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Filtering by Tag: yogurt

a homemade...lemon yogurt cake

Andrea

I just had to go and say it, didn't I?  I had to shout from the roof tops (or at least my blog and maybe once or twice out my car window) that Spring had arrived.  That the time had come for running in shorts, lunches in the park and open windows while sleeping.  My glove box was reorganized as I giddily thought to myself "I won't be needing you guys 'till next November!", and  I even made myself a few smoothies...a meal/snack reserved for warmer days in our household.  lemon-1 I spoke too soon.  Imagine my surprise when I woke up Friday morning to a dusting of fresh snow on the ground.  So. Very. Disappointing. The unfortunate weather coincided with my Momma's arrival from Florida, where sunny 75* days have been the norm for weeks now.  The weekend plans that originally included vineyard tours, outdoor meals and grunt work in the garden quickly shifted to making a big pot of soup, going to the movies (twice!) and evening coffee in the den rather than white wine on the deck.   lemon-3 But there was still a race.  The glorious 8K that - while being cheered on by friends and family brave enough to weather the cold, damp air - my running buddy Kelly and I conquered in 49:15 with smiles on our faces.  Between mile 4 and the finish line Kelly commented that she was still able to smile, and wondered how far she would have to run before she stopped smiling.  I decided that I never want to know.  I like smiling while running.   lemon-7 One of the thoughts that kept me smiling through the race?  Cake.  I run so that I can continue to eat cake (and other wonderful baked goods of course, but cake is very near to the top of the list...).  Because, you see, the other important event that coincided with my Momma's visit to Virginia was my Momma's birthday.  lemon-5 I wanted to make a cake that would remind us all of warmer days, in celebration of Momma's birthday and as a thank you for standing in the cold to watch me run.  Luckily, I stumbled upon a variation of this recipe in Molly's lovely book, A Homemade Life.   If you love Orangette you will love this book.  I anxiously awaited its arrival after pre-ordering it in January and have been devouring it since it landed on my doorstep.  It is written beautifully, of course, and each recipe I've read so far sounds delicious.  I thought I would have a hard time deciding which to make first, but knew instantly that this was the one when I found it.  Because, not only do I love lemon, but in the book this cake coincides with the story of how Molly met her husband.  It is such a great story, almost fairy tale-like, and if you haven't read it you should.  Right here. lemon-8 And this cake?  Its almost fairy tale-like as well.  I recommend that you make it as soon as possible, for the positive thoughts it invokes are sure to make Spring come a little bit faster. lemon-112 Lemon Yogurt Cake from A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenburg (of Orangette) Ingredients: Cake
  • 1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 tsp grated lemon zest
  • 1/2 cup well-stirred plain whole-milk yogurt (I used Greek - Molly says NOT to use low or non-fat)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil, such as canola
Syrup
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
Icing
  • 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
Method:
  1. Preheat oven to 350*.  Grease 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray.  Line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper and spray it too.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add the lemon zest and whisk to mix thoroughly.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar and eggs, stirring to mix well.  Add the flour mixture and stir to just combine.  Add the oil and stir well. Don't worry when it looks like an oily mess - just keep mixing until a smooth batter forms.  Pour into the prepared pan.
  4. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  5. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.  Run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert onto wire rack.  Remove parchment paper.  Flip back over so that rounded top is up.  Set the rack over a pan or large plate.
  6. In a small bowl, whisk together the syrup ingredients.  Spoon the syrup slowly over top of warm cake.  Let cake cool completely.
  7. In a small bowl, combine the icing ingredients.  Whisk well so that sugar is completely dissolved.  Spoon the icing over the cooled cake.
  8. Cake can be served immediately, but icing will be set after about 1 hour.
lemon-10
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categories baking
tags cake, lemon, orangette, yogurt

a taste of summer...and a giveaway!

