Sour Blueberries

I am flabbergasted!! Tuesday's with Dorie never cease to amaze me. When I first bought Dorie's book almost two years ago there were some recipes that, just by name, I had decided not to try. To me there's something about a name. A name can explain everything. A name gives identity. A name relates an object to the brain. And when I read the name Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream I didn't know what to think. My first reaction was to the Sour Cream part. I am a huge sweet cream girl, I love my sweets. Sour in an ice cream (unless it's Sour Patch Kids) just doesn't seem like a sane thing to do.



But, needless to say that's why I joined this group. I wanted to have a reason to try every recipe, whether I liked it or not. Baking gets kinda boring if you don't experiment. Besides, I've been pleasantly surprised before by my lovely little Apple Cheddar Scones.



So, off I went to make this thing called "Ice Cream". In making the blueberry syrup I almost hit a snafu. The dang syrup was so good that I almost ate it all, but I made sure to leave plenty for my ice cream. It was a difficult task :) Then I dumped it into the blender gave it a whirl and added my sour cream base. I looked on in awe as my deep sea of indigo blue slowly transformed into a light airy lilac purple. As soon as everything was blended together I dunked my spoon in to get and early taste.



I so wanted to say "Oh my gosh, this is absolutely disgusting." But, I couldn't bring myself to do it! I had to take another bite just to see if I was really tasting it right. Then I found my tongue craving yet another bite of the sweet blueberry taste with just a slight tang to it. I just couldn't believe that this was actually good and that I wanted to keep eating it!



Things got even better once I turned my liquid heaven into a frozen blueberry goodness and slapped it between two homemade oatmeal pecan cookies! I actually think this dessert is one of the best representations of summer that I have ever had. And I am so happy that Dolores of Chronicles in Curiosity chose such an extraordinarily, original, mind blowing recipe!

...Making up for the non-exisiting marble

Today's TWD is brought to you from Ashley of A Year in the Kitchen. Little Miss Ashley chose a most scrumptious looking Black and White Banana Loaf (aka chocolate Marbled Banana Bread). I am a huge banana bread lover, and was really excited to try this one out, because I have never actually had chocolate and banana together in a loaf...I know call me crazy.



This was the first TWD recipe that I was actually a little disappointed with. After reading so many people's comments on how they didn't like the nutmeg taste, I knew right away that I would be omitting that from my recipe, I was too afraid to chance it. After I got my batter mixed up, I found it to be very runny, which was my first indication of an "un-marbled" loaf.



I did like Dorie said and dolloped blobs of one batter on top of blobs of the other batter, took a knife and being my marbling technique. But, since my batter was so runny to begin with both batters started melding together...which didn't really bother me, because it was gonna taste the same either way...right? (I have to ask those of you who had a perfectly marbled bread :) )

The oven timer dings, I pull out my big brown loaf from the oven and am immediately happy with the smell. Now I wait to see if my marbling turned out. 20 minutes later, and the answer is...NO. I have hardly any marbling in my bread, but hey, looks can be deceiving. So, I cut a warm slice and hungrily take a big bite out of it. My reaction was...mixed...the bread was very moist, but I don't know if I really cared for the flavor. It actually seemed a little bland.



So, I got to thinking. I needed a way to cover up the blandness and I knew just the thing. I pulled out my Starbucks Java Chip Ice Cream, put two whopping scoops on top of my chunked up Black and White Loaf. I then proceeded to amaze myself...and my tummy...and flambeed some bananas, bananas foster style!! Yeah you heard me!



And now I had a Black and White Loaf that I truly adored!!

Fill Me Up Buttercup

Ever have a day when your stomach feels like a bottomless pit? No matter how much you eat, little tum-tum just keeps begging for more. I absolutely HATE that feeling. It's so frustrating! I try to stick to a healthy diet, being conscientious of what I eat, and how much of it I eat. But then there's days like today.



I wake up, have a rice cake with peanut butter, raisins and two dried apricots. This is my preworkout snack, everyday, never fail. When I get home from the gym little tum-tum is crying for some food, which is a normal behavior for tum-tum at this time of day. To the kitchen I go, pour blueberries, strawberries and chunks of peaches into a big (BIG) cereal bowl. And because I'm a freak-o and can't choose one cereal, I have to have a mixture of Kashi Go Lean, Kashi Honey Sunshine and Cascadian Farms Wheat Squares (Hey I told you I was a freak-o). I chase my cereal down with a big cup of hot tea. But tum-tum now wants something sweet and of course I can't say no, so I have a few bites of cake and maybe a tiny scoop of peanut butter.



