Wong Food: Yosemite style

This past weekend we were in Yosemite and I re-discovered among many other things (one very prominent factoid being that I am out of hiking shape) that trail mix is delicious and that it's even better when you mix it up yourself.




Wong Food trail mix
(all volumes are approximate)

2.5 cups of peanuts, salted
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup flame raisins
1/3 cup butter toffee peanuts
2 packages of m&m's

mix. hike. enjoy. repeat.

Fabulous Orange-Chocolate Cake

Because of recent social activities, I had some leftover items in the fridge that needed to be used: sour cream, melted chocolate, and candied orange syrup. I found a cake recipe on allrecipes that I was able to adapt to use everything up.

It was super easy to put together because of the prepared items used. The directions said to bake the cake for an hour, but when I checked at 50 minutes, the cake was already done! I was afraid I had overcooked it, since it had browned by then, but it was still moist and the orange syrup I added enhanced the texture.

I love the combination of chocolate and orange so I expected to love this cake. I wasn't too impressed when it initially came out. Taste is more important than how something looks but this cake will not win any beauty awards. Perhaps it was its browned appearance, but it didn't look particularly appetizing. When I initially tried it, I just thought it was "okay." I thought maybe I had overdid it with the addition of orange syrup because it tasted like there was too much going on.

When I tried it a day later, I enjoyed it more. I'm not sure if it mellowed (or I did!) but the cake stayed moist (important!) and the chocolate flavor won me over.

The recipe is below with my changes in brackets.

Fabulous Orange Cake
(adapted from allrecipes)

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups sour cream [I used 1 3/4 cup since that was what I had leftover]
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup orange liqueur
1 cup white chocolate chips [I used a combination of chocolate chips and chopped chocolate -- the remnants of my melted chocolate]
confectioner's sugar, for dusting [I used about 1/2 cup of an orange-infused syrup I had made]

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch Bundt pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix and pudding mix. Add the sour cream, eggs, oil and orange liqueur. Mix until smooth and well blended, then fold in the white chocolate chips. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.

Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, until cake springs back to the touch. Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. When cake is cool, dust with confectioners' sugar and serve.

[After the cake cooled, I poked holes in it, and drizzled the candied orange syrup over it.]

Hubby's Homemade Pulled Pork and BBQ Sauce + Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Had a great day today with too much yummy food…

Ryan decided he wanted to venture off and make pulled pork sandwiches for July 4th as well as his own BBQ sauce. He used the crock pot for the pulled pork. It has this sweet and salty taste with a little kick of spice. And then made a little spicy vinegar flavored BBQ sauce. The meal was off the charts. Perfect balance of salty and sweet flavors. Sandwiches were better than any other place I have had pulled pork. Just amazing…















On top of the sandwiches were homegrown tomatoes (I ate a slice even though I am allergic) and some smoked cheese. We had a side of chips and fruit.


A closer look at the pulled pork with homemade BBQ sauce

I wish you all were here to enjoy with us.

For “dessert”, I decided to make a lemon poppy seed bundt cake. Another excellent choice, I think, but you’ll have to let me know what you think yourself…















I made some mini bundt cakes and 1 bigger bundt cake. You each get one of these to enjoy!


A look at the inside. :)

Recipe for Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
1 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk (I used 1 tbsp of vinegar + milk residual of 1 cup instead of of the buttermilk)
Grated peel and juice of 3 lemons (3 lemons does not equal 1 cup of lemon juice so get more lemons or buy 1 cup of lemon juice
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream 1 cup sugar and butter. Blend in eggs and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into the batter.
4. Stir baking soda into buttermilk and add to the batter.
5. Fold in grated lemon peel and poppy seeds.
6. Pour batter into a greased bundt pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and has a crevice in the middle.
7. Meanwhile, combine lemon juice (about 1 cup) and 3/4 cup sugar in a saucepan and simmer over low heat until the sugar dissolves.
8. When the cake is done, let stand for 5 minutes, then drizzle sweetened lemon juice slowly over the top until it is all absorbed.

Lemon Berry Squares

These were supposed to be Lemon Blueberry Squares but I didn't have enough blueberries. So instead I used blueberries, cherries, and blackberry jam. I'll send them your way to try and review. Definitely something I'd make again...

In the pan

The toppings

The finished product!

