Raspberry Bundt Cake with Candied Lemon Zest Icing

He agreed we can give you our recipe!

I found an awesome recipe in an old library book years ago that called for mixing box cake, fruit, and jello mix; I could never find the exact recipe again, but I remember that it was very simple, and turned out great the few times I made it. One piece of advice I have for following a recipe, especially in baking, is to read the directions FIRST! Then go back and deal with ingredients, and re-follow them. I'm still working on taking my own advice, because it's an all to common occurrence that I'll start a recipe before I've read the entire thing, and it bites me in the ass!

Cheating with store bought cake and jello mix, allows me to spend more time on the lemon glaze with candied lemon zest for the icing. It's my sister-in-law's birthday and she loves lemon, (since I made her lemon meringue pie last year), I wanted to do a cake this year.

*Also, the first cake I made in my new bundt pan stuck to the bottom despite the fact that I greased it with ample amounts of cooking spray. To avoid this tragedy use shortening and flour all over the inside of the pan. Cooking spray is not enough!

*Skip the zest if it's too much work the cake will still be great!

Raspberry Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze & Candied Lemon Zest

Raspberry Bundt Cake

1 box white cake mix
4 eggs
1/4 cup hot water
1 box raspberry jello mix
1/3 cup canola oil or veg oil
1/2 pint of fresh raspberries

Shortening
Flour

1. Mix 4 eggs, hot water, cake mix, oil, and jello on low speed for 30 seconds. Then mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add raspberries and stir.
2. Pour cake into greased bundt pan (greased with shortening and then dusted with flour) and bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out the cake onto a rack.

Ingredients for Lemon Glaze 

2 cups powdered sugar

5 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice

1. Mix sugar and lemon juice until smooth.
2. Ice cake once the cake is cool to the touch. 

Ingredients for Candied Lemon Zest

4  Meyer lemons for their zest

2 cups sugar + 1 tbsp. sugar 

1 cup of cool water

1. Peel cleaned lemons avoiding the pith. Chop lemon peels and pour about 3 cups of boiling water over them, and let them sit for 30 minutes, then drain them.
2. While waiting on the peels, heat cool water and sugar over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. 
3. Drain the lemon zest and add to the sugar and water for about 10 minutes on medium low. 
4. Cover overnight.
5. Drain the lemons from the syrup, sprinkle with tbsp. sugar and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Sprinkle over iced cake.

Spiced Valentine's Brownies

I recently read a recipe in Better Homes & Gardens called Sweet & Spicy Brownie Bites, and liked the sound of it. I wasn't thrilled with a dessert being spicy though, so I've made some tweaks and developed a Brownie that's spiced rather than spicy, has a wonderful depth of flavor with nutmeg, chili powder, and cinnamon, and turns an ordinary brownie into something with a little edge. Perfect for a Valentine's Day treat for your hubby or bf, and they're EASY too!

Steps I don't want you to forget or overlook are: letting eggs & chocolate mix come to room temp. and don't over mix the dry ingredients when adding them to the chocolate and egg mixture.

Spiced Valentine's Brownies 

  

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp. ground Chipotle Chile powder

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

9 oz. semi-sweet mini dark chocolate chips

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

5 eggs (room temp)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter sides and bottom of a 13x9 inch baking pan.
2. Sift top 7 ingredients together, then whisk.
3. Put chocolate in a mixing bowl, and place it above a small saucepan with about 2 inches of water over medium-low heat on the stove. (Double boiler). Add the butter chunks. Mix slowly as it heats. Once all butter and chocolate have melted together remove bowl from stove.
4. Add sugar to chocolate. Stir in to combine.
5. Let chocolate and eggs come to room temp before mixing them together. 
6. Add 3 eggs to chocolate. Whisk together. Then whisk in remaining 2 eggs.
7. Slowly sprinkle flour mixture over chocolate and fold together with a silicon spatula. Just until combined. Don't over mix.
8. Pour into buttered baking pan, smooth out the top, and bake for 30 minutes.

*dust with sweet ground cocoa powder or powdered sugar to really make them fancy.

THESE BROWNIES ARE AMAZING!!!! and I'm a tough critic. Better than any box mix, or store bought varieties, and the best brownies I've ever home-made. They're even better when cooled, so making them ahead of time is ideal. 

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Limoncello!

Lemons are in season again, and I've been saving up ideas all year. With lemons from my own tree, and a massive bag of Meyers from a friend, it's lemon time.

If you can, get your paws on some Meyer lemons. Meyers, native to China, are a California staple, and I was lucky enough to learn about their sweet flavor from a friend with a love for lemon drops a few years ago. And to be gifted a large bag from another friend this year!

Don't let your lemons go to waste.  Here's the first of a few fabulous ideas for lemon:

Make Limoncello! Nothing will impress a group of guests more than a frosty bottle of limoncello after a dinner party. What's more, it's so easy. All you need is vodka, lemons, sugar, and a mason jar...

Limoncello

12 Meyer Lemons (only the peel)

1 cup sugar

700 ml of good vodka 

*Good vodka doesn't always mean expensive vodka, try Costco's Kirkland version, it's awesome.

