November 2017 Cooking Light (1,573 views)
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Post by erin elizabeth on Oct 18, 2017 10:44:34 GMT -5
If you have a chance to check out this issue, I think it is a great one! I got my copy in the mail yesterday and normally page through fairly quickly, but there were lots of things that caught my eye this month, particularly the Thanksgiving recipes.
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Post by Catbatty on Oct 20, 2017 17:31:56 GMT -5
Really? Oh boy, can't wait to see it!! Thanks for the heads-up. I love it when I'm alerted to a trail that I'm compelled by my own weird nature to follow!!!! LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!!!!!!! Thanks again.
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Post by Varaile on Oct 21, 2017 9:36:05 GMT -5
I totally agree with Erin - this is a really good issue! I have my eye on so many recipes I'll be exploring this issue for a couple months!
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Post by neptune on Oct 21, 2017 11:47:03 GMT -5
Hi. I browse this board occasionally, but I've never posted before. However, this topic stirred up strong feelings in me, so I just had to reply. If you take the November CL as just a regular issue, then I think it's quite good. However, if you take it as a special "30th anniversary" issue, which it claims to be, then I think it's a real dud. Let's see—they list their "all-time favorite recipes" from the "past three decades." Well, let's look into that claim a little further. Here's a breakdown of these 20 recipes: First decade (1987–1997): 0 Second decade (1997–2007): 1 Third decade: (2007–2009): 0 (2010–2017): 19 Let's hear it for history, folks!!!! So, from their first 20 years of publication, they deemed that only one recipe was good enough to make their "all-time favorite" list. What a joke. And that recipe comes from 2006. What's more, all the other 19 recipes come from the past seven years. That's not a retrospective. It seems all they did was examine their top Web-page hits and then sift through those. How long did that take them—a whole 25 minutes?? Furthermore, it seems that just about every single one of these recipes is an entrée. What about their all-time favorite side dishes? And their favorite desserts? Let's contrast this Nov. issue with their 10th-anniversary issue from April 1997. The theme of that issue seemed to be "10th anniversary all the way, baby!" In it, they featured their top 10 recipes (which included both desserts and sides), and the whole issue was tied to that theme. I thought it was a great, unforgettable issue. OTOH, the theme of this new issue seems to be: "It's kind of like . . . well, you know, our 30th anniversary, and we wanted to . . . um . . . show you our very best recipes ever! Actually, we don't really want to do that, but we're hoping you just won't notice. In fact, we think the first 20 years of the magazine were a total joke, so we'd just like to do a celebration of our favorite recipes from the 2010s!!!" I recall their 20th-anniversary issue from 2007 being quite decent as well. And in 2012 (for their 25th anniversary), on the Web, they named their favorite recipe for each year going all the way back to 1987. They also featured every single CL cover going back to the very beginning in a gallery—I thought that was cool. Anyway, as I said, if you take this new Nov. issue as a regular, normal issue, then it's a good one. But for a so-called 30th-anniversary issue, I think it's a half-baked travesty. Well, I feel better now that I got that off my chest. Also, of these new "all-time favorite" recipes from Nov., while they look pretty good, I really didn't find many that I wanted to try. Maybe the pot roast and the chicken piccata, but beyond those, I just wasn't that interested. In fact, I think many of the other "regular" recipes in the magazine sound just as good, and honestly, I'm probably more likely to give those a try.
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Post by Catbatty on Oct 21, 2017 14:34:18 GMT -5
Thank you, Neptune. My gosh I wish I had your writing skills. <sigh> Do you write professionally? I have a bundle of cookbooks I'm trying to review and find myself tongue-tied so much lately that I keep avoiding writing them...or even attempting to. But enough about me.... WELCOME Neptune!!!!! I can't wait to hear more from you. What an interesting review of this (and other) CL issues. THANK YOU.
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Post by Varaile on Oct 21, 2017 18:00:09 GMT -5
Welcome Neptune! Lol. I will have to admit, I totally disregarded the whole "anniversary issue" bit. As I was skimming through the first time and hit "the best of" article, I was quietly going "made it, made it too, made that one..." so, yeah, perhaps as an Anniversary Issue it missed the mark. And this is where I confess, I really don't read the articles - I just want the recipes. So for recipes, I found myself excited about quite a few.
