Spice Cake

I like baking things. I especially like baking old-fashioned sorts of goodies. Is spice cake old-fashioned? I don’t know but it feels like it to me.

This cake is muy delicioso…tender, spicy, a bit rich. Usually I make desserts with substance (you know, like with fruit for the vitamins or dairy for some protein) but there are times that I just want dessert. A few weeks ago I wanted spice cake. So I made one. Yum!

Spice Cake

Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, Jan/Feb 2008

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened (divided use)

1 T ground cinnamon

1/2 t ground allspice

1/2 t ground cloves

1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 cup unbleached flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

2 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

1 t vanilla extract

1 T grated fresh ginger

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 T mild molasses

1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

Heat 4 T butter in a small skillet until melted. Cook until slightly browned. Add spices and cook, stirring, for another 15 seconds. Remove from heat and let come to room temperature.

While butter is cooling, whisk the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In another small bowl, beat the eggs, yolks, vanilla, and ginger. Set this aside, too.

In a mixer bowl, place remaining 8 T butter, sugar, and molasses. Beat until pale and fluffy, scraping bowl as needed. Add cooled butter/spice mixture and egg mixture. Beat well.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the bowl. Beat until incorporated. Mix in 1/2 of the buttermilk, another third of the flour, the rest of the buttermilk, and the rest of the flour. Beat just until combined.

Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13″ pan. Run a knife through the batter to remove any air bubbles. Slide into a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature before frosting.

Cream Cheese Icing

5 T butter, softened

8 oz cream cheese, softened

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 t vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Frost the cooled cake.

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Yammy Turkey

I can’t say my whole family liked this dish but I loved it. It’s pretty much just turkey gravy with mashed sweet potatoes on top. It’s like a slice of Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving is over.

The potatoes make this dish so sweet. That’s why I loved it but also why Brad wasn’t a fan. I guess he doesn’t like sweet gravy. Which, admittedly, is a little weird to think about but I still enjoyed it.

I took these pictures before I baked the casserole since the light was better in the afternoon when I assembled it. Just imagine that the gravy bubbled up on the edges of the mounds of potatoes and the tips of the potatoes darkened a bit. Very pretty, if I do say so myself.

Yammy Turkey

Recipe adapted from my Aunt Amber’s

1/2 cup chopped onion

butter, for sauteing

3 cups chopped cooked turkey (or chicken)

2 1/2 cups turkey gravy (a thick gravy works better than a thin one)

3 – 4 cups mashed sweet potatoes

1/2 cup hot milk

salt/pepper to taste

Saute onions in a bit of butter until soft. Add turkey and gravy. Pour into a casserole dish. Beat potatoes and milk together. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Dollop on top of the turkey. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until heated through and bubbly around the edges. Serve immediately.

Serves: 6

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Vegetable Soup

I love soup. You take random bits of food floating around in the fridge and freezer, throw them in a pot, and call it a meal. Easy, economical, and wholesome.

The flavor of simple soups such as these really depends on the stock you use. I prefer homemade but if you are going with something bought, make sure it’s one whose flavor pleases you because you will definitely taste it in the end result.

Have fun with soup! I very rarely follow a recipe so I didn’t write down any amounts for the ingredients here. That’s the great thing about it. If you don’t have an ingredient you can very well skip it or replace it with something else.

Vegetable Soup

chopped onion

olive oil

cubed potatoes

diced carrots

stock (chicken, beef, vegetable, whatever)

frozen corn

chopped cabbage

chopped beet greens or Swiss chard

Italian seasonings or herbs of choice

salt

pepper

Saute the onions in the oil until soft. Add the potatoes, carrots, and enough stock to cover. Simmer until veggies are nearly soft. Add the remaining ingredients along with more stock to make the soup a nice consistency. Simmer another 20 minutes or until all veggies are cooked. Serve with bread, biscuits, or muffins.

Yield: as much as you want!

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Pumpkin Roll

We LOVE pumpkin roll around here. Along with angel food cake, this is a dessert that Brad and I are capable of eating nearly the entire thing in one sitting. So delicious.

A little note here. Typically you roll a cake roll by starting at the end of the cake. When I am trying to stretch one cake to feed more people (as I was here), I start at a long side. This makes a longer, skinnier cake roll that doesn’t have as many rolls in it. It’s much prettier if you roll it from the end.

