Penguin Cake

Well, you start with a penguin...

Actually, you start with a whole whack of cake. I admit freely that I used a couple of box cakes for this one: one No-name lemon cake that actually worked out the best of the "fake" cake, two SuperMoist, one or two "Pudding-in-the-mix" cakes and some other really damp sounding cakes and I have to tell you that they absolutely suck for stacking and carving. They're just too wet so I actually started cutting back on the oil and water that went into them and that helped a bit. The best things though were the cakes from the Recipe Box that I tried out. These were cakes that Joe's grandmother (the cake decorator) and mother made and, wow, do they work for this sort of thing. I think Erin has said something along the same lines, that the old recipe, from-scratch cakes have it all over the box ones, they're denser and have a much richer flavour (I've found). Having said that, here is the first one:

"My Inspiration Cake" (the February 1954 Women's Home Companion champion)

Bake 350F 35-40 min in 2 9" layer pans

Place 1 cup finely chopped walnuts over the bottom of the well greased and floured pan (I used whole pecans because I wasn't in a walnut mood)

Grate 2 oz sweet or semi-sweet chocolate and reserve (Do not use chocolate chips like a certain lazy person that I know)

Sift together: 2 1/2 cups cake flour
4 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 1/2 c sugar

Add: 2/3 cups Crisco (but you can use vegetable oil, discovered by aforementioned lazy person who was worried that she wouldn't have enough shortening for the icing)
1 1/4 milk
1 t vanilla

Beat at low speed for 1 1/2 minutes then at medium speed add 2/3 cups unbeaten egg whites and beat for another 1 1/2 minutes (or until you finish prepping the pans and sprinkling the nuts, whichever comes first).

Spoon batter carefully over nuts until you've used half of it. Sprinkle the grated chocolate and then spoon the rest of the batter over that. Bake as directed and then let it cool in the pans for 10-15 before turning out to cool completely. (Note to remember: if you use whole pecans and chocolate chips and aren't exactly "spooning carefully", you will end up with a cake where the nuts are at the top and the chocolate is at the bottom instead of what I think they intended.)

Will definitely make this one again, there were a really good tooth to it and I liked both the chocolate and nut blend with the vanilla (which, again, I'm a little generous with).

Gold Cake... aka Use-Up-the-Egg-Yolks Cake

Also from the Recipe Box:

2 c cake flour
3 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 c butter (I use Crisco) (the aside was Joe's Mom's, I personally used butter)
1 c sugar
1/2 c egg yolks
3/4 c milk
1 t vanilla (or a half-cup like I seem to use, kidding, I kid)

Cream sugar and butter. Add the milk and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg yolks and beat again. Sift the dry in and mix. (There is no actual mention of when to add the dry ingredients but I went with the end.)

Bake at 350F for 40 or until it passes the "finger test".

If you try this one, please don't panic at the yucky mess that is sitting in the bowl before you add the dry ingredients, I was actually sniffing it because it looked like curdled... well, it didn't look edible. After adding the dry, though, and letting Sparky beat at it for a couple of minutes, it was a lovely smooth batter and cooked up to be a nice tasting gold cake. I think it would be really good with a nice chocolate icing.

High-Test Buttercream

6 cups icing sugar
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla
1 c boiling water
2 3/4 c high-ratio shortening
6 oz butter

Put the sugar, salt and vanilla into your mixing bowl and pour in the boiling water. Use the whisk attachment until it's smooth and cooled down. Add the butter and shortening in little chunks and whip at a lower speed until it's smooth (I don't think I've ever got it completely smooth at the lower speed so I just let it rip as soon as I get it all in there). Increase the speed to medium-high and let it run for like 10-20 minutes. It will come close to doubling in size so please don't be tempted to double the recipe. It tastes so light and fluffy and I could eat it by the spoonful (if you think about how much icing I've eaten over my cake decorating "lifetime", you'll be able to tell how good this is. I would actually volunteer to eat it).

You can use regular shortening but the high-ratio shortening takes colour really well and is a little more stable, I've found. You smear the cake with the stuff, put it in the fridge for a bit and then smooth it with a metal spatula that's been dipped in hot water and it is smoother than Barbados Slim.

ground pork meatballs

So, I have some ground pork, and think, "Hmmm, swedish type meatballs!" and so, go to the 'zaar. "ground pork" did not register as an ingredient, just sent me to all pork recipes. I have a recipe, but not all the ingredients. ;-( . The following is the solution to my predicament!

