Cakes, Desserts, Recipes

Lime Yogurt Cake with Raspberry Sauce

Sarah

I found this recipe back in April and have been drooling over it ever since. However, I never had an occasion to make it. So I found one.

Lime Yogurt Cake with Raspberry Sauce
love these two together! color + flavor 🙂

The occasion? Sunday afternoon. 🙂

Lime Yogurt Cake with Raspberry Sauce
together, they make this!

I hardly made any changes from the original recipe, with the main change being a swap from blackberries to raspberries for the sauce. Raspberries happened to be on sale and looked pretty, plus my husband had mentioned a hankering for them so I decided to go for it. And do not regret it one bit. Be sure to pop over to Smitten Kitchen to read the original recipe [even that one was adapted], because she gives some great tips and tricks to make this cake absolutely divine. The cake isn’t rich. Instead, it’s light and almost buttery in your mouth, which is perfect for a hot summer day. The tang of the lime and plain yogurt coupled with the sweetness of the berries is a fabulous contrast, and leaves you wanting more. And more. And more. I just had to have seconds. 🙂

Lime Yogurt Cake with Raspberry Sauce

  • Servings: 8
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from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup plain unsweetened yogurt <— I used Dannon nonfat because it was all I could find, however, whole milk or 2% Greek is recommended in the original.
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil  <— vegetable or olive oil is recommended, but I loved the tropical flavor of coconut oil
  • zest of one lime
  • 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon lime juice, divided [approximately 1 1/2 – 2/3 limes]
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 6 ounces fresh raspberries
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use cooking spray to grease a 9″ springform pan. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the yogurt, oil, sugar, lime zest, and lime juice.

In a second smaller bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside. Add eggs, one at a time, to the yogurt mixture, whisking well in between. Then, sift the flour mixture into the batter. This will make the batter so light and fluffy! Stir gently with a wooden spoon until combined.

Pour batter into pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. [Recommended time was 35-40 minutes; mine was done in 32.] Cool in pan on cooling rack for 10 minutes, then remove side of springform pan and cool until serving.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. In a food processor, combine raspberries, water, sugar, and 1 tablespoon lime juice. Purée until smooth. Drizzle over cake before serving [if you will be eating the whole cake in one sitting… not you yourself, but the collective you! :)], or drizzle over individual pieces.

Notes:

So my cake fell in the center. See? I’m not entirely sure the cause of this, but it may be due to the coconut oil, the heat [110 heat index, anyone?!], my wonderful *sarcastic* apartment oven, etc. It definitely was cooked all the way through and my ingredients are not old. Any other ideas? It still tasted great though.

Lime Yogurt Cake with Raspberry Sauce

Lime Yogurt Cake with Raspberry Sauce
zest zest zest away!

Lime Yogurt Cake with Raspberry Sauce

Main Dishes, Recipes

Tomato Pie

Sarah

Fresh tomatoes are one of the best foods of summer. Many recipes add tomatoes as side dish, but this one makes them the star! This was my first experience with tomato pie [which, apparently is an old Southern favorite], and it was absolutely delicious. The combination of tomato, pesto, and a little bit of cheese reminds me of pizza, and coupled with a unique rice crust [instead of a traditional pie shell], makes for a filling and tasty meal. Add a little bacon for some crunch and you have one savory pie… perfect for a luncheon buffet, a brunch, or a light dinner.

Tomato Pie via thepajamachef.com // a celebration of summer

Tomato Pie

  • Servings: 4
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basically The Front Burner Blog‘s recipe, with a few tweaks

Ingredients:

  • A couple big tomatoes
  • 1 cup cooked brown rice
  • 2 tablespoons pesto + more for layering [I used this recipe]
  • 1 tablespoon + 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated & separated
  • 1/4 cup mozzarella
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup onion
  • A big bunch fresh basil, mostly used to make the pesto [above] + some for layering
  • 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 2 strips bacon
  • salt
  • cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use cooking spray to grease a 9″ pie pan. In a large bowl, mix cooked rice, pesto, 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, and egg to make crust. Once combined, press mixture into bottom and sides of the pie pan. Bake for 15 minutes, then cool for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice tomatoes into thin slices, and lay in between two paper towels to dry off some of the excess moisture so pie is not soggy. In a skillet, cook bacon until crispy; remove to paper towels to drain grease. Use grease in skillet to saute onions until soft. Then, mix 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, and mayonnaise in a small bowl and set aside. Once bacon is cool, crumble or chop into small pieces.

Once crust has cooled, begin assembling pie. First, layer all of the onions and half the tomatoes on top of the crust. Then add fresh basil, pesto [as much as you want–I used approximately 1/4-1/3 cup], the other half of the tomatoes, and bacon. Top pie with the cheese mixture, as well as extra pesto and some salt if desired. [I didn’t add salt.]

Bake for 20 minutes or until heated through.

Notes:

The original recipe used 1 whole onion instead of 1/3 cup, Gruyere instead of mozzarella, and an additional tomato or two. I added the bacon for my husband. Our 9″ pan was almost overflowing, so I am glad I decreased those other quantities but feel free to adjust recipe to your pan size and tastes. 🙂

Tomato Pie via thepajamachef.com // a celebration of summer

Do me a favor and take a trip to your local Farmer’s Market today to get the ingredients for this tasty dish! The tomatoes, basil, and the beautiful flowers [a gift from my husband] made this dish extra tasty and special. Yumalicious!

