Improv Challenge: Curried Ground Turkey with Vegetables

It's the third Thursday of the month and that means it's time for another great Improv Challenge. The premise of the Improv Challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it.  

This month's assigned ingredients were peas and carrots.  Peas and carrots, huh?  Not overly exciting ingredients, but ones I use very regularly, several times a week.  I didn't spend much time trying to be innovative and do something super creative with peas and carrots.  I'm sure somebody will do dessert, but this month I decided to go with something more standard.  I've had this recipe in my food photo file for several months, but hadn't gotten around to posting it yet.  Peas and carrots aren't exactly the main ingredients here, but they play an important role, so I thought it would be good for this challenge.  It's a slight adaptation of one I saw at Simply Recipes.

Curried Ground Turkey with Vegetables

Ingredients:

3-4 tbsp vegetable oil

1 lb. ground turkey 

½ large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, grated

1” fresh ginger, grated

¾  cup water

1 tbsp curry powder or garam masala

1 lb.  potatoes, peeled and cut into 1” chunks

1½ cups matchstick carrots, cooked (3-4 mins in microcooker)

1 cup frozen peas

1 tsp salt

½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Rice or flatbread (optional)

Directions:

Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Sauté onion until it begins to soften.  Add the ground turkey, breaking it up with a spoon, and cook until it browns.  Add the garlic and ginger; mix well and sauté for another 1-2 minutes.  Mix in the curry powder or garam masala, water, and potatoes. Stir to combine and cover. Turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

When the potatoes are tender, add the carrots and peas. Mix well and cover the pot. Cook 2-3 minutes. Add salt, if needed, to taste.

Right before you serve, mix in the chopped cilantro. Serve alone or with flatbread or white rice.

Makes 4 servings.

I love this recipe for a couple of reasons.  First, I love how it uses ground turkey.  Ground turkey is widely available, healthier than ground beef, and affordable.  I usually end up with a couple of pounds in my freezer, but can't think what to do with them.  Using ground turkey makes this recipe super easy.  Second, I love how you can change up the spices if you want to get a different flavor profile.  The original recipe called for either garam masala, curry powder, or your favorite Indian spices.  I used 1 tbsp sweet curry powder, mixed with 1/4 tsp hot curry powder.  The ratio may sound off, but the hot is really hot!  It doesn't take much.  I want to try this with garam masala next time.  I also like how you can easily change the veggies to suit your tastes too.  I want to try it with sweet potatoes sometime.

Most of all, I love how easy it is to make this delicious one-pot recipe.  I love one-pot recipes!  They make busy weeknights so much easier. And frozen peas and matchstick carrots are a cook's best friend on those nights.

This dish was a big hit with my family.  My husband and both girls loved it.

So the next time you pick up some ground turkey but aren't sure what to make with it, try this recipe out.

Check out the collection below to see all the other great peas and carrots recipes and come back next month to see what I make with eggs and bacon. What a yummy assignment!

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Chocolate Mint Bundt Cake

 Happy Monday, everyone!  How was your St. Patrick's Day?  We had a great day.  I dressed my girls up in St. Patty's Day tees for church and then we had friends over for an Irish feast.  I made Slow Cooker Honey Mustard Corned Beef, Slow Cooker Cabbage, Irish Potato Cakes, Traditional Irish Soda Bread, Green Punch, and Irish Cream Brownies.  It was lots of fun.

Last week I was signed up to bring goodies to the Women's Bible Study at my church.  I decided to make bundt cakes, as I bought a bundt cake pan at a garage sale last summer for 50 cents, but had never used it.  Since it was a few days before St. Patrick's Day, I went with that theme. I made an Irish Cream Bundt Cake, and this Chocolate Mint Bundt Cake.  They were both really good.  I thought I would share the chocolate one with you today.  It's adapted from Creations by Kara.  Even though I made it for St. Patrick's Day, it would be great any time of year.


Chocolate Mint Bundt Cake

Ingredients:
1 box devil’s food or chocolate cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream (I used low fat)
½ cup water
1 (3 oz.) box instant chocolate pudding
½ cup oil
1¼ tsp peppermint extract, divided
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 oz. white chocolate squares
½ - 1 tsp vegetable oil
Green food coloring

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.  Coat a bundt cake pan with baking spray.

