Buttermilk Blueberry Coffee Cake

I made this over the weekend and halved the recipe, which was a very good idea, because I have eaten nearly the entire thing on my own!

For the Cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

For the Streusel:

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup cold butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a 9 inch pan.  

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Set aside.

3. In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time until well incorporated.  Add vanilla.  

4. Slowly add flour mixture, and than buttermilk until just combined.  Do not overmix.

5. Stir in blueberries and lemon zest.

6. Pour batter in the pan, it will be slightly thick. 

7. Make streusel.  Mix sugar, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon.  Add butter and mix with hands, or a pastry blender until mixture is the size pea sized crumbs.  Sprinkle evenly over cake batter.

8. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a  toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Recipe from here: Stephanie's Kitchen

Homemade caramel in 15 min

We had this at our super saturday and it was amazing, so I thought i would share.

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup Karo Syrup
1 stick butter or margarine
2 cups brown sugar

Melt butter over med/high heat, add syrup and brown sugar and bring to a boil, boil 1 min. add milk, bring to a boil, remove from heat.

Slice up apples and pour lemon juice on the top so they don't turn brown, then just dip in the caramel. You can add a little extra by having nuts or chocolate sprinkles to dip in too. This was so good, everyone loved it.

Frozen Peaches

I know peach season is technically over, but I thought I would share one of our favorite ways to preserve peaches!

4 c sugar
2quarts water
a can of frozen lemonade
a can of frozen orange juice

mix all together and add your peeled, sliced peaches. Then scoop into baggies and freeze.

This year I cut the sugar in half. Obviously, it's not as sweet, but we still love them! So, give it a shot. Next year. When there are actually peaches to can.

Fruit dip

I was at a baby shower the other day and they had this really yummy, light, fluffy fruit dip. I asked Sarah how to make it and she said it was just light cool whip mixed with a little thing of yogurt. Isn't that crazy? It was the best fruit dip I've ever had and I didn't even have to feel guilty because it had so few calories. I can't remember the flavor of yogurt she said she put in it, but mentioned you could try any flavor. Easy easy!