Category: Recipes

Bourbon Street Chicken

 

With the new schedule for the girls’ schools and after-school activities, I’m on the hunt for some new, easy recipes to cook. The after-school schedule is different enough that I’m having to get creative with some dinner routines. I’m shooting for 6:00 for suppertime, but that doesn’t work on the nights that Big Girl has dance classes because they are later in the evening. I think she and Super Man will be eating late dinners together those nights and Little Bit and I will eat together earlier. It’s a juggling act and we’re just going with the flow for right now.

Last night, we tried something relatively new for dinner.  I’ve made it once before, but no one seems to remember eating it and I can’t remember if everyone liked it or not!  As I cooked, I was wondering if I was making something I was just going to throw in the garbage because of this, but it turned out to be a success and everyone loved it.

This will definitely go into my list of regularly-cooked menu items, I think.  It’s a sweet and tangy glazed chicken dish – reminiscent of some of the chicken dishes I remember having at the quick-cook Asian restaurants when I worked downtown.  It’s not technically Asian in origin and I think the original recipe hails from Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

Regardless, it is really good and worth a try!

(sorry for the grainy cell phone picture – I forgot to take a “real” one before we ate!)

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Bourbon Street Chicken

4-6 servings

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts; cut into bite-sized pieces
1-2 Tbs olive oil
1 heaping tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 pinch red pepper flakes (more if you like it spicy)
1/4 c apple juice (I just used an apple/grape juice box I had in the fridge for kids’ lunches)
1/3 c brown sugar (or 1/4 c Splenda brown sugar blend)
2 Tbs ketchup
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1/2 c water
1 Tbs corn starch (to thicken sauce)

  1. In a large skillet, sauté the chicken pieces in the olive oil.
    (I seasoned mine lightly with Houston House Seasoning)
  2. While chicken is cooking, whisk remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Once chicken is browned, pour in the sauce. Stir to coat chicken and bring to a rolling boil.
  4. Reduce heat and simmer on low, uncovered, for about 15-20 minutes. (Until sauce thickens)
  5. Serve over rice.

I also served mine with some steamed veggies.  It was a huge hit – Big Girl even ate two helpings!

I think next time I might even toss some sesame seeds on the chicken right before serving.

 

Pesto Palooza

Happy Monday!

I hope you all had a good weekend. We did. It was full of friends and fun – and a little date night for SuperMan and I as well. So nice.  We went to a local German restaurant and the food was incredible.  We enjoyed our dinner so much, lingering over our food with just one more glass of wine and some great conversation, that we totally missed our movie!  It was just as well. I told SuperMan I’d rather sit and talk with him than watch a movie any day.

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Sunday afternoon the girls and I spent a few hours with our good friends – they invited us over to make homemade pesto!  Cindy and I both have prolific basil plants and we had been talking about making some pesto with the leaves.

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I had never made pesto, so Cindy offered to give us a lesson.  Our other good friends joined in on the fun and we had PESTO PALOOZA!

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All of the kids got involved, from mincing the garlic to loading up the food processor, measuring the ingredients and spooning the finished pesto into the storage containers.

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Many helpful hands make small work …

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Our junior chefs –

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The house smelled SO GOOD – one of Cindy’s sons came home as we were in the middle of a batch and he said the house smelled like spices. And it did! Such good spices…

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I think we ended up with ten or eleven cups of pesto by the time we were finished.  Each family took a batch home to freeze and enjoy this fall – and I know whenever I take a container out of the fridge to use for cooking this winter I’ll remember the fun we had on that Sunday afternoon.  Good friends and good times.

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We enjoyed our first batch last night for dinner. I grilled some chicken and served it with some sun-dried tomato pesto pasta. SO good.

Here is the recipe in case you want to make some of your own:

Basil Pesto

from Family Fun Magazine

Makes about 1 cup of pesto

2 c firmly packed basil leaves (fresh)
1/3 c walnuts of pine nuts
3 Tbs grated Parmesan cheese
2 small cloves garlic (or 1 large)
1/4 tsp each salt/pepper
1/2 c extra-virgin olive oil

  1. In a food processor, combine all ingredients except the oil. Pulse until a thick paste forms.
  2. With processor on, drizzle in oil in a slow stream until mixture is well combined. You may need to clean the sides of the processor to ensure all ingredients are mixed in.
  3. Transfer to an airtight container. Cover with lid, refrigerate up to 4 days or freeze up to 2 months.

