Blueberry Cake || Eatz

I went blueberry picking with my aunt and uncle last sunday. The farm that went to was filled with bushes full of blueberries. We decided to head to the back of the huge field since not a lot of people want to trek in that direction. And for the next hour and a half, we spent picking the biggest ones we could find (which wasn't too hard to find). It was so nice to see these big and plump blueberries just waiting to be picked. Not going to lie, I did quite a lot of eating while I was picking. But that's all the fun with u-pick!

It's been a week and a bit since I picked, and one out of the two buckets has been eaten. I thought that I would bake a cake before they all disappear. I love cakes with fruit and especially blueberries. This is just a simple white cake with a twist -- crumb coat! Usually I make crumb coats for fruit crumbles but I remember, back when I lived on campus, I made a cake like this and I thought I'd give it another go. Cake, crumbs, fresh blueberries mmmm. You can always use frozen berries but make sure you thaw it out and drain the water out so that your cake won't get soggy.

Crumb coat:

1. Mix all the ingredients (excluding butter) with a whisk until there are not clumps.

2. Add cold butter and use two knives to cut the butter into the flour mixture. You should end up with small chunks of butter. It's okay if your chunks are bigger -- no smaller than a pea.

3. We want to keep the crumb coat cold, so put it in the fridge until it is assembling time.

Cake:

1. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt (if you are using non-salted butter).

2. In another bowl or your stand mixer, beat butter until smooth.

3. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
4. Slowly add flour mixture and milk into the butter sugar mixture. Best way to do it is add 1/3 of the flour mixture and then 1/2 of the milk. Repeat this step until everything is incorporated. Do not over-mix or your cake will get a really gummy texture.

For easy transfer from pan to plate, I learned a little trick. All you will need is some parchment paper. Take a 9x9 pan and measure out your parchment paper just enough that it will cover the bottom and the sides. Cut your parchment in half lengthwise. Lay one sheet of parchment into your pan and lay your other sheet on top of the first one but perpendicular to the first. You should now have fully lined pan with little parchment "handles" on all four sides.

Assembling Time!
1. Take your lined 9x9 pan and pour cake batter into it. Even it out so that it fills in all the corners level it out. I used and offset spatula but you can used a regular butter knife or the back of a spoon. to make sure you don't get any batter onto your weapon of choice, spray it with some vegetable oil.

2. Place your blueberries on top of the batter. Make sure that the blueberries are evenly distributed or else someone is going to get a piece of cake without the star of the show. I gently pushed my blueberries into the batter so that it is 50% submerged. That way, the juices from the blueberries will be absorbed into the cake.

3. Sprinkle the crumb coat on top of the blueberries until fully covered. Don't pack it in or else it'll be super dense. Just let the butter work its magic :)

Put your cake into the oven and let it back for 40-45mins. To check to see that it's done, take a toothpick or a cake tester and stick it into the cake. If it comes out clean, and there aren't any crumbs stuck on it, you can take it out. Let it rest on a cooling rack.

You can eat this warm or cold, by itself or with whipped cream or even ice cream. Because it is a denser cake, don't make your servings too large.

I love the different layers! A simple yellow cake with fresh local berries and top it all off with a final layer of warm crispy crust. Mmmmm!

Hope you enjoy this recipe and make sure your try it out!


Good Eatz!
- V

Banana Muffins || Eatz

I love me some banana bread! My mom works at the local hospital and, sometimes, she brings back super ripe bananas because the hospital can't use them to feed their patients. She looked in the freezer this morning and found freezer bags full of bananas; I guess it's about time to make some banana bread. My mom likes to bake them in loafs or mini loafs (which look really cute) but I prefer mine in muffin form. I like to stick one in my purse (wrapped in plastic wrap of course) when I don't have time to eat breakfast. 

Got my music turned up and I'm ready to get my hands dirty!

Makes 30 cupcake-sized muffins.

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350°C with the racks in the middle. While you are pre-heating your oven, put your walnuts on a tray so that they are ready for toasting! When oven is done pre-heating ("beep"), stick your walnuts in the oven and set timer for 5-7 minutes. Take out and let it cool. Roughly chop the walnuts into chunks. Set aside

2. In a small sauce pan, melt your butter until it becomes a translucent liquid. Take off heat and let cool. You're going to see some white film/foam on the surface of your melt butter. Scoop it out and now you're left with clear melted goodness. Set aside.

3. Take out your mixer (bowl and wooden spoon if you are old school), and mix all your dry ingredients including the walnuts. Mix until well incorporated.

