Over the Kitchen Counter: Angie's Place for Cooking and Crafts

Lemon-y Loaf

Lemonade isn't my first choice when life hands me lemons, it's Lemon Loaf!  This amazing, lemon-y pound cake is so quick and easy to whip up and tastes like sunshine.  There are only a few basic ingredients so using freshly squeezed lemon juice and just-grated zest is critical to achieve the wonderful citrus flavour.

Excellent as a snack or treat with tea, it also makes a special dessert if you pair it with some lemon gelato or a dollop of whipped cream and some berries.  The only problem?  It's gone in a flash - one piece just isn't enough...and around here we fight for the end slice which is just soaked in the sugar-lemon glaze!  Yum-my!

Zesty Lemon

  This Microplane zester is a "must have" in my kitchen.  It is beautifully made and makes grating and zesting effortless.  It takes the rind off lemons or oranges without taking any of the white pith and is perfect for grating Parmigiano-Reggiano at the table.  It makes a very fine shred and is ultra-sharp so you don't have to use any muscle to get the job done!  The handle is a nice addition too - my first one was bare-bones stainless steel, used for woodworking I think!

If you like to use fresh zest (and it really does make all the difference, adding a burst of flavour) or grate your own parmesan, it'll be worth the investment to purchase a Microplane zester.  Here's a hint for tomorrow: I will be using this tool in a lemony recipe!  Stay tuned...

How to Measure Butter

  Some recipes call for tablespoons of butter, some call for cups of butter, and some call for sticks of butter!  So confusing - what's a person to do?

Well, here's a quick video on how to measure butter.  No matter what amount your recipe requires, you'll know just how to cut it!

The Stamp-a-ma-jig

  It's got a funny name but this little plastic tool is one of my favourite craft items!  In the past I was very frustrated with wood-mounted rubber stamps which are difficult to align properly when 2-step stamping or when creating a word with alphabet stamps.  Trial and error just doesn't work when working directly on a card base or scrapbook page.  Enter the Stamp-a-ma-jig.  This affordable item allows you to stamp an image on the transparent plastic guide sheet using the t-square then use that impression to align the image on the card stock.    Next, simply replace the plastic sheet with the actual stamp, flush against the aligner in the same position, and stamp the perfect image!  Check out this video for a quick demonstration...

Banana Cake for Dessert

This simple butter cake makes a quick and delicious family dessert.  If you happen to have some over-ripe bananas lying around you can make this for tonight's supper!

Like any cake you simply cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs (and in this case, bananas), and then combine your dry ingredients and add them alternating with your liquid (buttermilk is used here).  It's best to have your ingredients at room temperature when making cakes so set everything out while you mix up the dry ingredients, prepare the pan, mash the bananas, and pre-heat the oven.  I usually turn on the oven as soon as I'm thinking about baking something so it is ready to go when I am.

The "icing on the cake" for this recipe is the classic butter frosting.  It is so fast to make your own (rather than the canned variety) and not only does it taste better it doesn't have all those chemicals and preservatives in it.  I use the best vanilla extract I can since the flavour really shines through in such a simple frosting.

This is one of the best cakes I've made - I hope you like it as much as we do!

No Coffee for Old Men

Although it was very disturbing and violent, I could not stop thinking about the movie "No Country for Old Men" after seeing it last year.  This film won 4 Oscars in 2008, including Best Picture and Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for Javier Bardem, who was absolutely mesmerizing as Anton Chigurh.

Not only was I rooting for Llewelyn Moss, hypnotized by the psychopathic killer Anton, and frustrated along side Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, I fell in love too - with the retro coffee percolator from which Ed pours much-needed rich, dark coffee (sometimes old, rich dark, coffee!).   I knew I had to get one for myself!

After much research I ended up with the Cuisinart Coffee Percolator Model PRC-12.  This electric 12-cup percolator pipes hot water through coffee grounds and pulses up into the transparent knob on top to brew rich, full-flavored coffee.  I love watching the coffee bubble up into the knob and the aroma is wonderful.  It is by far the best-tasting coffee I've made and I'm sure this simple, classic appliance will be on my kitchen counter for years and years to come...hopefully Anton Chigurh won't be dropping by for a cup anytime soon!

I was up until midnight watching this year's Oscars and the coffee is almost ready...I think I'll need it extra strong today!  Have a good one!

Shopping Day

When I unpack all the groceries on shopping day I love looking at all the wonderful fruits and vegetables - fresh and colourful!  I think of all the possibilities for meal ideas and all the healthy benefits of such variety in our diet (and how fortunate we are to have such an enormous selection readily available).

By choosing a wide range of foods from within the Vegetables & Fruit food group there is a better chance of meeting the nutrient needs of my family.  It's easy to see when selecting fruits and vegetables how choosing foods of different colours can lead us to variety.  Canada's Food Guide directs us to choose dark green and orange vegetables and orange fruit more often for the maximum health benefits but there are so many other choices to pick from to satisfy the 5-10 recommended servings for the day.  Glad it's almost lunch time!

Cricut Nut Cup

I love to make these little nut cups as party favours or table decorations, filled with small candies or snacks.  I used the Cricut machine with the Bags, Tags, Boxes and more cartridge (one of my favourites!) to cut out the cup.  Next I decorated the side of the cup with my Think Happy Thoughts stamps (from Stampin' Up) and some patterned Chocolate Chip card stock punched with the Scallop Circle punch.  I filled this particular cup with special edition Vanilla Tootsie Rolls candy.  Have you tried them?  They are so good!

This project is a great one to try if you are just starting out with your Cricut machine and I will be showing you more Cricut projects in upcoming posts!  Thanks for dropping by! 

Smells good in here!

Mm-mm, I have a huge, homemade 3 cheese lasagna in the oven and it smells really incredible!  I just made up some meat sauce with onions and garlic, tomato sauce and paste and layered it with cooked lasagna noodles, cottage cheese with 2 beaten eggs, and shredded mozzarella cheese.  A little Parmigiano-Reggiano on top and it's ready to bake (350 degrees F for 30 minutes).  Banana cake for dessert!  We watched "W." last night...I thought it was very good and Josh Brolin was really incredible as Dubya!  He is a very good actor!

Date Squares

Date squares cost way too much at the bakery and aren't nearly as good as homemade ones.  They are pretty simple to prepare -there are really only two steps involved: make the filling and make the pastry!  Easy!

This recipe yields 16 squares but of course you can cut them smaller for bite-sized treats.  They are rich and dense (the pan weighs about 5 pounds!) and are both sweet and salty at the same time - really tasty!  And they DO have oats in them so they're practically health food, right?