Carrot Cake!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, but I have been cooking! While my Australia boys were in town, I was inspired by a Food Network show to make a carrot cake. Lo and behold, I had a bag of carrots in my fridge that were dying to be eaten. Especially eaten in a delicious, moist cake.

I used the Best Carrot Cake Recipe Ever because I felt like I could really throw a fit if it wasn't, in fact, the best carrot cake ever. Unfortunately, it was delicious.

It was super easy to make - from grating the carrots, to mashing up the pineapple, only taking maybe 15 minutes tops. Which was good since I had guests.

I ended up not adding the raisins for walnuts - for no reason except we didn't have any.

Even the frosting I had to improvise on. Without cream cheese, I couldn't create the traditional cream cheese frosting. Instead, I combined butter, powdered sugar, and a good amount of cinnamon to create a basic frosting.



As a frosting expert, I have to say, adding the cinnamon really enhanced the flavor. After some ample 'chef taste testing,'  I'm surprise there was any left for the cake!

Of course, once the cake was out, I couldn't wait to put on the frosting. As soon as the frosting hit the cake, it started melting. This could have been HORRIBLE! But instead, it looked really nice and basically frosted itself. All in all, this was my first carrot cake and will not be my last.

Bon App-Alysse!

Pan Fried Steak and Sweet Potato Fries

Last night I made a marinated steak and some sweet potato fries. I kind of thought it would be an easy night - how hard can fries be, really? Little do I know... but more on that later.

Lets start with the good: the steak. I marinated it in "The Best Steak Marinade in Existence"which was a mix of soy sauce, oilve oil, Worcester sauce, lemon juice, with some garlic, parsley and basil. It was super simple and the only ingredients that I needed to buy were the steaks. I mixed everything together in a small mixer, threw it in a bag and let it sit in the fridge for an hour (because of my lack of planning, one hour was all the time I had).

When it was time to cook, I put the steaks in some heated olive oil and added some of the extra marinade. Cooked each side for about 5 minutes each, then cooked them again for the same since they were still pretty rare. Now usually I like my steaks bloody, but I think with the fry fiasco the steaks became less important. Next time I would fry them 5 or 6 minutes less, but they finished medium and had a great flavor.

I also read something about frying them for only a few minutes on each side, them removing them from the direct heat and letting the residual heat cook the rest of the meat. I will definitely be trying this sometime. Anyone have experience with this technique?

So... the stupid sweet potatoes.  I used Paula Deen's recipe which calls for 5 sweet potatoes. I used three enormous ones instead and spent about half an hour cutting them up after peeling.

SO MANY SWEET POTATOES!

Really, I had to use two different counters in my kitchen to hold all of them.

I should have been tipped off when reading the recipe because it calls for 1 cup of salt along with a mixed bag of other seasonings. That is a lot of salt.

It says to mix the potatoes with the salt mixture, then to add oil, and then add some parsley on top. Well let me tell you, when I added the seasoning, you couldn't even see the potatoes. They were just covered completely. I thought that was how they were supposed to be and didn't think much of it. I should have.

I put two different pans in the oven (one to cook for a short time to give me the squishy fries I like, and the other to get them crispy like Will likes). We took mine out first, tried them and gagged. "That's too much, Bob!"

I tried putting the fries into a colander to shake some of the seasoning off, tried rubbing it off with paper towels. Nothing really worked. However! I was not going to give up on them! Which is why I had a little tizzy when Will grabbed the plate with MY squishy (though not edible) fries and threw them straight into the trash can! Of course he didn't touch his plate of fries. Goodness.

Luckily we had another batch of chopped up potatoes for round two. I put the potatoes straight onto the baking sheet and then sprinkled them with the salt mix. They tasted much better, until I poured them into the first batch, thinking that the first batch would get better. They didn't and the last batch got contaminated :(

Oh well! Better luck next time. You can see in this picture that there were some edible fries from the third batch. And yes, those brown, cat litter looking clumps are the first two batches. Aye...

Bon App-Alysse!

