ORANGE OLIVE OIL CAKE

I will be making this cake again, for sure! When I saw this recipe calls for EVOO instead of butter, I bookmarked it pronto! Anna Olson's recipes can't go wrong. Check out her Blueberry Muffins on my August post, another great healthy recipe.

Light, moist and citrusy - unbelievably good! You just have to try it.

Ingredients

by Anna Olson

2 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar (I used 1 cup + 1 Tbsp)
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup 2 %milk
zest of 2 oranges or tangerines
1 cup + 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
dash salt
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 °F and butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs and sugar. Add olive oil, milk and orange zest and mix well. In a separate bowl, stir flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to olive oil batter and stir just until smooth.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cake cool completely, then turn out onto a plate and dust with icing sugar

DUTCH APPLE CAKE

This is the easiest cake I have made so far. All you need is a fork and mix all ingredients together in a big bowl. How easy is that!

This cake is moist and loaded with apple goodness. The cake texture tastes like gingerbread - that's what I thought! However, I am not going to stop at this one but will try out different recipes.

Ingredients

adapted from recipe4living

4 C. apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I cut into small chunks instead)
2 C. flour
2 C. sugar (I used 1 C. caster sugar and 1/2 C brown sugar - I ran out of caster sugar!)
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 C. oil
2 eggs
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 C. chopped nuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, break eggs over apples. Mix with fork and add sugar and dry ingredients. Add oil, vanilla and nuts. Fold gently until blended.

Spoon into a 13x9-inch greased and floured baking pan. (I used a round cake pan instead)

Bake for 1 hour or until tester comes out clean.

CARROT MUFFINS

After my successful attempt on Anna's Blueberry Muffins (baked twice in fact!), I was in the mood for healthy muffins again.

I found this recipe by Patricia Scarpin of Technicolor Kitchen. She takes excellent pictures, which makes me want to bake all her recipes.



Ingredients

fully adapted by Technicolor Kitchen

2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup + 1 tablespoon (162g) caster sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup (260g) plain yogurt
2 eggs
½ cup (120ml) vegetable oil
finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
1 ½ cups (135g) grated carrot
icing sugar, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; line twelve ½-cup (120ml) capacity muffin pans with paper cases.
Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the sugar and salt and stir to combine. Set aside.
Place the yogurt, eggs, oil and lemon zest in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the yogurt mixture and carrot to the flour mixture and whisk just until combined – use a fork to mix and do not overmix; the batter is supposed to be lumpy.
Spoon the batter into the prepared cases and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and cooked when tested with a skewer.
Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.

Makes 12 – I used 1/3-cup (80ml) muffin pans and got 12, too

ANNA'S BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

I have bookmarked this recipe for quite awhile, and I wished I could have done this earlier. If you are looking for a healthy yet delicious muffin recipe, this is surely for you. The muffins are unbelievably soft and moist, and with lots of berry goodness. I added some fresh cherries too.

Ingredients

adapted from Fresh with Anna Olson

1/3 cup (75 mL) canola oil (I used olive oil instead)
1/2 cup (125 mL) honey
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) 2% plain yogurt
1 teaspoon (5 mL) finely grated orange zest
1 cup (250 mL) whole wheat flour
1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons (10 mL) baking powder
1 teaspoon (5 mL) baking soda
1 teaspoon (5 mL) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) salt
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) fresh blueberries


1. Preheat oven to 375 °F (190 °C) and line a 12-cup muffin tin (or 36 cup mini muffin tin) with paper liners (alternately, tins can be greased).

2. Whisk oil, honey, eggs, yogurt and orange zest to blend. In a separate bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

3. Add to yogurt mixture and stir just until blended. Add blueberries and spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

4. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until muffins spring back when touched. Muffin will keep 2 days in an airtight container, or can be frozen.

OVEN BAKED CHICKEN WINGS

This is probably the ultimate finger food treat. It was so easy to make, and I will definitely make this again. It has a delicious all-over brown hue and the aroma seeping out from the oven is to-die-for.

My photo does not look appetizing here, but it certainly taste goooood. All thanks to Gertrude, her recipes never fails me.

Ingredients:
adapted from My Kitchen Snippets

10 - 12 chicken wings
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper (I used chili powder instead)
2 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash and clean the chicken wings to make sure there are no stray feathers. Cut wings into portions through the joints, discarding wingtips (I left wingtips on)

2. Combine all the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Add wings and coat in mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or overnight, stirring occasionally.

3. Preheat oven to 425 degree F. Cover a baking dish with aluminum foil. Drizzle it with some olive oil. Spread wings over the base, brush liberally with marinade. Roast for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Turn the wings half way through the baking. Serve warm or at room temperature

ALMOND CHERRY FINANCIERS

Cherries -my all time favourite and I usually eat them fresh. Lately, cherries are in abundance everywhere and I have the luxury of buying extra for baking. I tried them on my stone fruit tea cake and it was mad deliciuos. So, I went on searching for recipes with cherries.

When I saw this financier recipe from Sarah-Jane of SiliconeMoulds.com I was so excited and baked it the next day. Each dainty cutesie cake with a big fat juicy cherry in the middle - simply divine. Sarah-Jane was right on this!

Ingredients

adapted from SiliconeMoulds.com

70g ground almonds
105g icing sugar
35g flour
92g of salted butter

92g of egg whites (3 eggs)
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of vanilla extract

Preheat fan oven to 200deg C.

Brown the butter to a nut brown.

Sift the dry ingredients together and mix in the egg whites and vanilla. I used an electric hand held mixer. Add the hot butter, mixing in quickly.

Pour as quickly as you can into your moulds and then pop in your sweet cherry, with stalk attached.

Cook in the oven for 10 mins, then turn down the heat to 180deg C. Bake for a further 15 mins or until golden brown. Test with a skewer. If it comes out clean means the cake is done.

CHICKEN MEATBALLS

This is a wonderful alternative to beefballs or porkballs, not too meaty nor heavy. With carrots and waterchestnuts to give a natural sweet and crunch - sheer delight and lotsa yum!

I chose to bake the meatballs instead of deep fry. It is definitely a healthier choice and taste as good. The original recipe comes with the sweet and sour sauce which I have omitted here. For the full recipe, swing over to My Kitchen Snippets.



Ingredients for meatballs
adapted from My Kitchen Snippets


1 pound of ground meat (can be pork, chicken or beef)
1 carrot – finely grated
6 water chestnuts - finely cubes
2 spring onions – finely chopped
2 tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tbsp of soy sauce
2 tbsp of cornstarch
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste (I use 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper)


1. Put all the above ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix well and let it marinate for an hour.
2. Form it into little balls . At this stage you can either deep fry the meatballs or bake it in a 400 degree F oven until golden brown.