Andrea

On Sunday we were invited to a pot luck dinner.  Now, I don't have a whole lot of experience with pot luck dinners by name, but I do have experience with "bring a side dish to share" barbecues and croquet parties, which in my mind are synonymous with the idea of a pot luck.  The memories of these parties evoke thoughts of white dresses, sunshine and bare feet running across soft grass while chasing after brightly-colored balls, one hand grasping a mallet, the other a cold beer.  In one word...summer.  So when I was laying in bed Sunday morning and asked my hubb what we should prepare to bring to the pot luck that night, and he said "how 'bout your olive potato salad", it made perfect sense.  Of course, potato salad would be divine at the "pot luck" dinners of my mind. tater-1 Unfortunately, the pictures in my head wavered when I opened the blinds that same morning and discovered a light dusting of snow covering the ground.  It didn't take long for those warm, summer thoughts to be completely shattered when I checked the forecast and read about the 3"-5" of snow that were expected to fall on us over the next 24 hours.  This was all a big surprise to me, since I ran in shorts in 60* weather just 2 days prior.  Snowball fights and sledding, although enjoyable, were not part of my plan. tater-2 After debating other options for a few minutes I decided to forge ahead with my summer-time favorite, regardless of the weather.  This winter has claimed many of my on-the-road runs, most outdoor dining possibilities in Charlottesville and occasionally the feeling in my fingers and toes... I wasn’t about to let it have my premature potato salad too.  Plus, potatoes are in season.  Its not my salad’s fault that I associate it with warm-weather fun and games.   tater-3 I found this recipe years ago and have made it many times, for most events where we are asked to bring a dish to share.  This potato salad is not only easy and delicious, it is also a much healthier take on the classic mayonnaise-dripping versions of my childhood.  It will keep, covered and refrigerated, for about 5 days.  My hubb is always happy to pack leftovers in his lunches no matter what time of year it is.  He says it goes best with a turkey + pepper jack sandwich. tater-7 Ripe Olive Potato Salad originally from here Ingredients:
  • 3 lbs red potatoes, scrubbed and diced (I leave the skin on)
  • 1-2/3 cup sliced black olives
  • 3 ribs celery, chopped
  • 1/3 cup chopped scallions
  • 1-1/2 tsp white vinegar
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1-1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 3/4 tsp dried dill
  • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 cup plain fat-free yogurt
  • 2 tsp mustard
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1/4 tsp garlic salt
Method:
  1. Boil potatoes in a large soup pot until tender, but not falling apart.  Drain and allow to cool.
  2. Add olives, celery and scallions to potatoes and gently mix.
  3. Whisk together the vinegar, oil, salt, dill and pepper.  Pour over potatoes and gently mix to coat.
  4. Whisk together yogurt, honey, mustard and garlic salt.  Pour over potato mixture and stir gently but thoroughly.  Chill for 1 hour before serving.
tater-5 On the job front:  My meeting went really well yesterday!  I am very excited to tell you that I accepted a position with my hubb’s firm and will be starting on Monday. It is a huge relief to know that I will be transitioning out of one job and directly into another without any period of unemployment.  I am amazed that the timing worked out so beautifully and feel extremely fortunate.  Thank you all, again, for your continued support and lovely notes.  Its been a loooooong week but I really think that everything has worked out for the best and am grateful to all parties involved for the graceful handling of the whole situation.  It could have been much scarier had things not been handled so well. In blog news:  You may have noticed that I’m trying something a little different this week, a few less posts that concentrate on specific recipes rather than my normal food diary format.  There are many reasons for this, time and boredom being a couple of them.  There was a day this week, Sunday I think, when I just could not bear the thought of telling you that I had my standard oats for breakfast and a salad for lunch.  And there are only so many ways for me to photograph a sweet potato with edamame and corn on top.  I just wasn’t enjoying writing my posts as much and didn’t like the pressure I was feeling to get a post out every single day, regardless of whether or not I had anything interesting to say.  Sometimes, my days are boring and so are my eats, and I put ridiculous pressure on myself to try and make them interesting, which is where the time factor comes in.   So this week has been a test, to see if I like this new format and if it aligns with the direction that I think I want to take the blog.  I’m still working things out, but expect a decision, and a longer-winded post, sometime this weekend.  Until then, thanks for reading.  I appreciate each and every one of you. GIVEAWAY!  I know you all saw the numerous bottles of Country Bob’s All-Purpose Sauce popping up in blogland a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately I received my Country Bob’s in the middle of a big deadline week at work, so didn’t get a chance to really rave about how wonderful this sauce is and how much I enjoyed it on baked chicken and as a dipping sauce for ‘taters and veggies.  Its REALLY good, and I can’t wait to fire up the grill (maybe this weekend?!?) and try it out on some pork tenderloin. The kind folks over at CB’s have offered to give TWO of my readers TWO bottles of the All-Purpose Sauce.  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post for one chance to win.  If you mention the giveaway on your blog and link back to this post you will have a second chance to win.  Do all that by midnight tomorrow (Friday) and I will announce the winners sometime on Saturday.  Good luck! cb
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categories healthified favorites, product review
tags country bob's, giveaway, olives, potato salad, potatoes, yogurt

quiche + chicken veggie soup + veggie broth oh my!!!

