Land O' Lake's Meyer Lemon Snack Cake

Meyer Lemon Snack Cake

This is a great morning snack cake! I love snack cakes because they have no or limited frosting and they are perfect with breakfast - you never feel like you are eating a heavy dessert. The tang of the lemon is a perfect way to start your morning. This recipe "only" uses less than a stick of butter so it isn't super rich. And because of that, you can sneak pieces throughout the day. :) Just sayin.

Baked in an 8" square pan, you can get 9 really big pieces or more smaller ones. I cut several of these into triangles and they looked cute.

They say you can mix this in the pan, but I like to line my pans with parchment paper so I mixed it in a bowl. It comes together so quickly and you don't need the KitchenAid mixer either!

I hope you make this for your family or office. It's easy, comes together in a few minutes and is light and refreshing.

This recipe comes via Land O' Lakes Butter website and I used my parent's Meyer Lemons. Love meyers! They are the best! I doubled the amount of glaze because I made one batch, spread it on and it was so thin. So I whipped up a second batch and spread that on top.

Meyer Lemon Snack Cake

Cake:

1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour

1 cup (200 grams) sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large egg

2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest (the recipe says this is optional but I don't think lemon zest is ever optional!)

1/4 cup butter, melted (1/2 stick butter)

3/4 cup milk (I didn't have regular milk and used almond milk)

Glaze: (I doubled their original glaze recipe - these figures are the doubled amount. See Land O'Lakes for the original recipe)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (no need to sift)

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1-2 Tablespoons of lemon juice

Cake

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.

2.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest until combined.

3. In a small bowl or the measure cup, lightly whisk together the egg, melted butter, and milk. Add to the flour mixture. Mix with a whisk or fork until batter is mostly lump free, but don't overmix. 

4. Pour batter into a prepared 8-inch square baking pan (line with parchment paper and/or sprayed with baking spray).

5.  Bake 30-35 minutes until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cake cool. 

Glaze

1. To make the glaze, combine the powdered sugar with melted butter. Add lemon juice until it is at your desired consistency. You may want to pour it over the cake or have it a little thicker to spread over the cooled cake. 

Starbucks Inspired Homemade Protein Bistro Snack Pack

Starbucks Copycat Protein Bistro Packs

You know those packaged Starbucks Bistro Protein Packs? I love to pick them up along with my "Tall, Decaf, Soy, No Foam Latte" (yes, a little high maintenance order there...but I can't have caffeine and I want as much soy milk as possible so no foam...but I digress). Anyway, the latte is already $3.75 and the protein pack "snack" adds another $5.25 to the order and poof...the balance on my Starbucks app goes away pretty quickly.

Every time I pick one up, I think "I can make this myself." Also, I don't eat the cheese that's inside so I'm wasting food - in addition to the plastic container. But the little tasty bread rounds are my favorite and the limiting factor in making the packs myself.



After some Googling, I went to Whole Foods and found these Ozery Bakery Snacking Rounds (Muesli flavor - they also have apple cinnamon and cranberry orange). How awesome! You get 14 buns for $3.99 - that's only 29 cents a bun! Math in my head explodes when I think of how many protein packs I can make myself for the price of one from Starbucks. These are really yummy and you can freeze them to dole out over 14 days!


This box of grapes was $3.99 from Trader Joe's.


Also from Trader Joe's - Almond Butter


I already had a set of these "salad dressing/small stuff" containers by sistema. However, after I filled them I realized they were a tad too big for the LunchBot container to close completely. But it's not a big deal for me because I carry it from my car into the work refrigerator, and don't have it bouncing around in a backpack. However, if I find shorter containers, I'll get them.

A hard boiled egg is added along with some carrot sticks and a couple strawberries. The Starbucks container holds a piece of cheese which I never ate and apple slices. Since I always have a whole apple at work to snack on, I put in carrot sticks. They act as a spreader of peanut butter on the bread round too.


It all goes into this divided stainless steel LunchBots. I've had it for years and love it. I lost the lid for a time and was able to buy a replacement from their website (turns out it was under my car seat...must have been snacking on the drive). Note: it is divided but not water/leak proof between the sections so it's good for "dry" foods.

You can get the box on Amazon and I've seen them in Whole Foods  and The Container Store. (I use affiliate links on Amazon so I get a tiny percent if you follow the link and buy stuff. I usually turn around and buy cookbooks on Amazon).

I'm excited I found the Ozery bread rounds and can make my own healthy snack pack! It's hella cheaper with a ton less waste too! Hope you make some too! ~ Mary

P.S. Where have I been? I've been without a kitchen for 3 months as new cabinets were installed and a few construction hiccups came up. I'm happy to say I have a sink and oven again!! Whoo hoo! See you soon!

Baby Back Ribs in the Pressure Cooker

Happy New Year! Let's make some ribs!

I love the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker! (I hope you got/bought one during their crazy black Friday sale). I bought it last year and have been trying out different meals. Most of the time I take a couple photos on Instagram stories, but today I used my new camera. Oh yes, I bought myself a new camera! Canon 80D...I'm still figuring things out and watching many YouTube videos.


My local Sprouts Market had a sale on pork ribs so I picked up some baby back ribs ($2.99/pound, bought about 1.5 pounds) and when I brought it home, I googled Baby Back Ribs Pressure Cooker! NPR's The Salt had a piece from 2015 that I used as my guide.


Sprinkled some spice on the ribs


Put it in the Pressure Cooker along with 1/2 cup of water or stock (I used hot water). (See the NPR piece if you have a larger rack...you should teepee the meat - the photos will make sense)


Seal the pressure cooker and set for 30 minutes high pressure.
(This isn't a photo of setting it for 30 minutes - this was taken right after it was done!)


I used bottled BBQ sauce from Trader Joe's. About 15 minutes before the ribs are done, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a sheet tray with foil.


After cooking is complete, quick release the steam (you can let it go naturally, but I was hungry) and remove the ribs.


Brush on BBQ sauce and bake for 8-10 minutes, turning once. Watch your smoke alarm because it's a super hot oven and the sweet BBQ will burn a bit.


Next time I'll add more BBQ sauce and maybe even make my own sauce but they were tasty and super fast to make in the pressure cooker (and oven).




I used:
Instant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Pressure Cooker

RECIPE from this NPR piece (June 28, 2015): Do Try This At Home: Hacking Ribs — In The Pressure Cooker


Note: Some of the link are affiliate links with Amazon. That means if you buy something, I get a few cents. All opinions are my own. And I love the pressure cooker.