Combine cake mix, eggs, sour cream, water, pudding, oil, and 1 tsp peppermint extract. Beat until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into bundt pan. 

Bake for about 45-50 minutes. Cool for 5-10 minutes in pan, then dump out onto a cooling rack. Cool completely. 

Melt white chocolate squares in the microwave. Stir in remaining ¼ tsp peppermint extract and a few drops of green food coloring.  Add enough oil to make it runny enough to drizzle. Drizzle over the cake. Let sit until chocolate drizzle sets.  (Best made the day before serving).

Makes 16 servings.

It was a big hit.  It is really dense, moist, and very chocolatey.  So good!  I love the chocolate chips in there. Sorry I forgot to snap a pick of an individual slice so you could see the inside.  It got eaten up too quickly!

 

 This would make a great Christmas cake by using red food coloring instead of the green.  Very versatile.  I'm really glad I got that bundt cake pan.  I know I'll be making this again!

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Ham and Cheese Pot Pie

 Do you know what today is? It's Pi Day, of course! March 14 or 3-14.  Like I mentioned last year, we foodies like to turn Pi Day from a math holiday into a food holiday by calling it Pie Day.  And of course, I do have a pie to share with you today.  But this Pie Day, I'm going savory instead of sweet and sharing a pot pie recipe I made back in May of last year that I  hadn't gotten around to sharing yet.  It's not your usual pot pie; it's a ham and cheese pot pie.  It's like regular pot pie, but has ham instead of chicken, broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower instead of regular pot pie veggies, and a creamy cheese sauce instead of gravy. Yum! It's adapted from a recipe I found at Taste of Home. (I would have inserted the link, but I can't find it on their website anymore. They must have deleted it since I first found it.)

Ham and Cheese Pot Pie

Ingredients:

2 (9”) pie crusts

6 tbsp butter

½ medium onion, chopped

1 cup matchstick carrots,

1 cup broccoli florets, chopped

1 cup cauliflower florets, chopped

6 tbsp flour

1½ cups milk

4 oz. Velveeta, diced

1½ cups ham, cubed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°.  If using refrigerated pie crusts, remove them from fridge about 15 minutes before ready to use them.  Coat a 9” pie plate with baking spray.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Sauté onion, carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower in butter for 5-8 minutes or until onions and carrots begin to soften.  Stir in flour, mixing until smooth.  Slowly add milk, whisking to avoid lumps.  Bring to a boil and cook a few minutes until milk starts to thicken.  Reduce heat and add Velveeta.  Stir until cheese melts.  Stir in ham.

Lay one pie crust inside prepared pie plate.  Pour in filling.  Top with second crust; seal edge and flute.  Cut slits in several places in top crust.

Bake for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Let stand 10 minutes before cutting and serving.  Cut into wedges.

Makes 8 servings.

The filling before baking.

 This pie is so good!  The ham and cheese and veggies all go together so well.  It's a combo made in heaven.  A nice twist on the usual pot pie.  Perfect comfort food for these cold winter days that we are still suffering through.  And a great way to use up those ham leftovers you will have in a few weeks after Easter!

Here are a few more pies (both savory and sweet) for your Pie Day perusal:

Sweet:
U.S.S. Missouri Buttermilk Pie
Caramel Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Crisp Pie
Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust and Bacon Streusel
Kiwi Lemon Pie
No-Bake Blackberry Cream Pie
No-Bake Fresh Strawberry Pie
Peppermint Chocolate Pudding Pie

Savory:
Black Bean Tortilla Pie
Irish Cottage Pie
Spaghetti Pie
Roasted Asparagus and Mushroom Quiche
Butternut Garlic Quiche
Broccoli Cheddar Quiche
Spinach Cheese Quiche with Potato Crust

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Colcannon with Bacon and Cheese

St. Patrick's Day is coming up and I still have Irish food on my mind.  Last year I created a great colcannon recipe.  If you're not familiar, colcannon is a dish traditional to Ireland made up of cabbage and potatoes.  I think it is traditionally made with mashed potatoes, but there are hundreds of different varieties out there in internetland.  Some use cubed potatoes, some shredded, some have spinach, some have cheese, etc.  I read a whole bunch of them and then decided to come up with my own recipe.  This one has shredded hash brown potatoes, cheese, and the best part: bacon!


