Award Winning Blueberry Coffeecake

I've been making this coffeecake for YEARS.  It started with 4H demonstrations and sending it to the county and state fairs, and now I make it on special occasions (like Easter breakfast this year).

1/2 cup margarine (or butter)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup light sour cream
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 teaspoon cinnamon

In mixing bowl, beat margarine, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat  in sour cream.
Sift together flour, soda, and salt.  Add to creamed mixture and beat well.  By hand, fold in blueberries.  Set aside.
In smal bowl, comine brown sugar, nuts, and cinnamon.
Spread almost half of the batter in greased 9x13 pan.  Sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture evenly over batter.  Dollop remaining batter on top, gently spread.  Sprinkle remaining brown sugar mixture over batter.
Bake in preheated 350 degree ovenfor 45-50 minutes.

I say almost half of the batter because the batter is pretty thick, and super hard to spread over the brown sugar mixture.  Definitely easier to do if you have more batter to work with.  I last made this with half whole wheat flour and half white, and you can't tell at all.

I'll Make You Banana Pancakes

Pretend like it's the weekend now...

Ok, it is the weekend.  I don't normally anything special for breakfast, but once in a while I feel the urge to whip something up.  

I don't have a go-to pancake recipe, but have recently been finding a lot of good things from my new favorite website, Smitten Kitchen (C introduced me to this site).  Today's recipe was based off of this one.  One thing I will mention was that these were very sweet, so I would definitely omit the sugar, which I didn't.  But it was a big hit with the kids and the husband :)

Banana Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1-1/2 to 2 cups milk

2 T melted and cooled butter, plus unmelted butter for cooking

2-3 bananas, thinly sliced

1/2 cup chocolate chips (give or take)

1.  Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium-low heat.  In a bowl, mix together dry ingredients.  Beat eggs into 1-1/2 cups milk, then stir in 2 T of melted cooled butter.  Gently stir this mixture into dry ingredients, mixing only enough to moisten flour; don't worry about a few lumps.  If batter seems thick, add up to 1/2 cup more milk.  Stir in chocolate chips.

2.  Place a teaspoon or two of butter on griddle or skillet.  When butter foam subsides, ladle batter onto griddle, making pancakes of any size you like.  Adjust heat as necessary (I cooked these on fairly low heat).  Add sliced bananas and press into cooking pancake.  You can add more chocolate chips, if you find it necessary.  Flip pancakes after bubbles rise to the surface and bottoms brown, after 2-4 minutes.

3.  Cook until second side is lightly browned.  Serve, or hold on in an ovenproof dish in a 200-degree oven for up to 15 minutes.