Blueberry Ripple Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I can't recall where I found this recipe, but it is goooooooood. I made it for our Sunday school class on Saturday, and I wish I had made another one just for us!

It's a little more involved than most of the recipes I try, but well worth the time and effort.

Streusel:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup regular oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp pecan pieces
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp frozen OJ concentrate, thawed
1 tbsp canola oil

Cake:
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup fat free sour cream
2 cups fresh blueberries, halved

1. To prepare streusel, combine whole wheat flour, oats, brown sugar, pecans, and cinnamon. Add OJ concentrate and oil, stir until crumbly.

2. Preheat oven to 350.

3. To prepare cake, spray a tube pan with cooking spray. Combine oil and melted butter in a medium bowl. Add sugar, vanilla, and eggs; beat with a mixer until smooth.

4. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture and sour cream to the egg mixture. Stir in blueberries.

5. Sprinkle half of streusel into the tube pan; spoon half of the batter on top. Sprinkle on the remaining streusel, then top with the remaining batter. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack, run a knife around the outside edge. Cool completely in pan.

Quick and easy "pizza"

It seems like we're always rushed for lunch these days. We get so busy playing, swimming, building, etc. that it's lunch time before I know it, and I usually have about 5 or 10 minutes to throw something together before the littlest one starts to melt down.

Today we made mini "pizzas" for lunch -- they're fast, simple and very tasty! And the kids really like making these because they get to help with every part of it (except using the oven, of course).

First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Next, spoon some spaghetti sauce on a tortilla (we used flour tortillas).


















Then, add your toppings (we used shredded cheese and scrambled eggs, yum!).














I took this picture approximately 2 seconds before Buttercup picked up her tortilla and took a big bite out of it. It's hard to wait when you're hungry!! :-D














Finally, bake at 400 degrees for 4 or 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. If you like a crispier crust, you can bake the tortillas for a couple of minutes before adding the sauce and toppings. Yum!

Picky, picky

Like most 3 year olds, Oliver is getting to be pretty finicky about what he likes to eat. Gone are the days when I could prepare a meal (of my choice), set it in front of him, and have him eat every bit of it and ask for more. Granted, he does eat pretty well for this stage, but he only eats about 20-30 different types of food, and only prepared a certain way. And, sadly, fruit and vegetables are the enemy. Strawberries are the only fruit that he requests, and even then he doesn't always eat them.

So I've taken it upon myself to make fruit and vegetable snacks more interesting and appealing to him. Last week I made an apple butterfly snack for him, which he devoured (and actually asked for more!).

Today I tried something different. I got up early and made "flowers" out of grapes, cream cheese, two peas, and a green bean.














For Buttercup, I made baby "flowers" out of blueberries and cream cheese.














The verdict? Oliver was very excited to see his plate, but he only ate the cream cheese and peas, then refused to eat anything else. Sigh. But an hour later, he asked me to make him a butterfly out of a banana and peanut butter, and he ate all of it, so there is hope! :-)

What's for dinner?

One of my favorite summer foods is shrimp & pasta salad. It's light, cool, and all you need to add is a couple of veggies on the side to have a complete meal!

I alter the ingredients almost every time I make it. This time I used chopped onion, julienned carrots and diced tomatoes. For pasta, I used plain old elbow macaroni, mainly because it's the easiest for Buttercup to pick up and eat.














While the pasta was cooking, I cleaned off the shrimp and added it to the veggies.














I didn't want to use pre-made salad dressing, so I tried to make my own balsamic vinaigrette. But, it turns out that 6 year old balsamic vinegar is more like wine than vinegar, so instead I tossed everything with olive oil, s&p, dried Italian seasoning, and minced garlic.














Mmmm!














And the most fun part of cooking this afternoon? Playing peek-a-boo with this cutie! (Big brother Oliver was still napping.)














There she is!

A snacktastic apple butterfly

I've seen lots of different versions of this out there in Internet Land, and today Oliver and I tried it for ourselves. It's a really cute idea for a fun, nutritious snack!

Take 1 apple and cut it into eighths. This will be the butterfly's wings.

You'll also need something almost rectangular-shaped for the butterfly's body. You could use pretzel rods, celery stalks, dates, baby carrots, pieces of toast . . . anything, really!

Then you'll need something sticky to use as the "glue" to hold the pieces together. I used Oliver's favorite -- peanut butter -- although cream cheese would probably work well, too.

And last, you'll need some kind of decoration for the butterfly's wings. Simple, and so fun to eat!

Peanut-Butter Balls

Yesterday afternoon I was reading while the kids were napping, and I found this recipe for Peanut-Butter Balls in the June 2010 issue of Parents magazine. It is super easy, and SO yummy!

Mix 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/3 cup honey, and 1 cup powdered milk in a bowl. Roll into 20 1" balls. Melt 6 oz chocolate and dip balls into chocolate. Refrigerate until chocolate hardens.













You can also enlist a willing helper to assist you in cleaning the leftover chocolate off of a spoon. :-)


















Our verdict? Tastes like Reese's peanut butter cups, but not as chocolate-y! I'll definitely make these again!

Dining al fresco with my babies

Tonight Dennis had to work late, which meant that I was on solo dinner, bath, and bedtime duty for the kids. So I thought that the kids and I would do something special together! Our dinnertime is usually at 5:30, so the first special thing was that we played outside until 6:15 -- craziness! ;-)

Then we came inside, and Oliver helped me fry some shrimp. He mixed flour, garlic powder, salt, red pepper, and black pepper in a ziploc bag, then he added the shrimp and shook it up to coat it. [For reasons probably obvious to you, I wasn't able to take pictures of him helping me.]

This is our finished product! Trust me, it makes up in taste what it lacks in visual appeal. :-)















I had shrimp, pasta, and tomatoes. Mmm, doesn't that look yummy?















Oliver and Buttercup enjoyed their dinners, too. Buttercup had pasta with spaghetti sauce (in case you can't tell from the sauce smeared all over her mouth), shrimp, and fruit.















And Oliver had pasta with butter and cheese, shrimp, fruit, and carrot sticks.















Oliver saved his strawberries for later, but Buttercup ate hers with dinner -- stems and all. Oops!















The kids really seemed to enjoy our dinner date. Several times while we ate, Oliver said, "Mama, I just love you," and even the Princess was very calm and ate everything on her plate. We'll definitely have to do this again! :-)