Carrot Cake, Paleo/Primal Style
You may remember I mentioned my being surrounded by friends and family eating different ways. Here is one, highlighted. My son and daughter-in-law have gone Paleo since January 1st. Meat and plants, no grain is the basic plan. A radical change. They are taking it pretty seriously and I don’t believe it’s a diet I could adhere to totally. But when I arrived Friday night the dinner was diced and sautéed rutabaga, shrimps on a skewer that were delicious,salad, and a cauliflower, broccoli, carrot medley (my name for it, not what it is really called) This cake was the dessert pictured below.
Mark never really baked anything I can ever remember. But he was proud of this carrot cake. After dinner he went out to the garage (where it is cool) and brought in in on a cakestand with a dome! I asked him how he made it since the diet doesn’t have any wheat flour or refined sugar. I mean, it looked like a carrot cake. He said he’d soaked 5 grated carrots in maple syrup and then drained the liquid off. He used coconut flour, an item I don’t have in my pantry. There were some dates in it. And if I heard him correctly, TEN eggs. The icing was whole fat cream cheese and grated ginger.
Whoa, no worries… I just searched found a link with the recipe for the Paleo/Primal Carrot Cake which sounds just like the ingredients he listed. I’m at Laura and James’ tonight so can’t check Mark and Erika’s cookbook and it is too late to call or text to ask.
Proud of the Paleo carrot cake he baked.
It was sweet but not too sweet. Incredibly moist. Satisfying. It reminded me of eating a baked good in Europe that was unfamiliar yet delicious. The ginger flavor was more pronounced on the second day which was okay by me but if you don’t like the pungent zing of fresh ginger you might want the vanilla in the frosting. I have no plans to go Paleo but enjoyed perusing their new cookbooks and finding Italian Pot Roast that sounded great for winter . I see they’re enjoying cooking and planning meals together, shopping for new ingredients. Real converts! Tonight for dinner there was spaghetti sauce on zucchini that had been cut on the mandolin and was used instead of pasta. They are feeling good and looking good and pleased with their change of eating habits.
In 1977 and my parents lived in Philadelphia and I lived there for a year with Mark when he was one, I remember there was a restaurant that specialized in a rich carrot cake if you want to compare recipes. What I remember about that carrot cake was how you didn’t want to eat a whole piece. It was too much.
My mom used to bake an occasional sourdough carrot cake in a Danish green enameled lasagna type pan and I found a recipe for that online.
I would feel comfortable serving the Paleo/Primal carrot cake to dinner guests. Thinking about carrot cakes. Diets. Nutrition. Ingredients. Eating together with family is the best, no matter what is on the plate!
Anchovies and Arugula Pasta in Omaha- An Engagement Party Thank You
Today is a guest blog with three contributors, Joanne, Anne and Mary in Omaha.
I met Joanne in Germany when I was expecting Laura (28).
The photos are by Anne and Joanne.
Mark Bittman -Minimalist: Pasta with Anchovies and Arugula article and video in the New York Times
In My Grandmother’s Hand
I might try to make something from her recipes tomorrow.
The Pineapple Upside Down Cake recipe. My father’s mother’s recipe box. Sitting on my kitchen shelf. Yellowed newspaper clippings between the file cards.. I was looking around for items to put on my Keep or Pitch blog and the antique radio from earlier this week reminded me how objects can tell a story. Or two. There are recipes for pickles and yeast rolls. Illinois cuisine. The edge of the file card is discolored as well. I am not going to pitch this in the downsizing effort. I sifted through the cards, read her notes, remembered how she made egg noodles and hung them to dry on the broom handle. Mary Alta Kerr Hendricks born Feb 7, 1892. She taught me how to knit. I sleep under one of her quilts now and am figuring out how to repair an afghan she knit. In her retirement, she worked in the flower shop in Lincoln, Illinois. Kept her lunch (a can of spinach and a hard boiled egg), inside the glass door refrigerator right next to the buckets of gladiolas and carnations for the bouquets.
What did your grandmother bake/cook that you remember?
I chose this recipe card
cause her handwriting
seemed clear and legible
through the camera lens.
My Answer to 9 Degrees Temperature? Homemade French Onion Soup
A bowl of onions on the kitchen table has been talking to me saying “Onion rings in the cast iron skillet, onion rings in the cast iron skillet.” But I came to my senses and sliced them up and sauteed them in butter and olive oil to carmelize them. Toasted a slice of Allegro Hearth Farmgrain Bread and thin parings of Parmesan. Ladled the hot broth over the toast and cheese. Used my Grandmother Hendricks’ silver soup spoon with just the right bowl of a spoon for the soup. Found a wealth of information and recipes for Onion Soup. Click the link to read the history and simple directions on how to make it perfectly. And the birthday pasta bowls from V make a lovely soup plate for this winter meal.
the kitchen smelled so inviting. I wouldn't make this in July.
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