recipe experiments

Don’t you hate when you try a new recipe and it DOESN’T turn out?  You begin with such high hopes, and assemble your ingredients(can you tell that I am a cooking show junkie, lol) carefully,

You(I say you but, of course, I mean myself. Hopefully my dear readers,  you will have had a similar experience) have learned, over the years, that it is MUCH better to so do than to be suddenly faced with a task such as peeling and chopping apples, while your pan with a batter containing (among other things, baking soda) languishes coldly upon the counter, its rising abilities reducing by the second….(did you not read the recipe? Another wise thing to do.  :(

But I digress.

Its not nice to labour over a difficult recipe(or even , it could be an easy one, but you don’t know this, because it is NEW to YOU)  only to have it fail. Yikes.

If you have a sweet significant other, as I do, they are now faced with the onerous task of gamely sampling the disaster, trying to hide the horror as they eat, all the while , bravely telling you that, “no honey, it is DELICIOUS!!! “

But happily, the recipe that I tried this afternoon, did NOT fail.

It was (and is, as it still exists, but won’t for long) a carrot cake but one made with healthy ingrdienets, and NO SUGAR and minimal oil AND spelt flour.

A recipe by Ania Catalano

This moist, luscious cake is a tropical twist on an old favorite–made even better with Agave nectar and wholegrain flours.

Serves 8 – 10

Pineapple Coconut Carrot Cake:
3 cups carrots, finely grated in food processor
½ cup unsweetened, canned pineapple, drained well and chopped
½ cup unsweetened, shredded coconut (plus extra to garnish outside of cake, optional)
2 cups sprouted spelt flour or 1 ½ cups barley flour and ½ cup oat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoons cinnamon
¾ cup light Agave nectar
3 eggs
½ cup canola oil
1 cup non-fat plain yogurt
1 tablespoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Lightly grease two 9” cake pans with canola oil ( can use an 13×9 pan)
Mix together carrots, pineapple and coconut in a large bowl
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon
In a food processor, blend Agave nectar, eggs, oil, yogurt, and vanilla
Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir to blend
Add carrot mixture and stir until combined
Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 30 – 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean
Let cool in pan, then invert onto platter
Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 8 oz. Package cream cheese at room temperature
½ cup light Agave nectar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Cream together butter and cream cheese
Add agave nectar and vanilla and beat well until creamy
Refrigerate frosting for about ½ hour to thicken (if needed) before frosting cake
Spread frosting in center of the two layers and over entire cake
Sprinkle with coconut, if desired

DELICIOUS!!!!! RECOMMENDED for anyone,…..

obligations

We have a reception to attend this afternoon, in honour of the friend who passed away, a couple of weeks ago. Not looking forward to it, obviously.

I am also not looking forward to seeing her mum , not just because of the circumstances, but because her mum is totally insane. She is one of these people who love to stir people up and to utter controversial and inaccurate information; about anything, but now she can feast upon every detail, from her daughter’s last minutes to fabrications about the findings by the coroner.

I know it sound morbid but she loves morbid topics(it comes from her fear of her own mortality, obviously) and always upsets people.  My other friend from college called me to tell me about the phone conversation she had had earlier in the week with the mum; it was terrible, and upset my second friend dreadfully.

So I have instructed Harvey to simply greet her, but not to linger with her, and to mingle with the others instead.

Sad to have to orchestrate such events, but I KNOW what her mum is like and really hope that I am wrong about her expected behaviour.

We will hope for the best….

(and I have been going to Tai Chi often this week, in preparation; arming myself with relaxation!)

 

 

autumn approaches

It’s getting CHILLY in the evenings now and we  have noticed that waking up is harder, as the sun isn’t showing until around 7.00 am(rather than around 5, in the good old summer time!)

We went for our usual walk this morning and saw that some little maples in the park are already starting to turn red…

Harvey took this picture(he really has the eye for composition and we agreed how wonderful the trees looked against the fir trees.)

The only thing is, I am not READY for autumn; I haven’t adjusted my  internal clock to accept that summer is indeed, just about over. I want the sun to be shining early in the morning AND late in the evening. I want to have all the windows open wide, day AND night. I want to  hear the stealthy noises coming up from the garden at night, to know that some animal is enjoying our vegetable garden; crunching away on radishes and inhaling the sweet young lettuces. I want to smell the warmth of the summer mornings and to sit on the deck with a steaming cup of coffee and to feel the breeze coming over from the park, carrying the scent of dry firs and summer grasses.

But in autumn, there is one thing I do look forward to and that is the apples.

This is the neighbour’s apple tree(they never prune it, so it is a bit scraggly but lots of fruit this year.)

 Apples are late coming in to the stores this year, but it looks like it is going to be a wonderful harvest, as the conditions were nearly perfect.

So yes, there are good things with the change of the seasons. Just wish the good seasons lasted longer!

Ready for the wedding

I was a bit concerned as I simply have no clothes for events like wedding, even out door weddings require a certain effort to look festive.
We were doing our weekly shop at Costco where there was a display of nice sweater type dresses; Harvey started taking ones off the rack and holding them up to me, and I found a great beige one with a sort of cowl neck and blue Icelandic pattern in the neck( sounds hideous but it looks really nice on) and short sleeves, so not TOO cosy…
I had been looking at the weather for the 23; it was saying rain( HOW can they possibly predict for that far ahead) I thought the sweater dress would be good as it could be a bit chilly, especially as the venue is outside( probably they will have tents, in case of showers)
Great price too, less than $40, which is highly unusual!
So now I am set,( except, now I have no decent shoes, it is always the way)
Oh and I just checked again, NOW they say that it will be around 18( that’s 67 Fahrenheit) so I will probably be cooking…lol
!

Harvey takes care

When I got sick, Harvey was so great; even checked on me while I was upchucking(which shows a true friend, as let’s face it, THAT is NOT a time when things look, smell or sound ideal…lol)

It was sad to see him look so lost and scared though; you know how it is…one partner tends to be the one that doesn’t get sick or who somehow holds the household together so when the applecart is upset, chaos seems imminent! But he soon rallied and brought me water, and cocoa cola (which really helps settle the tummy, BETTER than ginger ale, IMHO)  and solicitously wanted to draw curtains and close the door.

Funny, when I am sick I like to know that others are nearby; I don’t want to suffer alone. Not that I want others to catch my illness but its nice to hear stuff going on, like the tv or such..

I also like to see the blue sky, sunshine , birds, and not to feel as the final hour has come!

So the door was re opened and the curtains firmly pulled back.

I asked him to make me some soup.

I wanted chicken broth. We can get a great broth preparation here called, Better than Bouillon.

It’s truly a delicious product(we usually use it for cooking but for example, the chicken variety is wonderful as a clear broth. ) BUT it is VERY salty, so one doesn’t need a lot.

Harvey couldn’t find the jar in the fridge . He (apparently ) looked and looked. Finally he did find a new jar in the pantry so made some soup but when I tasted it, I almost screamed, he had used about HALF a JAR for ONE bowl..LOLOLOL!

So he was requested to try again(poor fellow confessed that he didn’t read the label NOR did he taste it)  The second time was great…