breakfast

#SundaySupper: Recipes with Bacon

~ lk529 ~ 22 Comments

I often find myself sitting on recipes waiting for the perfect time to share them. I simply leave un-blogged dishes on my camera and look through my pictures when I plan out my schedule. It’s very rare that I’ll have something raring and ready to go for a blogging event before the event is announced. Such is not the case with today’s Sunday Supper! As soon as I saw the theme of Bacon announced I was prepared! Gasp! Feeling prepared is something that comes very infrequently now that I’m mothering two small boys – the youngest of whom just started solo standing and trying desperately to take those first steps and the oldest who is embracing those terrible twos at least three days a week.

I find it fitting that the bacon theme follows closely behind the corn themed Sunday Supper. Was it coincidental or planned? I don’t know, you’d have to ask the masterminds behind Sunday Supper to find out. But did you notice how many glorious corn recipes included bacon? I know mine did! And I’ve paired bacon and corn together before, too in stuffed shells. Double yum. I wonder how many of today’s recipes feature corn! You’ll have to scroll past my recipe to find out. Thanks to Erica of The Crumby Cupcake for hosting this weekend.

The cinnamon rolls I’m sharing today are a play off my favorite recipe that we make every Christmas. Instead of cranberries… bacon! And for the frosting, I used leftover glaze from my 3rd anniversary cupcakes.

Bacon Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze

Ingredients for rolls:

  • 1 C warm water (105-110 deg F)
  • 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
  • 3 tbsp butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 C sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • 3 1/2 C flour

Ingredients for filling:

  • 6 slices center cut bacon, chopped and cooked
  • 1/2 stick softened butter
  • 3/4 C brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon

Ingredients for glaze:

  • 1 1/2 C powdered sugar
  • 1/2 C milk
  • 1/2 C canola oil
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Steps:

  1. Stir yeast into the warm water. Let bloom for 5-10 minutes.
  2. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat butter, sugar, and salt. Add the egg, beating until combined. Slowly pour in the yeast and water. Beat until combined. Add the flour about one cup at a time, beating until combined after each addition. Once the dough starts to form switch to the dough hook attachment. After all the flour has been added knead the dough for 3 minutes.
  3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead by hand until smooth.
  4. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise to double in size (about 30-60 minutes) in a warm place. (In the microwave or turned off oven)
  5. Roll dough out on a floured surface into a rectangle. Spread the dough evenly with the butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon, and cooked bacon. (Reserve some bacon for garnish, if desired.) Roll the dough into a log, lengthwise. Cut the dough into 2″ cinnamon rolls. Place cut side down in a 9×13 casserole dish.
  6. Cover dough with a towel and let rise for 30 minutes before baking. The rolls should have doubled in size again. (Other options: Freeze the rolls and after thawing let rise until doubled in size or place in refrigerator overnight after rising, bring to room temperature before baking.)
  7. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake another 7 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool, slightly.
  8. Meanwhile, make glaze. Whisk together all of the ingredients for the frosting. Pour over the cinnamon rolls! Garnish with extra bacon.

Bacon Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze for #SundaySupper from Sew You Think You Can Cook
Bacon in Appetizers

Bacon in Beverages

Bacon for Breakfast

Bacon for Lunch

Bacon for Dinner

Bacon as a Side Dish

Bacon for Dessert

Sunday Supper MovementJoin the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.

 

Peanut Butter Crepes

~ lk529 ~ 1 Comment

Last month we went strawberry picking. Battling traffic for 2 1/2 hours (one way) for 50 minutes of picking time was absolutely worth it! These strawberries had the sweetest scent I’d ever sniffed. We had 4 1/2 pounds of strawberries making the road trip back home with us. Some green bell peppers, green beans, cherry tomatoes, and local honey hitched a ride, too.

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I’d put out a request to some of my local SoCal bloggers for their best strawberry recipes. And then, I didn’t use a single one! These strawberries barely made it a week. (To be fair, I froze about a third of them right away.) When something is just that good you almost don’t want to waste it as an ingredient. Instead, I decided to do crepes for dinner, filling them with our freshly picked strawberries.

I was quite hesitant with the crepe batter. It’s essentially all egg white and some peanut butter. I thought, “There’s no way!” But, I found the recipe from Natural Noshing’s Secret Recipe Club reveal of my dear friend Tara’s blog. I told myself that, if two people can succeed with these crepes, then it’s bound to work!

