Posted by: @courtenay

That cake is what we call a lemon drizzle cake in Britain — very popular.

Normally that's what they're called here too (or poke cakes, because you poke them full of holes ), but I think the reason this one was a sticky cake was because you actually cook the syrup a bit. I don't normally cook the syrup. 

As for your potato cake, I don't think I've ever had cake made out of potatoes, but my mom does a lot of bread making with potatoes/potato roll dough. You can't taste the potatoes at all. My favorite is her cinnamon roll recipe. 

I've been trying to eat more green vegetables, because if I'm honest, I'm not the best green veggie eater. Normally I'm a microwave/steam and go kind of girl, but that gets pretty boring. So I was wondering if anybody has any veggie recipes that they'd like to share that have a little bit of pizzazz? 

Here are three of my personal favorites to give you get some idea of what I'm looking for.

https://www.culinaryhill.com/seven-layer-salad/
This is probably my favorite. I don't like raw red onion, so I substitute red bell pepper, and I'm not the biggest fan of raw celery, so I use raw cucumber instead.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/italian-green-beans/
My go-to side dish for Thanksgiving/Christmas.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/three-bean-salad-recipe-2102694
Isn't three bean salad one of those classic Grandma dishes? LOL

Yes, I would!  Here is the recipe for a 'Crunchy Celery Skillet' dish we all really enjoy:

1 Tblsp olive oil

10 stalks celery, cut into 1/4" diagonal slices (about 5 cups)

1 or 2 cans (8 oz) water chestnuts, drained and sliced

1 Tblsp chicken bouillon (or 2 T, depending on preferred taste)

2 oz sliced pimento, drained (optional)

Heat olive oil in large wok or frying pan. Add celery, water chestnuts, and instant bouillon; cook and stir over medium heat, turning vegetables constantly with flipper, until celery is crisp-tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in pimento, heat through.

The recipe also says to add salt and celery salt, but we are not big salt eaters, and find the chicken bouillon has enough salt.

Okay, so the chickpea cookie recipe makes a great brownie.   I mixed up the regular recipe and then dump the last of the cocoa from the cocoa container in. It was very scientific. I think it was about a 1/3 cup of cocoa. I used a 8x8 pan and bake it for 22-24 minutes. Tried it a second time with an actual 1/3 cup of cocoa and baked for about 26 minutes, just about perfect.  

I'm trying to switch back forth between oats and chickpeas for baking, but I'm not a big fan of oats. However I did make another batch of oat graham crackers. I baked this batch a couple minutes longer and they're even better crunchier which really isn't surprising.   

Yum, veggies! I love vegetables. I'm always surprised by the number servings that are suppose to be in a bag of frozen vegetables. We had roasted okra last week, it was so good and the leftovers were even yummy cold. Sis didn't use a recipe, but this one is similar to what she did. We also enjoy roasted carrots, cauliflower, radishes, green beans, yams, and sweet potatoes. We like veggies especially when served with beef. Oh, and I like to add soy sauce to the green beans, but that's currently a no-go.

@jo, I haven't been a fan of water chestnuts in the past, however your recipe sounds good. I will have to check the pantry for water chestnuts.  

SnowAngel

Posted by: @rose

The cultures that I'm using are Cultures for Health's Heirloom Starter Cultures, which is an assortment of four varieties of heirloom countertop yogurt from all over Europe: filmjölk and piima from Scandinavia, viili from Finland, and matsoni from eastern Europe.

Welp, update on this.  I never had this problem the last time I got this kit, but neither the filmjölk nor the matsoni cultured properly, and after that I didn't want to waste any more milk trying the other two varieties. No idea if it was a storage issue or what, but for now I think I'll just make regular (thermophilic) yogurt using storebought yogurt as starter; that's cheap enough to replace. I've been researching the different types of probiotics found in different yogurt brands; Greek Gods seems to have the most strains.

@Fantasia, I don't have any specific recipes because I'm kind of terrible about writing them down if it's not a baked recipe but one of my favorite flavor combinations is roasted eggplant and zucchini with olive oil, served with some sort of tomato-based pasta dish. (If you're not used to cooking eggplant, you need to slice and salt the eggplant for about an hour before roasting to draw out the bitterness.) Spinach or collards with blackeyed peas is also really good, especially with ham or bacon.

That lemon drizzle cake looks really good, @Courtenay! An @Jo, I am intrigued by your crunchy celery skillet recipe; I like water chestnuts.

@SnowAngel, I bet you'd find the food blog Chocolate Covered Katie interesting right now, if you're not familiar with it already — she has a lot of recipes that use beans or oat flour as a base, and I'm pretty sure she's vegan too, so no worries about eggs either.

@Courtenay, the G-F Lemon Drizzle Cake sounds really interesting. Related, I am going to include a favourite recipe of our family, which is more unhealthy than yours   and not quite as much from scratch. But everyone who tries it wants the recipe.

