Blueberry Coffee Cake

I recently discovered these new recipe cards at my local Publix. They are not the Publix Apron's Meals, but a different group of individual recipes called "recipes that make cents", and I found them in some racks over in the produce section. I grabbed about 10 of them, excited to try some new things. The first recipe I attempted was for a blueberry-filled coffee cake.

I am in a book club that meets every month and the month of November was my turn to host. We read the book "Sundays at Tiffany's" by James Patterson, which I really enjoyed, and because the main character had brunch with her mother every Sunday, I decided my theme would be brunch! Coincidentally, brunch is my favorite meal ever. Plus, this was a great opportunity for me to try out this new recipe.

It was a definite success. Everyone brought a different brunch item and we stuffed ourselves with deliciousness. Lani (Pleasurecooker blogger) made an amazing breakfast cheesecake that I will be trying to make very soon - check out her blog for some awesome recipes. Another fellow book club member, Kelly, made delicious potato casserole, and she has a great blog as well.

If you like blueberries, you will love this recipe. The bread has a cake-like texture and it's very light and moist. I think it could double as a dessert served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The cinnamon/brown sugar topping is just the right amount of sweetness. And my favorite part - this recipe is so EASY. Enjoy!














Blueberry-Filled Coffee Cake (recipe found at Publix by Try-Foods Intl')
Prep time: 25 minutes Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries (I used frozen blueberries, thawed)

Cinnamon topping ingredients
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat an 8x8 pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a small bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. Then add sugar, oil, and egg and beat together. Stir in orange juice and vanilla to combine.
2. For cinnamon topping - in seperate bowl, stir together brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon ingredients for topping. Add oil and stir until crumbly. Set aside.
3. Spread half of the batter into baking pan. Sprinkle with half the blueberries, and half the cinnamon topping. Repeat layers.
4. Bake 35-45 minutes (use toothpick test.. I had to bake for 45 minutes). Let cool before cutting.

Halloween Festivities!

On the night before Halloween this year, we hosted a party at our home and invited several friends and coworkers. We had about 25 people show up and I made some treats for everyone which were gone within about 2 hours. Since the party didn't start until about 8pm, I mostly made finger foods. My dishes were -- crockpot meatballs, mexican dip, brie and raspberry puffs, and pumpkin cream cheese brownies.

Crockpot meatballs

Ingredients
1 bottle of your favorite bbq sauce
1 can of cranberry sauce, with berries
1 cup of orange juice
1 bag of frozen meatballs (I buy the Armor brand)

Directions
Pour all ingredients into crockpot (including frozen meatballs - no need to thaw). Mix around and make sure all meatballs are covered. Cook on high for 5-6 hours, and stir a few times every couple of hours if possible.














Mexican Dip

Ingredients
1 can refried beans (I use non-fat)
1 16 oz tub of sour cream (I use low-fat)
2 ripe avocados
1 packet of taco seasoning
2 large tomatoes
1 bag of mexican cheese
1 small can of black olives sliced (optional.. I opted out because most of my friends do not like black olives)

Directions
Mix sour cream with about 1/2 packet of taco seasoning. Mash up avocados with fork in separate bowl. In 8x13 dish, layer ingredients in this order: beans, mashed avocado, sour cream mixture, cheese, and chopped tomatoes.
~For spider web design, I put aside about 2 spoonfulls of sour cream and put it in a small zip lock bag. I cut the corner of the bag with scissors, and then squeezed it out into the spiderweb design.














Brie and Raspberry Puffs

Ingredients
1 can of crescent rolls
Raspberry preserves
Brie cheese

Directions
Rolls out crescent roll dough. It is already cut into triangles, so simple cut each triangle in half to make 2 triangles. Put a very small slice of brie cheese in the middle with a small dallop of the jam. Then take the corners of the pastry dough and fold them over, basically wrapping it like a present. Try to crease edges so that the pastry is sealed. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees or until puffs are slightly browned.














Pumpkin Cream Cheese Brownies
(Adapted from Lowfatcooking website)

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 13-16 ounce box Brownie mix
  
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (pure pumpkin, not pie mix)
• 1 egg
• For the topping:
• 4 ounces fat-free tub cream cheese
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I did not use this)
  

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch by 8-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Place brownie mix in a large mixing bowl with canned pumpkin and egg. Beat with an electric mixer until batter is smooth. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, pumpkin, sugar and pumpkin pie spice until smooth and creamy. Drop spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture on to brownie batter. Swirl with a knife.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. (I had to cook 40 minutes for it to be done with a toothpick test)

Makes 16 brownies.

Per Brownie: Calories 118, Calories from Fat 10, Total Fat 1g (sat 0.2g), Cholesterol 14mg, Sodium 95mg, Carbohydrate 24.9g, Fiber 1g, Protein 2.1g

















Roast Beef Pinwheels

I've seen a lot of variations on this, such as using herb cream cheese and chopped vegetables. I did roast beef pinwheels since I know we had a lot of meat eaters coming. But if meat isn't your thing, this recipe can be adapted with basically any ingredients.

Ingredients
Large tortillas
Sliced deli meat (I used roast beef)
Whipped cream cheese
Boar's head horseradish sauce

Directions
Spread cream cheese and a few drops of horseradish sauce onto tortilla (only a few drops because horseradish is pretty strong). Then spread 1-2 slices of deli meat, and roll up tortilla. Slice rolled up tortilla into small rounds. Secure with a toothpick. You can also make these ahead of time for a party and put them in the fridge, then slice up right before the party.