Showing posts with label zest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zest. Show all posts
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Banana Foster - "Zesty Spice Cake" Trifle!
I created the "Banana Foster - Zesty Spice Cake Trifle" quite by accident. I peeled a very unripe banana but did not want to toss it out so I fried it in butter with brown sugar, honey, a mix of orange and lemon zest and pumpkin pie spices. I then layered the banana with the remaining "Zesty Spice Cake" to make a "Trifle" layered with yogurt sweetened with honey, and other fruits --strawberries, nectarines and peaches! You can add blueberries and blackberries too! Yummy!
The "Banana Foster - Zesty Spice Cake Trifle" is light, refreshing, easy to make and does not take much time to complete! It certainly beats same old, same old! The recipe is simple because you don't have to use or prepare a custard and add gelatin and wait for hours on end for it to set. Yogurt has the consistency of custard and works just as well and without the calories.
Let me know what you think. Here we go!
INGREDIENTS
- 4 or 5 slices of the "Zesty Spice Cake" (Click link to see recipe)
- 1 cup yogurt (2 cups for 3 or more servings)
- 1 cup zesty spiced apple compote (Click link to see recipe
- 2 firm bananas - peeled and sliced
- Other fruits: strawberries, peaches, nectarines (all sliced); and seasonal berries - blueberries, strawberries, blackberries
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoons brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons honey, maple syrup or Agave nectar
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons orange lemon or lime juice
- Orange, Lime or Lemon zest for garnish
- Optional, Brandy, Liquer, Orange Juice or Apple Cider for deglazing
DIRECTIONS
1. Mix the yogurt, honey and citrus juice in a bowl. Cover and place in the refrigerator.
2. Place a frying pan on medium heat and add butter.
3. Add the sliced bananas, citrus zest, honey , a teaspoon of lemon juice and a pinch of salt and pumpkin pie spice mix.
4. Cook sliced bananas for one minute on each side, turn off the heat. remove the pan from the stove and let the bananas cool down. [You can add brandy or liquer before removing the bananas from the stove and flame up the bananas to burn off the alcohol and create the true "Banana Foster" effect and some much needed drama! You can also use orange juice or apple cider to deglaze the good stuff from the pan.]
5. Layer a glass trifle bowl with a row of half of the sliced bananas. [You can also use the cover of your cake stand. Just turn the top upside down and set it on the bottom. If you have never used your cake stand since you got it -- you now have a good use for it. You can also use it as a punch bowl! Now you know!]
6. Add a layer of the zesty spiced apple compote to the layer of sliced fried bananas.
7. Crumble one or two slices of the "Zesty Spice Cake" on top of the bananas and apple compote.
8. Add a layer of seasonal fresh fruit on top of the cake layer. Just use whatever fruits you have -- let your imagination run wild!
9. Add half of the yogurt mix on top of the fruit mix. Repeat the banana, apple compote, cake, fruit and yogurt layers.
10. Decorate the top of the trifle with a layer of fresh fruits and garnish with swirls of citrus zest and a sprig of mint leaves.
11. You can make individual trifles in dessert bowls instead of making all the trifle in one big bowl. It is just prettier when you use a big bowl and then serve into the smaller dessert bowls. Just do whatever works best for you!
So voila! There you have it! A light refreshing dessert and not too late to try before summer is over and all the summer fruits are gone!
Calories: Unknown. You can reduce the total calories by using a low fat yogurt. You can also use Agave nectar instead of the honey and brown sugar.
Prep and Total Cooking Time: Less than 30 minutes.
Zesty Spice Cake!
I made this "Zesty Spice Cake" for the first time this past winter. I threw the ingredients together and was really quite surprised how well the unintentional "Zesty Spice Cake" turned out.
The whole idea is to reduce the preparation time by using some pre-packaged items such as the Betty Crocker SuperMoist Cake Mix - Spice, Trader Joe's Organic Spiced Apple Sauce and Trader Joe's Multigrain Pancake Mix with other ingredients. I was pleasantly surprised how delicious, spicy and moist the cake tasted!
Later, I used the remaining "Zesty Spice Cake" to make a "Trifle" layered with yogurt sweetened with honey, and fruits -- strawberries, nectarines and peaches! Yummy!
I decided to post the recipe because the ladies at my Trader Joe's store and Oroweat Bakery Outlet all want to try this recipe. I told them I had to patent it first! I am sure you will all agree that it needs to be patented when you try it.
Let me know what you think. Here we go!
INGREDIENTS
- 1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist Cake Mix - Spice 18.25 oz (reserve two tablespoons for Streusel topping)
- 1/4 cup oats (reserve two tablespoons for Streusel topping)
- 1/4 cup Trader Joe's Multigrain Pancake mix (reserve two tablespoons for the Streusel topping, You can substitute another pancake mix.)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup chopped plums, apricots or dates
- 1/4 cup orange and lemon zest (reserve two tablespoons for the apple compote and Streusel topping
- 2 raw medium organic carrots, peeled and grated
- Small piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated (about two tablespoons)
- 4 teaspoons pumpkin spice mix (comprising cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and allspice - reserve two teaspoons for apple sauce and Streusel topping. You can also make this from scratch using a coffee grinder to grind cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and allspice.)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt for apple and Streusel topping
- 3 tablespoons organic brown sugar (for apple sauce -- reserve one tablespoons for Streusel topping
- 1/2 cup melted butter (reserve one tablespoon in small bowl for the Streusel topping)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup squeezed orange juice (you can add a little lemon juice to the orange juice)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 -- 4oz cups Trader Joe's Organic Apple Sauce with Cinnamon (you can substitute any apple sauce)
- 1 cup apple compote (peel, core and chop two medium apples and cook it in the microwave with 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of zest, 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice and a pinch of salt). You can also use Trader Joe's Chunky Spiced Apple Sauce.
