Real Carrot Cake with Maple Vanilla-Cream Cheese Frosting

11 November 2008 Filed In: Birthday, cakes, carrot, Desserts, Easter, Fall, Halloween, maple, Spring, Summer, Thanksgiving, vanilla, Winter





Birthdays complete with special cakes get celebrated nearly every day in our home.  My daughter naturally mothers all of her toys from her “kids” (assorted baby dolls) to her animals (this category ranges from a very large stuffed dinosaur to a Lego with a shoestring tied to it that she says is her dog on a leash).  She tries, of course, to mama her little brother, too, with very mixed results.  With all of this care-taking, nursing, cooking for, and cleaning up after, a whole bunch of birthdays and parties get thrown into the mix.  Raggedy Ann, alone, has a birthday at least once a week.  

Needless to say, we cook up a lot of pretend cakes.  Mira directs me, and I act as sous-chef in her kitchen.  It’s a nice balance and allows her to lead.  She takes such pride in being in charge and directing “Grandma” as to what Sugar Baby’s favorite cake is or which type of frosting Rabbit has requested.
Imagine the excitement that stirred this week since we have a real, live birthday.  It’s our part-time sitter’s, and she has learned a thing or two about our family from my daughter’s play.  She told me last week that, though she has given birth to six children, she has never learned to make a cake.   Would I please teach her how to make that one cake that I’d made last Spring with carrots in it?
Oh dear.  I hardly ever wrote anything down then-just baked things by feeling.  
“What did it taste like?”
Hopefully, it tasted a little like this wonderful, moist cake that we’re making together.  Happy Birthday, Tabitha!  And, for the rest of you, try this one.  Aside from the frosting, which just cannot be left out, it’s as healthful as it is delish…and, as Mira commented, ” I like pretend cakes, Mama, but I LOVE real cakes!”
Real Carrot Cake with Maple Vanilla-Cream Cheese Frosting

For the Cake
*1 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
*1 c. oat flour
*2 t. baking powder
*1 t. salt
*1 t. cinnamon
*pinch of ground cloves
*1/2 t. ground ginger
*1 1/2 c. sugar
*2 t. vanilla
*4 eggs, slightly beaten
*1 cup vegetable oil (like canola)
*4 c. grated carrots
*1/2 c. chopped walnuts, optional + some extra to decorate the top of the cake

For the Frosting:
*8 oz. cream cheese (low fat kind is fine), room temperature
*8 T. butter, room temperature
*12 oz. confectioner’s sugar
*1 t. vanilla
*1 T. maple syrup

Preheat the oven the 350 degrees.  

Together: Butter two 8-inch cake pans.  Trace the bottom of the pans onto parchment paper.  Big Person can cut these out.  Then press the parchment into the bottom of the pan, and butter again.

In a big bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt, and spices.  

In a medium bowl, crack the eggs and whisk a bit.  Then, add all the rest of the ingredients, leaving only the walnuts aside, and beat everything together well.  

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir till just combined.  Fold in the nuts.  

Divide the mixture between the pans.  Big Person will put the pans into the oven and bake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck into the center of the cake comes out clean.  Turn out onto cooling racks.  Cool completely.

When the cake has cooled, make the frosting.  In a large bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese together.  Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar, stirring it in first with a rubber spatula and then beating it.  Then add the vanilla and maple syrup.

Place one of the cake layers on a plate, flat-side up.  Scoop about a cup of the frosting on top and spread with a rubber spatula or an off-set spatula if you have one.  Stack on the next layer with the flat side down.  Scoop another cup of the frosting on top and spread and smooth.  You could just chop some nuts and sprinkle them on top at this point, or use the rest of the frosting to ice the sides of the cake and decorate with nuts or other fancier things as you and your mini-chef see fit.


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Happy Weekend!

08 November 2008 Filed In: all the rest

For the first time in months, we have very little planned this weekend.  I cannot wait to play with my family, snuggle with my husband, and try some recipes from around the web.  Here are some of the things that we’ll be cooking up:

*This Kid-friendly broccoli soup from Artisan Sweets will help us eat our green stuff.
*This Indian breakfast poha from Cookbook Catchall will satisfy my obsession over topping everything with a fried egg.
*These chic apple dumplings at Dalla Mia Cucina.
*And, finally, this luscious looking Bacon and Chestnut Risotto via Taste Bud Travels.
Happy Weekend!

