Barefoot Bloggers-Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Both recipes this month for Barefoot Bloggers involve turning the oven on for at least 45 mins of baking time.  With the crazy temps we have been having I thought these recipes through as to which would better received by my family members.  Of course as I was writing this  realize I could have completed both recipes at the same time but I did not think my kids would have loved the scalloped tomatoes.  So I opted, for the Sour Cream Coffee Cake...really no big surprise!!

This is a very simple recipe and you probably have everything in your pantry.  It did call for cake flour but in the ookbook it provides you with an alternative. 21/4 cups of P flour and 1/4 cup of Corn Starch.


I read the reviews on the Food Network and did double the amount of streusel.  I prepared it the evening before so we could enjoy it for breakfast the next day.





The recipe calls for a tube Pan and I was a little unsure if that meant a fluted bundt or angel food cake pan.  I once used the wrong tube pan and I have a disaster in my oven.

This batter is light and will not run and although I used a bundt pan this go around, I recommend using the tube pan if you have one.  It is easier to take out since the streusel topping doesn't have to be disturbed flipping the cake out!!

The room smelled amazing as it was baking.  The kids loved it and asked for a second piece later in the day.  Grab an iced coffee and some friends and enjoy a old classic flavor.

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GARDEN TIP: Reseeding your lettuce and Garlic

The hot temps this spring and summer provided little time for my lettuces this year. The arugula flowered within a few weeks even after I would pull the buds off.

Don't pull them out yet, allow them to get the seed pods, and you will have a new crop started in just a few days. If you don't like the look of the wirely plants, I cut them off and allowed them to dry in along my garden fencing. I did not even have to do anything,

I have dozens of small plants that may or may not make it through this heat we are having. I also kept some of the pods in a baggie to reseed when the temps get cooler.

Watch out for your basil as well. Take off the flowers and the plants will last longer.

I also noticed my garlic stems where browned and wilted, that means it is time to harvest. Simply pull up the bulb, allow to air dry in the sun a few days, not that long here in 105 degrees. Trim them up and you now have super fresh garlic.

Did you know you could eat the bud of a garlic plant? We were at the farmers market a few weeks ago and I saw a few of the stands selling them. I asked the vendor and she said you just cut off the bud at the Y of the plant. SImply cut and saute it as you would regular garlic. I happened to have one in my garden so I gave it a try. The flavor was not as strong as the clove but what a great way to utilize the entire plant.

It is hot outside, keep yourself cool with tonight's dinner

The last few days in Richmond have been record breaking, over 100 degrees before humidity....I don't know too many people who want to put on the oven and bake a casserole for 1 hr.  The thought of putting something that warm in my mouth makes me sweat.

My friend Jennifer has been making green gazpacho for a couple of years and I usually supply her with a few green tomatoes so she can make a batch for me.

Well this year I thought I would try it myself since I had a few large size tomatoes in my garden that I just couldn't  be patient enough to wait for.  Yes coming from the impatient gardener who knew that I would be lost with 8 red tomatoes at the same time.  This is a great way to pick those tomatoes that are still green b/f going away and knowing they will go to waste.  Or if a storm or animal knocks down your crops and they just won't taste the same ripening by the window.
I was fortunate to also have some cucumbers ready as well.  I also had left over cilantro in the fridge from the Peach Salsa that was going to go bad if I didn't use it.

Well in just a few minutes and only the power of my food processor I have a great and refreshing soup that you can snack on all day to keep you cool.  Jennifer suggests tasting the gazpacho after blending and before adding the honey and vinegar just to get the flavor to your taste.  Serve as an appetizer in small cups or as a main course lunch.

Green Gazpacho
Yield: 4 to 5 servings
Preparation time: 15 minutes, plus time to chill.
(Keeps well for days if tightly covered and refrigerated.)

Showcase those underipe tomatoes in this delicious, gloriously colored Mexican variation on a Spanish theme.
If you can't find green tomatoes, use the least ripe ones available.

