Homemade Pound Cake

So someone I am aquainted with posted that they made some homemade pound cakes. So I though, hey why not? I could try that! So of course I found a reasonably simple recipe on Pinterest and set to work! 

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2.5 cups sugar

1 cup of softened butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 eggs

1 cup milk

Directions:

So first I creamed the sugar and butter together. But since that attachment no longer exists on my mixer due to an unfortunate mishap years ago, I did it in the food processor. Worked just fine. Then I put that in a bowl. I added the eggs and sprinkled in the baking powder and salt (to get them out of the way). The original instructions said to sift them in with the flour but since I wasn't planning on sifting anything, that wasn't happening. So I used a hand mixer to mix all that together. Then I added the flour one cup at a time alternating with some of the milk and kept mixing until it was nice and creamy. And it did get very creamy looking. So I thought to myself- wow this is looking so good, let me smell it.... Bad idea. Just an FYI- don't bend over and smell anything with the hand mixer on. Results posted below...

Anyway, after you mix everything- pour into a baking pan or two. Make sure they are greased and floured or at least use cooking spray like I did! Bake that deliciousness for an hour on 350 degrees F. 

They turned out delicious despite the lapse in judgement!!!

Below is what happens when you get too close to that mixer!!! 

Homemade Gnocchi.. Made from a RUTABAGA?!?!

Ok so I bought a rutabaga the other day, not knowing what it was, what it tastes like or how to cook it. But it was cheap and I'm in "cheap mode"! So Pinterest to the rescue! Most recipes were for mashed or baked rutabaga. Eh. That was ok I guess. But one was for rutabaga gnocchi- ok, this was different! So yesterday I took the plunge and hoped for the best! Of course, you know by now that I didn't follow the recipe exactly... Here's the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

1 rutabaga

2-3 cups flour

A pinch of salt

Peel and dice rutabaga. This was easier than I thought it would be. 

Boil that sucker for 30-60 minutes until you can stick a fork in easily. 

Mash it! 

Let it cool completely in the fridge. 

Now- mix in about 2 cups of flour and kneed it in the bowl. Make sure it's not too "sticky" then take a chunk and using your hands, roll it into a snake on a cutting board. Then use a butter knife and cut that snake into small pieces. (Like an inch each). Set aside onto a floured or sprayed sheet pan. I used non stick cooking spray. When you're done you can put that in the fridge till you're going to cook it. 

To cook it- boil a pot of water and drop them in one at a time so they don't stick together. Original recipe said about 20 at a time. I did that. The first "batch", but I sure didn't want to stand there all night so after I fished them out I just dumped the rest in all at once. Boil for about 4-6 minutes. They seemed to float to the top when they were done which was super nice of them! Fish them out with a big spoon with holes in it. Done! 

So here's the thing- they tasted just like TURNIP. Not my fave. So you have to make some kind of sauce to kill that taste, unless you're a turnip fan, then you're good. So I also fried up some turkey sausage and mushrooms to add to my gnocchi bowl. Then sprinkled some fresh cut up cilantro and parsley. (Would probably use basil next time, but I was too lazy to be chopping more herbs). Then- here's the special sauce- in a bowl mix some lemon juice (2 small lemons) and about 3-4 Tbspns of syrup... Yeah, pancake syrup... Trust me. It just makes a small amount but when you pour that on the gnocchi, it completely changes that flavor!! 

So let me know if you make this and how it goes over in your house! And let me know if you made any changes to the recipe and how it worked!!!

The pre-cooked gnocchi ready to go!

And the finished meal below!

Red Velvet Biscotti- the easy way!

Ok, so we love biscotti and haven't had it since we relocated to the south. Sitting on the sofa the other night, DH says "why don't you make some for dessert?" Umm because I've never even thought about making it. A quick search showed me that it wasn't going to happen at 8pm that night! It has to be baked twice so I told him I'd gladly do it during the day. I also knew I had seen a recipe for an easier version using a red velvet cake mix- so I had time to hunt that down! These ended up being really tasty! (And I am not a fan of red velvet cake to be honest!)

INGREDIENTS 

1 package red velvet cake mix

1 cup flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tsp vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Pre heat oven at 350 degrees

Melt butter

Mix everything in a bowl together. I used a hand mixer then once it was pretty well mixed I used my hands. 

Form into 2-3 patties- they call them biscotti logs. They look like flat rectangular patties to me, maybe about 1/2 inch deep. 

Bake for 30 minutes. 

Let cool for about 10 minutes. Then cut into 1/2 inch strips. (If you don't let them cool enough, they will break)

Then place back on cookie sheet with the inside of each of the strips facing upwards. Bake for another 10 minutes. I had to put them back in so the bigger pieces could have some more time for a total of about 20 minutes. 

They were good like that! But I wanted something more so I added a cream cheese drizzle!

Mix:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 Tblspn cream or half and half. 

Put that all in a zip lock Baggie- cut the tip off and drizzle that frivolousness all over your finished biscotti!