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Cooking Class: White Bean and Lebanese Cous Cous Stuffed Acorn Squash

07 November 2008 Filed In: beans, cooking class, cous cous, Fall, lunchbox, Main Dish, Side Dish, squash, Thanksgiving, Winter





This week the children were ready to get down to business as soon as they arrived at class.  We began by talking acorns.  
As a child when I would play “restaurant” with my cousin, acorns went into many of our dishes-whole, cracked with just the little orange balls (“pumpkins” as we called them), or mushed with a stick.  My daughter has inherited this love of the tiny seeds and was excited to cook with something called “acorn squash”.  You might, before you start this recipe, take your Yummy out for a nature walk to gather the little nuts that are so prevalent right now on the East Coast, gather a few, and then take those to the market or grocery with you when you buy the acorn squash to compare and discuss.
Even the smallest of the mini-chefs helped with this dish, and there was quite a bit of sampling going on in the midst of making the stuffing: “One bite for me, two for the bowl.  Two bites for me, one for the bowl.”  For class, we almost always make enough of everything so that tastings like these may be encouraged.  Our little friend TT even went home with a package of the leftover Lebanese cous cous to snack on later since he was so happily chowing it in class.  
Stuffed squash can be served as a simple supper or as a side dish for your Thanksgiving table.  These can be made a day ahead of time and heated up just before being served.   My advice is that you double the stuffing recipe, add some stock, and make a soup out of half of it.  Just sayin’.

White Bean and Lebanese Cous Cous Stuffed Acorn Squash

*4 small acorn squash, halved and seeded
*8 t. brown sugar
*4 T. butter or olive oil + 2 T. for sauteeing the onions
*salt and pepper, to taste
*2 c. Lebanese cous cous (also known as “Isaraeli cous cous”)
*4 c. vegetable stock, chicken stock, or water
*2 c. dried white beans, cooked***
*1 c. pumpkin or squash puree
*1/2 c. whole wheat bread crumbs
*1/4 c. parmesan cheese, grated
*1/2 c. sliced almonds (optional)
*1 large or 2 small onions, chopped
*2 cloves garlic, sliced
*1 T. fresh rosemary, finely chopped
*2 t. fresh thyme, finely chopped

Big Person:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment.  

With Mini-Chef: Place four squash halves on each baking sheet.  Inside the little bowl of each, place a teaspoon of brown sugar and a pat of butter.  Salt and pepper the squash, and, Big Person, slide them into the oven to bake about 40-45 minutes, or till the flesh is very soft.

Big Person: Bring the stock or water to a boil in a medium sized saucepan.  Add the cous cous, lower the heat and let simmer till very soft, about 8-10 minutes.  Stir, take off the heat, and set aside.

In another saute pan, heat up 2 tablespoons of butter or olive oil over medium-low heat.  Add the onions to the pan, and cook, stirring from time to time, till soft and translucent.  Throw in the rosemary, the thyme and the garlic and cook another couple of minutes, stirring.  Once they’re done, take them off of the heat and set aside to cool.

Together: In a big bowl, stir together the white beans, bread crumbs, parmesan, the pumpkin puree and the onion mixture along with some salt and pepper, to taste.  Keep the Lebanese cous-cous separate for now.  Let your mini-chef add one ingredient at a time and stir well with each new addition.  When all of that is mixed together well, then you can choose to keep the mixture as is or to puree it.  It tastes delicious either way, but one texture might be more pleasing to you and your Yummy.  Next, add the cous cous and fold it in gently.

When the squash has been take out of the oven and cooled for about 10 minutes, use an ice cream scoop or a large spoon to put a mound of the the stuffing into the bowl of each acorn squash halve.  Put the squash back in the oven and bake another 10-15 minutes.  When the top of the stuffing has become a little golden, the stuffed squash is done.  Pull them out, allow to cool for a few minutes and serve.

***While you can certainly use 4 c. canned white beans for this recipe, cooking your own is much more economical.  Also, the process of plumping up the dried beans will be fun for your Yummy to help out with and witness.  To cook the dried beans, you’ll place them in a large bowl, pick through them to throw out any bad beans or little stones, and cover them in water two inches above the top of the beans.  Add a teaspoon of baking soda to the water and stir.  This will help prevent, well, the issues that often occur with eating beans and also add tenderness to the beans when cooked.  

After soaking the beans for 8 hours, drain and rinse them.  Put them in a big pot and cover them with water by about 2 inches.  We add a tablespoon of garlic powder to the pot as well, but that is up to you.  Bring the water to a boil and then simmer for as long as it takes to get the beans very soft, about 2 hours.  Check on the beans from time to time, adding water to the pot if necessary.

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Election Day “O” Energy Bars

03 November 2008 Filed In: berry, Dairy-free, Fall, oatmeal, Os, Snacks, Soy-free, Spring, Summer, Vegetarian, Winter




Hopefully, we’ll change the name of these to “8-Year-Bars” by this time tomorrow.    Crossing my fingers with one hand and eating one of these with the other.

Let’s talk about substituting for a moment before the recipe.  If you are allergic to nuts, you’ll absolutely make your own granola or you’ll buy a nut-free version.  The pumpkin butter gives these an amazing silky gooeyness, but you could substitute a nut butter or an apple butter with very good results.  Oat flour is delightful, gluten-free, and easy to make: Just throw some rolled oats in the food processor and blitz.  Any other delicious-or all purpose type-flour could stand in if need be.  UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES can cranberries, dried cherries or strawberries and cane sugar be substituted in place of the O’s and blueberries.  Giggle.
Election Day Energy Bars

*2 c. “O”-shaped cereal
*1 c. dried blueberries
*4 c. granola
*2 pinches of salt (1/4 t.)
*1 c. oat flour
*1/2 t. vanilla
*1/4 c. vegetable oil
*1/4 c. honey
*3/4 c. pumpkin butter

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease or line two baking sheets with silpats.  

