mulberryshoots

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" ~ Mary Oliver
March 22, 2020

homemade carrot cake for two! . . .

Well, it’s Sunday afternoon – and since there’s no football, baseball, basketball nor golf on TV (except for old games) you might spend the time making a carrot cake for two! Here’s the recipe which is half the Epicurious carrot/orange/raisin cake I’ve been making for decades!

Heat oven to 325. In a mixing bowl, add 3/4 vegetable oil, 1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 large eggs and mix together (I used a portable hand mixer.)

Add 1/2 to 1/3 cup of Navel orange (half an orange) and 1 Tablespoon grated orange peel (same half.)

Then, add 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, salt. Hand grate fresh carrots on large holes side of box grater. 1 and 1/2 cups of grated carrots, and 1/2 cup golden raisins. (FYI, I’ve tried grating the carrots on the Cuisinart, but the carrots become too small and heavy so it sinks to the bottom of the cake, rather than being suspended in the cake batter.)

Bake for about 55 minutes in a square baking pan (see? it’s just for 2-3 people!)

To make quick cream cheese frosting; beat room temp cream cheese and half stick room temp butter – add orange juice (the other half) and zest (ditto) plus some confectioners sugar to your taste. We like it with very little sugar.

When cake has cooled, frost the cake and enjoy it all by yourselves tonight while watching something good on TV or listening to music. ENJOY! Will add a photo of the baked cake when it’s ready! Meanwhile, here’s one with the batter ready to go in the oven.

Advertisement
Leave a comment
March 22, 2020

homemade pea soup with bacon . . .

IMG_0634.jpegHomemade pea soup: made it this morning – it’s a perfect “pantry” soup that tastes really delicious:
a) keep strips of bacon (3-4 together) in the freezer (handy for BLT’s and soups/stews);

b) saute bacon with half chopped Vidalia onion;

c) chop up one very large carrot and add to bacon & onion

d) separately, boil some water and soak a packet of dried green peas and let the peas absorb the water;

e) When plump, add the soaked peas (drained of soaking water) to the pot of browned bacon, onion and carrots. Add filtered water to the pot and add a gelatin capsule of Knorr’s chicken broth.

Cook gently for a couple of hours on simmer. The peas will start to dissolve into the

soup – helped along with a flat wire whip gently mixing the peas into the soup. Serve

when the peas have softened into the soup – could use an immersion blender too, but

not required.

We had this soup with toasted meunster and tomato grilled sandwiches on

homemade bread. Yummy!

Leave a comment