My New Favorite Thing- Zucchini Tea Cake

There are many things I love about this recipe, how easy it is to make, how delicious it is, but mostly the name: Zucchini Tea Cake.  It smacks of elegance and Chanel suits and English afternoon teas with lemon curd and clotted cream.  I found this tea cake online when I was trolling the Los Angeles Times Food section for new recipes.  It mentioned that it was low in fat and adapted from a Huckleberry recipe, and I bookmarked it immediately.  Not only do I love Huckleberry, but I have been looking for some dessert recipes that fit into my new healthy regime.  Friends, I urge you to make this tea cake right now.  It comes together so fast it's a dream.  It will make your house smell so good, and then you have this heavenly tea cake to eat and you won't have to feel guilty!

Zucchini Tea Cake

Total time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Servings: 8 to 10
Note: Adapted from Huckleberry Cafe.

2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar, plus 1 1/2 teaspoons for topping the tea cake
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (4.25 ounces) flour
1 cup shredded zucchini
3/4 cup toasted walnuts

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the egg whites, vanilla extract, orange zest and vegetable oil, and whisk just to combine.
2. Whisk in 3/4 cup sugar and the salt just to combine.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and flour. Gently whisk the dry ingredients into the egg white mixture just until combined. Fold in the zucchini and walnuts.
4. Grease an 81/2-inch by 41/2-inch by 21/2-inch metal loaf pan. Line the pan with parchment paper and grease the paper. Pour the batter into the pan.
5. Lightly sprinkle the top of the batter with the remaining 11/2 teaspoons sugar.
6. Bake until the cake is set (it will spring back when gently touched on top, and a knife inserted will come out clean), about 1 to 11/2 hours; ours typically set after 1 hour and 15 minutes, though this can vary by pan and heat of the oven.
7. Cool the loaf for a few minutes on a rack, then remove from the baking dish and cool completely on the rack.

*Couple of things:  I used canola oil instead of vegetable and it turned out great, I didn't line my pan with parchment paper (who has time?)  and the cake came out of the pan perfectly, and I substituted pecans for the walnuts.  Also, I only had to bake my tea cake for an hour. 

iPhone photos, for you!

Strudes is shweepy.

Have you ever had Dad's Classic Creamy Orange Soda?  Mmmm, it's soooo good!  I found mine at BevMo.

Cacti by night.

My newest obsession:  Schiaparelli shocking pink vintage hatboxes.

More random cross stitch done this week.  I have been re-watching Alias and like to multi task so I won't feel like I'm being lazy.

Blazers are in the play-offs!  We are so excited!  Pic from Lauren in Portland.

Strudes tells the wizard all her secrets.

XOXO

Places to go in LA- Corriganville Park Hiking/ The Mission, Part III

So I know one thing happens after you start trying to be healthier.  You start thinking of other healthy things you could do too.  Like going hiking.  Which is not something that I "do".  I am pretty widely known as someone who hates outside.  And camping, and bugs, and sunburns, and sweating, and anything else that comes with spending time out of doors.  But whatever.  Why did I even move to LA to enjoy the nice weather if I am not going to hang out in the sun?  So we found this website that lists and rates all the hikes in our area, and we picked an easy one that sounded lovely and nearby.  Corriganville Park, located in the Simi Valley, has a Hollywood history.  It was once a part of Bob Hope's Ranch and has been used since the thirties to film movies and build western sets on.  If I'm going to be outside, goshdarnit, I'm going to bring a little glamour into it! 

We started down the trail.  I started looking around at all the plants and noticing the intense color of the sky.

We saw some lizards lounging in the sun

And then I spotted this adorable bunny looking all soft and squishable:

I was having a pretty great time. 

We stopped to have some lunch and I stared dreamily up at the trees.

Mmm, oranges!

This part of the park is called Sherwood Forest because they filmed parts of Robin Hood here:

One of my favorite film titles, Billy the Kid vs. Dracula, was filmed in this park! How exciting!

Everything was fine until we saw this crazy ass huge rattlesnake:

Luckily it wasn't interested in us.  Then I got all creeped out and thought I could feel snakes and bugs crawling on me.  I hate outside!!!

In spite of myself, we got a wild hair to climb up the side of this rock mountain to check out the ancient Native American caves that still exist here. 

Some Dbags had drawn fake ancient stick figure paintings inside.  Lame!

Just when I thought we were in the middle of nowhere, I spotted a freeway sign in the distance.  Oh LA!

All in all, I would defenitely recommend Corriganville Park for your next outing, especially if you like wildlife.  Just watch out for those rattlers!

Don't mind if I do!

J.P.L.

The Mission, Part 2!

Continuing on this journey to eating better, I have been mostly eating two extremely healthy meals a day, and then one slightly more caloric but also well balanced meal.  (Yesterday was a fail, as we went to a basketball game and were forced, FORCED I say, into eating chicken strips and fries.  I felt immediately sluggish and gross so- lesson learned.)   Today I decided to make Pork Tenderloin, Creamy Rosemary Polenta, and green beans. 