*** ~ = around - I was just throwing stuff together without measuring

1 lb ground pork
1 egg
~1/4 c bread crumbs
~1/4 c milk
2 tsp VE 3 onion dip mix
1/8 tsp allspice (or more if you like)
~1/2 tsp salt
~1/2 - 3/4 tsp black pepper
a few scrapes of fresh nutmeg probably 1/8 tsp of ground

I am cooking them right now and they smell amazing!

I put all that stuff into my stand mixer with the dough hook and let it do its thing on low. then used my handy icecream scoop/meatball scoop/cookie dough scoop and made meat balls and put them on my broil pan (lined with foil and with a wee bit of water in) and put them under the hi broil in the oven on the lowest rack. Cookem' til they're done. Fantastic!

Then, I moved the meatballs to the slowcooker, and turned it on so when I added the sauce, the crock was hot already.

Slush... That's it, just Slush

6 cups water
1 can orange concentrate
48 oz can pineapple juice
1-2 cups sugar
1 can lemonade concentrate
26 oz lemon gin

Mix and freeze. Serve 1/2 and 1/2 with 7Up or Sprite.

Both of these recipes are from the Rushnychok Ukrainian Folk Dance troupe 25th Anniversary fundraiser cookbook. It also contains great solutions for everything from fireproofing your Christmas tree to cleaning your brick fireplace. My favourite part is the poem in the from by Lord Lytton who didn't do so well for himself in India but had some definite ideas about food it seems.

LIFE
We may live without poetry,
Music and art;
We may live without conscience,
And live without heart;
We may live without friends,
We may live without books;
But civilized man cannot
Live without cooks.

Singapore Sling Slush

Per Erin's request.

26 oz vodka (What a great way to start a recipe)
1 cup frozen pink lemonade concentrate, undiluted
1 cup grenadine
2 cups cherry whisky (Never heard of it and it sounds foul but I'm sure we can substitute)
48 oz can pineapple juice
8 cups water

Mix together and freeze in a large container (something big enough to hold 24 1/2 cups of liquid, I'm assuming). Serve in a large glass with 1/2 frozen slush and 1/2 ginger ale or 7-Up.

My Aunt Jean used to keep something like this in their freezer, I remember it from my cousin Lisa's party when I was about 14 or 15. I'll post the second one right after this.

Crab & Artichoke Dip

This is sort of the recipe off of the side of the Pesto Artichoke Dip Mix and sort of what I vaguely remembered from Erin's Dips & Spreads Cookbook (pretty close actually).

1 14 oz can artichokes, drained and coarsely chopped
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
3 T Pesto Artichoke Dip Mix
1/2 c mayo
2 small cans of chopped crabmeat (This is the vague part)

I mixed all of the stuff into the food processor until the artichokes were chopped the way that I liked. After that I stirred in the crabmeat and threw it in the over for about 20 minutes at 350 until it was lovely and hot. The kicker is that it tastes the absolute best when you've cooked it and then let it cool down. Yummers. I actually had to warn Meag to not eat it all on me because she bunked down with the casserole dish and a piece of naan and looked prepared to finish it off. I took the last of it over to Erin's for lunch on Tuesday and Liam finished off all of my crackers but had no interest in the dip. Daft boy :D

Greek Almond Cookies

This one is from the VE cook book Greek with Gusto,

1/2 LB butter, at room temp
3/4 cup sifted icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 c ground almonds
icing sugar, sifted

1)preheat oven to 350

2)Beat the butter and icing sugar until fluffy. Stir in vanila and almond extract

3) combine flour, salt and ground almonds in bowl. add to butter mixture and combine until well blended.

4) if the dough is soft, chill until slightly firm

5) roll walnut sized piece of dough into a ball, space balls 1 1/2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I used a small icecream scoop, so they were all the same size.

6) bake 1 sheet at a time for 12 - 15 minutes - I think I only cooked mine for ~ 10 minutes.

7) Remove from oven and let cookies cool on sheet until slightly firm - ~ 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack. Sprinkle heavily with icing sugar. Cool cookes completely before storing in a sealed container. - Yea, if they make it that far, I didn't sprinkle with icing sugar, didn't think they needed it.