It’s all Greek to me

 

Little Bit had a sleepover the other day – it was her best friend’s birthday and she went to her house to help celebrate.  While she was gone, Big Girl was at a little bit of a loss as to what to do. With no little sister to pester, I guess she didn’t know what she should be doing.

So, I asked her to help me in some kitchen experimentation.  Together, we made some new dishes – completely from scratch. It was fun and we made a huge mess in the kitchen – and ended up with some yummy treats in the process.

I’ve been wanting to make my own hummus for a while now. I’ve been collecting recipes and ingredients and I was ready to give them a try.  So, we pulled out the food processor and became mad scientists – mixing and tasting and mixing some more.

This is one of the recipes we started with.  And there was another one that was a source of inspiration, but we truly just made it up as we went along. (I can’t find the other one, sorry)  I think we quadrupled the amount of garlic it called for and we added some roasted red peppers to ours, too.

Our final result was truly yummy.  I was surprised that Big Girl wanted more cayenne! (and more and more and more) Her palate is truly expanding and it’s fun to see her finding new tastes that she likes – like spicy hummus!

We also made baba ganoush, which is similar to hummus but made with roasted eggplant. I had tried some when I went to dinner with my brother in June and loved it. I have to admit that my baba ganoush was not quite as good as the one I had in June, but it was pretty good nonetheless.  And, I was especially proud of Big Girl, who made this one all by herself and happily dipped and tasted once she was finished with her concoction.

After we made the dips, we decided to make some homemade pita bread. After all, you have to have something to dip into the dip, right?  Our pitas turned out to be more like pita chips than pita bread, though.  Two factors worked against us – a rainy, muggy day (which meant they didn’t rise like they should) and Pinterest (which distracted me at the crucial baking time – and I overcooked them!)

The pitas tasted really good and we’re enjoying dipping them into the hummus and baba ganoush. It’s a great afternoon pick-me-up when it’s too late for lunch and too early for dinner. Healthy fats and good protein to carry us through until dinnertime. I think we will try the pita baking another time, too, but it’s simply too humid right now to successfully bake breads.  It’s like trying to bake in a steam room. Not good.

Here is the link to the baba ganoush recipe we used.  Since I don’t consider what we made perfected, I am not going to share my own recipe just yet. If I get it perfected the way I like it, I’ll post later on. But this was our base recipe.

And here is the link to the pita recipe we used.  It is so basic and so simple, I encourage you to try it. If you have flour, salt, water and yeast, you can make pita.  And the rolling out of the little pitas is actually pretty fun.  Our recipe made about 18 pitas that were about six inches in diameter.

So, let me know if you try it out! It was so much fun to mix and drizzle and roll and bake (and taste!) with my Big Girl.  Getting the girls in the kitchen is so much fun – it takes cooking from being a chore to being an adventure… and teaches them some new skills, too!

 

Four-Bean Salad = YUM

In my efforts to get back on track eating-wise, I’ve been looking for some new recipes to spice things up a bit. Something new to excite my palate, yet something low-fat and low-carb to stay in line with the way I need to be eating.

I stumbled across a recipe for a bean salad on Pinterest and thought it looked pretty yummy. This in and of itself is rather remarkable because bean salad is something I would’ve never eaten a few years back.  But this one looked good and I happened to have the ingredients on hand so I gave it a try.

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The results were simply marvelous. I have been munching away on this for a few days now and it only gets better with time.

As usual, I made a few modifications so I thought I’d share my recipe with you here. It’s basically the same thing, with a little more seasoning & veggies thrown in.

The combination of crunchy veggies and creamy beans is just very satisfying and the coolness of the salad is great on a hot summer day. I’ve served it alongside dinner as a side dish the last couple nights. SuperMan and I have really enjoyed it.  The kids didn’t care too much for it, but  I’m sure they will warm up to the idea over time. Their palates are drastically improving this summer and they are trying all sorts of new things. I’m so proud of them.  So this bean salad will stay on the rotation for us and I hope they’ll learn to like it in time.

