Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Carrot Cake


For as long as I can remember I have loved a good spicy cake. Honestly, I would take it over chocolate. My moms godmother was said to have made the best. Her mama's mama handed it down to her, who in turn handed it to her best friend, ( my grandma) and then to my mom and then me. It really wasn't to hard to adapt at all. The moistness of this cake was insane! I am glad I upped the spices, the flavor is unbeatable! I forgot to add the orange, next time I will and add the amounts to this.

I have to preface this with the fact that I HATE Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Flour, really I do, but I had to get rid of the bag that I had so I can order the flours I use to make my own mix. When I get my flours in I will adapt and add that as well. This is the first thing I have made with the BRM that didn't taste like dirt, like really, I find it tastes like dirt every other time I use it. Anywho... here it is! ( You could make it with just two cups of BRM if you want, I was trying to keep it from tasting like dirt! HAHA!

2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups oil
4 eggs
3 cups grated carrots
1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup soy flour
1/4 ground flax seeds
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp xantham gum
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped walnuts

if you are one of THOSE people that likes to ruin a good cake with raisins then by all means, be my guest! I just don't roll that way!

In a large bowl cream together the eggs, sugar, and oil

In a medium bowl sift together all the other dry ingredients. slowly add to the cream mixture and mix well. Pour into a greased 9X13 glass pan. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes.

I HIGHLY suggest you keep on eye on it! Soy flour tends to make things brown faster. In my wonky German oven I had to cover it with foil around 30 min or so but it was still really soupy in the middle at that point so cover it and keep on cooking it for about 20 or 30 minutes.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Palmer Pork and "Wild" Rice



I had no idea what to call this so kept it simple. I was feeling random and finally have my smell back after what seems like months, maybe it really was... anywho I wanted something savory and this hit the spot. DON'T skip the rice, it is so rich and amazing. It brings out the glutton in me for sure. The amount of this rice I can eat in one sitting is obscene, really, it is.

"Wild" Rice

3/4 cup vegan butter
2 Cups GF Beef Stock
1/2 GF Dry Onion Soup Mix packet
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup white rice

Heat medium sized pot to medium high heat, and melt butter butter. When the butter in melted and starting to bubble, throw in the sliced mushrooms and minced garlic. Saute until soft. Pour in the beef stock and 1/4 cup dry onion soup mix packet, and the rice. Reduce heat to low and cover tightly with a lid. Cook for what it says on the rice, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Pork and Sauce

I am going to say right now, LIGHTY salt if you salt the pork at all, the worsteshire sauce and broth add plenty of salt!

4 Bone-in thick pork chops
pepper
2 Tbl vegan butter
3 Tbl olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup GF Beef Stock
1-2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp worsteshiere sauce
1 Tbl tomato past
1/2 tsp ground thyme
1 Tbl cooking sherry ( real would be better but I don't have it sitting around, maybe I should...)

Heat pan to medium high heat, melt the butter in the oil. When the oil is hot, add the peppered pork chops and quickly brown on each side. Once brown remove from heat and quickly add the onions in and saute. In a small bowl add the stock and the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Add too the onions once they are softening and bring back the meat. Turn meat around in sauce to make sure they all get a little bit of happy, cover and reduce to low and simmer for about 20 minutes or until pork is done. When pork is done, remove and raise the heat up to high, once it starts to boil, stir often until the sauce reduces and gets all rich and yummy. Pour this yumminess right on top of the pork. You will be happy you made that last step. You don't have too, but you really should, like, REALLY should!

Chicken with Peppers

I had no idea what to call this, other than good. It was the end of the week, the options were slim and I was short on time so I threw this together. I was shocked that I thought to write it as I went and glad I did. Next time will take pictures of it because seeing yummy food makes it yummier. I served this on good ol' white rice, it was delish!

1 pound chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
salt, pepper, and italian seasoning to season meat
1 Tbl vegan butter
3 Tbl Olive Oil
white wine
chicken stock
green olive juice ( optional)
can diced tomatoes
2 bell peppers ( I used red and yellow but any kind is fine) thin sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 small onions or one large one thin sliced
handful mushrooms.


Melt butter and oil in pan over medium high heat. While the pan heats up, season the chicken pieces with salt, pepper, and italian seasoning mix and start the rice. When hot add the chicken and quickly brown removing when done. Quickly throw in the peppers, mushroom, onions and garlic. saute until they begin to soften. Add a few glugs of wine ( precise measurements here, it is all precision!) add about the same amount of stock as you did wine. It was here that I poured in about a 1/4 cup green olive juice but that is all up to you. Add the can of tomatoes and reduce heat to medium and simmer down. Once it has reduced to about half, add the meat back in and simmer on low for about twenty minutes while your rice cooks.

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