How (Not) To Zest A Lime

Whenever I was in San Salvador a few weeks ago, I bought a postcard with a Bahamian rum cake recipe. I don't like drinking rum but I needed to buy an even number for the price. Whenever I was waiting at the airport in Nassau, I had samples of rum cake. The original version was alright; I could definitely taste the rum, but I did like it. Then I tried the key lime version. It was amazing! The rum was an undertone flavor because the lime really took over. This made me a little more excited to try my rum cake recipe.



Back in August, I bought a bottle of Puerto Rico golden rum for a Tuesdays With Dorie challenge. It sat in my room for about six months, so I gave it to my best friend. She ended up never drinking it, so we decided to use that rum. The recipe actually calls for dark rum, and after doing some research, dark rum really does matter in the flavor, but I went with the golden rum anyway.

I stopped at the store to buy a lime, and while I was driving to my friend's house, I thought, I hope she has a grater. Yea, she should. Most kitchens have one. Yea, MOST kitchens. Not all. We dug through her cabinets but no grater. Now how do I zest my lime? Her boyfriend suggested a fork. Didn't work, so I went for the vegetable peeler. Ahem.



Ok so we have big chunks of lime. Now what? Let's use the food processor! Oh wait, it won't turn on. How about the blender?


The motor is running, but the blades aren't turning!


Fine, we'll just use a knife (her pretty nails, not mine)


FAIL!

We really shouldn't be baking together. We can't zest a lime, assemble a cake, read directions, or bake giant snickerdoodles. Better yet, I blame her kitchen. It always goes wrong in her kitchen haha

As for the recipe, it was written for a regular-sized bundt pan. I bought two baby ones at Wal Mart, so I somehow scaled it down (successfully too!). There was way too much lime in ours, but that's because it was chunky and I forgot to scale down the lime when I scaled down the recipe. Whoops. Next time, I want to buy a small bottle of dark rum and see if there is a difference. I may throw in coconut at some point.

I will write both recipes in case you can't read the postcard above. We didn't make the glaze because the cakes were fine without it.

Bahama Rum Cake



Regular Bundt Cake:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts/pecans
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
Zest and juice from one lime
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup dark rum
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup raisins
--
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark rum
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mini Bundt Cakes:
2 Tbsp chopped walnuts/pecans
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
Zest and juice of 1/4 lime
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp dark rum
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp raisins
--
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp dark rum
1/8 tsp vanilla

1. Cake: Preheat oven to 325F. Grease bundt pan(s). Line the base with nuts.

2. Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs and add lime. Mix in flour, baking powder, and milk. Add rum, vanilla, and raisins. Pour mixture into pan(s) and bake 1 hour for large cake and 20-30 minutes for mini cakes. Cake(s) are done with a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan(s).

3. Glaze: Melt butter in saucepan. Add water and sugar. Boil and stir 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat; add rum and vanilla. Pierce cake and brush glaze over top and sides. Repeat. Steep cake in pan.

Makes: 1 large cake or 2 mini cakes

Source: San Salvador postcard

Tuesdays With Dorie - Coconut Butter Thins

This week's pick was Coconut Butter Thins. Dorie calls them thins because these cookies spreeaaaddddd! I was disappointed after removing them from the oven because when they went in, they were plump little rectangles.

I modified the recipe a bit with ingredients on hand. I had a lemon to use, so instead of lime zest went the lemon. I think I put too much in because the lemon is very strong. Whoops. I also used walnuts instead of macadamia nuts because they were $4 a bag at Wal Mart. I would definitely make these again because I love how shortbread-based cookies melt in your mouth. Maybe I will make it with the specified ingredients haha




Thanks Jayne of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch for picking these delightful tropic treats! You can find the recipe on page 145 of Baking: From My Home to Yours or on Jayne's blog.