Together: Take out a gigantic bowl and a wooden spoon.  Into the bowl, place the “O’s”, blueberries, granola, salt, and flour.  Your mini-chef will stir and stir till everything is well combined.  Next make a big “O” in the bowl by sticking the wooden spoon down into the middle of the dry ingredients.  (This is more commonly referred to as “making a well”.)

Pour the wet ingredients into the center of the “O”.  Slap high fives, and then mix all of the wet ingredients together in the center.  When the wet ingredients are well combined, start mixing everything together.  This might be a great place to do some turn taking as it is hard work for one set of small hands to do all by itself.  

Now set a small bowl of warm water on your workspace.  Dip your hands into the water and then grab a clementine-sized piece of the bar mixture.  Shape it into a ball, a pancake , or anything you like, and place on the baking sheet.  Repeat with the rest of the mixture.  

Big Person: Slide the pans into the oven and bake 20-25 minutes.  They should still be soft, like a chewy granola bar.


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Chicken Veggie Soup in a Beer Broth with Quick Pita Crackers

03 November 2008 Filed In: carrot, chicken, Dairy-free, Fall, Gluten-free, quinoa, soup, Soups & Stews, Soy-free, Spring, Summer, Winter


Well hello, November!  Our Monday here in the City is gray and calling out for soup and something for dipping and soaking up the broth.  Throughout Fall, Winter, and early Spring, our chicken soup graces the table weekly.  The vegetable ingredients change depending on what is available, but one thing remains the same: our beer broth, full of B vitamins and imparting a lovely wheaty flavor to the soup.  

You can-we do!-absolutely make this as a vegetable soup, but I thought that a little meat and veg action might be in order after all the treat-ing that went down on and leading up to Friday.  Also, we will all need to feel fortified to go out tomorrow and VOTE.  
This here is a lazy kind of soup, so I hope that I’m not offending anybody’s sensabilities when I tell you that we don’t make the stock separately.  The Big Person will do all of the work on the soup, but the Yummies make it up with lots of responsibility for making the pita crackers: bi-partisan cooking at its finest.
Chicken Veggie Soup in a Beer Broth with Quick Pita Crackers

For the soup:
*2 T. olive oil or butter
*2 medium onions, chopped
*4 medium carrots, chopped
*3 medium cloves of garlic, minced
*a sweet potato or several small potatoes, washed well and chopped
*seasonally: tomatoes, squash, peas, snap peas, green beans, corn, parsnips, etc.
*2 bottles of local beer (We used Brooklyn Weisse here)
*2 skin-on, bone-in whole organic chicken breasts, rinsed and patted dry
*1 c. quinoa, rinsed for a minute in a fine mesh sieve
*Salt and pepper to taste
*1 T. poultry seasoning

For the Pita crackers:
*4 large whole-grain pitas
*3 T. olive oil
*1 t. salt
*1 t. black pepper
*1 T. flax seeds
*1 T. black or white sesame seeds

Big Person: Warm the olive oil or butter over medium-low heat in a big stock pot or French oven.  Add the onions, carrots, and parsnips if available.  Cook, stirring occasionally, over low heat till soft, about 20 minutes.  Add the rest of the veggies and cook another couple of minutes, stirring.

Now, add the beer, the chicken, the quinoa, enough water to cover everything plus more, some salt and the poultry seasoning.  Bring the soup to a boil and keep it at a boil for 5 minutes.  Lower the heat, cover, and cook till ready to serve, ideally at least 3 hours and up to 8.  If you would like to make a quicker version, boil the soup for longer to speed things up.

Meanwhile, cut the pitas into 8-12 wedges with a serrated knife.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment or silpat mats.  Get out a large bowl, wet a kitchen towel, and grab your mini-chef to make the crackers.  Have your mini-chef combine the olive oil, salt, and pepper in the bowl.  Throw in the pita wedges to coat them with the oil, using little hands.  Wipe hands with the wet kitchen towel.  Have your Yummy arrange them in a single layer on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle with the flaxseeds and the sesame seeds.

Big Person: Put the pitas into the oven and bake till warm and brown, about 15 minutes.  

Shortly before serving, skim the fat and goo off the top of the soup.  Take the chicken breasts out of the pot and place them in a large bowl to cool for 5 minutes.  When they have cooled, shred the chicken with a couple of forks, discard the bones and skin, and return the shredded chicken to the pot.  Turn the heat up to medium and bring the soup to a simmer.  Season with salt, pepper, and more poultry seasoning.  Serve with the crackers on the side or afloat.

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