Citrus Poppy Seed Cake

This is the cake that I made for Easter! It was a great springtime cake, and it's big enough to feed a crowd!

Recipe adapted from here.

Cake Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest (about two lemons)
1 1/2 tbsp poppyseeds

Frosting Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
4 1/2 tbsp orange juice
4 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp orange zest (about 2 oranges)
2 tbsp lemon zest (about 3 lemons)
8-9 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, and shortening until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat will after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract, lemon juice, lemon zest, and poppyseeds.
3. Pour batter into three greased and floured 9-inch round baking pans. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove to wire racks.
4. For frosting, cream butter in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the juices and zests. Beat until well blended. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until frosting reaches desired consistency.
5. After cake has cooled, spread frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with extra lemon or orange zest!

Enjoy! Store leftovers in the fridge.

Lemon Pound Cake

I use this lemon pound cake for my Lemon Berry Trifle, but it's delicious on it's own! It would be perfect with just a lemon glaze!

Recipe adapted from here.

1 cup butter (at room temperature)

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups sugar

5 large eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 tbsp lemon zest (about 2 lemons)

2 tbsp lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

Preheat the oven to 325. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Place the butter in a large bowl and beat until soft. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. Reduce the speed to low. Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat until incorporated after each addition. Stir in the lemon zest and lemon juice.

Pour the batter into the pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes.

Lemon Berry Trifle

I made this for the wine & dessert party we had the other day, and it was a big hit! I was SO glad we had leftovers, and I may or may not have eaten some for breakfast one day... it has berries - that means it's healthy, right? :) Trifles are just perfect - such a good mesh of flavors and fairly easy to prepare. The only problem is that they look kind of weird when they're plopped onto plates. But, if you can get past that, trifles are WONDERFUL!

Recipe adapted from here.

Note: the trifle should be assembled 5-8 hours before serving for best results! The flavors will blend together during the 5-8 hours.

Berries (can be cooked up to a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator):
2 cups strawberries, stems removed (about one container)
1 cup raspberries
1 cup blueberries
Juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cornstarch

Lemon Cream:
3 cups whipping cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 10oz jar lemon curd (find in the baked goods aisle)

Pound Cake: 
one 9-inch round or 1 loaf lemon (or plain) pound cake [homemade or store-bought], cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
**I used my lemon pound cake recipe, but I only used about 2/3 of the 9-inch round

Combine the berries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook just until the berries begin to break down (strawberries will take the longest), about 5-7 minutes. Take the berries off the heat and let the mixture cool.

In a clean bowl, whip the cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Put the lemon curd into a second bowl and whisk in about 1/4 cup of the whipped cream mixture to loosen it up a bit. Gently fold in the rest of the cream. Cover and refrigerate if not using immediately.

To assemble the trifle, spread a layer of the cream in the bottom of a large glass or trifle bowl. Add a layer of pound cake (you may have to break the pound cake into smaller slices to get them to fit nicely). Then drizzle on about 1/3 of the berry syrup. Spoon a layer of lemon cream on top of the berries and smooth to the sides. Repeat all the layers 2-3 more times, finishing with a layer of lemon cream. Garnish the top with berries and/or lemon zest. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

here's the cream whipping!

berries on the stove...

all done!

lemon curd

pound cake

top of the trifle!

ta-da!

Bailey's Dark Chocolate Cake

I made this the other day for Jeff's post-Confirmation party, and it was a big hit! Chocolately, but not too rich, and perfectly moist!

Recipe adapted from here.

1 box chocolate cake mix (I use Duncan Hines Devil's Food)
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup (8oz) sour cream (I use the light kind and it turns out okay!)
1 cup Bailey's Irish Cream
8 oz bittersweet chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli)
Chocolate glaze (optional)
Powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 and butter a bundt cake pan (or 2 9-inch pans, or cupcake tins) very well.

In a large mixer bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, oil, sour cream, and Bailey's. Mix on slow speed for 30 seconds, then medium-fast for 2 minutes. Don't overmix! Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes for bundt cake (or 25-35 minutes for two 9-inch cakes, or 20-25 minutes for cupcakes). Check that a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with only a few crumbs. It's better to slightly underbake this than overbake, so err on the side of less time!


After the cake cools, decorate with chocolate glaze and powdered sugar (optional).

pre-oven...

post-oven...

ta-da!

This stuff is new, and it's amazing! You just microwave it and shake the bottle up, and then squeeze it out! The best part: if you don't use all of it, just stick the bottle in the fridge! Perfect for when you need just a little chocolate drizzle...

See? Just a little chocolate drizzle!

Dusted with powdered sugar!

Asian-Inspired Turkey Sliders

This recipe is super-easy and super-yummy! I know I say that about a lot of recipes, but trust me - I always mean it! If a recipe is too much work, or if it's not that good, I don't put it on the blog!

I've been trying to cook healthier food lately after finding out that Jeff has borderline-high cholesterol. Unfortunately, the healthy cooking seems to have no effect on Jeff, yet it results in unintended weight loss for me (a fact that has me worried about the almost-too-big strapless bridesmaid dress I have to wear in June and has my mother worried that I'm not eating at all). But I digress... back to the recipe!

