though not exactly.

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups finely chopped green tomatoes
2 cups brown sugar, divided
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon extract
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups oats
1/2 cup chopped nuts

PREPARATION:

Chop tomatoes and drain for ten minutes. In a saucepan combine tomatoes, 1 cup brown sugar, and lemon juice. Simmer until thickened, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat. Add lemon extract. Mix crust and press 2 1/2 cups into a greased 9×13 pan. Spread tomato mixture over crust. Sprinkle remainder of crumbs over tomato mixture. Bake at 375 F for 30-35 minutes. If you want to make an 8 by 8 pan of this, half the crust and use 2 1/2 to 3 cups tomatoes.

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Onion Marmalade

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Allison Woods

By request, for mom:

1 stick unsalted butter

2# onion halved and cut crosswise into 1/2″ slices

1t salt

1/2 t fresh ground pepper

1/2 c sugar

2T dry sherry

1/4 c red wine vinegar

1 c red wine

1/4 c honey

Melt butter til it foams. Add onions, stir until coated. Sprinkle with s/p, reduce to low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 20 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients and cook uncovered until quite thick, and dark, a couple of hours. Stir as needed to keep from burning. Season to taste. Keeps in fridge for a long long time.

Good with any meat, with cheese, and on sandwiches. It’s quite rich, so you don’t need a lot of it.

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Orondo Cider Works Corn Salsa

Posted on September 11, 2011 by Allison Woods

There are a boatload of produce places in the Orondo area north of Wenatchee, WA. One of my favorites is the slightly tourist-trappy Orondo Cider Works, a few miles north of town. The red barn just off the highway is chock-a-block with goodies, mostly focused around apples, but they also do a pretty darn amazing corn salsa. Since I am an infrequent visitor to OCW, I took it upon myself to reverse engineer their recipe by carefully examining (with my mouth!!) the ingredients found within. Here is the recipe for a double batch.That’s about 2 of your standard salsa containers. Keep in mind that this salsa is particularly perishable, not that it will stick around very long. At OCW, they sell Juanita’s chips in the red and green package, and these are particularly yummy with this stuff.

NOTE: Don’t use fresh corn to make this–it comes out too sweet. Go with frozen.

OCW Corn Salsa

double batch

2 tomatoes

1 cup corn, either fresh or frozen organic

2/3 sweet onion

2 jalapenos

1 red onion

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 green bell pepper

1 clove garlic

1T grapeseed oil

8 leaves basil

salt/ Yucateco green hot sauce to taste

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