The first crepe is always a throw away – me, I ended up with a severely burnt crepe due to a child required my immediate attention. I told myself, “one more try”. And if it doesn’t work, I’ll throw in a bunch of flour and just make regular pancakes. Plan B was never needed. The only problem is that this recipe doesn’t make very many crepes! However, the use of peanut butter actually makes them filling and satisfying enough to feed 2 (and a half) people. You can always stretch out the crepes with whatever fillings you decide.

My crepes were filled with softened cream cheese, cinnamon sugar, and fresh sliced strawberries. Stuart filled his crepes with Nutella, fresh sliced strawberries, and honey. Firecracker had his with Nutella and fresh sliced strawberries.

Other filling options could include banana, jelly, chocolate chips, and/or maple syrup.

Peanut Butter Crepes

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole egg
  • 6 egg whites
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 heaping tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter

Steps:

  1. Using a hand mixer, whisk the egg and egg whites until frothy. Add in the vanilla, sugar, and peanut butter until smooth.
  2. Pour 1/4 C batter into a small greased skillet. (I used 1-2 tsp butter between each crepe) Swirl the pan around to create an even crepe. Once the surface bubbles flip and cook another minute. Remove, repeat with remaining batter.
  3. Serve with desired fillings.

*This recipe is adapted from Nora at https://naturalnoshing.wordpress.com/2015/07/26/peanut-butter-crepes-with-cinnamon-cream-cheese-filling-grain-free-src/*

Peanut Butter Crepes Sew You Think You Can Cook

And if you need an idea for all those leftover egg yolks, might I suggest chocolate frozen custard?

#MuffinMonday: Apple Blackberry Muffins

~ lk529 ~ 10 Comments

fb5cd-muffin2bmonday2bcrop#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins to brighten their Mondays. There isn’t a theme to #MuffinMonday posts so anything goes, as long as it’s a muffin!

You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

I am sharing with you this month a muffin I made way back in May after one of our weekly trips to the Farmers Market. I had picked up some blackberries from one of my favorite vendors for my husband. I am not the biggest blackberry lover mainly due to their texture. I didn’t think my husband would actually eat the entire carton of berries before they started to spoil so I decided to make muffins with about half of them. While assembling all of the baking supplies and getting my little helper situated, he started eating all of the berries! I knew I couldn’t use the fruit in the muffins, now; anything healthy my picky eater will willingly eat is all his! We had frozen blackberries for smoothie making, so I carried on with my muffin plan.

You’ll notice the recipe doesn’t call for any butter or oil, making them a little bit healthier than most breakfast treats I bake. I mean, there’s still sugar and syrup involved so it balances out, right? The downfall to not having butter or oil in the recipe means they’ll stick to muffin liners, so be sure to spray them as you would a non-lined muffin tin.

Apple Blackberry Muffins (toddler) Sew You Think You Can Cook

Firecracker really enjoyed these muffins. I’m pretty sure he had 3 in one day.

I froze half of the muffins and had a quick morning snack throughout the month, I simply popped them in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.

This recipe makes 2 dozen muffins.

Apple Blackberry Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 3 C whole wheat flour
  • 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp baking soda
  • 1 large apple, peeled and finely diced
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 C brown sugar
  • 1 C milk
  • 1/2 C Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 C cinnamon applesauce
  • 1/4 C maple syrup
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 C blackberries, chopped

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a muffin tin, even if using liners.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Add the apples and toss to coat until evenly distributed.
  3. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and brown sugar. Mix in the milk, yogurt, applesauce, syrup, and vanilla.
  4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Gently fold in the blackberries. Fill muffin cups 3/4 of the way.
  5. Bake muffins for 5 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F and bake another 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out cleanly.

*This recipe is adapted from Sally at http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/10/14/sky-high-blackberry-apple-muffins/*

Apple Blackberry Muffins for #MuffinMonday from Sew You Think You Can Cook

And don’t forget to check out these other muffin recipes:

Cappuccino Chip Muffins by Palatable Pastime

Cheesy Chile Corn Muffins (Gluten Free) by Farm Fresh Feasts

Cinnamon Swirled Muffins by Passion Kneaded

Fresh Peach Muffins by Karen’s Kitchen Stories

Lemon Meringue Muffins by Making Miracles

Phase 3 Muffins by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Raspberry Mini Muffins by Food Lust People Love

Oat Waffles

~ lk529 ~ 10 Comments

As we were reaching the end of our time in Ohio my pantry ingredients kept dwindling without being replenished as was only logical. The only problem was trying to make dinner! Our go-to “no food in the house” meal is some sort of breakfast. But when you’ve depleted your supply of both whole wheat and all purpose flour you have to get creative.

