Lemon Blueberry Bread

Who doesn’t love bread? I am still full from my Disney extravaganza yesterday that I didn’t even want to eat this bread after I baked it. I did though, obviously, and it was delicious! I don’t love a lot of blueberries in general, but the combination of blueberries and lemon work really well together. Recipe below!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Butter an 8×4 inch loaf pan, line the bottom and two sides of the pan with the parchment paper, as shown in the photo.
3. In a mixing bowl, beat together butter, 1 cup sugar, lemon juice and eggs.
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; stir into egg mixture alternately with milk.
5. In the same bowl where you combined flour, add blueberries and toss them in 2 tablespoons of flour. This will help prevent blueberries from sinking.
6. Fold in lemon zest, and blueberries into the batter. Pour batter into prepared pan.
7. Bake in preheated oven for about 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool bread in pan for 40 minutes on a wire rack.

I don’t have a zester tool so my lemon zest was a bit too large so that was unfortunate, but overall still very good. I put butter on my piece and it was excellent.

 

Enjoy!!

Homemade Kettle Corn

I have always been a huge fan of Kettle Corn and it is always the best when you buy it at a fair or farmer’s market. The microwaved kind is pretty good, but nothing beats the real deal. Today I tried making my own. Recipe below!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon coarse salt

Directions:

In a large pot with a tight fitting lid, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the popcorn. When the oil sizzles, sprinkle the sugar over the kernels. Cover and shake the pot until the popping slows down. Remove from heat and toss with the salt.

Some bites are good and some taste like the oil. It probably could use a bit more sugar and salt. It is ok though, I think I might stick to the microwave kind. It is an easy recipe though and only take a few minutes. Some of my pieces were a little burnt, but it looks like the real kind. Just missing that overall flavor in every bite.

 

Enjoy!!

Three Berry Scones

Good morning! If you haven’t already eaten breakfast, make these scones! They are very delicious and very light. I had some troubles making them, but really they are very easy. I have learned that fresh raspberries are very hard to work with so use at your own discretion. Weight Watcher’s folks, this comes right from the Weight Watcher’s website and are 3 points plus! Definitely a perfect treat for 3 points. Recipe below!

Ingredients:

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

3 Tbsp Sugar

1 Tbsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Salt

2 Tbsp Regular Butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1 Cup Low-Fat Buttermilk

1 1/2 Cup Unsweetend Frozen Mixed Berries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line  baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix in butter until mixture is size of fine crumbs. Stir in buttermilk, then berries.

3. On a prepared baking sheet, shape dough into two 7 inch circles. Cut each into 6 wedges; oat with butter-flavored cooking spray.

4. Bake until cooked through and golden, about 20 minutes. Yields one wedge per serving.

I couldn’t make the dough into 2 circles, and frankly, I didn’t even try. I rolled mine into a log and cut 12 pieces, so mine came out round. Pretty much the same thing right? I also missed the spray with butter flavored cooking spray step. Mine tasted good without that so I would say if you don’t have that in your house, don’t worry about it!

 

Like I said before, I tried to use fresh raspberries and blueberries, but the raspberries were too hard to work with so I had to throw out that dough and start over. My second batch, which is above, is just fresh blueberries and a tiny bit of lemon juice and some lemon zest. They taste very good, I am happy with how the lemon flavor came out in them.

The dough is hard to work with when mixing in the berries, so be careful. In my second attempt, I mixed in the berries at the same time I was mixing in the buttermilk so it would be easier to mix. I also mixed it with my hands once the buttermilk became mixed in. There are some pieces that have more blueberries than others, but what can you do!

Enjoy!

Orange Sherbert Cake

Orange Sherbert Cake is perfect for the summer! It is so light and refreshing, not to mention, very easy to make! There are only a few ingredients and there is no baking involved. Recipe below.

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups whipping cream
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 11 oz. box Nilla Wafers, finely crushed
• 1.5 quart sherbet, softened

Directions:

1. Beat the whipping cream with the sugar and vanilla until fairly stiff.
2. In medium bowl, combine 1 cup of the whipped whipping cream with the crushed Nilla Wafers, (reserving 1 cup of the Nilla Wafer crumbs for the top).
3. Spray the bottom of a 9 x 13 glass pan and press the cookie crust mixture on the bottom.
4. Spread softened sherbert over the top evenly.
5. Spread remaining whipped whipping cream over sherbet.
6. Sprinkle remaining cookie crumbs over the top and freeze.
7. Let set in freezer at least 3 hours before serving.

You can substitute the whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla with regular cool whip. I have never made my own whip cream so knowing how to make it now has blown my mind. (It’s the little things)

 

 

 

This is so delicious! It has a creamsicle taste to it with the orange sherbert and whipped cream combination. The crust is just perfect. I don’t really know how anyone could not like it.

 

Enjoy!

 

Cinnamon Rolls

If there is one breakfast food that I really love it is Cinnamon Rolls! I found an alternative version for those doing weight watchers and thought I would give it a try. If you aren’t on weight watchers, you might just end up eating all of them. They are so delicious!!

Ingredients:

8 ounces reduced-fat crescent rolls

4 teaspoons sugar-cinnamon (I did equal amounts, 2 teaspoons each)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons skim milk

Directions:

1. Unroll crescent dough; separate into 2 pieces. Press perforations together and sprinkle each with half of the sugar-cinnamon.

2. Roll up 1 section, starting on long side and press firmly to eliminate air pockets. Pinch seam to seal. Cut each roll into 10 slices (For a total of 20 slices)

3. Place rolls on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees.

4. Once golden brown remove from oven. Whisk together powdered sugar and milk. Pour over warm rolls.

Each roll is only 1 points plus on Weight Watchers. Such an easy recipe, takes no time at all. They are so good, I dare you to just eat one!

