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Sweet Potato Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

17 Dec

 

I’m finally getting around to finishing off all the sweet potatoes I had accumulated from Bountiful Baskets.  I wasn’t going to frost it, but since I had everything on hand to make cream cheese frosting, I went ahead and made it.  Funny story about making frosting, growing up, I only thought it came in a tubs at the store, I had no idea you could make it.  So, the first time my mom made frosting, I was totally impressed.  Silly, I know.  This frosting recipe will make more than you need for the cake, so store the leftover in the refrigerator until you have another use for it.

This cake turned out very moist and tasty, my daughter had no idea it was made from sweet potatoes.  This would be go to make with the leftover sweet potato dishes from the holidays, you will just want to decrease the sugar in the cake if you had sugar in your sweet potato dish.

 

Sweet Potato Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

What you need for the cake:

1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil or applesauce (I used Homemade Applesauce since I was out of vegetable oil)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup beer (I used non-alcoholic.  Beer may be omitted, or use water, milk, or apple juice in its place)

 

What you need for the frosting:

1/2 cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2-4 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

 

How to make the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9×13 inch baking pan.

Stir together the sugar and vegetable oil (or applesauce) in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and sweet potatoes.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Stir flour mixture into the batter 1 cup at a time, alternating with the beer just until everything comes together. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.

Bake for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting or serving.

 

How to make the frosting:

Beat together the butter and cream cheese.  Stir in vanilla.  Stir in confectioner’s sugar, starting with 2 cups.  Increase amount of sugar up to 4 cups, depending on how sweet you want frosting.  Spread evenly on cake.

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Roasted Asparagus

16 Dec

Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables.  Unfortunately, it’s really only affordable for me when it’s in season, which isn’t very long.  So, I was pleasantly surprised to get a bunch in last week’s Bountiful Baskets.  It was a nice vegetable to have with the Market Day Seasoned Salmon my mom recently had shipped to us and the mashed potatoes I needed to make to use up some Yukon Gold potatoes.   Normally, I steam it in my steamer, but tonight I roasted it.  This can be done to other vegetables as well, like broccoli or cauliflower.

Roasted Asparagus

What you need:

1 bunch asparagus
Olive oil
Garlic salt
Ground black pepper

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 425 F.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Remove tough ends from asparagus.  To do this, bend the asparagus, and where it will no longer bend easily, break off the end at that point.   Line asparagus on the baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt and ground black pepper.  Mix together and lay out across the baking sheet.  Bake for about 15 minutes, or until it starts to brown.  Serve immediately.

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Chicken Enchiladas

16 Dec

This is my go-to enchilada recipe.  I love that the sauce is made from scratch, not from a jar or a can.  If you don’t want to make the sauce, you could use a jar or can of sauce, but I really like the way this is made.  It’s a creamy red sauce, and it’s delicious.  This was also a nice way to use up some of the Hatch green chiles I had in the freezer.

Chicken Enchiladas

What you need:

1 Tbsp butter
1 cup chopped onion
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded (I use a rotisserie chicken from the store)
4 oz can diced green chiles, or 1 cup diced fresh roasted, peeled green chiles
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 T chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese, divided
12 small corn tortillas

How to make it:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Grease a 9×13 pan.

In a medium skillet, melt the 1 Tbsp butter and cook onions until softened.  Remove to a bowl.  Stir in chicken and green chiles.

Meanwhile, melt the 1/4 cup butter.  Blend in flour and seasonings, and cook for 3-5 minutes.  Whisk in chicken broth and tomato sauce, making sure there are no lumps.  Cook, stirring until sauce boils thickens.  Remove from heat.  Stir in sour cream and ½ cup cheese.  Stir ½ cup of the sauce into the chicken mixture.

Heat a small skillet over medium low heat.  Place a tortilla in skillet and heat on each side for a few seconds to make tortilla easier to roll.  Spoon about 2 Tbsp of the chicken and sauce mixture onto one end of the tortilla and roll up.  Place in 9×13 pan.  Repeat for remaining tortillas.  Pour remaining sauce over the rolled tortillas, and sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of cheese.

Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes.  Allow to cool and serve.

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Chicken Taquitos

16 Dec

Oh, these are yummy!  They are pretty easy to put together, just takes some time to get them all fried.  I considered baking them this time instead of frying them, but my oven already had enchiladas cooking, so I decided to stick with frying them.   Maybe next time I will bake them.

Chicken Taquitos
Makes 18-24 taquitos 

What you need:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups Salsa Verde
1 cup Mexican blend shredded cheese
2 dozen 6 inch corn tortillas
Oil for frying

How to make it:

Place chicken in slow cooker and pour salsa verde over chicken.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4.  If you don’t have a slow cooker, cook chicken by your preferred method and mix with salsa verde.  You could even buy a rotisserie chicken at the store and shred it.  Next, mix cheese in with the chicken and salsa mixture.

Heat oil in deep fryer or a large, heavy pot.  Line a baking sheet with paper towels.

Heat a small skillet over medium low heat.  Place a tortilla in the skillet and heat for a few seconds on each side to make it easier to roll. Put about 2 Tbsp of filling at one end of the tortilla and roll tightly.  Use a toothpick in the center to keep them rolled.  Repeat for remaining tortillas.

Place 5-6 in oil at a time.  Cook for a few minutes, or until golden brown.  I don’t have a deep fryer, so I fry mine in a large pot.  And, of course, I didn’t have enough oil on hand to fully cover the taquitos, so I had to flip them halfway through cooking.

Once they have cooked, remove taquitos from oil and onto the paper towel lined baking sheet.  Allow to cool, then serve.

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Bountiful Baskets Hiatus

15 Dec

I didn’t contribute for this week’s distribution, and there will be no contributions for the following 2 weeks due to the holidays.  I still have a few recipes to share this week, if I can hopefully get to them, and then will be back with Bountiful Baskets in January.

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Alfredo Sauce

13 Dec

I love pasta, and sometimes I live to take a break from marinara or tomato-based sauces and have a white sauce.  I have played around with this recipe a little, and tonight I think I finally got it how I like it.  I served this tonight with shrimp over linguine, but you could use chicken or keep it meatless, and serve it over a variety of pasta noodles, fettuccini, linguine, small shells, etc, and even add a vegetable like broccoli.  Or, you could serve it over just chicken and vegetables too, leaving out the pasta.  I had problems previously getting this to really thicken, so tonight I added in flour, which got it how I wanted it.  If you want to keep this gluten-free, you can use a GF flour or cornstarch, it’s really just to help thicken the sauce.  You can also leave the flour out, I just find it’s a little runnier than I like.

 

Alfredo Sauce

What you need:

2 Tbsp butter
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp flour, or gluten-free flour, or cornstarch
1 pint half-and-half
12 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley, or 1 Tbsp dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste

How to make it:

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium low heat.  Add in garlic and cook until garlic is just beginning to brown.  Add in flour and cook for 3-5 minutes, forming a roux.  Pour in the half-and-half, stirring constantly, to make sure the roux is fully mixed in and not lumpy.  Add the Parmesan cheese one tablespoon at a time, stirring constantly.  Mix in parsley, salt, and pepper.  Continue to stir frequently until sauce thickens.  Serve as desired.

 

Shrimp Linguine Alfredo variation:

Cook 1 pound linguine according to package directions for al dente.  Drain, and set aside.  Meanwhile, make sauce as above.  After sauce thickens, add in 1 pound fully cooked, peeled, and de-veined shrimp.  Stir and cook just until shrimp turn pink.  Combine the sauce and shrimp with the cooked noodles.  Serve.

Chicken Broccoli Fettuccini variation:

Cook 1 pound fettucini according to package directions for al dente.  Drain, and set aside.  Meanwhile, make sauce as above.  After sauce thickens, add in 1 pound fully cooked, cubed or shredded chicken and 1/2 lb steamed broccoli.  Stir and cook a few minutes.  Combine with pasta and serve.

