My Grandma's Blueberry Cake

Good Morning!  It's early Sunday morning (early for me at least.)  My house is quiet and I'm looking forward to a beautiful day.  We were invited to have breakfast at my friend Tricia's house.  I'm looking forward to it because while we see she and her family often we've not gotten together for breakfast before.  It's going to be a gorgeous sunny day and time with close friends sounds like a perfect way to start the day. It's hard to believe that Tricia and I have been friends for 28 years. (I'm not old enough for that am I??)  She has 2 boys very close in age to my oldest 2 boys and they are the best of friends too. 

In 1994 my mom gave my sisters and I copies of a few family recipes as a Christmas gift .... including my grandma's Blueberry Cake recipe.  As you can see I have the recipe in my grandma's handwriting.  I've only used a few of the recipes.  This one is my favorite!  It's fabulous for breakfast or dessert.  I just took one out of the oven to take with us today.  I wish you could smell what I smell.  Yum!!

Blueberry Cake

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 ½ cups sugar
2/3 cup stick butter
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup (maybe more) blueberries (thawed if frozen)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together flour and sugar. Cut in butter and crumble with flour and sugar. Set aside ¾ cup of crumbled mixture for topping. Separate egg yolks and whites (you’ll use both.) Beat egg whites until stiff. Mix baking powder, salt, egg yolks and milk with the rest of the crumbled mixture. Gently fold stiff egg whites into the mixture. Spread into a greased 9x13 pan. Arrange blueberries over top of the batter and then sprinkle reserved crumbled mixture on top of the blueberries. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Sometimes the blueberries stay in the middle of the cake and sometimes they sink to the bottom but it’s just as good either way. Great for breakfast or with whipped cream or ice cream for dessert.

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Creamy Tomato Basil & Italian Sausage Soup

I have one two words to describe last night's dinner ..YUM and SO EASY!!  Okay so that was 3 words but just easy by itself didn't say enough.  Thanks to the Picky Palate for this awesome recipe!

The Ingredients

Creamy Tomato Basil and Italian Sausage Soup

(Straight from the Picky Palate)

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 lb Italian Sausage
10 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade (stacked, rolled and thinly sliced)
1 26 oz jar of your favorite pasta sauce
1 Cup water
1 1/2 Cups half and half
Pinch of salt and pepper

1. Place olive oil into a medium sized dutch oven over medium heat. Cook sausage until browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in basil leaves, pasta sauce, water, half and half, salt and pepper. Cook until warm then reduce heat to low. Simmer until ready to serve. It’s that easy!
4 servings

 I couldn't get a picture that alone would make me want to try this but trust me ....

Everyone, including my picky son, loved this soup.  The only "problem" was that it didn't make enough leftovers!  Actually there was just enough for my boys and I...there wouldn't have been enough if Tim had been home. The next time I make it .... and there will be a next time .... I will double the recipe.  I may add some fresh spinach leaves too.

This picture says it all!!

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Breakfast Cookies

I'm fairly confident that many of you share a title that I am sometimes given by my kids.  It's funny how they give me this title when they have done something wrong.  That would be the title of Meanest Mom in the World.  I know my kids aren't supposed to like me all the time but why am I the bad guy when they have consequences for their actions?  I know that's just what kids do and probably what I did as a kid too. 

On the other hand there are those moments when I get a different title .... that of the Best Mom Ever. Well today I did something that resulted in one of those moments!  Wow I'm not so mean after all!

Breakfasts in our house usually consist of a bowl of cereal, maybe some fruit and every great once in awhile scrambled eggs or pancakes.  I stumbled upon Heavenly Homemakers post about Mini Apple Pies.  The part of the title that reads "Part of this complete breakfast" caught my eye so I had to read what she had to say.  Yes, I will try the Mini Apple Pie recipe soon.  But it was the words Giant Breakfast Cookies that really stood out.  Cookies for breakfast?!?!  The recipe sounded good and how cool would that make me? 