Tuesdays With Dorie - French Yogurt Cake with Lemon Curd

Man, it's been awhile since I completed a TwD challenge. My bad. This week's recipe was the French Yogurt Cake. The recipe originally calls for lemon marmalade. I was going to make the marmalade from scratch, but I decided to make it easier and go with a lemon curd. Lemon curd thickens as it cools, and since I used warm lemon curd, it was more of a sauce. This cake is interesting because instead of butter, it used oil. You have to make sure the oil is fully folded in or it won't be pretty.



The yogurt definitely made this cake moist. It reminded me of a lemon pound cake, which is not surprising because Dorie said it was a cross between a pound and sponge cake. I wonder if I could change the flavors by using flavored yogurt instead of plain. I don't see why not.



Thanks to Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction for choosing this wonderful cake! My mom loved it so much, and she usually doesn't eat much of what I make. You can find the recipe on pages 224-225 in Dorie's Baking: From My Home To Yours or on Liliana's blog.

Tuesdays With Dorie - Lenox Biscotti

This week's recipe is Dorie's Lenox Biscotti. I have never made biscotti before, even though I am mainly Italian (gasp!). This recipe differs from other biscotti recipes because it calls for cornmeal. Whenever I went to the apple festival two weekends ago, I got really excited when I saw freshly-made cornmeal and flour for $1 each bag. I bought cornmeal and whole wheat flour, which is weird because I'm not a fan of wheat bread. They also had bran and flax seed, but I had no idea what I would do with them. I'm such a dork because only I would get excited over fresh flour. The farm has been doing this every year for how many years now, and this time I actually noticed. Probably because I haven't been observant of ingredients before.

A tip I never knew. You want to freeze flour to kill off any bugs. Also, flour tends to go rancid quickly, so freezing slows that process down by a few months. You could use the refrigerator too. Most families don't freeze flour because they go through all-purpose flour rather quickly. Just make sure you use air-tight bags or containers to keep moisture out.

Anyway, back to the biscotti. Dorie says to make the logs 12 x 1.5 inches, which make seem really skinny, but trust me. I didn't understand the dimensions either until after they were done baking because they spread ridiculously. Then she said to stand them up like a marching band after cutting for the second baking. Several TwDers were confused, and some of theirs wouldn't even stand up. Mine stood up just fine. If you are confused, Dorie means to stand them up so the cut sides are exposed. Mine came out fine, softer than the average biscotti, which my dad loved. He hates the really crunchy kind, but biscotti stands for twice baked and is meant to dip in a hot beverage. Some TwDers were saying they had to bake theirs longer, so maybe that's why mine came out soft. Some of them did fall apart but for the most part they held together. Try to bake only one tray at a time because I baked two trays, and the bottom tray cookies got burnt while the top tray was fine.

I made the lemon almond version. Since I only had one lemon and Dorie calls for two, the lemon taste was more of a backdrop while the almond, particularly the almond extract, was in your face. I highly recommend using two lemons.

I can now scratch this off of my challenge list.

Lenox Biscotti




Thanks Gretchen from Canela & Comino for picking this week's recipe! You can find the recipe on page 141-143 in Baking: From My Home To Yours or on Gretchen's blog.

Put The Lime In The Coconut...

Oh...my...goodness. I am so exhausted from helping freshmen move into their new home at my university, and I still have the welcome ceremony tonight and the summer book group discussion and dance party tomorrow night. At least I can blog while resting my feet.

Last week, I bought a bunch of limes because they were on sale. I have a horrible habit of buying food, THEN picking out recipes so sometimes I have trouble figuring out what I'm making or I'm one item short. When I'm in the mood for a baked good, I grab Dorie's book first and check the index. Under limes, coconut tea cake caught my attention. All I needed was to buy coconut milk, so I grabbed some on my next trip shopping.

Dorie says in her recipe intro that this is a "dry cake" because her friend really likes dry cakes (as in pound cake texture, not overbaked texture). Since this cake is "dry," it is perfect to serve with coffee or tea. If you are like my family and prefer the cake without a hot beverage, you may want to consider adding a simple glaze on top.

