Lemon Blueberry Bread

Blueberries were on sale at Martin's today! Yah! 2 for $5.00 which is a great deal especially in the winter.  They were huge too.  When I got home I knew I had to make something with my two pints of blueberries.  When looking at some recipes from friends and family I found lemon blueberry bread.  I love anything lemon flavored and blueberries are my favorite fruit... what a great combination.

The bread came out amazing...

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups of flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
1 cup of plain greek yogurt
2 tsp of lemon zest
1/2 cup of oil
3 eggs
1/2 tsp of vanilla
1 cup of sugar
1 and 1/2 cups of blueberries- plus a handful more for on top.

Directions: Preheat oven to 350.  Spray bread pan with Pam then sprinkle with flour-so the bread won't stick.
Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.
In a larger bowl-whisk yogurt, eggs, oil, lemon zest, vanilla and sugar together.  Once blended slowly add flour mixture.  Then put blueberries in a small bowl and add 1 tbs of flour and stir.  After blueberries have flour on them add and fold into bread mixture.  (This is so the blueberries don't totally sink to the bottom of the bread)

Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle extra blueberries on top.  Bake for one hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let sit in pan for 10 minutes then remove and cool on a rack.  Looks yummy doesn't it.... Don't eat it yet!

Mix 1/2 cup of powdered sugar with 1 tbs of lemon juice- stir.  Spread this glaze onto the bread. Let sit 5 minutes then indulge!!

Next time: I think I will use lemon yogurt as I didn't think the lemon flavor was strong enough.  I might also use raspberries and blueberries.  Overall this was an awesome bread! Most of it is gone already!! Great with a glass of milk or for breakfast with coffee!! Hope you like it! 

Oh.. and then find someone to do all the dishes!

Skinny Shrimp Scampi

I love zucchini! It's great in salads, as noodles or baked with other veggies. While I was shopping at Walmart this week-- yes sometimes I shop at Walmart for my groceries... I can get everything I need in one stop.  Well not this week, they were out of zucchini.  How can you be out of zucchini?  The associate said too many people were trying to be heathy and bought out her supply.

Any who... I make zucchini noodles at least once a week, what was a girl to do.  I went with broccoli slaw instead. I figured I could substitute them.  I came across this recipe on pinterest for Skinny shrimp scampi... um yum! The original recipe came from justataste but I of course adapted it to what I had on hand.

Ingredients: With my changes.
1 lb of shrimp- mine were frozen
3 cloves of garlic- I used the pop out ones.
1 tsp of red pepper flakes- we like spicy foods
2 tbs of oil
1/2 cup of white wine
2 tbs of lemon juice
a sprinkle of capers
1/2 bag of broccoli slaw

Directions: In a large pan cook oil on medium heat for 1 minute.  Add garlic and red pepper flakes stirring constantly for 1 minute.  Add shrimp.  Mine were frozen so they took about 5-8 min to cook.  Stir occasionally.  Once cooked, remove shrimp from pan and set aside.  Add white wine and lemon juice.  I used Angel Food Cupcake wine- it's what I had open. Simmer for 2ish minutes, scraping the bottom with your spoon.

Add in broccoli slaw and cook for 10-15 minutes until soft- (Note: they will never become as soft as zucchini noodles.  However, it is nice to have a little crunch in this meal) Once cooked sprinkle in capers. I love capers so any chance to use them, I do.

Then toss in the shrimp and cook for another minute. Serve immediately.  We enjoyed our meal with orange slices and milk.
Followed by lemon blueberry bread-recipe to come soon.  Enjoy!

Pop of flavor dinner

Are you looking for a wow your tastebuds dinner? Then I got one for you!  M and I love burgers on the grill, but just a regular beef patty can get kind of boring.  I was looking for a new way to spice up burgers and boy did I find it.  Let's start by switching out the beef for turkey.  I know, I know get rid of the beef :-( we all know I love red meat but trust me.  Then lets add whatever you have on hand... green pepper, feta cheese, spinach and arugula.... and make a yogurt sauce to go on top! Voila!

