Why Not Turn Some of Those Leftover Ingredients into Scrumptious Dishes

By Joan Airey

One of our family recipes I hadn’t used for several years was a carrot loaf which contained maraschino cherries.

Recently I came across this Christmas Carrot Cake made with glazed cherries or mixed fruit which I tried and will definitely be making again after the New Year.

Cousin Bev and I compared the recipes and the only difference between the one I made is a different type of cherries and the old recipe has 1 1/3 cups of canola oil and no orange juice. The recipe makes two loaves. I used mango/tangerine juice 1/3 cup and the loaves were nice and moist.

Christmas Carrot Cake

3 cups of flour 1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking soda 2 tsp. baking powder 2 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional) 18 oz. mixed fruit and /or red and green cherries 4 eggs 2 cups light brown sugar 3 cups of grated carrots 1 cup canola oil 2 tsp. vanilla 1 cup dark raisins (washed) Juice from 2 oranges (1/3 to ½ cup) or you can use mango/tangerine juice).

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Sift together dry ingredients. Add nuts and fruit to coat. Add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour batter into two loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour.

Excellent Biscuits

3/4 cup cold butter (not margarine if you want great flavour) 1 egg 1 cup whole milk Preheat oven to 450 °F.

Combine the dry ingredients into a large bowl. The secret to excellent biscuits is very COLD BUTTER. Cut the butter into small pieces then incorporate into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter. You want to see small pea-sized pieces of butter through the dough.

Add milk and egg and mix just until the ingredients are combined. The dough will be sticky but don’t keep working it. Turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface. Sprinkle some flour on the top of dough so it won’t stick to your finger and knead ten times. If the dough is super sticky just sprinkle on more flour but don’t get carried away.

Pat the dough out to 3/4 to an inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter or glass. You should have ten to twelve biscuits. Put the biscuits on a parchment paper lined tray and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. If you wish you can brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter.

If you have leftover turkey or chicken this soup is easy and delicious. I often use cooked leftover carrots in the recipe and use peas or corn in place of beans.

Turkey Vegetable Soup

1-540 can tomato juice

500 ml water 500 ml cooked, cubed turkey 250 ml chopped onion 250 ml green beans frozen or canned 25 ml instant beef flavour bouillon 2 ml garlic powder 2 ml hot pepper sauce 1 bay leaf 75 ml grated Parmesan cheese

In heavy 3 litre sauce pan combine all ingredients except parmesan cheese: mix well. Cover: cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender 20-25 minutes. To serve, sprinkle 15 ml Parmesan cheese over each serving.