Lemon Pound Cake with Strawberries and Whipped Cream

I was searching for different ways to utilize my many bags of frozen strawberries, and came across this lemon pound cake recipe from Southern Living.  I modified it a bit (did not include the mint, added baking powder and a bit of salt)… it turned out well, not too much lemon, since my guys are not big fans.  Me – I like super sour lemon cake, with lemon drizzle and lemon icing, but not the rest of my family.  So this cake is a very mild flavored lemon pound cake:

• 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 2.5 cups powdered sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1.5 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup whipping cream (also works well with sour cream)
• lemon zest from one lemon
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes.  Add the powdered sugar slowly, and beat for about 5 minutes.  Then add the eggs, one at a time.  Add the flour, alternating with the whipping cream on low speed.  Then add the lemon zest and juice.  Pour batter into a buttered loaf pan (8.5 x 4.5″)

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour, or until wooden pick inserted comes out clean.  (Mine took about 1 hour and 5 minutes)

Let cake cool, then serve slices with thawed-out strawberries and whipped cream.  (If you really crave more lemon flavor, fold in some lemon curd into your whipped cream before serving, or drizzle with a lemon glaze).  Enjoy!!

Here is an easy, delicious medley of winter vegetables…if you like rutabagas, parsnips, carrots and garlic:

Ingredients:

• 5 parsnips
• 6 carrots
• 1 medium sized rutabaga
• 6 (or more) cloves of garlic with their skin on
• 1/4 cup light olive oil
• 1 sprig dried rosemary (about 2 inches – more or less to taste)
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or honey would also work)
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash and peel the parsnips, carrots and rutabaga and cut into chunks, approximately 1 inch.  Place them in a large (10 x 15 inch) oven proof glass dish and cover with the olive oil, mixing the vegies and oil thoroughly.  Season with salt and pepper and place in oven for 30 minutes.

Strip the needles off the rosemary sprig and chop them finely,  mix these with the garlic cloves (in their skins).  Add this mixture to the roasted vegetables after the 30 minutes are up and return to the oven for another 25-30 minutes (depending on how big your vegetable chunks are).

Remove from oven and immediately pour the maple syrup over the vegetables and mix them up.   For those who like garlic, squeeze out the soft insides and discard the paper skins. 

(This evening we had these vegies with maples glazed grilled ham slices and potatoes – the squeezed garlic mashed into potatoes with some butter was delicious as well)

We had no idea how much better home made pasta really is – though others had told us to try it for a while. Ever since Sammy got a pasta attachment, we’ve been “borrowing” it, and experimenting with various noodles.  So far we made several batches of spaghetti and linguine, but also made some lasagna noodles and raviolis.   We used some of our frozen pesto and added it to one of the noodle batches, which turned out great.

Seems that the trick to making perfect noodles is a rather dry dough.  Our ratios vary from 3 cups of flour to 4 eggs, to 3.5 cups of flour to 5 eggs.  Then we add a bit of salt, and either a small amount of water of olive oil – depending on the consistency of the dough.  Have not messed up a batch yet, so there seems to be some flexibility :).

Definintely can’t beat a meal of homemade spaghetti, with homemade pasta sauce and homemade wine! And if we made too much pasta, we can store it for a bit and use it later.