Four Bean Salad

Ingredients:

1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can chick peas (garbanzo beans)
1 can black eyed peas
1 can sweet corn
1 yellow bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
2 ribs celery
1/2 Vidalia (sweet) onion

Italian dressing (about 1 1/2 cups)

Houston House Seasoning
Mrs. Dash Garlic Seasoning
salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

  1. Thoroughly rinse & drain the beans and corn.
  2. Finely dice the vegetables.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the beans and vegetables.
  4. Pour the Italian Dressing over the top and mix thoroughly.
  5. Season with about 1 tsp of the House seasoning, 1-2 tsp of the Mrs. Dash and salt & pepper to taste.
  6. Chill for about an hour before serving.

You may need additional dressing and/or salt/pepper at serving.

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Houston House Seasoning

1 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder (not garlic salt)
1/4 cup onion powder

Mix all thoroughly. For storage, reuse a large seasoning bottle (I reused my leftover garlic powder jar) or a Ziploc-type baggie.

Shredded Beef Burritos

I stumbled across an awesome recipe the other day – I found it on Pinterest – Chile Colorado Burritos.  They looked sooo good and I just had to try them.  Try them, like, rightthisveryminute.  So, I got to rummaging around in my freezer and pantry to see if I had the necessary ingredients.

Chile Colorado Burritos from Food Pusher

I did – well, most of them, anyway.

The one thing I didn’t have was the enchilada sauce.  So, I decided to make that myself.  From scratch. ‘Cause that’s how I roll.  I’m impatient. I don’t want to wait for a trip to the store – I WANT IT NOW!

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So that was our dinner the other night. Totally spur-of-the-moment. Totally not on my menu plan for the week.  But, oh, sooooo good.  Seriously good. So good, I’ve been thinking non-stop about when I can cook these again.  They are that good.

So, if you have a hankering for some really, really good beef burritos, give these a try.  You won’t be disappointed.  And one of the best things is it is 90% done in your slow cooker. You can set it up, go about your day, and enjoy scrumptiousness for supper that night.

And here’s my recipe, just in case you want to try your hand at making them yourself (which I strongly suggest you do)

Shredded Beef Burritos

Ingredients:

2 pounds beef stew meat
Enchilada Sauce (recipe below)
Beef Bouillon cubes (2 small or 1 large)
minced onion
minced garlic
1 can low-fat or no fat refried beans
6-7 burrito-sized flour tortillas
1-2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

Instructions:

  1. In crock pot, place your beef bouillon cubes, enchilada sauce, and stew beef.
  2. Add about 1 Tbsp of dried minced onion and about 1 tsp of minced garlic.
  3. Cook on low for 7-8 hours (or 4-5 on high)
  4. When beef is done, fish it out of the enchilada sauce & shred in a large bowl. (save the enchilada sauce)
  5. Preheat your oven to 350 and set up a burrito-making station:
    1. In a 13×9 greased dish, put about 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce and coat the bottom of the dish so that the burritos won’t stick.
    2. Warm your tortillas in the microwave for about 1 minute (wrap in a damp paper towel to help them become softer and easier to work with)
    3. Your beef, refried beans – in separate bowls and ready to go.
    4. Take one tortilla and spread about 2 Tbsp of refried beans in the middle.
    5. Top with about 2-3 Tbsp of the beef and roll your tortilla closed.
    6. Place in the 13×9 dish and continue until all of your meat and beans are used. (I didn’t use all the beans in my can, but I probably would if I did it again as they make the burritos that much better to me)
  6. Once all of your burritos are ready, pour the enchilada sauce over the top, making sure you try to get some on all of the tortillas so they don’t get hard on the edges.
  7. Sprinkle with the cheese and bake for about 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and melted.

You can serve this with a salad on the side, chips, salsa and sour cream. But, honestly, it’s a meal all by itself and it is so good you don’t really need anything else.  It’s very kid-friendly, too. My girls loved it.

