Happy Birthday Kate!

So, just a quick disclaimer, specifically for Karrie, as you know, I like to get real sappy sometimes.  This is one of those such times.  So get the tissues and get ready for the ugly cry :) ha ha.

My dear sister Karrie recently celebrated a birthday.  Karrie has always been my emotional soul sister, while Tammie and Marsha both are sensitive and compassionate people Karrie and I are kind of bawl babies.  But I mean that in the sweetest, kindest way.  And I am thankful to have a soul mate in the bawling department. 

Karrie has always, without a fault been the most loyal and kind person you could ever want in your life.  When we were little she would humor me and play barbies with me even though everyone else thought they were for "babies".  Our mom's dog, Rusty (RIP), whilst he was a pup decided that Barbie doll feet looked like quite the tasty treat so he chewed them off.  Off all of our Barbies feet. All of them.  Awesome.  So, in the creative manner that we only knew how because we sure were not getting NEW Barbies because of this foot chewing fiasco came up with Malaria Barbie.  Mind you, we were like 5 and 11 years old so we didn't really know what the side effects of malaria were but we knew it sounded "exotic" so that's what Barbie got.  Malaria.  That made her feet fall off.

Another great story about Karrie that shows her compassion, we used to rescue the poor birds that would get trapped in the barn then run themselves into the windows so many times they couldn't fly.  We'd take them back to our "office" aka the playhouse and try to nurse them back to health...until...pause for dramatic effect...Marsha would come and get the birds from their sanctuary and feed them to her cat Tiger Eyes.  Can you believe it?  Oh, we would get SO mad at her. 

Later on in my teen years, Karrie was one of the first people I would turn to about issues of being a girl, boy troubles and general teenage craziness.  We also had a huge affection for ridiculously cheesy movies and would giggle and get all crazy about the plot lines (or in actuality the lack there of).  Even after Karrie moved out of mom and dad's house she would come and rescue me to go on really silly adventures, I would go into detail but I don't think anyone else would really "get" it and I'm okay with that.  We would drive around for hours singing at the top of our lungs Alanis Morrissette (which I would draw out the One Hand in my Pocket song on her dusty dashboard of her Grand Prix, Prixie), Joan Osborne and My Sherona eating more Tootsie Roll candies than one should consume in a lifetime much less a car ride.  We would drive to Wausau to bum around just because we could.  We spent time together just enjoying where we were in life, enjoying being friends and sisters.

(Here comes the water works for me at least)  I think that when we lost mom each of us took things differently and had our own ways of coping with things.  I really admire how Karrie handled herself with everything, she had her family that needed her, Rachel was just a little over 1 and she was a few months pregnant with Ryan; but I can clearly remember feeling her grief, sharing that feeling of being really scared of what losing mom meant.  Before Mom got sick and our family got really serious Marsha and I would always pick on Karrie saying that she was Mom's favorite (which I now know couldn't have possibly been true because obviously it was me - TOTALLY kidding - Mom always did a great job of making us all feel very special when we needed it most) but I think the vibe we were picking up on at that time is that they had a connection, a bond that at that time that really needed to be nurtured.  Maybe that was Mom's intuition of making sure all of her children had their ducks in a row.  Mom had a phenomenal ability to really listen to our stories of anger, hope, love and give such great constructive advice.  She would listen like she had all the time in the world and that at that moment you were the center of her universe.  I've spoken with Karrie about this before and now that we are both parents I think we both value that so very much and hope that we can replicate that relationship with our own kids.

Karrie with her sweet baby boy Carter

After Karrie got married and had Rachel and Ryan we would take road trips to go stay at Marsha and Kris's house in Fall Creek and have great chats about live, love, losing mom, trying to figure out how to be a grown ups.  We would stay up late with Marsha and Kris playing endless games of Cranium, laughing until our sides hurt.  I spent a lot of time with Karrie and her kiddos when Ryan was a little baby, I think because it was a comfort to be around her because there are a lot of things about her that remind me of mom.  I would spend hours upon hours rocking, cradling, loving her babies.  Wishing and hoping and praying that one day Ryan and I would finally get one of our own for me to love like Karrie loves her kids.  And when that day finally happened, I could literally feel the joy that she had for us, as if it were a tangible living thing.  My emotional soul sister really understood what it felt like and meant to me to finally have everything I had ever wanted.