I hear ground turkey is much better for you than ground beef (especially when you buy the super-lean kind), so I thought this would be a good recipe to try. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy and delicious they were!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey (I used the super-lean kind)
1 green onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger
3 tbsp soy sauce (I used the low-sodium kind)
Sister Schubert's frozen yeast rolls (or whatever else you'd like to use as buns)
Lettuce (optional - I didn't want to buy a whole head of lettuce just for this! Haha)
Cheese (optional - I put mozzarella on mine, Jeff put some shredded Mexican blend on his)

Directions:
1. Cook rolls according to package directions.
2. Mix turkey, onion, garlic, and ginger in a large bowl. Add in the soy sauce and mix well (don't overmix or the meat will be tough!).
3. Heat up a grill or grill pan on medium heat. Form patties out of the turkey mixture (I used a 1/4 cup measurer to make sure they ended up the same size so they'd all cook at the same speed and look the same. I made 9 1/4-cup patties).
4. Put patties on the grill. Turn them over two times until cooked through. Depending on how thick your patties are, they should take 4-5 minutes to cook fully.
5. Cut rolls in half, add patties, cheese, and lettuce. Enjoy! (I cut the patties in half before putting them on the rolls just because I really like bread and the patties were a bit bigger than the rolls. Haha!).

The original recipe called for a wasabi mayo sauce (1/4 cup mayo and 1-2 tsp wasabi powder). We didn't use it, but go for it if it sounds good to you!

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

I'm gonna go ahead and apologize in advance to anyone who doesn't have an ice cream maker, because you're probably going to crave some homemade ice cream after this post! I've had cute little red ice cream maker since Christmas (thanks Mom and Dad!), and I finally got the courage to take it down from the top of my fridge (where it lives happily next to my red KitchenAid mixer and my red KitchenAid blender) and try it out.

I decided to go with a recipe from The Fresh Fridge - strawberry cheesecake ice cream! Doesn't that sound delightfully springtimeish? It was DEE-licious. And also really easy to make with the help of my trusty red ice cream maker! To be completely honest, Jeff actually made it while I sat on a barstool and supervised worked on law school stuff (hence the lack of "in progress" photos). I had the ingredients all ready to go, but it was a busy law school day and Jeff wasn't really doing anything. When I threw out the words "strawberry cheesecake ice cream," he was pretty quick to walk over to the kitchen. :o)

Here's the recipe (adapted from that link up there):

Ingredients:
3/4 lb. strawberries (this is about a 1-pound container w/ all the green parts cut out)
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 c sugar
1 c milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 c heavy cream (I hear you can use half and half instead to make it healthier, but it won't be as creamy!)
Crumbled graham crackers (optional, use as a topping)

Directions:
1. Chop up the strawberries in a food processor or blender (a little pre-chopping into chunks will help). Then pour in sugar, milk, lemon juice, and cream. Pulse a few times until blended.
2. Add in cream cheese in 1 inch cubes. Pulse until well-blended. Note: at this point the mixture may smell JUST LIKE egg salad. Weirdest thing ever. This prompted us to make weird faces and check our milk for signs of spoilage. But the smell went away and it turned out awesome, so don't worry!
3. Add the mixture to your electric ice cream maker and follow your ice cream maker's instructions. The consistency should come out kind of like custard.
4. Spoon into an airtight container and chill in the freezer for at least one hour before eating.
5. Garnish with crumbled graham crackers, and enjoy!

Baked Pasta with Chicken Sausage

This is one of those really, really great recipes that works for just about any occasion. Need a reasonably quick dinner idea? Bringing food to a family who just had a baby or is going through a rough time?  Having the in-laws over for dinner? Want to cook something ahead of time and stick it in the freezer for later? For all of those situations, this is a perfect recipe! And it tastes great too!

Yummm!

Recipe adapted from here. Makes a really full 9x13 pan!

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes
1 14.5oz can crushed tomatoes
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 c heavy cream (or half & half if you want a healthier, not as creamy version)
1 pound penne pasta (or, you can be like me and use whatever you have lying around - for the photos in this post I used a combo of leftover cavatappi and rigatoni!)
9oz bag fresh baby spinach
12 oz precooked chicken sausage, halved lengthwise and sliced 1/4 inch thick (feel free to get the fancy chicken sausages - andouille or spinach & feta or Italian style or mushroom! The possibilities are endless!)
8 oz shredded mozzarella
1/4 c grated Parmesan

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook until translucent (about 3 minutes). Add garlic and cook for another minute. Stir in tomatoes, oregano, and basil. Simmer for 8-10 minutes.
3. Add cream to the skillet and cook until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and/or pepper to taste.
4. Preheat oven to 400. Cook pasta in the big pot according to package directions. Don't overcook! Add spinach to the pot right at the end and cook until wilted. Drain, and return to pot.
5. Add tomato sauce mixture, sausage, and half of mozzarella to the pot. Toss to coat.
6. Scoop pasta into a lightly greased 9x13 pan (or two 8x8s). Top with the rest of the mozzarella and the parmesan.
7. Bake 20-30 minutes, or until cheese is browned and the edges are a bit crisp.

If you're planning to freeze it, stop BEFORE BAKING and cover with a double layer of foil. To cook after freezing: thaw in the fridge for 1-2 days, then bake at 400 for 75 minutes.

Enjoy!