Colcannon with Bacon and Cheese

Ingredients:
2 tbsp bacon fat
½ large onion
½ small head cabbage, chopped
30 oz. package frozen shredded hash browns, thawed and dried
1 tsp salt
4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
½ cup heavy cream
1½ cups shredded cheese, divided

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.

Saute onion and cabbage in bacon fat.  Add potatoes, salt, bacon, cream, and 1 cup cheese.  Put into 9x13” baking dish.  Cover and bake for 20 minutes.  Uncover, top with remaining cheese and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Makes 8 servings.

Nope, not healthy in the least.  But boy, is it yummy!  I know the idea of a dish containing potatoes and cabbage can be a real turn-off to a lot of people, but adding bacon and cheese can really sweeten the deal!  This would make a great addition to your St. Patrick's Day feast this year.

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Secret Recipe Club: Irish Cottage Pie

Today is reveal day for The Secret Recipe Club. The Secret Recipe Club is a group of food bloggers who secretly make one of someone else's dishes and post them all on the same day at the same time.  It's really fun, choosing a recipe to make, making the recipe, then reading about everyone else's recipes.  It's a great way to "meet" other bloggers and check out some great blogs that you never knew about before.

This month I was assigned Paulchen's Food Blog, written by Astrid.  Astrid is an avid reader, cookbook collector, and cat lover in Vienna.  Her blog is an eclectic collection of recipes.  I found several that sounded really good.  I'm still fully in soup-obsessed mode, so her Broccoli and Cream Carrot Soup really caught my eye.  (I love how it uses coconut milk instead of heavy cream; definitely trying that one soon!)  I am also very intrigued by her Chicken Tagine with Honey, Pears & Cinnamon.  She also has some great desserts over there.  The Chocolate Banana Decadence Cake she made for her brother looks amazing.  But as soon as I saw a category called "Irish" I knew which direction I was heading!  I love cooking according to the seasons and holidays and I have definitely been thinking about St. Patrick's Day lately.  So I jumped at the chance to try Astrid's Irish Cottage Pie.  It did not disappoint!  

Irish Cottage Pie

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil

½ large onion, diced

1 lb. ground beef

2½ lbs. potatoes

2 tbsp flour

¾ cup stout beer

1¼ cups beef stock

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup matchstick carrots

¼ tsp dried thyme

Milk and butter

Directions:

Sauté onion in olive oil until tender.  Add ground beef and cook until browned.  Drain off any grease. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.  Add beer and beef stock and bring to a boil.. When it starts to thicken, reduce heat.  Add peas, carrots, and thyme and cook 10 to 15 minutes, or until carrots are soft.

Meanwhile, peel, chop and boil the potatoes for 20 minutes or until soft.  Drain the potatoes very well until completely dry. Mash until smooth and free of any lumps.  Add butter to the mashed potato, taste and adjust the seasoning.  Add enough milk to make the mash very soft (heavy mash will not float properly on top of the ground beef mixture).

Pour beef mixture into a 9x9” casserole dish.  Spread the potatoes on top of the meat and brush the tops of the potatoes with melted butter.  Place under broiler for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Makes 4-6 servings.

I didn't change very much about Astrid's recipe.  I think I used more beef, just because I like using a nice even pound.  Makes it easy.  I also replaced some of the beef stock with stout beer just to make it a little more interesting.  The beer taste wasn't overwhelming at all, just gave it a nice depth of flavor.

This was so good!  It really hit the spot on a cold winter day.  My five year old at all of hers without complaint (well, except for the onions, but she ate them anyway).  

The beef mixture.  Yum.

 Comfort food at its best!

 Thanks so much for a great recipe, Astrid!

