Lemon Glazed Angel Food Cake with Whipped Cream and Strawberries

Angel food cake is my Mom's favorite, and while I rarely think to make it, I always enjoy it. It is a unique combination of being intensely sweet yet light and airy, it is one of the few desserts that I find satisfies my sweet tooth without making me feel like I need to run 10 miles the next day (only 3 tomorrow)! So, out of the blue I decided to make angel food cake with lemon glaze and whipped cream!  To add to the lemony flavor, I used the juice of 1 lemon in place of some of the water and I also stirred in the zest of the lemon. Otherwise, I just used the Betty Crocker mix and directions.

Burnt cake! Oh no!

While I was posting about our new table, I managed our oven managed to burn the top of the cake 10 minutes before it was supposed to be done cooking. I pulled it out to prevent further damage, and luckily the inside of the cake was set enough as well.

Just the top was burnt!

Not bad!

For the glaze I mixed together the juice of 1 lemon and 2 cups of confectioner's sugar, then added water until it was the correct consistency to pour over the cake. I was feeling a little springy so I added a little  yellow food color to brighten it up a little. I know it is ridiculous but sometimes I don't feel like things taste like lemon unless they are yellow!

A little sugar and a little lemon go a long way!

YELLOW cake

Then I served each piece with whipped cream (I was lazy and used canned whip cream) and fresh strawberries! Simple and delicious.

New Kitchen Table!

We have been struggling to find room to cook in our tiny kitchen on our tiny table and have been dreaming of a new kitchen table. Unfortunately, with both of us being in school that has left us without the time or money to find a replacement. Last night Will had a moment of pure genius and he decided to convert the drafting desk he made for last year (that rarely gets used, oops) into a table. Today we have a great, long rustic-chic kitchen table and since we moved the small table into the living room we now have a breakfast nook as well! I love it!

Recycled table

We are going to put it to good use tonight by making Chinese Dumplings and Lemon-Glazed Angelfood cake...which smells like is burning...

Lentil & Split Pea Soup

Two weeks ago Will made a split pea soup using kielbasa instead of ham and it was life changing. I usually can't handle leftovers more than two days in a row and I was sad when we ran out after three days, we have both been craving it ever since. Well, we only used half the kielbasa the for the first batch and split peas cost about a penny so today we fired up the crock pot to have more soup! This time we decided to throw in a bag of lentils as well so that we have a ton of leftovers to eat and to freeze.

Split peas and lentils ready to go!

Lentil and Split Pea Soup

Makes about 20 1 cup servings

Ingredients:

- 1 lb split peas
- 1 lb lentils
- 2 quarts chicken stock
- 1 T dried thyme- .5 lb kielbasa chopped into 1" or less chunks (or ham, or a ham hock)
- 1 yellow or sweet onion, chopped
- 1 carrot

Directions:

1) Throw everything into the crock pot
2) Turn crock pot on low
3) Wait 8 hours
4) Eat.

Not going to win a beauty contest...blind taste test maybe.

 Pretty simple, but extremely delicious. This is not a beautiful food but it is a comfort food, perfect for a stormy, cold, winter (or confused spring) day. We had ours with lightened up cornbread that I adapted from a recipe I found online. They came out a little weird, sort of more pretzely than cornbready, so I won't lead you down that path!

Pretzel? Cornbread?

What's in my COFFE CUP today?

Moving across the country comes with its challenges, high on my list is leaving behind my well loved coffee companies. I try my best to buy local, fair trade or free trade coffee and Vermont has a few companies that fit that bill and are also make a great cup of joe! When I arrived in Oregon I was overwhelmed by the new world of coffee, Eugene alone has at least 7 coffee roasters in town, and there are many more within a 2 hour drive of here as well. Despite all the great choices, I still get cravings for my old favorites. Luckily my Mom (a diehard coffee drinker known to drink a cup every night before bed) sends me a bag here and there to get me through! 

Cafe Alta Gracia

I am currently working my way through a bag of Cafe Alta Gracia, which is based out of my home town of Middlebury. It has everything going for it. It is organic, fair trade, shade grown from the Dominican Republic. If that weren't enough, Cafe Alta Gracia (the company name as well as this blend of beans) is a non-profit whose proceeds fund The Dream Project, which supports "educational opportunities for children in rural areas of the Dominican Republic." It is also really great tasting coffee!

