Guest Cook: Today's guest cook is Cathy Deaton from a great small town in North Carolina. Cathy is sharing with us a recipe she loves for Pot Roast.

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless beef chuck roasts (2.5 lbs each)
• 1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
• 1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix
• 1 envelope brown gravy mix
• ½ C water

Directions:

Place chuck roasts in an 5 quart slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the salad dressing and gravy mixes; stir in the water. Pour over meat. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours or until tender. If desired thicken the juices for gravy.

makes 12 to 15 servings

So friend at work gave me some Habanero Peppers - anyone have any recipes?

Tart, firm apples such as Granny Smiths work best in this recipe.


INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 Granny Smith apples


DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 225 to 250 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine sugar and spices. Slice apples horizontally with a mandolin slicer, very thinly (1/8 inch thick). Remove seeds. Toss apple slices gently in the spice mix but coating them well.
Arrange in a single layers on rimmed baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake about 2 to 2 1/2 hours, turning every 30 minutes. Cool on wire racks.



TIPS

1) Chips may be soft when they come out of the oven, but they'll crisp when the sugar cools.
2) Experiment with your oven temp and cooking time. My oven needed to be hotter (250) and the apples needed to be cooked longer (2.5 hrs). Let's just say the hub and I had a great laugh on the 'apple gum' I invented the first round!
3) They don't last long so get ready to make more!

I love a Slow Rainy Day!
I have been wanting to make a blog button for this site with code so others can grab it and let me cook with them!
Here's my button pic

I LOVE dishes!

And now the finale to our Carrot Cake!

Frosting:

• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 stick salted butter, room temperature
• 1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans


Directions

Add all ingredients, except nuts, into a medium bowl and beat until fluffy using a hand mixer. Stir in the nuts or garnish the top of the cake with nuts.

Ice the cake with cream cheese frosting, slice for serving then put a fork in it and eat!



This recipe goes with 3 layer Carrot Cake and Apricot Mousse Filling.

Filling:

• 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 large package of jello instant vanilla pudding
• 8 to 9oz Apricot Preserves


Directions



In Medium bowl, mix all ingredients well until smooth consistency. I used my hand mixer and beat for about 3 minutes or until it looks like mousse.


Spread filling on first and second layer of cake.
Tomorrow the Cream Cheese Icing then we are ready to eat!



This recipe goes with the 3 Layer Carrot Cake and Cream Cheese Icing.

Today we'll start with the cake. This is a really old recipe for carrot cake and has a slightly different texture than some of the more current versions. But the taste is extraordinary!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) round pans; Line bottom of the pans with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add eggs and vegetable oil. Using a hand mixer, blend until combined. Add carrots and pecans, if using.
Pour into pans. Bake for approximately 40 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool in pans for 5 minutes. Remove from pans, place on waxed paper or wire racks and allow to cool completely before filling and frosting.

Tomorrow, the Apricot Mousse Filling followed by Thursday the Cream Cheese Icing and our finished cake!



Hey it's Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum!