I don’t mind telling you that I’m not ready to start a new week. Do I have to? I believe I’d like to continue my state of denial at least through Madam Secretary and The Good Wife tonight. You don’t mind, do you?

So first of all, the sun actually shone in Minnesota the entire weekend – this after a week’s worth of dreary, chilly days. (Cue the angels singing, please.) And in honor of our favorite golf tournament of the year – The Master’s at Augusta National – Teacher Man and I grabbed Joe along with a few golf clubs and spent a little time on the driving range on Saturday morning.

It's was a golfing weekend | via printmyemotions.wordpress.com

The driving range just outside of Buffalo is, shall we say, a little more rustic than a fancy schmancy golf course – and that’s just the way we like it. It’s also on the honor system most of the time – the buckets of balls are always ready to go in the red shed, where we also leave the cash ($8 for a large bucket) even if no one is working.

It's was a golfing weekend | via printmyemotions.wordpress.com

Apparently Joe grew a few inches since last summer and his own junior clubs are too short for him. I don’t know how we missed that? Here, he is trying out my driver, which was definitely a better fit. (And I have no idea what the story is behind the RV parked by the driving range. It’s just there.)

It was a golfing weekend | via printmyemotions.wordpress.com

As if there wasn’t enough golf during the day, Teacher Man got out his indoor putting green, which apparently needed to be ironed so it would lay as flat as possible prior to our putting contest. Joe was thrilled to be a helper.

It was a golfing weekend | via printmyemotions.wordpress.com

Next: a cutthroat putting contest ensued with Earl the pug taking his seat in the gallery and providing coaching tips as needed.

Azalea Cocktail for The Master's | via printmyemotions.wordpress.com

I found a new favorite cocktail for our Saturday afternoon happy hour – this one in honor of The Master’s: the Azalea Cocktail. Recipe is simple: 2 parts gin, 1 part lime juice (freshly squeezed), 1 part pineapple juice, and a splash of grenadine. (Put all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake, and pour over ice into glasses.) It was delish – not overly sweet – and such a pretty color!

Azalea Cocktail for The Master's | via printmyemotions.wordpress.com

A post-putting contest #selfie because, well, we can’t help ourselves. And any selfie is always made immediately better with Earl the pug.

Growing Garlic | via printmyemotions.wordpress.com

And in unrelated news, my garlic made it through the winter and is now sprouting up! I am fairly excited about this – I’ve never grown my own garlic before. I literally ran back into the house to grab my iPhone to snap this picture and sent it immediately to my mother, who gave me the garlic to plant in the first place. Both of us were worried it wouldn’t make it through our winter, which was devoid of much snow cover. So yes, that was me jumping up and down with child-like glee in my garden on Saturday. (You can see what the garlic looked like last fall here before I planted it in early November.)

https://printmyemotions.wordpress.com/2014/11/02/a-bit-of-this-and-that/

Today, my day included the following:

  • A little bit of garden prep work in 35+ mph winds – which begs the question, why can’t we have one decent 75 degree day without gale force winds?
  • A nap. A glorious nap.
  • The final round of the Master’s golf tournament*.
  • And a new coffee cake recipe. (I am totally obsessed with coffee cake, generally speaking.)

The original recipe called for raspberries but I had frozen blueberries in my freezer so I substituted. It was a winner. How can I tell? Teacher Man had two giant pieces. That’s a win-win in my book.

Are you ready for the weekend, or would you rather be on ignore, like me?

Yep, that’s what I thought.

~ Lara ~

* I must give a shout out to my niece, Audree, who won our family’s Master’s golf pool with her “Hotness Picks.” She also submitted regular picks, but the golf gods smiled down upon her and apparently all of her cute golfers beat out the likes of the more serious picks from the rest of the family.  🙂

Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake | via printmyemotions.wordpress.com

Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake

Original recipe courtesy of Tidy Mom

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1-2 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (or raspberries)
Powdered sugar and fresh raspberries (optional for garnish)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease the bottom of a 9 inch round cake pan and line bottom of pan with parchment. Grease and lightly flour pan; set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, and set aside.

Using an electric mixer,  beat 1 cup of the granulated sugar and butter on medium to high until combined. Add 1 egg and vanilla. Beat on low to medium for 1 minute. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to sugar mixture, beating just until combined after each addition; set aside.

For cheesecake filling, in a small mixing bowl beat cream cheese and remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar with electric mixer on medium to high until combined. Add lemon peel and remaining egg; beat until combined.

Spoon half the cake batter into the prepared pan, spreading to edges. Pour filling over batter, spreading to edges. Dollop remaining batter on filling, carefully spreading to edges of pan.

Bake for 20 minutes or until puffed. Gently press blueberries into cake. Bake 25 to 30 minutes more or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Loosen edges of cake from pan; remove from pan. Serve warm, sprinkled with powdered sugar and topped with additional blueberries.

 

 

4 Comments on Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.