Blackberry Coffee Cake

Extended Shelf Life for: Blackberries

 We're still flying high on the recent salvaging of blackberries and every time I pull out a bag from the freezer, my heart rejoices and my taste buds wait in anticipation.

While I love berry dishes and cooking berry filled pies, cobblers or smoothies, we don't often spend money on fresh berries...because, well, we don't often spend money on any fresh produce :)

But berries only come around so often and when they do, it truly is a treat, so waking up a few mornings to enjoy this Blackberry Coffee Cake has definitely put me on cloud nine!

Ingredients/Directions:
From Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

In a medium saucepan combine 1 1/2-2 cups fresh or frozen Blackberries and 1/4 cup Water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes until fruit is tender. Combine 1/4 cup Sugar and 2 Tbsp. Cornstarch and stir into fruit. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir an additional 2 minutes, then set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a medium bowl combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cups Sugar, 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder and 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda. Cut in 1/4 cup Butter until mixture is coarse. Make a well in the center, set aside.

In a small bowl combine 1 beaten Egg, 1/2 cup Buttermilk and 1/2 tsp. Vanilla. Add this mixture, all at once, to the flour mixture. Stir until just moistened, batter should be lumpy.

Spread half of the batter in an un-greased square baking pan. Spread fruit filling on top and drop remaining batter in small mounds on top of fruit filling.

In another small bowl, stir together 1/4 cup Flour and 1/4 Cup Sugar. Cut in 2 Tbsp. Butter until misture is coarse, sprinkle over coffee cake.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden. Cool slightly, serve warm.

German Mish-mash Breakfast

Extended Shelf Life for: Bread Heels, Onions

I think bread heels are slightly obnoxious...until you learn to use them in delicious ways that is.

Since I purchased the Juicer that Can do Everything, I have made my own bread crumbs simply by saving the heels in the freezer until I have enough to fill up a cookie sheet to dry out, on low heat in the oven before running them through the juicer (mincing nozzle of course, not the juicing nozzle).

However, the other day, I had a few bread heels leftover and happened to read this page on Squidoo, which has a handful of great, frugal, use-up-things-in-the-kitchen-recipes, the first of which was this German Mish-mash which was incredibly easy and so, stinkin' delicious!

Ingredients/Directions:

In a heavy skillet, melt 3 Tbsp. Butter, when it's melted, add half of a sliced onion and stir for a couple of minutes until onions are tender and little brown. Add two slices of bread that have been cubed and stir until they absorb all the butter and become little bite sized toasts. Pour in two beaten eggs, coat bread and onions, cook until eggs are no longer runny. Season with salt and pepper, enjoy!

Avocado Bread

Extended Shelf Life: Avocados

The problem, so to speak, with dumpster diving is that you never know what you're going to get, which I've come to love. However, you also never know that you just might end up with a few more avocados even though you just froze a couple dozen.

The not so problematic part of this problem is, since you've done some research on how to use avocados you'll actually be quite happy to discover that the new handful of avocados isn't in quite as bad as shape as the others and doesn't require you to add chocolate to account for color issues.

So now, you get to try a non-chocolate avocado bread, although you never really complained about having Chocolate Avocado Bread in the first place.

Ingredients/Directions:
From Fleur De-Licious

I was so intrigued by the original recipe that I didn't stray from the recipe, and I'm glad I didn't, the combination of white flour, wheat flour and corn meal was really quite amazing!

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit, butter and flour a loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup Corn Meal, 1 cup All Purpose Flour, 3/4 cups Wheat Flour, 1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder, 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda and 1/4 tsp. Salt, set aside.

In a large bowl, "cream" together 2 Ripe Avocados and 1 cup Sugar with a rubber spatula. Add 2/3 cups Vegetable Oil and 2 Eggs and whisk until well combined. Whisk in 1/2 cup Buttermilk of Plain Yogurt as well as 1 tsp. Orange (or Lemon) Zest.

Add dry ingredients to Avocado Mixture until just incorporated. Pour batter into pan and bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy for breakfast, snack or dessert!

Blackberry-Orange Biscuit Rolls

Extended Shelf Life for: Blackberries, Orange

Sometimes, brilliant ideas are spawned from a dumpster arrival of blackberries and an orange already on the shelf, waiting to be used. And sometimes, those brilliant ideas are compounded by the fact that one of your favorite, most spectacular friends has a birthday the next day.

