Cranberry Orange Almond Pound Cake

I love the first Tuesday of every month. I get to have dinner and a meeting with other Tastefully Simple Consultants. Meeting with other team members is the best way to learn the business and bounce ideas off of each other. Since we are in the food business we of course get to try some amazing products and then experiment with some as well. We all come with recipes and try them out.

I had been looking for a great Easter recipe and wasn't really coming up with anything I loved. Instead I went to my fridge to see if I had anything about to expire. Orange Juice! That doesn't happen often in our house but we have been out of town a lot lately so this was about to go bad. I went to www.tastefullysimple.com/web/hgunn and clicked on "Try Our Recipes." I typed in "orange juice" and was able to pull up over 25 recipes. We love this easy to use system at our house! Make sure to click the link above and try it out.

Cranberry Orange Almond Pound Cake

Submitted by Joy Rodas (MN) HQ Team Member

Ingredients

Absolutely Almond Pound Cake Mix

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) melted butter

1 cup plus 3 Tbsp. orange juice, divided

1 tsp. grated orange zest, optional

1 cup fresh cranberries

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

Combine Absolutely Almond Pound Cake Mix, butter, 1 cup orange juice, zest and cranberries; stir to blend. Pour batter into greased 9 x 5 loaf pan. Bake at 325° for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool bread completely. Combine powdered sugar and remaining 3 Tbsp. orange juice; whisk until smooth. Drizzle glaze over baked pound cake. Makes 8-10 servings.

Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff

A friend found this on Pinterest and passed it along. It was one of the most fantastic vegan dishes I have ever made. I changed mine up a little bit so the original recipe can be found on a blog called From A to Vegan. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegan butter (e.g. Earth Balance)
1 medium onion, minced
2 tsp garlic garlic (tastefully simple)
1 tbsp yellow mustard
3 tbsp soy sauce
½ cup water
1 1/2 lbs button mushrooms
1 cup almond milk
Pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a large sauce pan, saute onions and garlic in the vegan butter until they start to get translucent.

2. Add mushrooms, water, soy sauce, mustard and pepper. Let simmer on medium low heat until the mushrooms soften and the liquids dry.

3. Reduce heat and add almond milk. Cook until mixture is a creamy constancy.

4. Serve over rice, pasta or mashed potatoes

Lemon Cookies

I crave Lemon stuff all spring and summer. Today I decided to experiment with Lemon Cookies. YUM! This recipe is from LDS Living Magazine - original recipe.

Ingredients:
½ cups butter, softened (used Earth Balance)
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoons baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

Falafels w/ Tzatziki Sauce

I am always looking for new Vegan meal ideas for dinner. I remember when I was little my Aunt Becky used to make my sister and I falafels. They were always so good and also a special treat as we only ever had them at her house.

I never really knew what a falafel was until I started to research it and discovered how easy and amazing they were to make from scratch. I adapted this recipe from one I found in "Easy Vegan: simple recipes for healthy eating." I found this book at the library and have loved several of the recipes. If you are looking for great Vegan Options make sure to check it out!

Falafels

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup dried chickpeas

2 garlic cloves

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 scallions, very finely chopped

sea salt and pepper

Directions:

* Soak chickpeas in plenty of cold water for 24 hours. Drain well and roll in paper towels or a large cloth to dry.

* Place chickpeas, garlic, cumin, and baking soda in food processor and blend

to a smooth paste.

* Taste and season with salt and pepper, place mixture into a bowl and cover, let rest 30 minutes.

* Add scallions to chickpea paste and mix well, kneading with hands.

* Scoop into small lumps and make into flat, round cakes -place on a non-stick baking sheet and cover, chilling for 15 minutes

* Place in oven, uncovered at 400 degrees for 10 minutes on each side.

Kitchen Notes:

* I served these with Pita Bread, Cucumbers and Tzatziki Sauce (click for recipe). I also think that some sautéed onions would be great with these.

* I of course subbed the 2 garlic cloves for 1 TBS Garlic Garlic (Tastefully Simple).

Asian Inspired Dinner

In my two previous posts I talked about two of my new Spring/Summer favorites from our Tastefully Simple product line - Tangy Ginger Dressing and Shiitake Teriyaki. I just can't get enough of these two. I want to use them on everything!

