Blueberry Lemon Tart with Lemon Whipped Cream

With the cooler temperatures that arrived today, I decided to do a little baking.  I wanted to use up some bulk blueberries I got from Marsh.  I had already used most of them to make and freeze blueberry sauce that can be used for pancakes, ice cream, cheesecakes, etc., but I had 4 cups I set aside to bake something.

Lemon is a great combination with blueberries, but I didn't have any lemons on hand.  I did, however, have a jar of lemon curd from Trader Joe's in the cupboard.  That led me to improvise this great tart that we all loved.  

Blueberry Lemon Tart with Lemon Whipped Cream

Pastry for a single crust tart, pre-baked and cooled

4 cups fresh blueberries

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon curd (I used Trader Joe's)

3/4 cup heavy cream

In a medium saucepan, bring 1/4 cup water and 1 1/2 cups of the berries to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat; simmer, stirring occasionally, until berries begin to break down, 3 to 4 minutes.  

In a small bowl, mix cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water; stir into berries in pan. Add sugar, 1 TBS lemon curd, and salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, stirring, just until mixture begins to thicken, 30 to 60 seconds. Remove from heat. 

Stir in remaining 2 1/2 cups fresh berries. Immediately pour hot berry mixture into pre-baked tart shell, and smooth with a spatula.  Cool to room temperature and then cover and refrigerate.

Whip heavy cream until it is very thick.  With beater still running, slowly add 1 TBS lemon curd.  Whip until stiff.  Spread lemon cream over tart using an offset spatula.  

Adapted from Blueberry Tart Recipe

Heat Wave!

I apologize that my blog has been on a bit of a break lately with the recent heat wave. Its hard to find much to write about when its so hot! We haven't been going on any fun outings. I haven't turned the oven or even cooked much at all. I've basically just been hiding out in the A/C.

Andrew attended mornings at Cardinal Kids Camp all week.  It was a "water week" and he got to spend every morning playing fun water games.  He had a blast and was happy to go each day.

Robby opted not to sign up for a camp and spent much of each morning reading.  I recently signed him up for an account on Goodreads and together we inputed a bunch of books he's read recently and enjoyed.  Now, the app is giving him lots of great recommendations on other books he might like. It is so pleasant to take him to the library and let him find the books the app suggests instead of me looking for books he might like and him rejecting them over and over.

In the afternoons, the boys spent a lot of time playing with Legos.  I enjoyed seeing the Legos get so much use after months and months of them just taking up space in the living room.  Andrew built a "Super Duper Glider".

On Tuesday afternoon, I let the kids watch the original "Karate Kid" movie for the first time.  They loved it! Andrew spent the rest of the afternoon acting out scenes with a stuffed snake around his head and a rope around his waist.

Several evenings, we went to the pool after the sun was no longer beating down directly overhead.  By that time of day, it was actually pleasant to sit in the shade near the water and watch the kids play.

Even our cat, Oliver, thought it was too hot to stay outside for long!  Thankfully, this heat wave seems to be over now and hopefully we can get back to some more exciting summer activities.

Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze

I have been on a big quick bread baking kick lately.  Its a easy and tasty way to use many of the different fruits, and even some vegetables, that are in season right now.

My kids, who will eat almost anything, are actually quite picky when it comes to breakfast food.  They are not fond of the usual (and easy) choices like cereal or oatmeal. So lately, I've been giving them a slice of quick bread, some fruit, and greek yogurt and they've been happy with that.

Last week, my sister's family came down from Minnesota to visit us for the Fourth of July week.  My kids sure had a blast playing with their cousins!  We went through a lot of food with 9 people in the house, but when they left they left us with three very ripe bananas on the counter.  So, I baked a loaf of my favorite banana bread.


Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)

• 2 large eggs

• 3 tablespoons rum (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (can substitute softened butter)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut

• 1 tablespoon flaked sweetened coconut

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.  Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

Thoroughly mix mashed banana, eggs, rum, vanilla, sugar, yogurt, and coconut oil.  Add flour, soda, and salt and stir just until moist.  Do not overmix.  Fold in 1/2 cup coconut.  

Spoon batter into pan and sprinkle top with 1 tablespoon coconut. 

Bake at 350° for 60-70 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. 

Whisk together powdered sugar and juice and drizzle it over the warm bread. Cool completely on wire rack.

Adapted from Cooking Light.

Summit Lake State Park Nature Scavenger Hunt

I didn't sign the boys up for any day camps this week and my husband has been away for work all week, so the boys and I are continuing to make progress with our Summer Fun List.  Today, we headed down to Summit Lake State Park to take a 2-mile hike and then play on the beach and in the lake.

In an attempt to make the hike more interesting, I created a nature scavenger hunt (see below) so we would have specific things to look for as we hiked.  It didn't quite work out as planned.  The boys kept fighting over who would get to carry the clipboard and who would get to mark each item off.  For future reference don't expect a group effort: bring a separate checklist, clipboard, and pen for each child!

Another problem we encountered was that when we left the house I forgot to grab the bug spray... and boy did we need it!  More whining than I thought possible went on and on and on about how annoying the bugs.  

Luckily for me, I finally caught a break when the boys realized there were ripe black raspberries all along the edges of the trail and they began to pick and eat as we hiked.