My other thing that I am doing is trying not to eat any sugar.  I am mostly focusing on natural sugars such as fruit and manhattans.  What's that you say?  Manhattans contain tons of alcohol and calories?  Oh well, no one's perfect!

All in all, things are going well.  Stay tuned for more recipes and updates. XOXO

Dear Jamie

I am hooked on the new show Jaime's Food Revolution.  It airs Friday nights on ABC.  At first I was just watching and making fun of the people, who seem pretty unknowledgeable about food.  But after last weeks episode, I changed my tune.  I realized that I too, am in the dark about what I am doing to my body and must change.  We have vowed to eat healthier and started today by making this tasty chicken and vegetable stir fry for dinner.

I marinated chicken in teriyaki sauce for a few hours, then cut it up and cooked it in a little olive oil with some garlic, salt and pepper.  Then I took the chicken out of the pan and let it rest.  I poured a little more teriyaki sauce in the pan and added broccolini, frozen sugar snap peas, frozen sliced red, yellow, and green bell peppers and red pepper flakes.

(Jamie points out on the show that we should be using a lot of frozen veggies, and this was a great reminder for me too.  I sometimes let myself be annoyed by the prospect of chopping up all those vegetables and go to Taco Bell instead.)

Meanwhile I was cooking rice.  Then, after the veggies were done, I added the chicken back into the dish for a minute or two.  Taste, and adjust seasonings accordingly.  Serve on top of rice.

It was soooooo good.  Even better than the fat filled meals that I usually cook! Seriously!

I just wanted to put this out there and say THANK YOU to Jamie Oliver, who is a genius. 

Happy Pictures of the Week

We were invited to a lovely Easter brunch by my dear friend Whitney and we met some wonderful new people.  It was funny because everyone at the event was from Portland and now living in LA!  It was instantly comforting and everyone got along immediately.  Whitney gave us these adorable chocolate bunnies.

They didn't last long!

Afterwards we took a walk on the Long Beach pier.  Above, the Boy contemplates the future.

This pelican loved to pose and had no fear of the large crowd that gathered to take his picture.

I finally did a cross stitch for myself!  I have always loved decorating with ones intitals, a la Mary Tyler Moore.  I think I will do a wall grouping of all my "C's" and this one will fit in nicely.

Strudes loves her Makers!

Here is an adorable shot of Viki and Justin's lil Genevieve.  I am obsessed with this baby and can't wait to meet her!

Derek sent me this shot of his awesome new T-shirt he got from a Ebay seller in Baltimore.  So cool!  I wish I was in Portland to see him wear it.

The Boy and I went to see the Blazers play the Clippers at the Staples Center.  I thought I would balance the general sportiness of the event by classing it up with manhattans at the fancy bar.  It worked!

Blazers win!  Blazers win!

Here are St. John and Boniface posing in front of a painting by Derek, which was inpired by a picture I took of our friend Hilary. 

HAPPY WEEK ALL!

Strudes Ancestry

I found this most awesome painting today on craigslist.  The description read "giant 80's oil painting in pristine condition".  It only cost $200, but someone wouldn't buy it for me.  Even though it would have looked insane on our wall (5' by 4') AND it would have made Strudel feel all at home with her past and all.  Not convinced?  Check this out:

CrossPaw!

Lil' G

I did some cross stitch for my friend Viki's new baby, Little Genevieve.  I wanted to post pictures right away, but didn't want to ruin the surprise!  Anyway, the package finally arrived today so here are the photos:

I used patterns from the Etsy shop of Andwabisabi.  The patterns are great, most cost around $3.00 and they send them to you in PDF form and then you can use whatever thread colors or fabric you want to customize.
For the "G", I used an embroidery transfer pen to copy the pattern onto regular cotton fabric.  G's room is red and green so I wanted to match that and I thought the polka-dots were so cute for a baby girl.
For Mr. Whale, I used 18 count cross stitch fabric in "oatmeal".  I think he looks so contented and happy!
I had the most fun making these, I can't wait to do some more right away.  New babies of the world, look out!

Delicious Easter Potatoes

Finding inspiration from one of my favorite Portland design blogs, Frolic, I made this potato dish yesterday for Easter brunch, and it was a knockout. 

It's officially called "Cheese and Chive Baked Mashed Potatoes", but I think it should be called "Cheesy Potato Souffle".  This dish contains copious amounts of butter, egg yolks, milk, and olive oil, but once you fold in the whipped egg whites it becomes impossibly light and fluffy and makes you feel like you aren't consuming a thousand calories in one bite!  This is definitely becoming a staple for Easter day, or maybe any time of year.  I did change a few things about the recipe, i whipped the potatoes with a beater instead of putting them through a ricer, and I couldn't find any chives at the store, so we went without but it was still delicious.  Also, the recipe says it serves 4, but I found that it filled up an entire large pyrex pan and fed more than 9 people with plenty left over. 

Try it once, and you will become a fan too! 

(click on link below for recipe)

(recipe and photo from frolic)