So you dream and ponder and before you know it your pulling Blackberry-Orange Biscuits Rolls out of the oven, drizzling them with a fine orange glaze and praising the Lord for creativity, dumpster abundance and birthdays!

Ingredients/Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 Fahrenheit.

In a bowl stir together 2 cups All Purpose Flour, 1 Tbsp. Sugar, 2 tsp. Baking Powder, 1 tsp. Orange Zest, 1/4 tsp. Salt and 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda. Cut in 1/2 cup Butter with a pastry blender until mixture is coarse and crumbly.

Make a well in center dry mix and add 6 oz. of Yogurt and 1 Tbsp. Milk, mix with a fork until just moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed 10-12 strokes until dough is smooth. Pat or roll dough out to 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick.

In a small bowl, sprinkle a handful or 1/2 cup of Blackberries with Sugar and mash with a fork. Sprinkle with 1-2 tsp. of Cornstarch and mix again.

Spread Blackberry mixture onto biscuit dough. Carefully roll dough as you would for cinnamon rolls.

Carefully slice the biscuit log and create biscuits that about 1/2 inch thick. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until dough is golden brown.

For the Glaze:

In a small bowl, combine 3/4 cups Powdered Sugar with 1 tsp. Orange Zest and 3-4 tsp. of Orange Juice until you reach glazing consistency.

Cinnamon Rolls

Nothing here needed an extended shelf life...and honestly the recipe isn't anything special or different, but sometimes, I just like to remember when I bake delicious things - this is one of those times: My first cinnamon rolls since returning to Laramie.

Grateful to have a bread machine to do the dough.
Grateful to have an oven big enough to manage a tray of these.
Grateful for Cream Cheese Frosting.
Grateful to have neighbors and friends to share them with.

If I just got your hopes up and you were looking for a cinnamon roll recipe, have no fear, I do have a couple posted here at 519 Kitchen:

Two recipes, one post: Overnight Cinnamon Rolls + Big Batch Cinnamon Rolls 

A Favorite and one that's easily adjusted to your personal preferences: Choco-P.B. Rolls

Crepes with Broiled Plums and Home-made Yogurt

I've read through breakfast cookbooks and browsed recipes online and chatted-it-up with friends enough to discover that a grapefruit, topped with a bit of sugar and broiled is something heavenly, delicious and easy. I have yet to have the opportunity to try such a technique with a grapefruit, but having recently been gifted a bag of tart, happy little plums, I figured it was worth a go substituting plums for grapefruits and without fail, they were delectable!

Simply halve your plums, remove the seeds, sprinkle with some brown sugar and place under the broiler for about 10 minutes (I'm not sure my oven's broiler is a legit broiler, so the time may be a bit off) let them cool slightly and enjoy!

I sliced ours up and placed them in crepes with a bit of homemade yogurt, sprinkled some powdered sugar on top and enjoyed a lovely Saturday morning.

Turkish Breakfast

A while back we hosted a couple of CouchSurfer's from Turkey, although they are currently living in Northern Ireland. As always, we learned a lot and enjoyed their company immensely - and, they made a delicious breakfast which in turn inspired some re-creation efforts.

 I haven't been totally confident that my dish is anywhere near the delciousness of theirs, but I'm relatively satisfied and will continue to work out the kinks. For now, here's a general idea of this Turkish Breakfast we learned from a couple of CouchSurfers!

Ingredients/Directions:

In a large skillet heat a couple Tbsp. Olive Oil, saute 1 chopped Onion, 1-3 diced Green Chiles and 3-4 minced cloves of Garlic. Meanwhile, seed and chop 4-6 Tomatoes. Add the chopped tomatoes to the onion and pepper mixture as well as a dash of Cumin, Salt and Pepper. Leave this mix alone until your ready to serve up the breakfast. Before serving, re-heat the tomato mixture and whisk 3-4 eggs which you will then add to the heated tomato mixture. Let eggs set for a couple of minutes before breaking a part and continuing to cook the eggs through. Serve this mixture with crusty bread and fine cheese (Feta would be ideal but we use anything we have on hand here in the land of Kimchi). Scoop some of the egg and tomato mixture onto a slice of bread, top with a bit of cheese and place into your mouth - let out a sigh of satisfaction and repeat until the pan is clear.

Wonton Mini-Quiche

It seems certain things get pretty trendy on Pinterest...in the blogosphere.

S'more anything.

Cake batter anything.

Salted caramel anything.

Quinoa anything.

Avocado anything.