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Green Eggs and Ham Omelet

Happy Dr. Seuss Day!  Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday and I think it's a really fun thing to celebrate with my daughters.  How do you celebrate Dr. Seuss Day, you ask?  It's simple!  First of all, your local library might be holding some type of event, as the day is also known as Read Across America Day, started by the NEA to promote literacy in America.  But if you don't feel like going out, you can do what we do. I dress the girls in Dr. Seuss shirts, we read lots of Dr. Seuss books, of course, we watch "Horton Hears A Who" on dvd, and we have green eggs and ham for either lunch or dinner.  

My girls on Dr. Seuss Day last year. 

The first year we celebrated Dr. Seuss Day, I made green eggs by mixing pesto into scrambled eggs.  That was really good.  Then last year I tried these omelets and they are amazing.  Both of my girls love them (I leave the cheese out of Eva's because of her dairy allergy), and gobble them up.  They are so good, in fact, that they are no longer reserved for March 2nd; I make them throughout the year.  This is a slight adaptation of a Martha Stewart recipe.

Green Eggs and Ham Omelet

Ingredients:

2 eggs, beaten

Sprinkle of salt

2 tbsp frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

2-4 slices ham (depending on how thick the slices are)

2 tbsp shredded cheese

Directions:

In a bowl, combine the eggs, salt, and spinach.  Heat a small nonstick skillet over medium heat and coat with cooking spray.  Add egg mixture.  Cook, stirring with a silicone spatula, until eggs begin to thicken, about 30 seconds. With spatula, pull edges of omelet in toward the center, tilting pan so uncooked eggs flow underneath.  Cook until just set, another 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Layer ham and cheese on one half of omelet.  With spatula, fold omelet in half.  Transfer to a plate and serve immediately.

Makes 1 omelet.

Nutrition Facts:

1 omelet with 1 oz. ham

221 calories

14 g fat

5.5 g saturated fat

455 mg cholesterol

731 mg sodium

0 g fiber

19 g protein

So easy to make and so yummy.  This year we will be having them for lunch as we have to get dinner out after a birthday party this afternoon.  I bought the girls a new Seuss book, The Sleep Book, which I love.  I also got them new shirts. It's fun to have things like this to "celebrate" with your kids, especially during the long, boring winter. And yes, even though it's March, it's definitely still winter around here!

Now, go make these omelets and then read a book to your kids!

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Improv Challenge: Crispy Coated Artichoke Hearts with Gorgonzola Dipping Sauce

Oh boy, do I have a great recipe for you today!  It's reveal day for this month's Improv Challenge.  I love participating in the Improv Challenge, but didn't post last month because the dish I made didn't turn out well and since I was in the process of moving, I didn't have time to try something else.  Not a problem this month!  

The premise of the Improv Challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it.  

Our clever hostess, Kristen, came up with a theme of "hearts and flours" for this month.  Cute!  She said, "You can make anything as long as it is either heart shaped or served/photographed in a heart serving dish and contains at least one flour of some sort."  I decided to veer from her guidelines just a bit, but I think you'll agree that my dish does contain the two ingredients: hearts and flour.

Instead of doing something heart-shaped, I thought it would be fun to make a recipe with artichoke hearts.  The only thing I could think of that combined artichoke hearts and flour would be some kind of fried artichoke hearts.  After doing some research online, I ended up adapting two different recipes and came up with a yummy crispy-coated artichoke heart with a super tasty dipping sauce.  The artichoke recipe is adapted from this Sandra Lee recipe, and the dipping sauce is adapted from one I saw on Big Oven.

Crispy Coated Artichoke Hearts with Gorgonzola Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup sour cream

1/3 cup Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

¼ tsp dried dill

2 cans medium-sized artichoke hearts

½ cup flour

¼ cup yellow cornmeal

½ tsp Italian seasoning

½ tsp salt

4 cups canola oil

Directions:

Combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, Gorgonzola  vinegar, and dill in a small bowl.  You can leave it slightly chunky, or pulse it in a food processor or stick blender to make it smooth.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Drain the artichokes. In a small bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, Italian seasoning, and salt.

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil on high until hot. Dip each artichoke heart into the flour mixture, tossing to coat. Drop a few at a time into the hot oil. Fry, turning once, until golden, about 2-3 minutes. Repeat with remaining artichokes. Serve immediately with Gorgonzola dipping sauce.

