Carrot Cake: for the (Not-So) Serious Connoisseur

Put It On a Plate First!

I cannot explain how it came to be, or when it happened, but I love carrot cake.  It is by far my favorite dessert.  Yes, I will choose this wonderfully dense and full-bodied treat over even chocolate.  The problem with carrot cake, like many somewhat esoteric foods, is that finding a really good one can be difficult.  Not long ago (geologically speaking), the one restaurant I knew where I could find a decent slice of this delightful confection stopped carrying it.  Appalled and devastated, I searched in vain to find a replacement.  I had almost given up when…

I recently stumbled across a recipe that was close, so in classic Katey fashion; I tweaked and modified the ingredients and processes until I had a dessert that adequately met my definition of good carrot cake.  Okay, that is not true.  I nailed it on the first try; I just don’t like to brag.  It is bad kitchen karma.  Without further delay, here is my rendition of a classic dessert.

Kate’s Carrot Cake

Ingredients

The Cake:

2 cups – Flour

2 cups – Sugar

2 teaspoons – Baking Soda

1 teaspoon – Baking Powder

½ teaspoon – Salt

1 teaspoon – Ground Cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon – Ground Cloves

1/8 teaspoon – Ground Nutmeg

4 cups – Grated Carrots

4 large Eggs

1½ cups – Vegetable Oil

1½ teaspoons – Vanilla Extract

1 can (8 oz.) – Crushed Pineapple w/Juice

¾ cup – Finely Chopped Pecans

The Frosting:

1 package (8 oz.) – Cream Cheese

½ cup – Butter, softened

3½ cups – Confectioner’s Sugar

1¼ teaspoons – Vanilla Extract

The Topping:

¼ cup – Finely Chopped Pecans

Preparation

• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, until well combined.
• Add remaining ingredients, carrots, eggs, oil, vanilla, pineapple, and pecans, to the dry ingredients and stir until well blended.
• Pour contents into a well-greased 9X13-baking pan and bake at 325 degrees for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• Place on cooling rack and let cool completely
• To make the frosting, combine cream cheese, butter, confectioner’s sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until ingredients are smooth and creamy.
• Spread frosting evenly over the fully cooled cake and dust with chopped pecans.
• Cover and refrigerate. 

Serve

• Resist the urge to eat directly from the pan.  Use a plate.
• I prefer it cool, but warm cake is delicious too.
• Best served after a light dinner; this cake will fill you up! 

Tips

• I get all my ingredients out on the counter before I start combining things, otherwise I will forget something.
• I prefer to use a glass baking pan, though metal would probably work alright.
• If your powdered sugar has been sitting for a while, it may help to sift or whisk it prior to mixing with the creams.  This will cut down on the mixing time.

As always, happy cooking, my friends!

(and save me a slice... wink, wink)

Love,

Kate

Super Duper Moist and Delicious!

Kate's Chili Fusion

Kate's Chili Fusion

I love chili in just about every style and presentation.  Cook it all day over a wood fire, put beans in it, leave the beans out of it, put it over a hotdog, or serve up a Skyline 5-way (if you know what that is, I love you), and I am in heaven.  Chili is a wonderful amalgam of flavors, and yet it is one of the most hotly debated (no pun intended) culinary rituals in the country.  I mean, really, how often do you hear someone say, “If it doesn’t have carrots, it ain’t beef stew?”

But with chili, every detail of its contents is a deciding factor for whether or not it should truly be considered chili, and depending on whose mom made it or what part of the country you are in, the same ingredient may be the pro or the con.  I say enough with the fighting!  Can we all please just agree that chili is yummy?

I can be a little devil in the kitchen, and in a “thumb the nose at territorial chili” spirit, I have built my chili to celebrate the symphony of regions and local colors from which I have enjoyed its many forms.  If you believe that chili is not chili without the beans, or that chili is just spicy stew with the beans, or that chili should never be cooked indoors, you may want to avoid this recipe.  But if you are an adventurous spirit with an open mind, enjoy!  My family certainly loves it!

