Blackberry-Swirl Pound Cake

What to do with all those berries you picked over the summer...

I suggest this pound cake from Everyday Food (I know, I know, I'm one of martha's cooking zombies but, I don't think I've made a recipe out of this magazine yet that I didn't love). I suppose you could use any berry, I just happened to pick a lot of blackberries this year. Even though the blueberries were delicious, too! Yum.

Besides being tasty, I think this cake is pretty to look at. And I'm shallow about food so, that's important.

You will need:

• 1 stick of butter (at room temp)
• 6 oz. of blackberries or 1 1/3 c.
• 1 1/4 c. + 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
• 1/2 t. coarse salt
• 1/4 t. baking powder
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. sour cream (at room temp)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease your pan/line with parchment. I used some cute loaf papers.

Puree the blackberries with 2 T sugar.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and 1 1/4 c. sugar for about 5 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat to combine. Add the flour mix in alternating portions with the sour cream, set mixer on a low setting.

Transfer half the batter to your pan and dot with 1/2 c of the blackberry puree. Repeat with the remaining batter.

I used some chopsticks to swirl the blackberry puree around.

Bake until golden brown, about 1 1/4 hours. Let it cool for 30 minutes or so.

p.s. this cake is not for the dieters of the world. luckily i am not one of them.

Tasty No-Bake Summer Lasagna

luckily I can type with my mouth full b/c I couldn't wait to share this recipe. Basically I am a lasagna fanatic and would eat it everyday if I could. This no-bake lasagna is pretty much a recipe for an explosion of awesomeness in your mouth. Double bonus: I used produce from my deck garden. Mmm. It's too bad you can't have some of this, although it might be hard to get me to share anyway. ;)


*An Update* Sadly, this recipe does not reheat well. I would suggest halving it if you're making it for 1-2 people and saving the rest of the ingredients for another day or dish.

you need:

• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 3 tbs grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 tbs + 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 8 lasagna noodles
• 1 small garlic clove, minced + fresh torn basil
  
• 2 pints grape tomatoes
• 2 zucchini (about 1 lb)

In a small bowl, combine ricotta, Parmesan, and 2 tsp oil; season with salt and pepper.

Break your lasagna noodles in half & place in a large pot of boiling water. Cook according to the package's directions.

Halve your grape tomatoes (I threw in some quartered Romas b/c I didn't have enough ripe grape tomatoes.) Thinly slice your zucchini.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tbs oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and tomatoes; season with salt and pepper. Cook until slightly broken down, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

Add 1 tbs oil and zucchini to the skillet; season with salt and pepper. Cook until zucchini are tender, about 5 minutes.

Assemble your tasty dinner. Layer the tomatoes and zucchini on noodles. Drop spoonfuls of the ricotta mixture and throw in some freshly torn basil. Repeat.

*Recipe from Everyday Food.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagne --mmm

another recipe from good old martha stewart Vegetarian, but not vegan. This is a labor intensive recipe -it calls for roasting butternut squash, making your own tomato sauce, and cooking your spinach. It is worth it though.
In the magazine, the recipe actually calls for more than what you need for the dish. The extras are meant to be used "for tomorrow's lunch" on a salad. Nice, but as filling as this lasagna is I've been eating it for a week.
This recipe is a little heavy on the calories, supposedly six servings with each at 561 calories. However at 30.4 g of protein this makes for a filling lunch and good for vegetarians looking for a protein source.

Mr. K agrees that this is tasty but, I think the cooked spinach is a little too green for his meat & potatoes loving tummy. That's ok. More for me.