Category Archives: snacks

Emergency chocolate cake

baking, snacks 10 Comments

You know how it works: it’s 10:30 at night and you just. have. to. have. chocolate. cake. right. now. NOW. Nothing else will do. What’s that? No cake in the pantry? Well in three minutes there will be one in your hot little hands.

I’ve been tweaking this recipe for a while now, purely in the name of research (what??), and this is the best incarnation I’ve come up with. I do not use the egg that most recipes call for because it’s just too much; all you taste and feel is boiled egg. I use cake flour because AP flour can feel dense in this and make the cake too heavy, but obviously if you’re experiencing an Official Chocolate Emergency, use what you have.

So next time you’re dying for chocolate cake, try this:

Start by spraying the inside of a coffee mug with nonstick spray. Then put into the mug:

  • 2 Tbsp. cake flour
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 tsp. cocoa powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 Tbsp. milk
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tsp. oil
  1. Stir together with a fork until well blended
  2. Microwave for 60 seconds
  3. Turn out onto a plate; eat it plain or top with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, or both!

Isn’t that easy?

Emergency chocolate cake

baking, snacks 8 Comments

You know how it works: it’s 10:30 at night and you just. have. to. have. chocolate. cake. right. now. NOW. Nothing else will do. What’s that? No cake in the pantry? Well in three minutes there will be one in your hot little hands.

I’ve been tweaking this recipe for a while now, purely in the name of research (what??), and this is the best incarnation I’ve come up with. I do not use the egg that most recipes call for because it’s just too much; all you taste and feel is boiled egg. I use cake flour because AP flour can feel dense in this and make the cake too heavy, but obviously if you’re experiencing an Official Chocolate Emergency, use what you have.

So next time you’re dying for chocolate cake, try this:

Start by spraying the inside of a coffee mug with nonstick spray. Then put into the mug:

  • 2 Tbsp. cake flour
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 tsp. cocoa powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 Tbsp. milk
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tsp. oil
  1. Stir together with a fork until well blended
  2. Microwave for 60 seconds
  3. Turn out onto a plate; eat it plain or top with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, or both!

Isn’t that easy?

Summer salad

lunch, sides, snacks, supper 5 Comments

One of many perks to having a garden in the back yard? THIS at any time:

I love this super simple salad! Fresh baby lettuce from the garden, homemade croutons, diced tomato, cheeses, and just a bit of Newman’s honey dijon dressing. SO good! And now that we’ve installed chicken wire around the garden, all the salad is going to me — not the bunnies.

I have a lot of lettuce coming in… faster than I can eat it! So I’m sure I’ll have to get more creative with toppings as the summer goes on. What are your favorite salad toppings? Something unexpected, or do you stick to the basics? My friend loves Gorgonzola cheese on all her salads. The Yankee wants all Caesar all the time. The Kiddo wants, you know, yogurt and Cheerios. This post isn’t for him. 😉

So enlighten me! What else should I try while I have lettuce coming out of my ears?

Spring yogurt

breakfast, dessert, kids, snacks 9 Comments

Do you know the difference between winter yogurt and spring yogurt?

Spring yogurt is cuter.

The orginal how-to is here with all the details. But a quick run-down of the process, lest you be afraid:

  1. Heat a quart of milk to 180, add 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 dry milk, plus vanilla or maple syrup to flavor
  2. Let it cool to <120 (assuming you’re using pasteurized milk, you can technically just heat it to 120 and go from there, but I find it doesn’t thicken up quite as nicely that way)
  3. Add yogurt starter: 2 Tbsp. of yogurt containing live active cultures (ideally, 2 Tbsp. you saved from your last batch of yogurt; it freezes great in ice cube trays) and stir
  4. Pour into your very cutest containers and incubate at around 115 or so for four to six hours — I do this by lining a dutch oven with a heating pad set to low, then setting the jars in it and putting the lid on. If you want to make super-cute spring yogurt, add a couple drops of food coloring in each jar, stir to combine, then proceed with your incubation

That’s it! This is worlds better and cheaper than store-bought, and you can easily strain it to make it Greek-style if your little heart desires.

Salsa roja (roasted red salsa)

lunch, snacks 476 Comments

I eat a lot of salsa. A LOT. I am rather notorious for this, in fact. My friend’s boyfriend once innocently asked if I had anything he could snack on — maybe some chips and salsa? My friend nearly fell on the floor laughing at the thought of me not having chips and salsa in the house. There is no risk of that. Ever.

So when my awesome world-traveling chef cousin came to town for a few days, she offered to teach me how to make roasted red salsa and tamales (more on that later). Can you imagine how much I hesitated? Not. At. All.

And people, this salsa. PEOPLE. With a lifetime of tasting, sampling, and gorging research on salsa, I have never in my life had salsa this good.

Note that this makes a lot — a big mixing bowl full. I’m too embarrassed to tell you how quickly it went here. 😀 Without further ado, I give you: The Best Salsa Ever:

  • 16 full size tomatoes, or nearly a produce bag full of roma tomatoes (we used roma)
  • 2-3 yellow onions
  • 20-25 Serrano peppers (remove caps) Note: this many peppers makes it hot. Feel free to reduce # of peppers, or scrape the seeds out of them
  • 8-10 cloves of garlic
  • 1-2 Tbsp salt
  • 1-2 bunches cilantro
    1. Halve the tomatoes and onions and lay cut-side up on a cookie sheet along with the peppers and garlic
    2. Roast at 375 till the onions look nice and translucent (see bottom left of the next picture), tomatoes look soft, and peppers are getting a nice char on them

  1. Let it all cool a bit, then run through the food processor with salt and cilantro (we had to do this in two batches)
  2. Stir it all together and eat with abandon. Trust me.

Update 6/24/09:

Got questions? Be sure to see the comments below from The Cousin — lots of great info from the salsa expert!