Triple-Spice Carrot Cake

Prep time, about 30-45 minutes (which varies, depending on your culinary fitness)

Carrot Cake

"Wet" Ingredients:
3 C grated raw carrots (6-8 carrots grated in food processor, disk only, shred side up)
4 unbeaten eggs
2 C sugar
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 C salad oil*
*1/2 C applesauce (optional, allows you to reduce oil to just 1 C, or keep oil amount as-is for extra yum)

"Dry" Ingredients:
2 t soda
1 t salt
2 C all-purpose flour
2 t cinnamon (healthy cinnamon helps liver deal with insulin )
1/2 t ginger (ginger helps reduce digestive inflammation)
1/4 t cloves
1 C chopped pecans or walnuts (nuts are just plain good for you!)

• Using an electric mixer bowl, combine wet ingredients: carrots, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and oil (applesauce, opt'l) and beat until ingredients are smooth.
• In a medium-sized bowl, stir together dry ingredients.
• Add dry ingredients to the the wet ingredients and beat well. 
• Pour into 2 double-oiled & floured 9" layer cake pans (butter pans & flour, then spray with cooking oil & flour again).
• Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven.
• After 10 minutes remove cake layers from pans to wire racks to cool. 
• When layers are cooled, ice with cream cheese frosting and stack.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 - 3/4 t. salt (if using salted butter, add just 1/4 tsp. salt)
1/2 t. Vanilla
3 C powdered sugar

Soften cheese and butter to room temperature, beat together with vanilla and salt until fluffy, and gradually beat in powdered sugar.

Loaded Lasagna, Bright & Beauteous

Ingredients:
1 box (9 oz) Barilla brand, oven-ready, "No Boiling Required" lasagna noodles (bright idea)
2 eggs
1 container (15 oz) cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
4 C (16 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 C (2 oz) grated Parmesan cheese
1 lb ground beef: cook, crumble & drain. Cook ahead & freeze to speed up any ground beef dish prep (bright idea)
2- 24-oz jars pasta sauce
Optional Ingredients: Spinach, mushrooms (loaded). Strain frozen spinach.

Preparation:

Spinach & mushrooms will be added to one of the pans, next time.

• In medium bowl, beat eggs. Stir in cottage cheese, 2 cups of mozzarella, and the Parmesan cheese.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
• Do not pre-boil the lasagna noodles. 
• Use two 2-1/2-inch-deep baking dishes (rather than one 9"x13" deep-dish pan), for a serving dish at each end of the table (beauteous). If cooking for 4 or less, simply half the recipe and use just one baking dish.

Lasagna layering, for 2 baking dishes:

• First:      Spray baking dishes. 
• Second: Spread sauce on bottom of dishes (1 C split between two baking dishes)
• Layer 1: Uncooked lasagna sheets. 1/2 of ricotta mixture. Half of browned meat. 1 C mozzarella. 1 C sauce (split ingredients between the two baking dishes).
• Layer 2: (Repeat Layer 1)
• Layer 3: Uncooked lasagna sheets. Remaining 1 C sauce. Remaining 1 C mozzarella cheese (split ingredients between the two baking dishes).

Bake, covered with aluminum foil, until bubbling, 50-60 minutes. Uncover and cook another 5 minutes. After removing from the oven, let stand 15 minutes to set or congeal before cutting (premature cutting will cause lasagna squares to muddle).

Color & camo cups for our front-line Administrative Professionals Lunch

Serves 8-10, depending on the number of side dishes.

Suggestion: Serve with lettuce salad, Italian bread, and brownies.

My last-minute luncheon centerpiece was a lettuce salad rather than the bird's nest pictured. I used a tall truffle-like glass container, layered with lettuce, colorful peppers, cherry tomatoes and delicious Feta cheese. Practical and pretty, too.

Delicious Homemade Salsa

   

     You might stop buying jarred salsa once you taste the homemade kind. This is a simple and delicious Kitchen to Kitchen recipe: Chop 5-6 Roma tomatoes,1 small onion and 1/2 cup fresh Cilantro. Mince 2 seeded Serrano or Jalapeño peppers and 1 clove of garlic. Add 2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything together and let sit overnight for flavors to meld.

Apple Pie Salad

     Cinnamon and honey make this salad taste like apple pie. No major laboring is required to prepare this delicious recipe. It is healthful, and my family and friends love it.

     Apples (and their skins) contain pectin which encourages digestion. My preference is to use organic apples.

Hyvee's Apple Salad (t=teaspoon, T=tablespoon)

1 med. apple sliced & chopped (honey crisp is recommended, but I prefer Granny Smith)
3/4 t lemon juice
2 T chopped walnuts
2 T honey
1 t flax seed
1/8 t ground cinnamon (this ingredient helps sugars digest & creates an apple crisp taste)
1 T salted sunflower seeds (optional)
1 T dried cranberries (optional)

In a small bowl, combine the apple and lemon juice. Add remaining ingredients; toss to coat. Chill until serving. Yield: 2 servings.