You know the drill.

A little less trendy, but always present nonetheless is the mini-bite-size-taco/lasagna/spinach-dip-cup/thing-you-wish-you-thought-of-dish.

Well, this was an inspiration based on those trendy little, single-serving dishes.

Served 'em up at a going-away brunch and enjoyed some for a few days after for our morning breakfast.

Ingredients/Directions:

Prepare a muffin/cupcake tin with oil and/or flour. Preheat oven to 350 F (177 C).  Place a wonton or dumpling skin into each cup and gently press down. I found 3 whisked eggs was the perfect amount for 6 regular sized cups. Add a splash of milk and your choice of quiche fillings to the egg mix before splitting the mix between the wonton cups. I filled half of mine with steamed broccoli and cheddar and the rest with chopped sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil and mozzarella. Bake for approximately 15 minutes until  egg is no longer runny. Remove from pan and toast on the oven rack a couple more minutes if you desire a more crisp and golden 'crust'. Super quick and super easy!

Cucumber-Blueberry Smoothie

This recipe showed up in my email from Vegetarian Times and lead to immediate smoothie creation.

I kept the main theme of Blueberry meets Cucumber but added a couple of bananas, some flax seed and used honey rather than agave nectar. 

Absolutely refreshing and highly, highly recommended!

Successful Spent Grain Granola

Months ago, I attempted to make Spent Grain Granola and basically failed. And maybe, just maybe gave up a little.

But a few months later, with entirely too many bags of spent grains taking up my freezer space, it became clear that I was going to have to give it a go.

And, while I still have a lot to learn to make perfect Spent Grain Granola, this batch far exceeded the first!

Ingredients/Directions:

Adapted from Healthy with Heather

Squeeze out excess moisture from 4 cups of Spent Grains. Preheat oven to 350 F (177 C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil. In a large bowl, mix together the grains, 2 Tbsp. Sesame Seeds, 2 Tbsp. Flax-seeds, 1/2 cup Brown Rice Syrup (or honey, or maple syrup) and 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil (or 2 Tbsp. Coconut Oil). Separately, mix together 1/3 cup Wheat Flour, 1/4 tsp. Salt and any seasonings you may like such as cinnamon etc. (not too much, the recipe I referenced originally, called for 3 Tbsp of Cinnamon which I'm finding to be overwhelming). Mix the dry ingredients with the wet and spread out onto a baking sheet. Bake 40-60 minutes stirring every 20 minutes, you want it to stay golden and beautiful, so if it looks like it's getting to dark, stop at the 40 minute mark otherwise keep going! Reduce heat to 275 F (135 C) and bake an additional 20-30 minutes, this is when you want it to dry out, but not really cook any more, stir every 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator. At the reduced temperature time or after completely baking the granola you can add some craisins or other dried fruit and some nuts if it suits your fancy. However, I added craisins at the beginning of this recipe and ended up with crispy, dark dried cranberries, better to wait it out!

Anyway, that's the most basic spent grain granola and it pairs quite nicely with home-made yogurt if I do say so myself ^^

Samgyupsal Breakfast Burritos

Samgyupsal is Korean three-layered pork which resembles bacon but doesn't have that cured and salty factor the American bacon possesses. Regardless of your opinion on how bacon/pork should taste, Samgyupsal is delicious as a grilled/BBQ'd meat which is the typical serving style here in South Korea - but it also makes for a nice addition to various dishes including good ole Saturday Morning Breakfast Burritos.

Also, i did these burritos up with some additional flare because it just so happened to be a day when I need to clear a few things out of the refridgerator - so while I add a common Korean meat dipping paste and a few tablespoons of ranch to my eggs, it's not really necessary, but helpful if you find yourself in need of clearing out some room in the fridge.

Ingredients/Directions:

In a large skillet, fry up some thinly sliced samgyusal until cooked through, use scissors to cut the pork into bite size pieces. If loads of fat have been rendered, drain some off, however about a Tbsp. or so will be a nice way to add flavor and non-sticking power to 1 chopped Green Pepper a handful of diced Cherry Tomatoes and 2 cloves of minced Garlic. While sauteing the pork and the veggies, beat in a seperate bowl 6-8 eggs with no more than a 1/4 cup of ranch and a Tbsp. or 2 of Korean bean paste for dipping meat. Make sure sufficient oil/fat remains in the skillet to keep the eggs from sticking before pouring it over the meat and veggies. Let egg set slightly before using a spatula to break up the egg and continue cooking. Throw the mix in a flour tortilla, top with cheese, fold it up and throw on to a hot, dry skillet to  melt the cheese and make the outside crispy. Enjoy!