Makes 14-16 artichoke hearts and about 1½ cups dipping sauce. About 8 servings as an appetizer.

They turned out amazing!  I never fry things, and I was reminded of why, because it does make quite a mess, but it was well worth it.  The thing I like most about this recipe is that there is no heavy batter on the artichoke hearts.  Just dusting them with flour, cornmeal, and seasonings gives them a nice crispy coating instead of being wrapped in breading.  The flavor of the artichoke heart itself shines through.  I love the beautiful golden color they turned.  

Aren't they beautiful?

This is the Gorgonzola I used for the dipping sauce.  It's a very mild Gorgonzola; not super strong-tasting like some can be (although I love those too).  This would be a good one to use for people who aren't huge fans of bleu cheeses.

This dipping sauce is so good; I think I would eat it on anything.  I had to restrain myself from not eating it just with a spoon!  I had some of the leftovers with crackers the other day.

It paired so perfectly with the artichoke hearts.  

My daughters really liked these artichoke hearts.  Lena, almost 5, commented that they were a little "sour", referring to the marinade they come in.  But not so sour that she wouldn't eat them.

Eva, 2 and half, had no problem gobbling hers up!  My husband was at work when I made these, so I saved two for him and he reheated them.  I don't know if they were as good reheated, but he raved about them.

See how light and delicate the coating is?  It doesn't fall off too easily either.  Just perfect!

I had so much fun with this month's Improv Challenge!  Check out the links below for all the other "hearts and flours" recipes.

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Chocolate Fudge Raspberry Bars

I had to share these wonderful little bars with you in time for Valentine's Day.  As I've mentioned before, my favorite flavor combo for Valentine's Day is chocolate and raspberry.  It's decadent, indulgent  and romantic!    Last summer I saw these Chocolate Fudge Roasted Strawberry Cookie Bars at Roxana's Home Baking, and all I could think about was how lovely they would be for Valentine's Day.  They've been on my "Valentine's Day" Pinterest board ever since and I couldn't wait to try them.  I'm sure they are amazing with the strawberries, but I couldn't resist trying them with raspberries instead.

Chocolate Fudge Raspberry Bars

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 cups flour

⅓ cup sugar

¾ cup chocolate chips

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

¾ cup seedless raspberry jam

½ cup fresh raspberries, chopped

1 tbsp raw sugar (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a mixing bowl, combine the softened butter, sugar, and flour. Mix until incorporated and the dough is crumbly.  With floured fingers press the cookie dough into the bottom of a 9x13” baking dish.  Bake for 15 minutes.

When the cookie base is almost done, heat the sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan, add the chocolate chips and cocoa powder and stir until melted.  Spread over the hot crust.  With a spoon, drop raspberry jam over the chocolate fudge. Top with chopped raspberries and sprinkle with raw sugar, if using.  Bake for another 27-30 minutes.

Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Makes 24 bars.

I made these last weekend when my mother-in-law and sister-in-law were visiting us at our new house.  They were a hit!  They have a delicious shortbread crust, a rich and creamy fudge layer, then topped with bright raspberries.  The chocolate and raspberry are so good together!  I increased the measurement for the jam from ½ cup to ¾ cup because I thought they could have used a touch more raspberry.  I decreased the amount of fresh berries from 1 cup to ½ cup because my husband is picky about seeds.  

The picture above really doesn't do these bars justice.  I apologize for my poor photography lately; I haven't unpacked all of my blog picture-taking stuff yet and I have to do some experimenting here at our new house to find the best lighting.

If you think these look good, you might also be interested in what I made last year for Valentine's Day: Chocolate Raspberry Parfaits.  Yum!

Happy Valentine's Day!

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King Cake for Epiphany or Mardi Gras

Well, the move is complete, but things are crazy around here! We just got our second POD unloaded yesterday, so we are living in a sea of boxes.  I'm still too busy to get back into the swing of blogging regularly, but I did want to share this recipe with you before the time to do so got away from me.

