Spring Cleaning in the Kitchen

A few weeks ago, I was going through the fridge and pantry, checking expiration dates of every food item in the house. (Wow, this unopened jar of cream of tartar expired in 2012. Wait, why did I even buy cream of tartar?)

I came across a box of carrot cake mix which would expire in another month.  Hmmm, what should I make with this?

I used about half of the box mix to make a dump cake.  And instead of making one cake, I make several mini-dump cakes in casserole dishes.  I made a pineapple-apple filling, sprinkled on the dry cake mix, poured on the melted butter, and then added shredded coconut and chopped pecans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following week, I combined the rest of the cake mix with some cinnamon, a beaten egg and orange marmalade. I cooked the batter in my donut maker machine, and when they cooled, sprinkled powder sugar on top.

 

 

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Watermelon “Cake”

While in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, I grabbed the closest magazine and started flipping through it.  I came across this photo:

photo courtesy of Good Housekeeping magazine

Now, I am not a big watermelon fan, but I thought this was a clever idea.  Made from seedless watermelon, whipped topping, and fresh berries, this dessert is simple to make and certain to be a hit at summer parties.

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipes/seasonal/watermelon-recipes#slide-1

 

 

Gummy Bear Layer Cake

 

Clever idea, very colorful, great for a kid’s party.  As gummi bears are rather chewy, though, I wouldn’t think that they are the best for decorating the cake.  In fact, the creator of this cake stated on her blog, “The gummy bears are a lot chewier than I remembered. So as awesome as it looks as a cake decoration, it makes it a little impractical when you are trying to have a bite of everything at once.” Then she added that she did not regret this choice, from people’s reactions to the cake.

I might think that M&M’s or Skittles would be a better candy choice for the decorating of the cake, although not having quite the same “Wow” effect as the gummy bears.  However, it is a beautiful-looking cake, making me want to try it.  You can find the recipe on the blog Raspberri Cupcakes:

http://www.raspberricupcakes.com/2013/04/gummy-bear-layer-cake.html

 

 

 

 

 

A Belly Full of Jelly (Beans, that is)

                      

I know that many of you know that April 22 is Earth Day. But, did you know, that it is also National Jelly Bean Day?  On that date, don’t forget to check out Foodimentary’s blog, as he always has cool food-related facts and trivia. For my next post, I will review a few brands of jelly beans, but for this post, I will share a few recipes which include jelly beans. While jelly beans do not do well in the oven,  they can be an ingredient for final decorating stage. If you can manage to not eat all the jelly beans as soon as the bag is opened (I’m still working on that, myself), save some for these recipes:

Here is an Easter cake, courtesy of Taste of Home.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/colorful-easter-cake

An easy idea for a small treat/table decoration:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/coconut-egg-nests

 

For white chocolate-jelly bean bark:

http://buttercream-bakehouse.com/2012/04/jelly-bean-easter-bark.html

 

 

Easter Cake

This cake is a lot easier to make than you might think.

http://www.laurenslatest.com/planted-carrot-chocolate-easter-cake/

 

Winter Citrus Pound Cake

Reading this recipe makes me wish I had the cake in front of me right now to eat!

The Hungry Artist

This is pretty much what our January is looking like!

Even after living in NYC after more than sixteen years, seeing trees shed all their leaves in autumn and snow fall in winter is still a novelty for me.  Hey, it beats mudslides, wildfires, and earthquakes.

One thing I miss about California, though, is the fresh produce year round.  Here, on the other hand, I usually only buy apples, pears, and grapefruit regularly during the winter, because they are plentiful and reasonably priced.  At our local green market, grapefruits are three for a dollar, which is a great price for the city.  And who doesn’t love a burst of fresh citrus in the morning?

Denis likes his with sugar, and I like mine with salt (I know–weird, but maybe it’s a Hawaiian thing passed down from my parents?)  Jamie doesn’t like grapefruit, which works out fine, because then I only…

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April Fool’s Day

 

 

 

Mmmm. This cake looks yummy, doesn’t it?  Only, it’s not a cake.  This is a pizza bread made to look like a cake.  The red jelly filling is tomato sauce, and the glaze on top of the cake is thin slices of mozzarella allowed to melt over the finished cake. This April Fools’ recipe was created by Taste of Home.  You can find the recipe here:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/april-fools–cake

 

 

Rainforest Mint Cupcakes

Endangered Species brand chocolate is a good quality chocolate.  It’s a rich dark chocolate bar, available in many delicious flavors.  And, yes, it is vegan and gluten-free.   You can find the candy bars in health sections of grocery stores as well as some gourmet shops.  Their website features recipes.  The link below is for a chocolate mint cupcake.  When the recipe is followed according to the website’s instructions, the cupcake will be gluten-free:

http://www.chocolatebar.com/involved/?p=1727&utm_source=ChocolateBar.com+Newsletter+Subscribers&utm_campaign=bb799e6814-enews_mar2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_904f3da455-bb799e6814-211729613

 

 

Cherry Cheesecake

Officially Gluten Free

This light and creamy, Gluten Free Cherry Cheesecake is made with a flaky Chocolate Shortbread Cookie crust. Try it with Cherries or Blueberries or just leave it plain, either way it’s sure to please.

Ingredients

   For the Cheese Cake –

1 Pkg (8 oz.) Cream Cheese

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/3 Cup Lemon Juice

1 Cup Whipping Cream

2 Tbsp Icing Sugar

1 Can Cherry Pie Filling

   For the Crust –

3/4 Cup Butter

1 Cup Rice Flour

1/2 Cup Icing Sugar

1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, cut the butter into small pieces.

2. Add the rice flour, icing sugar and cocoa powder to butter.

3. Mix together with your hands. The dough will look too dry at first but don’t add anything to it. Just keep mixing it, squishing the flour and and butter between your fingers. It will take 5…

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3 Musketeers – All for One, One for All!

 

If you follow Foodimentary’s page, you know that today is National Nougat Day.  As usual, he has many interesting facts – linguistic, historical – which tie into the featured food item.  My favorite candy car, the 3 Musketeers bar, is mentioned here.  Over the years, 3 Musketeers has had different seasonal and limited edition flavors, which have included cherry, strawberry, French vanilla, raspberry, hot cocoa, marshmallow, coconut, and mint.  What flavor 3 Musketeers would you like to see?  Would it be more mainstream, like 3 Musketeers Cinnamon? 3 Musketeers Cappuccino? Or would your new flavor be more on the wild side, like 3 Musketeers Wasabi or Maple Bacon 3 Musketeers?

           

Manufactured by the M&M/Mars company, 3 Musketeers, along with Milky Way, Snickers, and M&M’s, are all gluten-free. A list of different gluten-free candies, highlighted by manufacturer, can be found at:

http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/glutenfreefoodshopping/a/GFcandies.htm

 

And, finally, a recipe for 3 Musketeers cupcakes:

http://cookiesandcups.com/3-musketeers-cupcakes/