Diget Parfait

Diget's are basically the Korean version of Graham Crackers.

Layered between yogurt and bananas with a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar, they make for a quick, easy and delicious start to the morning.

Corn Tortilla Omelet

Sometimes, I want to post a recipe or a recipe idea just because it worked surprisingly well and I want to remember it for future reference not because it's something extraordinary or necessarily special. This is one such 'recipe'. 

Because it's really just an omelet.

Surrounding a corn tortilla and stuffed with cheese.

I whisked my eggs as per usual, poured into a  hot skillet, let it set for a minute or so before setting a corn tortilla on top and working the uncooked egg over the top of the tortilla. Let it set a bit longer, flipped the whole thing over, sprinkled on some cheese, folded it over and let it finish doing it's business.

An incredibly quick and easy weekend brunch for one.

Tomato Basil Crust-less Quiche

We eat a lot of eggs. My recent Spinach and Tomato Crustless Quiche was impressively easy so I decided with a recent gift of fresh basil from a friend whose basil is still in production, I'd be quite happy to make the same dish substituting basil for the spinach. Easy, delicious and easy to re-heat in the morning for a satisfying breakfast!

Ingredients/Direactions

In a large skillet, saute half an Onion and a couple cloves of minced Garlic, add a couple of handfuls or roughly 1 cup of fresh, chopped Basil. Once Spinach is wilted, throw into the bottom of a well greased round cake pan. Top with slices of tomato and a sprinkle on some mozzarella cheese. In a separate bowl, whisk together 6 eggs with 1/4 cup milk or yogurt, season with salt and pepper, pour over Spinach. Top with grated Parmesan and bake at 350F (177C) for 20-30 minutes or until egg mixture is set and top is beginning to brown.

Overnight Oats Variation: Carrot Cake

If you're running out of ideas for your bowl of overnight oats - why not boil up some carrots, throw them in a food processor with some brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to use as a 'carrot cake condiment' for your bowl of oats? Great way to get a boost of beta carotene and turn your generally white bowl of oats a nice refreshing orange color ^^

Crepe Variations

Having made a batch of crepes (actually a double batch so we could enjoy some crepes throughout the week), it was time to fill them with a variety of delicious things.

We had the standard Nutella with Banana, followed by Peanut Butter, Yogurt and Banana and finally Orange Curd and Banana. I threw some powdered sugar into an empty and thorougly cleaned out spice canister and went to town sprinkling the warm little crepes with sugary good-ness.

What's you favorite way to eat crepes?

Overnight Oats Variation: Strawberry and Banana

Classic and Delicious.

Crustless Spinach Tomato Quiche

 

I have currently set a goal to master pastry crusts, however, I had not set that goal, nor did I have sufficient time the night I opted to throw together this crust-less quiche. 

Served to new friends before splitting off into our respective genders for basketball and cafe chatting, this was a delightful light dinner on a school night.

Ingredients/Directions:

Adapted from The Everything Healthy Cooking for Parties: Delicious guilt free foods all your guests will love by Linda Larsen

In a large skillet, saute half an Onion and a couple cloves of minced Garlic, add a couple of handfuls or roughly 2 cups of fresh, chopped Spinach. Once Spinach is wilted, throw into the bottom of a well greased round cake pan. Top with slices of tomato and a sprinkle on some mozzarella cheese. In a separate bowl, whisk together 6 eggs with 1/4 cup milk or yogurt, season with salt and pepper, pour over Spinach. Top with grated Parmesan and bake at 350F (177C) for 20-30 minutes or until egg mixture is set and top is beginning to brown.

Overnight Oats Variation: Banana, Peanut Butter and Honey

I bet you're thinking of a sandwich right now.

A peanut-buttery, sweet, sticky, honey and banana sandwich.

It'd be delicious. And so would this variation on Overnight Oats.

Overnight Oats + Fresh Bananas + Honey + Slightly melted Peanut Butter.
Sprinkle a little flaxseed on top.

Breakfast perfection.

Overnight Oats Variation: Banana Bread Inspired

One of the latest Overnight Oats variations that was hit at the Harrington's breakfast table was a Banana Bread Inspired mix of fresh bananas, walnuts, a shake of brown sugar and shake of cinnamon!

Overnight Oats will never disappoint.