Carrots, Carrot Cake, Banana Cream Pie & More Spring Recipes

Easter weekend was sunny and beautiful on the Oregon coast albeit with its share of wind! We drove two hours south on the 101 to spend the weekend with family near Depoe Bay where we had no shortage of food or laughter. So, while these recipes may not be a lot of use after Easter, I thought I’d share anyway! Besides, if you’re like me, I’m already thinking about what I’ll make next Easter. And, leftover ham in your scalloped potatoes is always a good idea. Okay, I really wanted to share my photos.

Here's a look at some of what we made.

Carrot Cake
Banana Cream Pie (with chocolate bird’s nest)
Scalloped Potatoes
Carrots with Pistachios and Thyme
Easter Salad
Ham and Pepperjack Quiche

Smitten Kitchen’s “carrot cake with brown butter and no clutter”

*Can we talk about that blob of cream cheese frosting? You’re welcome.*

*Carrot cake with no “clutter.” Just Carrots. Like I like my carrot cake.*

This is my kind of carrot cake – meaning no nuts, no pineapple, no coconut and definitely –no raisins (yuk raisins). This cake (found in Smitten Kitchen Keepers) is baked in a loaf pan and holds 2 cups of packed grated carrots, scented with cinnamon and ginger and yummy browned butter. I added freshly grated nutmeg cause ever since I bought whole nutmeg, I find excuses to use it. Of course, it’s topped with gobs of mandatory cream cheese frosting. Her recipe uses the leftover 2 Tbs browned butter and brown sugar. Here’s what I did. Yes, there’s maple:

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz softened cream cheese
4 Tbs butter (the two Tbs browned butter + 2 more Tbs room temp unsalted butter)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/8 cup maple syrup
Pinch of salt

Banana Cream Pie

I tore this recipe from an old Arizona Republic newspaper years ago. It’s written as Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie, which has a layer of melted chocolate below the custard. I skipped that part as it’s all about the vanilla custard for me. (Although, after eating this, I decided I could use even more vanilla flavor …)

Custard ingredients:

1 baked pie crust
2 cups whole milk
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
3 large egg yolks
¼ cup cornstarch
1 cup whipping cream
1 Tbs unsalted butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas

Options for Top of Pie:

Sweetened whipped cream with vanilla
1 banana, sliced for decorating top
½ cup shredded sweetened coconut, toasted
Chocolate Bird’s Nest (see below)

Bring milk, sugar and salt to simmer in heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Whisk yolks and cornstarch in medium bowl until smooth. Stir in 1 cup cream. Gradually add milk mixture to yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Return custard mixture to saucepan. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and boils 1 minute, stirring constantly. Turn off heat. Whisk in butter and vanilla. You can strain custard into medium bowl if you want super smooth but totally not necessary. Place plastic wrap directly onto custard surface. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 1 hour. (Overnight is even better.)

Thinly slice 2 bananas and arrange on bottom of baked pie crust. Spoon custard over bananas. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Top your pie with whipped cream. I’m an inexperienced piper but used the star tip to pipe on the cream. You can also just spoon it on top imperfectly perfect. The chocolate is on top in form of a chocolate bird’s nest. (Family asked can we eat it? I suppose so but I didn’t let anyone.) It was a bit of a mess to make. I don’t have a recipe, but basic directions below.

Warning: maybe not a good idea to wear your new white sweater while making.

Chocolate Bird’s Nest

Melt what looks like enough chocolate in saucepan or microwave
Break up thin rice noodles into the chocolate and stir with spatula. *I should have broken up noodles more in retrospect.
Press the chocolate covered noodles into a small bowl, pushing against sides. Then put a slightly smaller bowl inside to form into a bowl shape and allow to harden.

I felt like I was going to have to sit there for 30 minutes holding the bowls together, so instead my sister’s partner put a full can of pop in the bowl and then we balanced a heavy pot on top of that. Shoulda taken a pic of this ingenuity. Of course, it ended up being a bit tricky to pry the bowls apart once it hardened. Next time I’ll try lining the bowls with parchment paper – and wearing a full apron. Nest some candy eggs in the middle. So cute. Worth the mess.

Joanna Gaines’ (aka Sister Joanie’s) Scalloped Potatoes

The best scalloped potatoes -- so decadent with all that melty gooey Gruyère cheese! My sister Joanie brought her food processor to slice the potatoes. This is the way to go to ensure they are uniformly sliced. You basically make a roux of butter, cream, garlic and cheese. Pour over the potatoes and pop in the oven alongside the ham.

*Gruyere, gruyere and more gruyere on these scalloped, crispy-edged potatoes.*

Recipe here.

These were perfect! Well, unless you count almost setting off the smoke alarms 😂

Glazed Carrots with Pistachios and Thyme

Reminiscent of the sugary carrots my mom used to make – and the only way we knew carrots for years of our childhood. My younger sister Tami said “These don’t even taste like carrots!”

You don’t need a recipe. Just slice your carrots, a bit on diagonal if you wish. Melt enough butter to coat carrots in saucepan. Saute carrots with salt, sprinkled with brown sugar. Stir often until carrots start to get soft. Put lid on and simmer on low until desired softness. Add a splash of water if needed. Sprinkle with fresh thyme. Toast handful of pistachios in separate skillet and add at the end. You can throw them in the pan with carrots but they aren’t as crunchy that way.

Easter aka Spring Salad

More bunny food for Easter. I love this Easter Rainbow Salad from Better Homes and Garden. I made a mini version of it. I had looked everywhere for a watermelon radish but no luck. I recommend watermelon radishes to pretty up any salad at any time you can find one.

Directions:

Cover a serving plate with butter lettuce.

Make colorful rows with golden beets (cooked day before in instant pot), radishes and strawberries - or other colorful veggies/fruits of choice. Sprinkle with feta (or parmesan or ricotta salata) cheese. Drizzle with dressing and top with pistachios if desired.

Dressing:

1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar (I’ve also used champagne or strawberry vinegar)
2 Tbs honey
1 Tbs lemon juice
½ tsp salt
1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tbs fresh dill
3 Tbs chopped green onions

*Also calls for chopped pistachios, but since we had those in the carrots, I skipped.

Ham and Pepperjack Quiche

We shared our Easter dinner on Saturday and had a somewhat simple breakfast the next morning on check out day. North Bend Bakery makes a killer Ham & Pepperjack Cheese Quiche. I had theirs in mind when wanting to make a quiche, and honestly, if you’re in North Bend, WA area, I would just order that one!

I followed Joanna Gaines’ quiche recipe for proportions and replaced all but a handful of the cheese with Tillamook pepperjack cheese. The handful was Gruyère. You could also use a Quiche Lorraine recipe as your guideline. I wanted to add sautéed shallots but didn’t have on hand.

Basic steps:

Blind bake the pie shell.
Cover the bottom of pie crust with diced ham.
Pour the cream/cheese mixture over the ham.
Sprinkle top with red pepper flakes.
Bake for 40-45 minutes.
Let cool for 10 minutes.

Serve the quiche with fresh fruit and a side of leftover carrot cake!

Happy Spring. Hope you try some of these recipes. Comment if you have questions!