cooking ala mel

Mason Jar Labels (with free printable)

April 14, 2012

I try to store as many things as I can in mason jars – rice, pasta, nuts, chocolate chips, nut butters, etc. I love the look of them, and I love that they keep things so fresh. We have a table in our kitchen that I use for extra counter space, and I keep most of my dry ingredients in mason jars all along the edge of it. Most of the jars don’t match, which I love, and I have a variety of regular and wide-mouthed. To make them go together a bit better, I decided to make some simple labels for the lids.

Of course, they had to be teal. I absolutely love teal (I’m sure you haven’t realized from the colors of this site). And I love to make things Harry Potter related in whatever way I can, so I added the snitch that I use on the banner for this site to “underline” the text! Snitches are probably my absolute favorite thing from HP. I used to draw little snitches all over my notes in middle school and high school.

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Raspberry Almond Tea Cake

April 10, 2012

Easter was a rather relaxing affair around these parts. We made a breakfast of eggs, sausage, hash browns, and fruit, and I hung out in my robe for a good long while reading. Then, of course, I felt like I needed to make something to celebrate the occasion, even if it was just Alex and me. I quickly threw together this cake and proceeded to do an hour and a half workout for the start of Phase 2 for Insanity. I was absolutely starving afterwards; I feel I definitely earned a slice of cake.

This cake is light and sweet, perfect with a cup of tea. The raspberries and the almonds go together so wonderfully. The best part about this cake is that it’s made in a 6″ round pan, and it serves four. So when you’re in the mood for a sweet little cake, but you don’t want an entire cake sitting around (it’s a dangerous thing), this is just the thing to make. It’s a cinch to come together, too!

I was really excited to use some of the whey that I strained out from making my own greek yogurt in place of the buttermilk in this recipe. I just couldn’t throw it away, so I felt pretty resourceful in using it for this.. and I am very low on my buttermilk powder that I have, so that saved me scraping out the last of the container, as well.

For the glaze, I used the remaining icing from my gluten free cut-out cookies with just a splash of almond extract. Perfection. While this cake is a little sweet for my tastes to be considered breakfast or brunch fare, I’m sure no one would complain if you were to make it as such..

Raspberry Almond Tea Cake

adapted from The Fromagette

serves 4

1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

1/2 cup almond flour (or almond meal)

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/8 t salt

1/2 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup coconut sugar

2 T butter, softened

2 eggs

1/4 cup buttermilk (or whey)

1 t vanilla

In a small bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Lightly toss in the raspberries, and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, butter, eggs, buttermilk (or whey), and vanilla. Blend until smooth. Slowly pour in the flour mixture and stir until just incorporated. Pour the batter into a parchment lined 6″ round cake pan.

Bake at 350ºF for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, and then remove it by inverting it on a plate. Place on serving plate. Spread the glaze on top and allow to drip down the edges.

For the glaze:

1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup instant dry milk
1/4 t vanilla

1/4 t almond extract

berries, for color/speckling

Warm the honey slightly. In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients. Keep whisking until smooth and thick. For color, add in a few drops of food coloring or a few berries and whisk well (if you use berries, it will turn out speckled).

Homemade Cheez Its

April 9, 2012

Cheez Its have always been one of my favorite snack foods. The cheesy salty combo is just what I need when I’m transferring from sweet to salty as I usually do when I’m in the mood to snack. I try not to buy Cheez Its.. mostly because I’ll eat them all (way too quickly), and there are a lot of things in them that I’d rather not put into my body. Of course, I’ve seen lots of homemade versions all over the place, and I’ve finally decided to try it out.

While these still aren’t what you would consider healthy (all they are is butter, cheese, some flour, and salt), I definitely feel a lot better about eating them than their chemical-filled counterparts. And talk about easy to make!

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