Blueberry Lemon Bread

Blueberry Lemon Bread
via A Kitchen Muse

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup + 1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons lemon zest (zest of one medium lemon)
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Method

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Butter and sugar a 9- or 10-inch loaf pan; set aside.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl; set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and 1 cup of the sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lemon zest.

Slowly mix in the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Lightly coat blueberries with a small amount of flour. Gently fold in blueberries into the batter. Spoon batter into loaf pan.

Bake for about one hour, or until golden brown and a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

When the bread has about 5 minutes cooking time left, bring remaining 1/3 cup of sugar and lemon juice to boil in a small saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Once removed from the oven, pierce the top of the hot loaf several time with a cooking chopstick (or knife) without touching the bottom of the loaf in pan. Pour the hot sugar mixture over the loaf.

Cool for 30 minutes in pan on a wire rack, then turn bread out of pan and cool completely on rack.

NOTES

Blueberry lemon CRACK BREAD is more like it. !)@(#*$&%^ *BLISS*

I wanted something blueberry lemon flavored for months, but wasn't sure what. Somehow I knew, though, when I saw this bread that this was IT. Tart but not too tart, sweet but not too sweet, melty berries, cake-like bread with a golden crust. Just wow. Absolute perfection.

Like the original poster said, make this for yourself, for your friends, for your coworkers, for whomever. JUST MAKE IT.

Egg Bake

Update: This post used to be about Breakfast Sandwiches, but I realized since we never eat these on toast anymore, only a larger portion of the eggs themselves, that I needed to come back and modify it to be about the bake.

This is more of a ratio than a recipe: 1.5 eggs per serving, everything else is negotiable. The way I usually do it is I make breakfast for me and Steve on Saturday or Sunday that includes sausage, spinach and eggs and then use parts of those elements for this recipe while I'm at it. I also only ever do a half recipe because we have chorizo and egg burritos and baked oatmeal to eat during the week, too. I also only put spinach on my side and not his.

It's also totally a make-it-your-own thing, an idea to be played with, as my friend Sarah did by making it with ham, cheese and asparagus, and as I have done by using broccoli or kale instead of spinach:

Use what you like, just don't overdo it.

Egg Bake (Make-Ahead Breakfast)
with much appreciation to Rebecca at Foodie with Family

Ingredients

For 8 portions:

Nonstick cooking spray
8 ounces breakfast sausage (I use my homemade version)
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces chopped cooked spinach
12 eggs
1/4 cup milk
freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, breaking it into small chunks with a wooden spoon as it browns. Cook until no longer pink. Add the minced onion and garlic and saute until slightly browned and fragrant, another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Spray a 9x13x2 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Be sure to get the corners and sides well, too. Evenly distribute the sausage mixture over the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Scatter the spinach on top.

Crack all of the eggs into a large mixing bowl. Add the 1/4 cup of milk and freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste. Whisk to beat together until the mixture is an even color. Pour gently and evenly over the contents of the baking dish.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the eggs are set in the center (no longer liquidy, but they can still have just a little shimmy to them) and golden brown around the edges.

Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before using a thin spatula to run around the edges and loosen the cooked egg. Using two spatulas, gently pull out the egg bake in once piece onto a cutting board. Allow it to cool for 10 more minutes before slicing into 10 pieces. Eat immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

NOTES

Rebecca has changed our lives once again. The baked oatmeal we so love came from her recipes and so did this one. I keep hollering to her about how grateful I am, but I could never say it enough. She has changed the way we live/eat/function day-to-day. I truly had no idea what I was going to do about feeding us anything in the morning at our desks aside from fruit. Now I have TWO blissful breakfasts to alternate weekly. So happy. Sooooo happy.