Blueberry Streusel Coffeecake

Blueberry Streusel Coffeecake

A week ago I volunteered to make some coffeecakes for a meeting we were having at church on Saturday morning. Just about everyone likes blueberries so I thought I’d try one using frozen blueberries. They worked just fine but be sure they are thawed and WELL drained before adding them to the batter. I took the picture before garnishing it with powdered sugar so you could see how delicious the blueberries look! This was a hit and several people wanted the recipe. I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients
1 C. butter
2 C. sugar
2 eggs
1 C. light sour cream
1/2 t. vanilla
2 C. cake flour (or 1 3/4 C. regular flour mixed with 1/4 C. cornstarch)
1/4 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1 C. frozen blueberries, thawed and drained well
Garnish: powdered sugar

Streusel
1/2 C. brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon
3/4 C. chopped pecans
Mix the stresel ingredients until combined.

1. Cream butter and sugar; add eggs and mix well.
2. Stir in the sour cream and vanilla.
3. Mix together the dry ingredients and add to the wet ingredients.
4. Gently fold in the blueberries.
5. Pour 1/3 of the batter into a greased and floured bundt pan.
6. Sprinkle with half the streusel.
7. Pour another 1/3 of the batter over top and sprinkle with the rest of the streusel.
8. Top with the remaining batter and gently swirl through the layers with a knife.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cool and invert onto a plate. Dust with powdered sugar.
Serves 12 – 16.

Zero Point Italian Vegetable Soup

Zero Point Italian Vegetable Soup

This is the time of year when it seems everyone is trying to shed a few pounds and we all need a go-to recipe to keep us on track. Well, this is the recipe for which you’ve been waiting! This is a hearty, thick soup that is full of nutritional value and very tasty. This is so good I will serve it even to those not trying to lose weight (I’d add a sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan cheese, however).

Ingredients
10 oz. baby spinach leaves
2 medium carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 C. vegetable broth
28 oz. can diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted)
1 bay leaf
1 T. dried basil leaf
1 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. red pepper flakes

Place everything into a crockpot; cover and cook on high for 5 hours or low for 8 hours. Remove bay leaf, stir and serve. Yields about 8 – 1 cup servings. 0 Weight Watcher points per serving!!

Pork Pot Roast

It seems like whenever we think of pot roast we think of beef. But, I bought a whole pork loin at Costco and cut it in half to make two roasts. Since I had so much pork in the freezer, I thought why not do the same thing we do with beef and have pork pot roast!! So the other night we were having our son and my mom over for dinner and this is what I fixed. The best thing about pot roast of any kind is the gravy and the pork gravy did not disappoint. It was great over everything!

Ingredients
3 – 3 1/2 pork loin roast
1 lb. of carrots, peeled and sliced into chunks
6 potatoes, peeled, and cut into eighths
1 pkg. Lipton French onion soup mix
3/4 C. water
3 T. balsamic vinegar
1/4 C. flour & 1/2 cup water for gravy

1. Brush the balsamic vinegar over all sides of the roast.
2. Pour the water into the bottom of the crockpot. Place the carrots in the crockpot followed by the potatoes, and salt and pepper them to taste.
3. Place the roast on top of the potatoes and sprinkle with the onion soup mix.
4. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
5. Remove all but the juices from the crockpot and cover to keep warm. Turn the crockpot to high.
6. Mix the flour with 1/2 C. water with a whisk or fork until smooth. Stir into the juices in the crockpot and cook until thickened. Serve over the vegetables and pork. Serves 6-8

Food For Thought – Home Is Where the Stove Is

It seems like no matter how big the party, the majority of the people in attendance will crowd into the kitchen to hang out. Our current home has basically a galley kitchen but a large great room with vaulted ceilings. The galley is actually great for cooking because I can get to everything I need in just a few steps. It becomes a little crowded with more than three people, however! Yet, for our Christmas party it was just stuffed with people! People leaning up against the counters, standing in front of the coffee pot, shoulder-to-shoulder chatting and catching up on the news of the past year.

This little essay by Jo Ann Passariello Deck in Where the Heart Is reminds us of the centrality of the kitchen in our homes. She writes, “I used to laugh at my Italian relatives who always wanted to sit in the kitchen. They even built houses without dining rooms. Big kitchens were all they wanted. They lived their whole lives in those kitchen, around the stove, eating, talking, playing cards, reading newspapers, drinking coffee. When they weren’t around the stove, they were in church, in God’s home, but that’s another story.

Home is where the stove is. When I think of all the places I’ve lived, I think of what I cooked in the kitchen: cheese tarts in Cambridge, beet soup in Berkeley, and shrimp curry in Singapore. Home is where I saute the garlic and chop the onion, where the frying pan makes music.

An old Russian proverb says, “The oven is the mother.” Food, warmth, acceptance, I can find it all at the stove.”