Greek Style Turkey Burgers:

1LB of ground turkey
1/2 of a green pepper-diced
1/2 of a red onion-diced
1/4 cup of feta cheese
4 hot and sweet peppers- jar from Tj's
A couple handfuls of fresh spinach and arugula- chopped
1 tsp of dried oregano
1/2 tsp of minced garlic
A sprinkle of bread crumbs

Directions: Mix together in a bowl and form patties.  I left two out and froze the other four. We grilled ours and topped with a yogurt sauce. Paired with our favorite spicy potatoes.(recipes below) I could have eaten two burgers!!

Yogurt Sauce: Yummy... I use this for sandwiches, dips etc.  It's a great topping on this flavorful burger.
4oz greek yogurt
1/2 lemon-juiced
1/2 tsp of garlic
1/2 tsp of dill
salt and pepper to taste.
Seriously taste as you go and make it your own.

Favorite Spicy Potatoes:   Throw in your spice pantry!

4 potatoes cubed
1/4 tsp of oil
1 tbs of garlic
1/2 tsp of dried basil, crushed red peppers, marjoram, dill, italian seasonings, oregano, parsley, crushed red peppers, salt.
Combine everything in a large bowl and mix.  Pour on a pan.  Preheat oven to 475 and bake for 30 minutes.

Enjoy tastebuds!!

Cream Cheese Brownie Cookies...fail, but yummy!!

Today has just been one of those days, ok not just today.... M and I have been going through a lot.  With the death of my grandfather, the death of my goat, my big fall on the ice and Ollie going on a rampage and eating a whole bag of treats and a chunk of chocolate fudge, let's just say our lives have been a little crazy lately.

Today was one of those grey days though, it's one of the main reasons I hate winter.  Now don't get me wrong, no one loves snow more than I do.... but I do really hate just cold, grey, winter days.  Anyways, this afternoon I was craving a sweet snack and since we haven't been home a lot lately I hadn't made cookies in forever.

So this afternoon I was on the search for an interesting cookie recipe.  I came upon cream cheese brownie cookies-- they sounded so delicious and the gal's pictures looked so yummy, so I thought this is it, I'll make these.  That was at 2:00.  By the time I had taken the last batch out of the oven it was way over 3. ugh. They took forever to cook.

The recipe called for:
1 box of brownie mix
1/2 cup of butter
4oz cream cheese
1 egg
2 cups of white chocolate chips- I don't like white chocolate so I used half peanut butter and half regular chocolate chips.

I first mixed the butter and cream cheese until smooth.  Then added the egg and slowly mixed in the brownie mix.  The recipe indicated the batter would be tough... and it was.  Afterward, I folded in the peanut butter and regular chocolate chips.  The batter tasted so good... I might have had a tablespoon of it.  

I preheated the oven to 350 then dropped spoonfuls of batter onto parchment paper.  They looked fabulous.  The recipe said 10-12 minutes and they would be done.  So the pup and I cleaned up the kitchen and anxiously took them out at 12 minutes.

The recipe said the sides would look done but the middle a little gooey... I figured that is what I was seeing, boy was I wrong.  Anyways, when i tried to move them to the wire rack... they fell between and oozed everywhere.  What a mess.  So I put the batch back in another 5 minutes and another 5 minutes till finally at 22 minutes that one batch was done.



Only 2 more to go.... Needless to say the are delicious but what a mess they were.  I have no idea how this gal got her cookies to set in 10 min at 350.

I don't know how to fix this.  Other than to cook them longer... They are delicious.  My husband came home and ate 4 already. He loves the recipe, but had no idea how frustrating it was.  However, now that the chores are done and the dishes finally cleaned up... the pup and I are sitting down writing our first ever fail blog.

 Hope you enjoyed it!



Ps.  Have you read the book "Wild"?  I'm half way through it and it's awesome! Give it a try!  

New Year... Newish Blog

For the past couple of years I have used this blog to post recipes or products I loved.  I have been creative about using new ingredients and going out of my comfort zone.  I even snuck in some veggies and M will never know it.  I have enjoyed writing for it but haven't used it as often as I would like! Let's be serious, in the past week I have made 3 terrible and ok not terrible but not-amazing meals.  Did I post about those? no... but maybe I should have.  What I want to do is post some of those not-so-awesome recipes and figure out how I can make them better.  So here is to my newish blog... goals: Posting at least twice a week!  Keep trying new recipes and making my own twist to them! I would love to do a pantry challenge again- maybe in February! Thanks for those who read.... and any suggestions, please let me know!