Carrot Cake

At my office, we celebrate birthdays with a potluck-style meal or a group lunch at a restaurant, and someone always brings cake for dessert. Sometimes that cake is store-bought, and sometimes someone volunteers to make it. For our recent April birthday, I volunteered to make a carrot cake -- mostly for my own benefit, since I've been craving carrot cake pretty much ever since I was pregnant, more than a year ago. The only problem was, I'd never made a carrot cake before, so I didn't have a reliable recipe to turn to. So of course I turned to the Pioneer Woman. She has never steered me wrong before, and she came through for me once again.

This cake is amazing. What I love about it is its simplicity; the only spice it contains is cinnamon, it doesn't have any raisins in it -- but it's still the most delicious carrot cake I've ever had, without question. It simply doesn't need anything to fancy it up. It's moist and rich, and can we talk about the icing for a moment? I would like to rub the icing all over my face so it would be within easy reach whenever I wanted a lick. It is that good.

I can't recommend this cake highly enough. Everyone at work loved it, including the birthday girl, and I was even able to sneak a few pieces home for Joe. He has since informed me that I have to make another cake, just for us, as soon as I possibly can. And I have no objections to that whatsoever.

Carrot Cake
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks!

For the cake:

2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups grated carrots

For the icing:

1 stick (1/4 pound) regular butter, softened
1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese
1 pound powdered sugar
1 cup pecans, chopped finely (I chopped mine coarsely because I like the texture)
2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Mix sugar, oil, and eggs. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add to first mixture and combine. Add carrots and mix well. Pour into a greased and floured pan (Bundt, sheet cake, 9 x 13 Pyrex) and bake until done, 25 to 50 minutes, depending on the pan you use (I used a dark 9 x 13 pan, and mine was ready in about 40 minutes). Cool completely.

2. For the icing, cream butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. Add sugar and vanilla and blend, then mix in the nuts. Spread on cooled carrot cake.

Cheesy Casseravioli

I've been in a bit of a cooking slump lately. I haven't had the time, energy, or really the desire to make anything too involved. So when I saw this recipe pop up in my Google Reader, it sounded too simple to resist. To be honest, I didn't expect a lot out of this taste-wise -- since it uses frozen ravioli, frozen broccoli, jarred Alfredo sauce, and pre-cooked chicken -- but this was actually really tasty. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was delicious.

I love the idea of a "casseravioli," and the ingredients can be mixed up in a thousand different ways. This was such a simple weeknight dinner, and the whole family -- Andrew included -- loved it. I'll definitely be making this, and many variations of it, in the future!

Cheesy Casseravioli
Source: adapted from A Taste of Home Cooking, who got it from Lauren's Kitchen, who got it from i [heart] food 4 thought

1 package frozen cheese ravioli, cooked and drained
2 cups frozen broccoli florets, defrosted
2 cups pre-cooked chicken strips, diced (I bought a rotisserie chicken and used the breasts)
1 jar alfredo sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup mozzarella cheese, divided
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Coat the bottom of a 9×13 glass baking dish with a thin layer of alfredo sauce. In a medium bowl, gently mix the ravioli, broccoli, chicken, garlic, alfredo sauce, butter, and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese until combined.

3. Place mixture into baking dish and top with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

4. Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is hot and bubbly. Set to broil for additional 5 minutes if you want the top blistery.

Chicken with Chile Cream Sauce

This is one of those recipes that I printed out ages ago and kept meaning to make, and then just never got around to it. I was looking for something quick and easy to make for dinner recently, and this dish came immediately to mind. I made a few changes to the recipe -- I used Emeril's Southwest Seasoning blend instead of creole seasoning, since the rest of the flavors in the dish were distinctly Mexican, I increased the amount of sour cream, and I finished it off with some shredded Jack cheese -- but if I were to make this again, I'd make even more changes to it.

I would definitely remove the chicken from the skillet before I started heating the sauce, because the chicken lost all of its crispy texture as it cooked in the sauce. It completely defeated the purpose of browning the chicken separately first. I'd also use less cream of chicken soup, because while it's a great ingredient to cook with, it doesn't necessarily taste all that great on its own -- and that flavor was definitely prominent in the sauce. I'd add more lime juice to the sauce, too, because I couldn't taste the lime at all in this dish. Some cilantro stirred in at the end would have given this the fresh component I felt it was missing.