Andrea

Good evening!  I hope you all have had a fabulous day!  Mine was good...I played lots of catch-up in the office after being out all day yesterday.  After work my hubb and I went for a fabulous run...YAY!!!  I was worried after my not-so-great run on Saturday when we didn't run the full 2.5 miles that were scheduled in our training.  We decided that tonight we would try to make up for it, especially since we hadn't been able to do anything the last two days with my overworking. I mapped out a 2.7 mile stretch for us close to our house that involves a looooong hill at the 1/2 mile mark all the way to the 1-1/4 mile mark and again at the 2-1/2 mile mark.    I just discovered the elevation tool on mapmyrun.com...look at that hill!!! 081210-map We made it though!  My hubb was great, he probably could have gone a lot further.  I was a very satisfied level of tired at the end....not feeling good enough for another mile but not completely dead either.  I'm so pleased!!!  :) I have some eats to tell you about, along with some recipes to share as promised.  I hope you can hang in there for one more long post from me... Breakfast:  3/4 cup Stoneyfield fat free french vanilla yogurt with one sliced banana and 1/4 cup of TJ's Spiced Pumpkin Granola. 081210-b1 Now I know what you've all been raving about!  The granola is AWESOME!  :) Lunch:  I pulled some black bean soup out of the freezer and added a dollop of sour cream to it along with an 8" sprouted wheat tortilla. 081210-l2 My office desk doesn't make nearly as nice of a background as my dining table at home... Snack:  I ate about 3 bites of this gala apple before tossing it because it was COMPLETELY devoid of flavor.  We finally finished all 13 pounds of hand-picked pink ladies...sigh.  :( 081210-s1 So instead I ate the other 1/2 of the Clif Builder's Bar I snacked on the other night. 081210-s2 Dinner:  Butternut Squash and Kale soup, modified from Kath's original recipe, along with a piece of my homemade whole wheat bread.  My soup had
  • 1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 celery stalks
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 32oz box of creamy carrot soup
  • 1 cup of diced ham
  • 1 15oz can of white kidney beans
  • 6 cups of fresh chopped kale
  • salt + pepper to taste
081210-d1 081210-d2 081210-d3 The soup was really good, but a little thick for our tastes.  I actually had a different soup plan for the butternut squash, but when I realized that I had kale wilting in my fridge it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out Kath's recipe.  I do think I'll try my original plan next week...the hubb and I discussed it tonight and I think its going to be good! Recipe Recap:  As promised, here are the recipes for the amazing dinners my Hubb made Sunday and Monday nights.  They are both pretty simple, but full of so much home-cooked comfort food yumminess...! 081207-d71 Chicken Vegetable Soup with Homemade Veggie Broth Ingredients:
  • one gallon-size ziplock of frozen veggie parts*
  • 2 frozen cheese rinds**
  • 8 cups commercial veggie broth ONLY if you don't want to make your own
  • 2/3 pound of ground chicken, cooked and crumbled
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 3 stalks celery, chopped
  • 3 carrots, chopped
  • 4 medium russet potatoes, diced
  • 1 cup frozen corn
  • 1 cup frozen lima beans
  • 1 cup frozen okra
  • 2 15oz cans of diced tomatoes
  • salt + pepper to taste
* We put all raw veggie "waste" into a gallon-size ziplock bag we keep in the freezer.  "Waste" includes the ends of onions, asparagus, carrots, green beans, etc., basically anything that won't break down quiclkly (don't throw potato, squash, mushrooms etc. in there...you need to be able to strain everything out after simmering for awhile) * We keep the rinds of any hard cheese we use in a small ziplock in the freezer to use for soups etc.  Parmesan, parano and gouda are our most common. Steps (starting with veggie broth):
  1. Put all frozen veggie parts and 2 cheese rinds into large saucepan or stock pot.  Fill pot with water until veggies are covered.
  2. Bring to a boil, lower heat and let simmer uncovered for one hour.  If you simmer longer you will have more intense flavor, less time will yield a milder taste.
  3. Strain liquid through a fine colander or china cap (pictured below), collecting the broth in a bowl.
  4. Put your broth back in the soup pot, add the tomatoes, onion, celery, carrots and potatoes and bring all to a boil. Lower heat and simmer uncovered until the potatoes are starting to soften.
  5. Once the potatoes are slightly soft, but still about 10 minutes from being soft enough to bite easily, add the frozen veggies and the chicken.  
  6. When the potatoes are soft and the frozen veggies are heated through you soup is ready!
081207-d1 081207-d2 081207-d3 081207-d4 081207-d81 I LOVE my hubb's homemade soups....they are so incredible.  We typically make the version above completely veggie and add in some barley or israeli cous-cous, but we had leftover ground chicken after making the potstickers a few nights before so decided to throw it in.  That's the beautiful thing about these soups...anything and everything can go in!  And I also love that the homemade broths provide a way for us to use our veggie waste when the compost bin is out of commission during the winter. Monday night's dinner was another favorite of ours...QUICHE!  We always try to keep a frozen pie crust in the freezer so that if we have veggies that need to be used up we can throw together a quiche.  Its a quick, easy, nutritious dinner (as long as you are smart about the crust...!) and so good on a cold night.  I like to add in more egg whites and reduce some of the yolks, but we had exactly 5 eggs so had to use them completely (don't worry, egg yolks never go to waste around here...our dogs love them!) 081208-d1 Ham + Veggie Quiche Ingredients:
  • one frozen whole wheat pie crust
  • 1 head of broccoli, chopped
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 onion, chopped
  • 1/2 pound cooked ham, chopped
  • 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 5 eggs
Steps:
  1. Pull pie crust from freezer and allow to thaw for 10 minutes.  Preheat oven to 400*.
  2. Poke holes in the bottom of the crust, cover with foil, add pie weights (or dry beans) and bake for 10 minutes.
  3. Whisk eggs and add salt and pepper.  Set aside.
  4. Put fillings into crust.  Pour egg on top.  Add more egg if needed, the crust should be about 2/3's full.
  5. Bake @ 400* for 60 minutes on the BOTTOM rack of oven.
081208-d21 081209-d21 Whew!  Another long post complete.  Thanks again for hanging in there...I hope to get some feedback on these recipes as you all try them!  I'm off to bed...
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categories breakfast, dinner, lunch, recipes
tags Clif, black beans, quiche, soup, yogurt

