Blueberry cream cheese coffee cake

 I found a really old Sunset Magazine (2007) and checked out the recipes. This one stood out. Quite tricky to make, but spectacular at Poway Lake on Father's Day.

Elaine Wing Hillesland, owner of Alegria Oceanfront Inn and Cottages in Mendocino, CA, serves this cake to her bed-and-breakfast guests. It serves 10-12 people and takes an hour to prep and cook.

Ingredients

1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed

1/4 cup apple juice but I used canned mango

1 teaspoon cornstarch

2 cups all-purpose flour (separated use)

1 cup sugar (separated use)

1/2 cup cold butter, cut into chunks

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

3/4 cup plain yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla 

3 large eggs (used at different times)

6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

How to Make It

Berries

In a 1- to 2-quart pan over medium heat, bring blueberries and juice to a boil.
Lower heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until blueberries have released their juices, about 3 minutes.
In a small bowl, blend cornstarch and 2 teaspoons water.
Add to blueberry mixture; stir until it simmers and thickens, about 1 minute.
 Let cool to room temperature. I did this the night before. Saved a bunch of time.

Cake
In a bowl or food processor, mix or whirl flour and 3/4 cup sugar. Add butter to flour mixture.
Cut in with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
**Reserve 1/2 cup;
pour remaining into a large bowl.
Stir in baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon peel.


In a bowl, mix yogurt, vanilla, and 2 eggs until blended;
stir into flour-baking powder mixture until incorporated.
Spread batter in a buttered 9-inch round cake pan with a removable rim.

Cream Cheese

In a bowl or food processor (no need to wash from step 2), beat with an electric mixer on high speed or whirl cream cheese, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, remaining egg, and lemon juice until smooth.
 Spread over batter in pan, leaving a 1/2-inch border bare.
Gently spread blueberry mixture over cream cheese mixture, leaving some visible.
 Stir almonds into reserved flour mixture and sprinkle over cake, concentrating most around edge of batter.


Bake in a 350° oven until center of cake barely jiggles when pan is gently shaken and top of cake is golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then remove pan rim. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Sprinkle with icing sugar

https://www.sunset.com/recipe/blueberry-cream-cheese-coffee-cake

Jesse's Pizza Dough

 

Trying to figure out what kind of pizza dough will work in our pizza oven. Jesse recommended this recipe adapted from pizza heaven.

This will make 6 11-12 inch Neapolitan pizzas:

• 1kg or 1 bag Tipo 00 flour 
• 622 ml cool water 
• 25.9 g of fine sea salt 
•  1.13 g of active dry yeast 

Use a large mixing bowl.

Mix water and salt.

Add 10% of the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until smooth

Add yeast stir until dissolved

Gradually add the rest of the flour while mixing

Put dough onto counter and knead for 15-20 minutes

Leave uncovered for 15-30 minutes

Fold the dough over a few times making a smooth round dough ball.

Place in an airtight container and let rise for 14 hours.

Happy Eating!

https://thepizzaheaven.com/authentic-neapolitan-pizza-dough-recipe/

Ingredients for Authentic Neapolitan Pizza Dough

Authentic Neapolitan pizza dough consists of only 4 simple ingredients: flour, water, salt, and yeast. And to get the best result, make sure you use quality ingredients.

This will make 6 11-12 inch Neapolitan pizzas:

• 922g Tipo 00 flour (100%)
• 553ml cool water (60%)
• 23g of fine sea salt (3%)
• 1g of fresh yeast (0.1%) or 0.28g of active dry yeast (0.03%)

What you’ll need to make Authentic Neapolitan pizza

Here are a few things you need to make Neapolitan pizza:

• A mixing bowl
• A kitchen scale (preferable an accurate 0.01g scale) to measure ingredients
• A proofing box (or alternatively small air-tight containers that can hold one pizza dough ball each)
• A pizza peel to transfer the pizza in and out of the oven
• A pizza oven (alternatively a pizza stone or steel – but heat is key!)
• (optional) A dough scraper or spatula to handle the dough
• (optional) An infrared thermometer to check the temperature of your oven

You’ll also need Neapolitan pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings for the pizza.

 

Kumquat Upside Down Cake 

 total time: 1 hours 50 minutes

 

 

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INGREDIENTs

• 1 tsp. vanilla
• ½ tsp. salt
• Caramel Topping
• 1½ lbs. kumquats, halved and deseeded
  1 stick (4 oz)  unsalted butter
  ¾ cup light brown sugar (I used 1/2)
  3 Tbs honey
  ½ tsp. vanilla
  ½ tsp. salt
  Handful of blueberries
  
  Cake Batter
• 1 1/3 cup sugar 
• 1 1/3 cup flour
  1½ tsp. baking powder
  ¾ tsp. salt (more like a pinch
  1 cup (8 oz) softened butter
  1 1/3 cup sugar (just over a cup)
  5 room temp. eggs
  1 tsp. vanilla 

---

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 335ºF.
2. Melt butter pan.
   Add brown sugar/ stir Remove from heat. Add vanilla, honey and salt, and stir to combine.
   Put in 9x12 pan
3. Add the fruit to caramel mixture — fit as much as you can inside. 
4. Make the batter: Put softened butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating on high. Add vanilla.
5. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients.
   Add to wet ingredients until combined.
6. Carefully spoon or pour batter over kumquats, taking caution not to disturb the fruit. Carefully smooth the batter.
7. Place cake in oven on the middle rack. Bake for about 1 hour, checking after 45 minutes. Test the cake with a toothpick, making sure it is cooked in the middle. Take a butter knife and loosen edges along the pan. Put cake on a wire rack and let it cool for about 30 minutes.
8. Put a large platter face down over cast iron pan and flip cake
   I am also considering dripping dark chocolate over it. MMMMM

• Adapted from https://alexandracooks.com/2009/06/03/kumquat-upside-down-cake/

Arugula Pesto

 What to do with a whole bunch of arugula? Make Pesto

I for sure prefer basil pesto, but my better half does not. He did like this however. Popped it on some noodles and sprinkled parmesan over it.