We were lucky enough to see a baby deer very close to the trail and counted that as our four-legged wild animal!

A Trip to Pine Lake Waterpark

This afternoon, I decided the boys and I just needed to get out and do something fun, make some progress on our Summer Fun List!  Even though the weather was a bit iffy, we decided to head to Pine Lake Waterpark.  

I first heard about this waterpark last summer and have been wanting to visit every since.  The park is located out in the middle of the countryside, a few miles west of Berne, Indiana.  The drive took us about 55 minutes from our home near Ball State.  It cost $20 for the three of us to get in.

We all had a blast for two hours despite the fact that it kept raining on and off.  Finally, the fun came to an end when a storm came in and lightening was spotted.  We changed out of our suits and made it to our car just in time to avoid getting downpoured on!  We will definitely visit again and hopefully for longer.  

Double slide!  

Beach area - bring your own sand toys, the sand is very soft and great for digging

A crowd gathers every time the 30-foot high platform is opened for really brave jumpers

Robby on the teeter totter 

Andrew on the platform

How many waterparks include a rooster that keeps crowing?

Robby on the 20-foot platform and Andrew on the 12-foot diving board

Robby on the zip line 

Andrew jumping off the zip line

Storm clouds that ended our good time

Our Visit to Barn Brasserie in Muncie for Lunch

Yesterday a new local restaurant opened in downtown Muncie, Barn Brasserie.  Being the curious diners that we are, the boys and I hurried down today to check it out.  We love non-chain restaurants and this one sounded pretty intriguing.  The menu is described as American style food with French influences.  Many of the ingredients are locally sourced and everything is made from scratch.  

The restaurant is located in the spot where White River Landing used to be.  The new restaurant is quite a bit different from the former fishing/outdoor theme.  The wood paneling on the walls is about the only aspect of the old decor that remains the same.  Even the layout is a bit different.  

Our verdict is that all really LOVED the food and can't wait to go back again!  

Andrew tries out some mandarin key lime soda.  When he finished that one, he chose strawberry rhubarb soda for the refill.

Robby decides to start with a watermelon cream soda

While waiting for our food, I grabbed a crayon and started drawing on the butcher paper coving the table.  The kids freaked out at first - they've never eaten anywhere that had coloring paper covering the tables.  I'm a terrible artist, but this is my attempt at drawing the meal I ordered 

Robby ordered the special of the day, gyro panini with tzatziki and fries.  Included with each meal is choice of one house-made sauce.  Robby selects the ketchup.

Andrew ordered the kids' fish fingers plate.  He refused to wait until I photographed his meal before he started eating.  His fish was all gone faster than I could believe!  He also selected the ketchup for his sauce.

I ordered the brasserie burger and fries.  For my sauce, I chose the ranch.

For dessert, we shared a slice of lemon chess pie.

Robby says this is the "best pie in the world!"

I attempted to take some photos of the menu, but I see now that they didn't turn out very clear.  I recommend visiting and seeing the menu in person.

From-Scratch Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

A few years ago, I wanted to make a strawberry cake with some of the strawberries we picked at Landess Farm.  I had a very hard time finding a completely from-scratch strawberry cake recipe anywhere.  All the recipes I found involved adding strawberries to a cake mix or using strawberry Jello for the strawberry flavor.  Those were not the type of recipes I was interested in making with my precious fresh local strawberries!

This round two layer cake is what I finally came up with and boy is it delicious!  It has plenty of strawberry flavor in both the cake and the cream cheese frosting.  It is moist and fabulous and the family now demands I make it annually.

Strawberry cake with a side of chemistry test grading.

From-Scratch Strawberry Cake

Ingredients

1 pound fresh strawberries, sliced

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup milk, room temperature

6 large egg whites, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 ¼ cup all purpose flour

1 2/3 cup sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature (12 tablespoons)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour two 9 inch round cake pans and set aside.

Mix the sliced strawberries in a small bowl with the 2 tablespoons of sugar and set aside to let the juices come out while you prepare the rest of the cake.

In a glass measuring cup, whisk milk, eggs and vanilla. 

In a large bowl fit for a stand mixer, add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and whisk to combine.  Put the bowl on the mixer and add the butter.  Beat on low until the mixture is moist and crumbs form.  Add the wet ingredients and mix until fully combined.  Be careful not to over mix.  Add the strawberries, with the juices, and beat for about a minute until the batter turns a faint shade of pink and the berries start to break up (do not beat over a minute).

Evenly divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a spatula.  Bake for about 25-28 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  Run a knife around the outside of the pans, let the cakes cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, then turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

¼ cup butter, softened

3 to 3 ½ cups powdered sugar

½ cup mashed drained fresh strawberries

Mash the strawberries in a small bowl with a fork.  Then, use a fine mesh strainer to drain the juice off.  Save the juice to drink or for another use.  Blend together the cream cheese and butter using an electric mixer on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add 3 cups powdered sugar, gradually, and the mashed strawberries; blend frosting again on low speed until the sugar is incorporated. Increase mixer speed to medium and blend frosting until fluffy, adding up to 1/2 cup more sugar to make desired spreading consistency.