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. 

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.

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.

I made the most awesome salsa the other day.

It was inspired by some salsa I had YEARS ago (before Big Girl was born) that I absolutely loved.  There is this little  hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in downtown Atlanta (I wonder if it is still there?) called Mama Ninfa’s. 

I used to go there two or three times a week if I could find someone at work that I could convince to go with me.  Some days, I’d go by myself and read my book while I pigged out on this salsa.  Some days, that was all I’d have for lunch. Chips & salsa.

THIS salsa.

Or something very close to it, anyway.

Since I quit working downtown, I haven’t found this salsa anywhere.

Until the other day.

We went out for lunch after church – another hole-in-the-wall Mexican place.  A Moe’s knock-off.  The food wasn’t that great… BUT… they had the salsa!

I was in heaven. Didn’t care if I got my protein or not or how many carbs I had. I was in heaven simply because I had my salsa.  It was like a walk down memory lane, remembering all those lunches I had with my friend Justin – all those days he’d put up with my pregnant self (I was pregnant with Little Bit) as I had crazy cravings for Mama Ninfa’s salsa and he’d walk down to the restaurant with me.

I asked the very nice girl who worked behind the counter (this new restaurant’s counter, that is) if they made the salsa themselves or bought it. I was secretly hoping they made it themselves. It would somehow take the charm out of the experience to find it was mass-produced and dropped off in vats from Sysco, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, she said they made it in-house and told me the basic ingredients and process.

I came home and started looking for similar recipes online. I couldn’t find any.

SO…

You know what I did?

Yep. I made it up on my own.

And boy, is it good.

Especially with those new whole-grain chips that are out. They really seem to compliment the flavors well.

And I don’t even LIKE avocado!  But I LOVE this salsa.

I whipped up a big batch this weekend so I could share with some friends.  We were having a taco/nacho night and I thought it would be a good accompaniment to the other foods we made.

Give it a try if you have a little time one day. You won’t be sorry you did.

Hey, have I steered you wrong yet?

Lois’ Totally-Awesome Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa

8-10 small-medium tomatillos
1 medium onion, quartered
1 avocado
1 jalapeño (more if you like it spicy) (seeded, ribs removed)
1/4 – 1/2 cup low-fat sour cream
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of cilantro (fresh)
~1 tsp kosher salt

1. In a stock pot, boil the tomatillos (husks removed) for about 5-10 minutes.
2. Remove from water & let cool.
3. In your food processor, combine all ingredients(see note in #5 about the sour cream)
4. Process on low until all ingredients are combined and the salsa is well mixed.
5. I usually add the sour cream last, using it to get the salsa to the consistency I want (which is a thick, slightly chunky consistency)
6. Store refrigerated until serving.
7. Makes about 1 quart.

I promised this recipe on Monday, so here you go.

It’s my version of a Southern Living Magazine recipe from an ancient issue.

I’ve made it my own with variations and adjustments to suit my family.

We love it.  

Most recently, I made it in the crock pot – everything was frozen, except for the beans and tomatoes, so I just dropped it all in and hit the start button and set the timer for 8 hours. 

When it was dinnertime, I chopped some fresh cilantro and baked some crescent rolls (recipe also below) with a little Southwestern flair.

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cans (32 oz) chicken broth (or one big box of broth)
1 can kidney beans (rinsed & drained)
1 can black beans (rinsed & drained)
1 can Fire Roasted Tomatoes
1 can Tomatoes with Chiles
3-4 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

1. Sauté onion & bell pepper in oil in a small skillet.
2. In crock pot (or large stock pot), add onions, peppers, and remaining ingredients (except cilantro).
3. If you are using crock pot, set to “Low” and cook for 5-6 hours.
   If you are cooking on the stove, bring to a boil and then simmer for 30-40 minutes.
4. When serving, top each bowl with fresh cilantro.

And here is the bread recipe.

Southwestern Knots

2 1/2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1 can refrigerated crescent rolls or breadsticks

1. Mix butter, chili powder & cumin.
2. Unroll breadsticks & place on cookie sheet.
3. Brush with butter blend
4. Bake @ 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

*You can make these “Italian” for other soups/stews by substituting the chili/cumin with Italian seasoning & parmesan cheese.

I woke up Saturday morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
(that’s a Southern phrase for those of you not from down here)

My brain was churning with all sorts of crazy schemes – like a yard sale idea.
(where did THAT come from!?!?)

So, I crept downstairs and left the rest to their slumbers, brewed some tea and sat down to do some blog reading. I haven’t had time this week to read many of my favorites, so I was looking forward to at least an hour (hopefully) of catching-up time.

I stumbled across a blog which touted “the best scones ever” and of course I hopped right on over to check out the recipe.

And then, I decided that they were going to be Saturday morning breakfast.

And, oh, were they good. So, very, very good.

Yeah, they might truly be the best scones ever.

As I usually do, I tweaked the recipe as I went along.
(I’m not very good at following directions of any kind these days)

If you have these ingredients on hand, try these.

