Family favorites
Are you sensing my theme this week? You guessed it, it’s all about lemons! Fresh, fragrant tart lemons! I like anything with lemons and this cake was delicious. I am not a baker so attempting a roll cake was a bit out of my element. If I can do it, you can too! I baked my cake just a tad too long so it made it just a little more difficult to roll. None of my guests minded that one bit! It’s definitely important to watch the baking time and check, in my case more than once! This would be beautiful for your Mother’s Day celebration or wonderful dessert for any of your spring and summer dinners!
INGREDIENTS FOR THE CAKE
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar as needed
INGREDIENTS FOR THE FROSTING
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 – 8 ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
3-4 cups powdered sugar, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
2 Tablespoons milk, plus more if needed
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a jelly roll baking sheet 9 x 13 with parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat eggs until frothy then beat in sugar, lemon juice, zest and vanilla extract.
Fold dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined then pour the batter into your greased and lined baking sheet. Using a rubber spatula to spread batter evenly across the pan and into the corners. Bake for 9-11 minutes until top is just lightly golden and springs back when touched.
While the cake bakes spread a large kitchen towel on your workspace and dust very generously with powdered sugar. Your towel should be larger than your baking sheet. Remove cake from oven and turn it out onto the sugar coated kitchen towel. Remove the parchment paper. Starting at one of the short sides of the cake flip the edge of the towel onto the cake and tightly roll the cake into a spiral. Set cake aside or refrigerate until cooled completely.
For the frosting, beat cream cheese in a large bowl for 1-2 minutes or until fluffy, add butter and beat until smooth and combined then beat in 3 cups of powdered sugar.
Mix In lemon extract and lemon zest stirring in milk if you prefer the frosting to be slightly thinner.
Remove cake from fridge and unroll then spread frosting on the cake making sure to get to the edges of the cake. Re-roll the cake without the towel being careful to gently pull the cake away from the towel if it sticks slightly. Return to the fridge for another 1 – 2 hours or until chilled.
Dust with powdered sugar and slice.
Enjoy!
This recipe comes from www.12tomatoes.com
Let’s talk salad dressing for a moment. We all walk into the grocery store and get to the salad dressing aisle and have to step back and look at all of the million choices we have. Some low fat, some gluten-free, some crazy sweet, some made with tons of ingredients you don’t even know what they are! I tend to stay with the natural gluten-free choices in the refrigerator section, but I also prefer to make my own when I can. This buttermilk ranch dressing is easy to make and uses up some of those spices you have in the cabinet. This makes about two cups of dressing and is best made ahead and kept in the fridge.
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl combine buttermilk, sour cream and mayonnaise. Whisk until combined. Add remaining ingredients whisking again until well combined. Refrigerate until serving.
Serve with your favorite salad or vegetables.
Enjoy!
This recipe comes from www.theslowroasteditalian.com
I recently made these sausage stars for a small group of friends and realized they are not on the blog! I don’t know how in the world that happened as these are one of our families most favorite appetizers! They are always one of the first dishes to go whenever I make them. If we are holding a big party I will usually make the sausage mixture and the wontons the day before. Then on party day put the sausage mixture in the wontons and bake until warmed through. If you have not made these before, we highly recommend this family favorite!
INGREDIENTS
1 pound of Jimmy Dean “hot” sausage
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 package (not prepared) Hidden Valley Ranch dry salad dressing
1/2 cup diced pickled jalapeños
1 red pepper, diced
1 package wonton wrappers
DIRECTIONS
In a large non-stick fry pan crumble and cook the sausage until almost cooked through. Add the cheeses, the salad dressing, jalapeños and diced red pepper mixing until well combined and the sausage is cooked through. Remove from heat and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two muffin tins (I usually make two batches, or 4 dozen) with non-stick spray. Press one wonton wrapper into each cup. Keeping an opening in the center that will be filled with the sausage mixture. Bake the unfilled shells for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and place the shells on a baking sheet. Fill the shells with the sausage mixture and place back in the oven until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and serve warm.
Enjoy!
With spring here and summer not far behind I thought I would share a couple of zucchini recipes with you. This recipe I saw on the television show “The Chew” when they hosted Kristin Cavallari who has a new cookbook out called “True Roots”. Her book is made up of real food, farm to table type of recipes with many of them being gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar-free. With Robby needing to be gluten free and dairy free, this was just the kind of book I was looking for. Not only did I make this recipe, I also bought the book. Lots of great and easy recipes in the book. You can also find a number of her recipes online and on Pinterest. This is such an easy recipe that really does taste like an indulgent chocolate brownie. You would never know there is zucchini in it. A perfect recipe for the kids and adults alike!
INGREDIENTS
1 cup creamy almond butter
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt (can use regular table salt)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1 large zucchini, grated and NOT drained
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 x 8 baking dish with parchment paper or spray with non-stick baking spray. In a large bowl, mix together the almond butter, egg, salt, baking soda, sugar, and vanilla until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and zucchini. Put into prepared baking dish pressing down to spread evenly in the pan.
Bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool slightly before serving.
Enjoy!
I made this dish specifically for my Dad as he saw a picture of the recipe I gave you on Tuesday and said he wanted that, but without the pasta. Well, when Dad wants a dish, I make it! This dish is cooked similar to Tuesday’s dish as the seafood is all cooked separately then put together at the end. When I was looking at recipes similar to this all of the recipes put raw seafood together and cook it all together. I really, really did not like that idea as all of the seafood are different sized and have a different cook time and if I cooked them separately, I could season each layer as I cook, because of that this dish does take extra effort and time. I can promise you it’s well worth it. No one at my Easter table was disappointed with this dish. In fact, there was almost none left and I served it as a side dish!
NOTE – this dish is easily made gluten-free by using crushed gluten-free crackers (I used gluten-free Cheese Itz type cracker for Robby) for the topping. I made Robby a smaller dish just for him!
This dish was made in a large round casserole dish for the rest of us.
This picture is just my dads first helping of the buttery seafood casserole. Note the cute bunny plate!
INGREDIENTS
1 pound large raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails off
4 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
12 large scallops
1 Tablespoon butter for scallops
4 lobster tails, steamed, shell removed and chopped into large pieces
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Zest of 1/2 lemon
3 Tablespoons white wine
Salt
Pepper
1 to 1 1/2 sleeves of Ritz crackers, crushed
1 1/2 sticks of butter, melted for topping
DIRECTIONS
For shrimp – place the shrimp on a baking sheet, drizzle with 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, add a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix to combine. Place the shrimp in the oven with the oven set to broil keeping the oven door open slightly. Roast the shrimp just until the shrimp turn pink. Remove from oven and set aside with your already prepared lobster meat.
For the scallops- heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil to the pan along with 1 tablespoon of butter. Dry the scallops with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper. When the pan is hot add the scallops to the pan seasoned side down. Season the top side of scallops with salt and pepper. When the scallops have seared on one side, turn them over and sear the second side.
When the scallops have cooked, add the lobster and shrimp to the pan to warm through.
Meanwhile in a bowl, add the melted butter, garlic, wine, lemon juice and the zest of half a lemon, mixing well. Place all of the seafood into a greased baking dish. Add the desired amount of crushed crackers. We used the full sleeve and a half of the crackers. Drizzle the melted butter mixture over the crackers and place in a 400 degree oven to brown the top of the crackers. This just takes a few minutes, so watch closely! Remove from oven and serve warm.
Enjoy!
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