fear not

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These things today: A Christmas Eve cake recipe. This article. Iceland. And these words, which have been the words of these last months, again and again, spoken into the night air:

Fear not.
You have been redeemed.
He has called you by name,
and you are his.

Sweet Lemon Cake with Olive Oil and Greek Yogurt

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 

1 cup plain Greek yogurt 

1 1/3 cups sugar, divided 

3 extra-large eggs 

3 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons) 

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

1/2 cup olive oil 

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the glaze: 

1 cup confectioners' sugar 

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9" cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan. 

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. 

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Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 27-30 minutes, or until a toothpick placed in the center of the cake comes out clean. Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside. 

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When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool. For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice and drizzle over the cake.

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[pc: here]

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small good things

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And it is summer. It came so soon and suddenly with its dusky thunderstorms and surprise morning rain followed immediately by sunshine. I am living now for a month with Emma and Torunn in a little home on a quiet street near the train station. We have made it our own as best we could with the little we have. Almost every piece of furniture in the house is from a different person, borrowed for a time and giving life to our house. The entire first floor is painted a New England blue and sometimes in the morning while I eat breakfast I imagine I am actually in Maine. Six impossible things before breakfast, you know?

I am working almost full-time at the bookstore. It is quiet work and sometimes tedious and dull, but I am grateful for the days when I get to seed through all the trade books. I may or may not know exactly where the books I love are and spend extra time dusting those shelves. I am inching my way through My Bright Abyss by Christian Wiman when no one is looking. And I spend my lunch breaks at the library reading Image and preparing for the next part of summer. These days are ordinary in the best way. They feel like life and I feel like an adult. I go to work and go grocery shopping and cook dinner, after all.

I made this dinner last night, inspired by a recipe I found in a cookbook Emma checked out from the library. I forget the name of the cookbook, but I changed the recipe pretty dramatically, so hopefully that forgives my lack of proper credit.

Farro with Edamame, Lemon, Arugula, & Goat Cheese

Ingredients:
3/4 cup farro grains
1 cup edamame
olive oil
1 lemon
1 clove garlic
2 cups arugula
2 ounces goat cheese

Cook farro according to directions on package (boil in salted water). Drain and set aside. Boil edamame in same water for three minutes and drain as well. In the bottom of a saucepan, heat a bit of olive oil with salt, pepper, and minced garlic clove. Add arugula and cook until wilted. Squeeze lemon juice on arugula mixture and then add the edamame and farro and mix until flavors are combined and the dish is warmed. Dish onto plates and top with crumbled goat cheese and a bit more freshly ground pepper.
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cardamom please

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Today, just a new project and a cake I made for Christmas Eve. I didn't have the full recipe written down, so thus I record it here. It sounds like a lot of different flavors, I know (my family was quite skeptical), but it really is delicious. Just look at how much butter is in it, after all.

Brown Butter Lemon Spice Cake with Black Tea & Cardamom Frosting
inspired mostly by Torunn, but also Food & Wine

for the cake:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (or spelt flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground Earl Gray tea leaves
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, or 2 teaspoons extract
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 egg yolks
1 egg
2/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 325. Grease and flour a small bundt cake pan or a 9 inch circular cake pan. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter. Cook over low heat until frothy and brown and the butter has a nutty scent. Set the pan in an ice water bath until the butter sets again, probably 8-10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients except sugar. Once the butter is set, beat the butter in a mixer until creamy and light. Add in the sugar. Add in the eggs, one at a time. Add lemon juice and vanilla extract, if using. Then add in the flour mixture and the milk in alternation, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes.

for the icing:
1 stick unsalted butter, soft
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons very black steeped Earl Gray tea
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt

Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in remaining ingredients, adding more or less tea until the frosting reaches desired consistency.

the forest you did not plant

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I think the epitome of home-ness is sitting on the kitchen countertops in the morning with teacups of steaming coffee and Simon and Garfunkel (Dad's choice, always) playing in the background.

Three things:
01. This excellent documentary.

02. This yummy granola recipe.

03. This poem.

Also: made this Wednesday night . . . I kind of just threw everything in the pot, so the recipe is mostly approximations, but it was quite yummy and I want to be able to make it again, so thus I record it here.
 

Barley Vegetable Soup with White Wine and Lemon

1 small onion, chopped

a handful of chopped leeks

3 large carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

5 large mushrooms, chopped

3/4 cup peas

a handful of spinach or kale

fresh rosemary, sage, and thyme

4 cups vegetable broth

1/2 cup white cooking wine

juice from one lemon

3/4 cup cooked pearl barley

Cook all vegetables except peas and greens in a saucepan over medium heat with olive oil and salt and pepper. Cook until soft and onions are translucent. Add fresh herbs and cook for three minutes. Add broth, white wine, lemon, peas, and greens. Let simmer for 30 minutes. Add precooked barley and let simmer for 10-15 more minutes. I like to serve it with a little goat cheese and freshly ground pepper on top.
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[picture of maybe-someday-my-house, or a house a few blocks away from school whose porch I visit often]

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breakfast in berkeley [part two]

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Something about breakfast with this girl. My mornings aren't the same without her, or her beautiful creations. This day it was coconut creme with banana-mango puree and granola. In the garden, of course.