Recipe

CRUST
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
7 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

FILLING
3 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon peel
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons light cream
Salt
2 cups (10 ounces) berries
4 tablespoons berry jam, melted

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a buttered 8-inch square glass pan with
two 18-by-6-inch sheets of foil, overlapping in opposite directions with
overhang on all sides.
2. To prepare the crust, place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse
until mixture resembles coarse meal. Press onto the bottom and 1 inch up
the sides of the pan. Bake on the middle oven rack for 20 minutes, or until
golden brown.
3. To prepare the filling, whisk together eggs, sugar, flour and grated peel.
Whisk in lemon juice, cream and a pinch of salt. Pour immediately into
the hot crust. Bake until just set, about 17 minutes.
4. Toss berries with jam; gently spoon over the top and bake 2 minutes
longer. Let cool in the pan on a rack. Chill,covered,overnight (8 hours). Lift
dessert out of the pan and cut into squares.

Mac & Cheese Substitute for Lasagna

In deciding what to bake yesterday, I saw a very tasty picture of lasagna. Being that it was after 8:00 PM, I thought the best way to get fresh, cooked lasagna in less than an hour (if I were to bake it myself) was to buy it myself. There is a restaurant called Sublime Pizza across the street from us. We haven't been there yet, only heard it had good Mac and Cheese. I was craving lasagna but to my surprise, they didn't serve it on their menu. So we decided to try the Mac and Cheese... Wow! What a selection! They had 17 different types of Mac and Cheese filled with everything from italian sausage to hot dogs to applewood smoked bacon. They even had a make your own, which is what I decided to order for the bost of us.

Choice 1 - Mac and Cheese with Monterey Jack and Gouda cheese, Italian Sausage and Red Bell Peppers topped with Gruyere Breadcrumb Crust

Ryan rated this one a 7. He said it could have used more breadcrumb toppings.

Choice 2 - Mac and Cheese with Monterey Jack and Gouda cheese (there were more choices of cheese but I couldn't decide), Turkey Sausage and Spinach topped with Gruyere Breadcrumb Crust (other choice there is parmesan)

Rating is probably a 7 as well. It was decent Mac and Cheese...pretty good but not #1. MUCH better than out of a box and you can tell it wasn't Kraft or Velvetta cheese. It tasted fresh. It could have used more fillings and a little less cheese and maybe a little pepper.

I'd still go again and try out something new and change it up a bit.

From the Garden

Just a few photos from my garden...

Second set of tomatoes this season

Squash... I really hope it gets bigger.

Jalapenos... I am getting a ton of them

The first bell pepper of the season

Surati Farsan Mart (again!)

We have been to SFM now a couple more times since our initial visit. It has yet to disappoint. The second time we went, the service was just as friendly... they even remembered us! We still don't bother with the desserts but here are the new items we've tried:



Pav Bhaji ($3.99) - This was a spicy vegetable mixture served with hamburger buns. Very tasty, but the buns were a little much.



Pav Vada ($3.99) - These were spicy, deep-fried potato patties served with a garlic chutney in a bun. We had seen other customers order these and were intrigued. Tasty, but probably wouldn't get again.

BTW, they charge extra for those slices of cheese. So when they ask whether you'd like cheese on them, be aware!



Dahl Vada ($3.50) - Described as deep-fried lentil cakes covered with tamarind sauce and yogurt. This was the only item we didn't care for. It wasn't bad or inedible, just a little tasteless. The lentil cakes were bland but the yogurt tasted cool and fresh.



Petish ($3.50) - I loved these. These balls contained a combination of cilantro, coconut and garlic. Delicious. They were fried perfectly and the spices were a great mixture.



This is the inside of one of the balls.



Eggplant and Pigeon Pea curry - one of the curries of the day. It is served with either 4 puris (deep-fried bread) or 4 rotis (tortilla-like bread). It was good, but not a favorite. Heavy on the coriander, it was too oily for me.



Masala Cheese Dosa ($4.99) - This is the same as the masala dosa, but with cheese added to it. Strangely enough, I think it might have been American cheese. It's an interesting change, but I prefer the version without the cheese.

I also tried the lychee shake ($2.50) (sorry no picture - it's white) which was sweet and refreshing. If you like lychee, you'll like this.

Surati Farsan Mart is quickly becoming a favorite and I'm looking forward to going back!