Carrot Cake with Goat Cheese Frosting

This carrot cake wasn’t my favorite, but it was good (I AM judging it against the best carrot cake in the world which resides at the Upper Crust Bakery in Chico, CA). It was lovely after it sat in the fridge for a while, but I wouldn’t serve it straight from the oven.

I made up the frosting myself since I’m not a fan of cream cheese. If you like goat cheese, I think you’ll find it to be scrumptious!

Carrot Cake (from allrecipes.com)

4 eggs

1 1/4 c. oil (I think you could reduce this if you like)

2 c. sugar

2 tsp. vanilla (I always add extra, though)

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg (my addition)

3 c. grated carrots

1 c. toasted, chopped pecans

1 c. raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9X13 inch pan. Mix the first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Mix in the dry ingredients, and then the carrots/nuts/raisins. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 40-50 minutes. Let cool and frost.

Goat Cheese Frosting

1 Log of goat cheese, room temperature

Powdered sugar to taste

Vanilla to taste

I just mixed all the ingredients together, tasting and adding until it was to my satisfaction.

Radish Salad

We found ourselves with tons of radishes last month. This salad is the tastiest radish recipe I found. I usually double it.

From Bon Appétit

1/2 cup finely shredded radishes [about 8]
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives
3/4 teaspoon oriental sesame oil

Shred the radishes and mix the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper.

A tasty summer pasta

As much as I love beets and greens, the zucchini and summer squash were a very welcome sight in the farm basket these past couple of weeks. I can’t wait for the flavors of summer.

Here’s a quick pasta dish recipe from Vegetarian Times. I served it warm with garlic-cheese biscuits (made the cheater way with Bisquick). It would be good served cold as well.

1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese (about 3 oz.)
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. mint leaves, sliced into very thin ribbons
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. brined green peppercorns, drained
1 8.8-oz. pkg. chunky pasta
2 cups grated zucchini
1 clove garlic, minced (about 1 tsp.)

Just do the shredding, boil the pasta, mix and viola! I omitted the peppercorns (didn’t have any), and just replaced them with some extra salt.