This is a moist, dense cake that is not overly sweet. Three orange flavors: juice, marmalade and liqueur. Refrigerate after the cake has cooled. This cake will even freeze so you can make ahead of time. Wrap cooled, unglazed cake in plastic wrap to freeze. Allow it to thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature and glaze. I liked it best warm after I put the glaze on it. Garnish with fresh raspberries or strawberries and grated orange rind, if desired. This was from a Cooking Light recipe.

Ingredients

CAKE:
1 cup fresh orange juice
1/8 teaspoon saffron threads
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon of orange rind (optional)

GLAZE
3 tablespoons sweet orange marmalade
1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier or other orange flavored liqueur

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place the juice in a small saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Remove from heat; stir in saffron. Let stand 10 minutes.

Lightly spoon 2 cups flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Set aside.

Place sugar, egg, and egg white in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed for 5 minutes or until thickened. Add yogurt, beating well. Gradually add oil and juice mixture, beating until well blended. Add half of flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat just until blended. Repeat procedure with the remaining flour mixture.

Spoon batter into a 9-inch round cake pan coated with cooking spray (I used a springform pan). Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Place cake on a serving platter. Combine marmalade and liqueur in a small saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; strain through a fine sieve directly onto surface of cake. Discard solids. Spread marmalade mixture evenly over top of cake, allowing excess to drizzle down sides of cake.

These are just wonderful. I have made these small and served them as appetizers with guacamole and larger as a side dish. They would also make an excellent vegetarian main dish. I have even used the leftovers, toasted, as a breakfast side with maple syrup. There are so many variations you can add to these fritters, onions or chiles would be good for a little spicy side to a Mexican entree. I added some cheddar cheese for this version but they would be good without. This was adapted from a recipe in the Williams-Sonoma cocktail party cookbook.

INGREDIENTS

3 ears of fresh corn, shucked, with kernels sliced off (you could use frozen also)
1 Cup of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
2/3 cup whole or skim milk
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup cheddar cheese (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Hold an ear of corn upright, stem end down, in a shallow bowl (so the kernels don’t go everywhere). Using a sharp knife, slice straight down between the kernels and the cob to remove the kernels, rotating a quarter turn after each cut.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and pepper and stir to mix well. Add egg, milk, cheese and corn kernels and stir to just combine.

In a large frying pan or electric griddle heat about 2 teaspoons of olive oil. When the oil is hot, drop in a heaping teaspoon of the batter, then press down to flatten. If these are for a side dish I make them larger-about pancake size. Repeat with more batter,  being careful not to crowd the pan. Cook until golden on the first side, about 3 minutes if making the small appetizer size. Turn over and cook until golden on the second side. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Repeat with the remaining batter, adding more oil as needed.

Serve plain, with guacamole, Romesco sauce or yogurt sauce.

These have become one of my “go-to” regular recipes on a week night because they are easy, quick and very tasty. I vary things around, sometimes using roasted sweet potato, corn or other items I have on hand. I also like mango and pineapple salsa. I make these with either leftover grilled chicken or the “just roasted chicken” from Trader Joe’s. These are good as is or drizzled with avocado cream sauce.

Ingredients

Flour tortillas (I like the homemade ones from Trader Joe’s)
Mango or peach salsa
1/2 cup shredded cheddar/Monterey Jack cheese mix
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, caramelized
Avocado, sliced (optional)
Cooked chicken shredded (or cut into pieces) 

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large pan, cook until golden and caramelized, set aside.

Heat a panini press – I find this works best but you can also use a griddle.

Chop or shred the cooked chicken. Lay out a flour tortilla on a plate and arrange chicken, onions, salsa, avocado slices and shredded cheese. Top with second tortilla. Transfer to the panini press or griddle and cook until toasted and the cheese is nice and gooey.