"To make art is to affirm meaning," says Madeline L'Engle. Me thinks to make breakfast is to affirm meaning too.
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baked oatmeal recipes

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Just look at all these scrumptious baked oatmeal recipes from A Beautiful Mess. I told my Mom over fall break that I wish I could just increase the size of my stomach for a few days, because the amount of cooking I wanted to do didn't equal the amount of food my stomach can hold for three days. So the pumpkin spice oatmeal will just have to wait until Thanksgiving break . . .

(Oh, but. I did try a pumpkin chai latte with almond milk at the airport on my trek back to school on Tuesday. And oh my goodness - it is a tasty little drink. I'm scheming my way to get another one soon.)

[picture from A Beautiful Mess]
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whole wheat ravioli with sage + arugula

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Whenever I've been away from home for more than a week, I get the cooking itch. And being gone for eight weeks makes me really itchy to get in the kitchen. I missed my wooden spoons and all the fresh fruit and the ability to make just what you want and all that.

So last night I happily took over the kitchen and made dinner for the family . . . made this ravioli dish . . . inspired by the meal a group of girls and I had our first night in London. After arriving jet-lagged and exhausted at our hotel, we walked in the rain to a little Italian restaurant just a block or two away. I ordered ravioli with butter and sage served over arugula and it was just the sort of dinner one needs after spending ten hours on a plane.

It was also the first time that I tried arugula (or "rocket," as they call it in England) and I love love love it and have now been adding it to everything. And I had never heard of serving ravioli over greens before, but it's a tasty + healthy little idea, me thinks . . .

Whole Wheat Ravioli with Sage + Arugula

Ingredients:

2 packages whole wheat ricotta ravioli
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
10 sage leaves, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large bunch of arugula
10 sweet cherry tomatoes

Follow the instructions on the ravioli package to fully cook the pasta. Drain and set aside.

In a saucepan, melt the butter. Add the sage and garlic and a bit of freshly ground black pepper and let simmer for five minutes or until the flavors have melded a bit.

Spread the arugula on a serving platter and slice the cherry tomatoes in half. Pour the melted butter mixture over the ravioli and then arrange the ravioli on top of the arugula. Place the sliced tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with a bit more sage and serve with grated Italian cheese.
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banana, oat, & dark chocolate bread

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Before I left college, my beautiful sister flew half way across the country to visit me for a weekend. Despite sickness, delayed flights, dying cell phones, missed trains, enormous amounts of homework, and already-booked concerts, we managed to have a delightful time. On Saturday, we stopped by my favorite little French bakery to pick up a treat before heading into the city. I had this amazing banana chocolate chip muffin and knew that I wanted to attempt to replicate it when I got home . . .

And this is the result. I wanted to make it without any white sugar, so I opted for agave nectar. I also added in some extra whole wheat flour and oats and some dark chocolate, of course. And the buttermilk makes them perfectly moist. Yumminess all around.

Banana, Oat, and Dark Chocolate Bread (or Muffins)
adapted from Eating Well

Ingredients:

3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup light agave nectar
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2-3 bananas)
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup whole organic rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease loaf pan or muffin cups. (You can use any size loaf pan; just adjust the amount of time that you bake according to the size of the pan.)

Whisk buttermilk, agave nectar, oil, and eggs in a large bowl. Stir in bananas.

In a separate bowl, whisk whole wheat pastry flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add dry mixture to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined.

Fold in chocolate chips and oats. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, approximately 50 minutes for a 9x5 loaf pan or 15-17 minutes for muffins.

(And p.s., speaking of sugar, this little intro to natural sweeteners is wonderful if you're looking to stay away from white and processed sugars.)
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a tale of two granolas | part one

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Over break, I went into a bit of granola-making-craze. For the past few months I have been trying a variety of different store-bought granola, but I decided I wanted to try my own hand at making it, since it would (1) be a lot cheaper and (2) I can make it just the way I like it.

The first recipe I tried was this pumpkin granola. Not only did the pumpkin flavor sound delicious, but the recipe also uses no oil or butter - the applesauce and pumpkin take the place of the fat (which I had heard was possible from some other sources). However, the downside was that it has a good deal of processed sugar. The next granola recipe I made seeks to solve the processed sugar problem, but more about that recipe in part two.

Taste-wise, I thought this was delicious. It was a little sweet, so I'd like to try the recipe again just by eliminating a good 1/4-1/2 cup of the brown sugar. But the subtle pumpkin flavor and the addition of the pepitas and dried cranberries was scrumptious, particularly with some tart and unsweetened yogurt.

The only changes I made to the original recipe were that I added some extra cinnamon and I added a bit of whole wheat pastry flour. (In all of my granola-making-research, I discovered that adding a bit of flour makes granola more clumpy. And I like my granola clumpy.)
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Pumpkin & Cranberry Granola
adapted from Two Peas in a Pod

5 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pepitas

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine oats, spices, and salt. Mix well.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, pumpkin puree, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Pour wet ingredients into oat mixture and stir until the oats are evenly coated. They will be moist.

4. Gently add in whole wheat pastry flour. Stir just until combined. Evenly spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.

5. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and stir. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until the granola is golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and stir in dried cranberries and pepitas. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
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