FAIL

Last night I had my first cooking fail! And of all the recipes, it was fries. Sweet potato fries. I'm ashamed. More to come soon.

Bon App-Alysse!

Next up...

Meat and potatoes!

With a twist of course. Tonight I'm craving steak! I'm going to make a marinade of some sort and then pan fry steak.

As for the potatoes, I'll be baking some spicy sweet potato fries! Hopefully squishy fries, not to crisp, just the way I like it.

Now to find some recipes for a marinade. Will was thinking a Caribbean Jerk marinade... do you have a signature glaze or flavor that is simply delicious?


Bon App-Alysse!

Curry!!!

In my quest for the perfect curry, I've tried over 7 recipes. While some have come close to matching the "I want to literally drink this from the serving bowl" flavor I've had at some restaurants, I feel like I'm getting further and further away from the taste I want.

Last week I found an Indian recipe book and tried a basic chicken curry that had some different ingredients that I was used to. Ultimately, it was bland and lacked the flavor that I love. However... I did remember to pick up some garlic naan that saved the day. Nothing can taste bad when eaten on some buttery naan!

Yesterday I tried creating a curry based on my instinct alone. I figured that I had made enough to know what ingredients and flavors I like. Below is a recipe (based on memory) from that night. Note that the amount on the ingredient is completely made up based on what I think I used. Also, the cat helped:

Alysse's Currrray

2 cloves garlic
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
Assorted veggies

1.5 cups stock
2/3 can of low fat coconut milk

2-3 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup brown sugar (start with less, add more to taste)
2 tbsp minced ginger

Seasonings: Mom's Curry Mix-
Sweet curry, garam masala, vindaloo, maharajah - probably, maybe a tsp of each? maybe a tbsp of the sweet curry and maharajah. I have no idea, I just smelled them all and added at will, then added some more.


Heat some oil in a large, deep pan. Add garlic until aromatic. Add finely chopped onion, saute for a few minutes.

Then add the rest of your veggies. I used what I had in my fridge - broccoli, spinach, carrots. Saute for a few minutes.

Add chicken stock and one third can of coconut milk and simmer.

Add tomato paste, some brown sugar. I know that I love a sweet curry, so I used a lot of brown sugar. You may want to start with less and work your way up. Add ginger and spices. Salt and pepper to taste.

Stir and add the rest of the coconut milk, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve over rice and enjoy!



So there's my curry recipe! You can tell that I like a sweet curry, and I think the brown sugar is the best way to get that flavor. I'm still looking for suggestions on spices or things to add for the perfect curry. Any ideas??

Bon App-Alysse!

Next up...

Curry!! My favorite. I just found a recipe book of Indian cooking, and I have basically all the ingredients. I'll be picking up some chicken and onions on my way home from work tomorrow, and then am embarking on some Chicken Korma. Ideally looking like this... 

Bon App-Alysse!

Meatloaf and Couliflower Au Gratin

Last week was super stressful! But what isn't stressful? Meatloaf.

It took about 5 minutes of prep time - I think I shaved off a few minutes when I didn't exactly read the recipe well and mixed all of the ingredients in at once (instead of using the brown sugar and such for more of a glaze).

Mixing all the ingredients together was DELICIOUS! Very sweet because of the brown sugar. I would consider cutting down half a tablespoon, but Will gave me a death stare when I mentioned this.

The Cauliflower Au Gratin was a little more work (recipe here) but ultimately excellent. It was a little more creamy/cheesy than I usually like, but hey, that's what it's supposed to be!

My favorite part was making the almond milk. First I roasted the almonds in a pan for a few minutes, then ground up the nuts and let them soak in milk. I don't like milk too much, but the almond milk was great! 

Unfortunately I didn't have the best tools or making this well, so I made a pretty good mess trying to separate the grounds from the milk. I ended up getting a little frustrated and let some of the almond pieces into the au gratin... but I think it just added some nice texture.

Ultimately the combo of the cheesy cauliflower and the sweet meatloaf were amazing together. I will definitely save the meatloaf recipe, probably doubling it next time (Will and I had only two meals out of it! Disappointing).

Bon App-alysse!