We had a fairly new tradition at our church in Michigan.  Each year on Epiphany, someone makes a traditional King Cake, and hides a plastic Baby Jesus or a pecan half inside.  The cake is cut and everyone takes a piece.  Whoever gets the piece that has the Baby Jesus in it has to make the cake next year.  This is a really fun tradition.  King Cakes are traditionally eaten on Epiphany (January 6, signaling the end of the Christmas season), and also on Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent begins.  Last year, my husband got the piece of cake with the Baby Jesus in it, so it was his responsibility to make the cake this year.  Since I have never, in our 11+ years together seen him bake anything (cook, yes. Bake, no), I volunteered to make the cake on his behalf.  I was a little intimidated, since I have limited experience with yeast doughs.  I considered making an "easy" version that used frozen Rhodes rolls instead, but my sweet friend, Gloria, who I think started this tradition at our church, insisted that I try her recipe.  Hers is amazing and I didn't think I could do it justice, but she was adamant that I try it.  

King Cakes aren't what you would think of as a regular cake.  It's more like a sweet bread with a yummy cream cheese filling inside.  I made Gloria's recipe and it actually turned out pretty well.  I didn't have any trouble with the dough; it is a really easy dough to work with.  Here is the recipe; the only thing I changed was to cut the glaze recipe in half because it made way too much for my cake.

King Cake for Epiphany or Mardi Gras

Ingredients:

5 tsp active dry yeast

½ cup sugar

1½ sticks (6 oz.) unsalted butter, melted

1 cup warm milk (about 110°F)

5 large egg yolks, at room temperature

4½ cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp salt

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 tsp grated lemon zest

1 tsp vegetable oil 

1 lb. cream cheese, at room temperature

2½ cups powdered sugar, divided

1 plastic Baby Jesus or a pecan half

3½ tbsp milk, divided

1½ tbsp fresh lemon juice

Purple, green, and gold sugar sprinkles

Directions:

Combine the yeast, sugar, butter, and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Beat at low speed for 1 minute. With the mixer running, add the egg yolks, then beat for 1 minute at medium-low speed. Add the flour, salt, nutmeg, and lemon zest and beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, forms a ball, and starts to climb up the dough hook. (If the dough is uncooperative in coming together, add a bit of warm water a tablespoon at a time, until it does.)

Remove the dough from the bowl. Using your hands, form the dough into a smooth ball. Lightly oil a bowl with the vegetable oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn it to oil all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Meanwhile, make the filling. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese and 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Blend by hand or with an electric mixer on low speed. Set aside.  Get out a 15” pizza stone.  If you don’t have one, line your largest baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Using your fingers, pat it out into a rectangle about 30” long and 6” wide.  Spread the filling lengthwise over the bottom half of the dough, then place the Baby Jesus or pecan half somewhere in it.  Flip the top half of the dough over the filling. Seal the edges, pinching the dough together.  Shape the dough into a log and place it on the pizza stone or baking sheet seam-side down. Shape the dough into a circle and pinch the ends together. Cover the ring with plastic wrap and set in a warm place. Let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°.

Brush the top of the risen cake with 2 tbsp milk. Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.

For the icing, combine the remaining 1½ tbsp milk, lemon juice, and remaining 1½ cups powdered sugar in a mixing bowl.  Spread the icing evenly over the top of the cake. Sprinkle with the sugar sprinkles, alternating colors around the cake.  The cake is traditionally cut into 2” thick slices.  Whoever finds the Baby Jesus in their piece has to make the cake next year!

Makes 20-22 servings.                                      

Here is a pic of the cake before rising and baking.

Now, I know that it looks like a lot of ingredients and a lot of steps, but it really is pretty simple.  Like I said, the dough is super easy to work with and quite forgiving.  I did have some of the filling spill out of one place, but overall I think it wasn't too bad for my first time making it.  My picture isn't the greatest, and I forgot to take one of an individual piece to show you the inside (sorry!), so I will have to make another one next year and hopefully start this tradition up at our new church here in Wisconsin!

