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The Best Biscuits

15 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by Vanalee in Breads, Breakfast, Comfort Food, Uncategorized

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I have been on a search for the best biscuit recipe. This one is close I just wish they were a little taller.

Ingredients-

3 cups flour
3 T sugar
1/2 t salt
4 t baking powder
1/2 t cream of tartar
3/4 cup cold butter
1 egg
1 cup whole milk

Method-

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
  2. I’ve heard that the secret to excellent biscuits is cold butter. I actually took mine out of the freezer and grated it on the big holes of my cheese grater. This was an excellent idea minus the incredibly frozen fingers I ended up with.
  3. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
  4. Since my butter was grated I just mixed it into the dry ingredients with a large spoon and broke up larger chunks quickly with my fingers. You don’t want to mix so much that your butter gets too soft.
  5. I took the milk and egg straight from the refrigerator. Add to the dry ingredient and butter mixture and mix just until everything is well combined.
  6. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it just a few times then shape into a round.
  7. I used a floured rolling pin to roll it out to a 1 inch thickness. Then cut with a biscuit cutter and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
  8. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned on the top.
  9. Brush the tops with melted butter. The recipe says it makes 12, I got 9.

 

Curried Chickpea Sandwich

05 Sunday Aug 2018

Posted by Vanalee in Uncategorized

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Makes: 4 sandwiches
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min

  • Two 15 ounce cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
  • 1 medium celery rib, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
  • 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh leaf parsley
  • 1/2 cup vegan or standard mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup greens (such as iceberg, romaine, or watercress), optional
  • 1 large ripe tomato, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch dice, optional
  • 4 whole wheat pitas, tops cut off, optional
  1. Coarsely mash the chickpeas, celery, shallots and parsley together with a potato masher or large fork in a medium bowl. Be careful not to overdo it or the chickpeas will become mushy. Add the mayonnaise, vinegar, curry powder, and turmeric and mix well. Season to taste with the salt and pepper. (The salad can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
  2. Divide the salad, greens and tomato equally among the pitas and serve.

Smitten Kitchen’s Mac and Cheese

28 Wednesday Feb 2018

Posted by Vanalee in Uncategorized

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I discovered this one serving size recipe on the Smitten Kitchen website.

Kosher salt
4 ounces (115 grams) dried pasta, such as macaroni or another small twisty shape
2 teaspoons (10 grams) salted or unsalted butter
2 teaspoons (6 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (125 ml) low-fat or whole milk
Many grinds of black pepper
1/2 cup (1 ounce or 30 grams) finely grated parmesan or pecorino cheese.

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and add dried pasta. Cook it until firm tender, then drain. Return pot to stove and melt butter in the bottom. Using a spoon or whisk, add flour and mix until it disappears. Add milk, stirring constantly. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and black pepper. Bring sauce to a simmer. Cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in grated cheese until combined. Add drained pasta, stir to evenly coat.

Buttermilk Biscuits

24 Sunday Dec 2017

Posted by Vanalee in Uncategorized

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Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons cubed butter
3/4 cup (more or less if needed) milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 °F.

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Cut butter into mixture until it begins to look like cornmeal.

Make a well with flour mixture and slowly add milk into the middle. Knead dough with your fingers and add milk when necessary. Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to desired thickness. Cut with small biscuit cutter.

Butter bottom of pan and place biscuits in pan. Bake for 11 minutes or until golden brown.

 

 

Another Brownie Recipe

08 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by Vanalee in Uncategorized

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I found this yummy looking brownie recipe at A Bountiful Kitchen.
Ingredients-
⅓ cup Dutch processed cocoa (you can use regular cocoa)
½ cup plus 2 tablespoon boiling water
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla
2½ cups sugar
1¾ cups all purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
4-6 oz. bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate, cut into ½ inch pieces ( I often omit these and add ½ cup of chopped nuts)

Method-

Place rack on middle rack in oven. Preheat oven to 350.
Make a foil liner for a 9x 13 pan by turning the baking pan pan upside down. Tear a piece of foil the length of the pan, leaving extra (about 2 inches) hanging down on both ends. Form the foil over the outside of the pan, Then flip the pan over, and place the molded foil to the inside of the pan. Spray the foil with cooking spray.
Whisk cocoa and boiling water together in a large bowl until smooth. Add unsweetened chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted. Whisk in melted butter and oil. Mixture may look curdled at this point.

Add eggs, egg yolks and vanilla. Continue to whisk until smooth. Whisk in sugar until fully incorporated. Using rubber spatula, fold in flour, salt and bittersweet chocolate all at once, taking care to not over mix.
Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 30-40 minutes. Do not over cook. Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 to 1½ hours. Remove from pan using foil liner to lift brownies out of pan. Cut when cooled.

Asian Zucchini Noodle Salad

13 Thursday Oct 2016

Posted by Vanalee in Uncategorized

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We just ate this delicious salad at Allyson’s. I loved it!

