Food: Cake or Death

Howdy,

I know I have been out of communication for a while. Well, I just finished my desktop publishing class. I am now well versed in the ways of InDesign and I know 5 times as much about Photoshop. My final project was a dessert cookbook with some of my favorites in it. And since I used my own photos for the book, the one I didn't have was my yellow cake and chocolate frosting so I made a cake for the last class.

Here is the cake recipe: (I don't share the icing recipe it is my secret weapon)

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup of milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1cup butter (at room temperature)
1 ½ cups sugar
4 large eggs (at room temperature)

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking pan.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside. IN a small bowl, combine the milk and vanilla extract, set aside. Crack the eggs into a small bowl and lightly separate with a fork set aside. Using a stand mixer, beat the butter with the paddle on medium speed until creamy. Add the sugar, beating until pale and fluffy. Drizzle in the eggs, beating each addition until incorporated before continuing. Reduce the speed to medium-low and add the dry ingredients in three additions alternately with the milk mixture in two additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and spread it evenly. Bake until the cakes are puffed and a skewer inserted into the centers comes out clean. 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Run a table knife around the edge of the pan and invert the cake onto a platter.

This cake is also great for cupcakes or a layer cake it is completely versitile.

Food: Pesto Pasta

Now, I don't normally post on things that I cook, Bake sometimes but not generally cook but I was proud of this last minute kitchen marvel so I thought I would throw up a post. I made pesto today because I had a bunch of basil that was going bad. It turns out that Pesto is not the horrible difficult monster that my mother always made it out to be.

Pesto:
2 cups Basil leaves
2 and ½ cloves of garlic crushed
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons pine nuts (lightly toasted)
The juice from ½ a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Blend basil, garlic, nuts, and ¼ cup of olive oil in a blender (or cuisinart miniprep plus).

Blend until smooth, add in lemon juice and the rest of the olive oil and the salt and pepper to taste.

Voila! Pesto! I was surprised at how easy it was and how well it turned out. So, since the sauce was so easy I decided to whip up a pasta dish to go with it.

The pasta was really simple, just take:

1 chicken breast
1 recipe of pesto
1 package frozen fresh fettuccini
2 cloves garlic
White cooking wine
1 T Olive oil
1 cup baby spinach leaves
The juice from ½ lemon
2 medium balls of fresh mozzarella cut into small pieces

-Cut up the chicken into small pieces.

-In a frying pan mix chicken, olive oil, and garlic.

-Sauté the chicken, when it starts to sizzle add the white cooking wine and sauté until cooked through.

-Put the chicken aside. Meanwhile, boil water for the pasta and throw it in (fresh pasta cooks really quickly so remember to watch it).

-Once you have drained the pasta, place it in a sauce pan and stir in the chicken and pesto, stir until the pasta and the chicken are coated with pesto, then throw in the spinach and the lemon juice.

-Stir until the spinach is just wilted and then serve with the fresh mozzarella spread over the top of the pasta.