Coffee Cake, Broccoli Fish Bake, Cilantro Rice

Blueberry-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
from my brain

Crumb Topping
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/6 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 Tbs butter, melted
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in melted butter and combine with your fingers until the mixture is coarse crumbs. Let sit for 30-45 minutes before using.

Cake
1/2 cup AP flour
1/2 cup Whole Wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 cup blueberries, rinsed and drained (thawed, if frozen)

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a small bowl. Set aside.

Cream butter and cream cheese until well blended and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla. Mix well. Add sugar; mix well. Add milk alternately with the flour mixture, mixing well after each addition.

Butter an 8x8 pan very well. Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Tap lightly on the counter to release any air bubbles. Scatter the blueberries over the batter. Scatter the crumb mixture over top the blueberries.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack to room temperature. Cut into squares and serve with fresh whipped cream.

Nom nom nom! I don't mean to brag but this was gooood! Plus, I'm getting pretty awesome at whipped cream. I've certainly perfected my skills in that area lately :)

I was looking through my Weight Watcher's cookbook (surprise surprise! lol) looking for broccoli recipes after getting a massive amount of broccoli on sale and then running out of things to make with it. I found a recipe for cream of broccoli soup...and a while back I had gotten an e-mail from Campbell's with some Broccoli Fish Bake that called for cream of broccoli so I decided to give it a shot.

Cream of Broccoli Soup (makes approx 1 3/4 cups)
from Weight Watcher's New and Complete Cookbook

1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 medium garlic clove, minced
1 pound broccoli, tough ends removed, stems and florets chopped
2 cups fat-free chicken broth, or vegetable broth
1 cup fat-free milk
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp table salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper, or to taste

*I also had carrots and celery in my fridge that I chopped up and through in there as well :)

Saute the carrots, celery, onions and garlic in a tsp of olive oil.

Add everything else (EXCEPT THE MILK!) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 20 minutes.

Transfer mixture to a blender and puree until smooth. It says to do this in batches but I was able to do it all at once. Be careful and be sure to use the lid - it's HOT!

Transfer the puree back to the pan and add the milk. Stir well and bring slowly to a simmer and let it simmer for 4-5 minutes.

Broccoli Fish Bake (serves 2)
from Campbell's Meal Mail

1 package (about 10 ounces) frozen broccoli spears, cooked and drained
2 fresh or thawed frozen firm white fish fillets (cod, haddock or halibut) (--I used tilapia!)
WW Cream of Broccoli soup (or you can use a can of Campbell's COB soup and a 1/3 cup milk)
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
2 Tbs dry bread crumbs (--I used crumbs from my corn muffins!)
1 tsp butter, melted
1/8 tsp paprika

Preheat over to 450° F. Lay the broccoli in the bottom of a 2 qt dish (be sure to cook it first!!). Top with the fish fillets. Pour the soup over the fish. (If using canned, combine the soup and milk before doing this.) Top with cheese. Combine butter, crumbs and paprika in a bowl and sprinkle on top. I added some extra broccoli on top because I loove the way that broccoli roasts! Cook for 20 minutes and serve!

My favorite thing about this dish? That it doesn't have an overwhelming broccoli flavor! Seems impossible, doesn't it? But, trust me...it doesn't! It was fabulous. I think it had to do with the fact that there were three "layers" of broccoli that were prepared different ways. The broccoli in the soup was chopped and boiled with seasoning and chicken broth, the broccoli in the middle of the dish was steamed and then baked while the broccoli on top was steamed and then roasted. It brought three different broccoli flavors to the party. It's very AB, if you ask me :)

Cilantro Rice (serves 3-4)
from Aida Mollenkamp

1 3/4 cups packed cilantro leaves (about 1.5 ounces)
2 medium garlic cloves
1 medium serrano chile, halved lengthwise and seeded (-- had none, used chili powder instead)
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 tsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup minced yellow onion
1 cup long-grain white rice
1/2 Tbs kosher salt

I used my scale to measure out the cilantro and it was a little shy of the 1.5 oz but I think it worked fine. For reference sake, I used the whole big bunch I got at Publix (in the fresh herbs section, not packaged) for a buck.

Put cilantro, 1 cup broth, garlic and chile (or chili powder!) in a blender. Pulse until smooth. I didn't do this long enough and had to fish out the garlic pieces later on so pulse, pulse, pulse!!

Heat oil in a frying pan. Add and cook onion until it is translucent. Add rice and salt and cook until the rice becomes opaque, about 2 minutes.

Carefully pour in the cilantro mixture and the remaining 3/4 cup broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Turn off heat and let rice rest for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. I served mine with pork chops with leftover guac and black beans.

I HIGHLY recommend putting black beans into the rice. The rice was good before but the black beans were just a perfect addition!

Does anyone else notice how I use my kitchen appliances in batches? I won't touch it for months and then twice in two weeks I use it! Last post, it was the food processor. This post, the blender. What will it be for my next post?? The mandolin slicer, perhaps? It's very underused in its box.... :D