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Post by neptune on Oct 23, 2017 23:26:14 GMT -5
Thank you, Neptune. My gosh I wish I had your writing skills. <sigh> Do you write professionally? Thanks so much, Catbatty. What a nice compliment you gave me! I really do appreciate that. I have done some professional copyediting and also some technical writing for my job, but it was never my main job duty. So, no, I currently don't write for a living, but I definitely enjoy writing. Always have. I think I have a compulsive need to express myself. And English was always one of my favorite subjects. Oh, I've had that feeling quite a bit myself, so I can definitely relate! Two tips that have helped me are: 1) Try to keep your writing conversational (rather than formal); 2) Simply strive for "good enough" rather than perfect. So many times, what we consider a mediocre job may be more than adequate for the task at hand. And quite often, it's better to do something imperfectly than not to do it at all. Thanks again, Catbatty. You're welcome. I'm glad if you found my comments to be helpful. Incidentally, I also sent an e-mail with my feelings about the Nov. issue to the current CL editor, but never got a response. LOL. I didn't expect one, though, so I'm not bothered by that. However, I thought someone needed to set them straight about what a good "anniversary" issue should look like, so I don't regret sending Lewis my e-mail.
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Post by neptune on Oct 23, 2017 23:44:49 GMT -5
Thanks, Varaile! I'd say you were very smart to do so. Well, those recipes are all so recent, I'm not surprised. I wonder if they thought nobody would even notice? Then again, maybe not many folks care about stuff like that. But I just found it deceptive for them to call it "the best from the past 3 decades" when it's clearly not even close to that. It feels like they have little respect for the history of the magazine, and put zero effort into discovering the many hidden gems from the past. In contrast, for their 20th anniversary, they featured a whole variety of recipe types: www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/from-the-editors/all-time-best-recipes#best-beef-beef-daube-provencalAnd then 5 years ago, they put out this retrospective (along with others featuring their 25 best desserts, 25 best chicken recipes, 25 staff favorites, etc., all of which are still available on the Web): www.cookinglight.com/food/top-rated-recipes/best-recipes-ever#best-recipes-ever_2Even if you don't agree with all their picks, at least the editors seemed to do their homework in the past—unlike this year. I think that's probably the way most people approach food magazines. Besides, who has time to read all the articles anyway? That's good to hear. I'm still going through it slowly, so maybe I'll find more to get excited about as well. Actually, I suspect that if a CL reader made up a list of their own favorite recipes from the past 3 decades, it would be far more interesting than an "official" one put out by the magazine anyway. Unfortunately, the philosophy of the editors seems to be: "Only what's recent is decent." Or another term for that is chronological snobbery.
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Post by mrswaz on Oct 24, 2017 10:57:55 GMT -5
Ha-ha, I totally noticed the same thing about the dates on the Best Of recipes. It made me roll my eyes and think that the current editor just isn't as passionate about healthy cooking as his predecessors were.
But, I agree with the others about some great looking recipes! The soup section in particular has my attention. Many of my favorite soups over the years have been CL recipes, so I'm excited to try a few new ones and see if they make the cut as a repeater.
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Post by Catbatty on Oct 24, 2017 15:51:02 GMT -5
MrsWaz: Remember CL's recipe for Smokey Vegetable Bean Soup? I have that recipe somewhere. I used to make it all the time. (It used canned beans.) It was loved by so many forum members.
While thinking about beloved CL recipes...and just because I ramble and think out-loud: I'm still drooling over some brownies from CL. They were salted caramel chocolate brownies. OMG. (And I have that recipe somewhere, too.)
I should go find those...I will!
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Post by neptune on Oct 27, 2017 22:44:30 GMT -5
Ha-ha, I totally noticed the same thing about the dates on the Best Of recipes. Good for you, mrswaz. I'm glad to know that I'm not just a complete nerd for noticing that kind of stuff. In fact, I suspect that more than a few people noticed that, but probably not many are going to actually complain to CL about it. Oh, you think he's less health-conscious? I was thinking that his age might be the main reason. He's not even 40, so in his eyes, perhaps anything that occurred before Facebook, Twitter, and the like was coexisting with the dinosaurs. To me, the whole attitude of the "anniversary celebration" comes across as, "Dude, we're just like so much cooler and smarter than all those old fogies who started the magazine way back in the 14th century. Back then, those doofuses didn't know a cantaloupe from a beef roast. So, why would we ever want to shake the dust and moths off those rattletraps that got published ages ago?" It sounds like the work ethic was missing as well. It takes some serious time and effort to do a thorough review of all the recipes from the past 30 years, and the impression I got from the whole project was a cavalier, "Why bother to go through all that trouble? Nobody will notice anyway." I think the previous editors, who I believe were a good bit older, had a much better appreciation of and respect for CL's past. Speaking of soups from CL, you might be interested in these as well, if you haven't made them already. It's a pretty good list: www.cookinglight.com/food/top-rated-recipes/best-soup-recipes
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Post by neptune on Oct 27, 2017 22:58:32 GMT -5
While thinking about beloved CL recipes...and just because I ramble and think out-loud: I'm still drooling over some brownies from CL. They were salted caramel chocolate brownies. OMG. (And I have that recipe somewhere, too.) I should go find those...I will! Are these the ones you're referring to, Catbatty? www.myrecipes.com/recipe/salted-caramel-browniesThey sound tasty. And I think the "3.38 ounces all-purpose flour" is pretty funny. Who exactly has a digital scale that goes out to the hundredths of an ounce anyway?