My husband started getting into Alton Brown’s old show Good Eats which re-airs on Cooking Channel around that time and remembered seeing him grind up oats for waffles. We figured we’d give it a try, but upon inspection of the recipe, there was still flour involved. I still had a little bit of cake flour and decided to just go for it. We didn’t have the right amount of oats either, but our result was still a delicious waffle. Naturally, I added some cinnamon to the batter for good measure.

Out in California Good Eats airs right after the bedtime routine for the boys. The bedtime process starts with watching the “Nighttime in the Neighborhood” episode of Daniel Tiger and eating a banana. We then go brush teeth, read books, and sing songs. I hold Firecracker’s hand until he drifts off to sleep. (Now that he’s in a “big boy” bed, it’s a lot easier!) Stuart stays upstairs with Treat watching Good Eats as he (I could be talking about either of them really) drifts off to sleep.

Oat Waffles

Ingredients:

  • 1 3/4 C old fashioned oats (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
  • 1 C cake flour
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 C buttermilk
  • 1/2 stick butter, melted

Steps:

  1. Toast oats in dry skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Transfer oats to a food processor and pulse until they reach the consistency of whole wheat flour.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the oat flour, cake flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
  3. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and melted butter. Pour the wet ingredients into the try, mixing until just combined.
  4. Pour batter into a hot, greased waffle iron until golden.

*This recipe is modified from Alton Brown at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/oat-waffle-recipe.html*

Oat Waffles Sew You Think You Can Cook

#SundaySupper: Easy to Make Patriotic 4th of July Recipes

~ lk529 ~ 8 Comments

It’s July 3rd, the day my Firecracker turns two! (TWO!) It also happens to be the day before Independence Day – the 4th of July. Which is why #SundaySupper is celebrating with Easy to Make Patriotic Recipes.

To kick start a festive morning, might I suggest these stars? They’re a baked pancake, which I’m dubbing “breakfast cake.” It makes me think of that Jim Gaffigan skit:

You’re not having cake for breakfast; you’re having fried cake, with syrup on top!

I made this breakfast after returning from my brother’s wedding in FL last month from a bare pantry. I think that qualifies my recipe as being “easy to make.” I didn’t have any butter, so I used oil, and I didn’t have enough sugar for both the baked pancake and the syrup, so I decided to add vanilla to the batter and keep the sugar for the syrup.

I used a star cookie cutter to make the shapes and topped them with strawberry syrup and fresh blueberries. The leftover pieces of “cake” were handed to Treat, with no sugar I didn’t feel too guilty about it.

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The 4th of July is in my top three of favorite holidays. I love creating menus in my country’s colors. Three years ago I went all out with a Red, White, and Blue Spread: complete with colored star shaped ice cubes and dyed pasta! Two years ago was my first year (probably ever) missing the fireworks display, but I had a good reason. Last year I was on cloud 9 celebrating the holiday (and Firecracker’s 1st birthday) with my entire family where I spent my childhood Fourths.

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My 1 day old Firecracker – 2014

This year we will be experiencing our first California 4th of July. I am hoping for a fog-less, smog-less night so we can watch up to 3 Fireworks shows from our balcony. We’ll be grilling burgers, drinking sangria, and chowing down on rice krispie treats. (I can’t not have rice krispie treats!)

Breakfast Cake Stars with Strawberry Syrup

Ingredients for Breakfast Cake:

  • 1 1/2 C flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/4 C buttermilk
  • 1/4 C vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients for Strawberry Syrup:

  • 2 C diced strawberries
  • 1 C + 1 tsp water, divided use
  • 1/2 C sugar
  • 1 tsp corn starch

Steps:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ cake pan.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Combine the wet ingredients into the dry. Pour into the cake pan and bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted comes out cleanly.
  3. Make the syrup: Put strawberries in a saucepan with 1 C water and the sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook 15 minutes, or until the syrup has started to thicken and the strawberries have broken down.
  4. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining teaspoon of water and the cornstarch. Add to the syrup. Allow syrup to thicken another 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Strain.
  5. Option: Using a cookie cutter, cut shapes out of the breakfast cake. Serve with strawberry syrup and fresh blueberries.

