Preservation is Key

I constantly find myself in quite the pickle with some of my fresh ingredients. They just seem to like to go bad on me, and sadly, I either end up hastily using them or tossing them. And I hate wasting food. So with summer in full swing and all kinds of goodies in season, what's a home chef to do? Well, I certainly have not figured it all out, but these are a few things I do know. After you give this a read, feel free to let me know any tips/suggestions you have to keep my fridge full of fresh goodness.

- Get rid of the plastic. Keeping your veggies and fruits in plastic promotes moisture collection and in turn, decays. I am totally guilty of just putting my plastic bags in my vegetable drawer only to find them a few days later nice and slimy. Removing it from the plastic can help prevent this. If you do like to keep things in plastic, try to use something to prevent the moisture from clinging to the food. I wrap my lettuce, cilantro, and fresh herbs in dry paper towel, and this has helped elongate their life by at least a week.

- Ginger likes to be sloshed. Ginger is an ingredient I use all the time in my stir fry, but it does not keep that well left alone in the fridge. Solution? Peel it, slice it up, and put it in a small container with enough sherry to cover. I have kept ginger for up to 6 months this way. And since sherry goes well in most dishes with ginger, the storage solution works out perfectly.

- Some stuff does not like the fridge. Keep your dang tomatoes out of the dang fridge. They lose flavor (one of the key components of flavor in tomatoes inactivates when cold). Same goes for onions.

- The baking soda is a lie. Contrary to their marketing scheme, baking soda does not do much good in your fridge at absorbing odors. You are much better off with activated charcoal. You can use this two ways. First, take some charcoal briquettes, place them in a container, and place in your fridge. Second, you can now buy small containers of pure activated charcoal, which I would recommend because they have a lesser chance of leaving soot on your food.

- Just because buttermilk is expired does not mean it's bad. Shocking! It's already sour! So it's really good for about a month after the date. I kid you not. It's not like you drink the stuff from the bottle.

I hope that helps extend the life on some of your fresh stuff. If I come across any more good ones, I will be sure to post them.

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Rabbit Food Cake

Maybe the title of this post is a bit misleading. But you know what I mean. Carrot cake. The delicious, oft misunderstood and mis-made cake that graces diners and chain restaurants around the country. It is served very cold, very dense, and always has a carrot made of icing on the top. This, contrary to what the boxed restaurants of America want you believe, is NOT carrot cake. Carrot cake is super moist, covered in delicious icing, and super awesome.

I refuse to order carrot cake at a restaurant anymore because unfortunately I know what I will receive. Not in anyone's best interest. Instead, I turn to the faithful recipe that has served my family well since, well, I don't know. The background and introduction to this cake is rather short, mostly because this cake is simply put, freakin sweet.

A note to mention. To grate carrots, you have to options. First, put the grating attachment on a food processor and grate accordingly (this is truly the easiest). If you do not own a food processor (which have many good uses) you can simply peel your carrots and grate them on a normal grater. This might take a little bit longer, but you need them shredded.

Carrot Cake

2 C. sugar
1 C. vegetable oil (or Canola)
2 eggs
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 T. cinnamon
2 t. baking powder
2 C. flour
1 C. chopped walnuts
1 C. raisins
3 C. grated carrots

Preheat oven to 350.

Blend sugar and eggs in a stand mixer until fluffy. Add oil and mix. Add dry ingredients and blend them in. Make sure to wipe down the sides of the bowl if using a stand mixer, some parts tend to stick to the sides. Add the nuts and raisins next. Add the carrots last and mix slowly, being careful not to over mix. Pour into a greased bundt pan (yes, again with the bundt pan, it allows the center to be done at the same time as the edges. If you use a square pan you might burn the edges) and bake for about 40 minutes or until the center of the cake springs back and does not feel sticky. Let cool slightly, turn out on a rack and cool, then ice.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4 C butter
1 8oz. package cream cheese
2 tsp vanilla (or 1 tsp each vanilla and almond extract)
1/2 package of powdered sugar.

Let butter and cream cheese come to room temperature and soften. Beat in mixer until creamy. Add vanilla and powdered sugar. If it's too thick, add milk, if too thin, add more powdered sugar. If you don't think you have enough, add some milk and powdered sugar to increase the volume slightly.

Enjoy.

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