Blueberry Cake

This recipe is for a yummy breakfast cake that we make often. It was one of the first recipes that my girls learned to make when they were about nine or ten years old!

Cake:
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 TB oil
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 TB butter

Combine first four cake ingredients, mix until smooth. Add flour and baking powder, mix until smooth. Pour into 8X8 cake pan. Sprinkle blueberries over the top of the cake batter. Combine the streusel ingredients until they are evenly combined and crumbly. Sprinkle over the top of the blueberry cake. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until the top of the cake is golden brown (you need to be sure that it is browned on the top!).

You can substitute:

--Raspberries for the blueberries
--Peaches for the blueberries--Also substitute brown sugar for the white sugar called for in the streusel topping. (You can keep the white sugar in the cake part of the recipe.)

Enjoy! This recipe tastes wonderful, looks great and it's easy!

Recipes For You

In our effort to eat healthier I have been scouring the Internet and recipe books for some new ideas. We have come up with some gems. My daughter, Emily, has been a big help and most of these recipes originated from her.

**If you posted a recipe on your blog, please leave me a comment so I can add your link to this post.

Sue--Very Berry Muffins
Alasandra--Pumpkin Cookies

Sauteed Green Beans with Tomatoes and Garlic
1 pound green beans, ends trimmed
2 TB. Olive Oil
1 small red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
1 TB. chopped fresh parsley leaves
salt and pepper

Lightly steam the green beans until just tender. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and cook the onion until softened. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the green beans, tomatoes, parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are hot and the flavors are well combined. Serve hot.

White Chicken Chili
1 pound dried great northern beans
3/4 cup diced onion
1/2 TB. oil
1/2 TB. oregano
1 tsp. cumin
3/4 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 qts. chicken broth
1 garlic clove, minced
1 4 oz. can green chilies (I use fresh)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Soak beans overnight and drain. Combine seasonings with the onions and garlic, saute for 1 minute. Add the drained beans and the chicken broth. Simmer for 2 hours, covered. Add the chicken and the chilies and simmer for 2 more hours. Remove the lid during the last hour of cooking. This makes 10 servings.

Bagels
A few weeks ago Emily made bagels from this recipe for the first time and they have been making a frequent appearance on our table ever since. (The picture on the website doesn't look all that appealing, but believe me when I say that these taste great!) She makes the dough-sponge using unbleached flour and then adds whole wheat flour for the rest. The dough is very stiff and a little hard to handle, but the effort is well worth it! She also adds about 1/2 cup less flour than the recipe calls for and cooks the bagels for an extra 5 minutes. Here are some variations:
--Cranberry-Orange (shown in the picture): Use orange juice for the liquid and add 1/2 cup dried cranberries during the last 2 minutes of kneading time.

--Apple-Cinnamon: Use apple juice for the liquid and add 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.

--Sun-Dried Tomato Basil: During the last 2 minutes of kneading time add 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes and 1/2 tsp. basil.

--Cinnamon-Raisin: Add 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and 1/2 cup raisins during the last 2 minutes of kneading time.

Enjoy!

A Nice Pie

Finally, some success with a pie crust! Usually my pies taste fine, but they are generally on the unattractive side, for sure. I have found that the secret lies in a basic pie crust recipe and in making some extra so that way I don't end up with the patchwork crust I am used to. Another secret? Little helping hands to pinch the edges of the crust. So perfect.

A tummy bug found Aubry this weekend so a few plans were cancelled leaving me with some free time to rummage through my multitude of cookbooks. I found an old Farm Journal Country Cookbook given to me by my grandma, her name signed on the inside cover dated 1958.

My grandma was a wonderful cook, German food being her speciality. Pork ribs with cabbage and sour cream, sauerkraut, and thin, crispy pancakes with boysenberry jam are all familiar in my imagination. The thing I remember most about spending time with her is preparing food and eating it. Afternoons in her kitchen, rolling out cookie dough on her turquoise counter-top were frequent. Most often, a memory of my grandma pops up when I taste or smell food similar to what she used to fix.

Unfortunately, by the time I became interested in cooking my hubby and I had moved far away from where my grandma lived so I have almost none of her cooking knowledge unless it comes from her cookbook. Browsing through it this weekend, I have bookmarked a number of recipes that remind me of her. I passed over such gems as Jellied Beef Mold (boiled ground beef and green olives suspended in gelatin) and Prune Pinwheels, and I marked the good ones like Blueberry Buckle and Orange Cookies. My grandma was not a success in any worldly sense, but she made a huge impression on my life. She never voiced it in words, but it was her way of serving and loving the people around her to fill their stomachs with wonderful food, it was what she did best.

"...Cookies encourage milk drinking, for cookies and milk are like peaches and cream--great friends. Farm Journal readers tell us their husbands and youngsters are the lovable incentives that turn them into cookie-baking women.

...Part of the joy of baking comes from trying different recipes to find out which ones your family and friends most enjoy. Such an adventure is the best way to build a collection of your own."
Farm Journal Country Cookbook--1958

I think I need to go bake something...

Breakfast Cookie Recipe

My oldest daughter has a very hectic schedule and she ends up "eating on the fly" too much. This recipe for Hearty Breakfast Cookies has turned out to be tasty as well as healthy, and it has been a good way to keep her well fed. In spite of the fact that there is only 1/3 cup of brown sugar in the recipe, these are nice and sweet. When I make the cookies I omit the cheese and I grate the apple rather than chop it--you could also use applesauce.

Enjoy!

Pie Making As Art

There is an artistic quality about the making of a pie: the taste, the texture and the appearance all meld together to form something to be savored, not only by the tastebuds, but also by the eye. Unfortunately for me and the people who eat my pies, I have only found success in the taste and the texture categories, while the beauty of the pie eludes me.

Everytime I put together a crust I throw at least one attempt into the garbage. It either sticks to the waxed paper or it reaches the right consistency prior to adding any water. I have no idea why or how this occurs, but it does each and every time.

I have visions of pies that look like these, but my piecrust tends to have more of a patchwork quality that comes from the cutting and piecing that my top crust always requires, a little from this side to patch up the hole on that side.

Oddly enough, both of my daughters make beautiful pie crusts in spite of the fact that I have been their teacher. I will admit a tinge of jealousy whenever they whip up a gorgeous and tasty pie using my recipe, but obviously not my technique.

At this stage, many years into being a pie-maker, all I can hope for is that practice really does make perfect, but for now I remain the baker of the ugly, yet delicious pie.