Carrot Cake Breakfast Bread

It's snowing here in Rhode Island as I type this. Snow on the first day of Spring. I was up with the chickens and I have to say, for someone like me that loves the white stuff, it made me smile first thing this morning.

Because Easter is just around the corner I'm bringing you another carrot recipe. This one for Carrot Cake Breakfast Bread.

I over anticipated how many carrots I needed for my Carrot Cake and bought 2 huge bags. I needed to use them up, so I found another recipe that used carrots.

This bread was fantastic. Not to carrot cakey, not too sweet. In face I used Truvia Baking Blend instead of sugar to make it a tad bit healthier. It was perfect.

Now you know what to do with all those carrots that the Easter bunny couldn't eat.

Happy Spring everyone!




Carrot Cake Breakfast Bread
recipe from The Seasoned Mom
PRINTABLE RECIPE
¾ cup grated carrot (about 2 medium carrots)
⅓ cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
¾ cup all purpose flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour
½ teaspoons baking soda
⅛ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ cup chopped pecans (optional)
½ cup golden raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with nonstick spray. In a large mixing bowl, combine grated carrots, oil, applesauce, egg and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.

Beat sugars into the mix until creamed. Add flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix until blended. Stir in nuts and raisins if using. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until bread is brown and springs back when gently pressed in the middle.

Remove bread from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Carrot Cake Bars

You know I'm back when I have my Easter menu done in February. Yes, I was done with the menu and began testing out recipes in February this year. Back to my usual OCD self and it feels great!! So I tested out a few desserts because you don't want to serve your guests something that could potentially be a flop right? Well this one did not flop!

Do I have an Easter dessert for you!

I'm not sure why but Easter always meant carrot cake or coconut cake for me (in the shape of a lamb of course!) I'm sure the carrot cake thing somehow refers back to the Easter bunny and I'm sure there is some story to go along with it, but I'm too lazy to look!

So I wanted to make a carrot cake for Easter but then I found these Carrot Cake Bars and they seemed easier than making the traditional carrot cake so I made a little trial run a few weeks ago.

I don't think I'll ever make another traditional carrot cake again. This sheet cake (cause that's what it really is), is so easy to throw together and bakes up in under an half hour. What I love about it is you get the perfect ratio of cake to frosting. So delicious!

You can add in some raisins if you'd like. I think a half cup would work. I omitted them though.





Carrot Cake Bars
Original recipe from Mom on Timeout
PRINTABLE RECIPE
One
1¼ cups unsweetened applesauce
2 cups sugar
3 eggs

Two
2 cups flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Three
2 cups grated carrots (about 3 medium carrots)
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 - 8oz can Dole crushed pineapple - DO NOT drain {use the pineapple in JUICE not syrup}

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 stick butter (softened)
8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 lb powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine #1 ingredients. Add #2 ingredients. Stir in #3 ingredients. Pour into a lightly greased or parchment lined 10x15-inch jelly roll pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely!

For the frosting:
Beat the butter and cream cheese until nice and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until nice and smooth. Spread on top of the cooled cake bars. Store leftovers in an airtight container, in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days.

Creamy Garlic Mushrooms

Yes it's another mushroom dish from me. Sorry mushroom haters!

This is a quick and easy side dish. It would go great with a nice juicy steak. I haven't had a nice juicy steak in a very long time. I need to remedy that soon. I think my Roasted Parmesan Onions and these mushrooms would be perfect accompaniments!

I tweaked the original recipe a bit. I doubled it for one. One little package of mushrooms just will not cut it at my house. Even thought my picky youngest won't eat mushrooms, the rest of us love them, so doubling it was necessary.

I used baby bella mushrooms. The original recipe called for white button mushrooms. You can certainly use whatever you prefer.

A crusty piece of bread would be wonderful served with these mushrooms. You could sop up all that garlicky goodness. I honestly could have eaten the whole pan by myself but I was nice and shared.