*This recipe is adapted from April at http://www.girlgonegourmet.com/2016/06/pancake-squares.html*

Breakfast Cake Stars with Strawberry Syrup for #SundaySupper from Sew You Think You Can Cook

All-American Appetizers

America the Beautiful Beverages

Raise the Flag Breakfasts

For the Red, White and Blue Salads and Main Dishes

Oh Say Can You See Desserts

Sunday Supper MovementJoin the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement

#MuffinMonday: Chocolate Chip Blood Orange Muffins

~ lk529 ~ 15 Comments

Muffin Monday

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins to brighten their Mondays. There isn’t a theme to #MuffinMonday posts so anything goes, as long as it’s a muffin!

You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

About a month and a half ago I finally had the opportunity to discover first hand the beauty that is the blood orange. I’ve known of them but had never found them anywhere. And then one of the farmers markets had them and I grabbed a fair few. Most of them I simply indulged in my new favorite thing to do: cut open a blood orange and snap a photo of it (see Instagram) then squeeze the juice out of it and have a fresh glass. As blood oranges can vary in color from orange to dark red I had a blast being surprised by each slice of the knife. I came to the conclusion that the darker the fruit, the sweeter its juice.

 

When I made these muffins I “wasted” the darker oranges on the juice that went into the batter. The ones I’d saved for the photographs looked like your boring, everyday run-of-the-mill orange. Go figure. The pigment of your orange will actually affect the final color of your muffin.

This recipe makes 1 dozen muffins.

Chocolate Chip Blood Orange Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 1 3/4 C flour
  • 1/2 C sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • zest of 3 blood oranges
  • 3/4 C chocolate chips
  • 2 eggs
  • 2/3 C fresh blood orange juice (3-4 oranges)
  • 1 stick  butter, melted
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with liners.
  2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and orange zest. Mix in the chocolate chips.
  3. In another bowl whisk together the eggs, juice, butter, and vanilla.
  4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Divide batter among prepared muffin tin.
  5. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out cleanly. Allow muffins to cool in the pan 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

*This recipe is adapted from Tara at http://tarasmulticulturaltable.com/blood-orange-chocolate-chip-muffins/*

Chocolate Chip Blood Orange Muffins for #MuffinMonday from Sew You Think You Can Cook

And don’t forget to check out these other muffin recipes:

Banana Bread and Chocolate Muffins from Making Miracles

Grilled Cherry Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts

Jamaican Me Hungry Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Margarita Sour Cream Muffins from Karen’s Kitchen Stories

Pancake Muffins from Passion Kneaded

Sweet Corn Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#SundaySupper: Waffles!

~ lk529 ~ 16 Comments

I am so excited to be back blogging with the Sunday Supper Movement. My last post was the Regional Specialties themed day – OVER TWO MONTHS AGO! I have definitely missed being able to share the table with this great group of foodies.

As soon as the theme was revealed for today’s event, you know I couldn’t miss out on this one. Waffles! If you know me but at all you’d probably have reported a missing person had I not chimed in today. Thanks, Sue from A Palatable Pastime, for hosting today’s event at a time in my life when I could finally participate in #SundaySupper. I know you did it just for me and not because National Waffle Iron Day is Wednesday. 😉 Be sure to scroll past my recipe for a collection of over 35 waffles recipes.

Having made just a few waffles in my day, I decided to throw caution to the wind and make my own waffle. I did it “by feel” and needed to adjust my flour amount before I was comfortable with the batter. I’m happy to report that my waffles worked out, and my creative flavor combination wasn’t a failure.

I love pairing cherries with chocolate, so those hand picked cherries of ours found their way into my waffles. As sometimes the only way to get Firecracker to eat is by way of waffle or pancake, I knew I had to throw something nutritious in there. That’s where the beets come in. I was going to roast them and toss them in a smoothie, but this way was easier.

An Original Recipe

Chocolate Cherry Beet Waffles

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 C flour
  • 3/4 C whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 C cocoa powder
  • 1/4 C sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 C milk
  • 1/3 C vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3/4 C shredded beets, patted dry
  • 2 C fresh cherries, pitted and chopped
  • whipped cream for serving (optional)

Steps:

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
  2. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.
  3. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Fold in the beets and cherries.
  4. Into a hot greased waffle iron, drop 1/3 C of batter and cook until browned. Serve with whipped cream.

