Coming out of the woodwork

And this one is well worth coming out of the woodwork for.

If you are anything like me, you have a lot of recipes floating around, so many that you never use half of them because you know there's a great Thai fish curry around here somewhere, but gosh darn it, where could it have gone.

I'm guessing this great product, the Neat Receipt Scanalizer could truly revolutionize my crazy recipe filing. Currently, all three rooms in the apartment, as well as the corridor to the master bedroom, contain clippings, printouts and scribbled family recipes. Despite my best efforts, there are recipes stuffed on top of the fridge, making a living as bookmarks, and holding up bookshelves in the second bedroom. To solve this cooking (and cleaning) conundrum, the Scanalizer enables you to send the images and details of each gourmet meal to your computer, where it can be found next time you fancy trying to follow the same recipe. Imagine a world where all your favorite recipes are stored happily on your computer AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO TYPE THEM IN FIRST. Hooray! Yes Please!

So nip over to 5 minutes for mom and check out this awesome contest, at

http://www.5minutesformom.com/1936/scanalizer-contest/

Tasty Afternoon Carrot Cake

This week I am mostly needing food which is easy, tasty but healthy-feeling after a few weeks of traveling. Visiting family and friends in the UK has meant that we had no fixed schedule, and few set mealtimes. This has made me crave some comfort food. At the start of the week I made very unhealthy chocolate and ginger brownies. I had to send them into work with my husband to avoid eating more than two slices.

Today, looking for a more saintly snack, I dug out all the carrot cake recipes I could find and cobbled together something a little different. Slightly on the crumbing side, it nevertheless has done the job. It has a fantastic crunch to the crust, thanks to the addition of polenta and is wonderfully moist in the centre.

I have a tasty, healthy-sounding carrot cake sat on the kitchen counter with one slice missing.

We have had dreadful weather here today - complete with tornado warnings - so I stopped everything and had a slice with a cup of tea at 4pm. Very British. Very rainy day. Very not helpful for my 750 word deadline.

Tasty Carrot Cake
Adapted from several recipes, including Jamie Oliver and Leith's Cookery Bible

1 lb of carrots, freshly peeled and chopped in the blender until the consistency resembles finely grated carrot
3 eggs, separated
about 1 1/2 inches of thumb width freshly grated ginger
150 ml of honey
6 fl oz of olive oil
1 tsp of vanilla essence
2 tsp baking powder
3 1/2 oz of polenta (or medium grind cornmeal)
pinch of salt
pinch of allspice
pinch of cinnamon
60z plain flour

Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a nine inch cake tin, it is advisable to use greaseproof paper to avoid burning.
Mix together the carrot, egg yolk, ginger, honey, olive oil and vanilla essence.
Add the dry ingredients.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Fold into the carrot and flour mixture.
Pour batter into cake tin and bake for 35 -45 minutes, until skewer inserted in centre comes out clean.
Cool on wire rack and enjoy.
Fold into the carrot mixture.