Swedish Visiting Cake

For years and years I’ve kept a recipe in my back pocket. Not literally of course, but it’s a recipe that I can pull out to serve to family/friends at a few moments notice. It’s quick & sweet and can be dressed up in a variety of ways. It’s called Hot Milk Cake and up until this week it has been my go-to quick dessert. A few days ago I discovered this little beauty in one of my favorite cook books (Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours).

It’s called a Swedish Visiting Cake. It took me maybe 7 minutes to mix everything up (by hand! No need to haul out your mixer) and another 33 minutes in the oven and we had ourselves a delightfully simple, lemon-almond cake. I paired it with some fresh berries and a bit of whipped cream and it was a just-right dessert for a spring luncheon.

I do so love to use my cast iron skillet, and I was happy to pull it out for this cake. The skillet gave the cake a gorgeous light brown crust and just enough crispness around the edges. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet no worries – the recipe gives you options. The original recipe also calls for sliced almonds to be sprinkled on the top which I think would be fantastic, but I didn’t have any on hand.

Here’s a link to the recipe (there’s a print option in the top right corner of the link) and maybe I’ll get around to sharing my recipe for Hot Milk Cake soon. Maybe.

Breakfast

 

So I hear you all are tired of looking at Black Bean Soup.  I’ve heard your complaints and new posts are on their way.  For now, here’s a new photo for you.  There.  Are you happy now?  :-)

Black Bean Soup

I have to give my sister Erin credit for finding this recipe. I really wished she lived closer so she could cook for me. A lot.

I must warn you, this recipe makes a rather large pot of soup. It probably would freeze well though and the leftovers make a quick, delicious lunch!

Black Bean Soup with Cilantro-Lime Sour Cream

It’s great served with the sour cream, fresh lime juice, chopped tomato, a bit of cilantro (or in my case a LOT of cilantro) and your favorite corn chips. Oh – and a nice, thick slice of skillet corn bread.

Lunch

Lunches are a challenge for me. Most days I’m satisfied with a simple turkey sandwich & a handful of carrots. Once in a while I’ll get all fancy-schmancy with a tuna sandwich or maybe even something as exotic as a salad. I know, right? I quickly get tired of the same ol’ fare though.

A week or so ago I was perusing an older Cooking Light and found this recipe for Thai Salad with Peanut Dressing. To my delight, I had all of the necessary ingredients for the dressing. It was quick to throw together (toss in the blender and process until smooth). Then I dug through my produce drawer to see what I could use in a salad. I found some romaine, baby carrots, a red pepper, and some snap peas. Ta-da! Lunch. See, there’s really no reason to settle for pb&j. Again.

Turkey Pot Pies

A few weeks ago I had a hankerin’ (I don’t use that word often enough) for a turkey dinner. I bought one of those smaller bone-in turkey breasts and made a scaled down version of Thanksgiving: turkey, potatoes, gravy, green beans & a cranberry salad. It totally hit the spot and the leftovers were delicious – they provided several dinners for us. By mid week, we had eaten all of the side dishes and were left with plenty of turkey. What to do….what to do…..

I found this recipe for turkey pot pies and tried it. What appealed to me at first was the use of frozen puff pastry as a crust. It was so simple and the end result is a lovely, flaky brown crust. I also loved that this recipe didn’t call for cream-of-anything soup, unlike some of my other pot pie recipes. That’s great news for us lactose intolerant folk. (Did you know that dairy products are my krypotonite?)

Another thing I loved about the recipe is that we each got our own little pie. I happen to own a set of 12-oz ramekins, but if I didn’t I would probably try this recipe out in one large casserole dish and just lay the full sheet of puff pastry over the turkey/sauce/vegetables mixture. If anyone tries that, comment here and let us know how it worked out.

This (for me anyway) is a great recipe for using up those roast chicken and turkey leftovers. I loved that I had nearly everything for this recipe already in my pantry. The only thing I was lacking was the fresh thyme, and I was able to substitute a little dried thyme just fine. I think we’ll be having another bone-in turkey breast for our Easter dinner. Guess what I’ll be making the following Wednesday?

Panzanella

This bread salad is one of my favorite recipes from Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa on Food Network).  It’s also one of the loveliest salads I’ve ever made.  Even the garbage bowl is pretty:

   

 

The recipe can be found here, along with a printable version so I won’t bother retyping it.  Here are the highlights though! 