Smokey Vegetable Soup

Smokey Vegetable Soup w/Grated Parmesan

Years ago a friend and I used to take cooking classes together now and then. I remember that one focused on desserts that a cookbook author, Betty Rosbottom, taught. Another time we took a class that focused on soups. We really cherished our night out together because we both had small children and didn’t often get to do something for the pure enjoyment of it. This recipe is from the soup cooking class and is really different for a vegetable soup. Because of the use of smoked ham hocks, the soup tastes like it has slowly simmered over a campfire. I made this the other night when we had friends over and served it with kalamata olive bread. It was a great combination! This is one of those recipes that tastes even better the next day so I usually make a double batch so there are leftovers.

Ingredients
8 C. chicken stock
2 T. olive oil
1/4 C. chopped parsley
3 garlic cloves, minced
6 strips of bacon
2 C. shredded cabbage
1 medium onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 potato, peeled, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 large tomato, diced
1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1/4 lb. string beans
2 smoked ham hocks
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 C. freshly grated parmesan cheese

1. Heat oil in large soup pot.
2. Add the parsley and garlic, saute over medium heat. Before garlic changes color, add the bacon and saute until lightly browned.
3. Stir in cabbage. Cover and cook 1-2 minutes.
4. Add remaining vegetables to pan and cover and cook 5 minutes.
5. Add broth and ham hocks.
6. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 40-50 minutes. Remove the bacon before serving. (I frequently make this the day before I serve it so I can chill it and remove the congealed fat.)
7. Serve sprinkled with grated parmesan cheese. Serves 6

Kalamata Olive Bread

Kalamata Olive Bread

I absolutely love kalamata olives as well as bread! So, last weekend being in a bread baking mood I decided to look around on the internet for a bread recipe that has kalamata olives in it. Lo and behold, Panera has their recipe posted right out there for us! Anyway, I decided to give it a try and as you can see from the picture above, it turned out great. We ate it along with my smokey vegetable soup . . . it was a great combo. I adapted their recipe just a tad by reducing the honey from 3 tablespoons to 2 and I forgot to spray the dough with water before putting it in the oven. I think that doing that makes the crust chewier so if that’s how you like yours then give it a try. Oh, and two more things, a cherry pitter works great to pit kalamata olives and an instant read thermometer works great to test the water temperature for the yeast and the temperature of the bread to make sure it is done!!

Ingredients
Starter:
1 cup warm water (95-105° F)
2 teaspoons fresh yeast
1 cup all-purpose flour

Dough:
2/3 cup warm water (95-105° F)
2 tablespoons honey
4 teaspoons fresh yeast
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
Starter
1 3/4 cups kalamata olives, pitted

To create the starter, combine the water and yeast in a medium mixing bowl. Stir to dissolve the yeast fully. Add the flour to the bowl and stir until the ingredients are fully incorporated. Cover with a cloth and ferment the starter at room temperature for 30 minutes. It will get all bubbly and expand.

For the dough, combine the water, honey and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir to dissolve the yeast fully. Add the shortening, flour, salt, starter and olives. Mix on low speed until the dough is fully developed and has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. It will still be somewhat tacky. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl. Divide the dough into 2 pieces weighing about 22 ounces each. (Just pull off a piece the size of a large dinner roll and divide what’s left in half) Roll each piece of dough into a smooth ball. Place the dough on the counter or in a proofing basket and cover with a warm, damp cloth to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400° F.

Form the dough into loaves (I made mine round loaves) and place them in or on your loaf pan or baking sheet. Cover the loaves with a warm, damp cloth and proof at room temperature for another 30 minutes. (I set them on the back of the stove top so they get some heat from the preheating oven since I keep my house on the cool side.)

Score the loaves with a sharp knife, spray with water, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the crusts are a deep golden brown and the middle of the loaves is 190-200 degrees. ( I baked the roll-sized loaf around 20 minutes).

Remove the bread from the oven and place it on a cooling rack for 30 minutes. If the bread was baked in loaf pans, remove the bread from the pans before cooling.

Makes 2 loaves

Chile Cheese Puff

Chile Chees Puff

I recently signed up to provide breakfast at church before Sunday School meets. It has been really cold here so I thought it would be nice to have something hot for one of the dishes and decided to make this breakfast casserole. The breakfast needed to be items I could make in advance since I have to have everything at the church by 9 AM in order to get everything set up before 9:30. So along with the Chile Cheese Puff, I made my banana bread, a plate of citrus fruit, and some chunks of banana in a bowl.

Citrus Platter

I made the casserole up the day before and refrigerated it until Sunday morning and baked it so I could head out the door to church right after I took it out of the oven. The citrus fruit and banana bread could be completely prepared the day before so that worked out well. When I got to church I put the casserole in a 200 degree oven to hold while I got everything set up. The only other food prep was cutting up the bananas and placing them in a bowl. I served the banana bread that I had made in a bundt pan on a pedestaled cake plate so it looked very attractive!

