Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

Oh Meyer Lemon, how I love you.

Living in Sacramento gives us great access to all kinds of fresh fruits and veggies, especially citrus.
I have a friend who says she can't understand why anyone living here would ever buy citrus.....there are so many trees to borrow from.

This is true.  It is in fact her tree, from which I borrowed the Meyer lemons to make this pound cake.
Thanks Coco!

This could easily be served as a brunch item or dessert.
We ate it for dessert after scrumptious carne asada made by my Ironmommy.  Yum.

I'm sure plain lemon pound cake is good, but I really believe the Meyer lemons make a difference.  They have such a sweetness and even more so when baked.

This recipe was inspired by this one.

Ingredients:

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake
Unsalted butter to grease your baking dish
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
Zest of two Meyer lemons
1/3 cup olive oil (that's right, olive oil)
1 1/2 tablespoons milk (I used 2%)
3/4 cup Greek yogurt (I used the Trader Joe's low-fat version)
1/4 cup Meyer lemon juice
3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Note - you'll need a few clean bowls for this recipe.  Lot's of bowls happening.

Limoncello Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons Limoncello* (feel free to substitute with fresh squeezed Meyer lemon juice)
1 1/2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice

How to:

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake
Pre-heat your oven to 325
Line the bottom of a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper
Grease the pan and paper with unsalted butter
Melt your unsalted butter and set it aside
Sift flour, baking powder and salt to a large bowl and mix well
Whisk 2 egg whites until stiff peaks form, transfer to a separate bowl**
Add 2 egg yolks, sugar and lemon zest to your clean mixer bowl.  Beat on medium until the mixture turns light yellow and forms ribbons when beater is lifted, transfer to mixture to another bowl
Add olive oil, milk, Greek yogurt and lemon juice to your clean mixer bowl, whisk at low speed until combined
If using a stand mixer, switch to your paddle attachment
Add flour to the olive oil, milk, Greek yogurt, lemon juice mixture
Drizzle in melted butter and mix until combined
Add in the egg yolk, sugar and lemon zest mixture and mix until combined
At this time you should have combined all of your bowls except the egg whites
Fold in the egg whites to the mixture by hand
Now all your pound cake ingredients should be in one bowl, mixed
Pour the batter into the prepared pan
Bake for 25 minutes, then rotate the pan
(while the cake is baking you can get started on the glaze)
Bake for an additional 20-25 minutes
When done the cake should be golden and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean
Transfer the pound cake to a wire rack to cool
While the pound cake is still warm, pour over the lemon glaze and let it sit for about a half hour to dry

Limoncello Glaze
Using your mixer (again) with a clean bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, limoncello (if you're using it) and Meyer lemon juice***
While the pound cake is still warm, pour over the lemon glaze and let it sit for about a half hour to dry

*You can buy Limoncello at most well stocked groceries.  We have an Italian grocery nearby that stocks several varieties.  I happened to have Meyer Limoncello that my mom made from the same Meyer lemon tree where I got the lemons from.
**I used my Kitchen Aid mixer to make this, so I whisked the egg whites first, transferred them to a different bowl, rinsed out my mixer bowl and then did the next step.
***You can increase or decrease either ingredient to get the consistency to your liking.  I like the glaze on the thinner side.

When I make this cake again, I will pour the glaze over on a different dish than I'm using to serve.  You can see in the pictures that there was a pool of glaze around this cake.  My step-dad enjoyed sopping up the glaze with his cake, so I suppose it all worked out, but, that said, I think it would be more eye appealing if it wasn't drowning in glaze.

The cake itself is super moist and refreshing tasting.  This would make a great Easter dish.

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. If you could give me a Facebook like over here that would be awesome!

Have a great day,
♥TCW

White Bean, Basil & Lemon Hummus

The Cyclist loves his hummus, so I tried to re-create a white bean basil hummus that is sold at Trader Joe's; this was my second attempt.  And again, mine took a different flavor direction than the TJ's brand.....

....and then I went into TJ's the other day and realized that although they do make a White Bean and Basil Hummus, the one The Cyclist loves is actually Tuscan White Bean.  So I've been trying to match the wrong flavors all along.
Wah-waa.

This hummus turned out tasty just the same, so get out your white beans, basil & lemon and let's go!

I really do believe the key to tasty hummus is to let it sit in the fridge overnight so the flavors can meld.  Here's the stuff and how to...