Dark rum is optional, and since I had some, I used it. I couldn't tell it was in the cake, but it may be one of those cakes where you can tell if it's not in the cake. I'll have to make this again (so many variations - lemon, orange, spice, sesame) and try it without the rum.

Also, it uses a bundt pan. I love bundt cakes!


Coconut Lime Tea Cake




This recipe can be found in Baking: From My Home To Yours on page 194.

Cookie Post With Sweet Mary

I dedicate this to my best friend because she will be laughing too hard when she reads this post.

Last week, I tried making coconut and lime cookies from Sweet Mary. They turned into a disaster. They spread way too much and stuck to my cookie sheets.


Since Mary created this recipe, I asked her if she had trouble with her dough and maybe I was supposed to chill it before baking. She gave me some wonderful tips on why they may have spread. My butter may have been too soft, and using margarine probably made it spread even more. Then she suggested messing around with the flour and sugar so the structure of the gluten holds more. Then we decided both of us would experiment more with the ingredients and flavor and post our results.

I decided to mess with the temperature of the butter and dough while she messed with the flour. Since I ran out of coconut, I didn't use any. I froze my stick of margarine for 20 minutes before beating. I was going to do two variations - one with rum extract, one with vanilla extract. Since I didn't have time to make two separate batches, I just separated the dough into two bowls. Now, since I had to add the extracts before adding the flour, I also split the flour mixture in half. However, I'm not good at guessing. With the flour, I cut the measurements in half (1/4 cup flour in this bowl, 1/4 cup flour in that bowl, etc). For the batter, I just poured and guessed. Bad idea. There was more batter in the vanilla bowl than the rum bowl. When I added the flour to the rum bowl, the dough came together nicely. When I added the flour to the vanilla bowl, it seemed too wet. I added another 1/4 cup flour, but I was afraid to add too much. It was a little bit better but it didn't look nearly as good as the rum bowl. I chilled the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes before rolling it into balls. Then I put the cookie sheets into the freezer for 20 minutes while the oven preheated. I put them in the oven and baked for 10 minutes.

They weren't done, so I baked another 2 minutes. The rum batch came out nicely and were baked on the bottom rack.


The vanilla batch spread more than the rum batch, making them soft and hard to scrape off of the sheets. So I put them back in again, and again, and again. They weren't hardening up at all, so I pulled them out and let them cool before attempting to remove.


So I conclude that you can use margarine, although I'm wondering if butter would really make them not stick to the sheets. Keeping the dough cold does help minimize spreading. I wonder if they needed more flour?

Mary used more flour and a little more leavener and got a cake-like cookie. She prefers her first batch because they are flat and crisp yet chewy. We both agree that the lime overpowers the coconut (I used toasted coconut in my first batch). I also used white chocolate chips while she used dark chocolate chips.

Thanks Mary for doing this with me and for all of your help. We really do need to experiment more with this to get the ultimate coconut lime cookie.

Tuesdays With Dorie - French Lemon Cream Tart

Another Tuesday is here, and you know what that means! And I am bending the rules once again because I do not own a stand mixer. Why is a stand mixer so important? Normally, a hand mixer can get the job done just as well, but not for today's original recipe. Madam Chow picked Pecan Honey Sticky Buns. I was excited because I haven't made buns in a longgggggggggg time. So as I was scanning the recipe, I needed to make Dorie's brioche. I looked up the brioche recipe, and when I read that it wears out your hand mixer and should be made with a stand mixer or by hand, my excitement dropped. My family recently bought a hand mixer because our other one broke after 30 years (it was my parents), so I wasn't going to risk breaking a new one. I decided to see what recipes have been made before. Considering I had three lemons to use, I chose The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart. Or rather, it was a pie because I don't own a tart pan.

