The chef behind this sweet little cake is some one very close and special to me: my mom :) My mom is my culinary inspiration. She is always tearing recipes from magazines or buying new cookbooks to share delicious food with those she loves. She is also constantly trying out new breakfast and sweets recipes for the bed and breakfast she owns in Brenham, TX. When she ran across this orange tea cake recipe she and I decided to “test” it out for the b&b. I can’t remember if those cakes ever made it to the guests, but I do remember that they were delicious!

The cakes were light and sweet with just a subtle amount of orange flavoring. To give the glaze a stronger citrus flavor she added orange juice. I always like to add more than the suggested amount of flavoring or orange juice since powdered sugar has such an overpowering taste. You could also add a bit of orange zest for a stronger flavor and texture.

To find more delightful recipes and possibly a cute little b&b for your next weekend get-away stop by Tara Farms Bed and Breakfast.

Greg is the Oatmeal Cookie Guy behind the Oatmeal Cookie Blog. Whether you prefer a classic oatmeal cookie, or original (Dark) Chocolate Orange in the Coconut Cookies, he has the recipe for you.

Even if you aren’t a cookie baking pro like Greg, you can still make an out-of-this-world oatmeal cookie, thanks to Greg’s step by step instructions and easy to follow photos on his blog. He tells us not to eat them all, but doesn’t that sound like an impossible request? The chocolate itself makes them addicting, and when you add the toasted coconut (that’s right, toasted coconut), the macaroons you made last week get pretty jealous.

It’s already widely accepted that chocolate and oranges go together like peanut butter and jelly, right? Right! (Hey, Greg! There’s an idea. How about peanut butter and jelly oatmeal cookies next?! :). Greg adds orange juice, orange extract, and orange zest to this batch, so chocolate covered orange lovers will approve of these ingredients. Now that it’s starting to cool off, you’ll really enjoy the warm flavors that Greg’s (Dark) Chocolate Orange in the Coconut Cookies have to offer!

If roast duck sounds exotic to you, and you don’t have much experience preparing it, then Roselyn’s Roast Duck Noodle Soup is the meal you’ll want to prepare on a cold day. A bit of a change from your typical bowl of chicken noodle soup, it’ll warm you up from head to toe. You no longer have to be intimidated by the thought of cooking duck; Roselyn’s instructions are easy to understand and you don’t have to spend hours slaving over a hot stove when you prepare her soup!

You’ll appreciate the delicious Asian inspired ingredients that bring this soup to life. The soy sauce and five-spice powders will enhance the flavor of the Duck that goes into the soup. Of course, you’ll also add noodles; I imagine you can add rice noodles or good ol’ spaghetti noodles if you find yourself out of the former. If you want to follow Roselyn’s recipe to the T, you’ll throw in a few handfuls of spinach, but she mentions that you can add bok choy instead.

Roselyn says on her blog, Travels with a Gourmet, that she followed the recipe for the duck from a reliable cookbook that she loves, Chinese Food Made Easy by Ching-He Huang. Savory Chinese food made easy? It doesn’t get any better than that

Unless you live on or near the coast, it is hard to find good, fresh seafood. When I go to the coast I usually eat some sort of fresh fish or shellfish for every meal because I know that once I return home it just wont taste the same.

As difficult of a time as I have finding decent fish, I must confess that John probably has a harder time. Being landlocked in Utah, John finds it a challenge to locate fish at the market that is not frozen as hard as a rock and within a reasonable price range. During a recent trip to the market John ran across “semi-fresh” salmon on sale. Not one to pass up such an offer he picked up a few pounds to prepare his delicious teriyaki salmon. John reported that the entire family loved the dish, including his younger children!

To give the fish a lighter flavor and offset the sweetness of the teriyaki sauce, John chose to use fresh lime juice instead of rice vinegar. This is another great quick-fix dish! The minimal amount of ingredients makes for a small amount of preparation time and salmon cooks quickly, so this is a perfect dinner for a busy weeknight. Stop by John’s blog, Confessions of a Mormon Foodie, for more great recipes!

Richard and Daisy from Yumblog give the term wine and cheese a whole new meaning with their Cheese and Sun Dried Tomato Cakes. If they’re invited to serve food at a party, they won’t just bring a nice plate of cheeses to accompany a bottle of wine, they’ll go the extra mile and make a new kind of cheesecake :).

The Cheese and Sun Dried Tomato Cakes they prepared for a party received rave reviews from the guests. The cakes were the popular snack that everyone wanted to get their hands on; they’re the perfect finger food. Unlike cheese and crackers, they won’t leave crumbs behind. Plus, they’re more filling and a lot more flavorful, so they’ll make it easier to wait for the main course…that is, if you haven’t eaten all of them beforehand ;).

Even if you don’t have a party to attend, you’ll want to make these on an afternoon when you need something to hold you over until dinner. If the frost-bitten snack hiding in the back of your freezer doesn’t look very appetizing, try out these savory cheese cakes!