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Post by mrswaz on Oct 28, 2017 10:51:36 GMT -5
Oh, you think he's less health-conscious? I was thinking that his age might be the main reason. He's not even 40, so in his eyes, perhaps anything that occurred before Facebook, Twitter, and the like was coexisting with the dinosaurs. To me, the whole attitude of the "anniversary celebration" comes across as, "Dude, we're just like so much cooler and smarter than all those old fogies who started the magazine way back in the 14th century. Back then, those doofuses didn't know a cantaloupe from a beef roast. So, why would we ever want to shake the dust and moths off those rattletraps that got published ages ago?" It sounds like the work ethic was missing as well. It takes some serious time and effort to do a thorough review of all the recipes from the past 30 years, and the impression I got from the whole project was a cavalier, "Why bother to go through all that trouble? Nobody will notice anyway." I think the previous editors, who I believe were a good bit older, had a much better appreciation of and respect for CL's past. I think it's more a lack of passion about cooking and (gasp) eating. He comes across as a magazine editor who occasionally puts a meal together. And by magazine editor, I mean that he'd probably have the same vague-ish lettors from the editor whether the magazine were about cooking or fly fishing. I think he's doing a job, where previous editors seemed more like they were living a wonderful life, and as an added bonus, their job is a part of their life that they love and they can't wait each month to share with their readers. I hope it's not age, as I just hit 40 this year and recently learned that I am considered to be an Xennial- a person who was raised without technology, but has embraced it as a part of life today. Thanks for the soup link! I have made many of those, but I'm always flipping through my old annuals looking for something to leap off the page that hasn't before. A nice tidy list is much quicker to go through.
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Post by neptune on Nov 2, 2017 14:05:16 GMT -5
I think it's more a lack of passion about cooking and (gasp) eating. He comes across as a magazine editor who occasionally puts a meal together. Pretty sad, if true. Well, he did use to work at Bon Appétit and Saveur, I believe. Of course, that doesn't mean he was ever truly into food. In other words, he's just using the job to get places. Could very well be. That definitely makes sense. And if he can't get all excited about a 30-year anniversary, then something is seriously wrong. Hey, it's sort of like giving your spouse a piece of toast for your 30th anniversary! Interesting term—I had never heard that before. When you say you were "raised" without technology, do you mean before you graduated from high school? The Internet started to get big in '95, so I guess that's about when you were graduating. There wasn't much e-mail before then either. Frankly, I'm glad to have grown up in the "stone age." If the Web and "social media" had been available back when I was in high school, I think I would've become addicted to all of it. I've embraced technology in many ways, but I don't like cell phones (except for emergencies and stuff like that), and I don't do Twitter, Facebook, etc. Actually, I do have a FB account, but it's under a screen name, and I only use it to post comments on the Web—not for anything personal. But it seems that so many people just don't have a life outside FB, and I was speculating that maybe the current editor thinks nothing good happened before the digital age. However, as you said, it may be simply a lack of passion for cooking on his part. You're welcome, mrswaz. I love these "best of" lists, in case you haven't noticed. That's why I was so upset over the half-baked anniversary issue. Just curious—what's the earliest annual you have? Definitely! Another reason I enjoy "best of" lists, even if I don't usually agree with them.
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Post by neptune on Nov 2, 2017 14:38:13 GMT -5
Speaking of the Nov. issue, I got an idea from the Sumac Chicken with Cauliflower and Carrots recipe. Basically, I just tossed some whole unpeeled carrots with olive oil, sumac, cumin, coriander, red pepper, and salt, and then roasted them in my little turbo convection oven. They turned out really good, but the spices did get a little black. If I do this again, I'll add the spices toward the very end, since I cooked the carrots about an hour until they were nice and sweet.
