A cake of many things

Hey y'all! So I have been practicing my cake baking skills for the cake I am going to make Theresa and Robert for their wedding and so I made a carrot cake yesterday in honor of Mike D's birthday. I must say that I adore carrot cakes but you have to make sure the icing that you use on them is not too sweet since the carrot cake itself is already so sweet (all those natural sugars you know-oh and those three cups of sugar to three cups of flour that goes into the recipe). I wish I had taken pictures but I will still share the recipe with you. I got this recipe from Emilys mom who used it to bake her own wedding cake. I must admit I have changed and tweaked it a bit so it even better-if I do say so myself.

Sift all dry ingredients together:
3 c. flour
3 c. sugar
2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt

In another bowl mix:
2 t. vanilla
2 c. carrots that have been boiled to softness and then pureed in a blender
1 and 1/2 c. cooking oil
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup of raisins-steep in hot water for ten minutes to make plump and juicy
1-8 oz. can crushed pineapple, including juice

Bake in a greased and floured tube pan in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until done.
Cool and remove from pan. (I run a knife around the edges of the perimeter and the tube itself before I take it out of the pan) Place a plate over top of the cake pan and flip it onto the plate, then get a cooling rack (this is best) or another plate and flip again so the top of the cake is on top!

passover

So I went home yesterday for passover hoping that for once my mom would cook somethign that wasn't premade or frozen but alas, I was disappointed. My mom had boguht a premade chicken from costco and she told me that I was the one who was going to make the matzoh balls. In a way, this made me happy because last passover she had purchased matzoh balls from celebrity deli and they had been quite thick and tasteless. Very dissapointing. I have my own 'way' of making light, airy and tasty matzoh balls and when my mom and grandmother saw I was not following the directions on the back of the matzoh ball mix box they could not believe it. My grandmother, the traditionalist, was scandalized but luckily both she and my mom were game to try it (they are evolving-thank god).
I used two matzoh ball mix packets and first mixed four tablespoons of vegetable oil, 4 eggs before adding the matzoh ball mix. I then added 1/4 cup of chopped onion, 1 1/2 tbspns of minced garlic, and a teaspoon of oregano and 1/2 a tspn of black pepper. This was then refrigerated for at least 15 minutes ebfore adding them to a pot of boiling water (in the form of very small balls-they get a lot bigger as they cook) which i had flavored with some garlic salt, italian seasoning and poultry seasoning. I reduced the heat to a simmer once the matzoh balls were added and they simmered for twenty minutes before they were ready which was when I proceeded to add them to my pre-made chicken soup broth.

The matzoh balls were pronounced the best thing on the menu and I was quite pleased with how they turned out. Mmmm matzoh balls ARE the best part of passover.