Carrot Cake

Hi, team! A couple of you asked for this recipe of the carrot cake we had for Easter this year. This comes from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, which I love and highly recommend!

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 lb. carrots (about 5 large-ish for me...I used a kitchen scale), peeled and grated
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable or canola oil

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Grease and flour a 9X13-inch baking pan or 2 9-inch round pans.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in large bowl; set aside. In a food processor fitted with large or fine shredding disk, shred carrots (you should have about 3 cups); transfer carrots to bowl and set aside. You can also shred by hand on a box grater if you don’t have a food processor.

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or in large bowl and using hand-held mixer), beat granulated and brown sugars and eggs on medium-high until thoroughly combined, about 45 seconds. Reduce speed to medium; with mixer running, add oil in slow, steady stream, being careful to pour oil against inside of bowl (if oil begins to splatter, reduce speed to low until oil is incorporated, then resume adding oil). Increase speed to high and mix until mixture is light in color and well emulsified, about 45 seconds to 1 minute longer. Turn off mixer and stir in carrots and dry ingredients by hand until incorporated and no streaks of flour remain.

Pour into prepared pan(s) and bake until toothpick or skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 32 minutes for 9-inch round pans and 40 minutes for a 9X13-inch pan. Let cakes cool for about 10 minutes in the pan and then invert them onto a cooling rack to cool completely (the 9X13-inch cake can be cooled completely in the pan if you don’t plan to invert and ice all the sides). Frost with your favorite cream cheese frosting and enjoy!

Chicken Rice Bake

Well my good women, it's time for another recipe to break up our January a little bit. Woah, January is almost over? When did this happen? Well, what do you know. Anyway, this recipe is quite delicious. Try it! You're gonna like the way it tastes, I guarantee it. ;)

2 c. white long grain rice
2 1/2 c. cooked, shredded chicken breast
1 (15 oz) can mild green enchilada sauce
1 (4 oz) can sliced black olives
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 c. sour cream
1 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper
1 t. Ground Cumin
1 (15 oz) can ranch style pinto beans w/ jalapenos
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Cook rice according to package directions. Place chicken, enchilada sauce, olives, tomatoes, sour cream, salt, pepper and cumin into a large bowl, mixing to combine. Pour cooked rice into prepared baking dish and layer beans on top of rice. Pour chicken mixture over rice and top evenly with cheddar cheese. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until cheese is melted and rice is hot.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.
*If you like your food a little milder, the actual recipe just calls for black beans, drained and rinsed, but Kasey and I found we like a little more kick to ours. :)