Mother's Carrot Cake

My mother loved carrot cake and she must have had about 20 different recipes, but she almost always came back to this one. It is moist and delicious.  You can substitute 1 cup finely grated fresh carrots and add about 1/2 cup applesauce if you don't want to use baby food carrots.  Pecans are usually our nut of choice, but Walnuts or Almonds work equally as well.

MOTHER'S CARROT CAKE

Image courtesy of Cooking.com

2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 (6oz) jars baby food carrots
1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Cream Cheese Frosting (follows)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9x13" pan. (or a bundt pan) Set aside.

In large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside.  In another bowl, mix baby food carrots and pineapple; set aside.

In another large bowl, blend sugar and oil. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add dry ingredients alternately with carrot-pineapple mixture; mix well. Stir in nuts.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 40-45 minutes.  Cool; top with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Yield: 16 servings

Cream Cheese Frosting:
Cream together 1/2 cup butter, 1 (8oz) package of cream cheese and 1 tsp vanilla. Gradually add 1 (1 pound) box of confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar). Beat thoroughly. Add a few drops of milk if frosting seems too thick.

CHEDDAR'S SANTA FE SPINACH DIP *copy cat*

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pint half and half
• 2 cups Kraft’s Pepper Jack Cheese
• 2 8 ounce cream cheese packs
• 2 4 ounce green chili pepper cans
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 fresh jalapeno peppers, chopped
• 20 ounces frozen spinach
• Salt and Pepper to taste (1 layer of top of mixing bowl)
• 1 Tablespoon Sour Cream (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

In a large mixing bowl, defrost frozen spinach in microwave for 5 minutes on high.  Drain excess water from mixing bowl.  Soften cream cheese blocks in microwave at 30 second intervals until cream cheese is mixable.  Add softened cream cheese into mixing bowl.  Add Pepper Jack cheese, green chili peppers, onion, salt, pepper, and chopped jalapeno peppers to mixing bowl.   Mix thoroughly.  Slowly add half and half stirring intermittently.  Pour spinach mixture into 9X13 baking dish.  Cook at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for ½ hour.  Add sour cream and stir dip thoroughly for serving.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Source:  http://brassandwhatnots.blogspot.com/2012/09/cheddars-santa-fe-spinach-dip-copy-cat.html