Blueberry Coffee Cake

I woke up this morning and decided I'd like to start my day smelling something delicious baking in the oven.  I've made this recipe before,but it's been a few years, so when I started reading the ingredients I cringed just a little bit at the thought of adding a chunk of shortening to my breakfast repertoire.  Hence a tasty but edited version of this coffee cake was born!

There are a number of substitutions I implemented in this recipe, including almond milk in place of regular, coconut oil for the shortening, honey for some of the sugar, and demerara sugar in some of the crumbly topping for added flavor.  Truly I think you could just whip this up however you'd like.

Here is the base recipe with my substitutions.  Feel free to experiment with the types of sugars, oils, etc., as well as the berries.  You can add a mixture of fruits (I've done blackberries with blueberries and strawberries before) or just stick to one.  I honestly just go by what's in my fridge at the time I feel the urge to bake this.

Serve the cake warm with coffee for brunch, as a dessert with some decaf brew, or just munch out midday.  Happy Fall!

Turkey Sloppy Joes

Summer!!!!!!

Time for road trips, pic-a-nics, swimming (any water activity really, Texas is so hot!), and general hoozie-poo of summertime.  Since Fourth of July just passed, I now of course am thinking that Sloppy Joes would have been a great alternative to the standard hot dog and burger fare.

I'm always a bit hesitant to try out substitutions for red meat, because sometimes nothing beats beef.  These Joes, however, far surpassed any of my expectations for the too-often dried out, shoulder-shrugging, ground turkey.  I feel like it's got a bad rap, you know?  Like, someone should do something...

MONSTER SLOPPY JOE RAAAAAAAAAAWR

I looked at a lot of recipes in search of something great, and ended up mixing up a few different ones and adding BBQ sauce, something I found a lot of ground turkey recipes went without.  It lends a great flavor and juiciness to the meat, but doesn't overpower the rest of the ingredients.

I've made these a few times now, and being in Texas and all I had to try adding jalapenos to the mix.  It added the kick I was looking for, but is completely optional if you're not into that kind of spice.  The great thing about this recipe is that you have some editing power when it comes to flavor, since every BBQ sauce is different.  I personally like H-E-B's (our Texas grocer) Texas or Carolina sauces, depending on if I want more vinegar or sweet molasses.  My husband throws a bit of cheddar cheese on his.  Play around with the recipe and let me know what you come up with!

Spring is Here, and so is this Tuna Salad (the good kind)!

Merry Christmas!  Happy New Year!  Hope you had a great Easter weekend!  Now that we've caught up, let's waste no time on fluff.  This recipe is yet another favorite that I have since added to my collection.  It's out of Sara Forte's wonderful cookbook, "The Sprouted Kitchen - A Tastier Take on Whole Foods" which I had bought for my mother-in-law.  I know it's cheap, I know, but I made a copy of the tuna salad recipe out of the book before gifting it (teeheehee).  I am so glad I did.

Jhet and I took a trip to California last summer, and I brought this recipe along with us since we booked a hotel with a kitchenette.  Best beach picnic food EVAR!  Sara Forte reminisces about how her mom used to make beach picnic food like this, and it brought back memories of my mom packing us up in the car and spontaneously hauling us off to the beach.  Jhet and I had a blast, sitting on our little blanket in the cool sand (I emphasize cool sand because in Texas, the hot sand burns your feet until you hit the water!) and munchin' out on some refreshingly non-goopy tuna salad.

California!

I am very excited to share this recipe with you all, especially since I can't seem to find it on Sara Forte's site online.  I made a few minor adjustments to it but it is essentially the same.  The great thing about this recipe is the lack of mayonnaise.  Too often I get a hankering for tuna salad, and get disappointed by the soupy mess of mayo and fish.  Gross.  This offers a split between mayonnaise and Dijon mustard, a happy alternative that I will use from this point on!  The photos for this aren't the best I've done, but don't discount the recipe for lack of a better visual reference!

As a side note, this is what has been keeping me away from the blog:

New Orleans

...We got to ride in the St. Patrick's Day Parade!!

Oregon

Utopiafest

Okay enough biography, time for food!