Chocolate Cherry Beet Waffles for #SundaySupper from Sew You Think You Can Cook

Sweet and Sinful:

Savory Brinner Winners:

Sunday Supper MovementJoin the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement

SRC: Strawberry Vanilla Smoothie

~ lk529 ~ 19 Comments

newsrcbanner

It’s Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day! In the Secret Recipe Club, each participating blogger is assigned a blog from another participating blogger and secretly searches their site for something to recreate. The accompanying blog post then goes live on reveal day! So while I was immersed in my assigned blog, someone else was picking through mine! I’m so excited to be part of this group, to see what on my blog peaks other’s interests and to stumble upon new blogs and new recipes.

This month I was in a mad scramble to make something from my assigned blog, The Avid Appetite. While I’ve had my assignment for a month, it’s been one heck of a month between my husband going on his first work trip since the boys have been born, finally getting internet, and traveling for my brother’s wedding it’s been hard to get into a rhythm that supports my hobby!

Rachel is the mastermind behind The Avid Appetite. Rachel has been sharing her culinary adventures for over five years! She’s a wife, mother, and brand licensing professional living in NJ. Sounds busy to me. She shares family stories on Tuesdays (hey, me too, with my Tuesday Tattles series!), consider yourself pre-warned for some adorable Penelope cuteness overload.

Her recipe index left me with 15 items to consider for today’s reveal! From those 15, real consideration was given to a Chicken and Pineapple dish and a Baked Oatmeal. Had I been assigned her blog two months ago when I was in my blood orange obsession there’s no question that I would be sharing this Loaf Cake or these Shortcakes. And I will be revisiting her Caramelized Potato Parsnip Tart next week, too.

Due to my {self imposed} shortened time table I settled on a smoothie. Her sweet daughter sold me on the Strawberry Vanilla Smoothie. Precious. Well, that and the fact that I had some farmers market strawberries in my freezer. It’s as if it were meant to be because the amount called for in her recipe was the exact amount I had saved! I did substitute plain Greek yogurt for the vanilla so I doubled the amount of vanilla extract. I can’t believe I’ve never thought to put extracts in my smoothies. That quality of sweetness can’t come from anywhere else. I felt like I was drinking a smoothie from a smoothie place, not my own kitchen. It reminded me very much of a smoothie I used to get in between classes back at Auburn. Amazing how something so simple can bring back memories over 6 years old.

This smoothie recipe will make two servings. I saved one glass (aka what Firecracker didn’t finish) for the next day and it was still perfect!

Strawberry Vanilla Smoothie for Secret Recipe Club from Sew You Think You Can Cook (kid approved)

Strawberry Vanilla Smoothie

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 C frozen sliced strawberries
  • 1 C milk
  • 1/2 C plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Steps:

  1. Place ingredients in a blender. Pulse until smooth.

*This recipe is modified from Rachel at http://www.theavidappetite.com/home/2016/1/31/strawberry-vanilla-smoothie*

Strawberry Vanilla Smoothie for Secret Recipe Club from Sew You Think You Can Cook

To see the other bloggers who participated in The Secret Recipe Club this month click here:

Cherry Whole Wheat Scones

~ lk529 ~ 11 Comments

Apparently the thing to do in Southern California on Memorial Weekend is go cherry picking. Cherries have a very short season, only about a month! Through the connectivity of Facebook, I found out about a U-Pick Cherry Farm an hour and a half north of us. We decided it’d be a fun thing to do on our 6th wedding anniversary.

There were notifications on the farm’s website about a smaller crop yield this season and that their Memorial Day weekend hours would be shortened. We made an effort to leave first thing in the morning. That “first thing in the morning” didn’t quite happen and we arrived at the farm at 11am. (Their hours for the day were to be closed at 1pm, so still plenty of time.) The traffic halted about a mile and a half from the gate and people were parking on the side of the road. We found a spot to park a mile away and started to unload. We noticed however a ton of people returning to their vehicles empty handed. Stuart asked someone and she said the farm was closed but that there were other orchards further down the road.

cherry picking 1

Down the road we went. We joined another mass of people and waited in line for almost an hour to get into this smaller orchard. They grow 6 varieties of cherries but two of them had already seen the end of their season. Predominately Bing and Rainier were the varieties ripe and ready to pick, though we did snag a small handful of Brooks and Utah Giants. Don’t ask me which are those latter two out of our three pound bag though!