3 green tomatoes (3-inch diameter),
   cored and chopped
1 medium-sized green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium (7-inch) cucumber,
   peeled, seeded, and chopped
A handful of parsley
A handful of cilantro
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
   (about 2 juicy limes'-worth)
1 medium (4-inch) avocado,
   peeled, pitted, and diced  (optional)
1 medium clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 to 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. honey or sugar
1 cup cold water
Black pepper, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Optional: tortilla chips, for the top

1. Combine everything in a large bowl, and mix as well as possible.
2. Purée the soup bit by bit in a blender or food processor, until reasonably smooth (it doesn't have to be perfect). Transfer to a container with a lid, and chill until very cold.
3. Serve plain or topped with tortilla chips.


Afraid of green tomatoes or just can't bear not letting them turn red, here is the link to traditional gazpacho I made last summer.

Mixed Berry with yogurt sauce

Summertime is such a great time to pull out all of those recipes that involve fresh fruits and veggies.  I have been looking at this Barefoot Contessa recipe since my parents brought back a bottle of Limoncello from Italy this Christmas.  I figured I would wait until berries went back into season at a reasonable price!!

I did serve this to my children with the 2 tablespoons of Limoncello but you can definitely take that part out.  I made more a few days later for breakfast and thought that would be a little much!!  I did serve this as dessert but could easily be done for breakfast or brunch.

Berries are quickly coming into season here in Virginia for self picking so keep an eye at your farmers market and Pickyourown.org.

Search Amazon.com for limoncello

From Barefoot Contessa's Back to Basics cookbook

Fruit Salad with Limoncello

I did not make my own lemon curd but just bought Dickinson's from the grocery store.

Here is another link for the mixed berries and limoncello to one without the yogurt topping by Everyday Italian.

Peaches, Peaches and peaches...Continued

As I posted a week ago about my 30 lbs of peaches I just finished my last batch today.  I wanted to share with you a few more yummy recipes I made using peaches.  They are all worth going to the market and buying more than your family would normally eat.  Do try to buy locally or from an organic farm as peaches are one of the highest pesticide fruits.

PEACH ICE CREAM
I was a little skeptical with this recipe as I have only made ice cream that you cook the eggs and milk but thought no one was pregnant and the kids are older now that we should  be ok.  I added additional cut up peaches at the very end per the review suggestions. It was definitely a lot easier than traditional ice cream and tasted pretty good the first day.  It was pretty runny so I had it sit overnight and it was creamy that first day.  I am not sure why but 2 days after that when we went for another helping it was a little icy.

doesn't this look yummy

I have been meaning to blog about my Kitchen Aide ice cream maker for a while. I received it last year for an anniversary present.  I like the fact that I did not have to buy another appliance to plug in and store.  You only need to store the bowl itself and if you have an extra freezer you may just store it in there.  It has made yummy ice cream and I hope to use it more this summer and try sorbets and frozen yogurt recipes.  July is Ice Cream appreciation month,  If anyone has any good recipes out there let me know and I might challenge myself and waistline to a recipe a week!

PEACH SALSA

I have never made homemade salsa before and I will have a hard time buying peach salsa at the grocery store onw.  This was wonderful.  I made it originally to serve over grilled white fish, and ended up eating a lot of it with tortilla chips.  It was soo refreshing and just the right flavor combination.  If I was more confident in canning I would try a recipe that you could keep for longer storage. If you think you might have left overs, which I did not, I am not sure it will last more than a day or so in the fridge.  I also peeled and diced my peaches up pretty small.  I found that if you dice or slice the peaches while intact with the pit you can take them off pretty easily.

This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled and I only used green pepper because that is all I had on hand and a very small jalapeano pepper since I was serving it to kids.

Peach Blueberry Pie

I froze one last week but decided to make and bake one today for Father's Day.

I have tried making lattice pies before but this is so much easier.