Estofado de Chile

(Chili Stew)

Ingredients

1½ pounds – Beef Stew Meat

1 large – Onion, chopped

3 large cloves – Garlic, minced

2 fresh – Jalapenos, chopped

2 cans (14.5 oz.) – Petite Diced Tomatoes

1 can (15 oz.) – Tomato Sauce

1 can (6 oz.) – Tomato Paste

3 cans (15.5 oz.) – Light Red Kidney Beans (liquid drained halfway)

2 cans (15 oz.) – Black Beans (liquid drained halfway)

2 Tablespoons – Chili Powder

2 Tablespoons – Cocoa Powder

2 teaspoons – Black Pepper

2 teaspoons – Salt (or to taste)

1 teaspoon – Ground Cumin

1 teaspoon – Ground Cinnamon

1 teaspoon – Crushed Red Pepper

Preparation

• Trim the beef to remove excess fat and insure bite size chunks
• Place all ingredients in slow cooker (yes, add the meat raw)
• Cook on low heat for 6 – 8 hours, stirring occasionally
• Taste after about 4 hours and add additional seasoning if desired 

Serve

• Top a piping hot bowl with some shredded cheddar cheese
• Add a few dashes of your favorite hot pepper sauce for a little extra kick
• Goes great with a cold Dos Equis!
• Oyster crackers are a fun addition for the kids (or the kid in you!) 

Tips

• Do not brown the beef beforehand; cooking it in the chili from its raw state makes it incredibly tender and delicious.
• This recipe has a subtle heat.  You may not notice it at first; it won't make you sweat, but it builds to sinus clearing level by the end of the first bowl.
• For a milder chili, remove the seeds from the jalapeno and reduce the amount of red pepper.  For spicier, add more.
• Like all my favorites, this recipe keeps wonderfully for days, and even freezes for later use.
• My favorite addition to chili is Cholula Hot Sauce, because it has a wonderful flavor as well as nice spice.  But use what you like.

As always, happy cooking!  I would love to hear how the recipe turns out for you.

Peace and Culinary Delight,

Kate

Tropical Banana Bread

Kate's Tropical Banana Bread

Banana bread was one of my early ventures into cooking / baking from scratch.  My very first batch was pretty darn good (to my surprise), but over time I have experimented with new ingredients and differing measurements until I finally achieved the OMG factor.  These days, my Banana Nut Bread is the stuff of legend.  One day I will teach my methods to a young apprentice who may carry on the traditions.  Until then, my recipe remains a guarded secret – heavily protected by several other recipes in a stack of papers behind my flour canisters.

I will share this delightful little variation that I came up with yesterday, though, inspired only slightly by a shortage of overripe bananas in my kitchen.  Get out all of your mixing bowls and measuring cups; you will need them!  Warning: for me, baking from scratch also involves working entirely by hand.  I do not use blenders, mixers, or processors in the combining of ingredients.  That usually means my arms are pretty tired when I am done.  Hopefully, you are in a little better shape.  This version is still in the testing and development phases, but the early taste tests have been extremely successful.  Keep the wooden spoon handy to fend off hungry onlookers!

Tropical Banana Bread

Ingredients

3 Cups – All Purpose Flour

1½ teaspoons – Salt

1 Tablespoon – Baking Soda

1 teaspoon – Baking Powder

1½ Cups – Butter, softened

2 Cups – Brown Sugar, lightly packed

¾ Cup – Granulated Sugar

6 Eggs, beaten

3 Cups – Overripe Bananas, mashed

1½ Cups – Pineapple, crushed and well drained

1 teaspoon – Vanilla Extract

1½ Cups – Pecans, chopped

½ Cup – Dates, chopped

1 Cup – Coconut, shredded/flaked (plus a handful to sprinkle over loaves)

Preparation

• In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder
• In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and sugar until dough like substance forms
• Add eggs, bananas, pineapple, vanilla, and and flour mixture to butter and sugar and mix until well combined
• Stir in pecans, dates, and coconut and mix well
• Pour mixture into well-greased mini-loaf pans and sprinkle a few coconut flakes over each loaf, keeping away from edges (produces 7-8 mini loaves)
• Bake at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean
• Let cool completely before serving (about 2 hours)

The Troops Lined Up for Inspection!

Serve

• Makes a great snack warmed slightly with butter and a glass of cold milk
• Or just eat it as is, no butter needed!
• Keep bread refrigerated, will also freeze for later use, though I have never had any left to freeze.

Tips

• Be sure to drain the pineapple extremely well.  Press as much moisture out as possible.  The bread is extremely moist already.  I did not press enough moisture out of the pineapple on the first round and the center simply would not finish baking.
• Do not melt the butter before mixing; just make sure it is nice and soft.  I hand mix with a wooden spoon.  You can use a mixer if you have one.
• I measure out all of my ingredients and even whip the eggs before I start creaming the butter and sugar, which means I dirty a lot of bowls; but when I do it that way, I do not forget ingredients (there are quite a few to keep track of!).
• Start checking the bread after about 35 minutes.  My oven bakes a little unevenly, so I usually need to shift pans around and such, and depending on a million factors, the bread may bake faster or slower than expected.
• Seriously, cool the bread completely before you eat it.  It actually gets better after sitting in the refrigerator for a day.  Waiting is hard, but you will not be sorry.

