Blueberry lemon bread

Well, it sure has been a while. My 2013 posting count is pretty abominable (2, as of May!). As usual, I blame it on the doggy. Anyway, I've decided to leave my commentary on these blog posts to a minimum, and focus on the food. No one wants to hear me whine about my poor blogging performance on every post. And, when I look at most food blogs, it annoys me that I have to scroll down a huge page full of blahblahblah by someone I don't know to get to the recipe I want to use. I finally got a new awesome-sauce camera that makes me more excited about taking food photos, so hopefully that will give me some incentive to post. Hooray, back to baking! (and cooking, I guess.)

1.5 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter (melted)
1/2-1 cup sugar (depending how sweet you want it)
1/4 cup of lemon juice
2 tbs lemon zest
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 cups of blueberries (I use frozen)
1/2 cup buttermilk (I use regular milk with a little bit of lemon juice)

Put everything in a bowl. Mix it up. (Maybe save the blueberries for last, and fold them in.) Scrape into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes until a knife or toothpick comes out clean. Easy peasey. 

(If you want to do it the hard way, click here)

Blueberry Coconut Oatmeal Pudding

Terrible photo, awesome recipe. Quick steel cut oats with coconut milk and blueberries. Mm mm mmm. Worth it even when blueberries are expensive (or you could use frozen). I skipped the rose water included in the original recipe, but if you can find it, might be worth a try! This actually makes quite a bit, so be ready to eat this for breakfast for a week or have for a snack/dessert frequently!


1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 14-ounce can unsweetened low-fat coconut milk
2 to 4 tablespoons mild honey or agave nectar (to taste)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup quick-cooking steel-cut oats
(1/2 teaspoon rose water - if you want it/can find it)
1 cup blueberries

1. Combine the water, salt, coconut milk, honey or agave nectar and vanilla in a large (3-quart) saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in the oatmeal and bring back to a boil, stirring. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in half the blueberries, cover, and cook another 5 minutes, until the oats are cooked and the mixture is creamy.

2. Stir in the rose water and the remaining blueberries. Turn off the heat, return the lid and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve right away, or spoon into serving dishes and allow to cool in the refrigerator.


Original recipe (nytimes)

Lemon blueberry buckle

YUM. This makes me drool just looking at it. This was Dave's birthday "cake" for me - I picked it out instead of a cake because I thought it would be more interesting. And that it was. I normally don't like lemon-flavored desserts all that much but I loved this. I had also never made or even heard of a buckle before, but I'll definitely look for more recipes after this one! When we were making this, we were thinking that the lemon glaze for the top was unnecessary - but it IS necessary. Once it sits for a bit it gets crunchy and just awesome on the top. Just do it.


Crumb topping
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cubed, at room temperature

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Add the butter, using a fork or your fingers to cut in the butter until it is reduced to the size of peas. Loosely cover the bowl, and place it in the freezer while you mix the cake batter.

Cake and assembly
6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the pan
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I used dried nutmeg - it's a 1:1 ratio fresh to dried)
3/4 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar, divided
Zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk (or sour milk, milk + vinegar or lemon juice)
2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, divided
Crumb topping, chilled
Juice of 2 lemons (about 6 tablespoons)

Lightly grease a 9-inch square baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the butter, three-fourths cup sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.

Stir the flour mixture into the bowl, a third at a time, alternating with the buttermilk, until both the flour mixture and buttermilk are evenly incorporated into the batter. Gently fold 1 cup of the blueberries into the batter.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan and distribute the remaining blueberries evenly over the top of the batter. Remove the crumb topping from the freezer and sprinkle it over the berries.

Bake the cake at 350 degrees until it is lightly golden and firm on top, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through for even baking.

While the cake is baking, make a lemon syrup: In a small saucepan, combine the remaining one-third cup sugar with the lemon juice and whisk until blended. Heat the pan over medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid thickens to a syrupy consistency, 6 to 8 minutes. (The glaze will bubble while cooking and may need to be removed from the heat to check that it is the proper consistency.) Remove from heat and set aside in a warm place.

Remove the cake from the oven and drizzle the warm glaze over. Cool to room temperature. The cake will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days, covered in plastic wrap (or in the fridge for a week or so).



Original recipe here

Mango Blueberry Quinoa Salad with Lemon Basil Dressing

I tried this recipe last week, and it's a pretty good summer salad recipe. Not too hard - unless you get bad mangoes! I bought 2 mangoes for this, and both were stringy and bitter. So, I had my Mango Blueberry Quinoa Salad sans mango. I didn't take a photo of this one (I was probably too angry about the mango), but the photo on the Veggie Belly blog should serve the purpose. I just realized a minute ago that the name of the blog was Veggie Belly....I may have to look into that one further...


For the quinoa
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water

For the fruits and veggies
½ cup fresh blueberries
½ cup cubed ripe mangoes
½ cup cubed cucumbers
1/2 tablespoon dried cranberries

For the lemon basil dressing
1½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
10 Basil leaves, chopped finely
Salt and pepper

Place the quinoa and water in a medium skillet and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat, and simmer covered for about 15 minutes or till the quinoa is cooked. Remove the lid, and fluff the quinoa with a fork. Let it cool to room temperature.

While the quinoa is cooking, combine the fruits in a bowl and refrigerate till you are ready to serve the salad.

Whisk together all the dressing ingredients, except the chopped basil. Refrigerate till you are ready to serve. Chop and add the basil to the dressing just before serving. If you add it earlier, it will go black.

Add half the dressing to the quinoa and mix gently.

Assemble the salad just before serving – toss the quinoa, fruits and cucumbers together. Serve other half of the dressing on the side. Serve immediately.

(I ate mine in a few batches, and mixed everything together except the basil until I was ready to eat.)


Original recipe here (and Veggie Belly blog!)