Best Carrot Cake Ever

How this recipe has not been posted here, I don't know! This really is the best carrot cake recipe. Even people who don't like carrot cake love this! Definitely a winner!

Prep: 25 min. Cook: 43 min.

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

2 cups sugar

¾ cup vegetable oil

¾  cup buttermilk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups grated carrots

1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Buttermilk Glaze (see recipe below)

Cream Cheese Frosting (see recipe below)

• Stir together first 4 ingredients.
• Beat eggs and next 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.
• Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended.
• Fold in carrots and next 3 ingredients.
• Pour batter into a greased and floured 13- x 9-inch pan for a sheet cake. For a layer cake, grease two 8x8 square baking pans and line them with parchment paper.

• Bake at 350 for 30 minutes; cover pan loosely with aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning, and bake 13 more minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

• Drizzle Buttermilk Glaze evenly over cake; cool completely in pan. Spread Cream Cheese Frosting evenly over cake. 
• For layer cake, carefully separate cake from side of pan before trying to remove cakes. It will be very sticky because of the glaze. 

Buttermilk Glaze

Prep: 5 min. Cook: 10 min.

1 cup sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

½  cup butter or margarine

½  cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Bring sugar, baking soda, butter, buttermilk, and corn syrup to a boil in a Dutch oven (or large frying pan) over medium-high heat.
• Boil, stirring often, 4 minutes or until mixture is golden brown.
• Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep: 5 min.

½  cup butter or margarine, softened

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

• Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. 
• Add powdered sugar and vanilla; beat at high speed 10 seconds or until smooth. 

Baba Ghanoush

I love eggplant, and I love baba ghanoush, a lovely dip served similar to hummus, but with eggplant instead of chickpeas. It's also smoky and garlicky and just delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 large eggplant
• 1/4 cup tahini, plus more as needed
• 1 bulb, plus 1 minced clove of garlic
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, plus more as needed
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• salt, to taste
• oil olive
• chopped parsley

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Place a bulb of garlic on a piece of foil, drizzle with olive oil, and wrap tightly so that no oil can escape. Place into oven.
• Pierce the skin of the eggplants 4-5 times with a fork.
• If you  have a grill or gas stove, roast the whole eggplant, turning so that the skin turns black. If not, go to next step.
• Prepare a sheet tray by lining with foiling and coating with olive oil 
• Slice eggplants in half length-wise and transfer eggplant to baking sheet, cut side down
• Roast in oven until completely soft, about 20-30 minutes depending on size.
• Remove and let cool slightly. Scope out the roasted eggplant, discarding the skins, and place in a bowl.
• Using a fork, immersion blender, or food processor mash the eggplant.
• Add the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, cumin and mix. Add more tahini and lemon juice as needed.
• Drizzle with olive oil and chopped parsley. 
• Serve with pita chips, baby carrots, or sliced cucumbers.

Note: I like to make this at least a few hours ahead of time, or even the day before, so that the flavors have a chance to mingle. 

Carbonnade Flamande

Also known as Flemish Stew. This dish is made with beef and beer, with onions and bacon. Really, how could this not taste amazing. I first had this dish when a dear friend of mine took me out to a Belgian restaurant and I fell in love with it. So, of course, I had to add it to my repertoire. It's so flavorful, both tangy and sweet. It's absolutely perfect comfort food!

Carbonnade Flamande

Ingredients

• 2 lb. beef chuck, 1-2" chunks
• Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 3-4 Tbsp. flour
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 4 slices bacon, finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, pressed
• 3 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced from top to bottom
• 2 cups Belgian Abbey-style ale
• 1 cup beef stock
• 2 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 3 sprigs fresh parsley
• 1 bay leaf
• Bread, for serving

Instructions

• Season beef with salt and pepper in a bowl; add flour and toss to coat. 
• Heat 2 tbsp. butter in a 6-qt. Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add beef; cook, turning, until browned. Set aside. 
• Add bacon; cook until fat starts to render.
• Add remaining butter, garlic, and onions; and caramelize. 
• Add half the beer; cook, scraping bottom of pot, about 4 minutes until slightly reduced. 
• Return beef to pot. Add remaining beer, stock, sugar, vinegar, herbs, and additional salt and pepper to taste; bring to a boil. 
• Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, covered, until beef is tender, about 1-2 hours. 

Serve with crusty bread.

Cranberry Pistachio Cookies

This is a really pretty and delicious cookie. The best part is they are a slice and bake cookie, so you can make them ahead of time and keep it in the fridge or freezer until you are ready to bake them. I made a triple batch the other day and had cookies for a cookie exchange, an office party, and still have some ready to bake if anyone wants to come over for some tea!