Ingredients:

1 cup dry white beans or two 14.5 oz cans of white (Navy) beans, drained
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tahini
juice from 2 large lemons (I used Meyer's)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
1 cup basil leaves, packed
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar

How to:

If using dry beans, boil your beans in water until done, it will probably take close to two hours.  Drain and cool in the fridge.
Once beans are cooled (or if you're using canned beans, drain them) and dump into your food processor.  Add all other ingredients and blend until smooth.  Put the hummus in your fridge overnight and enjoy the next day!

P.S.  I'm working on creating a Recipage so that all of my recipes will be easily printable, findable and usable.  More on that later!

Pinspiration! Recipe Find - Goat Cheese, Lemon, Arugula & Pea Pasta

Pinterest is becoming my new go to spot for recipes.

I think it might be easier to find stuff there than doing a Google search.

Really.

Here is one I came across the other day - 

Goat Cheese, Lemon, Arugula & Pea Pasta

 

Yum, right?

I grabbed what I needed and decided to try it out.

The Scoop - This was super easy to make.  It will definitely be a go-to recipe for when I want to make something tasty in a little bit of time.  I also have never thought of throwing peas into the pasta water so this is another idea I'm sure to copy in other recipes.

The Verdict - The pasta was rich and creamy with a nice lemon flavor; the arugula and peas added a nice contrast.  The goat cheese makes a really thick coating on the pasta - I tasted it and immediately said "it's like adult mac and cheese".

The Fix - Not that it really needs fixing, but.  If you're a goat cheese eater you know how thick and creamy it is.  Both The Cyclist & I agreed that this dish would be nicely balanced with the addition of something salty - he said prosciutto, I said spicy turkey sausage; either one will do. Also, I might add a bit of milk to the mix, just to cut the thickness quality of the melted goat cheese.

Mentionables - I'm not sure if adding more lemon might also cut the goat cheese thickness.  I'm also not sure if the lemon flavor would be lost by adding prosciutto or spicy turkey sausage (that would be a shame, the lemon flavor is really good).  A dry white wine would be really good with this.

Here is my finished product...

Bon Appetite!

Pinspiration! Recipe Finds

Photo via Pinterest

Slow Cooker Coconut Ginger Chicken & Vegetables

The Scoop - I was excited when I found this recipe because it looked so much tastier (and healthier) than most crock-pot dishes.  Also, I thought it would be a great meal for the night I do my FIT track workout.  I made it and I was dying to come home and eat it.

The Verdict - Dare I say it was a little bit....bland?!  Seems weird right?!  With such savory and colorful spices like turmeric I didn't think bland was possible.  But it was hearty and tasty after a long workout.

The Fix - If you make this, add more of the spice blend and more salt and some pepper.

Mentionables - I did not use thighs, because I only had boneless skinless breasts; this switch worked fine and the chicken was nice and juicy.  I didn't use the canned corn cobs, instead I got a frozen veggie blend from Trader Joe's that already had the corncobs and some other good stuff

Photo via Pinterest

Cookin' Canuck - Vegetarian Naan Pizza with Eggplant and Cilantro Jalepeno Pesto

The Scoop - Wow was this good!  I can't wait to make this pesto for a bunch of other stuff.  The flavor of it really made the pizza.  I've also never roasted eggplant and I like this method a lot for a quick cook.  

The Verdict - YUM!  I will totally make this again. 

Mentionables - I didn't use naan, instead I made this on a fresh (not pre-cooked) pizza crust and made one big pizza instead of individuals.  I also didn't use fresh mozzarella (although that would have been amazing), instead I used what I had which was basic shredded mozzarella.  Last, we had some prosciutto, so I topped it with a bit of that.  We thought the salty-ness of the prosciutto added to the overall flavor.  

Disclaimer - I didn't find this on Pinterest.  I found it on the blog and pinned it to Pinterest myself.

                                              

Photo via Pinterest

Lemon & Dill Chicken                  

The Scoop - I bought dill at the farmer's market and I had a bunch of tasty Meyer lemons in my fridge, so I was looking for something to make.  I searched "lemon, dill" on Pinterest and this popped up.    The Verdict - This was a healthy recipe and it was tasty.  The Cyclist is not a fan of dill, but he liked this a lot.  Mine did not look like the picture, but still tasted good.
The Fix - You may not need this fix but.....my sauce wasn't thickening as I thought it should, so I added a few sprinkles of Wondra.

Mentionables - Pinterest wasn't the first place I looked.  I searched the same thing on the Whole Food's recipe app and all I was coming up with were seafood dishes.  I knew I wanted to use chicken and I thought it was weird I couldn't find any "chicken, lemon, dill" recipes.....but there on Pinterest it popped right up. 

More Pinspiration coming soon!