Lemon Yogurt Cake

I love lemons. If I had lived in a cool climate hundreds of years ago, I probably would have asked you for lemons for Christmas. Loving me as you do, you would have bought me several, and I would have baked you a delicious lemon cake as a reward.

Thanks to globalization and fossil fuels, I can now buy lemons any time I want...

But still, a lemon cake was in order. The whole wheat flour made it healthier, but maybe less delicious than this similar smitten kitchen cake. I didn't follow that recipe exactly anyway. My cake was still very tasty and maybe a little healthy.

Ingredients:
1 cup plan, whole milk yogurt, unsweetened
1/4 lemon juice
2 tbs butter
1 cup sugar
Zest of one lemon
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 2/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups fresh berries (I used blueberries and a few raspberries)
**You can use frozen berries too**

Grease two small bread loaf pans with the butter, use some cooking spray if surface is uneven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all liquid ingredients and stir well. Add sugar, and stir that well too. Add the dry ingredients and the rest of the butter, and mix until the batter has virtually no lumps. Fold in berries and pour batter into pans. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. It's done when a toothpick comes out clean.

Pasta with Spinach and Blue Cheese

I've been sitting on the dish for almost a week now. Luckily, my spinach had a far-off expiration date. I actually bought the pasta, Fusilli Col Buco, about two months ago, and I've spent much of that time dwelling on what kind of awesome sauce to put on it. This particular pasta is great for carrying sauces, so this might not have been the perfect topping. Obviously, it was super delicious, and I still have the other half of the box to combine with another sauce.

Ingredients:
Almost an entire bag of spinach, large stems removed, coarsely chopped
Half a box of Fusilli Cos Buco, or another spaghetti-like noodle
As much blue cheese as you can handle (I used blue goat cheese, which was creamy and wonderful)
Salt and pepper to taste
A tablespoon of butter
**Adapted from this Mark Bittman recipe**

Clean and chop your spinach. Bring water to a boil and add pasta. When it's almost done, add the spinach, blanching it. Drain. Return pasta and spinach to pot with the butter, cheese, salt and pepper. Turn a the burner on low if necessary. Mix well while it all melts together. Serve with fresh tomatoes if desired.

Garlic Chive Hummus: A really good idea

After paying a whole $1 for those garlic chives, I've been trying to think of new things to do with them. The garlic chive risotto was good, in the way that risotto is always good. Garlic chive hummus, although unheard of according to the internet, is amazing.

With hummus, I always either have too little garlic (like one clove you can't taste) or too much garlic (like 3 cloves that give you dragon breath). These garlic chives were the perfect in between and also added a little bit of freshness...whatever that means...

The strange greenness was nice too. I have yet to post a hummus recipe on my blog, because I feel like that it's pretty basic. But I really thought this one was special.

Ingredients:
1 standard size can chickpeas
1 handful of garlic chives (about 12) with the softest part of the ends removed
3/4 cup olive oil (or less if you're willing to add water)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 lemon or lime, juiced
1/4 cup tahini or a little less

Mix ingredients in blender or food processor until you get hummus. Add more of one of the aforementioned liquids if it starts to stick.

Garlic Chive Risotto

Finally, I've gotten to those garlic chives. These are similar to regular chives, but obviously, more garlicky. You can put them in just about anything for a little extra flavor, but they don't have an appealing texture when raw.

I made risotto once before this, but this time, it turned out much better. I think that's because I used more stock this time around.

Ingredients:
1 cup arborio rice
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup dry white wine
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 small red onion, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
7-8 garlic chives (use the parts that crunch when you chop them)
1/4-1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
1-2 tablespoons of truffle oil (optional)
**The second time I made this, I added a teaspoon of turmeric, which gave my risotto a beautiful golden hue (not pictured here).

Fry the onions in the butter. Add the rice and saute at a low heat until well coated, adding more butter if necessary. Add the white wine and cook at low heat until absorbed. Slowly start adding the stock, 1/4 cup at a time. Add more when absorbed. Stir frequently but not constantly. It should take you about 20 minutes to use up that stock. Add the garlic and garlic chives halfway though.

When finished, at the Parmesan and truffle oil. Salt to taste and stir well. Serve quickly.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

These cupcakes were for my friend Erin's birthday. She's a big fan of peanut butter, so it seemed to make sense. It might have made a little too much sense though...her roommate made her a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting for her birthday... Oh well, both were delicious, and we sort of had a theme going.

I used my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe, which also happens to be the only chocolate cupcake recipe I've ever used. They turned out great. This is what I used for the frosting, though I had to use more milk and less sugar to get a nice consistency.

Farmer's Market Fresh Salad

For years, I've complained about how I don't live in a place with a big, awesome outdoor market. Today, I discovered the Minneapolis Farmer's Market on Lyndale Avenue North. They have SO much stuff there: dozens of vegetable and flower stands; vendors of organic meat, cheese and eggs; State Fair style stands selling snacks; and also clothing and craft stalls. There were even some street performers playing music (though none were very good). I guess I'll shut my mouth about Minneapolis' lack of a big, awesome outdoor market, because this is it.

So I kicked off my farmer's market shopping season there today. Though I didn't leave with bags and bags of produce, I did indulge in some $13 morel mushrooms. I know, I know $13 for about 8 mushrooms is a little crazy, but these are so good and so hard to find. The only other time I've eaten them was as a child when my parents found them in our yard. So if I do this once a year, and I make good use of them, it's totally worth it.

I sauteed a couple of these mushrooms and put them on my salad today. Also on that salad, some Chinese onions from the farmer's market. These looked a little different from regular spring onions, but tasted similar and may actually be the same thing. I am not sure. Whatever, they were only like $2.

The only other things I bought today were garlic chives and and some honey from Ames Farm . Stay tuned to see what I do with these.

Potato Leek Gratin +

Man, have I been craving some spring greens lately. I've been seeing them E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E. So even though I didn't make it to the farmer's market this weekend, I had to buy something that at least felt seasonal. And that's how I ended up bringing these three huge leeks home.


I'd been craving some cheesy potato gratin for a while, so that's what I did with these leeks. Basically, just follow this potato gratin recipe, adding sauteed garlic and leeks between layers. I would recommend you use the white part of the leeks (with lots of garlic, pepper and a little nutmeg), reserving the greens for something else.

The best I could come up with for the greens was vegetable stock.