The New Year's Cake and Parsnip Soup

 Esme and I made the butter almond cake together today.  

 

My haul from the grocery store.  I didn't take any pictures of the cake itself.  We made hopping john of a sort, and I served carrots and the almond cake for Esme, and carrots, the almond cake, greens and some of the acorn squash for grandma and myself.

 I had looked through all of my recipes and found the recipe for galette des rois (king's cake) and decided it was too complicated.  But yesterday, I had decided that I needed to make the cake again, maybe something that I can still eat after this dental work.

 

This is what we made - it was good, a bit like sweetened cornbread.  I can't have corn products, have been avoiding them for years now on my cousin's recommendation with my other connective tissue disorder.   

 

Butter Almond Cake :

 

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter softened

1 cup white granulated sugar

2 large eggs (at room temperature)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

little less than 3 tsp. baking powder

1.5 cups of general purpose flour

1/2 cup of ground almonds

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until fork comes out clean

cream softened butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla, beat until smooth, mix dry ingredients in another bowl and add half and half with the milk beating until all combined, pour into ceramic dish, bake

 

Hopping John  

 

fry chopped bacon on low until the edges begin to crisp, keep the oil in the pan

pour drained can of black eyed peas into the grease and mix thoroughly while still heating

stir often until it begins to bubble again

put frozen chopped green onions into mixture, heat again until it sizzles and stir until the gravy thickens

 

Parsnip Soup  (a variation on the turnip soup from a while back)

 

peel and chop up into small slivers one large parsnip

put in pot with at least 2 cups (I think it was closer to 4) of water

pour in a bit of olive oil 

add frozen zucchini and onions

garlic parmesan grilling seasoning

black pepper 

 

boil until everything is soft, use a stick blender to make smooth 

add a good pat of good butter on top of each bowl

 

 

 

Three butter baking recipes for the Fall and Winter cake cookies

 

It is winter, and a good time to bake, and have the butter cookies and cakes to snack on through the colder days, also good for holidays and for special dinners

 

 Butter Cake

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole milk

cream butter, sugar add egg and vanilla, mix others in separate bowl and well combine, then put in glass or ceramic container in oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until fork comes clean and top is nicely golden and brown in small points

serve warm immediately if possible, if not : place in OFF oven with a bowl of water or cover with aluminum foil on stovetop to cool down - serve with fruit over the top, warmed pie cherries, apples or peaches in their natural syrup

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Sugar Cookie

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

mix these together well with a bit of cinnamon

cream 1 cup softened butter with 1 cup sugar, 1 large egg and 1 tbsp vanilla extract 

add a tiny bit of milk to the proper consistency, not too much

form small balls, 1 coffee teaspoon full and place well apart on ungreased pan, you may smash them down a bit with a fork (crispier, watch them closer, they are flatter to begin with), or not (take longer, be more dome-shaped)

bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until beginning to brown underneath but not on top 

remove to parchment paper on pan and let cool before storing

(Mark wants to add nut flours to this recipe and I'm not sure how that will work - will see and add recipe that worked to this later if it is good)

We mashed up six to eight brazil nuts in a mortar and pestle and added the sticky mash to the sugar and butter mixture to make a second batch of cookies

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Banana 'Pudding' cake (No butter, good to make use of bananas before they go off)

2 nearly overripe bananas (softened, starting to get black streak, not so soft they fall apart when peeled)

mash in the bottom of a ceramic pie pan, add 3 large chicken eggs and break yolks, add a few tablespoons of white sugar, splash of whole milk, dash x 2 of salt over top - mix well

add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of brown rice flour (depends on the milk earlier) and a shred of well crushed baking powder - consistency should be that of slightly thicker pancake batter, may add a handful of chocolate chips or nuts, but not too much as the batter is fairly thin in the pie pan

let sit for 5 minutes on countertop while oven heats to 350 degrees - to allow the baking powder to start to form small bubbles in surface

when oven has heated, place inside and bake for 40 minutes or so, until the edge at the pan begins to show browning, and fork comes clean in middle

let cool, and cut, store in refrigerator

10 bday cake

 We made the traditional cake :) and some cupcakes!
Esme picked out all the colors, strawberry frosting and blue and black gel decorations.
Tomorrow is the big day

9th birthday

 The yearly presentation of the potato.

Daddy made me do it!

 Hazel and Grandma

 

 

Cake!

    

 Presents 

Fuzzy purple boots

She'd asked me for boots and these seemed to be just right for her.

 And toy mice!

We got her the cage and wheel and Grandma got her an extra mouse to play with.

She had asked for this outfit in August for school, but it wasn't really school appropriate.  Grandma bought it for her birthday so she can dress up fancy!

G stayed for Minecraft sleepover

They brought face paints and a game that the girls enjoyed playing against each other!