Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

Happy Friday y'all,

Late this afternoon, I was invited to a Easter Brunch at the park tomorrow! I just love a good party, it gives me another opportunity to whip up something to share with my friends, and these just aren't friends they are church friends! I was so excited, I  was asked to bring a coffee cake. My first thought was something with cranberries. Y'all know I just adore those cute little red buttons of sweetness. Guess what? You can't buy fresh cranberries this time of the year at the grocery store. I wanted to use fresh fruit, not anything from a can or frozen so guess what I did right there in the store. I whipped out my handy dandy iphone and googled a recipe for Blueberry Coffee Cake. My lands, there's a gob of recipes to look at. Luckily for me and the produce man the first recipe I came upon was a Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake. That's the one I wanna make I told him!

Since it being Easter, church friends and all I just couldn't show up with my old trusty aluminum cake pan, I wanted something pretty to bake it in. Lord have mercy, Miss Paula Deen came to my rescue right there in the middle of Wal-mart. She must have known I was in need of something springy, I found the prettiest Robin's Egg baking dish. Oh and it's scalloped all the way around!

I pulled out all my ingredients and withing minutes I had her in the oven baking away. The house smells divine! I can't wait to cut into her tomorrow... Keep your fingers crossed that she taste as good as she looks!

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

Topping:
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup sifted  of all- purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Mix together until crumbly. Set aside

Batter:
3 cups of sifted all- purpose flour
5 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt

Sift all of these in a bowl and set aside.

In a medium bowl mix together:

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2/3 cups of melted butter

Next add 1 cup of milk and 2 teaspoons of vanila. Once mixed together, add flour mixture. Mix well.

Transfer half the batter to a greased and floured 9x13 baking dish. Next, sprinkle 2- 6ounce containers of rinsed blueberries. Add remaining batter over the blueberries. I used a spatula for this. Sprinkle topping over the top. You can add if you want, 2/3 cups of pecans or your favorite nuts over the topping.

Bake 375 for 35 - 40 minutes, if by chance its getting to brown for your liking cover with a sheet of foil. That's what I did and bake away!

It's never to late in the day to try a new recipe!

Flower Therapy

Hey y'all,

Have you ever considered the effect of a simple yet beautiful flower can have on the soul? This past week has been a real struggle for little o' me. I feel like my poor heart is being trampled by a herd of cattle. I'm trying so hard to keep up with my daily walks, they help clean out the cobwebs so that I can focus on making it around the park. All those deep breaths I take help purge all the ugliness that's surrounding my heart.

Sadly, it wasn't enough. There is one thing that usually puts a smile on my face and that is flowers. I love all the different shapes and sizes of them and the color that bursts from them makes my heart sing. Just like the birds in my back yard. I tell you they were so happy to see me out in the back yard these past two days. I even saw my first hummingbird!  A dear friend that I walk with has watched me admire these lovely pink and white tipped roses on our walk. As we walk by them you can smell their sweetness. I am overcome with memories of my very special Grandmother Terry. Whenever, I think of her I think of pink roses and it makes so very happy.

Farm livin' is the life for me

 My sweet adorable husband was raised and born out in the country. Last year, while unemployed he had an opportunity to help our friends around their almond ranches. Needless to say, Den was in heaven. He loved driving around on the quad fixin' one thing after the other. It felt like home to him. It was bittersweet for him to see his family home everyday, just across the road. He was flooded with memories of working side by side with his Dad in the fields and tending their family garden. Last year, he helped put in a garden for our friends and they were so happy to have fresh vine ripe tomatoes right outside their back door.

This year, our friends offered to let us put in a garden and even expand! Den sat down and put together a list of all the things he wanted to plant. My oh my his list was long! We anxiously waited for this weird rainy season to end so we could get started on our garden. The finally arrived last Saturday, we set out to rent a rotor tiller, picked out tomatoes of all kinds and even some heirloom ones too, pepper plants and lots seed packets also. We've got big plans after all.


By Sunday evening the rows were all in and so far we have the tomato plants in. Hopefully, by next weekend the garden will be all done. I'd love to hear about your garden plans. What's your favorite vegetable to plant? Do you have a garden bed in the ground or a raised garden bed? Do you plant your vegetables in pots or wine barrels on your patio?

Here's a list of the things we hope to have planted by this coming weekend, which just happens to be my 28th anniversary to this wonderful man!