Now, the recipe flopped because of the baker, not because of the recipe. I read other people's comments, and the hardest part was getting the cream up to 180F. I had that same problem. Next time I need to use a deeper pan for the double broiler because the boiling water almost spilled out after awhile. Also, it takes a lot of arm strength because you must constantly whisk for 10-20 minutes (depending on how long it takes to reach 180F). Although my cream did thicken in the fridge, it wasn't enough to hold on its own in the pie crust. Also, there was too much butter for my family to stomach. Next time, I'll cut the amount in half and taste as I go along.


The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart




I'm not going to post the recipe because I wasn't satisfied with my results (and I stress my results, not the recipe itself). The recipe can be found in Baking: From My Home To Yours, 2006 p.331.

No Orange Zest For Me

Entries are due this Saturday for the Weekend Cookbook Challenge - Vintage Cookbooks!

How could the simple flavor of orange make one sick? I love chocolate oranges and Jaffa cakes. Perhaps it is because the chocolate is the dominant flavor and orange is the back-up.

When the janitor uses citrus cleaner, I feel like I'm going to pass out/gag from the orange smell. I hate the taste of orange juice. I can stomach it when it's paired with other juices, but it takes me awhile to drink the entire carton (I still have orange peach mango juice from almost two weeks ago).

However, yesterday really opened up my eyes. I spontaneously bought 3 oranges for 99 cents a few weeks ago. One I used, one got moldy, and the other was still salvagable (I made sure to scrub it hard). I decided to make Chocolate Covered Candied Orange Peels and Orange Beef and Broccoli. Well, I burnt the orange peels. I didn't get a chance to cook them until transparent, so they still had the peel texture. Ick. I may try these again when I'm home with my family so they can eat most of them. As for the beef, my roommate said it smelled good. I have a low odor threshold, so I couldn't tell you. I used mushrooms, red pepper, and carrots due to lack of broccoli. Everything tasted delicious until I added orange zest at the very end. I didn't think the orange zest would make my stomach rebel, but it did. I barely finished it. I'm not posting the recipes because they aren't to my liking just yet. However, if you love orange, you can click on the links and try it.

To end on a happy note, here is my baby trying to sleep. I get to see him on Friday!



Murray's good side


p.s. I want a lemon tree.

Life Is Full Of Lemons

I love my new ramekins. They are perfect for individual desserts, but there's never enough to go around. When I saw this recipe in my free trial issue of Taste of Home magazine, I had to try it. I made these back in March, but because of laptop problems, I haven't had access to the picture.

I apologize about the picture not looking very appetizing, but I wanted to get both the pudding and souffle layer. By cooking the ramekins in a hot water bath, the bottom remains liquidy. It's hard to tell when they are done because you can't see the bottom. I dug into one of them and saw that the bottom wasn't thick enough.

This dessert is very light and lemony.


Lemon Pudding Souffles




1 egg, separated
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1 Tbsp flour
Dash salt
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon zest

In a small mixing bowl, beat egg yolk until slightly thickened. Gradually add sugar, beating until thick and lemon-colored. Beat in milk, butter, flour, and salt. Stir in lemon juice and zest.

In a small mixing bowl, beat egg white until stiff peaks form, about 4 minutes. With a spatula, stir in a fourth of the egg whites into lemon mixture until no white streaks remain. Fold in remaining egg white until combined.

Divide between two 6-oz or four 4-oz ramekins. Place in an 8-inch baking dish. Add 1 inch of hot water to dish. Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes (mine took 35 min) or until tops are golden brown. Serve immediately.

Makes two 6-oz or four 4-oz servings

Source: Taste of Home, Feb/Mar 2008 p. 59

Bread Machine - More Than Just Bread

I made white bread again on Monday. I was gone all morning and early afternoon, so by the time I got home, it was close to dinnertime. My mom wanted bread, but there was no way it would be done in time for dinner. She said that was fine. We could eat it after dinner. Well, that was a bad idea because my dad made his Italian potato salad (made with oil and vinegar rather than mayonnaise - amazing!),so we all filled up on that. The loaf of bread was only half-eaten. Since fresh bread goes stale the next day, I decided to try something on my list: #53 bread pudding.