Let me know how it turns out!

Enjoy, and happy cooking,

Kate

Buffalo Chicken Party Dip

A New Crowd Favorite

Yesterday, we were invited to an impromptu party, which of course meant I needed a quick snack idea to take along. Not really having time to go to the store (we ended up going anyway), I took a quick mental inventory of my pantry and turned to my favorite recipe app. to perform a quick ingredient search. Within minutes I had the perfect find – a buffalo chicken dip. Several of the party guests, including our hosts are from or have lived in New York State, so what better way to show our appreciation for their hospitality than pay tribute to one of New Yorks greatest contributions to pop culture (and sports bars) today – the Buffalo Wing?

Oh, and I had all the ingredients. After studying the recipe for a bit, I decided (as I usually do) that it was going to need a little help to achieve the flavor I wanted. I also needed to pad the serving size just a little. So, in typical Cucina di Kate fashion, I plotted a few detours and an extra stop or two, and then it was off to the races. The result was remarkable (even I was pleased with the outcome... not normal). The dip was a huge success, and we left at the end of the night with an empty crock pot. I hope you will experience the same result.

Buffalo Chicken Party Dip

Ingredients

½ of an Onion, finely diced

1 Large Clove of Garlic, minced

2 Cans (12 oz.) - Chicken Breast, shredded

1 Cup – Frank's Red Hot Pepper Sauce

2 Packages (8 oz.) - Cream Cheese, softened

1 Can (10.5 oz.) - Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

1 Cup – Ranch Dressing

1½ Cups – Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded

Tabasco Sauce – To Taste

Preparation

• Add onions, garlic, chicken, and pepper sauce to a large skillet, and cook on medium heat until heated through
• Add cream cheese, soup, and ranch dressing to chicken and mix well
• Transfer ingredients to a slow cooker and add shredded cheese
• Add Tabasco sauce or additional pepper sauce as desired
• Cook on low heat for about an hour, stirring occasionally
• Keep warm until ready to serve

Serve

• Serve the dip warm with tortilla chips and celery stalks
• Have extra Tabasco sauce and some Ranch and/or Blue Cheese dressing available for your condiment lovers

Tips

• I put the cream cheese in my food processor along with the chicken soup and blended it before adding to the chicken. This helps speed up the mixing process considerably.
• I added about a Tablespoon of Tabasco sauce to my dish, and it was just enough to give it a little heat without taking your breath away.
• It's not important to cook the chicken mixture thoroughly in the skillet, as the ingredients will finish in the crock pot. This step is more for the purpose of getting things mixed together easily and getting some of the hot sauce flavors to permeate the chicken.
• I am not sure how many servings to call the output, but there were about a dozen or so people at the party, and there was not so much as one morsel left in the pot by the end of the night.

Enjoy, and happy cooking!

Kate

Meaty Baked Mac and Cheese

Welcome to the “Small Town Gourmet” recipe category.  Many of these are a nostalgic remembrance from my childhood in midwest small-town America.  These magical concoctions served up by my mother and grandmother on shoestring budgets would feed a hungry flock and sometimes leave a little left over for our lunch boxes the next day.  Casseroles were a foundational part of our weekly menu. They were simple, often quick, and always satisfying.

This first offering used to be a family favorite.  We would chuckle about the military grade ingredient list, but never before licking our plates clean!  It comes almost entirely from “the box,” and when I was a little girl it would serve an entire family for about $2.00.  The cost has increased a little, but if you catch the right sales, you can still pull this one together for around $5.00 and maybe half an hour of work.

Meaty Baked Mac and Cheese

Ingredients

1 Cup – Frozen Peas

1 Box (7.25 oz.) – Macaroni and Cheese Dinner

½ Cup – Milk

¼ Cup – Butter or Margarine

1 Can (10.5 oz.) – Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 Can (12 oz.) – Spam (or generic equivalent)

Preparation

• Place peas in a colander rinse and let drain
• In a medium saucepan, bring 4 to 6 cups of water to a boil.  Add macaroni and cook until done
• Add about 1 cup of cold water to stop the cooking process and pour the macaroni into the colander with the peas.  Let drain
• Once drained pour macaroni and peas back into saucepan
• Add milk, butter, cheese mix, and mushroom soup and mix well
• Spread contents evenly into a 9 by 13 inch glass baking dish
• Cut Spam into 12 equally sized slices and place over macaroni mixture in three rows of four slices
• Place baking dish in a 350-degree oven and bake for 15-25 minutes until Spam has browned
• Remove from oven and let stand for about 5 minutes

 Serve

• This dish is a meal by itself
• Serve with a side of bread and butter and a glass of cold milk

Tips

• You can add salt and pepper if desired, but I find the combination has enough flavor by itself
• I get (relatively) even slices of Spam by halving it, then halving those two halves, and then cutting the four pieces into thirds
• Try not to get between a hungry child and this dish – you could lose a finger!

