Lemon Yogurt Cake ala Orangette

This cake is probably the first recipe I ever tried off of somebody’s blog. It is also the first thing I baked after going gluten-free. With regular flour out of my life, I turned to the internet for answers and inspiration. I discovered food blogging. First, I found Shauna, a.k.a the Gluten Free Girl. I loved how honest her blog was, and I loved her attitude towards food. I didn’t have any desire to sit around and feel sorry for myself or mourn the loss of wheat; instead, I was excited about feeling better, and ready to embrace my new lifestyle. Reading her blog, I felt as though I had found a kindred spirit. I went back to the beginning, and read every single post, I talked about her blog to my friends (imagine a conversation that goes something like this: friend: “how was your day,” me: “good, I read this amazing post on that blog I’m reading…”). I spent hours, literally hours a day reading every word, until one day I caught up to the present. All of the sudden, I was limited to one post, every couple of days or so… desperate, I turned to her links, and I found Molly (a.k.a Orangette).

While reading Shauna’s blog I felt a connection over our shared attitude towards being gluten-free, but with Molly it was something else. Her blog has, of course, wonderful food. But it wasn’t the food that kept bringing me back day after day to read every single entry of her blog. Instead, it was the fact that Molly’s blog was both exhilarating and frightening to me. She had faced herself, her true loves and passions, and had left her graduate program, and it was the best decision that she could have made. Having just gone through a very busy, stressful semester of graduate school, and unsure what I wanted from my life, her blog, to put it lightly, pushed my buttons.

And when I read about this cake…the cake that led her husband to her. I had to have it. Never mind, that it had gluten, never mind that I had never baked anything gluten-free. I wanted lemon yogurt cake. I somehow felt that my ability to be satisfied with my own life depended on my ability to successfully recreate that cake. So I read Bette Hagman’s suggestions for converting recipes, and dove in.

Amazingly, it was spectacular the first time. All summer, every time I had any excuse to make a dessert, I made this cake. By the end of the summer, I had the recipe memorized, and could whip the batter together in minutes. I tried all sorts of flour mixes, and never had a problem with any of them, that is, until I tried a flour mix that involved garbanzo beans (beans and lemons in a cake = yuck). The yogurt helps give the cake a fabulous texture and moisture, regardless of flour choice. I’m not sure if my happiness ever really rested on this cake’s success, but if it did, the results were felicitous.

By the end of the summer I was moving on to exploring new recipes, ready to face a new semester of graduate school, and this cake faded to a fond memory, until the other night. Asked to bring dessert to a dinner party, with my tongue still remembering last week’s Meyer lemon bars, I couldn’t not make this cake.

 

Greek Quinoa Salad

“I actually cooked something I really liked!” Maureen exclaimed one evening, about a month ago, as I walked in the door around 9:30 after teaching a class for Kaplan. Now, Maureen and I do fairly even duty in the kitchen, at least when it comes to dinners. But she had made a string of meals that while perfectly edible, she considered failures, so cooking was becoming a little disheartening. This salad, however, was excellent, and has hopefully restored her confidence. We happily ate it for lunch several days in a row without getting tired of it, and we made it again for our cook-out this weekend, only this time I helped. Most of our guests had never had quinoa before, but they all seemed to enjoy their first excursion.

So assuming some of you, too, have never had Quinoa, here is a short introduction. Quinoa is a pseudo grain — it is actually a seed, but it behaves like a grain. To prepare it, you simmer the seeds in water (or broth) until they’ve absorbed all of the liquid, just like you do when you make rice. Quinoa has a subtle nutty flavor when cooked, and can easily be substituted for bulger in recipes like tabbouleh or it can be used in place of couscous. Because, quinoa is not really a grain, it is a great choice for passover, as well. Even better, quinoa contains a complete protein, is high in antioxidants, magnesium, and is a good source of fiber — making quinoa a healthier choice than wheat or rice. If you live in Atlanta you can buy it in bulk at the Dekalb Farmers Market both in seed and flour form. I haven’t actually played around much with quinoa while baking, but when I do you’ll be sure to hear about it.

But really, if you’ve never tried quinoa, this recipe is a great introduction. But don’t stop there: also try Heidi Swanson’s Lemon Scented Quinoa or her Delicious Big Bowl – Quinoa, both of which are sure to please. Or, be like me and substitute the couscous for quinoa in Smitten Kitchen’s Couscous and feta-stuffed peppers. These peppers were amazing (or maybe I just have a thing for quinoa and feta together).