The Cake of All Cakes

A dear old friend of mine (no, she's not old, I've just known her since kindergarten!) recently had a birthday. When I found out she was going to make her own cake, I had to put an end to that! It took a day to convince her, but she finally relented. Now she didn't just want any ol' cake, she had her eyes set on a cake from Sky High: Irresistable Triple-Layer Cakes. I guess it's my fault. I was the one who pointed her in the direction of Deb's site- Smitten Kitchen, where she had posted the recipe for a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake.


I was a little nervous, and had to borrow a cake pan (I only have 2!), but I did a test run for some substitutions and couldn't have been happier with the results (as was my lab :)). Instead of sour cream I used fat free greek yogurt. I also used a majority of WW pastry flour, as I ran out of white flour. Since oil separation is bad for frosting, I went with a jar of Skippy Natural. The last thing I wasn't sure would work, but it totally held up-- Smart Balance 50/50 sticks and Nufatchel (instead of full-fat cream cheese) in the frosting. Score! I also added extra pb to the ganache (prob 2T), since the bday girl and I couldn't taste the pb :)

The sour cream/greek yogurt cake was incredibly moist and delicious. I baked these 2 days ahead and froze until the morning of assembly. The peanut butter cream cheese frosting? No words, my friends, no words. Just make it. I also did this 2 days ahead, kept in the fridge. Top it off with a dark chocolate- pb ganache (made on site, at time of assembly)-- heaven.

Not to toot my own horn, but it came out incredible. I should really go toot Alisa, Peter and Tina's horns, cause this one was outta da pahk (odd to type with a boston accent)! Rave reviews all around as far as I know :)

Happy Birthday Rebecca!!

Spicy Chicken Burgers

I don't like chicken wings, and never used to like anything spicy, so I always stayed away from Buffalo this or that. That was then.

Thank god my taste buds grew up :) I had seen Dani make buffalo meatballs awhile back, and after unearthing some ground chicken from the depths of my freezer I knew just what I wanted to do with it!

Buffalo Chix Burgers

I followed her recipe, cut in half for my 1/2lb of ground chicken. The only thing I did differently was to form it into two burgers instead of meatballs and grill it up! I still don't like blue cheese all that much, so I skipped the dressing and topped mine off with a thick slice of grilled Vidalia onion. Still had my carrot sticks and celery on the side! The burgers were great, very moist (from the hot sauce i think) and flavorful--I'll definitely be making these again!

A summer meal at it's finest, no matter what the weather!

Rain, Rain GO AWAY

I know I shouldn't complain, but I could use a break from all the rain we've been getting. Luckily, I'm heading to Durham for the weekend, so I'll have a little escape!

What do you do when strolling through the farmers market and you see bunches of rhubarb $3 or 2/$5? Buy two of course! Turns out they were good size stalks, too- 1lb each! I love rhubarb, and it's not without benefits--check out Zesty's recent post about it!

My mind always goes straight to the strawberry rhubarb pie my mom always made, but this time I wanted to try something different. Went to my trusty recipe cove and came up with two savory ways to enjoy rhubarb. I know they're not my own recipes (the title of the dish is a link to the recipes), but I thought they were both delicious, and worth sharing!! If you still see some rhubarb around in stores/farmers markets, be sure to give it a try :) Sorry for the lighting of the photos, I tried!

Pork Tenderloin w/Indian-Spiced Cherry Rhubarb Chutney

Tofu w/Hot & Sour Sauce
toppings on the side, for a certain someone who doesn't like onions ;)

Sunny Apricots

Apricot Cake

Doesn't that look like sunshine? :) Or maybe pillows... All this rain seems to be getting to me ;)

One way to brighten your day is to make this delightful cake to make with some fresh apricots! I made half the recipe in an 8" round pan. Instead of a mix of WWW and quinoa flour, I used a mix of mostly WW pastry and a little WW flour. I also used honey, and even though I accidentally added 1/4c yogurt (that was the original amount, not halved), I needed a little liquid to make the dough come together (I used Lactaid). I had ~1T chopped pistachios hanging out in my freezer, so they got tossed on top instead of almonds.

full frontal

I overcooked mine just a tad (or maybe could've used a bit more liquid), but it was still delicious. I opted for a drizzle of honey at the time of serving instead of a glaze. I'd highly recommend this for brunch or a not-to-sweet dessert! I'm sure any stone fruit (plums, peaches, nectarines, pluots, apriums... did i get them all?) would work well here :)

this is my good side

An ode to Spring

I think the weather is confused. It has certainly felt like spring around here, even though the first day of summer is right around the corner. This dish seems to fit, chock full of spring veggies. I followed this recipe for Pasta Primavera. Well, "followed" as I normally do, subbing this and that :) It started at the grocery store... I happened upon a package of "fresh" pasta for 99cents (on sale, plus a $2 coupon). Old habits die hard, and I couldn't resist. The catch? It needed to be cooked by the next day. I already asparagus, criminis, a yellow pepper, peas, spinach in my kitchen, so pasta primavera it was. I'm sure fresh peas would also be great if you have them. This was a fantastic veggie-packed delight, that also reheated well for lunch!

Pasta Primavera

Anyone else catch Cook Yourself Thin (where this recipe came from)? Reminds me of a British version of Ellie Krieger's show in it's cooking philosophy. I'd say this one's a hit, we'll have to see how some of the others fare!