I used this recipe from Heavenly Homemaker with a few changes....my changes are in blue.

1 cup butter, melted   ***I Melted 1/2 cup butter & 1/2 cup Peanut Butter together***
¾ cup honey
2 eggs
1 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla
½ cup buttermilk   ***I used a 1/2 tblsp of white vinegar in 1/2 cup of 2% milk since I didn't have buttermilk***
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups whole rolled oats   *** I only had Quaker Quick Oats and I didn't soak them***
1 cup raisins or chocolate chips  ***I don't like raisins so I left those out***

Mix butter, honey, eggs, salt, cinnamon, soda, vanilla and buttermilk. Stir in flour and oats. Fold in raisins or chocolate chips. Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Allow cookies to cool 3-4 minutes on cookie sheet before removing cookies to cool on a wire rack.

To soak the grain in these cookies before baking (in order to help them to digest better):
Melt and cool butter.  In a glass bowl, stir together flour, oats, butter and cultured buttermilk.  Add a bit more buttermilk than the 1/2 cup the recipe calls for if the grains are not all moistened.  Cover and let the grains soak overnight.  Stir in the remaining ingredients in the morning and bake as directed.

Today when they woke, my boys found cookies and yogurt for breakfast.

Let's see whole wheat flour, oats, honey, milk, eggs and peanut butter sounds like a breakfast to me!

Thanks Heavenly Homemaker for helping me be a cool mom!

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Baked French Toast

I love breakfast foods! I love sweets! So imagine how much I like sweet breakfast foods.....

Baked French Toast is one of my family's favorites. The first time I made it I used homemade Chewy Italian Bread from Cooking Light. The French Toast is soooo good with this bread that I still take the extra step to make the bread first BUT I bet it would be equally as good with a loaf of French Bread from the grocery store.

Now just a warning before you read the recipe ... it's not low in sugar. It has 2 cups of brown sugar in it. The brown sugar plus a stick of butter makes a wonderful ooey gooey caramelized goodness in the bottom of the pan. It becomes the topping when you flip the slices of bread over as you serve them.

I started with this bread....

Then mixed the Brown Sugar, Melted Butter and Vanilla in the bottom of the pan and the Eggs and Milk in the mixing Bowl.

 

The Bread Slices are dipped in the Egg and Milk mixture and then laid in the Brown Sugar mixture.

The picture doesn't let you hear, see & smell the Brown Sugar bubbling in the bottom of the pan.  I hope you try this recipe yourself so you get to see just how wonderful it is!

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Homemade Bread ---- So Easy!

There was a time when I would have laughed at anyone who suggested that making homemade bread could be easy.  Mixing and kneading and rising and kneading and rising  ... no way! I couldn't do all that.  Too much time for something that probably wouldn't turn out anyway...for me at least.  That was all before I found this Artisan Free Form Loaf recipe.  A friend forwarded me the recipe after finding it online.  It's from a book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking.

Now homemade bread is a very regular thing in our house.  I love the smell of fresh baked bread and the way the butter melts as you spread it on warm bread. Yummmm! We had some for dinner tonight actually.

There are only 4 ingredients:
6 1/2 Cups of Flour
1 1/2 Tablespoons each of Kosher Salt and Yeast
3 Cups of Warm Water

Mix the ingredients together just until everything is evenly moist ... no kneading!  Let it rise in a lidded not air-tight container for anywhere from 2-5 hours. 

Pull out the amount you want to bake, shape into a loaf, slash the top with a knife and slide into a 450 degree oven for 30 minutes.  A broiler pan with 1 cup of water in the hot oven makes the crust crisp and chewy.  The remaining dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 14 days.  Next time you want bread ... pull out the amount you want, shape into a loaf and let rise for 30-40 minutes before baking. 

Did I make that??  Sure did!
The recipe gives lots more detailed directions than I did but it truely is as easy as I've said here!  We enjoy this bread most often warm with butter with a meal.  We've used it to make panini sandwiches.  I like it toasted with peanut butter for breakfast. 