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Post by mrswaz on Nov 2, 2017 20:48:49 GMT -5
[quote author=" neptune " source="/post/7009/thread" timestamp="1509649516" Interesting term—I had never heard that before. When you say you were "raised" without technology, do you mean before you graduated from high school? The Internet started to get big in '95, so I guess that's about when you were graduating. There wasn't much e-mail before then either. Frankly, I'm glad to have grown up in the "stone age." If the Web and "social media" had been available back when I was in high school, I think I would've become addicted to all of it. I've embraced technology in many ways, but I don't like cell phones (except for emergencies and stuff like that), and I don't do Twitter, Facebook, etc. Actually, I do have a FB account, but it's under a screen name, and I only use it to post comments on the Web—not for anything personal. But it seems that so many people just don't have a life outside FB, and I was speculating that maybe the current editor thinks nothing good happened before the digital age. However, as you said, it may be simply a lack of passion for cooking on his part. [/quote] Here's an article that sums up an Xennial. www.inverse.com/article/33453-what-is-a-xennial-what-people-born-between-77-83-need-to-knowYes, I graduated high school in '95. When I started high school there were maybe six computers in the whole school hooked up to the internet. To use one you had to have a teacher or one of the computer techs with you to supervise. By the time I graduated, a good portion of the school was hooked up to the internet, but it was still a precious thing. We had internet in my home well before most of my friends did, but I did not get a cellphone until I worked for a cellphone provider in college. Ha! Now that I think on it, I even had a pager! Antique texting! I have the annuals labeled 2001-2009. That was a glorious time to be a Cooking Light fan. So many great recipes, and I learned so many cooking techniques.
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Post by neptune on Nov 7, 2017 23:19:25 GMT -5
Here's an article that sums up an Xennial. Thanks for the article. That's an entirely new term for me, and I bet my niece doesn't know she's one. But were there actually Web pages back in 1991? How times have changed. It's funny—I remember the CL Web site back in late '95. It had just begun and was very primitive. I forget the details, but I had given them some feedback about it. The person who e-mailed me back was asking me some questions about what kind of content I would like to see there, and signed his name "Doug." Not long after, I realized that was the editor. So, even the editor was doing mundane tasks back then! Looking back on all that now, it seems so different from today. Did you actually have the magazines too, or just the annuals?
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Post by mrswaz on Nov 8, 2017 11:55:00 GMT -5
Oh, I had the magazines AND the annuals. I had my 5 minutes of fame being quoted from the CLBB in the magazine. The CLBB was hopping all the time too- one would go away for a weekend and come back and have pages upon pages of chatter to catch up on.
I kept those magazines for a very long time. But after moving 4 or 5 times, I finally had to pass on all the magazines and just keep the annuals.
I also had one very old Cooking Light binder from before they published an annual. I don't recall which year I had, but it was this giant folio that you would insert the year's worth of magazines into it, and then you could flip through a whole year in that one binder. I don't know where that ever ended up. It would be fun to flip through it again.
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Post by mrswaz on Nov 8, 2017 11:57:55 GMT -5
But were there actually Web pages back in 1991? I don't think so. I recall a black screen with orangey font. It was a whole lot of type and not much else. I'm so grateful it's evolved!
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Post by emptynestmom on Nov 9, 2017 13:37:24 GMT -5
Oh, I had the magazines AND the annuals. I had my 5 minutes of fame being quoted from the CLBB in the magazine. The CLBB was hopping all the time too- one would go away for a weekend and come back and have pages upon pages of chatter to catch up on. I kept those magazines for a very long time. But after moving 4 or 5 times, I finally had to pass on all the magazines and just keep the annuals. I also had one very old Cooking Light binder from before they published an annual. I don't recall which year I had, but it was this giant folio that you would insert the year's worth of magazines into it, and then you could flip through a whole year in that one binder. I don't know where that ever ended up. It would be fun to flip through it again. I thought the recipes were quite interesting...our supper club did a meal trying out many of them...and my claim to fame is in this issue...the Omaha Cooking Club that is featured near the back with a teeny tiny small picture and the Parsnip Cake recipe is my group...well I started it with Jennifer many years ago...
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Post by neptune on Nov 13, 2017 2:31:46 GMT -5
Oh, I had the magazines AND the annuals. I had my 5 minutes of fame being quoted from the CLBB in the magazine. That's neat. Did they use your real name or your screen name? I used to participate actively in the CLBB many years ago, but eventually I just got too busy. Yeah, having all those million posts to catch up on eventually got to be too much. Did you keep the one that you were quoted in at least? Did you sell your folio and old magazines, or just toss them?
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Post by neptune on Nov 13, 2017 2:34:07 GMT -5
I don't think so. I recall a black screen with orangey font. It was a whole lot of type and not much else. I'm so grateful it's evolved! I wonder how that was considered educational enough to have at the school?