Normally I'm fine at this point, for a few hours, but like I said today was one of those days. So, about an hour later I find myself craving Starbucks, I immediately jump in the car and head over to get my tum-tum something warm to drink (my thinking behind warm is that it will take me longer to drink it, so hopefully I won't want anything else too soon). "Hi! Can I get a Grande Decaf, Extra Hot, Extra Foam Cafe Misto with Sugar Free Vanilla?" Say that ten times fast...I always make sure to warn the barista that they're gonna need to grab my cup and a pen and be ready to write it down :)



Tum-tum of course isn't satisfied with my coffee for long, so it's spurts of carrots, peaches, turkey slices, handfuls of cereal, a few bites of a muffin, a cup of hot tea, a few dried figs, a few more handfuls of cereal, some broccoli, a spoonful of peanut butter with honey and a cheesecake bite that I turn to. And that's all before dinner time!

Dinner is a bowl of pasta with lemon chicken, mushrooms onions and peas. Then a bite of a cookie. Three hours later tum-tum is craving something sweet again, so it;s a few scoops of vanilla ice cream with a drizzle of honey and a chai hot tea with a shot of espresso.



I am now at the point where I'm looking back on my day and in complete disbelief that I can let tum-tum control my day like that...I then look on my dresser and realize that I am about ready to enter my favorite part of the month, and ladies I'm sure you know what I mean ;)

So to cure any tum-tum cravings I give you Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats with chunks of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. That should shut any tum-tum up...I just can't guarantee for how long!

Summa' Summa' Summa' Time

Can I just say how much work sucks! Here I am, nearing the end of summer, not yet been able to take a vacation, more tired than I've ever been and only realizing that this is the way of adulthood. There aren't any more nights of riding my bike around the neighborhood past sunset. The idea of playing with June Bugs is no longer appealing. Staying up past my bed time is not even a thought. And I hate to say it, but all of my "chores" are now completed before my adulthood bedtime of 9:00.

Where do the days go? Summer used to last forever. It was full of vacations, sleepovers, loads of ice cream, watermelon spitting contests and nights of sleep out on the giant trampoline in the backyard. Now all I dream about when i get off work is getting some food in my belly and going straight to bed.

Life's funny isn't it.

We always want what we can't have, and when we get to the point of having what we've always wanted, we realize that we don't want it anymore. I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles, or so I've heard. But at least we have food to help take us back to those lazy summer days!

So, here we are at yet another Tuesday, celebrating another recipe down in this journey to complete Dorie's amazing book! Michelle, of Michelle in Colorado Springs, was our hostess this week. And what a treat she chose...Dorie's Summer Fruit Galette. And let me tell you, there could not be an easier recipe out there.

My Peach Galette with Pomegranate Jelly came together so quick and easy that it will definitely be one of my go to recipes when I'm ready for something quick and easy! Hope you all enjoy! Happy baking :)

TWD: Two for One

When I saw the pick for this week's TWD I was actually really excited! Amanda of Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake picked Dorie's Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler.

Reason #1 for excitement: I love, love, LOVE cobbler.

Reason #2 for excitement: I have become very fond of the pink celery, other wise know as Rhubarb.

Reason #3 for excitement: The recipe seems soo easy!

Of course, with reasons for excitement comes reasons that the recipe had to be altered...



Altercation reason #1: I live in Albuquerque, NM and could not find Rhubarb anywhere! I used to be able to find it frozen, but that still wasn't an option.

Altercation reason #2: I actually like an entire crust on cobblers, not biscuit sized droppings.

...So with that I give you my Altered Peach Cobbler made with Dorie's Crust :) (Scroll down for the extra helping of TWD)



Last week the TWD Gang made Chocolate Pudding. I unfortunately couldn't participate in it, because I thought I didn't have the right equipment. But, thanks to those who left comments on my blog saying I could use a whisk I was ready to give that Chocolate Pudding a whirl!



I decided to use Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder, just because I'm a dark chocolate freak. I also flamed up some mini marshmallows and added a caramel drizzle to the top! I felt like I had just made some fancy high-end dessert, and the pudding just melted in my mouth.



Thank you Bloggers for convincing me to use my whisk, never again will I have store bought pudding!!