While Karrie has not had the easiest of paths, she had always undertaken her obstacles and challenges with a ferociousness and spunk that I don't know of many (if any) other people would.  She works tirelessly at her job in order to have precious time with her family in the off season.  She works hard and plays hard and loves with every bit of her being.

Karrie, I hope you aren't too embarrassed by any of the dorky stories shared, I just wanted to let you know how much I truly appreciate you always embracing me for my goofy side, for encouraging me when I needed it, for crying with me and teaching me how to be strong and vulnerable in the same breath.  Mom would be very proud of you Karrie, you are a beautiful, strong woman that puts her family first above all and loves with all that she has.  I am so blessed to have you in my life, although I know we don't get as many opportunities to spend time together like we used to know that you are important and amazing and loved.

Happy Birthday Kate.
Love,
Mindy Jo

Baker, baker make me a cake...or some bread!

Just a quick foodie post to add to the pile - o - posting I am doing tonight.  I have made a few fun new recipes in the last few weeks.  And last week I started actually sitting down, writing out supper plans for each night, reviewing the list and seeing what ingredients I needed to go to the store for.  Last week worked like a charm  - there were no hostile stares at Ryan asking, well what do YOU want for supper...just got home, opened the crock pot or got out the frying pan and got to work.  While I realize this is not a revolutionary idea it really did help our week run more smoothly. 

While ironically, neither of these items were on the menu last week I can't stop thinking about them.  One, because I think I am a bread fanatic and two, because I told my dearest friend Alice that I would share the scone recipe with her and this is the venue I am finally remembering to do so on :) 

Recipe #1 - Classic Scones from the Joy of Cooking.  Couple of early notes, I have made these in a large quantity and frozen them to later reheat, they can become a bit of a dried out biscuit but I think the key is reheating for a short amount of time and either schmearing with jam or dunking in coffee.  I know I'm like a freakin' marvel of cooking wisdom today :)  However, I made these for friend Alice one morning prior to going garage sailing for the day and they were reheated in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350 then drizzled with jam and they were fantastic!  Also, when you are forming the disk to cut, it's going to look like a mess. Just know that ahead of time.  Don't beat yourself up, but if yours DON'T look like a mess than congratulations, perhaps you can get segment on The Chew :)

Classic Scones

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sift together in a large bowl:
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp baking POWDER (I frequently get powder and soda confused so I like to dramatically differentiate)
1/4 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Cut in using a pastry blender or 2 knives until the size of small peas:

1/4 C (1/2 stick) cold butter

Beat in a small bowl:
2 Large eggs

Reserve 2 T of the eggs and beat into the remaining eggs 1/3 cup heavy cream.

Make a well in the dry ingredients.  Pour in the liquid and combine with a few swift strokes.  Hand the dough as little as possible.  Turn it out onto a lightly floured board.  Pat into a 3/4 inch thick circle.  Cut into 8 or 12 wedges.  Place on ungreased baking sheet.  Brush with remaining egg and sprinkle with salt or sugar.  Bake until golden about 15 minutes.

Side notes, I typically add something to the dough because frankly it seems really boring to have a plain scone.  I like to fold in cranberries, blueberries or chocolate chips.  Also, after they come out of the oven serving with a side of jam is just delish.

Recipe #2  Artisan Bread.  I really shouldn't have access to this good and easy of bread at all times.  I actually should probably burn the recipe after this because I can tell you with a pretty high degree of certainty that I will make it more than I should.  But it's so darn easy and awesome.  A few weeks ago Barb and Alice both went to a ladies retreat and raved about the bread they were taught to make and lucky for me they both love me enough to share :)

Artisan Bread - Makes about four 1 lb loaves
3 C lukewarm water
1 1/2 T granulated yeast
1 1/2 T kosher salt (I used 1 T of table salt in place)
6 1/2 C unbleached All-Purpose white flour

1) Mix ingredients
2) Let rise for 2 hours (aka go get lost on Pinterest or take a nap)
3) Either pull off a grapefruit sized hunk to make or sore in Fridge for later use.  Seriously.  That easy folks.

 When you want to bake it:
1) Shape and cloak with flour
3) Let rise 20 minutes in a warm kitchen, or if you live with Ryan Thomas, in a kitchen that you are cooking in and the residual heat will help it rise in about 40 minutes (love you Honey)
4) Heat oven to 450 for 20 minutes with a baking stone and a pan of water
5) Transfer bread to stone and bake with steam for 30 minutes.