• 5 cups arugula
• ¼ cup walnuts
• ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 clove garlic
• ¼  cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Put the arugula, garlic and walnuts in a food processor. 

Process until fairly smooth. 

Slowly add the olive oil in a steady stream while running the food processor

Add the Parmesan  and process more.

 Stir in the salt and pepper. 

Pour over cooked pasta or bruschetta and enjoy!

I froze the left overs since we are out of town soon.

From https://www.tulsakids.com/what-to-do-when-you-have-too-much-arugula/#:~:text=If%20your%20arugula%20is%20going,imagination%20can%20come%20up%20with.

Impossible burger Shepherds Pie

 

• 4 tbs butter, divided
• 12 oz Impossible Burger
• 2 med shallots, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots, thawed
• 8 ounces brown gravy ( See bottom: I made https://www.jamieoliver.com/videos/how-to-make-vegan-gravy-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/
•              salt and ground black pepper 
• 3 cups mashed potatoes 
• 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Instructions Checklist

• Step 1   Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Step 2

  Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Cook and stir the meatless ground beef with shallots and garlic until browned and crumbly and shallots are soft, about 10 minutes. Add peas and carrots, gravy, salt, and pepper. Saute for 5 minutes.

• Step 3

  Spread the mixture onto the bottom of a 10-inch 7x11 baking dish. Spread mashed potatoes evenly over the top. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese and dot with remaining butter.

• Step 4

  Bake in the center of the preheated oven until the cheese and butter have fully melted, about 20 minutes. Top with parsley and serve.

Original recipe can be found here.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/282279/impossible-shepherds-pie/

Gravy

A large handful of brown topped mushrooms. Saute in hot pan without stirring.

Add half a large onion, chopped roughly  You want the onion to brown not sweat

After 2-3 minutes, add 2 carrots chopped.

Then some thyme and 2 bay leaves.

Sprinkle the whole mixture with flour for a little thickening.

After 2-3 minutes add a stalk of celery chopped

Then a squirt of black coffee

And a touch of soy sauce.

Add a cup or two of stock and simmer.

The actual recipe says to crush everything and filter out the pieces.

I just added everything into my shepherds pie.

Pretzel Bake Off

 So, we were getting ready for the super bowl, and Dave decided we should bring pretzels. He bought pizza dough, I had my home made pizza dough and then I made pretzel dough. All the pretzels were acceptable, but the Alton Brown Pretzel was sublime

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-soft-pretzels-recipe-1948242

Total time: 2 hours   Prep 30 min  Cook 25 min       Yield 8 pretzels

Ingredient

1  1/2 cups warm water

1 tbsp. sugar

2 tsp kosher salt

1 package yeast

22 oz all purpose flour, (4 1/2 cups)

2 oz butter, melted

Vegetable oil, for pan

10 cups water

2/3 cups baking soda

1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp water

Pretzel Salt- wish we had some.

Directions

1. Combine the water, sugar and  salt in the bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. 
2. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. 
3. Add the flour and butter and, mix until well combined. 
4. Knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, (4 to 5 minutes.)
5. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. 
6. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for  1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
7. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. 
8. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.
9. Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan.
10. Turn the dough out onto an oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. 
11. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. 
12. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. 
13. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.
14. Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. or until they float.
15. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. 
16. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Too bad we only had margarita salt.
17. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. 
18. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.]

Asparagus Spinach Feta Quiche

 https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/asparagus-spinach-feta-quiche/

This recipe was a great starting point.

Instead of fresh spinach, I used 2 cups of frozen spinach.

I used double the asparagus as well because we needed to get rid of it.

I used double the cheese and it was a mixture of parmesan and cheddar.

Plus I added a sprinkle of oregano and basil for good measure.

Also, I didn't have green onions so I added 1/4 a large onion and sauted it with the asparagus. 

The biggest thing was the shell. The website recommended a recipe from a book. So I had to hunt around.

https://www.confettiandbliss.com/flaky-quiche-crust/

This turned out to be amazing and I did not prebake it.

For pastry

1 egg

2 1/2 tbs ice water

1 1/2 c flour

1/2 tsp salt (way too much)

10 tbs butter, cut in small cubes

Ingredients

  

• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 8 asparagus spears ends removed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 4 cups fresh baby spinach
• 5 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 green onions chopped
• 1 9- inch pie crust

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pie dough and stick in freezer while you prepare the other quiche ingredients.
• In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the asparagus spears, and spinach. Cook until asparagus spears are slightly tender and spinach is wilted. Transfer spinach to a colander. Press firmly with the back of a spoon to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Stir in the feta and mozzarella cheese. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Remove pie crust from the freezer. Place asparagus pieces, spinach, and green onions on the bottom of the crust. Pour the egg and cheese mixture over the vegetables and into the crust.
• Bake the quiche for 45 minutes or until quiche is set and slightly golden brown. Let quiche stand for 15 minutes before serving.