Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake

Combine the bold and beloved fresh flavors of lemon and blueberries to make this wonderful breakfast treat. It's great with coffee or tea.

Ingredients

• 3 cups cake flour

• ¼ cup of regular flour to dust blueberries

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon baking soda

• 1 ½ sticks butter

• 1 cup sugar

• 2/3 cups milk

• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 1 tablespoon of lemon zest

• 4 eggs

• 1 cup of lemon curd

• 1 ½ cups of fresh blueberries

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350° degrees—grease and flour     10” tube pan. 

2. In a mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy.

3. Add sugar ½ cup at a time, creaming well after each.  Then add lemon juice and zest and mix well.

4. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well after each egg. 

   

5. Add lemon curd and milk to the creamed mixture.

  

6. Combine and sift together the dry ingredients.   Add a little at a time to the mixture, mixing thoroughly until the batter is smooth. 

 

7. Place fresh blueberries in a bowl and add flour. Coat well, then sift excess flour off the blueberries and add them to your batter. Then, fold the blueberries in, careful not to mix too hard. You want your blueberries to be nice and plump in your cake.

8. Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes.  After baking, let cool for about 20 minutes, then remove from pan and dust with powdered sugar for an extra touch. 

Steam Kale and Eggs with Whole-Grain Toast

 About The Recipe

You can easily update old-fashioned breakfast recipes by substituting whole-grain bread for refined white bread.  Adding steamed Kale for breakfast to commit to having veggies with every meal changed how I eat breakfast.  So, you like Scrabble eggs and omelets to increase the nutrient count and boost the flavor.

Serving Size:1

Ingredients

 2 Eggs

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 ½ Cups chopped kale, if you can also use baby spinach

1 Slice of Whole-grain Bread

Salt & pepper

Dried Onion Flakes (optional)

Garlic powder (optional)

Equipment

Toaster or toaster oven

Small non-stick fry pan

Small /medium saucepan

Instructions

 Place bread in the toaster oven and set to your toast preference.

Add half a cup of water, salt, pepper, onion flakes, and garlic powder in a medium saucepan. Steam kale for about 3 -5 minutes.

Add olive oil and eggs in a non-stick fry pan on medium heat.

Cafe Style Cheddar Biscuits

Alright, so for these awesome cheddar biscuits, you'll need some biscuit mix, salt, low-fat buttermilk, sour cream, olive oil, a beaten egg, club soda, and triple cheddar cheese. Mix everything to make a dough, knead it, cut out your biscuits, and bake them at 425°F for about 10-12 minutes. Once they're done, pour some melted butter over them and enjoy!

Prep Time: 15    Cooking Time: 10 - 12    

Servings: 6 - 9 depending on size.

Ingredients

3 cups biscuit mix

1/2 teaspoons salt

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup low-fat sour cream

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup club soda

1 cup shredded triple cheddar cheese (Sargento)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees

2. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir until soft dough forms. Then, dust the work surface with flour and scrape the dough on the work surface. Knead dough by hand until smooth.  Pat dough flat about 3/4"  and use a 3" biscuit cutter to cut out biscuits.  If you are "Old School", then use your favorite glass to cut your biscuits shapes.  Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for  10 - 12 minutes or until golden brown.

3. While biscuits are baking, melt 3 tablespoons of butter in the microwave oven for about 30 seconds. Then, set aside.

4. When biscuits are done, pour melted butter over them and serve.

Blue Cheese and Pimiento Potato Salad

Bottled Blue Cheese dressing sounds like a quick way to give flavor to this salad, but so many bottled dressing are full of preservatives and sodium.  I love cooking with as many fresh ingredients as possible.  So I develop my combination of flavor for this blue cheese potato salad.

 Ingredients

• 3 pounds medium red-skinned potatoes (about 5)
• ¼ cup Rice Vinegar
• ½ cup Crema Mexicana, preferably or  you use sour cream
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons hot mustard
• 4 ounces Crumbled blue cheese
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, diced
• ½ cup medium white onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon celery seeds
• ¼ cup diced pimientos
• ¼ cup diced jalapeno peppers
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation 

1. Fill a large pot with about cup of water and add salt.  Then place a steamer basket inside of pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a rapid simmer.  Add potatoes to steamer basket; cover and let steam for about 25 minutes or until tender.  Do not let potatoes over cook.

2. Remove potatoes and allow cooling, then peeling, slicing potatoes into ¼” thick slices.

3. While potatoes are cooling, make the dressing.  In a large bowl, combine rice vinegar, Crema, mayonnaise and hot mustard, blend well.  Then add blue cheese and eggs; mix well.

4. Once potatoes have cooled, to the dressing add onions, celery seeds, pimientos, and jalapeno peppers, then combine potatoes to the dressing a little at a time making sure not to break potatoes or mash them.

