Food Friday: Berry Sourdough Coffee Cake

 

Sourdough Coffee Cake using frozen berries

This sourdough coffee cake is quick and easy to make, pairs well with bacon or sausage, and feels a bit guilt free as the cake batter doesn't call for any sugar. The topping, however, that's a little sweeter!

Ready for the oven!

Berry Sourdough Coffee Cake

1 C Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

Pinch of Salt

1 C Sourdough

1/3 C Canola or Vegetable Oil

1 Egg

Fresh or frozen berries or sliced apples, pears, or plums.

Crumble Topping:

4-6 Tbsp each of brown sugar, flour, butter, and sliced almonds or oatmeal (Optional)

Mix Dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Spread into an 8x8 inch pan. Top with berries or other fruit. Cut together the crumble ingredients and sprinkle over top. If a little more crunch is desired, use sliced almonds or oatmeal in topping.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

If you are just diving into sourdough, check out these blog posts for Sourdough Starter, Sourdough Focaccia, and Sourdough Huckelberry Pancakes!

Find more of my favorite recipes HERE.

Question: Do you have a recipe to share?  Comment below.

Running Granny Green encourages women, especially grandmothers, to gain greater fitness by providing tips and inspiration to insure long years of joyful grand-parenting. The cookie recipes are a bonus!

Happy Running!

- Carol aka Running Granny Green

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram!

10 Things I Learned in 2024

 

October 10, 2024

1 - How to adjust the night mode on your iPhone camera.

      Yeah, those Northern Lights often look more vibrant through a camera lens.

2 - Biotin can skew your thyroid test.

      Don’t ask how I learned this. The story is too long!

3 – Great Divide Ski Area is fun, affordable, and makes me nostalgic.

4 – Long proofing sourdough bread is very satisfying.

      

5 – If you stop too soon, you might miss the best of show. See #9.

6 – I can still run a half marathon, albeit very slowly.

7 – What you do matters.

       My very slow time counted towards our team gold medal!

8 – I am still afraid of heights.

      Silverwood Theme Park rides are terrifyingly fun.

9 – You CAN see color of the Northern Lights with the naked eye - sometimes. 

   

10 – Pickleball must have been invented for old people.

Running Granny Green encourages women, especially grandmothers, to gain greater fitness by providing tips and inspiration to insure long years of joyful grand-parenting. The cookie recipes are a bonus!

Happy Running!

- Carol aka Running Granny Green

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram!

Strawberry Rolls with Lemon Frosting

Your Strawberry Rolls should be golden brown, or the center rolls will be gooier than you would like.

 “I run a non-profit Bed and Breakfast,” I answer when asked what I do in Montana. The response is always, “Really? That’s so cool!” Then the interviewer thinks about it for a moment and understands - I get a lot of company. Feeding people is part of my love language. Showing them awesome things is another part. So, they come to Montana, I give them a bed and food, and we take big adventures! There is no time for a sit-down breakfast. I prepare most of it ahead, put it all on the table and give instructions to help yourself when it’s convenient. This allows everyone time to get ready, get fed, and get out the door early! We have to go early. Montana is a big state!

Strawberry Rolls

Classic White Bread (Bread Machine Recipe)

12 Ounces warm water

1 ¾ tsp Salt

2 Tbsp butter or margarine

4 Cups Flour

2 Tbsp Dry Milk

2 Tbsp Sugar (More if desired)

2 ¼ tsp Active Dry Yeast

Select the dough setting on the bread machine.  When dough is ready, roll out to 12 x 18 inches.  Cover with filling as directed below.

Strawberry Roll Filling

Purchased at the Chef Store.

This is where this recipe gets messy, but it’s so worth it!

1 Can Strawberry Pie Filling (I purchase this tube of filling and use half for one recipe. The remainder can be frozen for later use or used on a second batch if you are baking for a crowd!)

2 Tbs White Sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon

Spread strawberry filling evenly over dough. Combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle as desired over the filling. (This step can be omitted without ruining the rolls!)

Roll into a long tube and cut into twelve to fifteen 1-1 ½ inch slices using string or dental floss to avoid smashing your rolls. Slide the floss under the dough, crisscross the floss above and pull. Voila! Place in a greased 9x13 inch baking pan. These rolls are gooey or to work with than my cinnamon rolls. They may require a little patience and reshaping when you put them in the pan.

Let rise for one hour.  Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350°.  They will take a little longer due to the gooey filling. Cool and frost with your favorite white frosting. I like this one.

Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze

3 oz. Cream Cheese

2 Tbsp Milk

Lemon Juice and/or Lemon extract to taste

Powdered sugar 

Sorry folks, I cook until the voices of my ancestors whisper, “That is enough, my child.” You may want to experiment with ingredient amounts. 

Blend together the cream cheese, and milk. Add powdered sugar until you get a desired consistency. Hint: If you frost the rolls while they are warm, you’ll want a thicker frosting. Add lemon flavorings until you have just a hint of the citrusy goodness. You may need to add more powdered sugar if using lemon juice.

Find more of my favorite recipes HERE.

Question: Do you have a recipe to share?  Comment below.

Running Granny Green encourages women, especially grandmothers, to gain greater fitness by providing tips and inspiration to insure long years of joyful grand-parenting. The cookie recipes are a bonus!

Happy Running!

- Carol aka Running Granny Green

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram!

Easy Tempura Batter

 This tempura recipe is so versatile! It’s quick and easy and will impress your guests. Use it for your main dish such as Mandarin Chicken or for appetizers like fried mushrooms, zucchini, onion rings (although I have another fabulous onion rings recipe I’ll share later), or seafood.

Tempura Batter for fried meats and vegetables

½ C All Purpose Flour

½ C Cornstarch

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp MSG (Optional)

1 tsp White Sugar

½ tsp Salt

Dash of white pepper (Optional)

⅔ C Ice Water

1 Egg

Several ice cubes

Yellow food coloring (Optional)

Sift together dry ingredients. Beat egg slightly and mix with ice water and optional food coloring. Combine wet and dry ingredients in a container large enough for dipping. Stir only until mixed. It should resemble muffin batter. Float several ice cubes in the mixture to keep it cold while dipping. Dip the cooled chicken, shrimp, or vegetables and fry in deep hot oil until lightly browned. Drain on a paper towel and serve hot. 

Hint: Hotter oil will brown the batter faster and darker. I usually omit the MSG and food coloring, but I do love the little zing of white pepper in my batter.

Find more of my favorite recipes HERE.

Question: Do you have a recipe to share?  Comment below.

Running Granny Green encourages women, especially grandmothers, to gain greater fitness by providing tips and inspiration to insure long years of joyful grand-parenting. The cookie recipes are a bonus!

Happy Running!

- Carol aka Running Granny Green

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram!

Mandarin Sauce Made to Order

Oriental food for a crowd! That's Nadine in the foreground.

This is one of two recipes I use for making Mandarin Sauce. I will share the other at a later date. You won't need it until summer because it's a canning recipe made with garden fresh tomatoes.

Nadine's Mandarin Sauce

1 Qt Canned Tomatoes
1 C Cider Vinegar
1 C Chopped Onion
1 C Crushed Pineapple
2 C White Sugar
1 Slice Fresh Ginger
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce (Optional. It’s prettier without it)
½ C Green Pepper (Optional)
Salt to Taste (I use about a teaspoon. Less if soy sauce is used)
Dash of Cayenne Pepper and MSG (I never have MSG, so it can be omitted)
Corn starch as needed for thickening
Combine all ingredients except green pepper in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Let simmer for 20 minutes. Thicken to desired consistency with a cornstarch and water paste. Add green pepper if desired and let it sit for 2-4 minutes.
This recipe is good for tempura chicken or shrimp, sweet and sour meatballs, and as a dipping sauce for egg rolls.
Stay tuned for the egg roll recipe in a future post!

Find more of my favorite recipes HERE.

Question: Do you have a recipe to share?  Comment below.

Running Granny Green encourages women, especially grandmothers, to gain greater fitness by providing tips and inspiration to insure long years of joyful grand-parenting. The cookie recipes are a bonus!

Happy Running!

- Carol aka Running Granny Green

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram!

Uh-oh! Where have I been?

A little Montana Adventure at Avalanche Lake in Glacier National Park

Uh-oh! Where Have I been?

I'm all over the place, mostly in Montana. I created a website for my books and writing tips at Carol M Green. I've been writing for the local paper, The Valierian at Cut Bank Pioneer Press Homepage and I'm doing some other freelance work. 

Montana has been an adventure! I'm gathering so much material for future writing projects and honing my writing skills.

So ... why did I jump back on this old blog, you ask?

Well, I've discovered that I'm not the only person that visits this site for my recipes and that has been the catalyst for my current project. I'm putting together a recipe book that I plan to make available in paperback and digital. That requires creating, or writing out, some of my recipes that are not already on this site.