Creamy Garlic Mushroom
adapted from a recipe at Lovefoodies
PRINTABLE RECIPE
Two - 8-10 oz packages of baby bella mushrooms (try and choose mushroom a bit on the smaller size)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons of Cream Cheese (you can also use low fat variety)
sprinkling of parsley
salt & pepper
2 teaspoon of olive oil

Heat a pan with the oil and add the mushrooms on medium heat. Stir and toss until soft and a little liquid is released from the mushrooms. If the mushrooms do not release any liquid, add a couple of tablespoons of milk or broth. (Sometimes, depending on the season, mushrooms can vary in juiciness!)Add in the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.

Add the cream cheese. See note* Season with salt and pepper and a sprinkling of parsley.

Note: To avoid the cream cheese from splitting, you should make sure the heat is not too hot, if you are not sure, remove the pan from the heat whilst you add the cream cheese, combine well, then return to a gentle heat until the sauce is bubbling gently and heated through completely. As you will know, any cream products have a tendency to split or curdle if you add them to any high temperatures, so do not turn the heat up!!

Serve straight from the pan, or you can transfer to an oven dish and place in the oven (covered) to keep warm until you are ready to serve.

Thin, Chewy and Buttery Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm feeling so good lately! I finished with radiation, had my oncology check up....everything is good! I still have to have my Herceptin treatments every three weeks, but it's totally a piece of cake compared to chemo.

Feeling well, back in my kitchen cooking and baking up a storm every week. Life is truly good and now that my taste buds have returned I can enjoy a cookie or two now and then and my most favorite cookie has always been oatmeal.

I suppose that everyone who likes oatmeal cookies has a favorite. Thick, thin, with raisins, without raisins, chocolate chips, no chips. I personally don't think there is much you can do to a cookie that won't make me like it. I mean cookies. Come on.

I found these little beauties will I was browsing around Pinterest.

Thin. Chewy. Buttery.

I'm in.

Cookie Perfection.

As always, don't over bake these or they will come out crumbly and we all know no one likes a crumbly cookie.

Thanks to Ann at Thibeault's Table for this recipe. Ann makes gorgeous maple cutting boards! Check it out if you are in the market for a handcrafted beauty of a cutting board.



Thin, Chewy and Buttery Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
recipe from The Toronto Star via Thibeault's Table
PRINTABLE RECIPE
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 2/3 cup flour
3/4 Teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash nutmeg
1 1/2 cups rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350 Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until smooth. Add vanilla Combined flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir into butter mixture. Add rolled oats. Roll into small balls (golf ball size) and flatten with glass dipped in sugar. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until bottoms are golden. Cookie should not get brown. Cool on wire rack.

Cheesy Cauliflower Bake and other great cauliflower recipes!

I know if you are watching your carbs like I am you are probably seeing lots and lots of cauliflower recipes.

Luckily for me, I love cauliflower. I can eat it in any way, shape or form, but covered in a delicious cheesy sauce, well you've got me there.

I grate my own cheese now. I don't buy the bags of pre-shredded cheese anymore and I find that not only do I get wayyyy more cheese from a big hunka cheese but I don't get those nasty additives that prevent it from clumping and it's cheaper in the long run. Think about it, there's a reason that the cheese in those bags don't clump and it's not good. So I buy big blocks of cheese from my local warehouse club and I take my cheese grater and I shred my own. It's quick, easy, tastes better and is so much better for you than those bags!

I also don't use any "cream of" soups anymore. Read my post here and see how I make my own SOS (Soup or Sauce) mix that I used in this recipe.

If you love cauliflower like I do you might want to check out my other cauliflower recipes. Just click on the recipe name and it will bring you to the page.

Cauliflower Hash



Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower



Breaded Cauliflower



My Creamy Veggie Casserole - loaded with cauliflower!



This delicious Cheesy Cauliflower Bake



Cheesy Cauliflower Bake
PRINTABLE RECIPE

½ cup finely chopped onion or shallots
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 head of cauliflower (chopped then boiled until cooked) or three 10 oz. pkgs frozen cauliflower, thawed, drained well & coarsely chopped
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup soup or sauce mix or 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
Pinch salt and pepper

Thaw the frozen (or cook the fresh) cauliflower & drain well. Preheat oven to 350º. Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Grease a 9x13 baking dish or a 3 quart casserole dish. Add in the ingredients and bake 20 25 minutes or until bubbly and “cauliflower is tender but not mushy!

