Marbled Blueberry Cake

The only reason why I like Spring/Summer is only cause it's berry season. Screw the hot weather, the allergies, and whatever Spring/Summer gives us. The main attraction are the delicious strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and of course my personal all time favorite BLUEBERRIES <3 that finally arrives fresh in our markets.

I can't get enough of them, so of course I had to make something out of these pretty blue pearls :)

• Marbled Blueberry Cake

1 1/3 cups self-raising flour sifted

1 1/4 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar (I used Splenda)

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp sugar

Preheat the oven at 350F degrees.

1. Spray non-stick spray on a 8 inch round cake pan. Place 1 tbsp of sugar and half the blueberries in a small saucepan. Stir together gently over medium hat for 2 minutes or until the juices begin to run. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining blueberries, allow to cool.

2. Beat eggs in a small mixing bowl, add vanilla and butter mix well. Combine flour and sugar in a separate mixing bowl, stir in the egg mixture until smooth.

3. Take out 3/4 cup of the cake mixture and stir into the blueberries. Place spoonfuls of both mixture randomly into the prepared tin. Swirl the mixture with a knife or skewer to create a marbling effect. Sprinkle brown sugar over the top. Bake for 45-50 minutes.

Remove cake out of tin and let it cool completely. Dust powder sugar and serve it with whip cream :)

My goodness...I LOVE BLUEBERRIES!

Enjoy <3

Banana Peanut Butter Cake

Elvis Presley's favorite sandwich is banana & peanut butter, who ever knew that those two combinations are simply delicious? Here's a recipe for a Banana Peanut Butter Cake where the two flavorful worlds combine together into one good loaf of deliciousness.

• Banana Peanut Butter Cake

2 cups whole wheat self-raising flour sifted (see note)

2 large eggs lightly beaten

1 cup banana mashed

1/2 cup earth balance unsalted (or unsalted butter)
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter

1/4 cup honey

Preheat oven at 350F degrees.

1. Spray non-stick cooking spray on a 8 1/4x5 1/2x 2 3/4 inch loaf tin. Using an electric beater, beat the butter, sugar, and honey in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs a little at a time, beating thoroughly. Add the peanut butter and beat until well combined.

2. Mix in mashed bananas. Then fold in flour, stir until the mixture is just combined and almost smooth.

3. Spoon the mixture evenly into the prepared tin and smooth the surface. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the center of cake. Leave the cake in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

OH EM GEE~ This stuff is good <3 Thank you Elvis!

Note: If you don't have whole wheat self rising flour here's my recipe to make your own.

1 cup whole wheat flour or all purpose

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

It's bulletproof.

Strawberry Yogurt Cupcakes

Strawberries. A sign of spring <3 My love for sweets is undeniable, but it counter acts with my healthy life style. When I bake, I try to find different substitutes for certain ingredients like AP flour, oil, sugar, butter etc. Which means basically you have to redo the whole entire recipe...which is a pain. There were a lot of trail & errors in my kitchen but these Strawberry Yogurt Cupcakes are a winner! They're light and fluffy..taste like spring in a cake <3

• Strawberry Yogurt Cupcakes

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 eggs
3 bananas
1 cup strawberries (frozen or fresh)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup non-fat plain yogurt
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven at 375 degrees. Mash bananas & strawberries in separate bowls set aside.

1. Whisk together eggs, applesauce, yogurt, brown sugar, vanilla and bananas. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg; Combine two together until moistened.

2. Fold strawberries into banana mixture evenly.

3. Spray non-stick cooking spray onto your 12 cupcake pan. Evenly, fill mixture a little more than halfway. Bake for 20 minutes, then cool completely.


Behind the scenes...mMm!!

20 minutes later you should get these babies...

Don't you love that you can see the actual strawberry peeking through? YUM! Now, these taste great by themselves..BUT I felt like I wanted to be naughty and put some light whipped icing on them :)

• Strawberry Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup strawberry puree

1. Put strawberries into blender and puree until smooth. In a large bowl combine heavy cream, sugar, vanilla extract, and strawberry puree.

2. Set your handheld mixer on high and whip for a minute until stiff. About a minute.

And in the end you get these.

I had extra strawberries left so I decided to top them :) Enjoy <3

Whole Wheat Lemon Bars

I love lemons. Seriously, I love them <3 I'll douse anything with its tangy juices. So, if you're a lemon lover then you'll love these whole wheat lemon bars :D!

• Whole Wheat Lemon Bars

Crust:

2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp butter

Topping:

3 large egg whites
1 large whole egg

1 cup sugar
2 tbsp wheat flour
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 cup lemon juice (4 lemons)
powder sugar for dusting (optional)

Preheat oven at 350F degrees.