bluegrass grill + tofu two ways

Andrea

Brian and I park about 1/3 of a mile from our offices every morning.  The walk to work is short and pleasant, but forces us to pass our favorite C'ville breakfast spot, The Bluegrass Grill.  The restaurant serves down-home breakfasts and is famous for their house-made baked goods, especially the honey wheat biscuits.  I dream about their biscuits.  Its impossible to get a table on the weekends without waiting an hour, so we don't get to go very often, but every morning as we walk by we say "we need to get up early one day and go before work".  After 6 months of talking about it, today was finally "one day".  We invited our good friend Amy to join us so it was the perfect start to a Friday morning, good food + good company. Breakfast:  Short stack of Honey Wheat Pancakes with fresh strawberries, real maple syrup and a sprinkling of powdered sugar.  It was AMAZING.  I ate almost the whole plate.  :)  Surprisingly these puppies stuck with me from 8am until 1:30pm!!!  I thought for sure that I would be starving by 10. 081205-b1 Lunch:  Because I knew I'd be having a large, not-so-healthy breakfast I decided to keep lunch simple and satisfying.  I had a baked sweet potato in the fridge so tossed it in a bowl with 1/2 cup edamame and sea salt sprinkled on top.  Perfect. 081205-l1 And two more of the Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies from my co-worker... 081204-l41 Snack:  Nothing!  My lunch was so late that I didn't need one. Dinner:  Miso soup and pan-glazed tofu.   I wanted to use some of this guy in the spirit of this week's BSI... 081205-d1 I used my favorite recipe from Moosewood for Miso Soup with Tofu and Shitake Mushroom Broth. 081205-d3 And pan-glazed my tofu using this method, but with the following glaze.
  • 1/4 cup water (usually this would be veggie broth, but i'm out)
  • 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 tsp minced ginger
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
081205-d4 081205-d5 081205-d6 And a lovely glass of cabernet. 081205-d2 Dessert: 1/2 cup fat free french vanilla Stoneyfield yogurt, 1 small pink lady apple and a handful of Annie's Honey Bunny Grahams. 081205-d7 Does anybody have any big weekend plans?  I am going to be a knitting machine...my goal is to start and finish a scarf this weekend that will be a Christmas gift.  I went to the yarn shop today during lunch to pick up a blend that I'm really excited about!  I finished a scarf last night that is also a Christmas gift, but I can't show it because I don't want to ruin the surprise for the recipient!  :) Have a great night! PS:  Kelly over at groundedfitness is giving away a danskin vest...check out her blog to see how you can win it!
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categories breakfast, dinner, lunch, retaurants
tags edamame, ginger, miso, sweet potato, tofu, vino, wine, yogurt