Blueberry Coffee Cake

My mother-in-law came over earlier today because she wanted to meet Rex, our cat. I like to make a little something whenever she comes over because that's just the way I was raised. Plus, I'm good at it and I like to show off. I got this recipe from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. vegetable oil
3/4 c. white sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1 c. blueberries (I used frozen ones from last summer)

1/3 c. flour
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 c. butter, softened

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375. Grease and flour a 9" pan. In a small bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk oil, sugar and egg. Stir in the flour mixture alternating with the milk until just incorporated. Fold in the blueberries.

Pour batter into prepared pan and top with streusel. For the topping: In a bowl, combine 1/3 cup flour, cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (I find it's easiest to do this with your hand).

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Creme Brûlée French Toast

This is one of my most favouritest breakfast ever.  It also helps that it's a prep-ahead dish.  The rich sweetness of this pairs wonderfully with some nice smokey/salty bacon and a strong cup of coffee or, y'know, some mimosas.  It's perfect for a special occasion, or for making Sunday breakfast a treat.

Crème Brûlée French Toast

from Epicurious

ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup (based on the reviews, I reduce this to a scant tbsp)
an 8- to 9-inch round loaf country-style bread
5 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon Grand Marnier
1/4 teaspoon salt


preparation:
In a small heavy saucepan melt butter with brown sugar and corn syrup over moderate heat, stirring, until smooth and pour into a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking dish. Cut six 1-inch thick slices from center portion of bread, reserving ends for another use, and trim crusts. Arrange bread slices in one layer in baking dish, squeezing them slightly to fit.

In a bowl whisk together eggs, half-and-half, vanilla, Grand Marnier, and salt until combined well and pour evenly over bread. Chill bread mixture, covered, at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 350° F. and bring bread to room temperature.(generally I try to leave it sitting out for about half an hour, it's still a bit chilled, but it works.  Depending on how long you leave it out, you may have to adjust the cooking time)

Bake bread mixture, uncovered, in middle of oven until puffed and edges are pale golden, 35 to 40 minutes.

Serve hot French toast immediately.

Pancakes

I love all things pumpkin. I was so sad last year when I had a hard time trying to find canned pumpkin in the store that when I saw it for the first time this year, I bought four cans for the pantry. I've bought more since then. I had no doubt that I would love this recipe and I was not disappointed.

I took the advice of others and added a bit more milk to the batter and they were delicious. I might try tweaking this recipe when I make it again. The original suggestion of chocolate chips sounds good for starts.

Updates!

Ok, where do I start?  Oh yeah.  Chili.

1st off, this chili was awesome.  I chose to omit the seeds of the jalapeno because my Irish boy husband can't handle the heat (his words, not mine), and I opted to sub in ground turkey for the veggie ground round.

2nd, wow, this makes a LOT of chili.  I just finished it today.  And of course I forgot to take pictures, well, except for this one.

That would be my 6.5 L stock pot.  Formerly full of chili.

I would definitely make this one again!

The pumpkin pancakes were really tasty.  We had them for breakfast on Halloween as is totally fitting.  I didn't thin out the batter at all, so they were a little thick and took a while to really cook through, but they were still really good.

It also makes me laugh that everyone had so many leftovers.  I guess they don't live with Derek.  We had 1 pancake leftover.  Which we shared cold a few hours later. 

Next time, I'll serve with bacon, but there will definitely be a next time for these!

Everything's Better with Bacon

That has long been my philosophy. I was looking for a brunch recipe for today and was very excited to see these bacon and cheddar scones were this week's choice. I already had everything I needed except the buttermilk, so I picked up some on my way home from church this morning.

They came together really quickly and were soon ready for the oven.

I served them with scrambled eggs and am looking forward to having the leftovers for breakfast this week.