Crust: Mix all ingredients together. Add butter and with your hands mix it around until evenly moistened. Take your 8x8x2 line it with foil and spray non-stick cooking spray. Press crust mixture evenly bottom of pan. Bake for 13 mins.

Topping: With a mixer on high speed, beat all ingredients about 1 minute. Pour lemon mixture over crust. Then bake for 30 minutes. Let it cool completely, then serve.

Sprinkle powder sugar evenly, & there you have it the yummy taste of spring <3

Bon appetit <3

Apple Tart

So, today I decided to clean out my fridge & kitchen. Nobody likes a dirty ass kitchen unless you're into that (??) To my surprise I had hoards of apples..like 8 apples just chilling in my fridge. Obviously my hatred to wasting food kicked in so I brain stormed what I could make.

It narrowed down to my Apple Tart. It's easy and a good way getting rid of those darn apples >:)

• Apple Tart
  
  1 whole sheet puff pastry (you can buy these at the market)
  3 apples
  1/2 cup brown sugar
  1/4 tsp salt
  1/2 lemon
  1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven 415 degrees.

1. Allow the puff pastry to thaw about 25 mins on the counter. Then cut in half so you'll have two even rectangles of puff.

2. Core apples, cut in half, then slice apples as thinly as you can.

3. Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, & salt with apples. Let it stand for 1 minute so the juices can flow.

4. Lay apple slices on top of the puff pastry, overlapping as you go.

5. Bake for 18-20 minutes in a 415 degree oven. Out comes a beautiful apple tart <3

Sprinkle a little bit of sifted powdered sugar and there you have it, a delicious apple tart that seriously took 5 mins (minus the thawing and baking time) to throw together.

Serve this baby with some ice cream or whipped cream & oooh man~ it's magic. Enjoy! <3

Overnight Oatmeal

We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, & it's also my favorite meal time <3 Waking up early, go out for my morning run/workout and coming back with a very hungry stomach knowing that I'm gonna give it a good dose of yummy goodness.

However, many people automatically think of breakfast eggs, sausage, toast, pancakes etc...which I don't disagree on. I am a EGG-OHOLIC I love eggs <3 they are the greatest thing that God put on this planet. But there is something outside of the traditional eggs and bacon, I give you *drum rolls*
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Overnight Oatmeal!!

I bet you think it sounds weird or disgusting. But man are you WRONG! It's packed with nutritional values like protein, & fiber. It'll keep you full, and it tastes f**king awesome what more do you want?

• Overnight Oats

1/2 cup uncooked rolled oats
1/2 banana
1/4 cup fat-free yogurt (or greek yogurt)
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Stir well until all ingredients are well mixed.

2. Cover with saran wrap & leave it overnight in the fridge. In the morning you should have something like this.

Top it off with a splash of almond milk (if you want) and load it up with your favorite guilty pleasures. A wave with a magic wand & poof! You have a healthy hearty breakfast :)

If you haven't notice by now, that I am a BIG berry fan <3 Can't get enough of them! I added raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, bananas, & unsweetened coconut shreds. But feel free to add anything you like. Enjoy!

Buckwheat Pumpkin Bowl

Ever since I started my righteous path on healthy eating, I constantly googled different kinds of flours to use for baking. There's always whole wheat flour, wheat cake flour, gluten free flour, and so on. I saw buckwheat flour and thought "Hmm..that's interesting." I've eaten buckwheat since it is in some Korean dishes but never have I baked with it, so I researched what it was and how it can be tamed.

Buckwheat is actually a seed, and it has a very distinctive flavor and strong fragrant. It is incredibly high in magnesium, which can be directly linked to improved cardiovascular functions including improved blood & lowered blood pressure.

That being said, I brainstormed. Hours laying in bed starring at my roof thinking what to make then BINGO! I had an idea :)

Buckwheat Pumpkin Cake! Well....kinda. No ovens or fancy equipments necessary in this recipe, you'll be using your microwave and bowl! OOoOOo!!

• Buckwheat Pumpkin Cake

1/4 cup buckwheat flour

1/4 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling just pumpkin puree)

1/4 cup almond milk (any milk will do)

1 large egg

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Then pour batter into a microwave safe bowl.

2. Microwave for 4 minutes. It should look like a cake. Flip the bowl onto a plate.

Behold! The great pumpkin cake...thing?? (I honestly have no idea what to name this.) It has a pumpkin pie taste but cake form if that makes sense.

Top it off with some berries. I used frozen berries and microwaved them with some honey but feel free to top it off with anything you like unsweetened shredded coconut, sliced almonds, sunflower butter, the combinations are endless. This would make an awesome breakfast it's quick & keeps you full for a long time. Enjoy <3