The first time I had bread pudding was in Ireland. About once a month, I stayed over my friend's house in Dublin. Her and her family were amazing to me. When her mom found out I never had bread pudding, she made some for me. It was the only the best bread pudding I've had. Now, this bread pudding probably doesn't compare to hers since this is my first time, but it was still delicious. I was a little skeptical to pair it with the lemon sauce the recipe called for, but surprisingly, they went well together. The lemon sauce made a lot, so below is the adjusted version (which still makes a lot). You can serve the leftover sauce on ice cream or cake. Maybe even pancakes or waffles.

Classic Raisin Bread Pudding



4 cups firm white bread, cubed
1 cup raisins
2 cups milk
2 Tbsp butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Lemon Sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch or 2 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp butter

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a one-quart baking dish. Combine bread and raisins; place in baking dish.

2. Heat milk and butter in a saucepan until butter has melted (do not boil). In a bowl, combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add milk mixture to egg mixture, stirring constantly. Pour over bread mixture; let stand 5 minutes. Bake uncovered for 50-60 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

3. For sauce: combine sugar and cornstarch/flour in saucepan. Stir in water, zest, and juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in butter until combined. Serve immediately on top of bread pudding.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Source: Gooseberry Patch Family Favorite Recipes with Sun-Maid Raisins and Dried Fruit, 2005 p.24

You can get a free copy of the Gooseberry Patch book from the Sun Maid website.

Chocolate For Breakfast?

Having early classes means not getting up until the last possible minute. Because I enjoy my sleep, I sacrifice time for eating breakfast. Usually it's just a granola bar to last me until I eat lunch, usually 11 or 12. I wanted to eat something on the go when I don't want a granola bar. Muffins, if prepared with the correct ingredients, can be a healthy alternative. I was getting antsy in my relatively new apartment, so I decided to bake for the first time this semester. I wanted to try out my orange extract I bought but never opened. I love the combination of chocolate and orange, so I searched for an orange chocolate chip muffin. After a few minutes of searching on Recipe Zaar, I found one. Now, these aren't the healthiest because of the chocolate, but it's still better than a Pop Tart or sugar cereals (which I cut out of my diet since I eat enough junk throughout the day). These muffins tasted fantastic, but they could've used a little more volume. Maybe next time I will try adding oats. Or I may have overmixed the batter. If you have an orange available, I would add orange zest and cut back on the extract to 1 Tbsp. I used 1 cup chocolate chips, but there was way too much chocolate in one bite (not that it tasted bad or anything ;) ) so I would go with 1/2 cup. As a side note, I don't buy eggs unless I plan on using alot, so I subbed for it and it turned out fine. I included that in the recipe below.

And if any of you have been paying attention, this is recipe #2 towards my goal.


Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins




2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg (or use 2 Tbsp water + 1 Tbsp oil + 2 tsp baking powder)
2 Tbsp orange extract (or 2 Tbsp orange zest + 1 Tbsp orange extract)

Preheat oven to 400F. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips. In another bowl, whisk milk, oil, egg,and extract. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir together for 20 seconds, or until just moist. If you see lumps, it is OK to leave them. Lightly grease muffin pan or use paper liners and fill each 2/3 full with batter. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Best served warm. Makes 12 muffins.

Source: Recipe Zaar


What do you eat for breakfast?
I eat Quaker chocolate and peanut butter granola bars or Honey Bunches of Oats cereal. Occasionally I'll have french toast, waffles, hash browns, sausage, biscuits and gravy (!!!), leftover cake, or a banana.

