Queen Elizabeth Cake

This is one of those cakes that when people hear the description,  they say "hmmm interesting " (aka yuck) and after tasting it, can not believe how incredibly delicious it is. I love this cake. I love making it.

I am not posting the recipe, there are many online you can find. Mine lists only ingredients. The cake part is simple but the topping is double cooked.

This one in particular was made for a friend's father who is also a friend. I made it for his birthday, he turned 83.  

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

These are one of our favourite muffins. My two love them and I have to freeze them as soon as they are cool so I can exercise my willpower. 20 seconds in the microwave or left frozen for a school lunch; perfect.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

(12 large muffins)

1&1/2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup olive oil

2 eggs

1/2 cup pumpkin 

1/2 cup mashed banana 

1/3 cup water (or juice or milk)

~~~~~

1&3/4 cups whole spelt

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1/2 cup chocolate chip

Bake 350*F/ 20 minutes

Enjoy!!

milk with an egg and oil for blueberry muffins.

I was making some blueberry muffins and when I put the egg, milk and oil together I thought it was pretty. They are in my 1-cup measure.

Blueberry Crunch Coffeecake

This recipe is from Joy of Cooking. It turned out really tasty on the first try. The recipe calls for sliced almonds, which I didn't have, but I had roasted almonds so I just chopped those up. You mix dark brown sugar with the almonds and sprinkle the mixture in the bottom of a loaf pan. Then spread the blueberry cake batter over top. (The batter is similar to a muffin batter.) When it bakes, the brown sugar and almonds form a crunchy layer. You serve the cake (loaf?) inverted so the crunchy almond layer is on top. Yum!

Double Rainbow

A beautiful rainbow was visible from our street today.

First Time Fritata

About two weeks ago, I tried making a fritata for the first time, and it was very easy and turned out well! I'm just now getting around to posting the photo.

I got the basic recipe/instructions from one of our cookbooks, then added some vegetables that we had on hand. Basically I mixed six eggs with salt, pepper, a handful of cheddar cheese, a handful of loose frozen spinach (thaw in microwave for about 30 seconds, then squeeze out excess water with a fork), some chopped blanched broccoli (blanched the day before and stored in fridge), sauteed mushrooms and onions.

(I sauteed the mushrooms and onions first, then set them aside to cool while preparing the egg mixture. I added the mushrooms and onions to the eggs right before pouring the mixture into the skillet.)

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in an ovenproof skillet until melted, then pour the egg/veggie mixure in. Turn the heat to medium-low and cook undisturbed for 10 minutes. Then put the whole skillet in a 350 degree oven for another 10 minutes. (The cookbook said 10-20 minutes in the oven, or just until the top of the fritata is no longer runny. 10 minutes was plenty in this case.)

We ate this in wedges with some salad and garlic toast. Yum!

I used our All-Clad non stick pan which is oven proof. I would probably use a little less butter next time. I'll definitely make this again because it was fairly quick and easy!