Inside-out carrot cake – Carrot Cake Muffins Spring = bunnies Bunnies = carrots. And carrots = Carrot cake! Oh, the deep-gold, moist, flavorful cake! The time it takes to bake a layer cake, turn it out, cool, frost, slice, and serve… The solution? You get the carrot cake experience, with slightly less sugar and fat. These muffins are handy to transport; simple to serve. And easy to love. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Or line the pan with paper muffin cups, and grease the cups. Let’s start with the filling. Stir in 1/4 cup granulated sugar and a few drops of Fiori di Sicilia flavor. Stir until smooth. Whisk together the following: 2 1/4 cups (9 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 1/2 cup granulated sugar ¼ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder ¼ teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger 3/4 teaspoon salt Place the following in a measuring cup or small bowl: 2 large eggs 3/4 cup water 1/3 cup vegetable oil Whisk until well combined. Stir to combine. Whoops! DARN!
- StumbleUpon @jonny6pak: AFAIC, marinades are NEVER the way to go. I've never had a piece of meat that was somehow made better by soaking it in something. A brine will help tenderize and will flavorize to the extent that you like salt (and yes is much better than any marinade I've had), but honestly, I think a good homemade rub is all you need 99.9% of the time. I rub chicken, pork, and beef with consistently good results. I also coat the outside of beef and pork with olive oil to help with searing. The only meat that gets anything wet at all is ground beef, which gets egg white and Worcestershire (along with oatmeal, cheese (grated or sometimes stuffed with blue cheese), (usually) onion flakes, salt and spices—and a coating of olive oil).
Caramel Walnut Brownies Are you sitting down? Because I am about to share THE most requested recipe I have ever made. Never, in the history of my time in the kitchen, have I found a recipe that elicits such an overwhelming response as these. To make the recipe even sweeter, it is extremely simple to make. I've made it so many times in the last 13 years that I can almost whip up a batch of these Caramel Walnut Brownies with my eyes closed. There is a catch, though. The mystery ingredient? I have unsuccessfully searched the aisles of grocery stores in 6 different states. The past 6 years I have had to order it in bulk from amazon.com. What is it? Duncan Hines Caramel Cake Mix!! Rarely do I use a cake mix because I enjoy the process of baking things from scratch, but on this recipe, nothing but a caramel cake mix will do. Caramel Walnut Brownies adapted from Southern Living 14-oz. bag caramels 5-oz can of evaporated milk, divided use 1 box Duncan Hines Caramel Cake Mix 1 tsp cinnamon 12 TBS butter, melted 1 1/2 cups walnuts
Cauliflower Crust Pizza & Stick a Fork in It I came across this cauliflower crust pizza on Pinterest, and was instantly intrigued. A low-carb pizza? Sign me up! I was skeptical, of course, but curious enough to try it and see how it tasted. I was pleasantly surprised by the results. My husband isn’t a huge fan of cauliflower, so I planned on making the pizza before he got home from work. So the general conclusion…Healthy, tasty and husband-approved? Cauliflower Crust PizzaYields: 1 serving* Ingredients: 1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese* 1 egg, beaten 1 tsp dried oregano 1/2 tsp crushed garlic 1/2 tsp garlic salt Olive oil (optional) Pizza sauce Mozzarella cheese, shredded Other additional toppings of your choice *Many people have commented and said that the amount of cheese can be reduced by half, and still taste just as good! Directions: To rice your cauliflower, take 1 large head of cauliflower, remove the stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. *The original recipe makes 1-9 inch pizza.
Skinny Mashed Potatoes Mashed potatoes are one of my favorite things to eat on Thanksgiving, but this year since I am pregnant and on a really strict low carb diet (for my diabetes) real mashed potatoes are out (bummer). I recently started researching alternatives to some of my favorite dishes because there is NO way my plate will be without a big ole pile of mash potatoes. I came across this recipe that uses cauliflower instead of potatoes. Hmmm not a big cauliflower fan so I wasn't sure. If there is a choice of either celery or cauliflower in a veggie dish 9 times out of 10 I will choose the celery. ***BEST MOCK mashed potatoes I have ever had! What you will need: 1 head of cauliflower 1 tablespoon of cream cheese1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic1/2 teaspoon of salt5 or so dashes of pepperChives for garnish Directions:Wash and cut cauliflower into small pieces. These were seriously unbelievable!
How To…Roast Garlic In this post, I’ll be covering the step of roasting garlic. It’s a very simple skill and I’m sure many of you have down pat, but for those of you who don’t roast garlic on a regular basis, TRUST ME: you’re wandering around in a culinary void. And the only thing in the universe that will fill the void and turn you into the whole, well-rounded person your grandmother intended you to be is roasted garlic. The flavor is…well, there’s nothing like it on earth. The first thing you need to do is grab a bunch of heads of garlic. Next, find one of your oldest, dearest pie pans. Then, just tilt the pan around to coat the bottom thoroughly. Next, place the garlic heads, cut side up, in the pan. They look a bit like some bizarre form of sea creature at this point, don’t they? Drizzle the exposed cloves with olive oil. Then, sprinkle the cloves with salt. Look. Here’s my dish of Kosher salt. Anyway, after you salt the cloves, you’ll want to pepper them, too. And look! But that’s all in the past now.
MOZZARELLA STICKS WITH BUTTERMILK DIP When I told my friends I was planning on making homemade mozzarella sticks for a guy’s weekend out of town the idea was met with a profound lack of enthusiasm. Everybody knows that I like to experiment in the kitchen, but somehow the idea of making a bar food staple like mozzarella sticks from scratch seemed like a complete waste of time to the group. After being lectured about the innumerable brands available in the freezer section at the grocery store and a heated debate about whether marinara or ranch is the better dipping accompaniment, I decided to risk further heckling and see if I couldn’t one-up T.G.I. It might have been the alcohol, but the first batch was gone within a matter of seconds. With the right breadcrumbs, fragrant Italian spices and an organized assembly line for the essential double-dredging technique, perfect, scratch-made mozzarella sticks can be made at home in no time and with little effort. For the Mozzarella Sticks: For the Buttermilk Dip: Serves 4
Turtle Burgers I got an email today with directions on how to make Turtle Burgers, and I am still laughing about it! Crazy, right? Not to mention a heart attack waiting to happen. Next time you want to grill hamburgers and hot dogs, put them together, slap some bacon on them and create these, um, delicious turtles. You're sure to scare wow your guests at your next barbecue with these! Here are the directions as stated in the email: Handmade ground beef patties, topped with sharp cheddar cheese, wrapped in a bacon weave, then the next step, add hotdogs as the heads, legs with slits for toes and tail. Ooooh sounds yummy! Cheese Pinwheel Rolls Sooner or later, all my conversations inevitably turn to food. Don’t believe me? Call me up sometime and try to, say, sell me some insurance. I guarantee that before we get off the phone, I’ll be giving you my recipe for blackberry jam. Perfect example: I was in a meeting a few weeks ago at the office. What was the best way to make them? Ah, the Frankenroll This recipe borrows heavily from two fairly unrelated things. To make these rolls, spread pizza dough liberally with melted butter, sprinkle it with cheese and spices, roll it up like a stromboli—then slice and bake like a pan of cinnamon buns. The result? Fill them however you like The best part about these rolls? This is what I always refer to as a Sliding-Scale Recipe. You can toss it together with a ball of pre-made dough and a bag of shredded cheese from the grocery store—or you can go all out and make the dough from scratch and grate your favorite cheeses by hand. I like to throw these rolls together on a weeknight. Bake the rolls