Weekend Cookbook Challenge 18

What do you do when you can't find the recipe you're looking for? Make it up. That's right. I made my own recipe!! I had 1 lemon that I needed to use up. When my dad was going through the cupboard above the stove, he pointed out that I had jumbo shells I needed to use (they were up there probably at least a year). What does lemon juice + shells equal? Greek stuffed shells, of course. I googled for recipes, but I got nothing. So I took the typical Greek ingredients and replaced the Italian ingredients with these. I also decided to enter this into the Weekend Cookbook Challenge 18 - Red and White due to the tomatoes and cucumber sauce.

EDIT - Round up is now posted.


Greek Stuffed Shells




12 jumbo shells
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup cucumber, peeled and diced
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dillweed
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1 egg, beaten
5 black olives, chopped

1. Boil water. Cook shells for 10 minutes. Drain; run under cold water to stop any further cooking.

2. For the sauce, combine yogurt, cucumbers, garlic powder, 1/2 tsp dillweed, and 1 Tbsp lemon juice. Cover and let chill in the refrigerator.

3. Combine cheese, 1/2 tsp dill, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, tomatoes, egg, and olives.

4. Preheat oven to 350F. Spread the bottom of 13x9 pan with some of the sauce. Place shells on top. Stuff with the cheese mixture. Pour remaining sauce on top. Cover with foil. Bake for 35 minutes.

Source: Sauce from Recipe Zaar, Shell recipe by me


Nectarine Crisp




I also made dessert. This has nothing to do with Greek cuisine but still delicious nonetheless. I used this recipe from Recipe Zaar. I left out the blueberries and wheat germ. Next time, I will try it with raspberries.

On a Lemon Kick

I never made muffins before, so when I added the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, I freaked out when the batter became dough-like instead of runny. I guess I was expecting runny, like cake and cupcake batter. I should've known better. I used two recipes for these muffins. Since one required more butter than the other, I added more butter in a panic. Whether it helped, I don't know. I do know that it could've used more lemon juice because the lemon flavor wasn't strong enough. I used only 1/2 lemon, but I would suggest using a whole lemon.


Lemon Muffins




2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, melted
1 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
Lemon juice from 1 lemon
2 eggs
8 oz sour cream

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin tins or line with paper cups.

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt; blend well.

3. Melt butter. Stir in lemon juice, zest, eggs, and sour cream. Stir wet mixture into dry mixture and blend until moistened. Do not overstir. Spoon in muffin tin. Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Source: Inspired by Razzle Dazzle Recipes and Recipezaar



"I can't reach!"

Interview Questions from Paige + Cake

Have you ever known someone with the same birthday as you? I haven't met her personally, but Paige from Chef-girl.net shares my birthday - May 15. I replied to her post about interview questions, and she sent me 5 questions to answer.

1. What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?
I love to try new foods. Whenever I was in Scotland, my friends and I stopped at an Australian bar. I ordered a kangaroo burger while one of my friends ordered a springbok burger. Surprisingly, both were very tasty. The kangaroo burger was very lean, and I think I read on the menu it's healthier than a beef burger.

2. What ingredients do you always like to have on hand?
As far as baking goes, I always have a bag of chocolate chips plus the basics - baking soda/powder, shortening, sugar, flour, etc. As far as cooking goes, spices are essential - basil, chili powder, cumin, garlic salt, etc. I try to have some sort of veggie with dinner, whether it's frozen, canned, or fresh.

3. If you opened a restaurant, what would you call it, and what would you serve?
This is a tough one. I have ideas for a bakery but not a restaurant. Since I'm 50% Italian, I would probably have an Italian restaurant. As far as the name goes, I can't think of one right now. For my bakery, it would be called Chocolate Moosey, have a moose theme, and serve all types of baked goods. Maybe even a cafe/bakery because I love coffee.

4. If you were to go on a food-themed vacation, what country would you choose?
Since I've eaten alot of Chinese food and not much Japanese food, I would choose Japan because I love sushi and so I could experiment with different meals.