Just use a small cookie cutter and make a decorative design on the top crust.  I reapply the scraps with some water a even more decorative touch.  My daughter punched out the stars on this one....would make for a cute fourth of july pie!!

Enjoy the fruits of the season, it will be gone before we know it.

Last Minute Father's Day gifts--Kid projects

The kids and I took a break from the pool and peach recipes yesterday and took a trip to Michael's for some last minute father's day gift ideas.

I had a few ideas in mind but was also hoping to get some inspiration while there.
My first thought was for the kids to make a card that also served as a "coupon" for an activity to do with dad.

They had a value pack of 25 plain cards and envelopes for $2.50.  I had the kids look through the sticker section for ideas of what they may want to do with dad.  You can skip this step all together and have the kids simply color the front of the cards.

Have them decorate the front with the stickers/theme of activity and then write the event inside.  For example good for one day of hitting golf balls, or helping you around the house.

The stickers out right now are so nice that you could even make a set of notecards as a gift.  Simply pick a sticker sheet, add a few stickers to the front and tie a ribbon around a few decorated cards and envelopes and you have a nice and inexpensive gift.






We also found these fun and inexpensive things at michaels that can be completed in just a few minutes.












Cover Drink Cozies with foam stickers or ribbon.  The cozies were only 66 cents each.  You can also use a lighter color and have the kids simply draw something with sharpie markers.

Mug and tile sets for only 1 to 2 dollars each.  This mug set came with a way to attach a photo.

Hopefully our Dad will enjoy these truly hand made gifts.

Peaches Peaches Peaches.

This past Sunday the family went out to Carter Mountain in Charlottesville for a peach picking adventure.  I had gone peach picking one other time since living in Virginia but it was a little farther away.  I now remember why despite the amazing flavor of a tree ripened peach, I have not gone back in a while.  The picking was so easy for the kids as the trees were fairly young and short, that we ended up with 30 pounds of peaches...

Unlike apples that last a long time when stored properly, peaches have a shorter life span. So for the last two days I have been boiling, peeling and pitting peaches;especially the ones that were bruised in the picking process.  

Besides canning peaches which I have not tried, to save peaches for later use, you must peel,  slice  and freeze them on a cookie sheet before adding them to a freezer bag.  Since they will still probably freeze together slightly, you may want to premeasure the peaches before you bag them..  I found 4 cups bags serve well for many recipes.  For a quick peeling solution, revisit this post of Peach, Blueberry Crisps.

I thought I would share some of the recipes I have tried this week over the next two posts.

Quick Peach Bread (or Muffins)

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 2-2 1/2 cups chopped peaches
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups flour ( I used half whole wheat flour)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 325
Beat eggs, oil, and sugar; cream well.  Add peaches and vanilla.  Stir in dry ingredients and nuts, until blended (do not overbeat).  Pour batter into 2 greased loaf pans.  Bake at 325 for one hour.
This batter may also be baked as muffins – bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.


Too hot to have your oven on for 1 hr for a hot pie, try this refreshing cold version.

Cream Cheese Peach Pie
1 9 inch pie shell, unbaked
4 cups peeled, sliced peaches, divided
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs butter
3 oz cream cheese, softened
whipped cream for garnish.

Bake pie shell at 350' for 9 to 11 mins. until brown.  Set aside to cool.

Crush 2 cups of peaches in a saucepan.  Add sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and buter.  Cook over low heat until thickened. Cool.

Spread cream cheese in pie shell. (easiest to use an off set spatula)

Top with remaining 2 cups of peaches.  Pour cooked peach mixture over the sliced peaches.

Refrigerate or serve immediately with whipped topping.

Pies are a great way to use up an abundance of fruit. last night I also made a peach blueberry pie.  However I did not bake it, did you know that you can prepare most fruit pies without custard and freeze them to bake later.  Simply prepare the pie per the directions up the part in which you egg/milk wash the crust and sprinkle with sugar. Then cover the entire pie in tin foil and then place it into a freezer bag and freeze up to 6 months.

