Strawberry Yogurt Bundt Cake

From Food.com.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested
2 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces plain Greek yogurt or 8 ounces vanilla, greek yogurt

Fruit:

1/4 c flour
12 ounces fresh strawberries, diced

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Sift together the 2 ¼ cups of flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the lemon zest and set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 Tb. lemon juice. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated.
3. Toss the strawberries with the remaining ¼ cup of flour. Gently mix them into the batter.
4. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled whisk together the remaining 2 Tb. of lemon juice and the powdered sugar. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

Martha Stewart Strawberry Cake

From Martha Stewart.

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pie plate
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 c milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb fresh strawberries, hulled and halved

Garnish:

2 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch pie plate. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.
2. Put butter and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk, and vanilla.
3. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Transfer batter to buttered pie plate. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.
4. Bake cake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Let cool in pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges.

New Orleans Pralines

Mario Batali’s Pecan Pralines

Makes 24 pralines

Guests will be thrilled to learn they are taking home some of these chocolate, nutty pralines at the end of the night. Present them on the dessert table in footed glass vessels or tuck them into a glass shadow box that can later be reused to display keepsakes.

3 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp. corn syrup
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 cups pecan halves
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or wax paper. Combine brown sugar, cream, corn syrup and butter in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until a candy thermometer inserted in mixture reads 240°. Remove from heat, and cool to 150°, 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Add pecans and vanilla, and stir until candy becomes opaque, about one minute. Drop mixture by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet. Let stand until cool and firm, 25 to 30 minutes.

Active time: 10 minutes

Total time: 50 minutes

Kicked Up Apple Crisp

I’m of Indian origin, and I like spices. For most American recipes, I generally double, triple or quadruple the amount of spices specified. Most people don’t, spices are expensive, and they don’t know which spice blends well with others. The below recipe is, IMHO, what a proper apple crisp should taste like. If you don’t like spices, simply omit them, or minimally use 1/2 tsp cinnamon only.

This is my original recipe. Enjoy!

Note: Always use McCormick spices for best flavors. Yes, it is worth the money, and yes, it makes a difference. If you can’t afford McCormick, just omit the spices altogether. Bad spices will really mar the flavor of your baking, and totally undermine the work you put into your meal.

This is a one dish (the pyrex brownie pan) and one bowl (for the dry ingredients) recipe. No measuring cup or anything to clean, just use a big tablespoon and a knife to cut the butter. Spices are not measured either, just sprinkle evenly straight from the bottle.

Important: do not substitute other apple types for the granny smith apples. Yes, it makes a difference. Granny smith apples are preferred in baking because they don’t get mushy when you bake them. See picture of the apples at right, fork cut after baking:

Also, granny smith apples are tart, so if you sub in something else, the sugar content will have to be adjusted. I like the blend of sweet and sour and spicy the granny smith apples provide. It makes the dessert feel less sweet (and easier to finish a whole pan by yourself!)

Yield: One 8×8 brownie pan full.

Ingredients:

FILLING:

2 granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground
1 tsp ginger, ground
1/2 tsp allspice, ground
1/4 tsp clove, ground
1/4 stick butter, softened
1/4 tsp lemon juice (fresh!)

TOPPING:

4 big tablespoons all purpose flour
6 big tablespoons quaker oats
1 stick butter, softened
1/4 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Line up sliced apples in bottom of pyrex pan. One layer is sufficient. Eat any extras. You will generally use 1.5 large granny smith apples for the one layer, or 2 small granny smith apples.
2. Squeeze lemon juice over the apples.
3. Sprinkle spices over the apples.
4. Dot butter over the apples.
5. It should look like this:
6. Now mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Use your hands and smush it all together. When it is all mixed well, and there isn’t any loose flour or oatmeal wandering around, you are done. It should look like this (you can see the tablespoon I used to measure the flour and oatmeal in the picture too):
7. Now lay the flour mixture over the apples in the pan in a nice even layer. It won’t be perfect. It doesn’t matter. In the oven, it’ll mix and ooze deliciously regardless. It looks like this before you put it in the oven:
8. Bake 375 F for 25 min. It will ooze and bubble deliciously.
9. Enjoy hot out of the oven. Tastes great covered with whipping cream (liquid or whipped), ice cream, or yogurt, drizzled with caramel sauce.
10. Enjoy!

This dessert is super fast and super easy, it takes 15 minutes to put together.

Bake it just as you and your family are sitting down to dinner, and by the time you finish, a nice hot dessert will be ready for you!

I love serving this to guests and to family for the holidays, or bringing it to a potluck. If you omit the spices, the apple crisp still tastes good, and becomes a very economical option for gifting. Yum yum yum! Enjoy!

Deviled Eggs

Southern Living Recipe

Ingredients

6 large eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (Just Mayo)
1 1/2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish (Heinz)
1 teaspoon prepared mustard (Dijonaise)
1/8 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
Garnish: paprika

Preparation

Place eggs in a single layer in a saucepan; add water to depth of 3 inches. Bring to a boil; cover, remove from heat, and let stand 15 minutes.

Drain immediately and fill the saucepan with cold water and ice. Tap each egg firmly on the counter until cracks form all over the shell. Peel under cold running water.

Slice eggs in half lengthwise, and carefully remove yolks. Mash yolks with mayonnaise. Add relish, mustard, salt, and pepper; stir well. Spoon yolk mixture into egg whites. Garnish, if desired.

NOTE: I love this recipe, it’s so classic and delicious. THIS is the taste of deviled eggs from your memories of holidays past.

Potluck Desserts

Thought about buying the Amazon bargain book.

But it had no recipe index. Who wants to buy if you don’t know what recipes you’re getting?

Anyway, they have a bunch of the recipes free on their website. It’s worth trying a few and seeing if they are worth spending money on more.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/course/desserts/potluck-desserts-to-feed-a-crowd

http://www.amazon.com/Taste-Home-Church-Desserts-Delectable/dp/B005EP1V86/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1433803974&sr=1-8&refinements=p_n_special_merchandising_browse-bin%3A394172011

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/recipe-collections/dessert-recipe-collections

Like this easy veg cookbook too: http://www.amazon.com/Simply-Satisfying-Vegetarian-Recipes-Youll/dp/B00DF0EBRK/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A317YISDMRJIZA

Swati’s Corn Cake

Swati’s Corn Cake

2 eggs
¼ c sugar
¼ c yellow corn meal
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ stick butter (1/4 c)
½ c defrosted corn (put in water and microwave for 5 minutes)
½ c yogurt
¼ c white flour
1/16 c oil
¼ – ½ jalapeno, finely diced

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Result: Very moist, very good cake. Slightly crumbly. Might be able to do without the oil.

Swati’s Carrot Casserole

Swati’s Carrot Casserole

1 lb carrots, cooked, mashed (1 bag frozen carrots, defrosted)
1/2 c milk
1/3 c sugar + a touch for luck
1/2 c butter, softened
salt to taste
pepper to taste
paprika to taste

Put above ingredients in blender. Puree until consistency of mashed potatoes.

1 small onion, chopped
1 large jalapeno, chopped
1/2 c cracker crumbs for mixture

You can add some onions, jalapenos and cracker crumbs into the blender if you like.

Mix above ingredients in mixing bowl. Add pureed carrot to mix. Take the total mix and put it into a casserole dish (2 QT lasagna dish) or into an 8” x 8” square dish (brownie pan).

1/2 c cracker crumbs for topping (you can have these crumbled or blended)
some butter for topping (softened butter mixes better)

Mix above ingredients. Crumble the buttered cracker crumbs atop the carrot casserole mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min until brown.
Makes 5 servings. Cut into pieces.