It can be difficult to obtain a tiny plastic Baby Jesus and the right-colored sprinkles.  In our small town in Michigan, we had a little New Orleans-themed restaurant (shout-out to The Big Easy!), and they make individual King Cakes around Epiphany and Mardi Gras.  We simply kept the Baby Jesuses (Lena calls them "Baby Jesi") for future use.  The Big Easy also graciously gave me three small containers of the colored sugar that they use.  I offered to pay her for them, but she wouldn't hear of it.  Thanks Sandy!  So if you have anyplace like that near you, that could be a good resource for those things.

I give Gloria all the credit for the success of this cake.  She really has a winner in this recipe!  Thanks so much, Gloria!

Happy Mardi Gras, everyone!

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Secret Recipe Club: Plum Ginger Thai Salmon

I'm taking a break from my inter-state moving hiatus to participate in this month's Secret Recipe Club. 

The Secret Recipe Club is a group of food bloggers who secretly make one of someone else's dishes and post them all on the same day at the same time.  It's really fun, choosing a recipe to make, making the recipe, then reading about everyone else's recipes.  It's a great way to "meet" other bloggers and check out some great blogs that you never knew about before.

This month I was assigned a great blog called Delishhh.  Delishhh is written by Ewa, which I understand is pronounced like "Eva".  That's pretty cool because Eva is my youngest daughter's name.  :) Ewa was born in Sweden, raised in Asia, and now lives in America.  So she has a really interesting culinary perspective!  Her blog is very aptly named as everything on there is amazing.  Her recipes represent every place that she has lived across the world.

I had a hard time deciding which recipe to make.  If the timing had been slightly different, it would have been a slam dunk.  I really wanted to make her Västerbotten Cheese Pie.  I love me some cheese, and this pie is so beautiful.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find Västerbotten cheese.  If I had been assigned Ewa's blog just one month later, it would have been a breeze. I mentioned that I am in the middle of a move? We are moving to Kenosha, Wisconsin, home to the infamous Mars Cheese Castle.  Yes, a whole castle full of cheese right in my own town!  It's a foodie's dream!  I am certain that had I been there already I could have found that cheese there.  But as it turned out, I got this assignment about a week after visiting there for the last time before the big move. You better believe I will be trying that pie as soon as we get settled there and I have my kitchen set up again.

Several other recipes caught my attention too.  I really liked the looks of her White Bean Puree (I love white bean dips), Swedish Split Pea Soup (perfect for that -4 degree weather we had last month!), and her No-Bake Nutella Cheesecake. Yum!  The recipe I finally chose was her Thai Chicken with Plum Ginger Sauce.  I just loved the sound of that flavor combination.  Ewa makes that dish using chicken, but she says in her post that she is sure it would be great with other types of protein and that if anyone tries a different one, to let her know how it turned out.  I decided to take her up on that and made it with salmon.  I just love fruity flavors on salmon (in the past I have done orange, lemon, apricot, blackberry, and even rhubarb).  So I jumped at the chance to add another one to my repertoire.  

Plum Ginger Thai Salmon

Ingredients:

4 (4 oz.) salmon fillets

⅓ cup plum sauce

2 tbsp whiskey (optional)

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

1 clove garlic, grated

1 tsp hot chili sauce

Directions:

Place the salmon filets in a Ziploc bag.  In a bowl combine plum sauce, whiskey, sugar, fish sauce, ginger, garlic and chili sauce.  Pour the marinade into the bag with the salmon and close.  Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400°.  Remove salmon from bag and place in an 8x8” or 11x7” baking dish.  Pour marinade over the salmon.  Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until salmon flakes easily with a fork.

Serve over gingered brown rice.

Makes 4 servings.

I love cooking Asian food but had never tried plum sauce before.  It is so good!  It's sweet and tangy and very complex.  The plum sauce combined with the other ingredients (I left out the whiskey because I didn't have any) makes for one flavorful marinade.  A little sweet, a little tangy, a little salty, and just the right hint of heat.  And I love how the ginger really stands out too.  Love that stuff.

So, Ewa, now you know that this is really good on salmon too! Thank you so much for an awesome recipe.  Everyone at my house loves salmon so it's always great to have another go-to recipe for it.  And I'm definitely going to try this sauce on chicken sometime too!

You probably won't see much from me this month, but I hope to be back to doing regular posts in March.  Have a great February!

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