When it comes to putting together a savory recipe without all the fuss but with all the flavor of a delicious meal, you’ll want to look to Rosemary from Cakula Blog. Her fish tacos look oh-so fresh and they are. She uses two different cooking methods to prepare them, good ol’ cooking and grilling.

Well, I should say her hubby did the grilling and she did the cooking :); they’re the perfect culinary team. While he’s outside getting the tortillas crispy so that they’re crunchy like tostadas, she’s inside sautéing the veggies. But let’s not forget that she also prepares the sauce! She tops the tacos off with a sauce that won’t be left sitting on the table long after the tacos have been devoured; you’ll pour the crisp yogurt and cucumber tzatzki sauce on and enjoy it to the last drop.

So what makes Rosemary’s fish taco recipe one that you won’t have to fuss over? Well, with this recipe, you’re completely in charge of the measurements. Rosemary’s fish taco recipe provides the inspiration, but in the end, you can let you taste buds be your guide :).

Roasted Lime Cilantro Eye of Round Tacos: Now that’s a mouthful of a title! I can feel myself beginning to salivate just saying it. Lesley from Kiss the Cook definitely hasn’t taken any shortcuts with her adapted taco recipe. In fact, she prepared a special paste for the roast and let it soak up the flavors over a period of 8 hours. The results? A tasty and tender filling for her hearty tacos.

Lesley’s adapted roast recipe is something you’ll enjoy waiting for, and with all those spices and ingredients coating the roast, it’s easy to see why. The original recipe says to bake it for about 3 hours, but Lesley chose to cook her roast in the crock-pot for 8 hours. However you decide to cook the roast, it’ll be difficult to ignore the heavenly aroma of fresh cilantro mixing with the lightly sweet and savory smell of garlic.

Dress up the tacos with anything from tomatoes to cheese or even guacamole, those are Lesley’s suggestions. Lesley offers us another tasty tip. If there’s a bit of roast left over the next morning, use it to make machaca or even breakfast tacos!

Lemon rice with honey prawns…. just the name of this dish makes my mouth water. A mad craving for Vietnamese food inspired Amrita to cook up this little dish of delicious. She posted this recipe on her blog, Fat Free Brainwaves, last month and my stomach has not forgotten about it. I believe she passed her craving on to me when she put up those tantalizing pictures.

Her dish holds the perfect balance of sweet and sour, and the lightness of the prawns makes this dish perfect for a fresh tasting dinner or light lunch. I tend to shy away from buying prawns unless I know they are really fresh, but Amrita’s recipe easily allows for the prawns to be substituted for chicken.

Be sure to stop by Amrita’s blog for more amazing recipes. It’s quite easy to get lost in her blog with so many beautiful photographs and tempting creations! I know I did!

If you’re like me, then your fridge or freezer is always stocked with berries. Serve them with a lightly sweetened pavlova, and you’re in heaven. The berries shine and the pavlova offers just enough sweetness to counteract the tartness of the berries. Dalia from My Spiced Life shared her Toasted Meringue, also known as pavlova, recipe with us.

Out of flour? Running low on milk? Have a few berries or sweet and ripe pieces of fruit hanging out in your fridge? Dalia’s Toasted Meringue recipe has your name on it. With just egg whites and sugar, she prepares her tasty pavlova that’s as white and light as a cloud. The secret to making your pavlova come out as perfect as Dalia’s? Make sure you don’t over-mix the egg whites, but do make sure you mix them enough!

So how do you know when the egg whites are ready? Follow Dalia’s instructions! She says that you should mix the egg whites with a hand mixer on a medium speed until soft peaks form. When it comes to preparing the dessert, the possibilities are endless, but I like Dalia’s idea of serving the meringue with cream and, of course, berries!

Chiles Rellenos: it’s like a magic word. Say it, and you’ll instantly get a whole room of hungry people drooling. Translation: Stuffed Chilis, it just doesn’t evoke the same feeling. Chilies stuffed with what? You ask. Well, pretty much anything! But if you want your chiles rellenos to bring back memories of a meal served at your favorite south of the border restaurant, then you’re going to want to use some traditional ingredients, like rice and beans for instance.

Jennifer stuffs her Chiles Rellenos with rice and beans and other vegan-friendly ingredients we all can appreciate. She adds a bit of her own flair by stuffing the poblano peppers with anasazi beans and brown rice. Because a savory Mexican meal isn’t complete without a bit of lime flavor, at least in my humble opinion, Jennifer adds the juice of one lime. To ensure that her chiles rellenos are really good to the last bite and healthy, Jennifer also throws in a few mushrooms and squash.

Jennifer’s Blog Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings is the blog you’ll want to visit for more Veg*n recipes, especially if you’re in the mood for Mexican food…and c’mon, when are you not? :)