Blueberry Buckle, a.k.a Blueberry Coffee Cake

For The Cake:

6 Tablespoons of Butter
1 cup and 2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 eggs
1 cup of milk or milk alternative
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
4 1/2 cups of fresh or thawed whole blueberries

For the Topping:

3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
6 Tablespoons of butter

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease a 9 x 13 (Lasagna) glass baking dish.  Melt the butter and combine with the sugar, beat in the eggs.  Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and ginger.  Gently mix in half of the flour mix, gently mix in the milk, then gently mix in the remaining flour mix.  Fold in the Blueberries.  Spread in the greased baking dish.

In a food processor pulse the topping mixture till pea sized and sprinkle evenly on top of the cake batter.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, till the top is lightly browned.

Banana Spice Bread or Cupcakes

1/2 cup Butter, melted
150 grams Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3 Eggs
3 medium Bananas mashed
150 ml of Buttermilk
90 grams flour, Buckwheat flour for Gluten free
90 grams Oat flour
1/2 teaspoon each of Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and Salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
*100 grams of dried Cranberries
*100 grams of chopped Walnuts or Pumpkin Seeds
 

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt the butter in the microwave (or use room temperature butter), mix in sugar, salt, spices, and vanilla. Add Eggs and beat till thoroughly mixed. Blitz Bananas in a food processor with the buttermilk, stir into the mixture. Stir together flour, baking powder and baking soda before mixing into wet ingredients. Mix in the nuts and cranberries, if using. Secret tip:  I use an ice cream scoop to measure out batter for muffin cups, it is 1/4 cup of batter. Makes 16.

Muffins bake for 25 minutes, an 8 x 8 cake or loaf pan will take at least 40.  Use the toothpick test if you are unsure. Let the Muffins rest in the pan for 15 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool. Refrigerate leftovers to prevent spoiling.

*Alternative recipe: Leave out dried fruit and/or nuts.  It will not make as many without the nuts and fruit.

Cornmeal Pancakes Using Leftover Grits

Grits, or Polenta, is one of those things that is incredibly delicious and satisfying, but you can only eat it so often.  Yet, I always have leftovers.  Here is one thing you can do with the leftovers.  The other is to make Baked Cheddar Garlic Grits (recipe coming soon).

1 cup of leftover grits
1/2 cup of flour (I used gluten free baking mix)
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 Eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Butter

In a medium sized bowl, mix the measured ingredients together until smooth.

Heat a skillet over medium-low heat, grease with butter.  I just hold the stick and rub it all around the skillet, very easy and it uses less butter overall.  Pour enough batter till it's 4" wide (at least 1/3 cup), using a fork, pat them out to 6".  Wait till the cake begins to bubble and flip, cook 2-3 more minutes on the other side.

Let them cool before eating.  When hot they are like fried mush, warm-they settle into a more firm pancake.  I must say this was way easier, and with better results, than trying to fry sliced polenta.

Makes 6 - 6" pancakes, serves 3.

At first I only used 1 egg, but adding the second egg helped them stick together better, and not to the pan.

I was a little skeptical of the vanilla, but it was a delicious add-in.  Although in the future I may leave it and the sugar out so that leftover pancakes can be eaten with savory items.

A local restaurant serves Green chili cheddar corn cakes, topped with chorizo, two poached eggs, queso fundido, pico de gallo, sour cream, green onions and avocado, and it is amazing.

Fritata: Spinach, Red Onion, Feta

1-2 Tablespoons Butter

1 Red Onion, quartered and sliced
10 oz. package Frozen Spinach, thawed
8 Eggs
4 Tablespoons water
8 oz. Feta, crumbled
3 Tomatoes, sliced

Preheat oven to 350.  In a oven-safe skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat and gently cook the onions till they start to brown.  Turn off the heat, add in the spinach and stir.  In a bowl beat the eggs and water, crumble in the feta and mix.  Pour over the onions and spinach, gently lift the vegetables so the egg mixture pours under and around.  Layer the sliced tomatoes on top.  Pop the skillet into the oven until the top is set, about 35 minutes.  Let cool for 15, slice and enjoy.

This recipe was a little spinach heavy which sort of overwhelmed the feta.

Egg [Pan]-Cakes Revisited

These gluten free/high fiber/low carbohydrate "egg" cakes will keep you full for longer without spiking your blood sugar and with the added soluble fiber so important in a gluten free diet.

For every person eating use:

2 Eggs
1 Tablespoon water
a dash of salt
2 Tablespoons Buckwheat or Oat flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

Or, for fewer eggs:

1 Egg
3 Tablespoons water
a dash of salt
3 Tablespoons Buckwheat or Oat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1.)  Preheat a 10 inch skillet to Medium heat, *grease with butter.