Yup. That is creamy!

For more information or to order Cafe Alta Garcia visit http://www.cafealtagracia.com/ to learn more about The Dream Project visit http://dominicandream.org/

Homemade Noodles and Hamburger Stroganoff

Growing up this was the recipe we would beg my Mom to make for us, and since she admittedly does not like to cook, we would only get to have it once in a blue moon. When we would have it, we three daughters would gather in the kitchen to help make the noodles, stir the sauce and then quickly devour our hard work. We would always be sure to make plenty of extra noodles and sauce because it is just as good reheated the next day. Now I make this as a special treat, with some lightened up ingredients once in a blue moon because I am admittedly too busy to cook! I will always love the combination of chewy rustic homemade noodles, the tangy sour cream sauce, and sauteed onion, garlic and ground meat.

The first step is to prepare the homemade noodle dough, which I did this morning to procrastinate going on my run. This is the only part of this that makes the process too lengthy for a regular weeknight meal, and can be skipped entirely by using egg noodles which make a wonderful substitution. According to my Mom, this is her Hungarian Grandmother's recipe that she made as a side dish every single night.



Budai Family Hungarian Noodles

Ingredients (for every 1 large serving):

- 1 cup flour (any kind, I have used all-purpose, bread, pastry, semolina)
- 1 egg
- 1 to 3 tablespoons water
- pinch of salt

Directions:

Simply mix the above ingredients together until you have a semi-sticky yet workable ball of dough. That is it. Sometimes when I am really lazy I whir it around in the food processor with the dough blade a few times. Two servings of the resulting dough will look like this:

Then you (or in my case you have your boyfriend) roll out the dough in sections, I never worry too much about getting it perfectly thin or even (but the boyfriend does), I kind of like my homemade noodles to have a little bite to them.

Then to cut the dough, add lots of flour to both sides, and roll up each section. Then take each roll and slice it into thick, roughly cut strip.

When you unroll them you will have your noodles!

 Once your sauce is prepared, add the noodles to a boiling pot of water and let them rise back up to the top. I usually cook them for about 5 minutes.

Then voila, top with your favorite sauce or like we do, the hamburger stroganoff recipe below!

Salted Rosemary Focaccia

After the incredible slow cooker Chicken Tikka Masala, we had a lot of Naan dough leftover (we ate it for dinner, breakfast, lunch and dinner again yesterday) and decided to use it up by making Salted Rosemary Focaccia. The Rosemary has been blooming for about a month and I can't help but grab some whenever I pass by it. This little Ladybug must feel the same way as I do about it.

Will did all of the cooking, but I documented and I ATE. He flattened out the dough and added fresh Rosemary (stolen from an apartment complex down the street, shhh), garlic, and sea salt crystals (my current obsession- especially in cookies).

Once the oven was preheated to 425, he baked it for a few minutes, maybe 5, then topped with a little butter.

The result was a beautiful, sweet and salty focaccia that he served with spinach and an english style egg! Perfetto.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala and Naan

Most Friday nights we go out to dinner as an end of the week celebration/ date night, but we ordered pizza on Thursday so we wanted to stay in. Not willing to give up my desire for take-out Indian, I got googling and found this amazing recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala. I have never attempted to make it in the past because of the crazy amount of spices and steps involved, but this recipe is simple, easy, and delicious! The full recipe can be found at Cooking Classy, here is a photo from that site:

I was too excited to take many pictures but here is the tomato, yogurt, onion sauce with all of the beautiful spices resting on top.

To go with the Tikka Masala, I also made Naan bread. It was extremely difficult to pick a recipe because they all call for different cooking methods and ingredients. I picked the recipe that I had all of the ingredients for, but baked it quickly at 550 instead of grilling it as recommended. It was great tasting bread, but not quite Naan bread. 


Tonight we are making a rosemary foccacia out of the leftover dough, which I will be sure to post about since I know it is going to be amazing!

Cilantro Chicken Wontons with Kale

I am in LOVE with Trader Joe's Cilantro Chicken Wontons! They are delicious and healthy! Twice this week I stir-fried some in olive oil with chopped kale, added tomatoes and water and put a lid on to let them steam to perfection, then melted cheese on top! Delicious!