And since I don't know how NOT to give things away for free, I'm going to share them here as I go. Smart? Maybe, or maybe not. But ... readers will have access through three or more media forms.

So, watch here and on my Running Granny Green Recipes page for new recipes and updates.

Happy Cooking!

10 Things I Learned in 2019

 

I’ve been posting Firsts of each year for a few years, but I thought this year it would be fun to look at some of the things I learned, many of which resulted from some firsts!

1 - Toilet tanks really can freeze solid. 

      I learned this from the first time I experienced sub-zero high temps for 30-days straight.

2 - Sinovial fluid looks exactly like salad oil.

      Don’t ask how I learned this. The story is too long!

3 – A Toyota can take out a deer with its side mirror.

4 – A smaller deer can take out a Toyota.

      The drivers were not injured in the learning of these lessons. Can't say the same for the deer.

5 – Always park your car in the garage.

6 – How to assemble scaffolding.

7 – No matter how much paint you purchase, you will always need “one more gallon.”

8 – A North Central Montana hailstorm can teach you Lessons 5, 6, & 7.

      We don't take our weather lightly here!

9 – Running Buddies make superb first responders. 

     Okay, I already knew this, but this time I was the patient.

10 – Produce that is not individually wrapped and or marked with country of origin can and will be confiscated at the northern border. You are fortunate if the $500 per item fee is waived simply because you were too dumb to know better.

Really, I could go on, but we will stick with 10 this posting. Here’s wishing you all a fun-filled and informative 2020!

Check out my latest book, Louisa: A Time to Heal on Amazon!

Running Granny Green encourages women, especially grandmothers, to gain greater fitness by providing tips and inspiration to insure long years of joyful grand-parenting. The cookie recipes are a bonus!

Happy Running!
Carol - aka Running Granny Green

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Montana’s Hidden Gems: Chinook Winds

Today, as I watch the snow falling softly and steadily, I have another of Montana’s Hidden Gems to share. This one truly cannot be seen, but it can be felt, and its effects are witnessed through both touch and sight. This hidden gem is a weather phenomenon known as a Chinook Wind.

I experienced my first Chinook on October 12, 2018. I remember because it was two days after I shoveled 10 inches of heavy wet snow from my sidewalk. In my opinion, that snowstorm had arrived a bit early and I was not looking forward to the long winter ahead. Admittedly, I have been spoiled for many years. I grew up in what I often referred to as the Arctic East in Idaho, but my adult life (until recently) was spent in the Banana Belt of Idaho, or the Treasure Valley in southwest Idaho. Its mild winters truly are a treasure!

October 11 arrived and with it, my aching muscles. Looking for something positive, I concluded that the winter would bring improved upper body strength due to my shoveling duties. I was positive there would be many days of shoveling ahead. As I watched the news that evening, the weatherman promised a Chinook Wind on the morrow. I had heard of these, but I thought they were warm wet and even aromatic. I was mistaken.

October 12 proved windy, but then there is a lot of wind here on the Eastern Front of the Rocky Mountains. I could hear it howling all morning. As I ventured outside sometime before noon to stash my trash inside a shed in order to keep it safe from bears (that’s a thing here), I was surprised by the warm atmosphere accompanying clear skies. By early afternoon the temperature was up to 55 degrees and most of the snow had melted. This wind, known as a Chinook Wind, was strong, warm, and dry. The snow didn’t just melt and run into muddy messes - it l went away. Oh, how I enjoyed that afternoon!

I was blessed to experience a warm season for the next two weeks with temps rising into the lower 60’s most days. Freezing temps held off until almost November, giving me time to locate my warm layers and allowing my brain to prepare for the real Montana winter ahead.

We’ve had snow for two days now, but I hear rumors of another Chinook just around the corner. I’m not certain, because this hidden gem cannot be seen, but it can certainly be felt. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

Read about more of Montana's Hidden Gems. Perhaps these posts will draw you to this remarkable land.

Running Granny Green encourages women, especially grandmothers, to gain greater fitness by providing tips and inspiration to insure long years of joyful grand-parenting. The cookie recipes are a bonus!