2.)  Beat together lightly the first 3 ingredients.  Add in dry ingredients and beat till incorporated.

3.)  Pour in batter slowly, stirring well just before.  Pour till it spreads to a 6 inch cake.

4.)  Wait till you've got bubbles on top (1-2 minutes), flip, and let it get golden on the other side before removing (30 seconds-1 minute). 1 serving makes two of these sized cakes.

*How I grease with butter: Take your fork and pierce the stick, or your fingers and hold the stick (with it's wrapper on the end you're holding), smear the end of the stick on the hot skillet all around. With this method I use less butter, and it's evenly distributed, I don't have to swirl my skillet.

Serve with Pure Maple Syrup or cream cheese and fresh fruit compote or Jam.

Gluten Free Scones, An English Cream Tea

An English Cream Tea is an afternoon tea service that only includes scones with clotted cream and jam with the tea.  These may have been the single best gluten free baked good I have ever made.  I triumphantly made and ate them for a movie day involving the BBC 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice.

Gluten Free Scones

1 cup Gluten Free Flour Blend, no bean flour

1 cup Gluten Free Oat flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter

1 large egg

1/2 cup yogurt

Soften the butter (not melting) in the microwave, or let soften overnight on the counter. Cut into the butter (this is where a food processor is helpful) the flours, baking powder, salt.  Add sugar, egg, and yogurt and mix till just combined.  Drop out onto a greased glass baking dish by the 1/4 cup full.  Let rest while you preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.  Bake in the higher middle rack position for 15-20 minutes, till golden on top.  Let rest 5 minutes.  Whatever you don't eat, transfer to a wire rack to cool.

They are sweet and buttery enough to eat on their own, and absolutely decadent with extra butter and raspberry or strawberry jam.  I had wanted to make clotted cream to serve with, but didn't get around to it.

Yield: 10 scones, factor 2 per person

Kedgeree: Poached Fish and Rice

Kedgeree is an English breakfast dish that had migrated from India and assimilated into the English culture.  Of course some modifications were made, and nowadays you can pretty much season it how you like, use whatever fish (In England smoked Haddock is common) and rice you choose, but always top with a medium boiled egg.  This is one of the few recipes I make that involves seafood, and mostly that is because it is not sustainable and hard to find "safe" choices.  By safe I mean wild caught, not farmed, and not loaded with contaminants.  Wild caught Salmon can be purchased frozen any time of year.

Here's what I did:

4 eggs medium boiled, peeled
1 Salmon fillet, 7 oz, poached
2 cups cooked brown Basmati rice
1/2 large red onion, diced
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon fresh Lemon juice

For the Dill Sauce:

1/2 plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon Dill weed
salt to taste

Saute the onion in the butter, add in the rice.  Add the Salmon and break it up as you stir around.  Squeeze the lemon juice over all.  Serve hot in a dish with a quartered boiled egg and dill sauce (optional) on top.  Serves four.

Omelet: The Ms. Dash

So easy, I created this when I was following South Beach (back when you could eat tomatoes on phase 1), and had limited breakfast resources.  It was also summer and I was getting free tomatoes.

2 eggs
1 Tablespoon water
Butter
Ms. Dash, or any other seasoning blend, just a few shakes
Salt to taste if your seasoning blend does not have salt
Mozerella, shredded (I do it myself to avoid additives)
1 Tomato, halved and sliced, lightly salted

Heat your omelet pan to medium-high heat.  Rub the stick of butter across the pan.  Beat the eggs and water and pour evenly into pan.  Sprinkle the Ms. Dash, wait for it to set up a bit (use a lid if you need to), sprinkle the mozzerella.  Wait for it to set up completely, fold, and serve with the cut up tomato.

Seasonal Quiche

I love eggs! There's a long standing joke in my household that the reason I started dating my husband was because he had chickens. There is nothing better to an egg lover than never having to pay for good eggs again. What are good eggs you ask? Good eggs come from a small farm, from truly free range Hens that get plenty of sunshine, and live real chicken lives. Our own Hens enjoy scratching and bathing in the dirt, eating bugs and grass, roaming about all day, and roosting in the trees at night. Once you get spoiled on good eggs you won't believe how you ever swallowed the caged, artificially lighted, grain fed, antibiotic pumped and supplemented, factory house eggs. My stomach turns not only at the taste, but at the sad existence of those birds.

