Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is my Dad's absolute favorite cake flavor, but he's kinda persnickety about it. The boxed ones are a no-go...and the ones that taste like spice cake, uh- uh. So, finding a recipe that he approved of was quite a task.

A friend of ours brought over her version of carrot cake one night, and it was a winner. So naturally, we had to have the recipe, and this has been one of our favorites for a long time now.

You'll need:

1 1/2c. sugar

1c. oil

3 eggs

2c. flour

1 1/2tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2tsp. salt

1/4tsp. nutmeg

3c. shredded carrots

Mix all the ingredients together except the carrots using a hand mixer. Once all these are incorporated, stir in the carrots by hand. Pour the batter into a greased and floured baking pan, or two 8-in round cake pans. Bake at 350* for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let it cool.

While the cake is sitting, go ahead and make the frosting. Obviously, this cake calls for a cream cheese frosting, and unfortunately for you all, I don't use a recipe. But, I can give you a basic idea.

I use 1 block of cream cheese, and throw in a little milk, a little vanilla, and I add powdered sugar until the consistency is slightly thick but still spreadable, and it tastes good.  Yeah....sorry 'bout that. That's how I cook most of the time...

All that's left now is the assembly. You could get fancy and really 'decorate' the cake, but I just poured the frosting over the cake still in the pan, and sprinkled it with cinnamon.

And there you have it! A full serving of vegetables too! ;)

Happy Cooking!

-G



Stuffed Shells with Meat Sauce

My aunt is out of town for a couple weeks, and when that happens, my uncle is a regular dinner guest at our home. I let him make a petition for tonight's meals, and he chose "italian." So, tonights meal was for him, and we had stuffed shells in a tomato meat sauce.

I found this recipe online from the Taste of Home website, and it turned out to be soo good. The family asked for seconds, so I take that as a good sign.



You'll need:

28 uncooked jumbo pasta shells

1lb. ground beef

1/2c. chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

2 cans (15oz. each) tomato sauce

1 can (280z.) Italian diced tomatoes, drained

1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano, divided

1/2tsp. dried basil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 c. (24 ounces) cottage cheese

2 packages (10 oz. each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2c. grated parmesan cheese

1/2tsp. seasoned salt

In a skillet, cook ground meat, onions, and garlic until the meat is cooked through. Drain the meat, then add the tomatoes and tomato sauce, plus the basil and 1 tsp. of oregano. Let this come to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the sauce for 10-15 minutes.

While that goodness is happening, boil the jumbo shells for about 8 minutes to where they are softened, but not breaking apart.

In a separate bowl, the stuffing for the shells takes place. Mix together the eggs, cottage, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese,  seasoned salt, spinach, and remaining 1/2 tsp. of oregano.

Now it's time for assembly. Lightly grease a large baking dish, and spread a cup or so of the meat sauce mixture over the bottom of it.  Have your cooked shells and cheese mixture on hand, and have at it...

Stuff each shell with a little bit of the cheese mixture, and lay them on the baking pan in a single layer.

Top these babies with the rest of the meat sauce...



...and bake them covered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese looks nice and gooey.

Serve 'em up and eat them warm. These were really hearty and would make a great cold-night meal. But, seeing as we never get those here, I had to seize the moment and make them now ;)

Happy Cooking!

-G