Let's get started:

Peel the cleaned lemons, like you would peel a potato, try not to get the white part. Most recipes will tell you to cut off any white parts left behind, however, cutting it off doesn't work, SCRAPE off the leftover white pith with a serrated paring knife. Gently shave and scrape off the extra bitter pith. Add the peels to the jar. Add sugar on top of lemon peel. Add the vodka. Secure the lid, and shake. Shake the mix once everyday for two weeks, and at the end of the two weeks strain the peels out of the mix. 

Store the Limoncello in the freezer and once it's chilled, ENJOY! 

Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pie is a dish you can tailor-make to suit your life at the moment: homemade and healthy, not so homemade and a little less healthy, homemade and semi-unhealthy...you get the point. I usually do the last option.

I like to make my mashed potatoes with light sour cream, use ground turkey instead of beef, and low sodium beef broth, so I don't feel quite as guilty smothering the top with cheese.

My Nana was English, & my Nanny Australian, so this dish has long, deep roots for me. It's very simple, and completely comforting. The only trouble I ever have is getting myself to stop eating it.

Mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, onions & ground beef in gravy are the basic premise. I hate peas, so they don't make the cut for me. But add them if you want.

Here's my latest rendition of this hearty treat from my homeland.

Total time 60 minutes or take a few short cuts and make it in 30 minutes.
*For busy moms, or all of you that work 40 hours a week, skip making your own mashed potatoes, NO ONE will notice and use the instant "just add water" variety. Use a food processor (on the pulse setting) for the carrots, & onions. Also buy your cheese shredded or just use a food processor on the grating setting. You will cut the length of time in half and the dish will still have great flavor. 

Shepherd's Pie                                                        

2 tbsp. Light Olive Oil                        

1 lb. Ground Turkey                                   
2 Carrots                                                     
1 Onion                                                                                            
1 & 1/2 cups Beef Stock
4 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce                              
2 tbsp. Cornstarch

2 cups Cheddar or Colby Jack Cheese (or more : )...)

Mashed Potatoes
4 large potatoes
1 cup light sour cream
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. granulated garlic

 I chop onions (into a small dice as pictured), saute in a tbsp. of light olive oil for 5 minutes,

 

then add beef stock and carrots (also cut on a small dice). Saute 5 minutes. 

 

Saute onions, carrots, and 1 cup beef stock together for 5 minutes, then pour into your casserole dish.

 

Make the sauce before you add it to the meat. Cornstarch needs to be mixed with a cool liquid or it will clump up.  For sauce: mix 1/2 cup beef stock, cornstarch, and Worcestershire sauce together.  

For Mashed Potatoes: Meanwhile fill a pot halfway with water and four peeled & chopped potatoes, start them on cold and boil for 22 minutes. Drain, add cup of sour cream, salt & granulated garlic. 

Or prepare your instant potatoes.

Break up your meat in the saute pan with more oil. Add the sauce after meat is pretty well broken. Cook meat about 10 minutes and add to casserole dish. Once you have the meat & veg mixed together in the dish, top with potatoes.

  

Taste your meat & veg at this point and don't be afraid to add a bit more Worcestershire sauce or pepper if the sauce needs kick.

Smooth potatoes over top of meat & veg to seal in juices. Top with at least two cups of cheese. 

Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees F. 

Enjoy!

Dutch Oven Pot Roast

Pot roast is one of those economical, crowd pleasing type of dinners; you can feed a group for about twenty bucks. If you've had a bad experience with pot roast in the past, you're not alone. Many people make the mistake of undercooking them, and others forget to sear them initially to lock in their juices, these two crucial mistakes can leave the meat tough and dry!

To keep the roast tender:

• Sear your roast on all sides.
• Make sure you have enough time (low and slow in a dutch oven in the oven).

Dutch Oven Pot Roast

Ingredients

3 lb. beef chuck (shoulder) roast

3 tablespoons veg. oil or light olive oil

2 1/2 cups beef stock

2 white onions

2 cups baby carrots or 5 big carrots

1 carton of white mushrooms (optional)

few sprigs fresh rosemary

few sprigs fresh thyme

salt & pepper

dash of red wine vinegar

Let's get started

1. Saute onions in a tbsp. oil on medium-high heat. Prep your oven to 275 degrees F.

2. Remove onions, saute carrots in oil about three minutes. You're not cooking the vegetables at this stage just browning them for flavor. Set carrots aside with onions. 

3. Add seasoned roast to pan (add oil if it looks dry), pan should be very hot and make a sizzling noise when the roast is added. Brown for a few minutes on ALL sides. Your locking moisture in!

4. Remove roast. Add beef stock, then scrape the bits stuck to the bottom of your pan with a WOODEN spoon.

5. Add mushrooms and herbs, and browned onions, carrots, and roast back into the pot.

6. Cozy the ingredients together, put the lid on, and bake for 3 1/2 hours at 275!

 

7. Taste your liquid. Season with salt and pepper, and a dash of red wine vinegar to enhance every flavor in the pot. Let your roast rest in juices for ten minutes after you pull it out of the oven.

8. Pull your beautiful roast apart with tongs, and serve with the broth in big bowls. Serve with hot biscuits or rolls. ENJOY!