Betty Crocker, Try Betti Roxxor!

It’s amazing how powerful pictures can be.  As I was looking at some of my pictures from throwbacks, and the memories just flood back. Of times, places, people, feelings, how you are, and who you are at that moment. After all that I get hungry :)

Two pictures in particular really stood out: when I was tasked by my mom to make not one, but TWO cakes for her co-workers.

 One person LOVES citrus, so for him I made a key lime cake.

 The other loved carrot cake, but not with the nuts or raisins.

Now, I’m not a baker, but I thought I’d give it a try. And these two guys in particular were nice, so I figured what the hell. Since I was new to baking, I’ll hang my head in shame as I say that the key lime cake was made using a mix that I doctored up. Not real baking, but hey, those mixes exist for a reason, and people do buy them. Not as good as homemade, but good. 

After being acquainted with key lime, I fell in love with key lime pie. Everytime I can get my mitts on those tiny, tarty limes, I know pie’s in my future. So from one gussied up cake from a mix comes real key lime pie. Not the green goo kind you see in the supermarket. Lemon meringue does not get the lemon switched with lime to make key lime pie! Ew.

As for the carrot cake, when The Fisherman and I started dating, he mentioned loving carrot cake. Nearly six months later, I haven’t made it for him, I feel terrible (he doesn’t care but I do), so I decide I’ll make it for him, before it gets crazy hot outside and I melt before I turn on the stove. 

Another recipe that I tried, which is really baking for non-bakers, is a muffin-based recipe that I simply pour into a pan, because the thought of muffin tins and those paper cups…not gonna happen.

As I’m looking at those pictures, I asked myself, “Why don’t I bake more often?” The answer of course being, I’m not good at measuring, and I can’t leave well enough alone and have to fiddle with things. This does not bode well for baking. But, once in awhile, I’ll try to bake. Sometimes I create something good, and sometimes I make something TERRIBLE! 

I try to console myself (preferably with something delicious that I didn’t just bake), and know I have to try again. 

So on today’s menu, we have key lime pie, carrot cake, and banana nut muffins.  Let’s get cooking!

So the recipe I used is from the bag of limes. If you get the limes, it’s there. If not, this one is very similar.  

 Then, a primer on key limes: 

 Regular, or Persian lime, versus Key Limes.

 All cut up, and nowhere to go, but the JUICER!

But of course, I can’t leave well enough alone. I decided instead of buying or making a graham cracker crust, I should try making a vanilla wafer based crust. I figured it’s lighter than the graham, the vanilla smoothness would play nicely with the citrus, and I really, really believed it would work.

 Here it's blind baking so it's nice and crunchy.

I can’t complain, I thought it was good. Maybe next time I’d incorporate some coconut, a nice lime-coco pie.

 Mmmmm...

Next is the carrot cake, where I mess with it A LOT! However, due to some strange occurrence in the universe, it actually came out pretty good. And of course, anything covered in cream cheese icing is going to be good.  This is the recipe, and here’s what I changed :)

Ingredients

    * Unsalted butter, for the pan

    * 12 ounces, approximately 2 1/2 cups, all-purpose flour, plus extra for pan (whole wheat was replaced for white, it creates less of a spike in blood sugar, has more fiber)

    * 12 ounces grated carrots, medium grate, approximately 6 medium

    * 1 teaspoon baking powder

    * 1 teaspoon baking soda

    * 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (1tsp) (I like things with a kicked so I doubled the 

       spices)

    * 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon(1tsp)

    * 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg(1/2 tsp)

    * 1/2 teaspoon salt

    * 10 ounces sugar, approximately 1 1/3 cups (3/4 c agave) (it doesn’t spike your blood sugar as badly as white sugar)

    * 2 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/4 cup firmly packed

    * 3 large eggs

    * 6 ounces plain yogurt

    * 6 ounces vegetable oil(4 oz apple sauce, 2 oz oil) (thought cutting the fat was not a  bad idea, given the FROSTING, which should not be left out!!)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese

2 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

9 ounces powdered sugar, sifted, approximately 2 cups

  

I wish I were able to find not crazy expensive walnuts (The Fisherman likes nuts in stuff), but to no avail, next time I will try to procure walnuts.