Cherry Picking 2

Unlike our first choice orchard, this one didn’t have a picnic area. We instead ate our packed lunch in the back of the van when we returned from our harvesting adventure.

picnic in the car

Next year we will be more prepared and arrive when they open so we can check out the largest cherry orchard in Southern California. While still satisfied with our yield, the day ended up not being the one I’d envisioned. Fruit picking in California is quite different than in Ohio; way more people and a little more stress. But, now we know. Time to look for other fruit picking opportunities!

I will do my best to share my cherry creations while cherry season is still on. First up: scones.

When I told my mom we were making scones she immediately had to whip up her Blueberry Scones. I watched her make the dough via FaceTime and realized that her recipe looked a lot like the one I’d just made for the cherries. The only variations: whole wheat flour in place of all-purpose and heavy cream in place of milk, oh, and obviously cherries instead of blueberries.

Cherry Whole Wheat Scones (prep)

Cherry Whole Wheat Scones

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 C whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 C sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 stick cold butter, cubed
  • 2/3 – 3/4 C heavy cream
  • 1 C chopped fresh cherries

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the cubes of butter until it looks like crumbs.
  3. Add the cream and mix with a fork until combined. Fold in cherries.
  4. Form (“mush” is the term my mom used) dough into a disk and place on a baking sheet. Cut into 6-8 wedges. Spread wedges apart slightly if you want crispy edges or leave touching for soft edges.
  5. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown on the edge/top. Scones will be done when  toothpick inserted comes out cleanly.

*This recipe is adapted from Amy at http://www.wholesomelicious.com/cherry-pie-scones/*

Cherry Whole Wheat Scones Sew You Think You Can Cook

#MuffinMonday: Apple Carrot Muffins

~ lk529 ~ 15 Comments

Muffin Monday

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins to brighten their Mondays. There isn’t a theme to #MuffinMonday posts so anything goes, as long as it’s a muffin!

You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

My cookbook library received a well deserved expansion this past Christmas and we excitedly started cooking out of them immediately. One of the books I received was a signed copy of Giada’s Happy Cooking. This cookbook is quite different from her previous cookbooks in both feel and format. Looking through the book makes me feel like I’m going through a beautiful magazine instead of a book book. There’s even a very honest introduction written by Giada.

The first thing we made were the black bean brownies. All I can say is these were… different. To be fair, we changed it up and used a can of refried black beans instead of regular black beans. Stuart took the interesting result to work for others to try our experiment. Successful wouldn’t be the term to describe that baking adventure! Maybe we’ll give them another go and follow her recipe exactly.

Apple Carrot Muffins for #MuffinMonday from Sew You Think You Can Cook (2)

Today’s muffins came from Happy Cooking. I did have to use all AP flour because I was out of wheat flour and omitted the flax meal. As always, I used cinnamon applesauce in place of the unsweeted regular applesauce called for. I also substituted golden raisins in place of dried goji berries. (I wouldn’t recommend shredding baby carrots, but you do what you gotta do!) Even with my changes, these muffins were definitely successful!

This recipe makes one dozen muffins.

Carrot and Apple Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 6 tbsp butter, at room temperature
  • 1 C dark brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/4 C flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp allspice
  • 1/4 C cinnamon applesauce
  • 1/4 C apple juice
  • 1/2 – 2/3 C shredded carrot
  • 1/4 C golden raisins

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with liners.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and allspice. Add half of the flour mixture to the stand mixer and mix until combined.
  4. Add the applesauce and apple juice. Mix until incorporated.
  5. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until combined. Fold in the carrot and raisins.
  6. Divide batter among the prepared muffin tin.
  7. Bake 18 – 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out cleanly. Allow muffins to cool in the pan 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

*This recipe is modified from Giada’s Happy Cooking*

Apple Carrot Muffins for #MuffinMonday from Sew You Think You Can Cook (1)

And don’t forget to check out these other muffin recipes:

Blueberry Cornmeal Sourdough Muffins from Karen’s Kitchen Stories

Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins from Palatable Pastime

Cinnamon Molasses Muffins from Passion Kneaded

Cranberry White Chocolate Muffins from Making Miracles

Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Chocolate Muffins from Food Lust People Love

Sour Cream and Green Onion Corn Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Spicy and Sweet Hummus Muffins from Kelli’s Kitchen

Strawberry Vanilla Yogurt Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts

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