Pumpkin Roll

Recipe adapted from The Central Market Cookbook

Cake

3 eggs

7/8 cup sugar

2/3 cup pumpkin delight (recipe below)

3/4 cup AP flour (sometimes I use half whole wheat pastry flour)

1 t baking soda

2 t cinnamon

confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper and grease the sides of the pan.

Beat eggs with an electric mixer for 3-5 minutes. Add all other cake ingredients and mix well. Pour onto prepared pan and slide into the oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until set.

While cake is baking, prepare a non-terry cloth towel by spreading it out flat on the counter and sprinkling generously with confectioner’s sugar. When the cake is finished baking, remove from the oven and immediately flip it onto the prepared towel. Take the parchment paper off of the bottom and then starting at one side or end, roll the cake up, towel and all. You don’t want the layers of the cake touching each other so there needs to be towel in between. Let cool completely before unrolling and icing.

Icing

1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 8-oz block cream cheese, softened

2 T butter, softened

1 t vanilla extract

Beat all ingredients together until smooth. Spread onto the unrolled cake and then roll back up again (without the towel this time). Place on a platter, cover, and refrigerate until ready to eat. Sprinkle the cake top with more confectioner’s sugar just prior to serving.

Pumpkin Delight

1 cup pureed pumpkin

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 T white sugar

Mix together until sugar is dissolved. This will give you extra. I freeze it for the next time I want to make a pumpkin roll.

Serves: about 10

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Creamy Apple Bars (and Weekly Menu for 11-5-2012)

Still cabbage to use up this week. When your family doesn’t love cooked cabbage, it can take a while to use up a few heads. I suppose I could make some kraut but I’ll probably put in an order for a lot of cabbage so I can do it all at once. Also, Brad ended up going away for 3 days last week so I didn’t cook much from my menu. I made a couple of simple veggie soups for the kids and I. So I’ll repeat a few of the dishes that I had on last week’s menu.

Monday: Baked Corn, Sweet Potato Fries, Green Beans

Tuesday: Mexican Rice Skillet, Coleslaw, Applesauce

Wednesday: Savory Stuffed Cabbage, Aussie Potatoes, Green Beans, Pickles

Thursday: Venison Steaks, Pasta and Broccoli Salad, Pickles

Friday: Chicken BBQ, Potato Salad, Green Beans, Chow Chow, Applesauce, Tage’s birthday cake

Saturday: White Bean Enchiladas, Coleslaw, Pickles

Sunday: Negotiable

Moving on! Let’s have some apple bars, shall we? If I was still creating new mixes for my Etsy shop, I’d add these to the list. While I have started up my shop again, I’m only selling the basic mixes. A lot of the more “specialty” items didn’t sell as well and I don’t want to keep all of those ingredients on hand anymore.

But these apple bars were delicious. I took a Paula Deen recipe and “healthified” it. Because, you know, that’s what I do. I cut out a bunch of sugar, lowered the fat a bit while upping the protein by using some yogurt in place of part of the cream cheese, swapped the refined flour for whole wheat, to up the fiber and nutrient content, and skipped the caramel drizzle. I’m sure I’d love that part but I didn’t bother with it.

The kids and I gobbled these up for a snack and breakfast when Brad was at the cabin last week. As much as I missed him, I was glad he wasn’t around to help eat these because I didn’t feel like sharing.

I will note one thing here. There is a streusel topping which I might just skip next time. I didn’t think the bars needed it. Besides, without it the bars will be easier to make.

Creamy Apple Bars

Adapted from Paula’s recipe

Crust:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

2 T brown sugar

5 T softened butter

Cream filling:

5 oz softened cream cheese

3/8 cup plain yogurt, room temperature

1 large egg, room temperature

3 T sugar

1 t vanilla extract

Fruit topping:

2 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped

1/2 t cinnamon

Streusel topping (optional):

1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup (loosely filled) brown sugar

4 T softened butter

For the crust: Combine the flour, brown sugar, and butter until well mixed. Press into a greased 8″ baking pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until golden.

For the cream filling: While crust is baking, beat together all of the filling ingredients until smooth. Pour over the warm crust.

Fruit topping: Stir the apples and cinnamon together. Sprinkle over the cream filling. Bake it for another 30 minutes or until set. If using the streusel, sprinkle that over the apples before baking it.

Streusel topping: Combine the ingredients and then crumble it over the apples. Bake as instructed above.

Once baked, cool completely before cutting into bars. I think these are best chilled so I refrigerated mine before cutting them.

Serves: 9

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