Enjoy!

 

Chocolate Fudge

Don’t worry, I am back! I was on vacation last weekend. That actually brings me to the idea for this Sunday’s post. We were in a lot of stores selling fudge so since being back home that is all I could think about. I decided to make some on my own and this recipe is so simple I couldn’t pass it up.

Ingredients

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Directions

1. Line a square 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Over low heat, in a medium sized pot, add the chocolate chips, condensed milk and salt, and stir with a wooden spoon until chips are melted.
3. Remove from heat and add the vanillas. (If you don’t have vanilla paste, just double up on the vanilla extract.)
4. Pour into the parchment lined baking pan and spread evenly. Refrigerate for 4 hours until firm.

The fudge is so good, who needs to buy it already made! I had some extra Heath Toffee pieces so I decided to throw them in when I was mixing in the vanilla extract. It gives the fudge a bit of a crunch and adds an extra flavor. I would say you could mix in anything you want before you pour it in the pan to let it set.

Enjoy!

Banana Bread

This is probably the easiest banana bread recipe ever. There are only 3 ingredients! I decided I would make mine to take up to Disney World with my family that is visiting from out of state. I made it gluten free so that my cousin would be able to have some. I have never made anything with gluten free anything so I was a bit nervous for how it would come out. Let’s see how it turned out!

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix (I used the gluten free yellow cake mix)

3 bananas

2 eggs

Directions:

1. Mash up the 3 bananas and mix with the eggs.

2. Mix in the yellow cake mix

3. Bake for 40 minutes at 350.

 

I think I should have mashed the bananas more, but I think it still came out just fine. Made my kitchen smell amazing. My cousin has given the seal of approval, it is very good!!

 

Enjoy!!

Pudding Pops

Sorry, the post is late today. It has been a very busy weekend with a kitchen under construction. Now this recipe is something everyone can make when they have no time and only a kitchen table to work on. It is so easy and only 2 ingredients!

Ingredients:

1 box pudding (your choice!)

2 cups of milk

Directions:

Mix 1 package pudding with 2 cups of milk.

Pour into popsicle molds.

Freeze. (I froze mine for 9 hours)

So easy and so very delicious!

Enjoy!

Raspberry Crumb Bars

Happy Sunday! The weekend sure does fly by! Today I give you Raspberry Crumb Bars. I really enjoyed these and there aren’t a lot of ingredients. It is super easy to make and I think everyone will love them.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup rolled oats (old fashioned)
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup raspberry jam, seedless if preferred

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 by 8-inch baking dish with aluminum foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang of foil on two sides. Grease foil. (I used parchment paper so I didn’t have to grease anything)
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in oats and brown sugar, and use clean fingertips as needed to break up brown sugar clumps. Add butter, and using fingertips, work butter into mixture until evenly moistened.
• Add 2 cups of the oat mixture to the prepared baking dish and press into an even layer. Spread raspberry jam into an even layer over oat layer, coming within 1/4-inch of all edges. Sprinkle top evenly with remaining oat mixture, then slightly press into jam layer.
• Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 34 – 38 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting into squares. Store in an airtight container.
• Recipe Source: adapted from allrecipes

I used All Natural Red Raspberry Jam from Smuckers. You can use seedless if you prefer. I cut mine into 16 pieces and for my friends out there on weight watchers, that would be 4 pts +. If you cut them into 9 pieces that would be 5 pts +.  I think you could eat it for breakfast or dessert.

Enjoy!

 

 

Double Feature: Ham and Bean Soup and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy First Day of June!!

Today I give you 2 recipes. Both of which came out good enough to eat, but not amazing. You all may have better luck, so let’s get on with it.

First up, Ham and Bean Soup. This one was kind of winged while at the grocery store, so not a lot of preparation went into it. It was also really easy to put throw together. I used a crock pot, so I dumped everything into it and let it do the work.

Ingredients:

16 ounces of beans

8 cups of water

Bone of ham (I used the leftover bone from the ham from Easter)

1/2 tsp of salt

1 cup chopped carrots

1/2 stalk of celery (chopped)

1 cup chopped onions

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp white ground pepper

2 bay leaves

Directions:

1. Pour water in crockpot.

2. Rinse beans before putting them in crockpot.

3. Add rest of ingredients.

4. I let it cook for a few hours and then cut off the rest of the ham off the bone and served without the bone.

It was good! I would definitely give it a try.

 

Last but not least of the double feature, Chocolate Chip Cookies. I have been kind of craving some chocolate chip cookies lately, so I decided I should just make my own. Note to self: make sure you know how much flour you have BEFORE you are knee dip in blending everything together.

Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 sticks of butter,softened
2. 1 cup of brown sugar, packed
3. 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
4. 2 large eggs
5. 1 tbsp vanilla
6. 1 tsp baking soda
7. 1/2 tsp salt
8. 2 cups of all purpose flour
9. 2 cups of chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Combine your butter, sugar, and brown sugar in a medium sized bowl. Next blend with a mixer, your eggs and vanilla until thoroughly blended. Then add in your baking soda and salt. Slowly add in your flour until its all blended thoroughly. Last fold in your chocolate chips. Roll into 1 1/2 inch balls onto a lined with parchment paper baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 11-12 minutes.

Ok, so this is a major fail on my part because I ran out of flour. Since I didn’t have all 2 cups of flour, it was too soft to roll into balls. I had to just use a spoon and drop them on the pan. They are pretty flat and I had to pay attention to the timing because they would burn if I cooked them the whole time.

They still taste good, they are a bit chewy, but definitely edible and enjoyable. Always check your ingredients before you start cooking!

 

Enjoy!