Cranberry Pistachio Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened

• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg (optional)

• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated
  fresh orange zest

• 1/2 cup shelled pistachios (2 1/4 oz; not dyed red)

• 1/3 cup dried cranberries (1 1/4 oz)

• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

• 1/4 cup course sugar (for decoration, can be colored)

Directions:

Make dough:

• Stir together flour, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.
• Beat together butter, granulated sugar, and zest in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. 
• Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing until dough just comes together.
• Mix in pistachios and cranberries. 
• Press dough together, then divide into 2 equal pieces. 
• Using a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper as an aid, form each piece of dough into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Square off long sides of each log to form a long bar.
• Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, about 2 hours.

Slice and bake:

• Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. 
• Brush egg over all 4 long sides of bars. 
• Sprinkle sugar on a separate sheet of parchment or wax paper and press bars into sugar, coating well.
• Cut each bar into 1/4-inch-thick slices, If dough is soft you can freeze until firm enough cut. You can also rotate the bar as you cut to keep the square shape. Arrange cookies about 1/2 inch apart on lined baking sheets.
• Bake cookies until edges are pale golden, 15 to 18 minutes total. Transfer cookies to cooling racks and cool completely.

Note: Dough bars can be chilled up to 3 days or frozen, wrapped in plastic wrap and then foil or frozen up to 1 month (thaw frozen dough in refrigerator just until dough can be sliced). Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature 5 days.

Chicken Paprikash

Here is some definite comfort food that will warm you right up. The spiciness of the paprika and the sweetness of the onions make for a lovely balance.

Chicken Paprikash

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds boneless chicken thighs (or 2 1/2 pound bone-in thighs and legs, if you prefer)
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 large sweet onions (sliced lengthwise)
• black pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp. sweet paprika (also called Hungarian or Spanish)
• 1/2 Tbsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 cup chicken broth

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• salt (to taste)

Instructions:

• Melt the butter in a large frying pan and brown the chicken in the butter. About 4 minutes each side. Remove from pan
• Add the onions, stirring occasionally, be sure to scrap up any bits from the bottom of pan, about 8 minutes until brown.
• Add pepper and paprika to the onions and stir. Add chicken broth and stir, again getting an bits from the bottom. Place the chicken on top of the onions and simmer another 20-30 minutes, until chicken is cooked through (165 degrees).
• Remove the chicken again and remove pan from the heat. Stir in sour cream to make a creamy sauce. Salt to taste. Return the chicken to the pan and coat with sauce.
• Serve with dumplings, spaetzle, noodles, or potatoes.

I usually make spaetzle to go with this, or egg noodles. Here is my Spaetzle recipe, very simple!

Spaetzle

My Swiss-German grandmother made these and I love them as a side, or just plain with a little butter and salt. Posting this to go with my Chicken Paprikash recipe, that is not my grandmother's but I'm pretty sure she would have liked it!

Spaetzle

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup water (or milk)
• 2 cups flour
• dash of nutmeg

Instructions:

• Combine all ingredients, add the flour last, a little at a time.
• Let rest for about 10 minutes
• Boil a large pot of water
• Drop small amounts of dough into the boiling water. I don't have the technique of my grandmother using a cutting board and knife, so I use the back of a spoon, or you can use a spaetzle maker or cheese grater to make a consistent size.
• When the noodle are done, they will float to the top. Remove with slotted spoon.
• Rinse in a colander in cold water.

Serve with Chicken Paprikash, or add to soup or stews, or fry in a pan with butter.

Whipped Cauliflower

Ahh, whipped cauliflower--some refer to it ask Faux Mashed Potatoes. But there are no such things as a fake potatoes. Potatoes are sacred to me, so don't even try to mess with them. Thanks.

While cauliflower can be prepared similar to mashed potatoes, and can be served in lieu of mashed potatoes, as a low carb option, this is a tasty dish all on it's own.  This is very simple recipe, but it gives a nice consistency and you can dress it up or down as you wish.

Whipped Cauliflower

Ingredients:

• 1 medium head of cauliflower
• 3-4 Tbsp. butter
• 2-3 Tbsp. half and half or heavy cream
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Instructions

• Clean and cut up the cauliflower, steam for about 10 minutes, until soft and tender--easily pierced with a fork.
• In a bowl with and immersion blender, add remaining ingredients and whip until smooth.
• Stir in any cheese, herbs, or other additions you wish.
• Serve while hot.