Blueberry Cake

The blueberries in my yard have just exploded and it was time to pick a bunch today. I got about 10 cups off of the 3 bushes just today. There will be more on the way. We have given away some and now we must use them while they are fresh. We still have some in the freezer from last year! They are really good over ice cream, just simple and sweet. I thought I would continue the adventures of cooking with xylitol and make a blueberry cake.

We have a family recipe that involves butter and the main ingredients seen below, for the most part. Keeping that in mind, I modified a recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen for blueberry boy bait, a wonderful cake. I used the milk we had on hand, instead of whole. I added 1 tsp. vanilla to the recipe. I used xylitol everywhere the recipe called for granulated sugar. I did use the brown sugar where called for.

So I cut out about 3/4 of the granulated sugar. Where it lacks in grams of sugar, it makes up for it in butter!

I baked it at 350 for 40 min. instead of 45-50 min. Voila!

You could just dig in and eat it plain like this. Yum.

Or you could squirt some whipping cream on and a few more blueberries for good measure.

Or you could squirt on a TON of whipping cream, like my husband did here:

Either way....it was good. Time for a walk to burn off some of those calories!

Wearin' of the Green

Check out the cute cupcake for my hubby with Guiness/Irish Cream flavoring, which we snagged at U- Village Trophy Cupcakes. Fun place!
And in the spirit of the "Green"...I will show you what I've been dreaming of making next:

Helleborus Yoke, from Knitscene Winter/Spring 2010

Love, love, love it! I have some "Green Bushes" Aran weight wool that I got in Portland at Dublin Yarns, made by Kerry Woollen Mills in Ireland. I thought: How appropriate for a cute cabled sweater such as this.., but it calls for a bulkier weight yarn so I am thinking this over. The Thaki Tweed Alpaca they used in the magazine is no longer available in the green, and most stores I have checked do not carry it.

Edited to add: I did find some of the olive green Tahki Tweed/Alpaca at two online shops, in two separate states. I found 8 skeins at: FiberWild. They had great customer service and were a pleasure to work with. The other 3 skeins I found at: MyKnitch. The amazing part is that the skeins are of the same dyelot! After days of searching, I about fell over from shock learning that news! Unfortunately this yarn is discontinued, so if you intend on doing this pattern, you will need to scour the nation to find it, or use another bulky. I will save this Aran wool below for another project :) Enjoy your darlin' corned beef, and Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!

Three Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

Sent to me by my friend, Joy, this is a dangerous cake recipe that can be made in three minutes!
In a mug, mix: 4 Tablespoons flour, 4 Tablespoons sugar (seemed like alot), 2 Tablespoons cocoa

Add 1 egg and stir it in well. Stir in 3 Tablespoons oil and 3 Tablespoons milk (don't forget the milk!) and a splash of vanilla.I added a square of Scharfen Berger chocolate at this point. You can add in 3 Tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)Microwave for 3 minutes on power level 8. Let cool a bit...

Since I was a doofus and forgot to add the milk, I had to get a knife to loosen it out of mug.
Served with ice cream and shared with hubby!

It came out really well even if I did forget to add the milk! It was drier than it would've been otherwise. Will do for fun with the office ladies tomorrow. THEN the diet begins!

Still Eating

Here we are still eating away....I would have to say that I am doing more eating than knitting, and it's got to be because of the fruit thing and the summer thing going on. This is my absolute favorite appetizer in the world. Fresh mozarella on Vinta crackers with ripe tomato and fresh basil. Got the live plant at Trader Joes and it is great weather for keeping it alive. Sometimes I bring it in out of the sun to let it have a break. Nothing like fresh basil!

The nectarines get ripe quickly in the heat and must be made into Peach (I use nectarines) Pie of course! No need to peel the nectarines. This is a great recipe my sis- in -law gave me and incorporates a little sour cream in the buttery crust and also in the topping you pour over the peaches (nectarines). It is baked covered most of the time, then uncovered to get finished off. A family favorite. I'm sure you could use other fruit in the recipe as well.

On the grill we tried halving the nectarines, brushing with oil and grilling a few minutes each side. I made a raspberry sauce with fresh raspberries and some of my raspberry jam to pour over. Delish!

We had never tried using our cedar planks on the grill so this was our first attempt at doing salmon. You soak the planks first. Another recipe says to oil the plank first. It turned out really nice. The wood burns this way though so I would use a new plank each time if done this same way.

Blueberry Cobbler and Strawberry Jam

After calling every store in the vicinity the past two days, I finally found the freezer jam pectin I like. It's in a little envelope. If you have never made freezer jam, it is SO EASY. Just put four cups of cut up fruit in bowl, mash it with a potato masher, and then in separate bowl, mix the pectin with the sugar (my recipe uses 1 1/2 c. sugar to one package pectin to 4 cups fruit) stir the whole bunch together until dissolved, then ladle into 8 oz. freezer jars. Let sit 30 min. Voila! Freezer Jam! NO cooking needed!

I had enough of last year's blueberries in the freezer to do a cobbler recipe I found in the newspaper. The topping is actually more like a crumbly shortbread mixture rather than your typical doughy cobbler. Therefore the name:

A TECHNICALLY INCORRECT BUT VERY GOOD SUMMER FRUIT COBBLER

(That really was the name)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Filling:

6 c. diced fruit

1 1/2 c. sugar (depending on the sweetness of your fruit, may decrease sugar)

4 T. cornstarch

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

lemon juice, optional (I threw in a tsp.)

pinch salt

Place in a sprayed, or greased 7 c. baking dish

Blend topping:

10 T. butter, room temperature (Blend butter and sugars, vanilla together first)

1/3 c. white sugar

1/3 c. brown sugar

1/4. tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

Add 2 c. flour

Blend until crumbly. Spoon over filling lightly.

Bake 45-55 min. until bubbling and thick. Topping should be a rich golden brown.

Serve with ice cream, of course! We are going to break out the Donvier Ice Cream maker tonight.

You mix 4 c. of light cream or 1/2 and 1/2, vanilla and sugar (Yes, very fattening!) and put it into the frozen cylinder and crank it for a few min. and there you have it, homemade ice cream!

Now we'll need a jog around the block!

Cupcake Royale

My daughter brought home the most AMAZING cupcakes last night from Cupcake Royale. I ate the pink one with chocolate sprinkles. I took a picture before I ate it, (obviously) it was so cute.

The other one I will save for my husband...maybe...if he eats it quickly!