Blueberry Streusel / Coffee Cake

The day before Easter I found myself at CVS buying the usual plastic eggs and "on sale" candy to fill 2 Easter baskets for the kids. Although I felt quite pathetic having to buy my goods the day before the big event, I was not the only one. Not by a long shot.

And a good thing I did go. On my walk back home I ran into one of my absolutely Fabulous neighbors. The neighborhood "mom" stopped me while I was walking by to make sure I knew about the annual Easter morning Egg Hunt. I indeed know about it, but it didn't really sink in. I love my neighbors and the annual events are really quite extraordinary. Since we haven't been here a year yet, I was unfamiliar with the Easter Shenanigans. So, Mom convinced me that we had time to come over at 9am and have some great food and the kids can partake in a street long Egg Hunt like no other. ... one catch, Bring a dish to share. As always, I just want people to like me. So, no, I can't just go buy something and bring and share. I have to make some high stress from scratch dish.... for breakfast!

I chose Blueberry Streusel. Mostly because I had all the ingredients. And Luckily, I found a Great Blog (http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/) that linked to Food and Wine Magazine :-) with a super simple blueberry streusel.

Streusel Topping: 2 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits 1/4 C unbleached all-purpose flour 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 Cup (4 oz) walnuts, chopped (optional - I didn't use them, maybe next time)

Cake:
1/2 C canola oil
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk or low-fat plain yogurt
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, or mixed blackberries, blueberries and raspberries (the frozen blueberries were fantastic)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan.
2. To make streusel topping: In a medium bowl or a food processor, combine butter, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut butter in with your fingers or process until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Stir in nuts and set aside.
3. To make the cake: In a large bowl, combine oil, sugars, eggs and vanilla, and beat with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until smooth. In a medium bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir to blend. Add to the creamed mixture, alternating with the buttermilk or yogurt. Beat until smooth. Stir in fresh or frozen berries. Turn into the prepared pan and sprinkle evenly with topping.
4. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack 10 minutes, then remove the pan sides and let cool completely. Cut into wedges to serve.

From "Coffee Cakes: Simple, Sweet and Savory" by Lou Seibert Pappas

9am. An absolutely gorgeous day by any standard - and especially for Early April in Minnesota! Walking out our front door, we could already see why the kids love this day. There were huge cardboard bunnies and eggs all over the front lawn of Mom's house. And there was a 4x8 foot sheet of white washed plywood leaning up against the fence with 3 kids painting. In fact most of the decorations were set up by the local kids! Is this place real? Just give me the Kool-Aid, because I am loving it. The kids and I were in AWE. I walked in the house to the kitchen with a still warm blueberry streusel in hand. It smells amazing by the way. Gave Mom a big hug, and I got the reaction I live for. "You made this? From scratch? That's so wonderful." I was still a little nervous though. I used the frozen blueberries and per the suggestions of the blog, didn't mix them in so they wouldn't all sink to the bottom. Instead they pretty much floated on top. So, I sliced it up. YUMMY. Oh, I love coffee cake, and made from scratch is totally gratifying.

The morning continued with very gracious complements from my neighbors. The kids filled up on a smorgasbord of fruit, bread, pancakes and candy, candy, candy. The Egg Hunt was very diplomatic. All the kids lined up the door and the younger kids ran out first followed 30 secs later by an older group. You can tell a lot about the adults in the neighborhood by how well-behaved all the kids are. and WOW are they ever. I've never met a more respectful bunch. Helping the younger kids find the eggs and offering up a couple of their own so the little ones wouldn't feel bad about not finding as many.

The conversations throughout the morning ranged from business techie talk, to the economic hit on the librarians, and the local jealously about who already got a Ipad. And surprisingly, I loved every minute of it. Oh, and did I mention the mimosas and chocolate covered strawberries? It can't get much better than that.

We left with happy bellies and happy kids.

Happy Easter.

Granola ala'Lou

After eating eggs for breakfast for 6 months, I have a craving for granola.

Grab my coat, drive to Target, take a look at the ripoff granola section, and walk out in disgust!

Cascadian Farms is too big of a company for me to "believe in"... yeah, look me straight in the eyes and tell me you're not paying the USDA under the table to label your food organic, or your organic mass production farming isn't just as bad for the land and our economy as your non organic cheaper counter part. (Is it a passion for good food or a paranoia of the man?)

One step to the right and it's Kashi - yep, you guessed it - too expensive. I'm not the kind of hippie that put my pot money in the market in the early 90s and can miraculously afford overpriced oats.

Next step, Mississippi Market. Good Old Co-ops. They must have what I need. They're community supported and good for our local farmers... yes yes yes... oh bummer, they got 2 new buildings and raised their prices so far up their asses that I can't handle the stench. Why do you need to make it so difficult to support you! This isn't some fad, this is a way of life. Bulk section, could you be cheaper? nope. end of story.

I can't wait for the St. Paul farmer's market to start up again.

Last stop - sadly, Costco.
I'll make my own Granola.
To be honest, this was my intention from the very beginning. But some days I'm lazy. Don't hate me.

• 6 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 C honey
• 2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut (optional)
  
• 3/4 C vegetable oil
• 2 Cups slivered almonds or walnut pieces
• 5 C dried fruit (mix them up! cranberries and raisins, or chopped apricots and cherries, whatever your heart desires, or whatever your pantry contains)
• 1 C roasted cashews

1. Preheat over to 300 degrees
2. toss oats, coconut, and almonds in large bowl.
3. whisk together oil and honey in small bowl. (a little trick, use the oil on your measuring cup first, then the honey... the honey will slide right out, Magic!)
   
4. Mix oil/honey with oat mixture w/ wooden spoon until everything is coated.
5. place on a large baking sheet and bake, stirring occasionally (VERY IMPORTANT) until golden brown - ~45 minutes.
6. cool, add fruit and mix.
7. store in an airtight container.

Eat with Milk or Yogurt

You can really do anything with this granola, if you want to spice it up, add some cinnamon, or nutmeg to the oil/honey mix, and wha-la gourmet granola. This is a base, do with it what you wish. Just keep the proportions of oats to oil/honey about the same. If you can get the items bulk, it is WAY cheaper than buying at SuperMarket.

***Hint = You can use any nuts you want, but almonds, walnuts, pecans you can bake easily - cashews and peanuts, you can burn easily. I recommend roasting peanuts/cashews separately and adding at the end, or just buying a roasted nut and adding at the end. You can also use any type of dried fruit. Fig and walnut go well together, as do cranberries and walnuts. I like almonds and cherries/blueberries. Pecans and apricots are also tasty. Oh, and do not, really, DO NOT, bake the dried fruit. They turn into little bits of charcoal. Lesson learned by yours truly - had to throw out an entire pan of granola. It was very depressing.****

Special Thanks to the Barefoot Contessa cookbook. Although your recipe was a little over the top, I know how to edit, and appreciate the starting point. Seriously, she knows taste! yum.