So good.  So simple.  As life should be :)

The Pinterest Time Suck and General Slackerness

So....I haven't been doing a very good job in the last two weeks of actually writing posts.  I have lots of ideas and things to catch up about but I continually get stuck in the life wasting time suck that is Pinterest as I early bemoaned about...however, I HAVE been doing some crafty Pinterest inspired crafts.  I feel like making note of the Pinterest projects completed somehow justifies the hours I spend uselessly laughing like a maniac at my phone as I repin posts from friends and strangers alike.  Similar to when you make a to-do list for the weekend but "accidentally" add a few items that you have already completed earlier in the week just so you can get a head start on the list. Yep, I'm totally that person.  No shame.  Ha ha.

I also have fallen into the mindless trap of what Marsha calls the magic black box...I've fallen deeply back into the Tuesday night DVR battle of my shows versus Ryan's shows and thanks to Ellie am now a fanatic of the Voice.  So, that accounts for the other portion of general slackerness...plus when the weather gets cooler and it gets dark earlier it's really easy to snuggle into the couch and be mindlessly amused.  But it feels oh so good to get the words that have been jogging around in the recesses of my mind out and flowing again.

While the Pinterest Time Suck has been taking time it really does inspire you to try out some new ideas, crafts, recipes, scarf tying, etc.  Here is a little "round up" of what I've made because of my Pinterest inspiration:

 I knew that at our Saturday play date that the girls would be painting pumpkins but who am I kidding, I really wanted to paint them too so here is my attempt...the kitty is kind of sad but I do really like the Thomas and the Naomi pumpkins!  Plus when I told Naomi that there was a pumpkin with her name on it she was really funny, like, "No way Mom".  Cute.  She has just started saying the following phrase, "What? Noooo...." with the funniest expression and tone.  Love her more everyday.  If that's possible.

 The actual pumpkins weren't in that great of shape but I like the character of a few little bumps, bruises and flaws...it is what makes the world go round!

 Nay's special pumpkin :)

Barb if you read this before Wednesday just close your eyes or you will ruin the Halloween project that Naomi and I made for you....so keep them closed...but for others I thought this was a super cute way to preserve how big they are at certain ages.  Mind you, somewhere in Nay's gene pool there must be a giant lurking because girl has huge feet!

 
This scarecrow was really fun to make...for me Naomi she picked out all of the papers and I cut out the shapes and she had to tell me what they were...she was at about 75% but we are getting there with shapes and colors.  She also was in charge of putting the glue on the back which she thought was the coolest thing ever.  I also let her use safety scissors today for the first time...under my hawk eye.  She did pretty good, it was really awkward at first but she really like trying it and I think it made her feel like a big girl! 

So all in all, not to justify my extensive time wasting abilities, my Pinterest obsession has taken away from the time that I normally spent either folding laundry, sewing or blogging it has inspired me to try out a few new crafts with my baby girl and that time and those memories are priceless :)  Totally justified there.

Playdates and Pumpkins

Naomi and I have been having play dates with our friends (Gracie and Jennifer respectively) since the girls were a few months old as they are only a few months apart.  It's been quite an interesting relationship for the littles.  The first dates when they were old enough to actually play the sharing of toys on both ends was a challenge, things in that area have dramatically improved.  There was one play date at our house when the girls were around 1 and there was some toy that Gracie was crawling over toward and Naomi just plowed her down.  I thought for sure it would be the end of the dates.  Thankfully it was not and we still get together every few months for play time.  This past weekend we had Jennifer and Gracie over, it was some much needed Gracie and Mommy time, Gracie has a newish little sister and it was a nice outing for just the two of them while sweet baby girl was home with her daddy. 

Someday, their playdates will actually involve them playing together not just both in the same room at the same time :)

I like that it looks like they are sharing a giggle over something

So, I typically have a grand idea of some crafty and photogenic moment that we can all embrace and look back on fondly.  However, we were painting pumpkins this time and frankly I was a bit leery of trying to wield my camera around two little munchkins with paint all over their little fingers.  And Jennifer and I got lost in catching up while the girls painted.  The pumpkins did turn out cute though and both girls were such typical girls wanting to wash the paint off their hands right away :)  Funny.

Trying to get them both to look and smile was a bit of a challenge...

I think they were probably snickering at Jennifer and my attempts to get them to pay attention to us and smile!