Tomatoes- Early Girl, Better Boy, Husky Cherry, Pink Ladyfinger Heirloom, Yellow Pear, Roma's, there's two more heirlooms but I forgot their names
Peppers- Green, Yellow, Red, Orange Bell Peppers, Jalapenos
Squashes- Yellow Crooked Neck, Italian Summer Squash
Green Beans
Black Eyed Peas (My favorite)
Okra (another favorite of mine)
Cucumbers
I need a drum roll for these babies- Pickling Cucumbers (all for Erik) 10 of them!
More to come if we have room! We just might have to double expand!

Can you guess what I will be canning this summer? Lot's and lot's of tomatoes and baby pickles! I think we have the fixin's for some great summer salads, fried green tomatoes, deep fried zucchini and okra. Summer can't get here fast enough for me!

For the love of Salsa

I bet y'all thought I had given up on this blogger thang didn't ya! Have no fear, I'm still here and ready to share with y'all our families favorite snack, Salsa!

Let me tell y'all, our family has tried one recipe after the other in search of the perfect recipe to satisfy our Salsa taste buds and by golly I think we have a winner. I'm afraid to think of how many chips have crossed these lips.  I've got to tell you that after the first dip my boys were as happy as a bee in a flower patch. Finally, we have what we feel is as close to what our favorite Mexican restaurant's offers. Our taste buds, were singing with the choir on a Sunday morning after we polished off our first bowl of salsa. We hope that you will enjoy this as much as we have.

I have to tell y'all that here at House of Payne we like our Salsa a little more spicy than some might. I'd say that ours is turned up to medium. If you like yours mild, I'd cut back on the jalapeno and cilantro a tab bit.

House of Payne Salsa - makes 5 quarts

1 1/2 gallons of crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 cups of roasted Japanese chili pods, roasted over a dry flame (in a skillet)
2 bunches of green onions, finely chopped
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
3 nice size jalapenos, finely chopped and seeded
 1 tsp of minced garlic
Salt to taste

You will need to mix 1 quart of tomatoes with the chili pods, garlic and jalapenos in a blender. Blend to fine.The only thing you should see are the seeds from the chili pods. Then add to to remaining ingredients and mix well.

I make mine in a metal bowl and I always use a metal spoon to stir with. I also store mine in quarts jars. The reason I always use metal is that its the only type of bowl that doesn't retain the salsa smell.

Will keep for five days in the refrigerator.

Cooking Magazines

Hey y'all,

I wanted to share a new magazine that I stumbled upon the other day while browsing the magazine rack. Have you ever picked up a copy of Cook's Country? I think this will be the first cooking magazine I will subscribe to. You are probably wondering what's so great about it right? Well, grab something tall to drink and I'll gladly share with y'all what's put a bur in my bonnet.

The cover had me from the start. Oh my, biscuits. Not just any biscuit but fluffy cream cheese biscuits! I've had a craving for a hot buttery biscuit for the past few nights with some of my homemade jam dripping over the sides. As I flipped through the pages I was drawn back in time to my Grandma's kitchen. So many down to earth Southern goodness page after page.

There's also many helpful tips and the writer actually tries the recipes and put her own taste tested twist on them. I love that I think the most. Make it your own I say!

If you have a chance to pick up a copy I know you will be just as happy as a bowl full of peaches in a cobbler on a Sunday afternoon!

Fresh out of the oven

Well folks here we are, fresh out of the oven and boy are we ready for a taste test! We've been tossing this idea of blogging around for months and after many pokes from family and friends we are ready. I hope you are!

So, you are probably wondering what's on the menu right? At The House of Payne there is always something either on the stove top, in the oven or wait for it... on the grill. We LOVE, LOVE to cook around here. Easter comin' up soon and we've got a menu that's in the works full of flavor and we are so excited to share it with y'all.

We've been honing our culinary skills for some time now and just about everybody we know has been to our taste test kitchen at some time or another. We're pretty sure that when our family and friends leave The House of Payne their bellies are full and they've got a smile on their face. That's all that matters to use.

If you've been to The House of Payne, I would love to hear from y'all. Pull up a stool, grab a glass of our favorite drink and sit for a while. I've discovered a new magazine that I'm excited to share with y'all tomorrow!

There's never enough time to try a new recipe...