Food Network

We are now the proud owners of a REAL dining room table! Thank you Emmor Works!

Now that we have a dining room table we can host dinner parties! A few weeks ago we had some friends over for Friday night dinner. I was struggling to think of something new for dessert. For my birthday this year my in laws treated us to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Warren, New Jersey, Stone House at Stirling Ridge. After a delicious dinner, I ordered a slice of their olive oil cake for dessert. It was outstanding. I knew I had to try to replicate it at home. This dinner seemed like my perfect opportunity!

I searched online and found Melissa d’Arabian’s Orange Olive Oil Cake recipe and decided to give it a shot. It was AMAZING! I had to tweak the recipe a bit because I was serving a meat meal (and I couldn’t mix meat and milk). See the adapted recipe below!

Ingredients:

White Flour, 1-1/4 cup

Sugar, 3/4 cup

Eggs, 2

Vanilla Extract, 1-1/2 teaspoons

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (“EVOO”), 1/3 cup

Orange Zest, zest of 2 oranges

Orange Juice, juice of 1 orange

Baking Soda, 1/2 teaspoon

Baking Powder, 1 teaspoon

Sea Salt, 1 teaspoon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Spray your Wilton Round Cake Pan with PAM and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together the eggs and the sugar until combined.
Add the orange juice and orange zest and mix well.
Drizzle in the EVOO and vanilla. Mix until light and smooth.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in another bowl.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, just until combined. Do not over mix.
Pour the batter into your Wilton Round Cake Pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes and then serve!

Let me start this by saying that I have never pickled anything. But I have great affection for pickles. The tangy sourness that pickles bring to the table is right up my alley.

I have always wanted to try to pickle cucumbers and other vegetables but it seemed a little too ambitious for me. Who has that kind of time?! After watching several contestants on Food Network’s Chopped quick pickle various vegetables I decided to give it a try. A pickle in 30 minutes or less? I could do that!

I over planted radishes in the garden so I figured if the pickles didn’t turn out it wouldn’t be such a loss. Well….they came out perfectly and they added a nice tangy crunch to my spicy turkey lettuce wraps (recipe coming soon). And the pop of pink was a nice touch as well!

Ingredients:

Radishes, 6, thinly sliced

Trader Joe’s Rice Vinegar, ~1/4 cup

Sea Salt, 1 tablespoon

Trader Joe’s Organic Blue Agave Sweetener , 2 tablespoons

Directions:

1. Thinly slice the radishes and set aside.

2. Mix the vinegar, agave and sea salt in a bowl with a whisk.

3. Place the radishes in the bowl with the mixture and allow to sit for 20-30 minutes.

4. Serve immediately atop your favorite salad, sandwich, pasta dish or turkey lettuce wrap for a little extra crunch!