Glazed Lemon Cake

1 box lemon cake mix

1 cup pure orange juice

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 box instant lemon pudding mix

5 eggs

Glaze:
1 cup icing sugar

2 Tblsp pure lemon juice

Lightly grease large bundt pan; oven to 350°

Combine cake ingredients in mixing bowl and beat at medium speed with electric mixer.

Pour batter in prepared bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes or until centre springs back when lightly touched.

Cool in pan on cake rack for 15 minutes; turn out onto rack and cool completely.

When cool, carefully pour glaze over cake so it dribbles down the sides.

Enjoy!  

Posted by: @jo

@Courtenay, the G-F Lemon Drizzle Cake sounds really interesting.

I should emphasise that I haven't yet tried making it myself, so I can't vouch for it!   But if anyone here tries it, I'll be very interested to hear what the results are.

Posted by: @rose

@SnowAngel, I bet you'd find the food blog Chocolate Covered Katie interesting right now, if you're not familiar with it already — she has a lot of recipes that use beans or oat flour as a base, and I'm pretty sure she's vegan too, so no worries about eggs either.

Oh, I've seen her recipes on Pinterest in the past, but I had forgotten about them. Scarlet says we got her cookbook from the library a couple years ago. It's a good time to get the cookbook again, so I have placed it on hold for pick up this weekend, I find looking at recipes online can get rather tiresome especially if the recipe pictures are similar.  

Last week I made chocolate nice cream for my Dad, and the siblings all had shots of it (we have shot glasses that are for small desserts/tastings, we call them chubbies ). It was a hit with everyone except Scarlet the banana hater, she wouldn't touch it. I saw this recipe on Pinterest and sort of just threw the ingredients in the Vitamix. I was surprised that it really was tasty, not too much banana flavor.

Have I mention lately that I love the Vitamix? Well, I do and it's terrific for making oat pancake batter. I have already made this chocolate pancake recipe four times. It's good with maple syrup, chocolate chips, peanut butter, strawberry jam, fresh berries, and pineapple, although not all at once.  

SnowAngel 

Coming up on Pi(e) weekend.  

I'm doing Tamale Pie, Rhubarb Custard Pie (my grandma's recipe) and Mississippi Mud Pie (also my grandma's recipe )

Anybody else planning to make some pies this weekend? 

@fantasia Why is it pie weekend, if you don't mind me asking? (I'd also never heard of tamale pie, but having looked it up, I'd like to try it... mind if I come round?? )

@Courtenay, It starts off with the math number pi, which is approximately 3.14. Here in the States we write months first, so March 14, or 3/14, is the same number, and it started off as a joke a few years ago and then turned into an excuse to eat pie every year. 😉 

Ah, right — I thought about it and wondered if it was that. (I'm reminding myself regularly of the month-first thing, which I will have to get used to when I move to the US later this year.)

Bit like Star Wars Day — "May the 4th be with you." Or back in Australia, where there's ongoing discussion of changing the date for our national day, one of the more tongue-in-cheek proposals has been May 8... which sounds like "Maaaaate" with an Aussie drawl.  

But meanwhile, can't we have an excuse to eat pie even more than once a year?? (I'm about to have chicken and mushroom pie for lunch.)

My littlest sis has been loving the Chocolate Covered Katie cookbook. I can't get my hands on it because every time I look for it she has put it in a different place. To be fair she has tried quite a few of the recipes since she claimed it from the library book shelf. I must have been mistaken when I thought I was getting the cookbook for myself to try recipes out of.  

Pi day, hooray! I've been trying to find a pie filling that works for the whole family. I really want to have a chiffon pie with all those lovely eggs, but of course that is still out. I am not ready to test egg whites and neither are the parents. So I am leaning forwards a berry filling, but of course my favorite berry pie has dairy and eggs that can't be subbed out. I can't believe I am searching the internet for vegan pie recipes. I think I might try this pumpkin recipe, I will still have to substitute for the flour. 

SnowAngel

@snowangel Chocolate Covered Katie has some great recipes! I made this chocolate pudding recipe from her the other day, and it was SO good!

And about pi day.. I’m absolutely horrible at making pies. ? I tried making a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, and the crust was too thick. I tried making crust-less chocolate pie, and it basically turned into a brownie. I can make macarons, scones, cupcakes, and all that; I just can’t make pies. Anyone have any good recipes or tips? Lol

Talking of pies, just yesterday I found a recipe for "Choc Mint Picnic Pie" on an Aussie recipe website — essentially a mint-flavoured cheesecake on a chocolate pastry base lined with my absolute favourite Arnott's Mint Slice biscuits [cookies, for those in the US]. Which are only readily available in Australia, annoyingly, so I'm going to have to save the recipe for the next time I'm visiting my parents, possibly later this year. Will be happy to report on it here if I do. (Sounds like the pie of my dreams.)