I have mentioned before that I always try to look at being Dairy Free as an adventure. I love to cook and I own my own business that deals with a great food product line so there is always something exciting to experiment with. We often turn to Asian type cuisine at our house not just because we like it but because it is often very dairy free friendly.

Last night's dinner was an another amazing winner with Thai Peanut Sauce, Buckwheat Soba Noodles and Tofu/Veggie Stirfry. I also added in some homemade Wontons just to experiment. Here are my recipes:

Thai Peanut Sauce - so easy! (previous posted on my blog)

Tofu/Veggie Stirfry served over Buckwheat Soba Noodles

Ingredients:

1/2 package Firm Tofu

1/2 jar Shiitake Teriyaki

EVOO and or Sesame Oil

Mixed Veggies - asparagus, cauliflower, onion, carrots, zucchini, peas, edamame, broccoli, garlic etc. (just use what you have or pick your favorites)

Directions:

* Drain and press water out of tofu then dice into small cubes. Place tofu into Shiitake Teriyaki jar and replace the lid. Shake until tofu is covered in sauce and let marinade in jar together for 10-15 minutes.

* Chop veggies into bite size pieces and place in skillet with oil and saute until soft.

* Add marinated tofu to veggies and cook for 5-10 minutes to heat.

* Serve over noodles or rice - we use Buckwheat Soba Noodles (purchased at Whole Foods)

Tangy Ginger Wontons

Ingredients:

1/2 package Firm Tofu

3 TBS Tangy Ginger Dressing

1 TBS Nutritional Yeast

1/2 TBS Garlic Garlic

1/4 cup chopped Green Onion

Wonton Wrappers

Directions:

* Drain and press water out of Tofu.

* Place Tofu, Tangy Ginger Dressing, Nut. Yeast, Garlic and Green Onion in bowl. Mash to combine.

* Lay out Wonton Wrappers and fill with mixture. Fold and pinch sealing with water (most packages will give photo directions for this).

* Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and place wontons on sheet. Spray wontons with additional cooking spray and cook at 425 degrees for 10 minutes or until browning.

* Serve with extra Tangy Ginger Dressing or Thai Peanut Sauce (listed above).

Shiitake Teriyaki Buffalo Burgers

I love our new Spring/Summer line from Tastefully Simple. We offer so many great flavors and of course great ideas for meal planning and recipes. Kevin is really enjoying our new grill rubs and sauces and can't wait to get out to the grill in the evening.

A quick easy favorite at our house has become Shiitake Teriyaki. This sauce has a great savory flavor that is packed with thick-sliced mushrooms. We made some great Buffalo Burgers the other night with it but I also suggest trying it spooned over grilled chicken, pork chops, or any kind of seafood. If you are looking for more of a vegetarian option I would try it over rice and stir fry and maybe throw in some tofu that has been marinated in the sauce. It has a great balance of soy sauce, garlic, ginger with a small hint of pineapple. Yum!

Shiitake Teriyaki Buffalo Burgers

Ingredients:

1 lb ground buffalo

1 TBS soy sauce

1 TBS Onion Onion

ground pepper to taste

hamburger buns - we used onion buns

Shiitake Teriyaki Sauce

Directions:

* Combine first four ingredients and shape into patties.

* Grill until desired doneness and serve on buns topped with Shiitake Teriyaki Sauce.

Tangy Ginger Dressing on Lettuce Wraps

A quick, healthy, and easy dinner at our house is Lettuce Wraps. I normally make them with tofu and mushrooms; but if you are not the tofu eating type you could of course use chicken. I am always looking for a great dressing to pour over them that adds great flavor.

I finally found a WINNER!

In our new Spring/Summer line that will be available to clients on March 1st we have Tangy Ginger Dressing! It is a citrusy and smooth dressing that would be great for egg rolls, in coleslaw, drizzled over asparagus or broccoli and of course on lettuce wraps!

I have posted Tofu Lettuce Wraps on my blog before - you can click the link to get the recipe. Here is an updated picture with the dressing. Make sure to check out my Tastefully Simple Website to order yours on March 1st!