Whether your week has been good or bad so far I think I can make it better. About two weeks ago Quirk Books sent me a copy of Shauna Sever’s new cookbook – Pure Vanilla. A book about baking with vanilla, obviously. I was also able to get a copy to give away to one of you guys!
The book is seriously awesome. Not just because it has so many delicious looking photos but also because of Shauna’s amusing introductions to each recipe.
I usually don’t post many things that aren’t made with sugar. There are a few exceptions every now and then though because some things are so delicious that I have to share them with you, regardless of whether they’re cake or not.
The funny thing is that this soup is in fact made with a lot of butter. It has flour too. Mushrooms. White wine. Leeks. It’s perfect on a cold winter day or really any Canadian day. I added baby onion sprouts on top to add a little bit of a crunch, but they’re entirely optional. The soup is great with or without them.
Sugar used to be really expensive so people used carrots instead. That’s how carrot cake came to be. Someone couldn’t afford sugar, so they put carrots into their cake. Seems counter-intuitive now, but back then it was perfectly logical.
Turns out that carrot cake is one of the unhealthiest cakes you could eat, even though it’s full of carrots. With all the oil, butter, cream cheese, and sugar (yeah.. this is a modern recipe), it’s pretty bad for you. It’s really tasty, but really unhealthy. It’s a once in a decade type of treat.
