Mixed Berry Cake

I love using fruit for baking cakes - it gives a wonderfully refreshing taste. Generally I add chopped fruit to the batter, but for this cake I used pureed berries (a lot of them!), and it really helped enhance the flavor as well as add moisture.

This recipe is good for a 9 or 10” round pan, or 2 small (8x4) loaves. I used 1 (8x8) square pan and one little 3” round one for the leftover batter. The cake rises quite a bit so I ended up with fairly tall cakes with a nice crispy crust while the berries helped keep the cake moist.

Ingredients:

3 cups flour (I used 1 cup wheat, 2 cups all purpose flour)

1.5 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1-1.5 cups crushed/pureed berries (I used frozen strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries which were completely thawed before pureeing in food processor, leaving some chunks in)

1 cup oil (I used canola)

3 eggs

Heat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour baking pan(s).

Mix all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs and oil. Add this to the dry ingredients. Add the pureed berries and mix until well combined (don’t over beat - using a spatula would suffice).

Pour the lovely purple batter into prepared baking pans and bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour (depending on your pan size, oven type etc) until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the cake cool completely before removing from pan.

~Gayatri

Note: If you don’t like to bite into the seeds, don't use the raspberries. However, they were quite soft after baking and I didn’t mind them at all.

Frozen Oatmeal Cups

We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day - well, at least that’s what we’re told. Personally, I do feel a lot more energetic throughout the day if I start with some exercise and a good breakfast. Weekday mornings, however, don’t make it too easy to accomplish all that. In the past I would often throw together all the ingredients for instant oatmeal in a microwaveable container and bring it to work. That hardly took any time in the morning to prep, but I got tired of eating instant oatmeal. It is mushier and lacks the hardy texture and taste of old fashioned oats. Determined to still be able to have oatmeal as an option for weekday breakfast, I decided to cook a large batch of old fashioned oats over the weekend, freeze it and enjoy it through the week. The toppings are frozen right into the oatmeal, making it very convenient to grab some from the freezer before heading to work in the morning. This has been working really well for me and its so versatile that I look forward to making new flavors each week!

Ingredients (makes ~10 muffin cups):

1.5 cups old fashioned oats

2 cups water

1-1.5 cups milk

The water-milk ratio is up to you - you can completely eliminate one or the other as well. The package instructions typically ask for 1 part oats, 2 parts liquid. I generally add a little more liquid since it gets absorbed as the oatmeal cools down and then reheating it in the microwave can make it even drier.

Optional toppings: (pretty much anything you put in your regular oatmeal)

Sweeteners:

White sugar, brown sugar, honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, chocolate chips

Fruits:

Dried fruits - cranberries, raisins, chopped apricots

Berries (fresh or frozen)

Any other chopped fruit (preferably non citrus if using milk)

Nuts and seeds:

Chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, soaked chia seeds, poppy seeds

Granola for extra crunch (I generally avoid this and just use nuts)

Spices and flavoring:

Cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, vanilla essence, cocoa powder

Extra nutrition:

Flaxseed/chia seed powder

vanilla/chocolate protein powder (eliminate sweetener if powder is sweet)

Bring the water-milk mixture to a boil on medium heat. Add the oats and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add any spices/flavorings that you plan to use. You may also add sweetener while cooking - I typically add a drizzle of honey/agave as a topping. Take off the heat and let the oatmeal cool down a little.

Divide the cooked oatmeal into muffin cups leaving a little room on top for the add-ins (silicone moulds work wonderfully for this - but you should be able to pop the frozen oatmeal out even without the moulds). Add your favorite toppings. Make sure everything touches the oatmeal so that it sticks. You can push the fruit in a little to make room on top if needed. Put it in the freezer for a couple hours. Once frozen, you can pop them out from the pan and store in an airtight plastic bag or container.

Here are a few flavor combinations that I’ve made so far (and remembered to take pictures of). I'll keep updating this space whenever I make something new/interesting.

The possibilities are endless and it is a lot of fun experimenting! When you’re ready to eat, heat as many oatmeal cups as you like in the microwave. I generally heat up two for my breakfast and it takes about 1-1.5 minutes on high setting to heat up. Add a little water/milk if desired and enjoy a hot bowl of hearty oatmeal.

~ Gayatri

Miniature Über-berry Pies

The days are getting shorter and soon, instead of bemoaning how hot and humid it is, we'll be griping about the cold! As a final farewell to summer, here's a classic recipe for berry pie that's pretty simple but easily lends itself to personalization - like these cute little mini-pies!

 

Ingredients:

~6 cups berries - strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, your choice!
~1.25 cups sugar (I used Splenda)
1/2 cup flour (I used finely ground whole wheat flour)

~1 tbsp lemon juice

3 pie crusts (for regular pie, use only 2 pie crusts)

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.

2. Wash berries (slice if necessary, so they are roughly the same size) and mix them in a bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, mix sugar and flour. Combine the dry mixture with the berries.

4. Sprinkle lemon juice over the berry/flour mixture, let sit 10 minutes to let juices come out. Stir occasionally.

For regular pies
5. Place one pie crust in a 9-inch round pie pan and fill with the berry mixture.

6. For a double crust, lay the second pie crust on top and crimp the edges together, cutting away the excess. For a lattice crust, cut the second pie crust into ~1/2-inch strips. Lay one strip vertically in the center (dividing the pie in half), then one horizontally, also at the center. Working your way out, alternately lay strips horizontally and vertically in a lattice pattern until the strips are used up. Space the strips about 1/4 to 1/2 inch apart. Crimp edges together and cut away excess.

7. Slightly roll up the edges of the crust to help prevent berry juices from oozing over. As this doesn't always keep the juices in, line a cookie sheet with foil and put the pie pan on the cookie sheet to catch any rogue juice drippings.

8. Bake at 425°F for 10 minues, then reduce heat to 325°F and bake for another 50 minutes. Let cool.

For mini-pies:
5. Line a muffin pan with foil. Though it takes some work, lining each muffin cup separately will make it much easier to remove the mini-pies after baking. NOTE: It is best not to use muffin cup liners, as the crust will snag on the ridges and tear.

6. From each of the 3 pie crusts, cut circles about 3 inches in diameter with a cookie cutter, or some other circular object, like a huge mug :-) Save the rest of the crust.

7. Press the circular crust rounds into each muffin cup. The rounds should be large enough that some extra is able to fold out on the muffin pan. Spoon the berry mixture into each muffin cup.

8. Using the crust left over from cutting the small circular rounds, cut ~1/4-inch strips about 3-4 inches long. Arrange over the top of each muffin cup in a small lattice pattern (see step 6 for regular pies on how to do this). Crimp edges together and slightly roll them up to help prevent berry juices from spilling over.

9. Bake at 425°F for 10 minues, then reduce heat to 325°F and bake for another 10-20 minutes. Let cool.

Serve the pie à la mode for a sweet, anytime dessert!

~Karla

Note: Fresh berries work best, but if using frozen berries, make sure they are defrosted and discard excess liquid so that the pie doesn't get too soggy.