It's a keeper - our little pumpkins with their pumpkins

I made a little luncheon for us to have together and made Bow-Tie Pasta with Peas and Ham.  It turned out alright, it was a little on the bland side for me, if I make it again I would add chives, garlic and a bit more Parmesan cheese.  Here's the recipe adapted from the Martha Stewart recipe:

Bow-Ties with Peas and Ham

1 lb. bow-tie pasta (farfalle)
Coarse salt & Ground pepper
3 T butter
1 onion diced
2 C frozen peas
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 lb cooked ham
Grated Parmesan cheese

1) Cook pasta in a large pot until al dente according to package directions

2) Meanwhile, heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion, cook stirring until soft, 3-4 minutes.  Add peas and half-and-half, season with salt and pepper.  Simmer until thickened.

3) Dice ham, add to sauce and cook until heated through, 1-2 minutes.  Toss sauce with pasta, serve with grated Parmesan.

HOWEVER, I didn't want to be cooking while our friends were over so I put it in a greased cake pan and baked it at 350 for about a half hour.

For dessert I made 7 Layer Bars.  Well kind of, growing up they were called Jane's bars.  I have no idea why they are Jane's bars or who the recipe came from, I am guessing she got it from Aunt Jane, just a guess though because we also have a recipe in the recipe box from Mom called Snook's pickles...there were two Snook's in our lives growing up, the lady we went to get our eggs from (do any of my sisters remember the chalkboard in her house or getting a stick of chalk from her? Insert weird random memory here) and also our Grandparents dog was named Snooks. I'm going to venture a guess the pickles came from the lady.  Back to the bars...what I know I can call them is gone...because I made the pan on Friday night and by Sunday afternoon they were G.O.N.E.  Yum.

Also, a note about my mom's recipes.  One of the many things that I miss about mom is talking about recipes, rarely would I make one of her dishes without calling to chat about it...I kind of forgot why until Friday night when I looked at the recipe and it has ingredients and cooking temperature and time listed but no instructions.  Nada.  Zilch.  Make it up as you go.  Once again, I am really starting to grasp where my cooking ideals came from :) Thanks Mom, even without detailed instructions they turned out heavenly.  Pun fully intended. 

Jane's Bars/SIX Layer Bars

1 C melted butter
1 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs (I used like twice the amount, it just didn't seem like enough!!!)

Here's where I am taking liberty on mom's recipe...adding instructions!  Mix the melted butter and crumbs together in a bowl and press into a greased 9x13 baking pan.

Layer remaining ingredients over the top of the crust:
1 C chopped nuts
1 C chocolate chips
1 C butterscotch chips
1 1/2 C flaked coconut
1 (15 oz) can condensed milk

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Cool then devour enjoy :)

Dear Pinterest...

Dear Pinterest,

I love you and I hate you.  I love you because you give me SO many ideas of what I want to do with crafts, my home, my hair and makeup, my food, photography cheat sheets and ideas, this list could literally go ON and ON.

I hate you because instead of actually doing these aforementioned things I am looking at more things, adding them to my to do "board".

So, in order to balance this love/hate, I am setting a goal to at the very least complete one pinned item per month - be it a recipe, hair style, kids craft, whatever so as long as I am using it for an inspiration not just a time wasting addiction.  Yes, addiction, I have started playing on Pinterest right after Nay goes to bed (around 8:30) and the next time I look at the clock it's like 11:00.  Time flies!

So my first project timed out well with when a dear friend called to say she had apples that needed to get out of her tree.  I found this recipe at: http://changingmydestiny.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/crockpot-apple-butter/
She has a ton of other fun cooking ideas too.

Crock Pot Apple Butter

Makes a little more than 1 pint
1 dozen apples, peeled, cored, cubed
1/2 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon All Spice

Step 1:
Peel, Core, and Chop a dozen apples.




Step 2:
Toss the apples in the sugar and spices.

Step 3:
Put everything in the Crockpot, cook it on Low overnight

Step 4:
It’s optional, but I blended the butter down smooth. You can eat it right out of the Crockpot, Naomi and I did. :)

I froze half of the batch and kept half the batch in the fridge to spread on toast, add to oatmeal, eat from the container.  YUM.

Cousin Weekends & Counting Blessings

An attitude of gratitude...that's what I try to have.  I count my blessings all day long, it's a coping mechanism that I've adapted through the years to get through challenging times.  It works for me.  THEN there are days that it rains blessings, days that everything just feels good and fits right.

