Lori's Luscious Crumb Cake

Thanks to the beautiful Lori Demarest-Barrett for this recipe.

CRUMB CAKE

1 box vanilla cake mix

CRUMBS:

2 (4) sticks of melted butter

2 (4) cups flour

2 (4) tsp. cinnamon

1 (2) tsp. vanilla

2/3 (1 1/3) cup sugar

Pinch of salt

Make vanilla cake according to directions on the box.

Take cake out of oven 10 minutes early to add crumbs.

CRUMBS

Combine melted butter, flour, sugar, salt, vanilla, cinnamon in a bowl.

Create crumbs with your hands. Add equal amounts of flour & sugar to create consistency of play dough.

Place crumbs carefully on top of cake. Bake 10 more minutes in the oven. Turn the oven off and leave the cake in the oven until it cools.

Fruit Breads

Not to be confused with fruit cakes!!! These are the yummy loaves like banana or pumpkin breads that we all love as breakfast, snacks or desserts. I'm not much for baking, but these are so easy to make, that even I can manage.

I prefer to make them in a stand-mixer like my kitchen-aid, but a hand blender will work too.

First, mix the following ingredients:

2 eggs
3/4 cup canola oil (OR substitute 3/4 cup of applesauce - you'll never miss the oil nor notice a difference in taste)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp. real vanilla extract

And your fruit (or veggies) -- suggestions include: 3 very ripe bananas, 1 can of cooked pumpkin, 1 cup of shredded apple, zucchini or berries. The possibilities are really endless.

Once this is all well integrated, add the following and mix until smooth:

1 and 1/2 cup flour
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. each of baking soda and baking powder
1 pinch of salt.

When it's well-mixed, pour into a greased loaf pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes. Cool on a wire rack, cut with a serrated knife, and dig in!!!

BELTs

Another recipe I should have posted 2 months ago, as the height of tomato season began, but better late than never!

One of my favorite fringe benefits of marrying my husband is learning about his family's favorite breakfast treat -- the BELT. So simple; so delicious. It's a BLT sandwich, with scrambled egg on it as well.

This has quickly become a summer-time week-night favorite in our house. Of course, they can be eaten year-round, but when summer tomatoes are ripe, there is no better time to enjoy a BELT.

Give it a try -- I promise you'll love it!

Fruit Salad

Fruit Salad? Who needs a recipe for fruit salad, you ask . . . all you do is cut up some fruit and toss it in a bowl and there you go!

True, that will do and especially if you're using fresh, seasonal fruit, it will be delicious.

But a simple dressing that I love will perk it up a lot!

For every 3 cups of fruit in your salad, mix:

the juice of one lime
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of minced fresh mint (peppermint or spearmint are both fine)

Toss thoroughly -- I promise this will make a huge difference that you will love.

Frittatas

Brunch is one of my favorite meals to host -- it's a fun time of the day to get together, and making brunch food ahead of time is so easy. Plus, it's a fairly inexpensive meal to make, which means you can invite more people.

Quiche is usually a very popular brunch dish, and I love a good quiche . . . but I can go you one easier with my version of a frittata, which is a baked Italian omelet. Once you get the basic technique down, you can literally make ENDLESS varieties. If you can scramble an egg, chop ingredients, and throw them into an oven to bake, you can make a frittata.

So first, the basics . . . .

Take 8 eggs, 1/2 cup milk (whole is best, but 2% is OK -- just don't use skim), a pinch of salt and a bit of fresh cracked black pepper, and whisk them all together until they're well incorporated.

Take a pie dish, spray with non-stick cooking spray, and pour the egg mixture into the dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 - 45 minutes -- until the top is lightly brown and the middle is firm to the touch. Let it rest for a few minutes before you serve, or you can also let it cool to room temperature and serve that way.

That's it -- how easy is that?????

Now -- for some of my favorite varieties, but really, you can add anything you want to this.

The All American -- dice 1 onion and saute until it's translucent. Add that, about 1/2 cup of some chopped ham or bacon or breakfast sausage, 8 ounces of shredded cheddar, and 2 shredded potatoes (squeeze out the excess water), and bake as above.

Carciofi -- mince 3-4 large cloves of garlic, mince 10 fresh basil leaves (or use 1 tbsp. dried basil), chop up 1 small jar of marinated artichoke hearts (about 3 full hearts), 1/4 cup parmigiana cheese, and 8 ounces of shredded smoked fontina (or some such smoked cheese), stir and bake.

Caprese -- remove seeds from 1 large tomato and dice; 10 minced basil leaves (or 1 tsp. dried basil), 8 ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese (don't use fresh mozzarella -- it's too watery); 1/3 cup of parmigiana; stir and bake.

Let your imagination run wild -- great ingredients to use include zucchini, spinach (buy chopped frozen spinach, defrost and squeeze out all the excess water before adding), broccoli, asparagus, roasted red peppers, all sorts of breakfast meats, and cheeses -- there are no limits.

My guest are always FAR too over-impressed with this very easy dish. Make one for every 3-4 people, put out some bagels or other pastry, a fruit salad, and it's a party.

Enjoy!

Bread pudding/French toast casserole

Remember when I said I hate to bake, so I do desserts that are more about assembly, than actual baking? Here's a good one. And the best part is that it doubles as what I call French Toast Casserole for brunch (in fact, I first made this as a brunch dish, and only recently started serving it as dessert).

1 loaf of bread -- Challah is great; Italian bread too, or something similar, but nothing that's too crusty. A GREAT bread to use is one of Tasetfully Simple's beer breads --either white or whole wheat.
4 eggs (you could substitute egg beaters if you're watching your cholesterol -- you'll barely notice the difference)
2/3 cup milk (whole is best, but any kind will do)
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp real vanilla extract
1/2 cup blueberries (or any berry you like, cut up into blueberry size pieces)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. butter (optional)
1 bag frozen berries (mixed, or any one kind of berry is fine)
2 tbsp. honey

Cut up the loaf of bread into bit sized cubes.

Mix the eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla extract and add the bread cubes. Toss thoroughly, until the bread absorbs all the liquid.

Put this into a greased baking dish, and toss the berries on top, spreading them around. If fresh berried aren't in season, frozen ones will do fine, but defrost them first and let them drain a little so the pudding doesn't get watery.

Cover with a thin layer of brown sugar. If you want, dot butter over the top for some extra richness, but this is purely optional -- trust me, it's delicious and rich enough without it!

Cover with foil and put in the oven at 350 degrees, and bake for 35-40 minutes, until it's hot all the way through. Take off the foil for the last 10 minutes so the top gets a little crunchy, but the middle doesn't dry out.

While it's baking, put the berries into a sauce pan with the honey. (Don't waste your money on fresh berries -- you really won't notice a difference for the sauce). Simmer this on low until the berries totally break down. Stir frequently, and you can use a potato masher to help spead the process. Put the mixture into a fine, mesh strainer, and push out as much syrup as you can with a spatula or spoon.

Pour a few spoons-ful of this over each serving of the pudding.

Enjoy!!!!!