5. Add chopped parsley; hold a little back for garnish.  Salt and pepper to taste; it should not require too much salt due to the blue cheese.  Then place potato salad in refrigerator for about an hour or until you are ready to serve.  Enjoy!!

Lemon Pepper Fettuccine

I love Italian Cuisine.  One of the things I love is fresh pasta.  Making your own pasta is a satisfying way to work with your hands to create something delicious from ingredients you choose from your pantry. This is my first try at making pasta and I think it came out pretty nice.  There are so many ways to make homemade pasta these days, but I wanted to start out by taking a basic pasta recipe and put together some wonderful flavors for my first attempt.  

Kitchen Tools to Make Homemade Pasta

• My hands ( smile )
• KitchenAid 2 piece pasta cutter set.  Includes Pasta Roller and Fettuccine Cutter.
• One of my wine racks to hang the pasta to dry. This tool was a last minute creative drying rack. In my next pasta making adventure, I will have the real thing and that is “Pasta Drying Rack”. 

Basic Pasta Recipe

• 1 ½ cups (350 grams) Pasta Flour, Unbleached All-Purpose, or Semolina.  (I used Semolina for this recipe.)
• 3 large eggs @ room temperature
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice ( about the juice of 1 lemon)
• ¼ cup grated lemon zest ( about 3 lemons)
• 2 teaspoons freshly milled black pepper

You will need extra flour for dusting your board and pasta roller/cutter.  Also extra 1 or 2 tablespoons of water to make softer pliable, dough that’s easy to roll.

Steps

  

1.     Place flour in the center of your pastry mat or large wooden board or other work surface.  You may also use a large bowl.  Form a flour volcano with a crater or hole in the middle.

2.     Combine eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and pepper in a medium size bowl, blend well then pour mixture into the crater.

3.     With your hands, begin to incorporate the flour, starting with the inner rim.

4.     Once the flour has been incorporated and the mixture has formed a mass of dough, then transfer the dough to a floured work surface.

5.     Keep incorporating the flour, turning the dough mass over several times while kneading so that the moist side of the dough is exposed to the floured surface, making sure the flour will be absorbed.  Scrape up and discard any leftover hard bits of dough.

6.     Use the heel of your palm to push the dough down and away, and then fold the edge back over top to keep a round dough ball.  Do this process for about 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth.

7.     Now let the dough take a rest for about 30 minutes.

Now setup your KitchenAid Mixer with pasta roller attachment, then cut your dough into four (4) sections and flatten each section with a rolling pin.  Be sure to keep your working surface dusted with flour.  Now dust your pasta roller with flour and then feed your pasta into the roller.  (You may follow the instruction supplied by the manufacturer.)

Once you complete the rolling of your pasta, then change out the pasta roller attachment with the Fettuccine attachment to make your pasta strips.

CW's Cafe Today - Cooking From the Pantry - Cheesecake Batter

• 3 1/2 pounds of soften cream cheese ( about 7 8oz packages)
• 2 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 5 Large eggs 

All ingredients should be room temperature.

Grits and Eggs with a Creamy Twist

Grits, eggs with bacon or sausage was a Sunday morning favorite when I was growing up.  Grits known for its mark on Southern Cuisine is not just for breakfast anymore, it is now served for lunch and dinner with shrimp, or lobster.   So the next time you want to impress your Sunday Brunch guest, try my recipe for Grits and Eggs.  Just the right portion full of creamy cream cheese and topped with egg, crispy bacon and a little onion flavor from chopped chives. Enjoy

 

Prep Time: 10

Cooking Time: 25

Servings: 4

 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup Quick - 5 minute Grits
• 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter
• 4 ounces Philadelphia Cream Cheese 1/3 Less Fat
• 1/4 cup Fat Free Milk
• 2 Slices Bacon
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp of Chopped Chives
• 1/4 cup Kraft Triple Cheddar with a Touch of Philly

 

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 4 ramekins with butter flavored or regular cooking spray. 

2. Cook Grits according to package directions for about 5 minutes until nice and creamy.  Then add butter, cream cheese, and milk stir until blended well. Let simmer for about 1- 2 minutes, remove from heat.

3. Microwave on high, bacon for  2 - 3 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.  Remove and let drain on paper towel than chop into small pieces, then set aside.

4. Place grits in prepared ramekins, filling each ramekin about half. Then crack one egg over each ramekin filled with grits.  Be careful not to break the yolks, season with salt and pepper to taste.  Top with chives, cover with aluminum foil, place ramekins on baking sheet, place in oven and let bake for about 15 minutes or until egg whites are set and yolk is firm.

5. Remove from oven and top each dish with Triple Cheddar cheese and chop bacon. Serve with toast, or toasted English Muffins.