A few weeks ago, we got some of the family together to celebrate Dad's birthday...Dad hung out for lunch and a while afterward but then had to get to work because as any old farmer (or farmer's daughter knows) "you gotta make hay when the sun shines" which I've found is Dad's way of saying that he can't bear to not be doing something productive if the weather co-operates.

So what was Dad's birthday celebration turned into a cousin play date with Marsha and her boys.  And play they did.  These boys have phenomenal memories and plot out how they are going to share toys when the get here, who will play with what and when.  This is ridiculously amusing to me because they are truly their mother's sons.  Planners.  But so am I so I can't poke TOO much fun :)  We played upstairs and downstairs, in the front yard and in the back.  There were minimal tears which I think is an accomplishment when talking about 3 kiddos under the age of 4 having to share toys!

That look right there kills me.  I love it.

Some of my favorite moments of the day were the quiet little moments that they shared.  All sitting around on the lawn together sharing a pitcher of water, drawing out our own little city on the driveway with sidewalk chalk, hearing the harmony of three sweet giggles.

It was ironic, life has been busy, it is always busy for everyone but this busy kept me from hanging out with Marsha and her family for most of the summer.  Not good.  But then, as fate would have it, we saw each other for the last THREE weekends in a row...first for Dad's birthday, then last weekend when Marsha needed an Internet connection and quiet time to get some tests for work done (do not be confused, she and Kris swapped houses with her in-laws and they watched the kids for them - our house is not the place to come for quiet and solace :) haha) but was swayed to meet Ryan and I out to help us celebrate our six-year wedding anniversary.

Anniversary dinner out on the town :)

 And once again, celebrate we did!  Super fun night, we played games, danced, were just carefree knowing that if we had sore feet and headaches in the morning thank goodness for kind in-laws that spent the weekend with their grand babies.

Finally, this past weekend we had Marsha, Kris and the boys up to the cabin with grand plans of going on an adventure to Jim Peck's Wildwood Park.

Nay and Daddy hanging out by the musky pond

It was a really fun but C.O.L.D. weekend.  If you haven't been to Jim Peck's GO.  It was really fun and huge compared to what I remember from a long ago third grade field trip.

Hoisting Naomi up a bit higher so she can see into the tiger cage a bit better

Naomi really likes snakes.  I know, it's weird.

See that snake slithering up the glass?  Ick.  But Nay thought it was great!

I don't hate snakes per se but they give me the creeps.  I try (some days harder than others) not to subject my opinions or feelings about things on to her because I would rather she form her own opinion but sometimes it's hard NOT to get the heeby jeebies when there are huge snakes all over the place.  It was a great time overall, the kiddos got to run around and feed animals and the weather actually somewhat co-operated, we were all bundled up and when you were in the sun it was beautiful.

Marsha and Sam :)

Ryan wouldn't stop laughing after seeing this picture, Naomi's face clearly says, Mom, are you REALLY taking another picture of me? haha

After Jim Peck's and lunch we all took naps.  It was great.  Weekend naps are one of my favorite things.  The rest of the weekend brought playing around the cabin, one craft project that literally ended up with the kids playing with puzzles in one area and Marsha and I completing the projects.  Super funny.  Sunday we took a short and cold pontoon ride then played some more before it was time to pack up and head home.

Naomi and Sam snuggling - super funny!

It was a raining of blessings kind of weekend.  Memories were made, laughter was shared.  And it was good.

Much love and many blessings.

Sonny on a cloudy day

I don't write about my dad a lot and I'm not sure why.  I'm not sure if he's one of those people in your life that has always been there that you take them for granted and don't necessarily focus on them as much as you should.  So today I am changing that, Happy Birthday Dad, this post is for you...

I've known my dad for my whole life.  Haha.  Here are a few things that I've learned about my dad:

1) He loves practical jokes - especially when he has a gullible daughter as a target
2) He is more in tune to people than I gave him credit for
3) He can make mistakes but there is still that little girl in me that knows he is invincible
4) He likes puns and cheesy jokes, I have very clearly inherited this from him, I adore cheesy cliches, can't help it, its in my blood :)
5) He is often forgetful but seldom on purpose

This is just the tip of the iceberg of dad but they were the ones that came to my mind first.  In one of my last posts I spoke of finding the light in the dark and a big piece of sunlight that came shining through for me after my mom passed away was that I got really close with my dad.  I got the chance to know him in a much closer way that I honestly don't think we would have if my mom was still around.

