Moist, Dense, and Delicious...

describes the carrot cake that I am sharing today. I can't take credit for this easy and delicious recipe because I found it on the back of Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour bag. When I read the recipe it looked easy enough, so I gave it a try and have been making it for the past year whenever I want a quick and simple desert. If you can grate a few carrots and chop some walnuts, you can make this easy recipe. I usually make the cake and not the frosting, but I thought I would give the frosting a try so I could taste it to see if the recipe was good enough to post, and it is : )

Here is the recipe from the back of the pastry flour bag, and the credit that was given to the woman who created the recipe...

Carrot Cake

This uncommonly moist and flavorful Carrot Cake recipe was the "Grand Prize winner" in a recent Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods Baking Contest. Thanks to Nola Silver of Seattle, Washington for her baking skill and recipe.

1/2  cup Brown Sugar                         2 Eggs

1/2 cup White Sugar                           1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Canola Oil                              1tsp Cinnamon

Mix all ingredients well. Add the following:

1 cup Bob's Red Mill                           1/4 cup Chopped Walnuts

          Whole Wheat Pastry Flour         8 ounces Crushed Pineapple, Drained

1 cup Grated Carrots                            3/4 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

Mix. Bake at 350 degrees F. in a greased 8"x8" or 9"x9" pan until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. About 50 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting 

3 Tbsp Cream Cheese, softened*               1/2 tsp Vanilla

3 Tbsp Margarine, softened**                      Powdered Sugar, 1/4 to 1/3 cup***

Using a wooden spoon, whip the cream cheese, margarine and vanilla until smooth. Sift in the powdered sugar, 1 Tbsp at a time, and stir until a creamy smooth frosting is achieved.

*I just used 2 oz. as it was easier to measure.

**I used butter instead of margarine.

***I used 1/2 cup of powdered sugar.

And that was that! Mmm...now I must go finish off that piece of cake I used for these photos.

I hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy it as much as I do!

Time to get posting over at...

Sloppy Joe Sliders

I love scouring food blogs for recipes that are familiar, and made from scratch. I am on a mission to cook and eat healthier by ridding my kitchen of processed foods. I know I can't possibly get rid of all processed foods, as I love condiments and cheeses, but I am working on replacing boxed and canned foods with homemade versions I make from scratch.

When I post or recommend a recipe, I like to make it more than once to be sure that the flavor and texture is consistent. Too many times I've read posts where the commenters got different results when they tried out the same recipe. I also like to make sure it is a recipe that I would try more than once simply because I like it and want to incorporate it into my cooking routine. Today's recipes are ones that I will continue to make, and share with family and friends.

Here's how to make a delicous sloppy joe slider...

Today's sloppy joe recipe came from a blog I discovered last month, The Pioneer Woman. I not only enjoy her recipes, I really enjoy reading her humorous posts.

The rolls for the sloppy joe sliders came from another blog I discovered last month, For The Love of Cooking. I enjoy reading through her recipes as they are simple to make, and taste delicious.

To see and print the recipes from today's post, go here for the sloppy joe recipe, and here for the whole wheat rolls recipe. I thought it would be easier to just send you to their sites as they have a print button and I haven't figured out how to install one yet, and perhaps you will look around and find some wonderful recipes from their blogs to try : )

Although I am a grown woman, I have to admit that I still love sloppy joe. I like to make a big batch and take it for my lunch during the week, and freeze some for when I want a quick snack or perhaps dinner. Unfortunately, my recipe uses a can of that manly sloppy joe mix, but I also doctored it up with ketchup, bbq sauce, green pepper, and onion. Not only did I like my recipe, but many people have asked me for it and used it on special occasions. I even sold it at the specialty meat market and deli I used to work at before I moved to California. So I especially like The Pioneer Woman's sloppy joe recipe because it tastes just like my recipe, only it doesn't have the can of processed sloppy joe mix, or the processed bbq sauce. It does use ketchup, but I got over my guilt by buying organic ketchup ; )

Gotta have pickles with my sloppy joe!