Enjoy! 
 

Check out Life as a Mom's Ultimate Recipe Swap for more recipes using the key ingredient of flour!

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BBQ & Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Due to our Eat from the Pantry Challenge, I thought that I wasn't going to have a new recipe to feature this week.  I was wrong!  BBQ Chicken Pizza was on my Menu Plan for tonight.  I think ... I know it's something I've made before .... but my kids acted like it was the newest most delicious dinner they had ever had.  My oldest son said "You're going to have to make this again Mom!"  There's not much of a recipe to share though ..... homemade pizza crust, bottled BBQ sauce, cooked diced chicken and Mozzarella cheese.  That's it but apparently we're going to have it again!

The boys had the BBQ Pizza but I wanted something a little different for my hubby and I.  I searched the pantry and freezer and came up with a Buffalo Chicken Pizza.  It was yummy!!  We were low on mozzarella cheese so I was excited to find a block of Pepper Jack in the freezer.

Again not much of a recipe but here's what I put together:

I spread fresh pressed garlic mixed in olive oil over homemade pizza crust, added some Frank's Red Hot Sauce and topped with cooked diced chicken, Fresh Spinach and Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese.

It turned out a little spicy for me so I dipped it in ranch dressing (just like I do with Buffalo Wings.)  You will see this on a Menu Plan again!

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Featured Recipe --- Yummy Pork Roast

New Feature ~~~Weekly Recipe

Last week I told you about the Pecan-Oatmeal Pancakes we had for dinner.  This week I'm bringing you another GREAT recipe.  Does two in a row make a trend?  I think so!  Each week, I'm going to add one new recipe to my Menu Plan Monday.  Then I'll post a picture, the recipe and a review.  By the way, my boys think it's Hilarious (with a capital H)  that I took pictures of my dinner plate.  What can I say .... I'm a visual person....if it looks good I'll try it so sharing a picture makes perfect sense to me!

This week I tried a Pork Roast recipe that my friend Kym passed on.  Let me start by saying that it was soooooo easy and I love easy.  But what is even better than easy ... is easy AND delicious! Thanks Kym!! Oh...Kym cooks like me with very little measuring so just add the herbs as you would like.

Here's what I used:
Pork Loin  About 5 lbs
2 Cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 Packet Onion Soup Mix
Thyme
Sage
Rosemary

Put all ingredients on top of the roast in a crockpot.  Cook on High for about 5 hours or Low for about 7 hours.  You'll be able to use 2 forks to pull meat apart.  Use the wonderful "gravy" over mashed potatoes or noodles.

With a 5lb roast we had plenty for the 5 of us to have this for dinner on Sunday AND we're gong to use the leftovers to have Shredded Pork Open-Faced Sandwiches on homemade bread for dinner later this week.  This is definitely a meal you'll see on my Menu Plan again!

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Pecan-Oatmeal Pancakes

So even with a plan, things change ... and this time am pretty happy about it!  This week's Menu Plan has Coq au Vin alla Italiana on it for today.  Yesterday I went to a different Meijer store than where I usually go.  My store's ad had chicken on sale for $1.79 lb (which I was buying not only to stock-up but also for tonight's dinner) but the store I went to wasn't running the same sale.  So of course I didn't buy it at the higher price.

With the cold temps and snow we had today, I wanted some comfort food and breakfast for dinner is a favorite of my family's. Pancakes & Sausage!  My son asked if we were having plain pancakes or a "special kind".  That inspired me to look for a new recipe.  I knew I had pecans in the pantry.  ( My husband likes anything with pecans!!)  I found this Pecan-Oatmeal Pancake recipe at Allrecipes.  All I can say it is a keeper!  Everyone liked them.  Pecans and oatmeal with real maple syrup.....YUMMY!!

So you'll see Coq au Vin alla Italiana on next week's Menu Plan.  It's one of my favorite dinners too!

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