theculinarycanary

 Mike's Special Spice Cake Frosting     I'm guessing I'm not the only one who has a relative or two who cooks mostly "by feel".  My dad is like this, and he has taught me a lot about cooking through the years.  I've been cooking on my own for a long (long) time now but I still sometimes call him to ask a question about something. Today, I did that to ask him how he makes his special frosting that he only ever makes when he makes a spice cake.  I was inspired when I was digging around in the deep freezer and found a small apple spice cake that I had apparently baked and frozen a few months ago.  I have no memory of doing this, but there it was, wrapped up tight and labeled in my handwriting.  So, I thought I'd try my hand at my Dad's magic spice cake frosting for the first time in my adult life. It's similar to a regular American buttercream, but it has a special texture and flavor due to some added ingredients.  Le...

Recipe Review: Soy Citrus Tofu I was first drawn to this recipe for Soy Citrus Tofu when I saw the beautiful photos of it on Instagram.  I followed the photos to a blog I'd never seen before, and I actually found several more recipes with beautiful pictures that looked really interesting.  We decided to make this tofu dish last night and were unfortunately disappointed by the results. As you can see from my pictures, it didn't turn out as pretty as the original recipe. This was not a huge shock because nothing I cook is ever as attractive as I want it to be.  My husband is the one who actually did the cooking this time, and he made a couple of small changes. First, we added a bunch of chopped bok choy to make it more veggie-packed.  This actually worked well, adding some nice green color and a pleasant crunchy texture.   The chef also decided to cut the tofu into cubes (don't ask me why) even though the recipe gives really good instructions on slicing the t...