Shrimp Etouffee

My mom who is from New Orleans made this dish for some guest she had come visit her home. I decided to give it a try for my family for dinner. Since my mom doesn't follow a recipe, I looked up this dish from Emeril's recipe on Food Network that is pretty easy to make. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family did!

Pumpkin-Molasses Cake

2 1/2 cups all -purpose flour

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 ground ginger

3/4 cup buttermilk or sour milk (another option tofutti sour cream)

1/2 cup shortening, magarine, or butter, softened

1/2 cup canned pumpkin or mashed sweet potato

1/4 cup light or medium molasses

1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel

2 eggs Oven 350 degrees

In a bowl combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger. Add molasses, and orange peel. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed till combined. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs and beat 2 minutes. Add eggs and beat 2 minutes more. Pour into a greased 13 x 9 x 2 baking pan.

Bake in a 350 degrees oven for 30 to 35 minutes or till a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Serves 12

As suggested by the cook book I made a lemon butter frosting to compliment the flavor.

Lemon Butter Frosting

1/3 cup butter or margarine

4 1/2 cups sifted powder sugar (I only used about 3 cups)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 cup lemon juice or orange juice

1/2 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel

In a bowl beat butter or margarine till fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups of the powdered sugar, beating well. Slowly beat in the 1/4 cup lemon juice and vanilla.

Slowly beat in remaining sugar. Beat in additional juice, if needed to make spreading consistancy.

This cake is so good and moist. I hope you enjoy the cake as much as my family did!

Yummy Doughnuts

I made these doughnuts especially for my daughter since she has food allergies and can't eat at Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Doughnuts. This started out as biscuit dough, which I used a bottle cap to make a hole in the center, then fried it for about 30 seconds on each side. Once they cooled I added a little glaze to them. The kids ate them up in minutes.

P. S. At the top of the plate are the doughnut holes.

Funnel Cakes!

"Can we make funnel cakes?" was my daughter's reply. I have never made funnel cakes before, my only experience with them was at art festivals and carnivals. So I searched the internet for a recipe. The recipe was so easy to make and it ending up being a fun activity for us to do together. The recipe only made about 5 funnel cakes, so next time I am going to double the recipe for more. I did not use a lot of oil, but I used a deep frying pan. I also flipped it over so it was lightly golden brown on both sides.


Here is the recipe if you would like to take a shot at it!

Funnel Cake
Ingredients
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder

Directions:
1. Beat egg and milk. Mix all other ingredients and slowly add to the egg mixture, beating until smooth.

2. Using a funnel, drop into hot oil working from center outwards. Remove from the oil when golden brown and crispy.

3. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.