Food For Thought

The other evening at dinner, my kids started talking about breakfast.  You would think that they think about food all the time ... and you'd be right!  I don't know how many times Aaron has inquired about the next meal while he's only half-way through the current one.  It's like he's afraid I might forget that he needs to eat again.  Soon.

As we talked about one of our favorite breakfasts, Blueberry Buckle, the discussion started up about what else you could put in it.  While the ingredient of choice is obviously blueberries, the kids started naming off other fruit that you could substitute:  peaches, blackberries, strawberries and bananas.  Then it got silly.  In large part because the name is fun ... put anything with Buckle and you're guaranteed a giggle.  So here are some of the other options, the best as I can remember them:  Pickle Buckle, Hamburger Buckle, Bacon Buckle, Zucchini Buckle, Tomato Buckle, Potato Buckle and Fungus Buckle.  The topper came from Brett with Chuckle Buckle (the chuckle being an unfortunate part of a pig) which then led me to Yucky Buckle.  It doesn't take much to amuse this crowd!

So ... without further ado, here is the one and only, original ...

Blueberry Buckle
(This recipe was given to me at my bridal shower by Jennifer Schurz.)

Crumb Mixture
Mix together: 1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 cup soft butter
You could toss in 1/4 cup of chopped nuts, too.

Use a fork to gently combine and then set aside.

Cake
Mix together: 3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
1/2 t. salt

It will be thick.  Add 2 cups blueberries (frozen or fresh) and fold them in as gently as you can.

Prepare a pan with shortening and dust with flour.  (I use a round 9 inch pan and cut it into pie slices.)  Press the cake batter into the pan and sprinkle with the crumb mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

It doesn't necessarily come out of the pan ... but it's still delicious!

Delish ... hot out of the oven!

I thought I would include a fresh fruit salad to go along with this rich breakfast cake.  Maybe help you feel like you aren't actually have cake for breakfast! :)

Fruit Salad with Pomegranate

(This is just something I tossed together with what we had around ... and it was tasty!)

3 Honeycrisp apples, cut into bite-sized pieces

4-5 Cutie clementines, peeled and cut into bite-sized segments

1 Cutie for juicing

1 Pomegranate, de-seeded

The biggest challenge of this salad is getting to the little pomegranate seeds.  Tough, but not impossible.  Here's how I do it.  Take a paring knife and make a cut just through the skin.  Do this in both directions so that you have the skin cut into quarters.  Pull back the skin on one section until you can see the seeds inside.  You will notice that the seeds are nestled in little clusters surrounded by a papery membrane.  Pull out these individual clusters and work the seeds free.  I like to dump them all into a colander so that I can give them a rinse before adding them to the salad.  This will take a little work, but those lovely red seeds bursting with flavor are worth it!  The only bummer is that the juice from the seeds will stain your fingernails, so just be warned that you will scrubbing your hands in vain later.  Of course, you could always just go my sister's route and buy the little plastic container from the store with all the seeds already freed ... but where's the fun in that?!? :)

Add the seeds to the cut apples (Honeycrisp are my absolute favorite ... but any will do) and clementines.  Toss this together.  Next, squeeze the juice from one clementine and make sure to coat the fruit completely.  This will help to slow the browning of the apples.  

A fresh fruit salad in the dead of winter ... yum!

I love the color of those pomegranates in this salad
 ... but not on my hands!

Blueberry Buckle
Fruit Salad With Pomegranate

This recipe is also posted here ... another fun site for yummy munchies!