These were REALLY GOOD COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!

Louisiana Hot and spicy Chicken Marinade

Ok, so I have no idea what this tastes like - I'll let you know when we actually cook the chicken.

I bought a bag of 3 chickens and just put 2 of them on the spit and they are cooking right now on the rotisserie of the BBQ! I am looking forward to eating those, but what to do with the third chicken?

I made a marinade of:

3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp rounded of VE 3 onion dip mix
2-3 Tbsp VE Louisiana Hot and Spicy Dip mix

Shook it all up and through it into the bag with the chicken and made sure the chicken was coated in the marinade and I tossed it into the freezer. The thinking being that as the chicken thaws it will marinade itself!

I plan on putting this one on the BBQ rotissierie also - I'll let you know how it works out.

Oyster Crackers

Ingredients:
Can of Smoked Oysters
Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits
Grape Tomatoes

Directions:
1. Place triscuit on plate.
2. Place two small smoked oysters on triscuit.
3. Place grape tomato on triscuit.
4. Place Oyster Tomato Triscuit in mouth.
5. Serve with playoff basketball game.
6. Repeat enough so that you end up considering this supper.

Questions:
1. Can this be considered a balanced meal with the sneaky inclusion of the tomato?
2. Would this be the first time such a snack was ever consumed during a playoff game?
3. If I had had potato chips in the house, would I probably have just ate them instead?

Pulled Pork with Root Beer Sauce

I know that this sounds really weird but I've tested it during multiple meals with many people and it always gets rave reviews. I have to confess that I don't usually tell anyone that it's got root beer as the main ingredient until after the good reviews start coming in. It'll feed a fair number of people and there is usually leftovers the next day. The official recipe yield is 12.

1 T olive oil (whatever, I use as much as I need)
3 lb boneless pork loin roast
2 t salt
1/2 t pepper (I use significantly more than this)
1/2 c chopped onion
3 c root beer (NOT diet, ever, it just doesn't work)
12 oz bottle of chili sauce (or 455 ml for those of us living in civilized countries)
1/2 t salt
12 sandwich buns

Brown roast in olive oil. Place in crockpot with salt, pepper, onion and 1 c of root beer. Cover and cook on low for about 7 hours (roughly).

30 minutes before serving (but can be done more in advance), bring remaining root beer, all of the chili sauce and the last little bit of salt to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce the heat and simmer until it's glassy and reduced to about 2 1/2-3 cups of sauce.

Remove the pork from the slow cooker and shred with two forks. Put all the little bits of pork into the sauce and stir until it's all juicy and coated. Serve about 1/2 cup of pork on each bun (or as much as you can cram on there).

That's it, that's all.

Beg-For-It Scones

Way back in the day, I baby-sat for a Norwegian family in the heart of Woseley. They had two beautiful (if not loud) children and a wonderful house, filled with curious books and roadsigns in a language I did not fathom to understand. Even in the kitchen, where I spent a lot of time after the Roman and Kari had gone to sleep, had boxes and packages printed with fascinating mystery that I could only guess their uses or contents. (It would be a few years untill I understood Swedish. Norwegian remains too retarded for words.)

As what would be a many long and lonely night spent in the small white space, I pulled cookbooks down about my ankles and spent hours browsing the yellow wrinkled pages. One thick, green-velvet covered volume however revealed a recipe I am glad I copied. To this day, I can literally make my boyfriend do anything I want (including to run out and buy the ingredients for me) so I will make these lovely scones.

Preheat oven to 400. (I hate it when they tell you that at the end, after you've done everything.
"Oh by the way! Your oven should be on!" )

2 1/2 c. flour
2 tbsp. sugar
2 1/2 tsp. b. powder
1/2 tsp. b. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter (cold)
1 c. buttermilk
1 egg
Optional : 1/2 shredded chedder cheese.

---

i. Line a baking tray with parchment paper, or for the poorer among us, flour it lightly.
ii. Mix the dry ingredients together and then add your butter, mixing untill it forms crumbs.
iii. Combine your egg and buttermilk (what I have written here looks more like "bonilx") in a bowl, then throw in with your drys.
iv. With floured hands, knead the dough about 10 times. Roll out to desired thickness and cut into triangles.
v. Bake for about 18 - 20 minutes.
vi. Devour with white fury.

---

afterparty :

Danny and Kato, kitchen duo, give a butter-smeared, crumb-covered thumbs up to this Norwegian (maybe?) treat.

---

ps. I am not feeling creative / corny today. I am sorry to dissapoint you all.

OMFG Ribs

When Erin and I were at Pal's the other afternoon, they had pork side ribs on sale. We used to go to Montana's with my parents whenever they came in for birthdays and such, I always ordered ribs because I have this policy in restaurants of ordering things that would normally be too much bother at home.

Anyway, the whole package of ribs was about $5.50 so I thought I could probably find a crockpot version. From Allrecipes:

* 4 pounds pork baby back ribs
* salt and pepper to taste
* 2 cups ketchup
* 1 cup chili sauce
* 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
* 4 tablespoons vinegar
* 2 teaspoons dried oregano
* 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
* 1 dash hot sauce

Put the ribs on a broiler pan, salt & pepper both sides. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes, flip them over and bake for another 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the rest of the ingredients into a barbecue sauce. I cut the ribs up into sections and put them into the crockpot. Pour the sauce over to coat and cook on Low for 6-8 hours.

The place smelled amazing when I got back this afternoon. I made up some creamy garlic pasta (otherwise known as a package of Sidekicks (I'm trying to get rid of them.))

Beef & Orange Stir Fry

Out of the Epicure catalog. Next time I would add some red pepper strips as well. I'd also cut the beef myself because this was pre-cut "stir fry beef" and the pieces were enormous! Also, not all of them were cut properly with respect to the grain of the meat.

3 oranges (zest and juice removed from one)
2 T soya sauce
1 T VE Oriental Stir Fry Seasoning
1 lb bonelss sirloin steak, cut into 1/2" strips
1 T cornstarch
2 T vegetable oil
4 green onions, sliced

Stir together orange zest, juice of 1 orange with soya sauce and VE seasoning. Peel remaining oranges, cut in half and then slice into half-moon shapes. (I got to do that really cool thing that I've seen on all of the cooking shows where I slice off the skin and cut out each little section so I had these perfectly peeled little pieces of orange. It was wicked easy and it was on my 100 list.)

Toss beef with cornstarch and brown in vegetable oil over medium-high heat (I used my electric wok). Transfer cooked meat out onto a plate.

Pour stir-fry sauce into hot pan and reduce by about 1/3 until it's slightly thickened. Return beef and orange slices to pan (I added the green onion now too). Stir until coated. Serve over rice or noodles (RICE!)

It was a little too orange-y for me but I think that the peppers would probably help with that. It was still really orange to orange-yellow in taste. I would probably make it again, it was wickedly filling too.

Coconut Macaroons

I love these, I love them crispy, chewy, cold, melt-y, dense or airy. I love them any way. It's also one of the few cookie recipes that I've read that actually yields as many as it says it will. It's from the KitchenAide stand mixer cookbook and it's an all day event because you bake them for a longer time at a lower temperature.

4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar (what exactly is this stuff anyway)
1 1/4 c superfine sugar (I ran table sugar through the food processor for a couple of minutes before I measured it (I read that in a bourgie cookbook once))
1 tsp lemon juice or white wine vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups dessicated coconut (doesn't it sound like it's been mummified?)

Whip egg whites on Speed 4 till frothy. Add cream of tartar and whip at 10 till stiff peaks form. Whisking continuously, add the sugar 2 T at a time, beating well after each addition (I don't know why, but I follow this to the letter. I've never once even been tempted to dump the sugar in all at once and see what happens... weird.) Mixture should be very stiff and shiny.

Sprinkle lemon juice, vanilla and coconut over top and whisk in at Speed 4 for a few seconds or just mixed.

Drop heaping T onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Leave some room for spreading. Bake for 30 to 35 at 300F until golden and still slightly soft inside. Let stand 5 minutes on pan and then cool on rack. Store in an airtight container.

That's one thing that I do differently sometimes. I have baked them straight on a cookie sheet, no parchment and I didn't mind them. They were hell to get off the sheet though and you can't grease them because it affects the meringue.

Yummy

Sloppy... Spoonburgers! :D

This is the one that I found after exhaustive internet searching (I wish I was kidding, it was damned hard to find without knowing any of the ingredients (other than ground beef)).

