Eating, Watching, Sleeping, Baking...

After nearly a month of asking, I finally took the kids to McDonald's for lunch last week.  I hate feeding them fast food too often, but they'd been pretty good all week, so I even splurged for happy meals with "awesome toys", in their opinions. 

 

On Saturday we went to one of Dylan's tournament basketball games - they won!  Go Dylan!  Rich took this cute shot of the kids watching the game with their big cousin, Jack.

With afternoon preschool this year, our schedules are too tight to fit in decent naps before dinner, which is hard for the kids.  And for me, I'm not going to lie.  But we still have rest time where they sit or lay quietly on the sofa and watch Sesame Street or read.  Once this week, Lena succumbed to the time change and a busy day and fell asleep sitting up...sweet girl.

 

 

Today the kids and I made this awesome lemon blueberry yogurt cake.  As is true with most desserts I love, the lemon glaze (always with fresh lemon juice) takes it to a whole 'nother level.  This will definitely be on heavy rotation at our house. 

 

Lemons are something I always have on hand nowadays.  I use them every day for cooking and baking.  Plain Greek yogurt is becoming another staple here.  I've been using it a lot in cooking too, substituting it for mayo, using it in sauces...so good.  And good for us.  Win, win!

 

 

Here's the recipe for lemon blueberry yogurt cake for anyone interested. 

 

nonstick vegetable oil spray

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

3/4 cup (whole milk or reduced fat) plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup melted butter

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup blueberries (I used frozen)

 For glaze - 1/2 cup powdered sugar

 For glaze - 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 

 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a standard loaf pan with nonstick vegetable oil spray. Dust with flour; tap out excess. Whisk 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt in a medium bowl. Using your fingers, rub 1 cup sugar with 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest in a large bowl until sugar is moist. Add 3/4 cup whole-milk Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup melted butter, 2 large eggs, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; whisk to blend. Fold in dry ingredients just to blend. Carefully fold in blueberries.  Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake until top of cake is golden brown and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, 50-55 minutes. Add glaze and let cake cool on a wire rack.