Valentine's Day Playlist & Quick Cake!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  May love and laughter mark not only today but all your days.
Shout out to both my boys for helping to make a lovely supper on a busy weeknight.  Ryan was my sous chef for the pasta with meat sauce (evoking Lady and the Tramp) and Ethan helped me with this tasty and quick to assemble chocolate cake.

This miracle cake is moist and delicious.
You whisk all the dry ingredients in your baking square,
create a well in the middle (like for homemade pasta),
incorporate the wet ingredients with your whisk,
bake for 35 minutes,
cool, frost and serve in the same dish!

This recipe is an easy vegan treat (no eggs, no dairy), simple enough for beginning bakers and perfect for all of us on a busy night.  Another classic from Mad Hungry, check it out at this link.

I also thought I'd share our playlist for today - made possible by the  'old' tradition of buying CD's rather than downloading singles onto an MP3 player. :).  It was great fun rummaging through the old collection.  What romantic classics are sitting on your shelf of CD's?

Fly Me To The Moon
(sorry for the small pic!)

Slightly, embarrassing that I knew all the words.

Classic - bring on those memories!

No one could sing quite like her.
And this movie was a romance must back in the day!

Tony Bennett is always groovy!

menu: ethan's birthday

Today we celebrate Ethan! In the spirit of 'It takes a village', today we'll tell tales of dear friends and family and how they played a part of Ethan's birth.  Ethan arrived early; his due date was Valentine's Day.  As you might imagine, this lends a comical air to the stories --- Marjorie's 'midnight ride' to Georgetown Hospital, Ryan's first ever sleepover with Danny, Jeff leaving MBA classes at Georgetown (how convenient!) to meet me, Jeff and I finally agreeing on his name in the halls of Labor and Delivery, Nancy's rescue and sleepover with us at the hospital, Debra's triage and the mass goldfish funeral, Nana's week of carpool to Montessori (driving DC rotaries - so brave!) and the Hogan's arrival during one of DC's most memorable blizzards.  Whew!

So many of our loved ones have winter birthdays so we try to celebrate over cozy dinners.  I can't think of anything more memorable than laughter and loved ones together to share good food and great times.  We'll be sure to post more pictures of the food and preparations later this week!

PS.  In case you're hungry for a cozy celebration of your own, here are links to two of our favorites:

Claire's Heirloom Cake

Mad Hungry's Spinach Artichoke Dip

lemon cake

lemon cake brings a little sunshine to a cold, winter's afternoon

We have a 'flavor love affair' with lemon in this family.  Lemon slices in water, lemon ice, lemonade, lemon bars, limonata, lemon chicken, ... and our secretly simple lemon cake.  This recipe comes from a little gem, Coffee Cakes and Quick Breads, by Renny Darling.  It is out of print, but I found my copy on Amazon.


Although I've come to baking later in my life - I must admit that baked goods are now the most rewarding thing to offer my family.  They love breads, muffins, cakes - like nothing else I put in front of them.  And my boys are more easily persuaded to help when it involves something sweet from the kitchen.  I'm excited to share this with you.  Look for the little tip at the end about dressing it up for company.


Lemon Cake
adapted from Coffee Cakes & Quick Breads




Ingredients:

this juicer is a great gadget!
found mine at Williams Sonoma

1 8-oz pkg cream cheese, softened (you can use a reduced-fat version here if needed)
1 stick of butter, softened (1/2 c)
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 c flour
1 T baking powder


Directions:

1. Beat together the cream cheese and butter, till fluffy. (approximately 2 minutes)

2. Add the sugar until blended.  Add in the eggs, one at a time, until blended.  Beat in the lemon zest and juice.

3. Combine the dry ingredients (I often do this in advance.) and incorporate gradually to the wet batter.  Do not over beat. (I used my KitchenAid mixer for this recipe. You could use a handheld mixer, too.)

batter is thick
used a spatula to spread

4.  Pour into your prepared pan.  Although it is a thick batter, (I used a wide rubber spatula to spread it out in my pan.) it is very versatile.  The original recipe calls for a 10" tube pan or bundt.  I've used a 9x13" (like today), a muffin tin or a mini-bundt pan for special occasions.

5.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  Use a cake tester in the center - it will come out clean when ready.

6.  My children like this plain or with whipped cream.  A glaze would make it company-worthy. While it is cooling combine: 1 T cream, 2 t lemon zest & 1/2 c powdered sugar.  Use a spoon to drape this creamy glaze over your cake(s).

santa gave us our cake tester

mini-bundt pan

fancy for company