Vanilla Strawberry Cupcakes w/ Buttercream Frosting {Recipe}

So here is the deal - I don't like to follow recipes. I usually read them for general reference and then go and do my own thing. It works. Sometimes. 

More times then not, it doesn't.

My sister on the other hand, she follows them to a T and gets amazing results pretty much every time. 

We were making some delicious sweets for my mom's bday party and she wanted to make cupcakes.

From scratch. Such a good daughter.

I wanted to make them from the box. Hey, I was making food too.

She won. I said, fine, but you are on your own. 

And lemme tell you, I'm glad she did. Because these were some delicious cupcakes. 

I mean, little-bakery- on-the-corner delicious. 

Lick-your-fingers-after-you-ate-the-cupcake-t-get-every-bit-of-frosting delicious.

The only thing she improvised with was the addition of strawberries. And she should have added more because they were giving the sweet cupcakes just the right amount of tartness. 

Delicious I tell ya!

And she did such a great job decorating these puppies.

Recipe from here.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup milk
• ½ tsp vinegar
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cups sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1¼ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1/2 lb strawberries

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. In a bowl, mix the vinegar and milk together and let stand for 3-5 minutes.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs until pale and frothy.
4. Add sugar and whisk again until incorporated.
5. Mix in the vegetable oil and set aside.
6. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
7. Gradually alternate incorporating the milk mixture and the flour mixture until everything is incorporated.
8. Finely chop strawberries and add them to the batter. Gently fold until incorporated
9. Divide into lined muffin cups, filling about ¾ full. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until a cake tester/toothpick comes out clean. The edges will be lightly golden =)
10. Let stand in the pan for about 2-3 minutes and then remove and let cool on a wire rack.
11. Frosting recipe from here. It's a lot easier just to watch a video;-)

 Party's simple decor

Chicken Pasta Salad {Recipe}

Another day. Another recipe.

I have to admit that most of my cooking is pretty simple. It's centered around simple ingredients and wholesome taste. This was a spur of the moment thing, involving some imagination, where I used whatever I had on hand. You can add more veggies or spices for different variations of this dish. Husband dubbed it 'very good' and he doesn't throw complements easily, so I'll take it. 

Here is a recipe for a quick, weeknight one-dish, one-pot meal.

Ingredients:

- 1/2 box of tricolor Rotini pasta

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 13oz canned chicken breast

- 1 broccoli head

- 1 can medium black olives

- 2 tbsp mayonnaise

- Parmesan cheese

- salty, pepper

Process:

Cook pasta according to package directions. 

Cut broccoli head into small florets and pour the hot liquid from pasta over the broccoli. Let stand for 3 minutes then drain.

Pour olive oil over pasta, add chicken, drained olives, broccoli, mayonnaise, black pepper and pinch of salt. Mix gently so that chicken only falls apart into smaller pieces. Cover the pasta to keep it warm. 

Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over individual plates and serve. 

Enjoy!

Lentil Soup {Recipe}

I have been eating this lentil soup since I was about 10 years old. When we were living in Russia and struggling to make ends meet, my mom became very good at creating delicious, filling and cheap meals. The thing is - there isn't much of anything in this soup. All the ingredients are very basic and you can probably find them in your fridge right now. Lentils are very filling and have lots of protein. They are also cheap and almost everyone likes their taste. So here is a recipe that's a favorite of ours, which we make very often. It's very VERY easy to make and is absolutely delicious! 

Ingredients
- 1/2 cup green  lentils
- 1/2 cup red lentils
- 1 pint of chicken broth
- 1/2 of chicken breast
- 2 carrots
- 1 medium onion
- 1/4 cup of pickle juice
- 2 tbsp of Ajvar paste
- olive oil
- salt, pepper


***If you want to make your own chicken broth. It is hundred times better then store bought.
- 1 chicken breast
- 2 pints of water
- 1 celery stick
- 1 carrot
Put all ingredients into a pot. Pour boiling water and simmer for one hour. Drain through a sieve and set the chicken aside.