5 - (and the classic) Which three people (living/dead/fictional/real) would you invite to a dinner party?
Antonio Banderas because he's sexy, Owen Wilson because he's hilarious, and JD from Scrubs because he's my favorite character (besides Dr. Cox).

Directions for the Interview Meme
1. Leave a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. Please make sure I have your email address.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.


I also made dinner and dessert tonight. This is what I do on my day off from work.


Linguine Tuna Salad




1/2 lb. linguine
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried basil
1 (12 1/2 oz) can tuna, drained
1 (14 oz) can peas, drained
1 (7 oz) can mushrooms
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, drained

1. Cook pasta according to package.

2. Meanwhile, combine juice, oil, onion, sugar, and basil. Drain pasta; toss with mixture. Add tuna, peas, mushrooms, and tuna. Chill for an hour before serving.

My thoughts: I subbed angel hair pasta for linguine. I would suggest using fresh veggies instead of canned.

Source: "Favorite Italian Brand Name Recipes" 1983 p.10


Lemon Cornmeal Cake




This has to be one of my best cakes yet. Since I had leftover cornmeal from the Weekend Cookbook Challenge round-up, I viewed the entries for ideas. This cake wins. You don't even need the powdered sugar on top, but I did it for garnish. You could also top with cream cheese frosting or glazed icing. Recipe can be found at Lemon Almond.



My baby looking for attention.

Why Can't Everyone Enjoy Seafood?

It's very hard to make seafood dinners when one member of the family hates it. Not only do I have to make the seafood dinner, I also have to make something else to accommodate my mom's hate for seafood. Usually she's content with a grilled cheese sandwich, but since there was veal in the freezer, Friday night I made 2 dinners and dessert. It was easy to do because both involved spaghetti and I could bake the meat while cooking the shrimp, but there's a lot of preparation for one person to do. Fortunately, dessert only took 5 minutes to prepare.


Lemon Garlic Shrimp




1 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined and cooked (tails optional)
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp lemon juice (or juice from 2 lemons)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup olive oil
Enough spaghetti for 4 people (1/2 - 1 lb.)

1. Prepare shrimp as necessary. If frozen, run under hot water. Make sure all shrimp are deveined (if using prepared bag, some shrimp are overlooked in the deveining process). Tails are ok to leave on (although I would recommend tailess). If not already cooked, cook the shrimp.

2. Boil pasta in water. Meanwhile, combine lemon juice, garlic, basil, and oil in a bowl. Pour into skillet. Heat shrimp in lemon mixture until hot. Add more lemon juice if needed.

3. Drain pasta. Add pasta, shrimp and lemon mixture to bowl; toss together.

My thoughts: We didn't have enough spaghetti, so there wasn't enough food for 3 of us. I served it with green beans.

Source: Inspired by Razzle Dazzle Recipes


Veal Scallopini




I never had veal before, so I tried a piece when I cooked it. I think I'll stick with beef. My mom enjoyed it, so that's good enough for me. Since I didn't change the recipe (except changing it to 1 serving), you can view it here.


Pudding Parfaits




1 (4 serving) box of banana pudding
2 cups cold milk
Sliced strawberries
Chocolate syrup
Whipped topping

Prepare pudding as directed on package. Fill the bottoms of 6 wine glasses with pudding. Add enough chocolate syrup to cover the pudding. Top with strawberries. Repeat the layers. Top with whipped topping.

There are many variations to this recipe. You can have banana pudding + banana slices + chocolate syrup; coconut cream pudding + shredded coconut + chocolate syrup; vanilla pudding + chocolate chips + chocolate syrup; chocolate pudding + banana slices + strawberry syrup. Experiment with different flavors. Perfect for hot summer days.

Source: Me (inspired by picture in "New Joys of Jell-o" April 1991, p.15)