1 lb extra lean ground beef
3 T chopped onion
3 T chopped green pepper
6 oz tomato paste
1 T horseradish
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T sugar
Dash garlic powder
1/2 c water

Brown the beef with onion and pepper. Drain. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Heat through. I ended up adding a little more than a "dash" of garlic powder and I also added a little salt and pepper.

On the spur I also put together a salad from the Fresh Box. Leaf lettuce, roma tomato, red onion and avocado. I dressed with the Creamy Raspberry Tarragon Dressing from the salad dressing cruet. Roughly equal parts mayo and raspberry vinegar with a tablespoon of the Dijon Tarragon Dip Mix and some salt and pepper. Tasty tasty I tells ya.

***WAXING RHAPSODY ALERT***
I was thinking about the raspberry vinegar, pondering it really. I was thinking that I had seen recipes for raspberry vinegar in one of my "bourgie" cookbooks but that, when holding that bowlful of berries, the last thing I would consider doing is putting them in a 5% solution of acetic acid. It seems wasteful somehow. I tried to imagine how many raspberries I would have to have sitting in front of me to actually feel free to pickle them and then throw away their poor flavour-less little shells. The short answer is: a metric f**kload. I'd already have run through a raspberry cream tart, a pavlova cake with a raspberry reduction sauce, about 3 gallons of plain old raspberries and cream, oh, and raspberry sorbet (now that I've discovered the ice cream maker). I'd already have put away my jam for the year so I could spread a scant spoonful onto a buttered biscuit in the middle of December and wake up my taste-buds on a sleepy morning. I'd have frozen a few bags to make Mango Sweet-Tart and to add to my cereal. I would probably even think about raspberry cordial before raspberry vinegar. Someone was the first to do it and boy I'm glad they did because that dressing is amazing.

Chicken Fusili with Snow Peas

But I didn't use fusili, I used whole wheat spaghetti. I did use snow peas and the rest of that bland chicken from the other night.

1 lb pasta
1 1/2 c whipping cream (I actually used evaporated skim milk because that was a tip on the bottom for a lighter version, I didn't think that my liver would do whipping cream today)
2 T Epicure Caesar Salad Dressing Mix (I added a little extra)
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 cup cooked snow peas
fresh grated parmesan for garnish and accent.

Cook the pasta and in a separate pan, heat the milk/cream. Add the chicken and peas and continue to heat for 3-4 minutes. I added a couple of tablespoons of parmesan right to the sauce.

I guess it's supposed to be kind of like an alfredo sauce but it I think I let it thicken just a little too much. Still really tasty though, I would not put as much stuff in and maybe simmer the sauce a little longer to let it thicken naturally next time. That dressing mix was really nice in there though.

Oh yeah, this came out of the VE Bella Cucina cookbook (sort of)

The Agony of the Food Snob

From Slate: Basque cheese at $22 per pound! Olive oil at $43 per liter! What's a gourmand to do?

Speaking of which, I think the price of the PastaRoni I had for dinner has gone up too.

I Think I've Killed My Tastebuds

Everything tastes really bland to me lately. I bought this ground lamb a while back with some vague idea about Shepherds Pie but it sat in the back of my freezer until the Epicure Greek With Gusto cookbook came along.

Gyro Burgers with Tzaziki

Made the tzaziki the night before with a grated and drained cucumber, about 2 cups of Balkan yogurt and a couple or three tablespoons of Epicure Tzaziki Dip Mix. Even this seemed a little bland to me, I added a little more tonight and I'll see how it tastes in the morning. Anyway, on to the burgers.

1 cup soft white breadcrumbs (I ran a crusty roll through the food processor)
2 T lemon juice
2 T water
2 tsp VE Hummus Dip Mix
1 tsp VE Lamb Seasoning
1 T VE Toasted Onion (I used a quarter of a red onion chopped up).
1/2 t VE Cinnamon (I used Non-VE Cinnamon)
1 lb lean ground lamb

These are supposed to be served in pita pockets with tomato and red onion. I served them on crusty buns topped with Tzaziki and chopped tomato. I totally forgot about the onion.

Oh yeah, my FGF moment was when I thought to chop up a bunch of feta and stuff it into the middle of the burger before putting them in the George Foreman Grill (yeah, really. Hey, I live in an apartment, I can't have a barbecue!).

