Today I was not very inspired to cook so lunch was pretty simple: some veggies, brown rice (jazzed up with some butter and grated cheese to make a kind of risotto thing – my favorite way to eat rice), and some chicken burgers I had previously made and frozen.
I copied the burger’s recipe from a book called Cooking Thin (by Kathleen Daelemans) that I once got from the library. These chicken burgers are moist and super easy to make. It is something I try to always have them in the freezer in case we need some quick and tasty meal.
For the vegetables I just sautéed some onions, garlic, tomatoes, a small yellow squash, and half zucchini in a skillet with some olive oil and seasonings until everything was cooked and flavors melded together. The rice… well, I cook a batch of brown rice every Monday and keep it in the fridge for our lunches throughout the week.
Although I was not inspired to cook, I was definitely in the mood to bake, so I baked a cake in the afternoon. I am in a “nutella kick” this week, and decided to try a recipe that has been on my “to try” list since last year, Sour Cream-Hazelnut Bundt Cake, another Cooking Light recipe (be prepared to see lots of CL recipes around here, I am a subscriber and love that magazine!). I chose this recipe to help me use up some of the nutella jar I bought the other day, before I eat it all by the spoonful, which is what I have been doing…
Other than omitting the hazelnuts (did not have any), I pretty much followed the recipe as written. Oh, and I used low-fat sour cream, as I don’t find the fat-free stuff as good.
The cake came out very moist and tender, and the nutella swirl was more than good, definitely the best part of the cake!
I believe the sour cream is what makes this cake so moist, giving it a pleasantly distinctive flavor, making it not very sweet and leaving a little of its tanginess in the background. Also, the nutella has such a yummy hazelnut taste that I did not miss the actual nuts at all; I guess they are there just to add an extra crunch. And for those like me who also like to lick the spoon (bowl, beaters, spatulas…), the cake batter tastes super good!
All in all, a nice great cake that will probably be repeated over here. I think that this cake can be used as a base for all sort of add ins, the nutella/nuts can easily be omitted and substituted for other things you may enjoy, like chocolate chips folded in the batter, or those different kind of chips (cappuccino chips, toffee bits, etc), maybe even caramel could be swirled to the batter turning it into a totally different cake.
I will leave here the ideas and recipe in case any of you would like to try, and hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Just don’t forget to come back and give me your feedback!

Ana

Our Lunch today

Chicken Burgers
Cooking Thin, by Kathleen Daelemans

1 pound ground white meat chicken
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
½ cup low-fat milk
3 tablespoons grated onions
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oi

Mix chicken, ½ cup of breadcrumbs, milk, onion, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Divide chicken mixture into 4 or 5 piles and, using your hands, form them into patties. Coat each patty with the remaining breadcrumbs.
Heat oil in skillet over medium heat and fry patties until golden and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.
My notes: the meat mixture is very sticky, sometimes I add a little more breadcrumbs if it seem too wet. The onions make these very tasty and moist burgers. And I always omit the cayenne pepper, as we are not big fans of very spicy food.

Do I have to tell you I love nutella...?!

Sour Cream-Hazelnut Bundt Cake
The moist cake is enhanced by the hidden surprise of crunchy hazelnuts and chocolate-hazelnut spread. Bake the cake up to two days ahead of the brunch, and store at room temperature. Or bake it up to a month ahead, and freeze; thaw at room temperature.

Cooking spray
1 tablespoon dry breadcrumbs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) carton fat-free sour cream
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts, toasted
2 tablespoons chocolate-hazelnut spread (such as Nutella)
1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray; dust with breadcrumbs.
Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and sour cream; beat until well blended. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk until well combined. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture, stirring just until combined. Spoon half of batter into prepared Bundt pan; sprinkle evenly with hazelnuts. Drop small spoonfuls of chocolate spread over nuts. Spoon remaining batter over chocolate spread; swirl batter using the tip of a knife. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes; remove cake from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Sprinkle cake with powdered sugar.
Yield: 14 servings
Cooking Light, November 2004