4. In separate bow, mash your bananas. If your bananas are frozen like mine, make sure that they are room temperature before mashing or it will take you forever! You can use your food processor if you like. Either way, do not mash/process it until it becomes a purée; if it looks like baby food, you've gone too far. Add your eggs, vanilla, and cooled down butter. Make sure it's cool or else you'll end up getting scrambled eggs in your bananas. Mix well.

5. Add your wet ingredient into your dry ingredients. Mixer: set it to the lowest setting. Using a wooden spoon? Fold your wet ingredients into the dry. Make sure that all your dry ingredients are mixed well in your batter; you don't want to have lumps of flour in your muffin. Your batter should look chunky; if you mix it until it's smooth, your muffins will have a rubbery texture.

6. Fill your pre-lined muffin pan with batter. I'm using a 1" cookie dough scooper and it was just around two scoops per muffin cup. If you're just eyeballing it, I would fill it just over 2/3 of the way. Top off each muffin with a whole walnut or chopped walnut pieces.

7. Put them in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes; rotate them half way through. Take a toothpick and stick them through the muffins to make sure that they're done. You know when they're all done when the toothpick comes out looking clean -- if there are crumbs stuck to it, put it back in for an extra minute or two.

8. Let them cool off in the pan for 5 minutes and then let them rest for an addition 30 minutes on a rack before putting them into containers.

There you have it! Best when it's serve warm with some butter. Mmmmm!

And if you live around the Vancouver area and you like your banana bread, check out To Die For for their amazing banana bread! I was able to meet Erin Ireland, the creator of To Die For Banana Bread, at her booth located in Chinatown's night market a few weeks ago. I'm not sure if she is there all summer or if it was just a pop-up but it was nice to hear how passionate she is and all the love she puts into her banana bread. Go to the website and they have a list of places where To Die For banana is being sold at. And seriously, it's TO DIE FOR! 


Good Eatz!
- V

Summer Quinoa Salad || Eatz

It's night time!

Sorry for not posting this past week. It's been hectic! Last week was the last week for the students at the school that I work at. It was sad to hear the students say their last byes before they left for their summer holidays. This week is my last week at the school - finishing up on reports, cleaning up the resource room, last minute staff meetings, etc.

Tomorrow, a fellow staff member (who's also my Grade 1 teacher) invited us to her and her husband's place for a potluck. I'm not a fan of potlucks. Now don't get me wrong; I love the different food that people bring, sharing it with one another and spending time chatting away until the sun goes down. My only problem about potlucks is my indecisiveness to pick what to bring. This time I was very good about this and knew exactly what I could bring. This is an original recipe by moi! I've made this salad a couple times but I usually made just enough for two lunch portions. I eyeballed it and it was just the right size for a potluck!

I love this salad! It's light and healthy tasting (but it doesn't taste like cardboard)!

All right, looks like I got all my ingredients. There are a few things that are missing in the picture but you get the gist. Let's get cooking!

1. Heat up 4 cups water in a large sauce pan. Add a dash of salt to help it boil and add some flavour to the quinoa. Once water bubbles, add quinoa into water and let it re-boil. When you see the water bubble, turn down the heat to medium and put a lid over it. Check it every so often to make sure that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Quinoa ratio is 1:4. For every 1 cup of uncooked quinoa, 4 cups of cooked rice will be produces. So make sure your sauce pan is big enough to handle 8 cups!  It's ready when all the water is absorbed and the quinoa is fluffy. Turn off heat and take it off the stove to cool down. Set aside.

2. While the quinoa is cooking, prepare your edamame beans and cucumbers. For the edamame beans, I suggest you buy the individual beans in a bag in the frozen aisle. Mine are from Costco; they were on sale but they needed to be de-podded. It you have the individual beans, warm them up in the microwave and set aside. If you got the ones in the microwave baggies, follow the instructions on the box. Once heated, set aside to cool down. Then get shucking! Set aside. I wanted the cucumber to be small cubes; just big enough to get a little crunch in each bit. Choose your way of cutting; as long as they are the size of edamame beans.

3. Your cilantro is up next! Make sure you clean your cilantro thoroughly! You don't want bits of dirt in your salad. Best way to clean them is to soak them into a bath of cold water. This lets the cilantro swim in the water and the dirt to sink. Shake out the excess water. I don't like a lot of stem so I cut some of it off. Coarsely chop cilantro and set aside.

4. Heat up a pan and add 1 Tbs of extra virgin olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add in your edamame beans and the cranberries. Lightly sauté and season with salt and pepper. Take off the stove before it becomes mushy and yellow. We want it to keep it's crunch and vibrant shade of green!

5. With a large bowl, mix all your components together. Add in 5 Tbs of extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix well. Best served chilled. I put mine in the fridge overnight before serving. And voilà!