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Bountiful Baskets – 12/10/2011

10 Dec

This week I got the conventional basket and the organic 9 grain bread.

 

Didn’t seem to get as much this week, but I’m excited to see asparagus.  Last year, I made a soup with butternut squash and apples, but it didn’t go over great, so I’m on the hunt for something new to make with the butternut squash.

 

Note: The type and amount of food may vary from another basket because of geographic location and because of variances in how the ends of produce cases are distributed after everything has been distributed evenly.

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Oatmeal Scotchies Cookie Bars

9 Dec

 

 

These cookies are one of my favorites to make, a close tie with good ol’ chocolate chip cookies.  What makes them even better?  The butterscotch chips were on sale recently AND I had a coupon!  I usually make these as bars instead of cookies, mostly because I don’t have the patience to scoop out dough for individual cookies, then bake multiple pans of cookies.  They end up tasting the same.

Oatmeal Scotchies (from the back of the bag of Nestle Butterscotch Chips)

What you need:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or grated peel of 1 orange
3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1 2/3 cups (11-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Butterscotch Flavored Morsels

How to make them:

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake  for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies or 9 to 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

PAN COOKIE VARIATION:
Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars.

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Biscuit Waffle Breakfast Sandwiches

5 Dec

Last week I posted about making Biscuit Waffles, and said that I thought they would be perfect for breakfast sandwiches.  Well, I was right!

 

So here is what I used to get 8 breakfast sandwiches:

1 can Grands biscuit, each biscuit split in half, then reshaped to a biscuit shape, giving me 16 biscuit waffles
1 package Jimmy Dean fully cooked turkey sausage rounds, 8 count
2 eggs, beaten, then cooked and divided into 4 sections (I did half with eggs, half without)
Shredded Mexican blend cheese

For the eggs, I sprayed a small skillet, then added the eggs.  Once they started to cook up, I flipped the whole thing.  Once fully cooked, I divided it into 4 pieces.  I then put some of the shredded cheese on each piece of egg, then added them to 4 of the sandwiches.  The other 4 sandwiches I left as just the biscuit waffles and sausage.  2 thumbs up from my family!

 

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Broccoli Cheddar Cheese Soup

3 Dec

When I saw the broccoli in my Bountiful Baskets this morning, I knew exactly what I wanted to make, Broccoli Cheddar Cheese Soup.  We’ve had a cold snap in the weather here, and it’s been cloudy and gloomy.  Perfect weather for making soup!  This recipe I got from Lori at My Kinda Rain, which she had gotten from CDKitchen.com.  I did it slightly different, I did not put mine through the blender because I like chunky soup.  I just made sure that I chopped the onion, carrots, and broccoli to smaller sizes.  It’s a nice thick soup, enough that it can be a meal on its own.  It was perfect and well liked by everyone except my oldest daughter, but that’s because she’s not a fan of cheese.  I wish we had some bread bowls to serve this in, but I made some crescent rolls to eat with it instead.

Broccoli Cheddar Cheese Soup
Serves 4 

What you need:

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 medium onion, chopped finely
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
3 cups (approx 1/2 lb) fresh broccoli, chopped finely
1 cup carrots, julienned (I cut baby carrots into fourths lengthwise)
salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups (8 oz) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

How to make it:

Saute onion in the 1 tablespoon of butter.  Set aside.

In a large stock pot, melt 1/4 cup butter.  Mix in the flour using a whisk, forming a thick paste, and cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes (this is called making a roux, for future reference).  Slowly add the milk , stirring constantly with the whisk.  Add the broth, still whisking the whole time.  Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the onions, broccoli, carrots, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat until the veggies are tender, about 20-25 minutes.  The soup should be thickened by now.  (If desired, pour into the blender in batches and puree. Return to pot.)

Add the shredded cheese; stir until well blended while cooking over low heat.  Stir in the nutmeg and serve.

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