Carrot Cake Bars

Who doesn't love carrot cake with cream cheese icing?  These bars bring you all the flavor of carrot cake. They are moist with a generous swirl of cream cheese and loaded with sweet carrots.

Ingredients

For the Bars

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup shredded carrots

For the Cheesecake Swirl

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
3/4 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8x8 pan with non-stick spray and set aside.

Combine melted butter and brown sugar. Stir in egg and vanilla. Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Stir until completely combined. Stir in shredded carrots. Set aside.

Prepare cheesecake swirl by  combining cream cheese and sugar with hand mixer until smooth.
Add in egg yolk and vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy.

Spread about 1/2 of the carrot cake batter in the prepared pan.  Add about half of  the cheesecake swirl by dropping dollops of batter over the carrot cake batter.
Add remaining carrot cake batter on top of  and around the cheesecake batter. Add remaining cheesecake batter in dollops.
Using a knife or skewer, swirl the batters together.

Bake 35- 40 minutes or until edges are golden.
Cool completely before cutting.
Store in airtight container in the refrigerator.

Best Ever Carrot Cake

This cake is moist and delicious - so good that it is hard to have just one piece.

Ingredients

For the cake

1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons cinnamon
 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated carrots
1 small can crushed pineapple
1/2 cup chopped pecans

For the frosting

1 box powdered sugar
1/2 stick butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

Instructions

Grease and flour a 9x13 inch cake pan. Preheat oven to 360 degrees.
In mixer, combine oil and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add all dry ingredients and mix well.
Add carrots, pineapple and pecans. Mix until evenly combined.
Pour mixture into prepared cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
Set on wire rack to cool.

To prepare frosting, combine powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and cream cheese. Beat with mixer until fluffy. Spread on cooled cake.

Roasted Harvest Vegetables

Roasting vegetables gives them a sweeter flavor. This is a wonderful combination of seasonal root vegetables that taste great when roasted.

Ingredients

4 carrots (about 3/4 pound) peeled, halved length-wise and cross-wise
2 sweet potatoes (about 1 pound) peeled and cut into 3 x 1/2 inch wedges
1 butternut squash (about 2 pounds) peeled, seeded, and cut into 3 x 1/2 inch wedges
8 garlic cloves in the shell.
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Divide carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash and garlic between two rimmed baking sheets. Toss each batch with 1 Tablespoon olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Roast until the vegetables are tender and starting to brown, about 25-30 minutes. Rotate baking sheets from top to bottom rack in oven half way through cooking.Peel garlic and return to vegetables.
Serve.

Baby Carrot Salad

Ingredients

2  pounds baby carrots
1 medium onion, sliced thin and separated
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Instructions

Boil carrots in water until tender. Drain and cool.
Layer carrots and onions in bowl.
Mix remaining ingredients. Whisk vigorously to blend well.
Pour over carrots. Cover and allow to marinate in refrigerator for 24 hours.