Lemon Rice

Hello again,

allright, so: despite going to the grocery store four times this week, I managed not to have any veggies to go with our fried fish fingers last night. Don’t ask. What to do? Thankfully, there was rice in the cupboard, which I seasoned with sauteéd onions, lemon juice, lemon zest, frozen herb mix, and lots of salt and pepper. It was pretty good!

Ingredients:
serves 2-3

1 1/2 cups rice

two small onions, diced
3 tbsps. lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest
3 tbsps. herb mix, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a pot, combine the rice with 3 cups of water and a huge pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let cook until the water has been absorbed and the rice is soft. It really depends on what kind you’re using, white Basmati or brown hippie stuff or whatever.

In the meantime, slowly sauteé the onions in olive oil. When they are soft, turn off the stove and add the lemon juice and zest and the herbs. Stir; season with salt and pepper to taste.

When the rice is done, combine it with the onion/lemon mix, stir well, and enjoy!

Have a fun weekend!! Do some good cooking! I have cinnamon rolls planned for Saturday, hooray!
xoxo, F.

Some spring flowers on our kitchen window sill:

Lemon Yogurt Cake

My first post! I’m so excited!

Allright, I know. This cake recipe has been making the rounds on the interwebs quite a lot recently, so it is not exactly new or creative or original. However, I really wanted to try it, since I love lemons, and the sweet-sour taste combination of spongy cake and light golden syrup really sounded like a spring-y treat to me. And it is! This cake is awesome! You should definitively give it a try. This recipe is my version of the various ones to be found online.

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups flour (I used organic all-purpose)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

4 eggs
1 cup plain yogurt (I used organic low-fat)
1 cup sugar (I used organic saccharose)
2 tsp. grated lemon zest from organic lemons
1 tsp. vanilla (I used natural extract)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

And for the syrup:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Directions:

Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in one bowl.

In a second bowl, carefully mix eggs, yogurt, sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla. The mixture may seem a bit runny, but don’t worry!

Preheat your oven to 350° F.

Slowly combine the dry mixture with the yogurt mixture; don’t overbeat! Then fold the oil into the mixture, stirring slowly, until you have a nice homogeneous batter.

Pour the batter into a (greased or non-stick) cake pan and bake about 45 mins. (until toothpick comes out clean; you know the drill).

While the cake is in the oven, cook the syrup. Simply cook  the sugar and the lemon juice in a small pot over medium heat, stirring continuously, until the sugar has dissolved and the syrup looks nice and clear and begins to thicken. I let mine bubble for quite some time, maybe 20 mins., because I am a sucker for thick, sweet syrup, but obviously that is up to everyone’s personal taste. When the syrup is done, remove from heat.

After you have taken the cake out of the oven, leave it in the pan for approx. 15 mins., then transfer carefully onto a cake rack and pour the syrup over it. Make sure the whole cake gets covered in syrup (I helped a little with a brush.) Then let the cake cool completely before you eat it.

I decorated my cake with some cute pink polka dots, simply achieved with icing made from colored powdered sugar and water. A glaze consisting of powdered sugar and lemon juice, or some real frosting with cream cheese would also work really well, I think.

Well, what can I say? The cake was really easy to make, turned out beautiful, and tasted awesome. Not too sweet, and really moist and spongy, too. Try it!