Grapefruit Pound Cake

The winter is all about great citrus. When I am at the grocery store I see the mounds of lime, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos and I want. I buy. Then I don’t know what to do.

Last week,while at the store I bought a couple of grapefruits. Usually I segment them and save them for breakfast in the morning only to forget about them and toss them out after a few days. So with my new purchase I researched fun things to make with the gorgeous grapefruit.

I found several recipes for Grapefruit Pound Cake. One of my reservations with pound cake recipes is that they always seem to make a ton of batter. The last time I used a recipe for pound cake there was batter for at least three loaves.

Deciding on a recipe to make I believe I found one with the perfect quantity of batter AND it was fun to make. The first step being to rub the zest with the sugar until it looked like wet sand. This made my entire apartment smell amazing. Instead of the creaming method (butter and sugar beaten in a mixer for 5 minutes), this recipe could be made by stirring together with two bowls. 

Grapefruit Pound Cake

1 cup Sugar

2 tablespoons Ruby Red Grapefruit Zest

2 whole Eggs

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice, strained

1/3 cup Butter, melted and cooled

1-1/2 cup All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 cup Sour Cream

2 tablespoons Whole Milk

FOR THE GLAZE:

1 cup Powdered Sugar

3 tablespoons Grapefruit Juice

1 to 2 teaspoons Grapefruit Zest

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and butter a 8x5 loaf pan and then line with parchment paper.

Ina large bowl combine the sugar and the two tablespoons of grapefruit zest. Use a rubber spatula to rub the zest into the sugar until it resembles wet sand.

Add the two eggs, grapefruit juice and melted butter. Stir until those ingredients are incorporated.

Ina separate bowl, Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder.

Ina small bowl or measuring cup; combine the sour cream and milk and stir until combined.

Starting with the flour and ending with sour cream/milk mixture. Alternate with a third of each

until everything is combined but try not to over mix the batter.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Let the cake rest in the pan for 10 minutes before running a knife along the edge and using the parchment paper to lift the cake out of the pan.

Let the cake cool completely on a wire rack. Meanwhile make the glaze by combining the powdered sugar, grapefruit juice, and zest.

Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake and let it sit to harden for a few minutes.

Enjoy!

Lentil soup with Kielbasa

It's cloudy outside withsunshine trying to peak through. The sniffles have been getting the best of meall week. I wanted to cook. I wanted to make something delicious, comforting,satisfying, and homey. The first thing that came to mind was my Lentil Soupwith Kielbasa. 

Every time I get a chanceto break out my cream colored Le Creuset Dutch Oven is a happy time. Thisrecipe is about layering. It's relaxing and therapeutic for me. I heat thestove, add oil to the pot. I slowly chop my onion and as I finish each half Iadd it. Salt. Chop the carrot. Chop the Celery. Salt. Garlic. Spices. Tomatopaste, letting it cook out while opening the chicken stock. At this point youget to check your email or take the dog out while it simmers. Given that Istarted early I added the lentils, put the lid on, and turned off the heat togo to the gym. This helped soften the lentils but an hour at a low simmer workstoo. Once home I turned the heat on again, showered, added the sausage andvinegar. The best part of the recipe is the grabbing of a bowl and spoon. 

Lentil Soup with Kielbasa

½ bag of Green Lentils

¼ C Olive Oil

3 lg. Yellow Onions, diced small

3 cloves. Garlic, minced

1 Tbs. Salt

1 ½ tsp Pepper

1 Tbs. dried Thyme leaves

1 Tbs Ground Cumin

4 Stalks Celery, diced small

5-6 Carrots, diced small

64 oz. Chicken Stock

¼ C Tomato Paste

14 oz. diced Tomatoes

1 Lb. Kielbasa, cubed

2 Tbs. Red Wine Vinegar

Heat EVOO in a large soup pot. Sauté onions spinkled with salt, 10 minutes. Add Carrot and Celery, sauté 10 minutes sprinkled with salt . Add garlic, thyme and cumin, cook 2 minutes. Add in Tomato Paste, stirring it in and cooking for 2 minutes. Add in Chicken Stock and can of diced tomatoes with juice, bring to a simmer for 20 minutes. Add in Lentils, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 1 hour. Add in cut up Kielbasa and cook for 20 minutes. Stir in Red Wine Vinegar. Turn off heat and serve.

Red Wine Velvet and a Great Friend

I love my friend Stephanie and yesterday was her birthday!

I met Stephanie just about two years ago. It's hard to meet people when you are older. No longer able to rely on school or school activities to find similar interests. Left to our own devices I feel like we might have a nice conversation with a new person or know of someone we wish we could hang out with more but how do you take the step to actually make new friends as an adult?!

I used to work with Stephanie's boyfriend at a local brewery pub. One night lots of us were hanging around after work, drinking our shift drinks and talking about going out to another spot down the street. Somehow I began talking with Stephanie who had shown up to go out with the group. We chatted at the pub, we chatted down the street, and we chatted in the bar whilst everyone played Big Buck Hunter and Golden Tee. We clicked as women - she seemed like a long time friend to me already. So just like a young child I believe I said something like "I really like you, we should be friends." And there it is.

The other night while Stephanie and I were chatting away she mentioned that she enjoys wine from the Cupcake Vineyards. While it is a bottle that is very affordable and available, I tucked that note away. As her birthday drew nearer I had decided to make her some kind of birthday treat. Of course while perusing through Pinterest I saw a pin for a Red Wine Velvet Cake and I just knew that they had to be made. 

I clicked on the pin and nothing was attached. I searched google and found a couple of recipes. Google being google though made an amazing link for me. When I typed in Red Velvet Wine Cake it popped up the website for Cupcake Vineyards whom happen to have a bottled red called Red Velvet. Now these must be made and they must be made for Stephanie. The recipe was very delicious - I ate several cupcakes (before frosting). For Steph, I frosted them with a simple cream cheese frosting.

For Stephanie's birthday I took her to get a mani/pedi. She works hard and needs more pampering! I intended on having wine leftover for us to drink at the nail shop but the recipe took almost the whole bottle.

Red Wine Velvet Cake

Makes 1 cake, to serve 16 to 20

• 18 Tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for greasing
• 2 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 1/4 cups red wine
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 3 cups plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 3/8 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp. salt

Directions

Active time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1 hour

To make cake: Preheat oven to 325°. Line the bottom of three 9 round cake pans with parchment paper. Grease parchment and sides of pan. Place butter in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, cream butter on medium speed until smooth. Add brown and granulated sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and yolk and beat until incorporated, then add red wine and vanilla. (Don't worry if the batter looks a little uneven and grainy.)

In a medium bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Sift dry mixture over wet ingredients. Mix until 3/4 combined, then fold in remaining dry mixture with a rubber spatula.

Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of each layer comes out clean. The top of each cake should be shiny and smooth. Cool in the pan 10 minutes, then remove cakes from pans and let cool completely on a rack.