Ingredients-

3 to 4 zucchinis (1 1/2 pounds total)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced and roughly chopped red cabbage
1 large carrot, grated (about 1 cup)
1/2 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced then cut into 1-inch segments
2 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped, leaves and tender stems (about 1/2 cup)

Dressing-
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar*
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons dark roasted sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
Pinch of red pepper flakes

METHOD
1 Using a spiralizer or other spiral vegetable slicing tool, use the zucchini to make the zucchini noodles following manufacturer’s directions. You should have 5 to 6 cups of “zoodles”. Place in a colander set over a bowl and toss with salt. Let the noodles drain a bit of their excess moisture while you prep the other vegetables.
Many of the noodles are quite long, so you’ll want to cut them up a bit with scissors to make them easier to toss with the other vegetables.
2 Place the zucchini noodles in a large bowl. Add the cabbage, carrot, bell pepper, onions, and cilantro.
3 Whisk together in a medium bowl the seasoned rice vinegar, olive oil, dark sesame oil, minced garlic, and red pepper flakes.
4 Pour the dressing over the zucchini noodles and vegetables and gently toss to combine.
Serve immediately.

Cookie Monster’s Famous Sugar Cookie Dough Recipe

04 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by Vanalee in Comfort Food, Cookies, Uncategorized

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Cookie Monster

When Ally and James were little we collected a series of Sesame Street books from the grocery store. There was a new one each week for several weeks. At the time I thought this was the best sugar cookie recipe ever! I always used to go and get Volume 1 off the shelf when I made them. Then suddenly we didn’t have the books anymore and I couldn’t remember what had happened to them. I didn’t have a copy of the recipe either because the book was always so handy.  It may have been in the box of toys we lost when we moved from Clayton to Houston in 1996. The one that Kristina’s Treehouse and all the vintage Barbies were in. Or we could have donated them somewhere, forgetting about the recipe.

Anyway, I did not have a copy of the recipe and every time I went to make sugar cookies I missed this recipe! I do love the the sugar cookie recipe Allyson shared from her aunt, Melinda Colton. So today I clicked on a link to a chocolate chip cookie recipe on The Kitchn website (Yep, that’s how they spell it) and when I got to the bottom of the recipe I was interested in I saw these words, “So You Know: Cookie Monster’s Famous Sugar Cookie Dough Recipe.” And I actually got a bit excited as I clicked on the link, thinking, “Could it really be THE recipe after all these years.” Sure enough, there is an actual image of the page from the book! It is the recipe! Here is the recipe including The Kitchn’s tips for baking since they weren’t included in the book.

Ingredients-

3/4 cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Equipment-

Medium-sized mixing bowl
Measuring cup and spoons
A fork

Instructions-

1. Put 3/4 cup of butter or margarine (that’s a stick and a half) into your mixing bowl. (I would make this in my Kitchen Aid)

2. Measure 1 cup of sugar.

3. Pour sugar over butter.

4. With fork, squash butter and sugar together until they are blended.

5. Crack shells of two eggs and pour eggs over mixture in bowl.

6. Measure 1 teaspoon vanilla and pour over mixture.

7. With fork, blend everything in the bowl together.

8. Measure 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and pour over mixture in bowl.

9. Measure 1 teaspoon baking powder and sprinkle over flour.

10. Measure 1 teaspoon of salt and sprinkle over flour and baking powder.

11. Mix everything together either with the fork or with your hands.

12. Put dough in icebox to chill (at least one hour)

There are no instructions for baking from this print, but a quick search for others’ experiences with the recipe and recommendations say to roll out cookies 1/4 inch thick, sprinkle with sugar, and bake at 400 degrees.

Genie Grandma’s Sugar Cookies

04 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by Vanalee in Comfort Food, Cookies, Uncategorized

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So be warned…I have only made this recipe once and they turned out very dry, as in they were little Hockey Pucks! Now, that could be attributed to my poor cooking skills when I was in my twenties or it could be that they were never very good. I remember grandma telling me that the recipe was for drop cookies and she just added more flour.

I loved these cookies when I was young. Grandma made them only for Christmas and Easter and kept them until they were gone in a white Tupperware container.

Here is her recipe in her handwriting-

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A New Blog Title

12 Friday Nov 2010

Posted by Vanalee in Uncategorized

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This morning I met someone for the first time whom I had been emailing back and forth with all week. He told me that he thought it was funny that his spell checker wanted him to change my name to Vanilla Carrots. It took me back to seventh grade when my health teacher decided he would call me Vanilla. This morning I decided I wanted to call this recipe blog “Vanilla Carrots.” There are just too many “Yum!”s in the blogosphere.

Greetings

28 Monday Sep 2009

Posted by Vanalee in Uncategorized

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Hi Everyone,
As you can see I have been busy posting recipes. I think this is going to be a great family blog! I hope that all of you start posting your recipes soon, both new and old. When you make one of your recipes take a photo and add it to your recipe post. I plan to add photos as I make my recipes from now on. I only had two to go along with the recipes I posted today (look at ice cream cake and pumpkin cake). I may even make some videos if I get ambitious. How you ask? Remember your gorilla pod?? It might be a good idea to send an email to everyone letting them know that there is a new post. Most of my cupcake recipes are not on my computer so I will add them as I type them up.

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