Final vote? I would make them again. I think with a little tweaking, this might be a damned fine little meal.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know that we've all got our favourite recipe for chocolate chip cookies (or maybe that's just me) but Erin's Cake Odyssey has peaked the interest in baking by weight. Meag's got this British cookbook that I got her for Christmas a couple of years ago and she wanted to make these cookies for Graham out of it. They turned out like little puffballs and, you guessed it, a little bland. Well, subtle anyway.

150 g unsalted butter
1/4 c soft brown sugar
1/3 c caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 c self-raising flour
1/2 c dark chocolate bits
1/2 c milk chocolate bits

Beat wet together. Add flour and 1/2 of the chocolate bits and stir until just combined. Use your hands to press the mixture together to form a soft dough.

Roll lever tablespoons of the mixture into balls. Press the remaining chocolate bits firmly onto the tops of the balls. Bake for 15 minutes or until crisp and lightly browned and then cool on the trays.

Like I said, little bubbles but they looked really cute when I put them back to back, wrapped them in cello and a twist for the bake sale table at Irish Fest. They looked like a little candy. Shame about the flavour, I expected something a little richer.

Rhubarb and Orange Cake

So here is your third installment of cakes from the 101 Cakes and Bakes - I made a few mistakes (noted in brackets) and didn't get a chance to photograph the cake. However, it was tasty enough to try again sometime - so I will post any further tries with pics!

I have to say that I am facinated with using oranges - particularly the zest. The flavour is quite intense, and new somehow - at least in cakes - at least for me.

We ate this cake pretty much straight out of the oven, with no icing sugar dust. We also ate it more like a hot pudding, some table cream on this would be exceptional!

350 g prepared rhubarb, cut into 1 1/2 inch lenghts (mine were shorter and frozen)
200 g of golden caster sugar (I used darker sugar here)
finely grated zest and juice of 1/2 small orange
140 g butter, softened
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp baking powder
85 g self-raising flour
100 g ground almonds

for the topping:
25 g butter, melted
25 g light muscovado sugar
finely grated zest of 1/2 small orange
50 g slivered almonds
icing sugar for dusting

1) Mix the rhubarb with 50 g of the caster sugar and the orange zest. Set aside for 1 hour, stirring once or twice. ( I accidentally added all the sugar, and used dark brown instead of the golden sugar - when the time came, I had to really strain the rhubarb mixture, and of course there is a flavour difference)

2) preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and line a 9 inch pan. ( I buttered and floured the pan - I only have an 8 inch pan, so it was kinda too much for the pan)

3) Cream the butter and remaining caster sugar (150 g) Add the eggs, baking powder, flour and ground almonds. Beat gently, but do not overmix. Stir in the orange juice. Spoon into the cake pan and level. ( I always use my stand mixer, I don't think it is that gentle, but the cake was good anyway!)

4) Drain the rhubarb and spoon over the mixture. ( I used some of the juice and drizzled it over the fruit and cake - think crispy bits of a crumble - mmmmmmmmm)

5) Bake for 25 minutes. In the meantime, make the topping by combining the sugar, zest and almonds. (I forgot to melt the butter before I added the almonds and zest, so I just mushed it up with my fingers and spread it on the top of the cake, also, I think I used shaved almonds instead of slivers, might used slivered next time to see if there is a difference)

6) Reduce the oven to 325 and sprinkle the topping over the cake and return it to the oven for another 15 - 20 minutes - or until firm.

7) Cool in the tin, transfer to a rack and dust

Mango Sweet-Tart

Meag whipped this up for breakfast out of our Eat It Fresh box. They included a couple of mangoes in there and we weren't entirely sure what to do with them straight off the hop. I know not everyone is a fan of mangoes (Erin) but, wow, try mixing them with raspberries. This recipe will serve two.,

1 1/2 cup Balkan style yogurt (left over from making tzatziki for tonight)
2 mashed mangoes (they were small)
1/3 cup graham crumbs
1 1/2 T milk (to thin)
1 t honey
1/2 cup frozen organic I've-never-tasted-anything-this-good raspberries
1 T chopped fresh mint (totally optional)

Mix as you see fit and, as you can see, garnish with some extra berries and mint leaves.