a foodie post... (with raspberry cream cheese coffee cake recipe)

Not a lot of sewing going on here...

but I did have a few food related somethings to share. :)

We have a lot of tomato plants, with a lot of tomatoes.  And my husband loves tomato sauce... (gotta have that lycopene, right?), so I wanted to make some.  Trouble is, peeling and seeding is a pain for me; I just hate doing it and it's messy.

With inspiration from my friend Amanda, I washed,



Chopped (skin, seeds and all), added some basil, salt, pepper and onion and simmered.



Threw it in the blender (we have a fancy-pants VitaMix blender my mom gave me; Amanda uses a hand-held immersion blender to make hers), and then in to zip-loc bags and in to the freezer.  They smelled delicious, and were so easy.

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Sunday morning, I made my husband's favorite breakfast -- a raspberry cream cheese coffee cake (we eat this every Christmas morning).

Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

3 oz. cream cheese

4 T. butter

2 c. biscuit mix

1/3 c. milk

1/2 c. raspberry preserves (we use seedless - and you can use a bit less too)

1 c. powdered sugar

1 to 2 T. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix the cream cheese, butter, and biscuit mix until crumbly.  Blend in 1/3 c. milk.  Knead on floured surface 8 to 10 strokes.  Roll to approx. 8" x 12" rectangle and turn onto a greased baking sheet.  Spread with raspberry preserves down the center of dough.  Make 2 1/2" cuts at 1" intervals on long sides; fold strips over filling, sealing well.  

Bake at 425 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.  Make glaze with powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, and drizzle over warm coffee cake. 

Serve and enjoy.

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And lastly, since I haven't had a pumpkin spice latte yet, I decided to make some pumpkin spice caramel corn (again, inspired by Amanda). :)

Recipe here. 

Enjoy!  36 1/2 weeks now... (Steiger came at 38, 1 day... we'll see what this baby has in mind, but I'm getting large!)