I served this over rice that I jazzed up with some frozen corn kernels and a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles. This meal was just okay -- not something I'll rush to make again, but not horrible either.

Chicken with Chile Cream Sauce
Source: adapted from Campbell's Kitchen

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 teaspoons Southwest seasoning blend
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup water
1 4-ounce can chopped green chiles
1 teaspoon lime juice
3/4 cup sour cream

shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1. Season chicken with Southwest seasoning blend.

2. Heat oil in skillet. Add chicken and cook until browned.

3. Add soup, water, chiles and lime juice. Heat to a boil. Cook over low heat 5 min. or until done.

4. Stir in sour cream and heat through. Top with Monterey Jack cheese and serve over rice.

Smothered Chicken

I've been making this smothered chicken dish for years, and I'm ridiculously proud of it because it's one of the first recipes I thought up all on my own. (And I'm sure there are other recipes like this floating around out there, but please: Don't burst my bubble. Let me believe that this is my original creation. Okay? Thanks. Moving on, then.)

When I first started making this, I used a frozen pepper and onion stir-fry blend and a can of sliced mushrooms, but now I use fresh vegetables. But that is the only way I've changed this recipe since I first made it, probably about six years ago. We always eat this with a box of Rice-a-Roni rice pilaf, and any vegetables that aren't eaten with the chicken are scooped up on slices of crusty bread. This is one of Joe's most-requested meals, and one of only a handful of recipes I come back to again and again. We love it!

Smothered Chicken
Source: Cassie

Olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
Salt to taste
Garlic powder to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
1 small green bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 small red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 small yellow bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 8-ounce package sliced mushrooms
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1. Heat olive oil in a large, high-sided skillet (or electric skillet) over medium-high heat. Season both sides of chicken with salt, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. Brown chicken in skillet until cooked through; remove from skillet and cover to keep warm.

2. Reduce heat to medium and add butter to the same skillet. Once butter is melted, add bell peppers, mushrooms and onions. Once mushrooms begin to brown, season vegetables with salt and pepper.

3. Return chicken to skillet, nestling it among the vegetables. Top with shredded cheeses and cover. Let stand over low heat for 5 minutes or until cheeses are melted.

Biscuits with Sausage Gravy

 

My version of sausage gravy -- the one I've been making for years -- is not a traditional version. Sausage gravy purists may say it's not even technically sausage gravy at all, because it's missing the flour component. But I would like those people to try making sausage gravy my way, and then tell me if they really care if it's traditional or not. Because this version is so good, it just doesn't matter.

I've been making sausage gravy like this ever since I got a recipe for sausage dip from a friend -- a dip that consisted only of sausage and cream cheese, to be spread on mini slices of pumpernickel bread. It is absolutely delicious -- so good that I started spreading it on bagels, and so good that I eventually thought, "You know what? This would make a kick-ass sausage gravy base." If you've been reading this blog for any length of time at all, you know how much I love cream cheese, so I decided to try it out. And I've never looked back.

My experience with sausage gravy in restaurants is that it's oftentimes way too bland, and my version definitely isn't. The cream cheese adds such a nice tang to the background of the gravy. I always, always use maple sausage, and that flavor really comes through too and balances out the pepper nicely. This is one of my go-to meals when I want something quick, comforting, and delicious.

Biscuits with Sausage GravySource: Cassie

1 package refrigerated biscuits (we use Grands butter-flavored)
1 pound ground maple-flavored sausage
2 tablespoons butter
1 8-ounce block cream cheese, cubed
1/2 to 1 cup milk
Salt to taste
At least 1 tablespoon black pepper

1. Prepare biscuits according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, brown sausage in 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat.

3. When sausage is cooked through, reduce heat to medium and add cream cheese, stirring to melt and combine. Add milk to desired thickness (I like a thick gravy, so I usually only use about 1/2 cup). Add salt and pepper and heat until bubbly.

4. Serve over open-faced buttered biscuits.