I was so excited when I found the whole wheat roll recipe as I was feeling a bit guilty for using white bread flour in the new Mom's Dinner Rolls recipe I blogged about last week. This whole wheat roll recipe has all the same ingredients as the Mom's Dinner Rolls recipe except that you exchange 1 1/4 cups of whole wheat flour for 1 1/4 cups of the white bread flour. Also, the whole wheat roll recipe insists that you not use plastic wrap to cover the rolls while they rise. I have to admit that I covered them with plastic wrap and was ready to let them rise, but then I quickly replaced it with a towel because I had put to much time into making them to take a chance at ruining them. See...

If you print the recipe for the whole wheat rolls, be sure to write the baking temperature which is 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. It was included in the blog post, but forgotten on the printable recipe.

While making the sloppy joe, I cut the recipe in half. I used 1/2 Tbls. worchestershire sauce, and the tomato paste that was an optional ingredient. I didn't use the butter or hot sauce though.

If you decide to try these delicious recipes, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do : )

O.K., I'm off to post over at...

In Knead of Dough...

This past year I have been thinking back to my childhood and remembering the wonderful rolls my mother used to make. Mom never told us when she was going to make rolls or bread, we would just come home from school to find the dining room table filled with her wonderful rolls and loaves of bread. It was usually the first warm, sunny day in April. She would have soft butter and homemade strawberry jam waiting for us to slather on the rolls. All this left me and my siblings sighing as though we had gone to heaven.

My Mother was from Kentucky, and was a great Southern cook. I learned to cook a lot of recipes from my mom by hanging out in the kitchen when I was growing up, but one thing I never learned to make was my mother's rolls. The reason for this is because my mother only made bread dough when I was at school. Maybe she thought rising dough was too delicate a matter, and didn't want kids underfoot. Really, I am not sure and I never seriously thought about it until recently. I think perhaps this has something to do with my fear of baking with yeast, I was never instructed how to do it properly.

In my quest to to replicate that wonderful flavor, I've tried to use frozen dough, and even bought a bread machine, but they both were lacking that homemade taste and texture. Along with the yeasty flavor, my mother's rolls and bread had more of a yellow color and a salty taste, which was lacking in the white breads I've tasted.

As luck would have it, a few weeks ago I came across a recipe for "Mom's Rolls" while browsing For the Love of Cooking blog. I wondered if these rolls could be similar to the rolls my mother made. After reading the recipe, I wasted no time trying it out.

What I like most about the recipe is that it is made in the bread machine using the dough cycle, then allowed to rise on a cookie sheet, and finally is baked in the oven. I knew I could do that, so here is my "Mom's Roll" success story...

My first try : )

Mom's Dinner Rolls

Adapted from: For the Love of Cooking

1 cup of water

2 tbsp of butter, softened

1 egg (hold under warm water before breaking it)

3 1/4 cup of bread flour

1/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp salt

3 tsp regular active dry yeast

Place all dough ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed. Select the dough cycle and press start. Once the bread machine stops (it was one and a half hours on my machine).

(I added this step from my bread machine directions as the dough was too sticky coming out of the breadmachine.)
Lightly sprinkle all-purpose flour onto a pastry mat or board. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, remove dough from the bread pan and place on lightly floured surface. Knead by hand 2-3 times* to release the air.

Grease a cookie sheet. Divide dough into 15 pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Brush with butter** then cover with plastic wrap; let rise in a warm place 30 to 40 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!

* For more of a bread-like texture to use as buns, knead for about a minute to get the air out of the dough.
** I sprayed the 2nd and 3rd batch I made with cooking spray before rising, and brushed with butter right after they came out of the oven.


This is my try at this recipe and the stages just before they go in the oven

This is the first batch of rolls I made. In the left picture the rolls have dimples because I had to pop the big air bubbles that formed when I didn't knead the dough. For the 2nd and 3rd batch I made, I kneaded the dough as stated above and didn't have that problem.

Well if you are wondering if these rolls are just like my mom's, not exactly, but I love them anyway. These rolls are really delicious and make a nice all-purpose roll. I use them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They don't have preservatives, so toasting or grilling them after a few days keeps 'ems soft when making a sandwich. These rolls can be frozen and taken out before needed to keep them fresh for a longer period of time. They also make great mini panini sandwiches when they are a day or two old.

I hope this recipe inspires those of you who have a bread machine gathering dust on a shelf.  Give this recipe a try, you won't regret it...really!