If you don’t, go shopping, get the ingredients and try these.

They are so worth it.

I gave two to my neighbors because I knew if I had them in the house I would gobble them all up and that would be bad news.

Seriously. Try them. You won’t regret it. And anyone who eats one with you will love you for making them.

Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze

adapted from this Tyler Florence recipe

Scones:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold & cut into pieces
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cup frozen blueberries

Lemon Glaze:

1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp lemon extract
lemon zest
1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix flour, baking powder, salt & sugar in food processor.

Add butter and blend until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Transfer to a mixing bowl and add buttermilk, mixing just to incorporate.
(Depending on how dry your dough is you may need a little more buttermilk, but don’t get it too wet)

Fold in blueberries.

On a greased cookie sheet, turn out dough and shape into approximately 10” circle.
(about 3/4 inch thick)
(You may have to round up wayward blueberries and push them back in!)
You could do this on a floured surface, but I was lazy this morning. 

Cut the dough into pie-shaped wedges and separate on your cookie sheet.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let the scones cool a bit before adding glaze.

While the scones are baking, make the glaze:

In a microwave safe measuring cup, mix your lemon juice and powdered sugar. Add lemon extract &  butter and microwave for about 30 seconds. Whisk to smooth any lumps and drizzle over semi-cooled scones.

Prepare to die from happiness.

Seriously. They are that good.

I know you are probably thinking that there is no way that LASAGNE can be easy, right?

I thought the same thing at first. It was always a special treat at our house, something that wasn’t made very often and usually only upon a special request.

But, you see, I love lasagne. Simply love it.

But it’s a lot of work. Cooking the noodles, layering the ingredients… bubble-overs in the oven… it’s yummy but is it worth it for a week-night dinner?

So, when Little Bit announced, during Big Girl’s birthday dinner @ Provino’s (a local Italian eatery) that her friend’s lasagne looked yummy, I was on a quest to figure out a way to make it for my family, and make  it easy for me, too.

Enter my favorite appliance: the crock pot. (Big Daddy, no less)

I did some research online to see what other crock-pot lasagne recipes were out there and then decided to make mine up as I went along, using what I knew from the traditional way of making lasagne (learned from my grandma) and the newfangled crock-cooking methods.

The verdict?

Absolute yumminess.

And I loved the fact that it was all cooked with very little prep time (or work) by me. I think my total prep time was less than 15 minutes.

One secret? I used no-boil lasagne noodles. 

Many of the recipes I researched didn’t use them, so I think you could probably get away with using “regular” lasagne noodles. I just happened to have them in the pantry from another recipe and decided to use them up for this one.  If you did use the “regular” noodles, I’d probably increase the liquid in my sauce just a bit to prevent things from drying out.

Another thing – Ricotta cheese is traditional in lasagne.  I saw as many recipes with cottage cheese as I did ricotta.  What did I use? This time – cottage cheese. But that was mostly because I had it in the fridge and I wanted to use it up.  Ricotta would’ve meant a trip to the store I wasn’t in the mood to make.  I honestly don’t think you can tell a difference once you cook it.

I also used a store-brand 4 Cheese Italian blend because that was what I had on hand, so don’t feel like you have to go out and buy special cheese for this.

The kids loved it as did SuperMan.  Little Bit had it for lunch two days in a row (in a heated thermos) and said it was even better the next day. I have to agree, as it was my lunch the next day as well.

So, if you like lasagne give it a try.  And if you’ve never tried making lasagne before? Give it a try! This one’s easy-peasey.

Easy-Peasey Crock Pot Lasagne

1 box no-boil lasagne noodles
1 pound ground beef (or turkey)
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 onion, diced fine
~1-2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
~1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 large container of Ricotta or Cottage Cheese
2 cups (minimum) Parmesan/Mozzarella cheese (blended)
reserve about 1 cup of this blend for the topping
1-2 Tbsp olive oil

In a large skillet, sauté your onions in olive oil until translucent.
Add the ground beef (or turkey) and cook thoroughly.
Once your meat is browned, add the garlic and cook for approx. 1 minute.
Pour in your tomatoes and heat through.
Depending on how “saucy” you want this, you could also add a can of tomato sauce or some petite diced tomatoes. (I didn’t)

In the crock pot, spray some non-stick spray, being sure to go all the way up the sides.
Ladle about 1/2 cup of sauce onto the bottom of your crock. Be sure you have a light coating on the entire bottom. This will ensure nothing sticks.

Layer:
– noodles (break them up to make a complete layer)
– sauce
– cheese (I alternate the creamy cheese & shredded cheese layers)

Keep layering until you reach the top or run out of ingredients. Try to finish with a layer of sauce and top this with your reserved parmesan/mozzarella blend.

Put your crock on high for about 2 hours and then on low for another 2 hours.

If you are making this on a workday (or when you are not going to be home) set it on low for 4-5 hours.

Serve with garlic bread and salad.

Easy-Peasey!