Method

Chop onions, peel and grate carrots. Pour 2 tbsp of oil on hot skillet and place onions. Saute onions n medium heat until translucent, add carrots and cook for another 5 minutes. 

Add ajvar paste and mix together, set aside.

Bring chicken broth to boil and add pickle juice. Wash lentils and add them to the broth. Let the lentils cook for 10 minutes. 

Add the onions & carrots, stir. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 30 minutes.  Set aside and let soup stand for another 30 minutes.

To serve

Pull apart chicken breast and add to each individual bowls with a dollup of sour cream.

Enjoy!  

Strawberry Cake {recipe}

 I mean, it's obviously a recipe post. Take a look at the picture. Duh. But I went ahead and put {recipe}in there just for kicks. Just to make sure.

So here it is. The cake I was raving about. 

Honestly the first time I made it, I was going to take pictures but forgot and it disappeared too quick for me even to take a shot of one piece. After making it second time and forgetting to take pictures AGAIN I had to finish the cake all by myself. It was too good. This time I was afraid to forget again, so I left a note on my phone telling me to take pictures. If that's not getting old, I don't know what is. 

Let me know how you guys like it. And if you like it at all.

Ingredients:

for the cake

- 2 cups of Bisquick

- 8 eggs

- 1 cup sugar

for the frosting

- 1 cup heavy cream

- 1/2 cup powdered sugar

- 1/2 tsp vanilla

- 1/2 package cream cheese (softened)

- 1 stick butter (softened)

for the syrup

- juice of 1/2 lemon

- 4 tbsp sugar

- 3 tbsp cognac

- 1 cup of warm water

for garnish

- strawberries

-chopped pecans

Method:

Preheat oven to 300 F

Beat eggs and sugar on high until light and fluffy. Add Bisquick and mix just until combined, don't over beat. Divide the mixture between two pans.

Pour 2/3 of the batter into well greased round 9'' pan and bake on 300 F for 45 minutes. Let it cool until able to handle, then take out of the form. When the cake is completely cool, cut it lengthwise in half. 

Pour the other 1/3 into 8'' round pan and bake for 30 minutes at 300 F. Take out and let cool completely. 

Beat  heavy cream and powdered sugar until stiff picks form. (To get best results with whipped cream, place the bowl, whisk and cream in freezer for 5 minutes). Set aside, but not before getting a nice taste of that deliciousness. Yummy!
In a different bowl, beat cream cheese and butter together until uniform mixture forms, add whipped cream and vanilla and combine.

Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients for syrup together and set aside until the sugar dissolves completely. Pour the syrup evenly over the two halves of the cake.

Take the other cake and tear it apart into small pieces. Cut strawberries into small pieces and mix with about 2/3 of the frosting. Just careful not to get carried away with the strawberries and eat them all. They do look good though.

Take the bottom half of the cake and spread a little frosting on it. Then put the cake/strawberry/frosting mixtures and top off with second half of the cake. Spread the rest of the frosting over the cake, covering the sides.

Cover the edges with pecans and top with cut strawberries. Then scrape the bowl of frosting clean, while complaining to your husband that your old pre-maternity jeans don't fit your perfectly too round bottom. Let out a big Sigh. Move on with life.

Let the cake stand in the fridge for at least 3 hours, better yet 12. 

Enjoy a piece. Or two. 

Then sigh about your long lost size 4 jeans.

Banana Bread {recipe}

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and now that the nice weather is actually making its appearance over in our area, I'm so ready to get outside and enjoy it. 

The most exciting part is that I can finally go walking in the park with my munchkin and start getting back into shape faster. I do have a treadmill but running in the garage, while staring at my husband's tools, is not fun or does it make me want to do it over and over again. 

If you notice, all my recipes haven't really been 'diet' type. I don't know why, but I have such a sweet tooth lately. I've always been more of savory kinda gal but I think breastfeeding, working out, or what have you, is making me crave sweets. Yeah, not good. 

