TWD: Lemon Loaf Cake

My husband Kyle was very sweet and made this for me while I was trying to get other things done to study for my final. He said it was pretty easy, but the longest part was getting everything to room temperature. That was especially true for our cream, which was frozen. We used only two lemons because we thought three might be too much, but next time I'd use the full three. Also, we used AP flour, but I think it would be better with the intended cake flour. It was still pretty good. I'd consider it more of a breakfast food than dessert, but that's just because I love sugar too much.

To see the recipe look here or here.

TWD: Pizza Rustica

I made this latest recipe this past weekend for a wonderful brunch with my great friend Naomi. We had brunch during the break in between sessions of General Conference, which is one of my favorite events of the year. Food with a good friend made it even better! I was definitely expecting something more like a real pizza, but this ended up being a quiche. It was still pretty good. Naomi brought some hash brown muffins which paired perfectly with the pizza! We also had a spinach and goat cheese salad with dried cherries. 

 I didn't mess with the filling too much, I just added 3 oz of sopressata in addition to 3 oz of pancetta. I reduced the sugar in the crust to 1 oz because a really sweet crust with a savory filing didn't sound that enticing. I really liked the balance with the reduced sugar though. I made the crust the night before and chilled it so that it would be easier to work with. If you use a thermometer in baking, I found that if you take it out while it's 155 in the center it finishes cooking outside the oven and sets up perfectly.

Overall the recipe wasn't too difficult. Next time I might add some veggies to mix it up and I'd probably use my favorite pie crust instead. You can find the recipe at Capitol Region Dining Blog or The Place They Call Home.You can check out other people's interpretations at the TWD blog. 

Spinach and Goat Cheese Salad with Dried Cherries

This is my new favorite salad. It's pretty easy to throw together and tastes wonderful! It's inspired by the house salad at the Tree Room restaurant at Sundance Resort. It was the best part of the meal there. The rest of the food we had wasn't that impressive, so save yourself some money and make this at home instead!

Spinach and Goat Cheese Salad


10 oz spinach
2 oz goat cheese
1 cup toasted pecans
1/2 cup dried cherries
1-2 oz balsamic vinaigrette (as desired)

Dress the spinach with the vinaigrette. Spread the goat cheese around the leaves as well. Top with the toasted pecans and cherries. Enjoy!


Balsamic Vinaigrette
Adapted from Serious Eats

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon dried herbs (I used  basil, parsley and tarragon)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

 Emulsify all ingredients. You can do that by whisking the vinegar, honey and water and drizzling in the oil in. Or, you can take the easy way out and combine everything in a bottle and shake it like crazy. 

Easy Pork Stir Fry with Ginger and Carrots

This may not look like much, but this little dish was packed full of flavor. This is a super easy stir fry that only took about a half hour to throw together. We cut the ginger in half since it called for a ton. Also, we used a pound of carrots and didn't worry about slicing them into perfectly small matchsticks. After cooking a little longer than specified they turned out perfectly. Next time I'd reduce the peppercorns by half because this dish was very spicy, but if you like hot stuff you'd love it. We wanted to eat a lot more, but our mouths couldn't handle it. We'll be making it again soon with less heat so that we can enjoy more of it!

You can find this delicious recipe at Leite's Culinaria, one of my favorite food websites.