Enjoy!

Kate

Beef Stroganoff, A Winter Time Favorite

Beef Stroganoff is one of my favorite comfort foods, and it is a fairly simple dish to prepare.  Even better, the recipe is very forgiving, so you can add or subtract amounts and ingredients to achieve your desired taste.  Below is my rendition of this classic dish.  The flavors are mild and satisfying, perfect for a cold winter night; and you’ll have enough to share… not that you’ll want to!

Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

¼ Cup – Olive Oil

2 lbs. – Sirloin Steak, thinly sliced

1 Medium Size White Onion, sliced

8 oz. – Baby Bella Mushrooms, sliced

1 tsp. – Garlic Powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 Cans – Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 Cup – Sour Cream

4 oz. – Cream Cheese, softened

1 to 1½ Cups – Milk

Preparation

• In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat
• Add steak, onions, mushrooms, garlic powder, and salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until all ingredients are well done.
• Pour contents into strainer and let drain
• In the same skillet over medium low to medium heat, combine mushroom soup, sour cream, cream cheese, and about 1 cup of milk.  Stir until ingredients are well blended and smooth.  Bring sauce to a slow boil, stirring constantly.
• Add steak mixture to sauce, cover and let simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally.  Add more milk as needed to achieve desired consistency.

Serve

• Plate the stroganoff over extra wide egg noodles.
• Serve with your favorite green vegetables (I like Brussels Sprouts) and a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, or your favorite red wine.

Tips

• You may want to tenderize the meat with a marinade prior to preparation.  Sirloin can get tough, though simmering in the sauce does loosen it up considerably.
• When slicing the beef, do your best to slice across the grain and no more than ¼ of an inch thick.  This will help with the tenderness.
• I add a little more salt and pepper (more pepper than salt) to the pan after everything is combined, just to kick the flavor up a bit more.
• You can speed up the blending process by throwing the cream cheese in a food processor or blender with 3 or 4 tablespoons of milk.  Not necessary for a good mixture, but it will save you a little stirring.

Enjoy, and happy cooking!

Kate

Bella Pollo (Beautiful Chicken)

I thought it fitting that my first recipe be the one that inspired me to begin writing them down again. It is because of this dish, that my new blog exists.

Bella Pollo

This is an incredibly easy dish to prepare, and the flavors absolutely explode in your mouth. My family loved it, and I hope yours will too.

4 Cups – Water (approximate)

2 Tablespoons – Worcestershire Sauce

1 Tablespoon – Garlic Salt

1 teaspoon – Crushed Red Pepper (optional)

4 – Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breasts

½ Cup – Butter or Margarine

1 – Medium White Onion, sliced

1 – Green Bell Pepper, sliced

1 – Red Bell Pepper, sliced

1 lb. - Baby Bella Mushrooms, sliced

Salt and Pepper to taste

Marinading the Chicken

• Pour about 2 cups of water into a large mixing bowl
• Stir in Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, and crushed red pepper until salt dissolves
• Add chicken breasts to the bowl and add enough water to fully immerse.
• Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour

Preparation

• In a large skillet, melt butter over medium high heat
• Place chicken breasts in the skillet then cover with onions, peppers, and mushrooms
• Cover and cook for approx. 10 minutes, stirring vegetables occasionally
• Turn chicken, cover and cook for another 10 minutes or until juices run clear, stirring vegetables occasionally

Serve

• Plate the chicken immediately with white rice (my preference)
• Drizzle vegetables and broth over the rice
• Serve with warm Italian bread and your favorite bottle of white wine.

Tips:

• I usually marinade the chicken for a full 24 hours, unless it came out of my freezer.
• I marinade chicken breasts ahead in the Worcestershire sauce / garlic salt mixture, and freeze them along with the juices in gallon size freezer bags for quick use later. The marinade has a wonderful flavor and is very versatile
• Pounding out the chicken breasts before cooking will reduce the cook time.
• Try the same recipe (minus the marinade) with Italian sausage links!

Enjoy!