Breakfast, Meat, One Tablespoon Testosterone, Recipes

OTT: Brown Sugar Bacon Twists

Sarah

This is a guest post from my husband, Ben. Periodically, he has agreed to share some of his favorite recipes with you–and this is his first. He has entitled his guest post column, One Tablespoon Testosterone, or OTT for short. Enjoy!

———-

Hello all.  I’m here to add a slightly more masculine variation to this blog.  While I don’t claim to have the cooking experience my wife does, I’m not an incompetent bumbling oaf in the kitchen either.  But I do like man food.  Like bacon.  Mmmm…nothing makes me happier food-wise than bacon.  So today I’ll share a recipe I made with bacon as the main ingredient… too bad they didn’t use my recipe last night when bacon was the featured ingredient on The Next Food Network Star.

Brown Sugar Bacon Twists | thepajamachef.com

Brown Sugar Bacon Twists

  • Servings: 8+
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from the Peace Meals cookbook by the Junior League of Houston

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound bacon (16 slices [the amount, of course, can be adjusted to fit the number of people you’re serving…this amount serves 1 bacon fanatic such as myself…actually my wife would have a heart attack if she found out I ate a whole pound of bacon, then I would have a heart attack because I ate a whole pound of bacon])
  • 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
  • 1 cup awesome

Directions:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; place a wire rack on top of the sheet.  I don’t have a wire baking rack (or at least one that my wife would let me place in the oven), so I just use one of the oven racks, and place the rimmed baking sheet on the bottom oven rack to catch the grease.  Sprinkle the bacon evenly with the sugar and pepper.  The amounts for this are really subjective to your personal tastes.  More brown sugar and less pepper make it sweeter, more pepper gives it a little more kick (which I like).  You can also add cinnamon.  Tightly twist each slice to form a spiral.  Bake until the bacon is crisp and browned, about 30-35 minutes.

How long you cook them is also subjective to your tastes.  The first time I made these I cooked them almost 35 minutes and they were crispier than I would have liked.  This time, it wasn’t even 25 minutes and they were still soft, but perfectly cooked as far as bacon goes (in my opinion).  So you just have to decide how crispy you want them.

Brown Sugar Bacon Twists | thepajamachef.com

Brown Sugar Bacon Twists | thepajamachef.com

Brown Sugar Bacon Twists | thepajamachef.com

Brown Sugar Bacon Twists | thepajamachef.com

Okay, I think this about wraps up my first guest post.  I don’t have much else to say about this recipe…or anything else for that matter.  I’ll be back (if my wife lets me) in the future with more man-approved recipes (mancipes?) or just random other things I find amusing for which I’ll use my wife’s blog as an outlet.  In conclusion, bacon makes everything better.  Everything.

Chicken, Main Dishes, Recipes

(Not So) Authentic Jambalaya?

Sarah

I met my husband when we were both interns for Campus Crusade for Christ at Ohio University. We started dating in February 2008, and one of the first meals I found out that he loved was jambalaya. Problem was though that Ben liked a recipe made by a husband and wife who are really great cooks. So naturally, I was intimidated to make jambalaya for him. I didn’t want to fail, and I didn’t even really have a good recipe. The only other time I had had it was on a mission trip nine years ago in New Orleans, and that jambalaya was excellent! [In retrospect, I could have asked for the “good” recipe… but I make things complicated, so I didn’t. :)]

Fast forward to the present day. I finally got over my fear of not living up to his expectations, and made jambalaya. It may be authentic, it may be not-so-authentic. However, it was well received and tasty, so that’s all that counts, right?!?

Not So Authentic Jambalaya... but still delicious! thepajamachef.com
The finished product in all its glory!

 

Benny eating jambalaya.
Eating is serious business, apparently.
Benny waving
Taking a break to say hello!

Without further ado…

(Not So) Authentic Jambalaya?

  • Servings: 8
  • Print

à la Eat, Live, Run

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
  • 3 Italian sausages [I used turkey sausage–2 sweet & 1 spicy], cooked & chopped
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup brown jasmine rice
  • 2 cups water
  • 14 1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
  • 1 c yellow squash, chopped <– This added such a great summery flavor and crunch to the dish.
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon double concentrated tomato paste <—I love this stuff!!! It’s so worth the price, and sometimes Kroger has it on sale. Score!

Directions:

In a large, deep pot, heat oil over medium-high heat and then add flour, stirring constantly to make a roux. Add the onions, squash, garlic, and parsley and toss to coat. Reduce heat to medium. Cook until the onions are soft. Add water, tomatoes [diced and paste], rice, pepper, and chili powder and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for one hour or until rice is cooked. Add chicken and sausage and heat thoroughly.

Notes:

The original recipe called for andouille sausage, celery, cayenne pepper, and long grain brown rice; I substituted a chicken/Italian sausage mixture, squash, chili powder, and brown jasmine rice because its what I had on hand. I also had to cook it a lot longer than the recipe called for, likely because I added additional rice and meat to satisfy my husband’s palate. 🙂 All in all, I ended up adding approximately an extra 1/2 cup of water and 20-30 minutes of cook time for the rice to fully cook. But boy, was it worth it! 😉 Oh, and this makes a ton. So be ready to eat, serve a crowd, or freeze some leftovers.

Not So Authentic Jambalaya... but still delicious! thepajamachef.com
Sausage + Chicken + Rice + Tomatoes + Squash = Delicious