To bake the pie, unwrap the pie, glaze the crust if you wish, bake it at 425 for 10 minutes, cut vents i the top and bake for 20 minutes more.  reduce the oven to 350 degrees and bake the pie until thick juices bubble through the vent, about 1 hr longer.

Now what to do with the other 15 lbs.....

Father's Day Gifts

Father's Day is only a week away.  Since we have not decided what we were going to make for dad this year I thought I would revisit some ideas we made in the past.  Click on the links to get directions.

Homemade picture frame:

Ice Cream Cake:

Themed Buckets: also good for upcoming beach vacations.

Another idea for golfer:
Fill a tin paint can (from a hardware store) with golf balls, tees, and a coupon for a round of golf...with the kids:)

Have the kids paint on an apron with fabric paints and then use it as a wrapping for bbq tools, sauce or any other kitchen supplies the receiver might be interested in.

Coffee/Tea drinkers

Movie night gift:

What are you doing for father's day this year?  Share your ideas with me.

Race Car Party

My 4 year old has had a sudden interest with race cars.  Not Nascar but anything "Hot Wheels" or "Matchbox". Their generation is so branded now that he went through all of our cars and picked out the ones with those labels and refuses to play with the other ones.

So naturally a race car party was an easy decision this year.  We had it at home and it really was economical and entertaining for the 8 birthday kids here.

THE INVITES:

    I can't take complete credit for these.  B brought home a large oval race track from preschool that they had added car stickers.  I thought wow that can be a great invitation in a smaller version.

Simply cut out two ovals from black card stock.  Cut a oval out of the middle.  Add details and a printed details to the back.

THE GAMES:
1) I called a local wine shop and asked for some boxes.  I cut off the top and bottoms and did some very simple painting to resemble cars.  I cut out handles with an exacto knife and added wheels (small black plates from the dollar store)with a glue gun.  I tried to staple them but they did not stay on.  I also attached one wheel on each car so the kids could "change the tires.
Then have the kids race around a "track".

2) Pin the wheel on the car.
I found this great poster at the dollar store.  You could draw one on poster board as well.  I made black tires out of black card stock and added everyone's name.
This age group was not interested in being blind folded but I did twirl them around.

3) Hot Rod
Instead of a hot potato the kids can play with a plastic car.  Make sure you have a little treat for each kid getting out.

4) Red light, Green light

5) Just free play with Hot Wheels tracks.

CRAFTS:
1)I purchased wooden cars from oriental trading and had the kids use markers to decorate them.  Paint would be too messy especially for this age.
2) I also purchased make a car stickers from same website and just had plain white half sheets of paper for the kids to work with if desired.

DECORATIONS:

Simple streamers and black and white balloons as wells as bunches of red, yellow and green balloons.

White and black checkered flags and table cloth, all from Oriental trading.  The table had a few cars that the kids were not playing with in the middle.

Instead of expensive cups that get lost, buy white paper ones, put the children's names on them and put a few stickers on them.  Not only are they cute but the kids can reuse them.


FOOD:
Race Dogs or Pizza Wheels (Pizza Bagels)
Fruit, chips and water.

Ice cream--any easy tip to help serve everyone quickly is to scoop ice cream into individual paper cupcake holders and place it into the freezer.  Everyone gets the same amount of ice cream and less mess for the hosts!!
The parents did not stay but I did have this car on a platter with carrots and hummus.

CAKE:
I adapted this cake from Family Fun.
I found the sprinkles from Sugarcraft and the race track was crushed up oreo.  I found the food processor provided the best results.

also to help make the centers I placed a glass on each cake round, poured the road and then took the glass off and filled with green sprinkles.

PARTY FAVORS:
Fell upon bags at the dollar store with race cars on them.  Otherwise you could use paper bags and either have the kids  decorate them with red, yellow and green paper circles or car stickers.

I made Checkered flag pretzels and added a little thank you from the birthday boy.  I added these other fun treats as well.