One very cool thing about my mother that I have thanked God for, literally, in the last few months is the way that she taught me to eat. Both of my parents had a huge impact on my food life - dad being a chef who comes from Lithuanian foodies (more on him later) and mom being the ultra-health conscious mom before Whole Foods made it cool. My lunch in school always had whole wheat bread and carrot sticks while everyone else got to have Lunchables and pudding snacks. It was a major bummer back then. Today, I am finally grateful. Truly proud of my mom for buying Powerhouse sandwiches from the Railway Market in Easton, which consisted of sprouts, lettuce, shredded carrot, and tomato on super duper whole grain bread while everyone else's parents were showing them how to subsist on McDonald's.
Note: I am not sorry if that sounds snobby or self-righteous. I'm just not, and here's why. The ways that I relate to food and eating and my body have caused me a great deal of pain in life. In all my struggles with food, particularly this past year, I have come to recognize the importance of the way my mom ingrained healthy eating in me from the very start. My programming, it's a little wacky to be sure. But I think of people like me who also have to deprogram poor nutrition habits before they can even start to get better. It's like I got a Skip Ahead card. And that's what I really appreciate about mom today. All the ways that the bar was raised in my life because she was so brave and did things differently from her mom, made life different for herself and for me. I'm not just talking carrots sticks here, but my joy for eating healthy, fresh food that feeds my body well and gives me an edge in dealing with life is one of the more tangible gifts of being my mother's daughter. On Saturday, my mom had a birthday. Since I'm broke as hell, making food was really the only gift I was able to give.
Memorial Day weekend has always been a big deal - my home town has a big street festival, my mom's and high school best friend's birthdays are then and it's the gateway to summer time, often the point at which Maryland's weather heads for humid and never looks back until sometimes October. So, I made a perfectly summer meal - grilled lamb, corn on the cob, and salad made of fresh lettuce from our garden. And, to celebrate my mom's birthday, a carrot cake with lemon ginger cream cheese frosting. It just felt appropriate when I asked myself what I should make her. She's always made a delicious carrot cake that was my paternal grandfather's recipe and carrots just remind me of my mom, always will. And really, as cakes go carrot cake is fairly healthy. There are almost 2 cups of shredded carrot in it, walnuts with their Omega-6 fatty acids, and oil instead of butter which allows for more unsaturated and less saturated fat. I'm not even going to try to pass cream cheese icing off as healthy, but lord it is sweet and heavenly. My recipe is from the Joy of Cooking but as I was baking, I kept thinking of variations that would be fun to try, so I will list those below also. One way that I deviate from the recipe is that they say to use two round cake pans or a loaf pan, but I am partial to the bunt for carrot cake. Fortunately, this gave me an opportunity to use one of these lovely cake pans that I got from a local charity thrift store - for like $5 total.
Seriously! Aren't they darling? Anyway, recipe with proposed variations is below. Happy Birthday mom!
Carrot Cake with Ginger Lemon Cream Cheese Icing (variation on Joy of Cooking)
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9x2 round cake pans, two 8 inch square pans, or a bunt pan (this recipe also makes really great cupcakes).
Whisk together thoroughly in a large bowl:
1.5 C flour
1 C sugar
1.5 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground cloves
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t ground allspice
1/2 t salt
Whisk together in a small bowl, then using a rubber spatula, stir in the flour mixture just until combined:
2/3 C vegetable oil
3 large eggs
Stir in:
1.5-2 cups shredded carrots
1 C chopped walnuts
(optional: 1 C golden raisins, 1/2 C canned crushed pineapple, lightly drained)
Scrape the batter into whichever pan or pans you've chosen and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, usually about 25-30 minutes though it will probably be shorter if you do cupcakes. Longer if you do one large pan.
Variation ideas:
I have never tried the JoC suggestion of adding pineapple, but it got me thinking about the possibility of trying that with lime zest and ginger in the cake itself (and possibly making the icing with that as well) for a slightly more summery version. The other thing I've been thinking about is adding other shredded stuff that may compliment the carrots, like parsnip (I actually substituted parsnips for carrots once, it was delightful), coconut, and zucchini. The add-ins can always be changed up. Some I thought of were crystalized ginger, chopped dried fruit, and other types of nuts like pecans or hazelnuts. It's a good recipe to play with so try whatever strikes your fancy. Icing recipe is below.
Lemon Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 C butter, softened
1 lb (about 3.5 cups) confectioner's sugar, sifted
zest of one lemon
1 t. ground ginger
Cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
Add zest and ginger and beat until incorporated evenly.
Slowly add confectioner's sugar. It's best to add it in three additions.
Note: This makes a TON of icing. If you aren't doing layers with icing between them, it will be way to much so only make half.