So I'm trying to curb my cravings a little bit while not indulging in too many sweet things. One of my favorites is banana bread. Our pastor's wife has been making most delicious, moist and decadent banana bread for years and always shares with us during Christmas time. She did give me the recipe but it never came out right. I decided to give it a try one more time with a little tweak. It was pure perfection. 

Go get some bananas. Let them sit on your counter for a week and make yourself a banana bread. 

Trust me. It's gooooood.  

INGREDIENTS

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar 
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

HOW TO:

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). 

With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

***My oven tends to be on hotter side so I bake it on 325F for an hour and then leave on 300F for another 30 minutes. It seems to do the trick - comes out moist and perfectly browned. Work with your oven.

Broccoli Cheese Soup {recipe}

Let me just say this: I love broccoli cheese soup. A lot. It is my favorite soup, behind mushroom and loaded potato and... you get the point. My hubby on the other hand, not so much. It's the cheese that doesn't sit well with him. So when I make this, it's mostly all for me. Except last week we had some friends over for dinner and the soup was gone by the end of the night. Should I say they liked it? Well, just a little. 

So this soup is, again, easy-peasy to make. Like most of my recipes. I try to bring you easy-to-make, home-made-but-taste-like-from-a-restaurant ideas for great meals.

The basis for my recipe comes from here, tweaked a little to my personal taste.

Ingredients:
1 lb fresh broccoli
4 oz sharp cheddar cheese
2 medium onions
4 oz Swiss cheese
3 medium carrots
1 quart chicken broth
1/2 cup of flour
2 cups of milk
3 tbsp butter
6 oz heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Peel and grate carrots, dice the onions and grate the cheeses. Set aside

Pour the chicken broth in a heavy bottom pot and put it on low heat to slowly warm up and add the carrots
Melt the butter in a non stick skillet and add diced onions. Cook together for 5 minutes on medium heat until the onions become translucent.

Take half of the onions and add them to the broth. Add flour to the rest of the onions in the pan and whisk together. Start adding milk very slowly, constantly whisking after every 1/4 of a cup until it forms a roux. Set aside.

Cut broccoli florets discarding the stems and put into a medium heatproof dish. Pour enough boiling water to cover and let stand for 1 minute. (you can't really wash broccoli too well, so the boiling water will remove all the germs and dirt and it will not end up in the soup) Drain broccoli and add to the broth. Next add the roux and heavy cream then stir everything.

Little by little add the cheese while keeping the heat on simmer (or it will stick to the pot if you heat it the boiling point. Tried it. Trust me. Had to soak the pot for 3 days)

Add salt and pepper to taste. (Make sure you taste it before adding salt as the broth and cheese will add quit a bit of salt. Careful not to over-salt it.)

Egg-in-a-Whole {recipe}

When I say I don't like eggs, I mean, I really don't like them. If I have to eat scrambled eggs, I nearly drown them in ketchup. But being that it has lean protein and an essential to a good breakfast, and blah blah blah (especially for preggos), I've been forced to eat them. Hence, I've been looking for recipes to creatively disguise the eggs and load up on veggies. First of all, I'm the queen of easy when it comes to breakfast. Sometimes I get all crazy and make super fancy Eggs Benedict, otherwise, I like to stick to pancakes. Well, here is the first way I've tried eating my egg(s). And I must say, I liked it.

Ingredients:

1 slice of your favorite bread

1/2 tbsp butter 

1 egg

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 avocado

3 grape tomatoes 

With a biscuit cutter or the rim of a glass, press a hole in the center of the slice of bread.


Next, heat a skillet over medium-low heat and melt the butter in it. When the butter is all spread out, place 
the piece of bread in the skillet and crack the egg straight into the center of hole.