80's Cake

 I made a chocolate cake with a fudge layer and buttercream frosting yesterday for a friend birthday. The party was an 80's/90's dance party and the cake was dressed to match! I used a slightly different cake doctor recipe than the last cake and it was DELICIOUS! Very moist and the chocolate chips were a great addition! For the fudge I used the Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk recipe and I made the Wilton buttercream recipe courtesy of my talented and beautiful sister.

Here are some photos and the recipes!

Ever-So-Moist Chocolate Cake

Serves: 16

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 28 to 32 minutes
Assembly time: 10 minutes

Solid vegetable shortening for greasing the pans
Flour for dusting the pans

1 package (18.25 ounces) devil's food cake mix with pudding
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease two 9-inch round cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pans aside.

2. Place the cake mix, sour cream, water, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well combined. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side.

3. Bake the cakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 28 to 32 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto a rack, then invert again onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow to cool completely, 30 minutes more.

* The Cake Mix Doctor says: If you are trying to cut calories and fat, substitute plain yogurt for the sour cream in the cake batter. But be forewarned that the sour cream produces a far moister cake than one with yogurt.


Read more: Recipe: Ever-So-Moist Chocolate Cake http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/ild/2002/0602/sour.html#ixzz14cKuESaX

CHOCOLATE FUDGE FILLING

Ingredients

     3 cups (18 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

     1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand® Fat Free Sweetened Condensed Milk

     Dash salt

     1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

     LINE 8- or 9-inch pan with wax paper.

     MELT chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk and salt in heavy saucepan. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Spread evenly in prepared pan 

- I used my cake pan so it would fit right in between my cakes!

Wilton Buttercream courtesy of LC.

•            1 cup crisco, 1 stick butter creamed together. 1 Tbsp vanilla. 

•            Then 1 bag of confectioners sugar until incorporated. 

•            Then 4-8 Tbsp of water depending on how thick you want it. I usually do around 6 for a regular cake. 

•            Then whip for 10 minutes.

•             (Can substitute vanilla for other flavors such as almond, raspberry, mint etc, or the water for other liquids such as coffee, espresso etc.

Angel Hair Pasta with Eggplant Tomato Sauce

Trying a new recipe from WW tonight! Makes 6 servings, so I will get to eat it ALL week!

1st step: Roasting red pepper and eggplant, always a good sign.

2nd Step: Make the sauce (with garlic and fresh tomato-another good sign)

3rd Step: Mix in pasta and Feta (wow).

Great recipe! Here it is (courtesy of weightwatchers.com):

Ingredients

	1 medium raw eggplant, baby-variety, sliced into 1/3- to 1/2-inch-thick rounds
	1 medium sweet red pepper(s), cut into 8 strips
	1 spray(s) olive oil cooking spray
	3/4 tsp table salt, divided
	1 medium garlic clove(s), minced
	2 large tomato(es), coarsely chopped
	1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
	1/8 tsp black pepper
	2 Tbsp basil, fresh, minced
	2 Tbsp chives, fresh, minced
	1/2 cup(s) fat-free chicken broth
	8 oz uncooked angel hair pasta, cooked according to package directions, drained
	4 oz reduced-fat feta cheese, crumbled

Instructions

• Preheat grill to medium.*
  
• Place eggplant slices and pepper strips in a grill basket (or place vegetables on a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil with holes poked in it to allow smoke through). Off heat, coat vegetables with cooking spray; season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Place on grill and cook until lightly browned and tender, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Cut vegetables into bite-size pieces; set aside.
  
• Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; heat over low-medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add tomatoes and cook until slightly pulpy, about 1 minute more. Stir in vegetables, remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper, basil, chives and broth; increase heat to medium-high. Cook until broth is slightly reduced and mixture has a sauce consistency, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add pasta and toss to coat. Stir in cheese just before serving. Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving.

Notes

• * You can roast the vegetables if you prefer. Preheat oven to 425ºF. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place vegetables on prepared baking sheet and coat with cooking spray; season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Roast, until lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
  
  Let your garden dictate the vegetables for this recipe: sliced zucchini, yellow squash or red onion can be substituted for the eggplant.

Rise and Shiner!

One of the things I miss most about Burlington is the KKD Rise and Shiner! A fried egg, hash brown, and your choice of meat on a round roll! Usually we would get them at the end of a night out...but now I make them for Sunday brunch!