Hope you like this recipe! Try it out and leave a comment!

Good Eatz!

- V

Cheddar Green Onion Scones || Eatz

On Friday, it was girls night for Friday night fellowship and we decided to have a little get together and do high tea. We all had to sign up to bring something that you would typically eat during high tea. I decided to make savoury scones and here's the recipe. Oh. I can't take all the credit. The original comes from Martha Stewart.

Oh beware, if you don't like washing dishes, this may not be the recipe for you. But you have to try it because it's super tasty!

1. Preheat oven to 400°C. Prepare cookie sheet with parchment and leave it to the side. In a small bowl, combine cheese, green onion and 1 1/2 tbs flour. Set aside.

2. In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs and add the milk. (Note: If you are using the 2% milk mixture, mix the milk first and let stand for 5 mins.) Mix until incorporated; you should still be able to tell apart from milk and egg. Do not over mix! Set aside.

3. In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine flour, baking power, and salt. On lowest setting, mix in butter. Mix until the butter are pebble sized. Add egg mixture and incorporate just enough that it is mixed. You still want to see lumps of butter. Fold in cheese mixture into dough with a spatula. The texture of your dough should be lumpy. If it's smooth, Sorry you'll have to start over.

4. Transfer dough onto floured surface. Split dough into three and make circles that 1/2 inch thick. Then cut the circle into triangles. Each circle should produce 6 triangles.

5. Transfer triangles onto baking sheet. Wash each triangle with your egg wash.

6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Let it cool on a cooling rack and you're done.

7. Oh wait. Wash all your dishes.

Alright and here's the final product. Best served warm with butter.

Here's some more pictures of the delicious food we had :) The spread was amazing and it really felt like we were having a tea party.

Hope you enjoy this recipe! I'm not sure when I will post my next recipe but I do have a restaurant review coming up soon. Look out for it!

Good Eatz Everyone!

- V

Just An Empty Bottle and the George Foreman: Grilled Zucchini and Naan

After a long four hours at the library, Heather (my roommate) and I decided to head back to the apartment. On the menu for tonight dinner: Grilled Zucchini on Naan. I thought we might go vegetarian tonight due to the excessive eating for the past two days; we made sushi (never took pictures of them so it's not going up on the blog) on Sunday, out at Tropica on Robson Street (really good malaysian food) yesterday,  and had a good ol' reuben on rye at the Fort Langley Pub.

You may wonder: "Why the empty bottle and George Foreman?" Reason: we don't have a rolling pin and no grill. Always thought we need a rolling pin in the kitchen but never got around to actually buying one. But then it hit me! Heather's sister left an empty bottle at our apartment; why not use that....it's the same thing. And living on campus means no barbeque in the backyard; the george foreman is always a good alternative. So here we go! Not one but two recipes tonight.

Naan (Indian Flatbread)

Serving: 4 

1/2 cup 1% or skim milk

2 cups all purpose flour

1 large egg

1 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1. In a small bowl, beat egg and milk until it is fully blended together

2. In a large mixing bowl, add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar; mix well

3. Add milk mixture into dry ingredients; mix until dough forms a ball

4. Transfer 

5. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or towel; leave it sitting in a warm location for 3 hours.

6. Preheat oven to 450F 

7. Take dough out of bowl and transfer on to a well floured surface. Split into 4 equal parts. Roll out each piece of dough into an oval shape (should be the size of your hand). Place onto a baking sheet

8. Baking them for 8-10 mins until golden brown

9. Serve them hot or at room temperature.

10. Enjoy!

Grilled Zucchini Topping

Serving: 2

1 medium zucchini - sliced long and thin

1/2 red onion - thinly sliced

handful (6) button mushroom (brown/white/both) - thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 cup parlsey - chopped

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon oil

salt and pepper

1. In a ziplock bag, add zuchinni, 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, thyme, cayenne pepper; shake well. Let it sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

2. heat up the george foreman to medium heat.

3. lay each slice of zucchini onto grill (make sure it's against the grill so that you'll get the grill marks).

4. flip over when it tender and let it grill (takes around 2-4 for both sides).

5. while grilling, place oil into a non-stick pan and let the oil heat up over medium heat. Once oil is hot, place onion in pan. When half way cooked, place mushrooms into pan.  Cook until onions are caramlized and mushrooms tender.

6. Mix the zucchini into the pan, stir well and season with salt and pepper

7. ENJOY!

Assembly!

Naan

Grill Zucchini Mixture

Crumble Goat's Milk Feta Cheese

Take Naan (make sure it's warm) and place zucchini mixture on top. Sprinkle some goat cheese!

Good cooking and good night!