Cook for at least 30 seconds or so before attempting to move the bread or things could get messy. Sprinkle the egg with salt and pepper to taste. After about a minute, flip it over with a spatula and salt and pepper the other side.



Now move the whole piece of toast around the skillet, soaking up all of the glorious butter. Let it cook until the yolk feels, to the touch, still soft without feeling over-jiggly. Here’s the key: golden brown toast, white (not brown/burned) whites, soft unbroken yolk. Load it with your favorite veggies and and enjoy! 

Hearty Potato Soup {recipe}

recipe courtesy of The Pioneer Woman

 Lately, I have been making lots of food.
What else is there to do when the temperatures drop into negative zone Fahrenheit?
Brrrrr. But-freezing cold. 

I mean, I am hungry pregnant lady after all.

Staying at home, and baking and cooking up a storm, makes my husband the happy beneficiary of the happenings. I don't know why and what's happening here but nesting is definitely getting to me. 

I think I'm reading more food blogs than fashion anything right now. Washing floors at least twice a week, scouting for pillows for my new couches and just organizing the house like crazy.

Well, at least the house is clean and there is always food. Delicious food. 

I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman and it's perfect. It's so hearty, thick yet perfectly creamy. 

Try it for yourself.

Ingredients

6 slices Thin Bacon, Cut Into 1-inch Pieces

1 whole Medium Onion, Diced

2 whole Carrots, Scrubbed Clean And Diced

3 stalks Celery, Diced

6 whole Small Russet Potatoes, Peeled And Diced

6 cups Low Sodium Chicken Or Vegetable Broth

3 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour

1 cup Milk

1/2 cup Heavy Cream

1/2 teaspoon Salt, More To Taste

Black Pepper To Taste

1/2 teaspoon Cajun Spice Mix

1 teaspoon Minced Fresh Parsley

1 cup Grated Cheese Of Your Choice

Preparation Instructions

Add bacon pieces to a soup pot over medium heat and cook bacon until crisp and fat is rendered. Remove the bacon from the pot and set it aside. Pour off most of the grease, but do not clean the pot.

Return the hot to medium-high heat and add the onions, carrots, and celery. Stir and cook for 2 minutes or so, then add the diced potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, seasoning with salt, pepper, and Cajun spice.

Pour in the broth and bring it to a gentle boil. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are starting to get tender. Whisk together the flour and the milk, then pour into the soup and allow the soup to cook for another 5 minutes.

Remove half to 2/3 the soup and blend in a blender/food process until completely smooth. Pour it back into the soup pot and stir to combine. Let it heat back up as you taste for seasonings, adding more of what it needs. Stir in cream, then stir in parsley, reserving a little for garnish.

Serve in bowls garnished with parsley, grated cheese and crisp bacon pieces. 

*** I love to eat it with black yeast dough Russian bread. It reminds me of home.

Crepes {recipe}

I have been craving crepes lately. 

It goes like this: 'Womb service. Yes, Can I please order some crepes filled with farmers cheese and strawberries. What's that? Whipped cream? Suuuure... send that can of whipped cream up!"

So, I have been making them every night, and the hubs loves it.
He loves the new and improved, always-hungry version of myself. 

He is benefiting a great deal from this whole pregnancy thing and keeps saying that maybe I shouldn't go to work after all, stay at home and make delicious food, while I'm making babies. Well that's new.

This recipe is as simple and easy as it gets. In Russian food there is a version of these, but much fattier and has sour cream in the batter.
I like them both ways but this is my go-to recipe. 

We eat them as a dessert (above picture) or plain for breakfast. Whatever you fancy, can dress them up with everything from fruit to Nutella. 

Ingredients:

- 1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour

- 2 eggs

- 1 tbsp sugar

- 1 1/2 cup of milk

- 1 tbsp butter

- pinch of salt

In a medium mixing bowl sift together flour, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl beat the eggs with fork and add milk to combine. Pour the milk mixture into flour while constantly mixing it with a whisk. Don't stop until there are no more lumps left. If needed add a little more water/milk. The batter should even consistency and not thick.