I always knew that my dad was funny but I didn't realize how much joy it brought him to be silly about stuff sometimes.  Growing up I remember my dad working a lot, I can remember after supper him lying on the living room floor reading through a newspaper while we all lounged around.  I never remember him watching a movie in its entirety or any other show other than the news.  He and Mom would have friends over to play cards frequently and he would let me put mom's rollers in his hair.  He also would braid our hair when needed because mom couldn't/didn't know how - Marsha later took on the role of primary braider in the family however would give your hair a good yank every now and then and repeat, "Pain before beauty" haha.

Dad has always liked playing cards.  I am certain that we made up new rules to every card game on a whim.  I know this because when Ryan and I play cards now he always asks if we are playing by "Dassow Rules" - darn right we are! 

We had big family meals on Sundays, mom would make softboiled eggs for breakfast sometimes and it was Dad's job to cut them open and scoop them out onto everyone's plates because he evidently had hands of steel that he couldn't feel how incredibly hot those eggs were.  After breakfast we would play the Dassow version of Three Card Monte with egg shells and a stray fried potato.  I can also remember one lunch in particular, it was late summer, we were all at the kitchen table after lunch and dad was betting each of us to take a bite out of a huge raw onion.  I cannot remember to this day who all took the bet but I just can remember sitting there, all of us as a family.  Hmm...I wonder where my love of cooking came from?  Where the equation of food + family = love.

One of the funniest stories I have of Dad from when after mom passed is the Orange Juice Incident of 2006.  After a few rough patches and the initial adjustment phase of learning how to live a life without Mom, Dad really started trying to become more self sufficient in running his house.  One weekend, I was out at his house, Marsha and Kris were also out there and we all were sitting around playing cards and I went to look in his cupboard to look for something and found a carton of orange juice...huge...bloated carton of orange juice.  I squealed and asked him why in the world it was in the cupboard and not in the fridge and his rational was that he didn't have to refrigerate other types of juice so he assumed he didn't have to refrigerate this. WRONG.  Kris, with the stealth of a seasoned Hazmat pro, removed the carton without incident but in my mind I could just see that carton exploding all over the cupboards.  The lesson of the day, when it comes from the cold it goes back into the cold.

Ahh...the silly stories of life and family :)  We celebrated Dad's birthday this past weekend, the party that actually occurred was SO far off base with the plan that I had tried for that it became laughable.  It was just a comedy of errors of schedules and timing that it ended up being a very quiet get together at our house with Dad but at the end of the day, the important goal was accomplished, we celebrated Dad.  Dad with all of his practical jokes and sillyness.

See that look on Sammer's face?  THAT is the look of, "Wow, Grandpa is invincible!"

So, to Dad on your Birthday, I hope you have a wonderful day that is filled with laughter.  Thank you for all that you are and all that you do and the lessons and traits you have shared with us all.  Much love.

*Side note and recipe: Dad requested carrot cake - I found one that was quite healthy, I don't know the exact nutritional values but it clocks in around 100 calories per cupcake.  I wasn't a big fan of the frosting but they were good without it or you could use a basic cream cheese recipe too.

Carrot Cake Recipe

Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup egg substitute
- 2 egg whites
- 2 1/2 cups shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 12 oz fat free cream cheese
- 3 tbsp hot water
- 1 7 oz jar of marshmallow creme
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with non-fat cooking spray , line the bottoms with parchment or wax paper, and spray the paper with the nonstick spray.  I used muffin tins and the recipe made about 20 muffins.

Combine the flour, both kinds of sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

Whisk the egg substitute and egg whites in a large bowl. Add the carrots, applesauce, oil, and raisins, and hot water stirring until blended.

With a rubber spatula, add the flour mixture to the carrot mixture, and stir until blended. Spread the batter evenly in the cake pans. Bake until the cakes are nicely browned and the center of each one bounces back when lightly pressed with a fingertip, approx 30-32 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans, peel off the paper, and cool completely on racks.

To make the frosting, with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the remaining ingredients until smooth.
Place on layer of cake on a cake plate, and using 1/2 cup of frosting, frost evenly out to edges. Place other layer of cake on top, and spread remaining frosting on top and on sides. Slice into 16 servings.