The Dry Season

"It's been a quiet week here in Lake Woebegone..."  I used to love Garrison Keillor, back in the days when he wasn't an embittered hyper-liberal.  You wouldn't know it to read this blog, but I'm not one to sit around and dislike the artistry of someone just because I don't agree with their personal politics.  People who know me well know that I can't stand Jane Fonda as an actress: it's merely a happy coincidence that I also consider her a traitor.

Anyway, it's been a quiet week,or three, here, too.  The start of the school year has brought with it added responsibility in the culinary department.  My husband has bought a new car and won't let anyone eat in it, so no more "breakfast take out." The kids have to sit down, for real, and eat a breakfast at the table.  That means that I have to fix it.  Also, the school is building a real cafeteria, but in the meantime everyone has to bring their lunches.  That means I have to fix those, too.  In addition to that, as a part of the lifestyle makeover that I hope will stave off serious stress, I prepare the kids' snacks and have them in a cooler in the car when I pick them up at 4:00-on- the-dot-every-day-straight-home-no-stopping-get-started-on-your-homework-dinner-at-7:00.

So far so good.  I now have tremendous control over what they are ingesting and it's all good, about 85% homemade.  A typical lunch would contain a sandwich, a piece of fruit, a sweet bread of some kind and maybe some chips for the skinny boy.  This was my best lunch to date:  Pan Bagnat, Carrot Tahini Cake, Emerald Pluots, and Los Milagros tortilla chips.

The Carrot Tahini Cake recipe was given to me by a good friend and Quid fan who apparently shares my taste for cakes that are weirdly nutritious.  This cake is chock full of nuts, seeds (sesame and sunflower), three cups of grated carrots, tahini and oil, plus the usual flour, eggs, leavening and sugar.  I figure if you put enough fiber into anything it becomes a vegetable on the food pyramid or food ziggurat or  food tumulus, whatever.  It instantly became the skinny boy's favorite cake, and what better way to get both calories and vitamins into a growing boy?  Surprisingly, given the vast quantities of nuts and carrots and oil and the amounts he ingests, he hasn't  experienced any digestive upset.

Yum- Raw CuisineAside: I googled Carrot Tahini Cake and ran across this recipe on a Raw website:

Cocoa Carrot Cake Recipe

2 Cups Tahini
3 Cups Shredded Coconut
3 tbs. Raw Honey or
½ c Blended raisin puree (soaked 2 cups raisins)
2 -3 tbs Carob powder

Form - Decorate - Refrigerate

Posted by Jim Carey on June 20, 2006 at 11:16 AM in Recipes - Desserts | Permalink

Jim Carey, huh?  The recipe and the man: funny, revolting and illiterate.  Look for the carrots.  And the cocoa, for that matter.  "Form -Decorate - Refrigerate,"  but whatever you do, don't Eat it.

Update on Sunday, September 16, 2007 at 08:16PM by bbmoe

Tahini Carrot Cake

Butter a tube pan and dust with fine, dry bread crumbs.  In a pinch, panko or wheat germ will do.  Shake out excess.  Sprinkle bottom of pan with some sesame seeds. 

Preheat oven to 350^o 

Measure and set aside in a small bowl:

• 1 C. chopped walnuts
• 1/3 C. sesame seeds
• 1/3 C. sunflower seeds 

In another bowl, whisk together

• 3/4 C whole wheat flour
• 1/2 C. unbleached flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Grate 12 oz. of carrots.  That's 3/4 of a pound: just eyeball it.  I made this recipe many times thinking it said "12 carrots" and it was fine.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat 

• 4 large eggs
• 1-1/3 firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 C. vegetable oil
• 3/4 C tahini

On a low speed, add the dry flour mixture and stir until just mixed.  Ditto the nuts and seeds.

Stir the carrots in by hand (that's what the recipe says, but I always just use the KitchenAid.  If you have a hand-held mixer, best stir the carrots in by hand.)

Pour all of this into the prepared tube pan.  This is tricky for the novice but for those who are yearning for a little excitement, this is the high point of this endeavor.  Sprinkle the top with some more sesame seeds and put the pan in the oven, middle rack. 

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes (test with a toothpick at 65 and 70 minutes in case your oven runs hot: mine does, a little.)  Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert the cake onto a cooling rack.

Bon apètit! 

Note: Tahini is very common in the "international" sections of your grocery store, or in health food aisles.  Just ask!  When you buy a jar, it will have separated into the solids and the oil.  It's still good, you just have to stir it up.  And that gives you a good excuse to lick the spoon- yum!  And for more lip-smacking goodness, look at this blog:  The Hummus Blog. 

Comments

[Sparrow]

I had never heard of tahini and so I googled it just now. Do you make your own or do you purchase it somewhere? And how about posting the recipe for the carrot tahini cake? I like faux healthy.