DIRECTIONS
1. Prepare the chopped apple compote: peel, core, chop and cook the apple in the microwave with 2 teaspoons brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of zest and 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, drizzle of honey, and a pinch of salt. Allow the apple compote to cool before adding to other ingredients. Reserve some of the apple compote for serving with the cake.2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Sift the Betty Crocker SuperMoist Cake Mix - Spice into a mixing bowl.
4. Add the dry ingredients: oats, raisins, chopped dried fruits (plums, apricots or dates), baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and orange and lemon zest; and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon, or large splatula.
5. Add the wet ingredients: spiced apple sauce, grated fresh ginger, beaten eggs, honey, melted butter, orange juice, vanilla and milk; and mix with a hand or electric whisk.
6. Fold the apple compote, grated carrots, raisins and chopped dried fruits into the cake mixture.
7. Spray two cake pans with Pam Spray or manually grease the cakes pans with butter, cooking oil, lard or other fat. To make it easier to remove the cake from the cake pan, you can sprinkle flour into the cake pan and use it to lightly coat the entire pan.
8. Pour the "Zesty Spice Cake" mixture into cake pans and top the cake mixture with the Streusel topping. See below for the Streusel topping.
9. Streusel topping: Add the reserved Betty Crocker SuperMoist Cake Mix - Spice, oats, Trader Joe's Multigrain Pancake mix, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, orange and lemon zest, and pinch of salt to the melted butter to make the Streusel topping for the cake. The mixture should have a crumb-like texture.
10. Sprinkle the Streusel topping on the cake mixture.
11. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.To test for done-ness -- insert a bamboo barbecue stick into the center of the cake. It should come out clean.
12. Remove the cakes from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
13. Serve the moist "Zesty Spice Cake" warm with a dollop of fresh cream and a generous scoop of the zesty spiced apple compote. You can also serve it with other seasonal fruits such as banana, strawberries, blackberries, nectarines, peaches, mango, raspberries, grilled pineapples or other summer fruits, or stewed pineapples (stew the pineapples with brown sugar, ginger and cloves).
14. Wrap the remaining "Zesty Spice Cake" with aluminum foil and place it in the freezer. To make it easier to use in the future, I suggest that you slice the remaining cake with a bread-knife first before you freeze it. It also makes sense to wrap four or five slices together so you don't have to unwrap all the slices just to take out a few.
The "Zesty Spice Cake" is great for Afternoon Tea or High Tea -- with a cup of organic Green or Black Tea or ice cold Iced Tea.
Try the "Zesty Spice Cake" recipe and give me your feedback! I would love to hear from you! Enjoy!
Calories: The estimated calories for the Betty Crocker SuperMoist Cake Mix - Spice is 270 calories (prepared) with 120 calories from fat. The calorie count will be much higher with butter and the additional ingredients. You can substitute canola or grapeseed oil for the butter, if you want to do a lower calorie version of the "Zesty Spice Cake". However, butter makes everything taste so much better!
Another thing, do not use the Betty Crocker SuperMoist Cake Mix - Carrot. The carrot bits are made with carrot powder and coloring -- not real carrots! Not good stuff or "good eats" as Chef Alton Brown would say. Stay clear of it!
Prep and Total Cooking Time: I don't know -- maybe one or two hours! I was not keeping track or the time -- just having fun on a cold winter's night and trying to keep warm in the kitchen!
At a future date, I will post another version of the "Zesty Spice Cake" recipe with all organic and from scratch ingredients. Stay tuned!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Welcome to "Zest Your Food"!
Welcome to "Zest Your Food" -- a blog for food lovers. I have been using a lot of citrus zest in my cooking and thought I should share my recipes with other food lovers -- so I created this blog for all food lovers out there.
I love citrus fruits - orange, lemon, lime, tangerine, tangelo (or honeybell tangerine) and grapefruit -- you name it, I love it! I will discuss the health benefits of citrus fruits later. I don't throw away any citrus peel. I lay the peels on a cutting board and remove the pith from the citrus peel with a sharp knife and then chop up the zest finely. I put the zest in a plastic container which I store in the freezer. I find grapefruit to be a bit bitter so I have not yet used grapefruit zest yet but I will try it later and let you know if it is any good.
You can also use a "zester" or "grater" to remove the zest; however, I find that just using a thin sharp knife and laying the zest on a cutting board in small strips works just as well and you actually get a better yield. You can run the zest under cold water and then use the knife to gently scrape any remaining pith or albedo. I use a large kitchen chef knife to first finely julienne the zest; then I use the knife to finely chop the julienned zest. I find "zesting" to be a therapeutic exercise -- helps to clear the mind.
I use the zest to flavor food -- pancakes, cakes, pies, fish and chicken. I also love Trader Joe's so you will find that I use a lot of ingredients from Trader Joe's. You can obtain organic ingredients at very reasonable prices from Trader Joe's. I have a funny Trader Joe's story that I will share later.
I will share my recipes on this blog. Try the recipes and let me know how they turn out for you.
Happy, healthy and zesty cooking to all!
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