All posts tagged yogurt

(My Kind of) Curried Chicken Salad

09.01.10 // Comments:25

chicken salad sandwich

Chicken salad is the #1 thing I don’t order at restaurants.

And I think this makes perfect sense.

I mean, first of all, who wants chicken salad when you can get a tomato mozzarella panini or a sandwich with basil pesto or heck, a juicy burger made from locally sourced meat?

But second, and even more importantly, chicken salad is what you call a risky food. Trust me: bad chicken salad is bad. Like, rip-your-mouth-out bad. B-A-D bad. Three years ago, the last time I ordered it in a restaurant that I remember, I was up the whole night afterward, sick. Violently sick. And the next day, when I called the manager of said dining establishment to let him know, he didn’t believe me.
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Comments:25 Click here to comment! Categories: chicken, entree, salad

This is the good stuff.

05.18.09 // Comments:14

crumb of lemon yogurt cake

I don’t know where you sit today, but I hope your view is as nice as mine, where the air smells sweet and the sun is high. Charcoal grills send smoke through my windows, green grass surrounds blooming tulips and daffodils, restaurants open their walls so we can dine al fresco as the sun sets.

I’ve realized as much as I hate Chicago winter, I love it for this: what else could make me so aware of the beauty of Chicago spring? And as spring turns to summer and summer to fall, I will keep enjoying the beauty of seasons, the joy of watching change unfold around you, irrespective of you and what you want. It’s nice to be a part of that.

I guess what I’m saying is that these almost-summer afternoons are the good stuff, what we’ve been waiting for, so maybe you’ll understand why it’s hard to resist all they tempt me towards? Things like a sunny weekend game at Wrigley Field, hours antiquing in northern Illinois, long walks on tree-lined streets of ivy-colored brick buildings.

lemon yogurt cake, close

Last week, I met a three-year-old girl with an easy smile, while we walked down creaky steps in a vintage building near a Metra station, surrounded by trees with blossoms as big as my hands. Saturday, after lunching at one my favorite places with an old blogging friend, I strolled along Clark to Broadway, passing bakeries and restaurants and adorable little shops. And this week, after work each day, I’ll come home with no plans but to be outside, watching the tomato plants grow and ready for the sky to turn orange and crimson before I pillow my head.

Also last week, because I wasn’t done with Oikos Greek yogurt yet, I made this cake.

lemon yogurt cake, above

After I ate the easy dish of vanilla yogurt drizzled with honey, the remainder went into a fragrant lemon cake that baked spongy and soft, with a sturdy crust made for holding in your hand. This cake is really the definition of simple, both in its creation and in its results: just mix ingredients, pour into pan, bake, drizzle glaze on top, and cut a thick slice of it to eat for a late-night snack or a weekday breakfast. At least that’s what I’ve been doing, beginning with Tuesday and then for breakfast at my work desk every day after.

Lighter and more sponge-like than a pound cake, this dessert is as soft as spring clouds and no less satisfying. Plus, its total prep time is mere minutes, meaning you’ll have hours to spend elsewhere, preferably outside, in 60-degree weather, when you throw on a light jacket and sit by something beautiful. Or at least, that’s where you’ll find me.

Lemon Yogurt Cake
Adapted from Salt & Chocolate, as seen on Tastespotting

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup Greek yogurt (I used vanilla)
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (1 to 2 lemons)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1/3 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a metal loaf pan with nonstick baking spray.

In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest and vanilla. Take the dry ingredients you set aside and slowly whisk them into the wet ingredients.

With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter until it’s combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside. When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

Setting the cake on a wire rack,Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Let it sit for 15 minutes and then remove from the pan to finish cooking on a rack.

Comments:14 Click here to comment! Categories: before the 2009 diet change

for on the way

05.13.09 // Comments:11

yogurt parfait

While Mom and I were walking out of the restaurant Sunday afternoon, arm in arm, our bellies full with sauer braten, bread dumplings and chicken schnitzel, she spotted a lilac bush in someone’s yard, and we talked about the corsages Grandma used to make with them on Mother’s Day each year.

Grandma used to say she had seasonal depression, meaning every winter she’d want to tuck away in the house, lethargic, doing little but cooking and baking, especially at Christmas—I think I get this from her—but come spring, she’d be the happy lady mowing her front lawn, planting geraniums along the front and big tomato bushes in back, hanging laundry to dry on the clothesline that ran from the back brick to the detached garage.

oikos greek yogurt

These mornings, when I wake up and hear pounding rain on the windows and see the grass deep, deep green, I think of how happy this would’ve made her, how happy it makes me. When I come home, the world bathed in sunlight, with fresh flowers popping up in yards and along open fields, there’s so much I want to do: take Bailey out, go for a quick run, stroll to the grocery store that’s a mile away instead of getting in the car to drive. Some nights, I don’t even care if I eat dinner, except for something quick I grab on my way somewhere. Like the other night, after I’d thrown in laundry, the windows open around me, and gone outside for a while, letting Bailey pull me wherever he wanted, I came back in, and instead of making dinner, I put together this quick parfait, made of Greek yogurt, chopped fruit, walnuts and honey.

yogurt parfait above

I had the yogurt thanks to Stoneyfield Farm, which gave me the opportunity to taste their Greek yogurt for free, sending a package of coupons in the mail, along with a bright yellow reusable grocery bag.

Do you know Oikos Greek yogurt? Created by straining whey from the liquid, it is organic and fat free, with double the protein of regular yogurt, fewer carbohydrates and just 90 calories per 5.3-ounce serving. It’s also a creamier, thicker, richer version that holds up well to heat, making it ideal for cooking and baking. You’ll find it in the same grocery sections as regular yogurt, though it’s not carried at all stores—here in Chicago, I know it’s available at my Whole Foods and at Treasure Island, but not at Dominick’s [update: yes it is!] or Jewel.

And really, its slight tartness worked wonderfully in my yogurt parfait, eaten with a pretty silver spoon before I headed to the treadmill—because, for all its blessings, spring still makes my eyes itch and my nose get stuffed up—and just as well in the dessert I made later that night, before going to bed, content.

Yogurt Parfait

Ingredients:
6 ounces Greek yogurt (I used vanilla)
Sliced fruit (I used strawberries)
Chopped walnuts
Honey

Directions:
Put the yogurt in a bowl and top with fruit and nuts. Drizzle honey on top. Enjoy!

Comments:11 Click here to comment! Categories: before the 2009 diet change