My version is lightened up but just as satisfying as the real deal! I used a Bagel Thin, frozen hashbrown patty, 2% cheese, morningstar farms "sausage" and an organic egg!

Pumpkin Doughnuts

Last weekend I put down my drafting pen for a few hours and completed my first Daring Baker's Challenge! This month we all made doughnuts, any type was allowed but a few suggestions were given. Being completely obsessed with Pumpkin September through December, I chose to make the Pumpkin Doughnuts.

This was the first time I have ever made doughnuts, or fried anything for that matter! They were wonderful, I couldn't believe they looked like doughnuts, smelled like doughnuts, and tasted like doughnuts! After they cooled a little, I coated them in cinnamon sugar and filled them with pumpkin butter! Delicious!

The recipe can be found here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pumpkin-Doughnuts-with-Powdered-Sugar-Glaze-and-Spiced-Sugar-Doughnut-Holes-230926

Potato Soup

Used  bag of Bear Creek potato soup and spruced it up with chicken sausage, onions, red pepper flakes and kale! Tastes like Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana!

MAGIC BULLET LATTE

When I was younger I liked to completely veg out on the weekends, usually in front of the tv. Since we only got 12 channels I spent a lot of sunday mornings watching infomercials for things like the magic bullet, a little blender that chops and whips, of course I wanted one. Well, 14 years later my mom found one that was free and shipped it to me. Needless to say I have used it every day since she sent it!

My favorite way to use it is to take about 1/4 fat free milk and whip it to the consistency of the foam in a cappuccino and pour it over my morning coffee. It tastes so decadent and it is low in fat and calories. You can whip in all sorts of things too; pumpkin butter, cocoa and vanilla are my current favorite flavors. Yum.

Gina's Skinny Meatballs

Tonight we had a FANTASTIC dinner thanks to Gina of skinnytaste.com! I was craving spaghetti and meatballs, and her spinach infused, lightened up balls o meat were just the ticket! Having watched Food Inc last week we made them with certified organic beef from the pacific northwest and you could really taste the difference. We are trying really hard to sw
itch to as much local/organic meat and produce as we can, the amazing taste is great encouragement on this endeavor!

Ok...here is the recipe (directly copied from: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/06/skinny-italian-spinach-meatballs.html)

Skinny Italian Spinach MeatballsServings: 6 • Serving Size: 5 meatballs plus 4.5 oz sauce • Points: 4 ww pts
Calories: 211.2 • Fat: 9.8 g • Protein: 17.4 g • Carb: 14.3 g • Fiber: 4.2 g

• 1 lb 93% lean ground beef
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained of all liquid
• 2 slices whole wheat Weight Watchers bread (or any half point bread)
• 1 large egg
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup Pecorino Romano cheese (or your favorite Parmesan Cheese)
• salt and pepper

Tomato Sauce:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 3 cloves smashed garlic
• 28 oz can Tuttorosso crushed tomatoes (my favorite)
• 1/2 onion (don't chop)
• salt and pepper

Wet bread with water then mash up with your hands. Add to large bowl and combine with chopped beef, chopped spinach, egg, garlic, parsley, grated cheese, salt and pepper. Mix all ingredients well until thoroughly combined. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, measure meat, then divide in two so that each meatball is 1/8th of a cup. Roll into little meatballs.


In a large pot, add olive oil and heat on medium. When hot add smashed garlic. When garlic is golden brown, add tomatoes, onion, salt and pepper and cover, reduce heat to low.


Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, add 1 tbsp olive oil on low heat. When oil is hot add as many meatballs that will fit, cook on low, turning often so that all side get browned.


Cook until the centers are cooked through. When finished, place on a dish lined with paper towels to blot any excess oil. Drop meatballs into sauce and continue cooking the remaining meatballs, repeating the process. When all meatballs are in the sauce, simmer for an additional 15-20 minutes. Discard onion and serve.


I used chopped onion- just added it after my garlic had warmed up a little and left it in. I really like bits of onion in my sauce! I was also feeling lazy so we had rustic meatballs with chopped garlic and big shavings of Parmesan! Yum. I served it with whole wheat pasta and baked zucchini with parmesan and garlic salt! Definitely a keeper! Tomorrow night we are having leftover meatballs in homemade subs and we were able to freeze 2 servings worth too!