Holy Toledo

A couple of things today...

There will be no recipe. I have news.

We're having another one of these, in September:

Yay, yay, yay! But - oh, goodness! What is going to happen to my cooking?! Having a baby is well worth my lax, barely lift a spoon (except to eat) attitude for the year following birth. But, I just got back into cooking, and posting and reading my favorite food blogs. Oh, dear.

I fear what this will do to the Vegetarian Hausfrau. I will try, I promise, to post. And maybe I can wrangle some of my fantastic foodie friends into a few guest posts.

Second, I WANT TO EAT THESE TACOS SOOOO BADLY, it's killing me:

Swiss Chard and Caramelized Onion Tacos
picture and recipe from Tasty Kitchen

I can't do it, though. I stick to the rule of no soft cheeses during pregnancy, even if it's 'probably' OK. These tacos would not taste nearly as good without the cheese, I just know it. Sigh. They will be mine. Oh yes, they will. Come end of September, you can bet your bottom dollar what I'll be eating.

Wishing happy (taco eating) days to you and your family.

xo,
The VH

Lemon Cake

Happy Easter weekend! It's hard not to love this time of year... tulips and other bright flowers, hints of warm sunny days ahead, and cooking light fresh dishes again.

I'm sharing a mother-in-law recipe today because it seems like a good start to spring. It's a moist, spongy (is that a word?) and zesty (this should be a word, if it isn't!) cake. Kind of retro too, calls for jello. Anytime I use jello, I think of my parents generation. It was like crack for the suburban housewife... 'what?! I can mix water with this packet, refrigerate and give my kids a treat they will eat?!'. However, what was with all those jello molds that included cottage cheese?? Gross. This is NOTHING like that though, nothing. Forget I said that.

This past visit, my MIL made this cake for her special 70th birthday. I think we ate this cake for an entire week (there were only 4 of us, and it makes a fairly large cake). It was good. Remember: moist, spongy, and zesty. Yum.

With a scoop of vanilla ice cream, I was in heaven!

This was a secret lunch portion I snuck on the side, so no ice cream. Shhh.

If you're looking for a spring weekend treat, or maybe you have a special birthday coming up for someone that doesn't like icing cakes, I recommend giving this one a go.

p.s. I'm making Pesto, Pasta and Peas again tonight - sooooo good! Want to come over?

Lemon Cake Squares
from my Mother-in-law

1 package Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
1 package lemon jello
3/4 cup cooking oil
4 eggs
1 cup water
2 lemons - juiced and rind grated
2 cups confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Empty cake mix into a large bowl and make a hole (think volcano crater) in the center. Add the next 4 ingredients (through water) and mix.

Bake in an 8x10 or 9x12 size pan - you want to be able to cut the cake into squares.

Make a glaze by stirring the lemon juice, rind and powdered sugar together. Spread on cake as soon as it's taken out of the oven.

At this point, you can freeze the cake (reheat in the oven) or cool to room temperature and serve.

Guten appetit!