Just a Few Photos

We're getting ready for another snowstorm this weekend, along with much of the country. The predictions seem to range from 4" to a gazillion", but they all agree that temperatures will be frigid next week. I thought it was painfully cold in the middle of this week when we had temperatures below zero, but apparently that was nothing according to the forecasters. 

I've been getting ready for the storm this week by finishing all the laundry, getting all my post office and bank errands done, making a big pot of bean soup, baking bread, and making carrot cake. I'm not sure what carrot cake has to do with storm preparations, but I found frozen shredded carrots in the freezer, so of course, I had to bake a carrot cake. I think cake should always be part of preparing for a gigantic snowstorm. 

I only took a couple of pictures after last week's "dusting" (which amounted to 8-10") but it was a pretty snowfall. 

 

This is a nice view of a nearby creek, after last weekend's snowstorm but before it got really cold this week. 

 

 

And then when it got really cold, I drove to the Delaware River to check out the river ice. There is a lot of it!

 

And because many things besides scenery are delightful, here's a photo of the winter carrot cake. I wish I could share it with all of you.

 

I hope you have a good weekend, stay safe and warm, and maybe even enjoy a bit of cake. 

Dangerous Content Ahead!

Never fear, there isn't anything really dangerous in this post. It could be dangerous if you're concerned about healthy eating, your consumption of cake, or maybe your cholesterol level. But if you've got a bag of cranberries in your refrigerator or freezer, I have a delicious way for you to use them. 

I have a couple of recipes for Cranberry Cake/Pie in my recipe box. I've made them a couple of times, but I seemed to be the only one who ate it, and eating a whole cake (even if it is in a pie pan) by yourself is dangerous. So I haven't made either one for probably five years or more. But the other day I was perusing the King Arthur baking website and came across their recipe for Nantucket Cranberry Cake. Dinner was already in the crockpot (Venison Taco Soup if you want to make some good soup), but I was feeling the need for some type of slightly sweet dessert. So once I dug the bag of cranberries out of my freezer, I made this cake to satisfy my craving. 

 

And it's seriously good. I limited myself to one piece after dinner, but since I was writing this post, it seemed necessary for me to put a piece on a plate so I could take a photo. And once I had a piece of cake on a plate, I was pretty much committed to eating it. See how much I care about you guys and putting together posts with photos? I'm willing to eat a piece of cake for breakfast just so I can provide you with a better blog post. :-)

There is just something about the tart cranberries, buttery moist cake, and sugary topping that I find hard to resist. I might need to buy some coarse sugar and I'm wondering if the addition of orange zest or orange oil might be good. I didn't use walnuts because I'm not a big fan plus the fact that I didn't have any. I do like pecans so I might try them in place of the walnuts. So I've pretty much talked myself into making this cake again, maybe with some modifications. If you want to try an easy, delicious cake, maybe you want to try it, too!

What Did You Do to This Zucchini Cake?

That was John's reaction when he tasted the zucchini cake I made. I had two slightly large zucchini sitting in the refrigerator that needed to be used before I pick eight or ten more this week. I didn't want to go to the store for the extra ingredients I needed for a zucchini quiche, so I decided to make a zucchini cake. 

I was hungry for chocolate, so I found this recipe and decided to give it a try. While I was mixing the cake, I remembered some Mexican fudge that Ryan had raved about. I quickly looked at a few Mexican chocolate cake recipes and because I like to live on the wild side (not really, I just wanted to try something different), I added 1 teaspoon of chili pepper, and 1/2 a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. When I tasted the batter, it seemed like it was missing some cinnamon, so I added a teaspoon of that, too. 

My verdict: it's pretty good. It tastes a little bit different, "warmer" in some way, but it really doesn't taste hot or spicy to me. John is not a fan of anything spicy (not even the idea) so he just thinks it's a waste of zucchini and chocolate. 

I had a piece after I baked it and decided that some ice cream would really make it perfect. 

It did. Part of experimentation is a careful assessment of results, and even though I liked this, I don't think I'll make it again. I was the only one who liked the cake, which means that I've frozen most of it, and will take some to Ryan for his opinion. I like zucchini cake, especially when it's chocolate, but even I can't (and definitely shouldn't!) eat a whole cake by myself. We'll return to more "traditional", i.e, not spicy zucchini dishes later this week. (I won't even put pepper jack cheese in the quiche.) 

By the way, if you have a good zucchini recipe, I'd love to hear your suggestions!

It's Not My Fault

I've been enjoying the new season of the Great British Baking Show recently. I'm not a big fan of having just one episode released each week, but Paul and Prue forgot to ask for my opinion. After the new episode is over, old episodes keep playing until I intervene. All of this means that I have watched bits and pieces of lots of baking.

Last Tuesday we were having leftovers for dinner, and I thought we also needed something good to look forward to with the leftovers. I felt like an apple cake, but didn't have any apples, so I made the next best thing - an applesauce cake. It was delicious, and I was glad that it came out of the pan so nicely. We ate about half, and put the rest in the freezer when we left MD.

On Friday in NJ, it was leftovers for dinner again, and once again I felt like baking something. The first thing I saw when I looked in the freezer was some cranberries, so I chopped them and had a cranberry pie in the oven in just a few minutes. I don't know why it's called cranberry pie, since it's more like a cake, but my grandmother called it cranberry pie and always baked it in a pie dish, so I do the same. I like this way too much, and can't make it again too soon or I'll eat too much of it again. I do have lots more frozen cranberries, though ...

It didn't dawn on me until after I had made the cranberry pie that my urge to bake was probably due to watching too much GBBS. I do enjoy baking but don't do it nearly as often as I used to because it's usually just John and I, and neither of us needs the calories. 

But it's not just the fault of GBBS. Derek (Ryan's food-truck friend) sent him a picture of these cookies and of course, he had to send it to me. 

Two of my favorite things, apple butter and snickerdoodles, combined into one cookie. I'll be trying these soon and will let you know how they taste. 

I hope your week is off to a good start, and has some cake, cookies, or something delicious in it!