Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting | Easy Recipe

I wanted to make a carrot cake for Thanksgiving. It happens to be one of my favorites, because of the cream cheese frosting, and is also a favorite of my husband.
When I found this recipe, I was a little unsure that it would truly taste homemade. But it did. I was able to cut out the time consuming carrot grating and still have an awesome cake. Everyone that ate it swore it was great.

The recipe is from Betty Crocker and can be found here, along with others to try.

**I used a homemade version of the icing.

Ultimate Carrot Cake
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® carrot cake mix
1/2 cup orange juice or water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
1 teaspoon orange peel
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped raisins

Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Grease two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans or 13x9-inch pan and lightly flour, or spray with baking spray with flour. In large bowl, beat cake mix, orange juice, oil, pineapple, orange peel, vanilla and eggs on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Stir in nuts, coconut and raisins. Pour into pans.
2 Bake 8- or 9-inch rounds 30 to 35 minutes, 13x9-inch pan 37 to 43 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around side of pans to loosen cakes; remove rounds from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

Cream Cheese Icing
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Linking up with Kitchenspiration!

Brown Sugar Pork Chops with Onions

You need:

2 tsp of olive oil

4 boneless or boned pork lion or rib chops

3/4 tsp of black pepper

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup orange juice

2 Tbsp of packed brown sugar

Heat olive oil in a large skillet.  Sprinkle the chops with black pepper.  Cook chops in hot oil for 6 to 8 minutes on each side or until browned and cooked through.  Remove the chops from the skillet, cover and keep warm.

For the sauce, add the onions to the same skillet over medium heat for 3-5 minutes or until tender.  Push the onions aside and add the orange juice and brown sugar.  Cook and stir for 1 minute or until sugar is dissolved.  Stir the onions into the sauce.  

Spoon the sauce over the chops and serve.

Whole Wheat Banana Strawberry Muffins

These were great!  I never use wheat flour and I was worried that they would be dry and unsweet, but we are trying to eat less refined sugar and bleached flour.  They were so moist and perfect for breakfast or in place of cake for dessert.  

You need:

2 eggs

1/2 cup of apple (puree or finely chopped)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup brown sugar (packed)

1 tsp of vanilla extract

3 bananas (mashed)

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup strawberries (frozen and chopped)

Preheat the oven to 375 degress.  Line 24 regular or 12 large muffin cups.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, apple, oil, brown sugar, vanilla, and bananas.  Combine the flour and baking soda.  Stir into the banana mixture until moistened.  Stir in the strawberries until evenly distributed.  

Spoon batter into muffin cups until completely filled.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins spring back when pressed lightly.  Cool before removing from the muffin tin.

I am linking up with Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Puerto Rican Style Pork Shoulder

I decided to cook for Taft's Birthday Party this year.  I knew that we would do hot dogs for the kids, but I wanted something good for the adults.  Something that could be cooked in the house so that there was no grill by the pool.  It is enough to try to watch children in the pool and way too much to have to also remember to keep them away from a hot grill.
My friend, Yvette, makes the best pork that I have ever tasted.  So - I got the recipe from here.  There are no amounts or measurements since they just make it from memory and it is prepared to taste.  But here is basically what you need to do.

You need:
Pork Shoulder (ours were about 10 pounds each and we cooked 3)
White Vinegar
Lemon Juice
Olive Oil
Garlic
Adobo (you can find it in the Hispanic food section at the grocery store and we got the one with the blue top)
Sazon (also in the Hispanic food section and it is the one that has coriander and annatto)
Gloves (the Sazon will turn you hands orange)
Tin Foil

The first thing that we did on Friday was to put the pork shoulder in a large disposable tin pan.  We then added vinegar and lemon juice to the container to put the pork in a brine.  We also poked lots of little holes the meat.  We then covered it with foil and put it in the fridge.  It needs to be in the brine for at least 4 hours.
On Saturday morning, I took it out and drained off the brine.  Then I put the following into a boil to make a paste:  garlic, Sazon, Adobo, and olive oil.  I cut large hole in the meat and stuffed them with the paste and then rubbed it into the meat all over.  I left the fat side up and covered again and put back in the fridge to marinate.
On Saturday night, I set the oven for 250 degrees and put the covered meat in to cook.  When I woke up on Sunday, it was done.
We then uncovered the meat and put it back into the oven on broil to crisp up the skin.  That makes some great homemade pork skins. We then pulled all the meat off the bones (and saved those for Shelby Dog).  You also take the juice that the meat cooked in and add more adobo, then pour some over the shredded meat. 
It is so good.  You can make it to eat as a sandwich or alone.  We had both options and most people thought that it was good enough that it needed no BBQ sauce.

Today I am linking up with Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Spaghetti

I love spaghetti.  My dad has made it for years and everyone that eats it, loves it.  I even remember picking it for my birthday dinner once when I was in high school.  My girl friends came over and had spaghetti and cake.  Mine isn't exactly like his, but it is pretty good.

You need:
2 pounds of ground beef, browned and drained
8 ounces of fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
2 chopped bell peppers
2 28 ounce cans of diced tomatoes
6 ounce can of tomato paste
1 cup of water
salt
pepper
Olive oil
2 packages of McCormick brand Thick and Zesty Spaghetti Sauce Mix


In a large sauce pain, add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the chopped onion, peppers, and the sliced mushrooms.  Saute over medium heat.  While the onions and mushrooms are cooking, I start the meat.  Just brown and scramble, salt and pepper to taste, and drain the oil.
Once the onions are clear, add one cup of water, the caned tomatoes (with juice), tomato paste, and sauce mix.  Add the drained meat.  Stir well, cover and let simmer.  It really is better the longer it simmers.  We let our cook at least one and half hours.
Serve over pasta.

Today I am linking up with Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays at Blessed With Grace.

Recipe of the Week #2 - Santa Fe Soup

Santa Fe Soup is one of our favorite things to make in the fall/winter.  There are a lot of different recipes out there and I have heard it called Mexican Bean Soup, Taco Soup, and  Spicy Bean Soup.  We have made it a lot and it is great if you are having people over.  It is fairly cheap to make, quick, and add in a meat tray for sandwiches and you can feed a lot of people.

SANTA FE SOUP

2 pounds of lean ground beef

28 oz can of diced tomatoes (you can also use Rotel Tomatoes)

2 15.5 oz cans of kidney beans

2 15 oz cans of black beans

1 15 oz can each of pinto beans, red beans, black-eyed peas

1 package of taco seasoning (we use Taco Bell brand)

2 packages of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
1 15 oz can of water

Brown ground beef and drain fat. Place all ingredients in crock pot.  Do not drain any of the beans.  We use the 4 hour high heat setting on our crock pot.
Shane and I find that most of our guests like it with sour cream and shredded cheese on top.