Good eggs are not only better tasting, but are healthier for you. They contain lots of B vitamins, natural omega fatty acids, and lean protein. For heart health fanatics a must know tip is that the cholesterol you eat is not the same as the cholesterol in your blood. So eat those vitamin rich yolks all you want.

Quiche is a great way to use eggs. It's a good meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Some claim the history behind pies are that the Amish carried this tradition in order to have something quick to grab and eat while heading out into the fields to work. My only regret is that for what you get it uses relatively few eggs. But like pizza in the summer, Quiche is a great way to use what you have on hand seasonally.

Start by making the crust, see "Easy as Pie-Crust" recipe. For Quiche you will be using one crust, the recipe makes two. Either save the other crust, make two Quiche or use the second crust to make something else (see future post Mixed Berry Pie).  Or go crust-less if you are gluten free.

Filling:
4 eggs beaten
2 cups milk
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
or
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk, if you have a small pie plate
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt

Add to this any combination of 2 cups (cooled) sauteed vegetables and 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, see below for a few ideas.

Mustard Greens and Cheddar (my favorite)
Caramelized onions and White Cheddar
Leek and Goat Cheese
Spinach, garlic and Feta
Kale, Red onion and Swiss

Make sure the vegetables have cooled from cooking, and you have pulsed till nearly pureed in your food processor before adding the eggs and milk, and stirring in cheese. Pour into pie shell and bake at 375 for about 45 minutes, till top is gold and bubbly. Let cool for 15 minutes before cutting and serving. Serves 6.

Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberries

As a child eating Sunday breakfast at Bob Evans I was always torn between French Toast or Blueberry Pancakes. At home I learned the secret to good pancakes is Buttermilk. I encourage every one to keep Buttermilk in the fridge, it lasts way longer than the date on the carton, for instance the one I'm using on 5/13 is dated for 2/23. You'll know when it's gone bad, it will separate and curdle. If you can't shake it back up, it's a goner.

Buttermilk Pancakes:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda (essential with Buttermilk baking)
1 Tbs. sugar
1 cup of Buttermilk
1 large Egg

1 cup frozen Blueberries

Combine dry ingredients, stir in Buttermilk and Egg. Over a medium heat buttered skillet pour batter for 4 inch pancakes. Sprinkle 1 heaping Tablespoon frozen Blueberries over each pancake. Wait for bubbles and flip. You want a nice golden brown on each side so keep the heat low, and lower it as you go along. Butter in between batches, don't worry about the blueberry bits in the skillet. Serve with Maple syrup or whipped cream. Makes 10 small pancakes, serves 3-4.

English Muffins!

We all associate certain foods with memories. Around winter time/the holidays, my favorite foods are white grapefruit, the family frosted sugar cookies, and raisin english muffins. My mom for at least one winter of my life, I think year 11, purchased what felt like an endless supply of raisin english muffins and I decided that was my food of choice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I remember curling up on the sofa, it's snowing, I'm enjoying a buttery muffin, and watching the Rankin/Bass production of Rudolph, probably chasing the muffin with a grapefruit. Since going gluten free (Food For Life makes a GF raisin english muffin), I haven't had much of a chance to eat those types of foods. Even when not eating/buying Gluten Free, I refuse to pay nearly a dollar per muffin, so instead I decided to make these at home. I modified the recipe from The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, 1935.

1 cup of bread flour
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 scant Tablespoon of instant-rise yeast

Mix together in large mixing bowl or kitchen aid mixer bowl.

1/2 cup scalded milk
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

In a Pyrex 2 cup, scald the milk in the microwave. Add the cup of water, salt and sugar, stir. Combine with flour/yeast mixture, beat well. Let rise to double in bulk, about 30-35 minutes. Add:

3 Tablespoons of Canola (or other mild flavored) oil
1 cup of bread flour
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup of raisins (optional)

Let your kitchen aid knead the dough thoroughly, 5-10 minutes, till the raisins start falling out of the dough. Let rise till double, another 30 minutes.

The key to a good rise is to boil a pot of water on the stove while the dough is kneading, transfer the covered dough, and the pot of water to your oven.

Sprinkle a work surface with cornmeal and roll out dough till 3/4 inch thick. Cut out rounds with a cutter, or a clean can from your recycling bin.

Heat a large heavy bottom skillet over medium heat. Butter well, and fry muffins in pan for 15 minutes, turning several times during cooking. You want to bake them, but not severely brown the muffins. If your muffins are getting too brown, turn them more frequently, turn down the heat, or transfer them to the oven at 375 degrees F. for the remaining cook time. The slower you cook them the fewer the nooks and crannies, but they still taste just as good. Makes 16. I like to then toast mine on the top and smother in salted butter. My mom likes hers with butter cinnamon and sugar.

Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

This has long been my sister's favorite breakfast and happens to also be my husband's favorite. It was never my thing, being gluten free for years (prior to my pregnancy) I never needed to make it. However, I plan to enjoy these next couple of months of eating gluten to the full extent. Both recipes are easy to double, triple, or more for large crowds.

For the Biscuits: I used this recipe for the first time today and I am very happy.

1 cup white all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 Tablespoons Oil
1/3 cup of milk

Combine dry ingredients, add oil and milk and combine. Divide into 6 equal pieces and flatten into biscuit rounds. Bake at 400-425 for 12-14 minutes.

For the Gravy:
1/2 lb pork sausage (MSG and nitrite free)
0-4 Tablespoons of Oil
4 Tablespoons of white flour
2 cups of hot milk
Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Brown the sausage. If there is 4 Tablespoons of fat from the sausage use that for the roux, otherwise add oil. The sausage Tom and I purchase from local farmers is so lean we have to add the whole 4 Tablespoons of oil. Sprinkle the 4 Tablespoons of flour over the fat and using a flat whisk keep stirring for at least one minute to cook the flour. Then slowly, whisking all the time, add the hot milk. Turn the heat down or off (depending on your stove) and stir the gravy for a few minutes till thick and bubbly. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 3

Bread Pudding

So I can't decide if I love french toast or bread pudding more. But bread pudding is definitely easier to make. The key is to using good bread, like Sourdough. Failing that, use any bread you like.

1/2 loaf of bread, cut into 4 cups of cubes. Let it dry a bit, if you are in a hurry you can toast it lightly in the oven while it's preheating.

3 eggs

2 cups of almond milk

1/2 cup of white granulated sugar

1 teaspoon of Cinnamon

 dash of salt  

1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla extract

1/2 cup Raisins (Optional) or 3 sliced fresh plums

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease an 8 x 8 x 2 glass baking dish. Evenly spread the cubes in the dish. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, then beat in the sugar, salt, and Vanilla, slowly add in the milk. Pour the egg mixture over the bread cubes. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Serves 4.

Challah French Toast

Lots of RiverSong Farm customers tell me our Challah makes excellent French toast. I've never had the opportunity to try it until yesterday. Here is the recipe we used:

1 loaf of RiverSong Farm Challah, sliced on the bias (diagonally) into 10 slices
4 eggs
1 cup of milk
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
Cinnamon

Place the slices of bread on a cookie sheet in the oven and toast both sides till crispy but not brown.

In a mixing bowl beat the eggs, add the remaining ingredients and beat. Pour the mixture into a small deep dish. Place the slices into the dish and let soak 15 seconds per side. Then transfer to a buttered medium hot skillet and cook till browned, then flip. As I explained to my kitchen accomplice, French toast like pancakes needs to cook on one side for a long time and the other side for a short time. Alter the heat as needed to prevent burning. As you remove pieces, add more butter and soaked pieces. Place the finished toast back on the cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven till all the pieces are finished.

Enjoy with RiverSong Farm maple syrup or powdered sugar and fresh fruit.

Cinnamon Pullapart Coffeecake

I found this newspaper clipping in my mom's old recipe tin. Who knows what publication it's from but it sounded good if not a little labor intensive.

Makes two 9-inch cakes

4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
1 cup of milk
1/3 cup of butter
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoons salt
3 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup butter, melted
Cinnamon sugar: 2 cups sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Stir together 2 cups flour and yeast. In small saucepan, heat milk, butter, sugar and salt until warm (120 to 130 degrees), stirring to blend. Add liquid ingredients to flour-yeast mixture and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes on medium speed of electric mixer or 300 strokes by hand. Add eggs and vanilla and beat 1 minute. Stir in additional flour to make a moderately soft dough.

Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and satiny, about 5 to 10 minutes. Shape into ball and place in lightly greased bowl, turning to grease all sides. Cover and let rise in a warm place (80 to 85 degrees) until doubled, about 60-75 minutes.

Punch down; let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into 15 inch log. Cut each log into 20 pieces, about 3/4-inch wide. Dip each piece in melted butter and roll in cinnamon sugar until heavily coated. For each coffeecake, place 10 pieces in bottom of 9-inch tube pan. Arrange second layer on top, placing pieces over spaces in layer. Let rise in warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Bake in preheated 375-degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then unmold.

Note: For one large coffeecake use whole recipe in 12-cup ring mold or 10 inch tube pan. Use half of dough each layer and bake as directed. (Spoon flour into dry measuring cup; level, Do not scoop.)