Good Morning: Blueberry Coffee Cake

There's nothing better on a fall(!) morning that something baking in the oven. Especially if that something is really easy and comforting. Enter coffee cake.

I LOVE coffee cake. Pairs perfectly with coffee, obviously, but the buttery-ness, crunchy topping, and soft fluffy cinnamon-flavored insides make me feel so fuzzy inside.

Justin and I both love blueberries, so I thought I'd add a little extra touch to make them special for this gorgeous fall morning.

A little something sweet to make the day.

Ingredients
1 box coffee cake mix (or cinnamon streusel)
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup milk
1/4 oil (I used coconut oil)
1 tbsp butter
2 eggs
1 bag frozen blueberries

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
1. Melt the coconut oil. Whip it with the eggs, vanilla, and milk. Add in the cake mix and whisk until incorporated.
2. Butter a medium-sized baking dish. Tumble in the frozen blueberries. Pour the batter over the blueberries. Combine the butter with the streusel topping and crumble it over the top of the batter.
3. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the batter has cooked through (test it with a wooden toothpick).

 

-Katie

Good Morning: Pesto Rolls

It's a proven fact that cinnamon rolls are one of the best breakfast foods on the planet. But sometimes, you just want something savory to go with your scrambled eggs.

Ergo, pesto rolls.

These are as delicious as they are easy, which is something that I need at 8:30AM on a weekend.

Either that, or breakfast at Kayak's Coffee.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup homemade pesto (recipe below)

1 can Crescent rolls

3/4 cup shredded mozarella cheese

2 tbsp olive oil

Pinch red pepper flakes (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

1. Bust the dough out from the can (this is fun):

2. Roll it out gently. Pinch the edges together so that it doesn't flop apart.

 3. Lightly flour the dough on both sides, and flour a rolling pin. Roll out the dough just enough so that it's one uniform piece of dough. 

4. Spread the pesto out on the dough.

5. Drizzle a couple spoonfuls of olive oil on the pesto.

6. Sprinkle on the cheese and red pepper flakes. 

7. Roll up the dough lengthwise.

8. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces.

9. Spray a pan with some non-stick spray. 

Arrange the circles onto the pan so that they bake into each other.

10. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown all around. Meanwhile, get together your side dishes: we had scrambled eggs and fruit (blueberries and blackberries)

Breakfast of champions.

Recipe for pesto:
1 bunch spinach, basil, broccoli rabe, or kale
1/2-3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup toasted nutes (walnuts, almonds, pine nuts)
1/3 cup Parmesan or Reggiano cheese
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Blend in a food processor. Add oil as needed to thin it out.

Are you a sweet or savory breakfast person?

 -Katie

Good Morning: Soulard Coffee Garden

Yesterday (Saturday) Justin and I went to the Soulard Coffee Garden for breakfast. 

This is easily the best cappuccino in St. Louis. Very strong, rich, with a foam so thick on top that you could probably balance a quarter on it.

Even though the eggs benedict is the house speciality (and coincidentally, one of our favorite breakfast foods), we both ended up getting the eggs and hash, which was a home fry hash with corned beef, poached eggs and tarragon hollandaise. Almost like eggs benedict, but so very much more.

I will never make hollandaise without tarragon again. Consider me converted.

The hash came with a superfluous side of fruit. I guess just to make you feel OK about eating this for breakfast (when really, do you need to justify it?)

A good morning to us.

-Katie

Hungry Hungry Hippie Muffins

I'm typically not a health food nut. I like to eat healthy, and I like to put twists on recipes to cut out a little fat or whatever, but I don't seek out "healthy" food.

So when Justin wants bran muffins (yeuch), I will make them but generally avoid them. Until today at the gym while watching Food Network on the elliptical, I saw Giada de Laurentiis make zucchini-carrot muffins.

Hmm I thought. Healthy food tasting good?


So immediately afterward, I ran to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients, still in my stanky gym clothes. I felt pretty good about it, too, considering my basket was full of vegetables and fruit.

I tweaked Giada's recipe to make these muffins even more ridiculously healthy, for some reason. They're fat free, full of fruit and vegetables, whole grain, and flaxseed. They're almost hippie-ish — inspiring the name. Justin was a total hippie in college, too, so it makes sense.

{Printable Recipe}
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (or almond flour or rice flour)
2 tbsp ground flax seed (optional)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup applesauce
1/3 cup honey
1 egg
1 medium carrot, shredded
1 medium zucchini, shredded
1/2 cup raisins

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with cupcake papers and coat with non-stick cooking spray. Or you can forget the cupcake liners — doesn't really matter.

Shred the carrot and zucchini. No need to peel.

Mix up the applesauce, honey, and egg. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until combined. I've mentioned before that I hate sifting and measuring into separate bowls, so I didn't bother. 

They turned out just fine.

Add the raisins, zucchini and carrot. Fold it in.

Spoon the mixture into the tin. These won't puff up too much, so you can fill them pretty much to the top if you like. Bake for 20 minutes or so until a toothpick comes out clean when you give them a pokey-poke. They'll look pretty browned, but it's because of the wheat flour.

Before...

After

These don't taste healthy at ALL. Promise.

-Katie