Heat up a small non-stick frying pan on medium heat and coat it with a butter. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the pan and swirl evenly. 

***You don't need to use spoon/spatula to smooth it out, just swirl until the entire pan is coated with batter and it isn't moving anymore. 

Allow 1 minute on the first side and when flipped, about 30 seconds on the other. 

Cheese Filling:

- 1/2 lb  of farmer's cheese 

- 1 tbsp whipped cream cheese

- 3 tbsp of sugar

- 1 tbsp sour cream

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the farmer's cheese and cream cheese together, then add sour cream, next add sugar and vanilla. Place 1 tbsp (or more ;-) of cheese mixture into each crepes and fold. 

Melt about 1 teaspoon of butter in a skillet and sauté the folded cheese crepes on medium heat until light brown on both sides. They don’t take long to sauté. Be careful not to burn them.

Refrigerate crepes that aren't being served.  They keep in the fridge for almost one week, or you can freeze them up to 2 months. Sometimes I make couple batches and freeze them for easy breakfast solution later.

Wash strawberries and cut into desired pieces. Add a little bit of strawberry preserves or topping and mix. Pour strawberries into crepes, sprinkle with almonds and top with whipped cream. 

Enjoy!

...then go back for seconds. 

French Onion Grilled Cheese {recipe}

Have you ever had this "Duhhhh" moment when you think to yourself 'Why haven't I thought of this earlier?'. Well I had one of those when I saw the recipe for this an amazingly delicious grilled cheese sandwich. It's the perfect combination of sweet and salty, crispy bread and melty cheese. 

Ohhhh my! Just talking about it makes me want to go whip out another batch. 

Plus, like I say in almost all my recipes - it's so easy to put together.

Ingredients
- 5 red onions
- 2 tbsp of butter
- 1/2 lb of thinly sliced Swiss Cheese
- 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 cup of red cooking wine
- french baguette
- thyme
- salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Process 
Makes 4 sandwiches

 Chop up the onions roughly, you don't want to dice them as they will cook down and will be very mushy. Melt the butter in a bottom-heavy sauce pan and add the onions. Leave the heat on medium and keep stirring the onions through the cooking process. 

 Cut the bread into 1/4 in thick slices and arrange 2 pieces of cheese on each side. I mean it's grilled cheese after all so you may want to pile on. Also, get the good stuff, something with tang and perfect sweetness - you don't want to ruin this puppy with domestic Swiss. That's just a sin.

Keep stirring the onions and when they start to wilt, turn up the heat just a notch. The goal (which my hubby said I failed to achieve this time, because he cooks the french onion soup in our family and it's absolute french perfection) is to have your onions start caramelizing on high heat. When you start seeing the purple color on the edges of the pan start browning, that's the sugar from onions coming and almost starting to burn. That's when your onions are done. They will cook down in volume a lot. 

Add the balsamic, wine and thyme and keep stirring to let all the liquid evaporate for another 5 minutes. Once the onions don't have anymore liquid (they will be very mushy though), turn the heat off and set aside. 

Spread about 2 tsbp of onions on one side of the bread, add salt and pepper and cover with the other. 

We didn't add any salt into the onions so at this point they are very sweet. Do a taste test and see how much salt you want in them.

Heat up a panini maker or just good ole-fashioned skillet and  spread a little butter on the outside of the sandwich. Heat it up until the cheese is melted and starts sizzling.

Enjoy! 

The Best Cheesecake {recipe}

{the dessert table = 4 pies, a cake, cheesecake and zucchini  bread}

{the best cheesecake yet}

I consider cheesecake to be one of the hardest recipe out there because there is so many things that can go wrong. First, it should be moist but not overly so; then it should rise and not fall shortly after you take it out of the oven. Also, it should have this rich and creamy consistency from the first bite until the last. Well, all that is hard to achieve but not impossible. Introducing, the best recipe out there and probably the best cheesecake I've ever made. 