 I tried to be all slick and slice the cake into two halves, so I can frost the middle. I don't know if I'll do that next time...

 

 And I tried to do a cool pattern on the cake. Not a good idea...

Finally, we have my quasi-muffin recipe  I’ve switched it up and made apple cinnamon muffins, pumpkin muffins, this time I made banana nut. This I did make The Fisherman when we were first dating, because he mentioned liking banana nut muffins. The only switch I do here is the applesauce vs. oil trick, where you replace the oil with applesauce. Some recipes this works, some it won’t, so be careful. 

And, I usually don’t have buttermilk on hand, so I use either milk mixed with some lemon juice (maybe ¼ tsp), allowed to sit for five minutes, or I use yogurt if I have it. A very versatile recipe, healthy, and sweet without being too sweet. One caveat, this does not freeze well, I learned this the hard way, unfortunately *sad face*

And that wraps up The FBA’s baking post. Perhaps there will be more. Only problem with baking is, you need people to eat it, otherwise you wind up having to wear sweatpants from eating all of your delicious creations!

Back Tracking to My Kitchen

Okay, I've been cooking and going on food-related adventures for some time now. And I'd like to share those experiences with you. So I think I'll summarize some past adventures, and mix it up with some current ones. And it's taking some time gathering together photos and then I get all nostalgic ("Oh yeah, I remember going here, and it was great...") and then I get distracted. I'll try to focus more on the matter at hand, and that's revealing some cool places that are munchworthy and some things I've made as well. I hope you enjoy.

First up are things I've made:

These are truffles for Valentine's Day. Truffles are easy, ingredient-wise, but the hardest part is rolling them, and keeping them pretty cool. I tend to have warmer than average kitchens, and curious pets, so this is sometimes tricky. The outside is coated in white chocolate candy melts, you can usually find them in Michaels, other crafting stores, even baking supply shops. I know it's white chocolate (which isn't technically chocolate), but there is even a time and a place for white chocolate. Here's the recipe I work from, minus the brandy.

 This is breakfast pizza (biscuit dough crust, scrambled eggs, cheese, bacon, I think breakfast sausage and a touch of maple syrup). I did buy biscuit dough, pastry and the like are not so good to me :) I'm sure I saw this on a TV show and had to replicate it. I don't have a recipe, this was more of one of my alchemical tricks ("This should work, in theory...")

 During the winter months, I was inspired to try to make my own chicken broth. I was buying chickens and roasting them for the Fisherman (his favorite meal), and I wanted to test my inner homemaker and see if I could reuse the carcass for broth. It wasn't as good as my great-grandmother's, but that's like comparing myself to God. I used this recipe, which definitely made me feel confident that I could make my own broth.

 Homemade candy corn. This was a lot of fun, it was like playing with HOTHOTHOT playdough. I'd definitely make it again, but maybe with gloves next time. And FYI, this does cool down fast, so you have to work fast, or if it stars to get too hard, a quick spin in the microwave for 30 seconds should do it.

 Carrot cake. One of my mom's co-workers was having a birthday, and she asked me to make a carrot cake, since that's his favorite. I tend to make it sans-pineapple and sans-nuts, but that's just me.

 Homemade Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. Now, as a native New Yorker, this should almost be heretical. Before you pick up the tar and feathers hear me out: while New York Style pizza and Chicago Style pizza are both called pizza, I think these are variants of the same idea. Like the term "dumpling" changes wherever it goes (ravioli, pierogi, Chinese dumplings). While I will always love New York Style pizza, I think Chicago is a different animal that just happens to be called pizza. Besides, who eats pizza with a fork?

 This was one of the first things I made for the Fisherman when we started dating. He said he had Italian Wedding Soup before, but in college. I had to show him the real deal. I don't recall why exactly I made this, I think I found a great recipe and had to try it. I thought it would be fun with pastina, but did not realize it would soak up ALL the broth, and start to resemble congee, or Chinese rice porridge. Anyway, we both liked it, and that's good enough for me.


I think that's enough to whet your appetite for now. Tune in next time, when I'll attempt to track down Kimchi Taco for lunch. Mangia!