You can use store-bought enchilada sauce if you want, but I didn’t have any so I made my own.  It’s so easy, I doubt I’ll ever buy enchilada sauce.  I also like that I can control the spices and seasoning to suit our tastes.

I based my sauce after Emeril’s on the Food Network website, but I did make some modifications (because I can!)  This was super-easy. Little Bit actually did all of the cooking for this sauce. I just did the measuring and she did the rest.

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp (apprx) vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
1 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup (plus more for to-taste seasoning) chili powder
2 –3 cups chicken stock
1 can (12 oz) tomato paste
~1 tsp dried oregano
~2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried minced onion
1 tsp minced garlic
pinch kosher salt

Instructions:

  1. In a saucepan, heat the oili and add the flour, stirring until it is smooth.
  2. Cook for 1 minute and add the chili powder, stirring and cooking for about another minute.
  3. Add the chicken stock (I started with 2 cups and added more later to get the right consistency) tomato paste, cumin, minced onion, garlic and oregano.
  4. Bring to a boil.  Be careful here because the boiling mixture is a little like hot lava – don’t get burned!
  5. Reduce head to low and simmer for about 10-12 minutes.
  6. Add more chili powder and cumin if needed.

Back home again

I’m slowly catching up on “real life” after being gone for almost ten days. I unpacked the suitcases this morning and put everything on my bed so I have to put it away before I can go to sleep tonight. (I hope!) The girls’ bags are next and I’m hoping to get those put away today as well. Laundry is caught up, thanks to doing a load or two at Mom’s before we came home.

Monday’s drive was wet and rainy – I think we drove through some “monsoons” as I haven’t seen rain that heavy in a while – you could hardly see in front of you.

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Now, I’m just trying to get into a rhythm for the summer days – work for me and play for the girls. Trying to find that balance between working every waking hour because I don’t have anywhere I have to be and making time for some fun with the girls. I’m planning a few vacation days here and there with no specific plans – I think the girls and I will wake up and decide on the adventure of the day depending on what we feel like. Maybe the zoo, maybe the pool or something like that. I want to keep it easy and simple this year.

Later this week, I’ll share a few pictures of the adventures we had in Savannah last weekend and maybe a few more from my work trip, but how exciting are airport pictures and office buildings? I’m not so sure.

I’m hoping to get my Project Life pictures printed and in the album this week – I have two weeks’ worth to catch up on and a TON of pictures from last week. I’m excited, though, not overwhelmed, and can’t wait to write down the stories.

Friday night SuperMan and I will be going to the Shakespeare Festival – we’ve gone every summer since before Big Girl was born.  This week’s production is a musical version of Twelfth Night. Should be interesting. I love this company and they always put on a top-notch show. I’m thinking about packing a picnic dinner to enjoy before the show – they have outdoor seating and the weather is supposed to be nice. Might be a nice (cheap) date night idea…

Gracie cat is sick – she apparently got into a scuffle with another cat (we think) over the weekend and we came home Monday night to find her with an abscess the size of a golf ball on the side of her neck. I took her to the vet yesterday and they lanced it, got her cleaned up and put her on antibiotics.  (gross) She ended up with a bath, too, but her reward is that she gets to stay inside with us for a few weeks while she heals.  She is pretty happy even though she is sick – just purring away 24/7. Scooby is rather nonplussed about the whole thing and keeps giving me dirty looks like “I can’t believe you let HER in here.” She’s been annoyed with Gracie ever since Gracie was a kitten and used to run circles around her. It is no surprise that she is not happy to be sharing her people and house with her, but she will have to deal with it while we nurse the sick one back to health.

Well, I’m off to catch up on more of the never-ending, always-growing to-do list for work. More pictures and stories coming soon.

Saturday Sweetness: Lemon Pound Cake

As I was mixing this up on Friday afternoon, I thought I’d share this recipe with you again. It’s one of those family favorites that we go back to again and again… especially for special occasions.  And this weekend, we’re having special visitors and so I thought it was appropriate to bake.