Recipe courtesy of Paula Deen (with a a few of my changes)

Ingredients

Crust:

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs 
•  stick of butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar

Filling:

• 4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch 
• 1 (16-ounce) container sour cream 
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 6 eggs 

Topping:

• 6 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
• 1 1/2 pounds (about 3 large) Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Wrap the bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan tightly with foil to prevent moisture from the water bath from seeping into the cheesecake

Crust:

In a food processor (or with a fork), mix the graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar. Press the mixture into the bottom and halfway up the sides of the prepared pan. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then remove it from the oven to cool completely.

Filling:

In a food processor or with an electric mixer, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and cornstarch until smooth. Add the sour cream, orange juice, and vanilla and blend until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, blending until just combined. *Cook's Note: It's important to blend well with no clumps as this will make the filling a smoother consistency when baked.

Pour the filling into the crust. Put a roasting pan on a rack in the center of the oven and transfer the cheesecake to the pan. Fill the roasting pan with hot water to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan and cover it loosely with foil. Bake until the center moves only slightly when the cake pan is shaken, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Check the water level about 1 hour into the baking, adding more water, if needed. Leave the cake in the oven for another 15 minutes after turning the oven off. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and transfer the cake pan to a wire rack to cool. Refrigerate overnight.

Topping:

Melt the butter in a large skillet over high heat. Add the apples and pecans and cook, stirring, until they are coated with butter, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves and the liquid comes to a boil, about 3 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the apples and pecans to a bowl. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook the remaining liquid, stirring often, until it turns a deep amber, about 6 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat to stop the cooking and add the cream. Be careful, as the cream may splatter. Return the skillet to the heat and bring it to a boil, whisking constantly. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the apples and pecans. Allow to cool until lukewarm.

Spread the caramel-apple mixture evenly over the top of the cheesecake. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Use a knife dipped in hot water to cut through the cheesecake.

Royal Apple Cobbler {recipe}

There is nothing better then a warm apple cobbler on a cold fall night (with or without ice cream). I eat mine with hot tea. I love apple pies, but there is something to sophisticated and delicious about a cobbler. I've made different cobblers - from peach to mixed berry yet Pioneer Woman's recipe for blackberry cobbler is the best. I used her recipe but changed couple of things.

- First, I used apples with blackberries. Apples alone seem a little boring and a blackberry cobbler is way too expensive (this time of year). So I've used one pint of blackberries to add color and taste to the apples. Perfection!

- Next, I do not like shortening. Honestly, something about it makes me feel like my butt is expanding while I'm adding it to the recipe. I substituted it with canola oil which is the best for cooking.

- Lastly, I sprinkled the top with almonds. I love how the creamy inside mixed with the crunchy nuts makes for the best taste and texture.



Ingredients

• 1 pint of Blackberries
• 4 medium Tart Cooking Apples 
• 1/2 cup Plus 4 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
• 1/2 whole Zest Of Lemon
• 2 cups Flour
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
• 4-5 Tablesppoons Canola Oil
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 3-4 Tablespoons Almonds
• 1 whole Egg
• 1/2 cup Milk

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine blackberries, ½ cup sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a mixing bowl. Stir and spread out in a buttered Pyrex dish.

In a separate bowl pour flour, salt, baking powder, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Add oil and butter and work mixture together with a pastry blender (or your fingers) until the mixture is coarse. Measure ½ cup milk, add an egg, and mix together. Pour into flour mixture, stirring as you go. Mixture should be smooth and not dry, but not over sticky.

Take clumps of dough and place them on top of the blackberries. Lightly flatten dough with your fingertips. Sprinkle with 3 to 4 tablespoons of almond and bake until golden for 30 minutes. Berry juice will be slightly thin, but don’t be afraid. It will gradually soak into the biscuit-like topping and make your life complete.

Serve with vanilla ice cream and hot tea.