 

First, cube your bread:

 

Then toast it in a skillet with some olive oil.  Be sure to add enough salt and pepper.  The bread cubes play a significant role in this salad and you don’t want them to be tasteless. 

 

While the bread is toasting and cooing, chop your vegetables.  The onions get sliced nice and thinly:

If you’re in a hurry, you can just chop the cucumber as-is, but if you have the time it’s a good idea to seed them.  I use a spoon – nice and quick. 

The rest of the vegetables get a nice chop as well.  Keep in mind that you want this salad to be easy to eat; everything should be bite-sized.  Try to keep your tomatoes and peppers to about a 1-inch cube.  There’s nothing more awkward than trying to stuff a huge juicy piece of tomato in your mouth while maintaining your dignity.

Throw all veggies (red pepper, green or yellow pepper, cucumber, tomato, red onion) and basil in a bowl.  Make sure the bowl is big enough to give you room to really toss this salad.  For the basil, I’ve chopped it (like in the photo below) and I’ve also done a chiffonade.  I think I prefer the chiffonade.  (Want to learn how?  See this)

 

Add your toasted bread cubes and the vinaigrette.  Oh, and for the vinaigrette, I use white wine vinegar instead of champagne vinegar (only because that’s what I have in my pantry.)

 

You can serve this right away, or let it sit for 10-20 minutes and allow the vinaigrette to soak into the bread a bit.  This salad does not keep at all, so only make as much as you need for that one meal. 

Panzanella really is best if you eat it soon, but if you need to prepare the salad ahead of time, just keep all of the components separate.  Chop the vegetables and combine with the basil.  Store those in one container.  Make the vinaigrette (you can add a bit to the veggies if you like) and store in a separate little jar.  Toast the bread last, and when it’s cooled, then you can put it in a baggie for later.  I wouldn’t seal the bag all the way or your nice crunchy bread cubes will end up chewy.  bleh. 

FAQ (#2)

I told you I’d be back next Tuesday.  And look, here I am.

 

Another question I get asked repeatedly is:

“Where do you get your recipe and menu ideas?”

A lot of people I talk to find themselves in a rut as far as menu planning goes.  They find themselves making the same 10 or 12 recipes and after a while their family is sick of them.  I used to have that same problem, and that was one of the reasons I started this blog.  A few years ago I would use what I called a “master list” of recipes to decide my two-week menu.  My master list had maybe 25 meal ideas on it and I would try to cycle through them all in a month.  It worked okay for awhile, but then I discovered that there were some great ideas and great recipes out there – all it took was a little searching and some courage to try new ingredients and flavors. 

 

So here are the places I turn to when I need new ideas:

 

Favorite Food TV:

America’s Test Kitchen (PBS)

Barefoot Contessa (Food Network)

 

Favorite Food Sites:

Allrecipes
The Cook's Thesaurus
Cooking Light
Epicurious
Everyday Baking
Everyday Food
Food Network
Measurement Equivalents
Martha Stewart
Myrecipes
Recipe Muncher
Taste of Home
Tastespotting
Top Secret Recipes
Williams-Sonoma Recipes

 

Blogs in my Reader:

101 Cookbooks
Artisan Bread in Five
Blog Chef
Cafe Zupas Blog
Dani Spies
Dinner With Julie
Ezra Pound Cake
Kelsey Nixon's Blog
Our Best Bites
Panini Happy
Sea Salt With Food
Stephanie's Kitchen
Taste and Tell

 

I also get a handful of new recipes each month from my favorite magazine:  Cooking Light.  Don’t be frightened off by the name - “light” cooking isn’t what it used to be people!

 

I’ve had a subscription to Cooking Light for a little over a year now, and I still eagerly await each month’s magazine in my mailbox.  When I first subscribed, I didn’t think that I would use it as much as I do.  Within days of its arrival, I have it read and all marked up.  I dog ear the pages like crazy, marking recipes that I want to try out.  The photography is gorgeous and it makes me pretty much want to try everything. 

 

What I love about the magazine though, is that it is more than just a bunch of recipes.  There are great articles like this one:

…which also of course includes recipes.

In between pages of recipes, they have informative bits like this one:

….and this one.  (Tired of the same ol’ oatmeal in the morning?  This page has great ideas for re-vamping your boring breakfast.)

 

 

In the back they also include reader recipes as well (like this one:)

So there you have it.  My secret is out.  Now you all no longer need me.  I’ll keep writing though, just so my mom can see that I’m eating well.