Lisa's Granola

You can make your own granola! Yes, you. You can! Let me tell you this....it's a hundred times better than anything you can buy in the store and it's customizable. Make it the way you like it! This recipe is quick, easy, and so much cheater than store bought granola.

There is something to be said about a recipe that you have been making for years and years. I'm lucky enough to have quite a few recipes like this. This granola recipe is one of them.

A friend of mine asked me if my granola recipe was on the blog and I had to stop and think and actually Google myself only to find that, no, it wasn't! I have made this recipe dozens and dozens of times and never blogged it!

I love this granola because it's not too sweet and you can add in just about anything that you'd like. I found some roasted coconut chips at Trader Joe's and they are fantastic in this.

I store this in big gallon mason jars. Nothing says homemade like a mason jar full of food!



Lisa’s Homemade Granola
Recipe from Lisa@The Cutting Edge of Ordinary
PRINTABLE RECIPE
In a large bowl mix:
4 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup nuts (walnuts of almonds, whatever nut you like!)
¼ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
6 – 8 ounces dried fruit. I just eye the fruit really.
Go wild! Cranberries, dates, coconut, raisin, pineapple, papaya. Anything goes!

Mix together:
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
1/3 water

Heat the oven to 300. In a large bowl stir together the oats, wheat germ, nuts, sugar, salt and dried fruit. Mix the oil, honey and water together and pour over oat mixture. Stir to coat. Line a sheet pan with parchment and spread the mixture evenly onto the pan.

Place the granola in the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes. Remove and stir and return to the oven for another 10. Repeat this 2 times. Granola will bake for a total of 40 minutes. Let cool completely and store in glass jar or airtight container. Makes about 7 cups.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I almost forgot about this recipe until someone who actually ate it reminded me about it! (Thanks Marie!). It would have been a darn shame if I didn't share this wonderful recipe with you all!

When you cook and bake as much as I do you are usually the person hosting most get togethers and parties. I'm totally ok with that. I love to cook and bake for my family and friends. I love seeing people enjoy the food that I made, but every once in awhile it is very nice to have someone invite you over and you get to be the person who says "I'll bring dessert!".

My wonderful friend Eva, who took me to more chemo treatments than anyone else, who is always there for me, who is the epitome of kindness and compassion invited us over for dinner a few weeks ago. She is a fantastic cook and makes two things that my husband loves so very much....lumpia and pancit, so we are always happy to share a table with her and her family.

It took me almost a week to decide on what to bring. I usually don't like to bring something that I never made before but this cake sounded so delicious that I thought it was worth a shot. I am so glad that I went out on a limb and made it because boy was it ever delicious!

How can I describe it? It's like a cross between a spice cake and a great chocolate chip oatmeal cookie. I omitted the raisins but you can certainly add them in if you'd like.

This cake fed quite a few little ones and they all loved it!

You all know I'm more of a pie person than I am a cake person, but this kind of cake, this cake my friends is worthy of worship. It's that good!

I used coffee instead of the water called for in this recipe. I think that little flavor boost took it over the edge.



Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.
original recipe from Two Peas in their Pod
PRINTABLE RECIPE
1 1/4 cups water (or strong coffee) - I used coffee!
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, at room temperature
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

For the cream cheese frosting:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 glass or light-colored metal baking pan. Set aside.
Bring the water to a boil. Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl and toss them with the 2 tablespoons of flour. This will keep them from settling at the bottom during baking. Set aside.

Place the oats and butter cubes in a large bowl. Pour the boiling water (or coffee) over the oat mixture, wait 30 seconds, and stir to moisten all the oats and melt the butter. Let the oat mixtures set for 25 to 30 minutes.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, both sugars, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon until combined. Fold in the cooled oatmeal and stir until well combined. Gently fold in the remaining flour and then the chocolate chips and raisins if using. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool on a wire rack until completely cooled.

While the cake is cooling make the cream cheese frosting. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until it is completely smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined. Add the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth, about 1 minute.
Frost the cooled the cake with cream cheese frosting. The frosted cake can be kept refrigerated and tightly covered, for up to 3 days. It can be served chilled or at room temperature.