Sugar-Free Carrot Cake

Tried this recipe, and it's not too bad! I know a lot of sugar-free recipes either have no taste, or an awful taste, but this one is pretty good! The recipe doesn't include walnuts or raisins, but every carrot cake that I eat - sugar-free or not - has to have those two ingredients, so I threw them into the batter. I didn't provide any measurements for those...add according to your own tastes. Also, if you have a lemon sitting around, add a little lemon zest and just a pinch or so of the juice. I found that this adds a little something. Sprinkle Sweet is, of course, saccharin- which isn't the healthiest. And Splenda (aspartame, a killer) or any of the other sugar substitutes can be used, but I found this recipe as good as any! If you try it, let me know how it turned out!

Sugar-Free Carrot Cake

2 c. flour
2 tsp. soda
2 c. Sprinkle Sweet
1 1/2 c. oil
4 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. cinnamon
3 c. grated carrots

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil and eggs. Add carrots. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

ICING:

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 lg. pkg. instant sugar-free pudding (6 serving size)
1 sm. can crushed pineapple, in own juice (no sugar), very well drained

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

Okay, while we're still eatin Key Lime Pie here in the South (and lots and lots of peaches), it's pretty much Autumn where many of you are. Fall is the best time for home-cookin - and lots of it - so I thought I'd pull out a few of my favorite Fall recipes. I love cheesecake, and I love pumpkin pie. This recipe combines the two, and it really isn't too bad!

Ingredients:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup ground pecans
2 Tbs. white sugar
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
3 eggs, beaten
1 15 oz. can solid pack pumpkin puree
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

Prehead oven to 350 degrees.

To Make Crust: In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, ground pecans, white sugar and 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger. Mix well, then pour in melted butter. Stir until butter is evenly distributed. Press mixture into a 9-inch pie plate. Set aside.

To Make Filling: In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and brown sugar. Beat until smooth, then add eggs, pumpkin and cream. Mix well. Stir in cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Pour mixture into pie shell.

Bake in a preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, until set in center. Chill before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and pecan halves if desired. (Actually, I recommend the garnish. If the pie doesn't turn out the way it should, at least your guests will say it looks purdy).
(messed with font for a good half an hour - it will not get any smaller).

Wedding Schapps (Warren's Red Eye Whiskey)

For the past bazillion years or so, the Emmer family (dad's mom's family) has had a reunion near Antigo, WI. A couple of years ago, they put out a really awesome cookbook, filled with photos and family recipes. While the recipes are nothing fancy, I've tried several, and each one is really terrific.

This recipe is hidden in the back. It'll put hair on your chest, your head, your palms - probably most places. And even if it doesn't, a couple belts of this will help you have a really great time at those dysfunctional family gatherings!

Wedding Schnapps

1 750ml of 190 proof "Everclear" vodka or rum
10 lbs (!!) of sugar
4 jars maraschino cherries and juice
3 liters distilled water

Brown the white sugar (2 lbs at a time) in a cast iron pan, while using a wooden spoon to stir. Put sugar aside after it is "golden brown".

Heat water to a boil, slowly add sugar until all 10 lbs is dissolved. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature. Add the 750ml of alcohol and cherries plus juice.

Put in bottle to store.

To make root beer schnapps: substitute Hires Root Beer extract for cherries and juice.

Thanks, Bud Emmer!

don't let your meat loaf

My apologies for that.... but I couldn't come up with anything creative. ANYway.... since we spent the last couple of days pigging out on meat loaf, I thought I would share a tip with you that will keep your meat from loafing (no, not viagra).

As I stated previously, I don't care for a lot of tomato-y things. I especially don't care for meat loaf with all of that tomato gunk that so many people seem to put in or on their meat loaf. So, we've been experimenting with different ingredients, and came up with this one that I'm sure you'll all really enjoy! (who said that?)

Take yer favorite meat loaf recipe (sans tomato gunk), and add just a tablespoon or so of either apple jelly or apple sauce per pound of ground meat. You can use beef or pork (a combo usually tastes best), use oatmeal or bread crumbs (not fresh bread, and 7-grain bread gives a good flavor), leave out any eggs that the recipe calls for, add anything else you like (onions, green peppers, mushrooms, capers, etc.).... and just make up your own original creation. This household usually doesn't work with a recipe when it comes to meatloaf, but the apple jelly/sauce has worked well with every made-up recipe we've tried so far. You can also throw on some bacon on the top of the loaf, a few minutes or so before it's finished baking, and that adds a really great flavor as well.

Try it, you'll like it. And let me know if you did. Any other meat loaf suggestions?

Okay, I like to cook. I like to eat, too. But usually don't get enough time for either. Cooking is like playing in the mud, but even when your creations turn out awful, they still taste better than mud pies. Yeah I know... mud pies used to be the bomb.... along with paste, play-doh, school cafeteria food (at least when you were really hungry).

I don't eat liver. I don't eat most seafood these days. I used to eat fish all the time. But when you move from a small town where fresh fish is plentiful and delicious - to a large city where the supermarket fish departments are all really smelly, you tend to lose your appetite for seafood.... at least I did.

Tomatoes? Depends. I don't especially care for tomato sauces or tomatoes in salads, unless they're really fresh and tomato-y. Hothouse tomatoes are pointless. I will eat bruschetta... yellow tomatoes, fried green tomatoes.... green tomato relish. I don't like tomatoes on anything.

I don't eat sushi either. Yuk. It's beyond me why people would eat the raw version of something that you can get very ill from (or die from) even when it's cooked. I love canned tuna though.... is that raw? Please say it isn't.

I guess this post needs some editing, but I'm tired of writing. So for now I'll just say that I set up this section for "random recipes" - good recipes that I've tried or at least have read about.... helpful cooking tips.... or maybe you have a really great recipe that you'd like to share with the world. Feel free to post it here....