Lemon Buttercream Frosting and an Orange Cake to Put it On

Call me old fashioned, but I really believe that a buttercream frosting should contain the elements butter and cream. Often these days they're made with shortening and, well, shortening. Blah.

Saturday was a birthday party for one of my dearest friends. The cake needed to fit the occasion. What do you give to one of your dearest friends on her special day? You give her orange cake with lemon buttercream frosting and raspberry sauce. (True, the sauce is missing from these pic's. I only put it on just before.) It was really really delicious. I hope she felt the same way. I, myself, checked tact and self-control at the front door and went back for a second piece. 

Lemon Buttercream Frosting
frosts 1 bundt cake
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cost: $2.10
butter: .50, cream: .50, powdered sugar: .80, lemon: .30

6-8 Tbsp butter
4-8 Tbsp cream
1 lb powdered sugar
1 lemon, zested and juiced (you'll use the zest and 1-2 Tbsp juice)

Melt butter. Add powdered sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and beat. Add cream, starting with 4 Tbsp and adding more as needed (if it's still too thick add more cream or 1-2 Tbsp milk). Beat. It'll get nice and fluffy.

Then, if we wish to make something as divine as a best friend's birthday, make this cake in bundt form. Let it cool, frost it, and add this raspberry sauce (I halved the recipe and drizzled it on top--and, yes, it's called 'filling' in its original post, but totally drizzle-able). One of the best cakes I've ever made. Which is saying something since this is usually a chocolate cake house.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Refrigerator Oatmeal with Chia Seeds and Maple

(Look, it matches my countertops.)

Cold oatmeal. Who ever would have thought that that would have become a thing? Of course, to be fair, cold oatmeal of the cooked and cooled variety is a completely different beast that refrigerator oatmeal--oatmeal that is soaked in milk, yogurt, or a combination thereof, left overnight and then eaten the next day. 

Still, when I first heard of this last summer, the thought of it was just weird. One of my friends was telling me about their Swiss (I believe) friends who would eat oatmeal this way all the time. Well, not to be outdone by the Swiss, I went home and poured some milk in oatmeal, let it sit overnight, and tried it the next morning with a raspberry sauce. With every spoonful, strings of snot-like starchy substance hung from my spoon. When the raspberry sauce mixed with it, it looked even more repulsive. I could barely choke it down. 

Lucky for me, about that time recipes for refrigerator oatmeal started popping up all over the place online. Everyone was doing it. Everyone was raving about it. You could even make a week's worth and have all your breakfasts ready and waiting each morning. Now try that with hot oats. 

But it took me a while to hop on the bandwagon. I wasn't sure what I'd done wrong the first time, but I wasn't eating snotmeal again. It could have been the quick oats, or the type of oats (some people say generic kinds are starchier, though I don't think I agree), too much or too little milk. I didn't know. My friend suggested trying it with yogurt. And I did. And I'm glad I did. Because there was no snot. Since that time, I have found that even if I do part milk, part yogurt, I have success. And the thing is that it wasn't just like it was better now because it wasn't slimy. It was beyond better. It was creamy, fluffy, perfectly textured oatmeal. It was delicious. 

At first, I was still flavoring my oatmeal in much the same way I would hot oatmeal--with brown sugar and raisins. That was good and all, but I've come to realize that one of the fun things about refrigerator oatmeal is that it can be made with all kinds of fun add-ins and that this, too, can be done the night before. 

When I went to my sister's house over Thanksgiving, I found a combo I really really adored--oatmeal with chia seeds and maple syrup (the real stuff, but you only need just a bit). This was my first experience with chia seeds. I was, after all, raised at the height of chia pet commercialization. Who knew that one day the seeds that sprouted on your little chia pig would be the next hot super food? 

Vegans have known about chia seeds longer than the rest of us because, when combined with water, they form a gelatinous substance that can be substituted for eggs in baking. They're also noteworthy (for vegans and the rest of us) because they're super high in omega-3's (yet, unlike flax seed, don't have to be crushed or ground to access it) and because they can fill you up and are good for digestion (if you drink enough water, which you should). If you want to read a great article on the health benefits of chia seeds, check it out HERE. 

You can generally find them in health stores. They're going to be the cheapest if you buy them from bulk bins. You can buy them off of Amazon if your town doesn't sell them. You can also find them in different colors, but all are purported to have the same health benefits. 

Here's to a healthy, delicious breakfast that can be made for the week in 5 minutes or less. 

Refrigerator Oatmeal with Chia Seeds and Maple

Serves 1 (but can be multiplied)

Prep time: 2 minutes

Cost: $.30

oats: .02, milk: .03, yogurt: .10, chia seeds: .10, maple syrup: .05

1/4 C oatmeal (regular oats are best, but quick will work too)

1/4 C milk

1/4 C plain yogurt (Greek or regular)

1 1/2 tsp chia seeds

1 Tbsp real maple syrup (or honey)--I use a fairly low grade, but it is the real stuff

Combine all ingredients. Cover with lid or plastic wrap. Put in fridge overnight or longer. Eat. 

Note: You can mix up a big batch, put individual size servings in Tupperware or small mason jars and then you have a quick, transportable breakfast for each day of the week.  

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Crock Pot Creamy Chicken and Ranch Chili

This is what I like to think of as a true crock pot recipe--meaning that you take a bunch of things, dump them into a crock pot, and turn it on. It takes 5 minutes. I realize that there are other crock pot recipes where you cook things first or prepare things first and then leave it to slow cook in the crock pot. It's not that I hate these recipes. I even have one or two on this site. But for me the 5-minute crock pot recipe is what really made crock pot cooking great. It's what most of us think of when we think of crock pot cooking. Of course, it's partly also what's given crock pot cooking a bad name because often what you're dumping is a few cans of cream of whatever soup or maybe one of those packets of dried onion soup. Yeah--you know the recipes. They're not evil incarnate or anything, but they remind us of our grandmothers' cooking (for better or for worse). And yet. The new, young, trendy crockpot cooking often involves 15 steps and 25 minutes (or more) before anything actually makes it into the crock pot.

This recipe combines the best of all worlds--no cream of anything soup (and it can be made pretty whole-foodsy if you wish), but it's a five-minute time commitment.

This is also a chili for people who don't like chili. That's helpful in this house. It's creamy, chickeny, and the white beans are more mild tasting and less offensive to bean-haters than kidney, pinto, or black beans. Kip really liked it.

It's also delicious--possibly my new favorite chili.

Crock Pot Creamy Chicken and Ranch Chili
adapted from Rita's Recipes
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 6-8 hours
Cost: $5.50 for 6-8 servings
chicken: 1.50, tomatoes: 1.00, beans: .50, corn: .50, ranch powder: .50-1.00, cream cheese: 1.00

2 small breasts chicken (they can totally be frozen)
1 small can Rotel (or just a 15 oz can of diced tomatoes would work with juice)
1 15-oz can corn (with liquid)
1 15-oz can Great Northern white beans (drained and rinsed)
1 package Ranch dressing (or 3 Tbsp ranch powder or a homemade recipe like this one--just use the dry ingredients)
1 Tbsp cumin
1/4-1 tsp chili powder (we used 1/2 and that was plenty of heat for us)
1 tsp onion powder
1 8-oz package of cream cheese

Throw it all in the crock pot and cook on high for 6-8 hours. [Note: My crock pot is an older model (probably 11 years old) and my 'high' setting is not as high as many newer crock pots. If yours cooks hot, you might want to set it to low.]

This would be great served over rice or farrow, but we just ate it as a chili with cornbread.

PRINTABLE RECIPE