Marinated Grilled London Broil

Verdict: win

This was my second time grilling, and first time grilling without supervision :) This recipe is great if you're looking for an easy marinade when you don't feel like chopping up a bunch of stuff (ie, ginger and garlic). It also uses a relatively inexpensive cut of beef: top round (BOGO at Giant Eagle Market District when I bought it = $8 total for 2.5 lbs of steak!). It should be noted that London Broil isn't actually a type of cut, but a method of preparation. In the stores, these steaks could still be labeled as "London Broil" or "steaks for marinating"; however, the cut itself is usually top round or flank.

At first, I wasn't won over because the final dish is rather sweet for my taste (I like my hunks of beef mouth-wateringly savory). Served cold and sliced thinly against the grain the next day over salad, however, was delightful. Dipping it in hot, leftover sauce made it even better.

Some general notes to myself: I should have marinated the steak longer (>8 hours) because it was not as tender as I would have liked after resting a few minutes right off the grill. Serving the steak with the sauce is optional, but makes the dish juicier. And always, always, always cut thin slices against the grain for London Broil.

I've also become obsessed with grilling vegetables right now. I've learned that I need to grill them to almost the point of looking charred. I love how sweet grilled Vidalia onions and red bell peppers are, and grilled zucchini almost tastes like french fries. The vegetables taste great cold too. Swoon.

(Also, please excuse the poor-quality phone photos...)

Jacked-Up Banana Bread

Verdict: win

Overripe bananas + bourbon whiskey in one bowl without the need of a mixer...how can that not be a win?

(Please bear with the photos. It's hard to take nice photos with only my phone and without natural light.)

Blueberry Grapefruit (Pudding?) Cake

(Photo taken by my S3 #naturallightFTW #androidFTW)

Verdict: win

I have been dreaming of pudding cakes. I recently sampled a blueberry orange pudding loaf cake at the local grocery store (Giant Eagle Market District), and ever since then I have been obsessed with recreating it. It was a light pound cake, incredibly moist to the point that it was falling apart as I would cut a slice, and moderately sweet so I felt like I could eat the whole loaf. It completely changed my outlook on non-chocolate cakes.

The problem is, what exactly is pudding cake? Does the "pudding" refer to its texture or that it contains pudding? I have spent hours trying to understand the definition of a pudding cake, but I can't find any explanation with the recipes of the cakes that seem to resemble the pudding cake I tasted. I even took a picture of the ingredients list to try to decipher it:

All I could make out was that it uses "yellow pudding cake" (again, what is this?), sugar, flour, eggs, skim milk, baking soda, soybean oil, eggs, orange juice, blueberries, and sour cream.

Several recipes suggested "doctoring up" cake mixes, so this is what I tried first. Here is my first effort using yellow cake mix, vanilla instant pudding mix, and sour cream. I subbed in grapefruit (I may have bought 10 lbs of grapefruit recently...) and olive oil. The grapefruit was subtle (the zest only helped with the aroma), so I may add more grapefruit juice next time. I would also recommend a more neutral oil like canola oil, as the olive oil flavor was overpowering. I could still taste the boxed yellow cake flavor and it wasn't as moist as the original, so my next attempt will be a recipe from scratch. Thinking about brushing on a syrup to help with the moistness next time too.

Overall, it was tasty and incredibly easy, but it wasn't perfectly like the original. Then again, I was intensely critical of this cake after dreaming about the original for so long. Either way, I'm still confused if this falls under the definition of a pudding cake. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

***Update 5:11 PM
Okay, just tasted the center of the cake after letting it cool. Definitely more reminiscent of the evasive GEMD pudding cake. Recipe is a keeper, but still want to try making this from scratch.