Ingredients
10 eggs
1/2 C. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 C. cottage cheese
8 oz. pkg. monterey jack cheese, shredded
8 oz. pkg. cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 C. melted butter
2 – 4 oz. cans chopped green chiles
paprika for garnish
Salsa and sour cream on the side

1. Spray a 10 inch X 15 inch casserole dish or two 8 inch X 8 inch baking pans with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat eggs in large mixing bowl. Stir in the cottage cheese and green chiles.
3. Mix together the flour and baking powder and toss together with the shredded cheeses. Add to the egg mixture and blend in the melted butter. Pour into the casserole dish and sprinkle with paprika.
4. Bake fo 40-45 mintues or until center tests done. Serves 8-10.
5. Serve with salsa and sour cream on the side.

Beer and Rosemary Roasted Chicken with Gravy

Beer & Rosemary Roasted Chicken

My husband’s favorite meal is roasted chicken so I thought I would try basting the chicken in this mixture of beer and rosemary. I had dug up one of my rosemary plants and potted it before it got cold so I even had fresh rosemary but dried will work just fine as well! Potatoes baked along with the chicken the last hour so all I had to do was fix a vegetable and we were good to go for dinner.

Ingredients
1 whole chicken (5-7 lbs.)
2 T. butter, melted
1 T. dijon mustard
1 1/2 t. chopped fresh rosemary (3/4 t. dried)
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
3/4 C. dark beer (I used Samuel Adams)
1 onion, peeled and cut into 1/8ths
2 stalks celery, cut into 3 inch pieces
1/2 C. cold water
1/4 C. all purpose flour
chicken broth or stock to make 2 C. when added to the chicken drippings after baking

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove and discard the neck and giblets from the chicken cavity. Rinse the chicken inside and out with cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Place the onions and celery in the bottom of a roasting pan and place the chicken breast side up on top of the onions and celery.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together the butter, mustard, rosemary, salt, pepper, and beer. Microwave uncovered on high for a minute or two, stirring every thirty seconds, until well mixed. Brush about a third of the mixture evenly over the surface of the chicken. Fasten drumsticks together with cotton string.

3. Roast uncovered about 20 minutes per pound, brushing the chicken with additional butter mixture and pan drippings every 15-20 minutes. Chicken is done when juices run clear when the thigh is pierced with a fork.
4. Let chicken stand for 15 – 20 minutes for easier carving.
5. Meanwhile, measure drippings and add enough chicken broth or stock to make 2 cups. In a small cup, stir together cold water and flour with a whisk until smooth.

6. Bring the drippings mixture to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan and stir the flour mixture into the boiling drippings. Continue stirring 2 to 3 mintues longer until gravy is thickened and bubbly.

Oven Roasted Green Beans

Oven Roasted Green Beans

I haven’t posted a vegetable dish in awhile so thought I’d post this. It’s so easy that I hesitated to post it but is so good that I went ahead as you can see. This same procedure can be followed using frozen asparagus spears and they’re delish as well!

Ingredients
1 lb. bag frozen whole green beans (I use Happy Harvest Extra Fine Green Beans from Aldi’s)
1 shallot or small onion, slivered
salt & pepper to taste
balsamic vinegar to taste

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Spread the green beans on a baking sheet with sides and sprinkle with the slivered shallot or onion. Season with salt and pepper. 3. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, flip with a spatula, and return to oven to cook for 10 more minutes.
4. Remove from oven and drizzle with a tablespoon or two of balsamic vinegar. Serves 2-3.

Moroccan Spiced Salad

This is a wonderfully unusual salad. It’s a blend of savory spices, crunchy nuts, chewy raisins, rice, and beans with a hint of lemon and mint. The blend of rice, beans, and nuts makes it appropriate for a vegetarian main dish and it makes a great side with roasted chicken for the carnivores among us. Kudos go to my friend, Charmaine, who shared this recipe with me after bringing it to our Dining for Women group. I made a few adaptations but the spice blend remained the same as the original recipe.

Ingredients
2 T. olive oil
1 C. rice
3 1/2 C. water

4 T. olive oil
6 T. vinegar
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. honey
2 t. garam masala (a blend of spices)
2 t. ground coriander
1 t. dry mustard

1 – 15 oz. can small red beans (or kidney)
1 – 15 oz. can cannellini beans (or garbanzo)
4 shallots, chopped
8 green onions, trimmed and sliced
1 1/2 C. golden raisins
1 1/2 C. walnuts, coarsely chopped (or pine nuts)
1 T. chopped fresh mint

Chopped fresh mint to garnish
Lemon wedges, to serve

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a medium sauce pan with a lid. Add the rice and cook for 3 minutes, stirring, over low heat. Pour in the water and bring to a boil, then lower heat, cover, and simmer on low for 25-35 minutes until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and pour the cooked rice into a strainer. Rinse under cold running water, drain well, and set aside to cool.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 4 tablespoons of olive oil and honey until emulsified. Mix in the vinegar, lemon juice, garam masala, coriander, and dry mustard and stir well.
3. Add the rice and mix well.
4. Drain and rinse both cans of beans and add them to the rice along with the shallots, green onions, walnuts, golden raisins, and mint. Mix well. Garnish with fresh mint and serve with lemon wedges. Serves 8