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And I thought you should be able to enjoy it too! And since I can’t bake one for ALL of you – sharing the recipe is the closest I can come…

Grandma Achord’s Lemon Pound Cake

Ingredients

3 cups white sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 sticks butter
1/4 tsp baking soda
6 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp almond extract
zest from one lemon (optional)

Instructions

  1. Cream sugar and butter.
  2. Add sour cream and extracts.
  3. Add eggs, one at a time.
  4. Add flour and baking soda slowly.
  5. Beat only long enough to get flour mixed in well.
  6. Pour into greased tube or Bundt pan and bake at 325 for 1 hour 20 min.

We usually don’t ever get around to it because we gobble up the cake so quickly, but Grandma always made a glaze by mixing a few teaspoons of lemon juice with some powdered sugar (about 2 cups) and drizzled it over the cake.

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Chicken Fried Rice

Yesterday was a crazy busy day. Last night when it was time to cook, I had no energy, a massive headache and no real “gumption” for cooking anything.

Big Girl suggested take out. or grilled cheese sandwiches. or cereal.

While there was a part of me that fully embraced her ideas, there was another part of me remembering the thawed chicken in the fridge and knowing we’d all feel much better if we had a healthy, home-cooked dinner.

So, I drug myself into the kitchen and tried to decide what to make.  I had planned to make my Asian Chicken Stir Fry, but for some reason, I just didn’t want to make that last night. No particular reason, but it just seemed like an insurmountable task.

Crazy.

Anyway, what I ended up making was sooo good that I thought I’d share with all of you.  I wanted an Asian-type of dinner, but just not the noodles in the stir fry. So, I decided to make my own Chicken Fried Rice.

Oh.my.goodness.

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So yummy.

This makes enough for four healthy servings plus some leftover for lunch the next day (which I am looking forward to!)

Chicken Fried Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked, cooled rice
2 eggs, beaten
4-6 chicken thighs
sesame oil
grated carrots (about 1 cup, diced even more)
1 cup shelled edamame (you can get these in the freezer section)
2 cups broccoli florets
1/2 small onion, diced finely
minced garlic
ground ginger
soy sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
Houston House Seasoning
Chinese Five Spice Powder

Instructions:

  1. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and set aside.
  2. In a large skillet, heat some of the sesame oil until it shimmers. Add the chicken thighs, seasoning with sprinkles of the Houston House Seasoning & Chinese Five Spice Powder.
  3. Cook, turning over once or twice, until the chicken is browned.  Remove from skillet to a plate. Wipe skillet out with a paper towel and return to low heat.
  4. Add the eggs to the skillet, scrambling them and cooked through. Remove to a paper plate and wipe the skillet out again.
  5. Return the skillet to medium-high heat and add about another tablespoon of sesame oil.
  6. Add the broccoli, onion, edamame, carrots to the skillet & sauté for about five minutes, stirring frequently.
  7. While the veggies are sautéing, dice the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
  8. To the skillet of vegetables, add about 1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic, another sprinkling of the five spice powder and about 1/2 tsp of ground ginger. (I just sprinkled the five spice and ginger over the vegetables) Be careful not to burn the garlic.
  9. Add the rice to the skillet. The skillet will seem “dry” but you want to brown the rice, so this is OK.  Sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  10. Add the diced chicken to the skillet.
  11. In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar with about 1/4 cup of soy sauce. Once your rice is browned, pour this over the rice and stir well.
  12. Add the eggs. Mix.
  13. Drizzle the entire thing with 1-2 teaspoons of sesame oil for a finish.

Serve hot. Enjoy!

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Black Bean Soup on a chilly Monday

It’s chilly here today – almost like Spring and Summer got mixed up. It was warm in February/March and now that we’re knocking on the door of May it decides to be cool and windy. Go figure.

Because it was in the 40’s this morning and my little toes were frozen, I decided soup would be a good bet for lunch today.  And because I have been craving black bean soup from my favorite restaurant and they only make it on Wednesdays (and I never seem to get out on Wednesdays for lunch) I decided that I’d make some here at home.

