Banana Nut Muffins are a quick and easy breakfast, a delicious addition to any meal, a tasty snack and a life lesson. A life lesson?? Muffins are so easy to make that they are often the first baked item beginning cooks learn to make. A muffin recipe teaches how to follow directions, how to measure ingredients, and other basic cooking skills. (These are pretty darn good eating however, even if you are an experienced cook!) To make muffins, the dry ingredients are measured then whisked together in a large mixing bowl. Wet ingredients are measured and mixed together in a smaller bowl or large measuring cup. Then the wet ingredients and dry ingredients are put together and stirred just until they are mixed. Too much stirring makes muffins tough so some lumps are expected. ... [Read More]
quick bread
Strawberries and Cream Scones
Strawberries and Cream scones are tender, golden and not too sweet, perfectly punctuated with ruby berries and a light glaze and will make any breakfast or brunch special. They look like you spent hours in the kitchen, but really are easy to make. Prepare the berries ahead of time and refrigerate until you need them. Pop off the green leaves, slice each berry into quarters until you have a full cup. I like to gather all ingredients before starting to mix. Get the egg from the refrigerator and grab the butter and cream and refrigerated strawberries at the same time. Set out the flour, baking powder, salt and both kinds of sugar. In my Ohio kitchen, they were all in the corner lazy susan and I just used them from there. Here I have to carry them to and from the pantry – I’m still ... [Read More]
Cream Cheese Banana Bread
Banana Bread becomes a necessity around here once in a while when the bananas don’t get eaten as quickly as predicted in the grocery store. It’s a classic supply and demand situation. The supply quickly exceeds the demand when schedules change, the supply of other fruit surges or whims of resident banana consumers shift with the Nebraska “breezes”. That’s anything less than 55 miles per hour – which is considered a blizzard force only if accompanied by snow. But that’s another story. . . . The idea of Cream Cheese and Bananas kept tickling my fancy – maybe you could say it was blowing in the wind. No, no – must concentrate. Anyway, I found a couple of recipes and mooshed them together, then tweaked the results. I baked them last night and the aroma that gently swept through the ... [Read More]
Lemon Blueberry Scones
I made Lemon Blueberry Scones recently. Houseguests took us out for a delicious and lingering breakfast and no one was hungry come lunch time. We waited until about 2:30 and had tea instead. Sliced melon, strawberries and other fruit, some cheese and deviled eggs made up the menu, but the star of the show was Lemon Blueberry Scones. Light and flaky, full of delectable blueberries and a whisper of lemon topped with sweet lemon glaze -- mmmm! Cut the butter into the flour and other dry ingredients quickly with a pastry cutter. You can also use a fork or two knives. The result should look like coarse cornmeal. Add the liquids and mix thoroughly but with a light touch. Overmixing will make the scones tough. Everything was breezing along and then I hit a road bump. Normally I ... [Read More]
Overnight Cinnamon Coffee Cake
Sister Kay introduced the family to Overnight Coffee Cake at a family reunion two or three years ago. Crusty cinnamon sugar atop a light sweet dough – sooo good. She shared the recipe which is still in my to do file. This weekend we were at sister Vee’s home and were awakened with the wonderful aroma of baking bread and cinnamon. Vee graciously allowed me to take a picture of the coffee cake to share with you. Well, actually I said good morning, saw the pan setting on the table, grabbed a plate from the cupboard, my camera from the bedroom and went out to the front porch to take a picture. Wheels and Bytes are used to having perfectly good food snatched right out from in front of them for a photo session. Apparently that’s not the norm in every family! But they just ... [Read More]
Coffee Cake in a mug with cinnamon oatmeal struesel topping
Sometimes just a little sweet will make the day so much better. I try not to have temptation setting around because – well, it’s just too tempting! If a whole cake is in the kitchen, it is “evened out” for breakfast, just a little piece for lunch and a small piece for afternoon tea, then a dinner sized piece in the evening. But we are well disciplined and never have a piece after dinner. :-) That’s a lot of carb, calories and sweet stuff in a day. One sweet serving is just perfect. Especially if it is divided between two people. I’ve been experimenting with mug recipes for that sweet craving. This is one of our favorites. The yogurt replaces egg. I used low carb yogurt because that’s what I usually have on hand, but Greek yogurt or any other plain or vanilla yogurt would work. If you ... [Read More]