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Post by neptune on Nov 13, 2017 2:37:37 GMT -5
I thought the recipes were quite interesting...our supper club did a meal trying out many of them...and my claim to fame is in this issue...the Omaha Cooking Club that is featured near the back with a teeny tiny small picture and the Parsnip Cake recipe is my group...well I started it with Jennifer many years ago... That's neat. I looked at the parsnip cake, and it sounds interesting. But then I looked at the reviews for it on the CL Web site, and some of them weren't so hot. Is the cake worth trying? Incidentally, I went to kindergarten in Omaha—Bellevue, actually. Remember walking to school on the ice. I wonder if my elementary school is even still there?
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Post by mcgee on Nov 13, 2017 14:26:50 GMT -5
and my claim to fame is in this issue...the Omaha Cooking Club that is featured near the back with a teeny tiny small picture and the Parsnip Cake recipe is my group...well I started it with Jennifer many years ago... That's cool! How did your group get featured in the magazine? Which one is you in the photo?
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Post by mrswaz on Nov 13, 2017 16:20:45 GMT -5
I don't think so. I recall a black screen with orangey font. It was a whole lot of type and not much else. I'm so grateful it's evolved! I wonder how that was considered educational enough to have at the school? I recall it was used primarily as a means of communication with schools in other countries, and was our school's early answer to foreign languages other than traditional French and Spanish. I mean, we had plenty of computers and several computer labs in the school, but they were not internet connected. School server only, and they were used as typing labs or research using only the school materials that were in the system. Now that schools are handing out laptops for each student, I wonder if the computer lab spaces are being put to other uses?
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Post by mrswaz on Nov 13, 2017 16:25:28 GMT -5
Oh, I had the magazines AND the annuals. I had my 5 minutes of fame being quoted from the CLBB in the magazine. That's neat. Did they use your real name or your screen name? I used to participate actively in the CLBB many years ago, but eventually I just got too busy. Yeah, having all those million posts to catch up on eventually got to be too much. Did you keep the one that you were quoted in at least? Did you sell your folio and old magazines, or just toss them? My screen name then was the same as it is now, and I said something about this Baked Ziti Recipe: www.myrecipes.com/recipe/baked-ziti-with-vegetables-mushrooms It was something along the lines of the best baked ziti I'd ever had. Alas, I did not keep the magazine, and I have no idea where that red folio thing ended up. When you move several times over the course of a few years you kind of take it for granted that things go missing and are never found again.
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Post by neptune on Nov 20, 2017 0:00:58 GMT -5
I recall it was used primarily as a means of communication with schools in other countries, and was our school's early answer to foreign languages other than traditional French and Spanish. That's very interesting, and would definitely be educational. Are they really handing out laptops in high school now? I guess they just check them out for the school year? Maybe they don't even have computer labs anymore.
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Post by neptune on Nov 20, 2017 0:11:30 GMT -5
So you just discovered your name and comment in the magazine by accident? That must've been a nice surprise. Do you still make this recipe? If you really want the issue as a souvenir, you can still buy it here, but it'll cost you 10 bucks (before shipping): backissues.com/issue/Cooking-Light-March-2001Incidentally, I remember that one of their issues around that time had a beet cake (kind of like a carrot cake), but I don't know if that was the exact issue or not. Anyway, I made the cake eventually, and it was quite good. I believe it. Hopefully your moving days won't last forever. ETA: Oh, I just realized that the issue in question couldn't be March 2001, because once you made your comment on the BB, it would've taken a few months before CL was able to publish it in the magazine. In any case, if you remember the exact issue, you still might be able to buy it at that site I posted above.
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Post by emptynestmom on Nov 20, 2017 14:17:18 GMT -5
That's cool! How did your group get featured in the magazine? Which one is you in the photo? Jennifer Allen wrote the editor and they began emailing about how long we had been doing a supper club together and it all started with CLBB and it just went from there, they said we would be in November issue (way back in the late spring/early summer) in their anniversary issue. And, it was there! I think if I remember the picture I am the one on the far right...that was my dining room and my DH took the picture. The Parsnip Cake, we thought, was good...probably more for a casual dinner than something more formal. It is worth trying once...
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Post by neptune on Nov 24, 2017 22:51:10 GMT -5
The Parsnip Cake, we thought, was good...probably more for a casual dinner than something more formal. It is worth trying once... Do you make the older version, or the updated one in the link below? www.cookinglight.com/recipes/parsnip-spice-cake-caramel-icingIt sounds almost exactly like a carrot cake, with parsnips subbing for the carrots.
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