Tribeca Yummy Mummy

Back in March, Jane of the Spain Daily blog, shared a recipe for the delicious looking yogurt cake in one of her posts.  She serves it as a companion to her coffee.  Yum.  It seemed like such an easy thing to whip up.  And, since we had never had a yogurt cake, I was curious as to what the taste and texture would be like.

Months passed; our family went to Vermont for a couple of weeks.  The City, steamy, awaited us with its very warm embrace.  Yesterday, while the kids were having special Aunt Sheri Time, I walked over to Battery Park City to sit in one of the gardens by the water.  The sun was beating down, something I was loving after shivering through my last week in Vermont, and I was thinking how happy it made me to be back here with its crazy pace and terrible smells.

The bankers were milling around, always urgent to get back upstairs and back on the desk.  The moms, and grannies, and nannies strolled by with smiling or whining or sleeping or crying babies.  And, there, in the garden, all of this soothed my mind.  These are the sights and sounds of home.

Into a quiet mind popped Jane’s yogurt cake recipe.  There was a pint of raspberries in our fridge, and I was thinking what to do with them (besides tear into them and devour them in their raw glory).

Back at home, we mixed together the ingredients, including the fragrant, beautiful raspberries, and made Jane’s yogurt cake, with a few minor changes.  I have translated her recipe and changed just a few things to suit the raspberries being involved.  The result is a simple, lovely cake.  If you were of the mind, you could frost the tops with this frosting (use raspberry puree instead of strawberry) or make a simple glaze with powdered sugar and milk.  We simply popped a berry on top and served the cakes alongside a tiny scoop of ice cream.

Thank you, Jane, for the recipe and all the laughs you have given me over the past two years.  I hope that the mini-chefs and I did you proud!  You can find the original recipe and post here.

Spain Jane’s Raspberry Yogurt Cakes

• 1 1/2 c. (6 oz.) plain yogurt, room temperature
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 c. vegetable oil
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1/3 c. raspberries (fresh or frozen and thawed)
• 3 c. flour
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• pinch of salt

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F/ 175 degrees C.
2. Prepare two muffins tins by papering them or greasing them with a little oil.
3. In a large bowl, have your mini-chef stir together all of the wet ingredients: yogurt, eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla, and raspberries.  It is fun to mash the raspberries on the side of the bowl a bit with a wooden spoon.  It make the batter pink and releases stress.
4. In a separate, medium bowl, let your mini-chef whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
5. Slowly and gently pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir till completely combined.
6. Using an ice cream scoop or a big spoon, fill each muffin cup with some of the batter.
7. Big Person: bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes or until the side and tops begin to turn golden.  Cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before frosting.

Joining in with Mizz Soule Mama.  Happy Weekend, Yummies!  We’ll see you next week from our fair City again!

A Friday ritual.  A single photo- no words- capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember.

Being out of the City and steeped in the fresh air and fresh ingredients of a Vermont late summer has inspired all sorts of adventures in our kitchen.  My son, for instance, is addicted to the sharp cheddar cheese that they make locally and keeps begging for just one more slice.

He’ll sit a the table looking at me expectantly and finally say, “Mama, I wish I could have just oooooonnnnne slice of that good cheese.”

To get him a bit more involved, as well as to highlight some of the other ingredients that are so plentiful here, we whipped up this savory cornbread recipe with the cheese, of course, sun dried tomatoes, and even a little jot of maple syrup.  Viva Vermont!

Sun Dried Tomato and Cheddar Cornbread

• 1 c. cornmeal
• 1 c. all purpose, whole wheat pastry, or spelt flour
• a pinch of salt
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1 c. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 c. milk, room temperature
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 6 T. butter, melted
• 1 T. maple syrup (or honey)
• 1/2 c. sun dried tomatoes, chopped

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Spoon a tablespoon of the melted butter into an 8X8 inch baking pan and have your mini-chef spread it all over the base with a spatula or their hands.
3. In a large bowl, measure out the dry ingredients: the cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder.  Have your mini-chef give that a very good whisk until all the ingredients are completely combined.
4. In a medium bowl, combine the wet ingredients: the milk, cheese, eggs, rest of the butter, maple syrup and  the tomatoes together.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and gently stir till everything is completely combined.
6. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until sides begin to brown and a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.  Cool for a few minutes, slather with butter, and serve warm.

Welcome to the new Tribeca Yummy Mummy, Yummies! Please take a look around at the new features, especially the recipe search function (woo hoo!). We’re still trying to get the ingredient search up to date, but today you can search by dish type, by season, and by allergen.

Are you and your mini-chefs gluten-intolerant vegans who want some delicious ideas for what is in season right now? Search away. Are you looking for a soup that is soy free? A dessert that is dairy-free? Yep, it’s all there.

In addition to the new look here on the blog, I’ve been creating a new back-to-school wardrobe for Mira and Liev and would like to share Mira’s fabulous new Chic Cocktail Swing Coat. The pattern is by a company called Heidi and Finn. You can visit their etsy shop here. They have so many cute things for girls (of course), but they don’t leave the little boys out! Check out the Little Military Shirt and the Unisex Hoodie pattern. They would look so cute on a little guy.

All of their patterns are super cute, and I cannot wait to try out some of the others. One word of caution… if you are a beginning sewer, you might want to wait until you have a bit of experience under your belt before you dive into the swing coat pattern. Things like having to manually machine-sew a button hole might be daunting. (Why didn’t I ask my mom to show me how to do this before?) And, it runs very large. My very long, lanky daughter is a bit swamped in the 5/6. For the most part, though, it was a cinch. Mira LOVES this little piece of outerwear and cannot wait to wear it with a cozy sweater tucked underneath when she heads off to kindergarten in a couple of weeks.

How are you getting ready for Fall?

Pulling onto a dirt driveway in rural Vermont and up to the farmhouse, my children are already clamoring. Milk! Fresh milk!

It’s late in the day, and we get to see the ladies coming up the road, just a minute behind us, being chased by a sweet but slightly lackadaisical border collie named Sugar and the woman farmer bringing up the rear. The cows move slowly but surely as my children jump euphorically and stare and clap their hands.

If I were a poet, I would write an ode to Vermont farmers. For sure, they have a huge place in my family’s heart. They give us fresh everything, grow and tend their farms organically, and blow our mind’s with the flavor and love in infused in the food.

Since I am not a poet, we made this dish with the fresh milk, fresh eggs, maple syrup tapped from local trees, blueberries from the greenmarket and all the gratitude we have in our hearts. To make this even more special, we served it as breakfast for dinner. Our favorite!