Carrot Cake with Gingersnap Crunch

I haven’t made this cake yet because my friend always makes it for Easter so I’ve never had a need to, but it’s recipe to keep and not forget. It is AHHMMAAZZING!! Like so good you won’t ever want to make other Easter cake again!

Here’s the link

Simmer and Slice

Go-To Dinner Rolls

It’s funny to me when people post things like my go-to…I have some of those also but these rolls…they are the bomb! I’ve made lion house which I love, but my family loves these ones a little more. I’ve made these for dinners and they are so tasty, soft, fluffy…the perfect roll.

Recipe: Homegrown Traditions
Over at Homegrown Traditions she also uses this recipe for her cinnamon rolls. I’ll post how to do that as well. She has made them and refrigerated them and baked them the next morning. I’ve only tried that once with the cinnamon rolls and they were great, however I don’t think I brought them all the way to room temp so when I baked them the middle ones in the pan didn’t cook all the way so make sure you do that to avoid the same thing.

GO-TO DINNER ROLLS
Pin Recipe
Servings: 36 rolls
INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter melted & slightly cooled
2 cups warm water
2 Tbs dry, active yeast
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine butter, water, yeast and sugar. Mix gently and let sit 3-5 minutes until bubbly.
Add eggs, salt, baking powder and 2 cups flour. Mix well. Add remaining 4 1/2 cups flour and mix until combined.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap sprayed with nonstick spray and let rise about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Divide dough in half and roll each half into a large circle, using extra flour as needed. Slice each half into 16 equal slices. Roll each piece starting at the large end. Place on a greased or silicone mat-lined cookie sheet. Let rise an additional 30 minutes.
Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes.
Rub a cold stick of butter over warm rolls when they come out of the oven, if desired.
NOTES
* Make sure your yeast is fresh (I store mine in the freezer).
* To make whole-wheat dinner rolls, sub out half of the all-purpose flour with whole-wheat flour.

CINNAMON ROLL ADAPTATION

Filling
8 Tbs butter softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
Frosting
1 stick butter (8 Tbs) softened
1 block cream cheese (8 oz) softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine butter, water, yeast and sugar. Mix gently and let sit 3-5 minutes until bubbly.
Add eggs, salt, baking powder and 2 cups flour. Mix well. Add remaining 4 1/2 cups flour and mix until combined.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap sprayed with nonstick spray and let rise about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Divide dough in half and roll one half into a long rectangle (about 20″ x 10″).
Combine 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon in a bowl.
Spread 4 Tbs of softened butter over the rectangle of dough. Sprinkle with the brown sugar mixture.
Roll the dough up longwise to form a log.
Using flavorless/cinnamon floss or fishing line or string, slide the floss under the log to the middle. Pull up both ends of the floss until they cross each other, cutting the log in half. Cut each of those halfs in half. Then cut each section into thirds, making 12 pieces.
Place rolls in a greased 9×13″ baking dish. Roll out your other half of the dough and repeat the process to make another pan of cinnamon rolls. Cover and let rise 30 minutes.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes, until golden brown on top.
Add all frosting ingredients into a bowl. Beat together until smooth and creamy.
Frost cinnamon rolls after they’ve cooled for about 10 minutes.

NOTES
To make rolls the night before, complete instructions through placing them in the greased baking dish. Then cover the dish and place in the refrigerator. In the morning, pull your baking dish out of the refrigerator when you turn the oven on. Once the oven is preheated, your rolls should be warmed enough to go right in the oven and bake as directed! You’ll likely need to add 3-5 minutes to the baking time, but just watch for golden brown tops.
You can also make the frosting in advance, but it will harden in the refrigerator overnight, so pull it out at the same time you get the rolls out so that it can soften up while they’re cooking.

Easy Quiche

I had a Galantine’s brunch this past February and made this quiche for the first time and it was the perfect savory dish to accompany all of the sweet treats we had. It was more of a crowd pleaser than I thought and I was asked for the recipe by more than one person. I don’t want to forget it so I have to post it.

The Website I got it from has some great information on making quiches so I’m just going to post the link. But definitely if you are looking to cook to impress go here and make it. Don’t be scared to make it either, a quiche sounds more intimidating than it really is.

I chose to use onion, ham, and spinach. Great combo! Enjoy!

Craving Home Cooked

Beef and Broccoli

We are big fans of beef and broccoli and this is a delicious, easy recipe. It’s always gobbled up and there are never any leftovers.

1 1/2 pounds flank steak thinly sliced against the grain
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon Water
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups broccoli florets
1 tablespoon canola oil

For The Sauce:
1/4 cup soy sauce low sodium
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
6 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger grated
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1/2 cup beef broth
2 teaspoon cornstarch
Instructions
Slice the flank steak thinly against the grain. in a large bowl, whisk together the 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon corn starch, 1 tablespoon water and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. Add the sliced meat and toss to fully coat, set aside.

Whisk together the ingredients for the sauce, set aside.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon canola oil (or oil of choice). When oil is hot, add the flank steak. You may need to work in batches to avoid crowding the pan. Cook until beef is browned on the bottom, about two minutes. Stir and continue cooking until beef is browned, 2-3 more minutes.
Add broccoli and sauce to pan, stir to coat everything, and cover. Allow to cook until broccoli is bright green crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.
Remove from heat, stir again to coat in sauce and serve.
Notes
If you don’t have oyster sauce, you can sub 1 tablespoon soy sauce + 1 tablespoon brown sugar. It won’t have quite as much umami flavor, but will do in a pinch.
Be sure to cut flank steak AGAINST the grain. See which direction the muscle fibers are running, then slice across it.
Nutritional information is an estimate for your convenience. If you have strict nutritional needs, please do your due diligence to make sure this recipe fits your needs.

Recipe: Fox and Briar

No Churn Key Lime Ice Cream

My little Rocco just turned 7 and he asked for something lemony or limey so we made this lime ice-cream and it was so delightful! Even Ernie who is a chocolate fan really liked it. And it’s super easy and it’s ice-cream you don’t have to have an ice-cream maker to make!! WIN WIN WIN!!! I probably only had it in the freezer for about 4 hours.

Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh key lime juice
2 tsp key lime zest

For the graham cracker crust:
3 graham cracker sheets
1/2 TBS sugar
2 TBS melted butter

Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Grind your graham crackers to make a fine crumb. Mix them with your butter and sugar and pack into the bottom of a 8×8 baking pan and place in oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Pour heavy cream into a large mixing bowl and whip over high speed until stiff peaks form (about 12-15 minutes).
Combine your sweetened condensed milk, lime juice and lime zest in a large bowl.
Pour your whipped cream on top of your condensed milk mixture and fold together till thoroughly mixed.
Pour 1/3 of your ice cream into a 3 qt container. Scoop about 1/4 cup of your pie crust and sprinkle over the ice cream. Repeat with another 1/3 of your ice cream and another 1/4 cup of pie crust. And the final bit of ice cream and pie crust.
Cover tightly and place in your freezer for at least 6 hours, up to overnight.

Recipe from: Like Mother Like Daughter