Traditionally, I make black bean soup from dried beans. It’s a labor-intensive, time-consuming process which is really not worth it because I’m the only one in my house who really likes black bean soup.  SuperMan will eat it, but it probably isn’t his first choice of things to eat.  The girls are grossed out by it and won’t even give it a try (hoping one day that changes)

So, because of this, I rarely make black bean soup at home – and eat it out almost as rarely because, as I said earlier, my favorite place to eat it only makes it once a week and I am not usually there on that day to eat it.

I decided today to do a little experiment and try making some using canned black beans. I keep these on hand all the time as I love them in chili and in my quesadillas, etc.  So, why not, I thought?

The result was yummy goodness.

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I thoroughly enjoyed my little bowl of goodness and have enough for lunch all week, unless SuperMan decides to sample some himself one day.

Super easy and super quick to make. I think I made it from beginning to end in less than 20 minutes.  It would make a great meatless meal one night.

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients:

2 cans black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes (you can substitute a jar of salsa or can of diced tomatoes with chilies if you don’t have these)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup minced onion (about 1/4 of a small onion)
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cilantro (dried)
~ 1 cup chicken broth
olive oil
salt/pepper

  1. In a small stock pot, heat the olive oil and sauté the onion & garlic until onions begin to become translucent. Be careful not to burn the garlic. (use medium heat)
  2. While this is sautéing, rinse your beans and dump them, along with the tomatoes, in a food processor.  Pulse a few times until the beans are slightly creamy. You can determine how “chunky” or creamy you want this to be.
  3. Add the tomato/bean mixture to the stock pot.
  4. Add chicken broth until soup is desired consistency.
  5. Add cumin, chili powder, cilantro & salt/pepper.  Simmer 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until everything is hot & flavors combine.
  6. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and some tortilla chips.
I also added about 3-4 tsp of my favorite tomatillo salsa to my soup when I ate it.

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Springtime Sunshine Cake

Revisiting one of my all-time favorite recipes today. If you haven’t tried it before, you should!

Springtime makes most of us instinctively want to clear things out – out with the old, in with the new. Out with the clutter, out with the dark tones of winter, out with the heavier foods and in with the light. Lighter colors, lighter clothes, lighter foods.

This is one of my favorite things to make in the springtime.

Mom stumbled across this recipe years ago. It’s been one of our standbys ever since. It is so easy and quick to make, yet it is from scratch and feels wholesome to prepare.

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I love the light texture of the cake – it’s technically a pound cake, but it is in no way heavy like some pound cakes are. This cake bakes up light and airy.

The flavor is light as well – it sings of springtime, with its hints of orange, lemon, and apricot.

There is a glaze in the recipe, although I never make it. My kids are anti-glaze, anti-icing, and prefer their cakes and cookies au naturel.

Works for me. Less sugar to consume.

Anyway, I hope you will give this a try.  The first time I made it, I thought, “Apricot? Really? Huh.”

But, I am so glad I tried it. It is one of the family favorites – and one that is requested often by our friends as well.

I would imagine you could substitute the apricot juice with some orange juice or even lemon juice, but I love it just as it is and have never felt the need to swap it out. I buy the six pack of the little bitty apricot juice cans in the grocery store, so I always have one on hand for the cake.  It takes about half of one of those cans in the cake and I use the rest in the glaze if I make the cake for friends.

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Sunshine Cake

3 cups sugar (I use 1 1/2 cups splenda sugar blend)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup apricot juice/nectar (or you can use apricot brandy)
1 cup sour cream (do not use low fat sour cream, it won’t work here)
1 cup butter, softened
6 eggs
1 tsp orange extract
1 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze:
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1/2 c (apprx) apricot nectar

*if you have them on hand, you can zest a lemon and/or orange into the batter and glaze. It just amps up the flavor.

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. Grease and flour Bundt pan or tube pan.
  3. In large mixing bowl, cream butter & sugar.
  4. Add in the apricot juice.
  5. Add the sour cream, extracts and eggs, making sure they are incorporated thoroughly.
  6. Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt)
  7. Pour into baking pan.
  8. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  9. Cool for 20 minutes before inverting onto cake plate.
  10. Continue to cool for approx. 30 minutes more or until cake is completely cool.
  11. Drizzle with glaze, if desired.

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