Happy Running!
Carol - aka Running Granny Green

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Writing through November - or NaNoWriMo

I’m six days into NaNoWriMo and its really quite a challenge. For me, there isn’t a lot of writing that happens on the weekends. I have too many distractions on Saturday and I truly believe Sunday should be a day of rest from worldly (and wordy) pursuits. Weekday mornings seem to be my most productive time and yet I find a lot of things to interrupt the writing process. Things like …

Snow shoveling, (I live in Montana)

Laundry, (it never ends)

Social Media, (there might be something inspiring posted)

Housework, (not really. Only two people live in my house)

Snacks, (the Halloween candy is calling)

Doubt.

Can I really write 50,000 words in one month? I have several projects in process, so I don’t lack for material. That helps because, like I said, I am easily distracted.

I also get bogged down with self-editing. I spend a lot of time correcting punctuation and rearranging thoughts as I write. I have yet to learn to just spew forth words on paper and fix them later. That is not to say that there isn’t a lot of editing after the first draft. There is always plenty of editing. I suppose in the long run it doesn’t matter when the editing occurs, so long as the project gets finished and polished.

That’s the key for me. Completion of a writing project is validation for me. All those hours not cleaning, shoveling, baking, or eating are justified when the project is finished. Staying in my seat in the interim is the real challenge. When in the middle of a writing project it appears that I will never reach the end, I am tempted to put it on a shelf, store it in the back of my mind, and wait. Wait for what? The perfect time to write? The perfect motivation to write? The perfect photo to accompany my writing? The perfect audience? Oh, if only I could find that perfect audience!               

I think I nailed it yesterday with the help of a friend. I mentioned that I feel guilty and self-indulgent when I am writing. She asked why I felt that way. I formed an answer and verbalized it.

“Because writing does not have a guaranteed paycheck attached.”

Do my fellow writers ever feel that way? When a worker punches a time clock, he has confidence he will get paid for the time invested. Contracted workers are paid for the products they produce. Writers and artists work on speculation. First, they produce the product and then hope to get paid for their work. If there is no pay (here’s the tricky part) then the writer (me) might think she has spent all her time pursuing her own fun. Guilt follows! Oh, the conundrum!

Well, the sidewalk is shoveled, the laundry is under control, the house isn’t messy yet, and I don’t need to eat more Halloween candy! Those distractions are under control, but …

I think I hear the FedEx truck!

Have a great day my reading and writing friends!

For a view of some of my finished projects visit my Amazon Author Page

Running Granny Green encourages women, especially grandmothers, to gain greater fitness by providing tips and inspiration to insure long years of joyful grand-parenting. The cookie recipes are a bonus!

Happy Running!

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Accepting the NaNoWriMo Challenge!

I’m biting the bullet and committing to NaNoWriMo this year! It's a challenge to write 50,000 during the month of November. Why? Because I’ve been finding other things to do and neglecting my writing. That’s kind of like a bow hunter neglecting target practice, or a pianist who never plays. Also because my better half encouraged me to do it. I’m already behind because it took me all day on November 1 to decide to commit. Now I have to come up with a topic, title, genre, a project of some sort. I’ve already begun outlining a cookbook, but recipes do not lend themselves very well to busting out a lot of words in one day. They are going to be mundane, technical, and take a lot of proofreading, so the cookbook is probably not going to be on this list. This blog might benefit from NaNoWriMo, but I get stumped on topics there as well. What to do? What to do?

Perhaps I could be like those song lyrics I detest, you know the ones that use nonsense to fill in measures instead of filling them in with something of value.

Lalalalalala….

Ohooo, oho, ohhhhh …

Hey, hey. he-e-ey …..

You get the drift. I feel that is just like adding blank or lined “journal pages,” or decreasing the page dimensions or increasing margin size in the hopes of gaining a greater page count. It’s all junk. As one friend once reported, “Garbage, no matter how it’s presented, is still garbage.” I think he used stronger wording than that, but it means the same thing.

So here I sit, baffled by the commitment I have just made. How do I begin? The cookbook is out for this month’s project. However, I will still be open to collecting and researching recipes. After all, cooking is my “what to do when I don’t know what else to do” tactic. It’s an escape that gets credit for being productive, because others benefit from it. They get to eat the fruits of my procrastination.

Fiction? I’m still sitting on my novel – afraid to publish it. I know I can write short stories, but I would have to write several to fill the word count. Do I have another novel idea? Perhaps.

Non-fiction? It’s what I know best. I’ve still got projects that need completion. And I have yet to write “Soup is not a Meal.” It’s about misconceptions and unrealistic expectations between men and women as they pertain to or are experienced in marriage. I’ve had my share of research on this topic over the years.

However, “Soup is Not a Meal,” may also lend itself well to fiction. I’m pondering on that one. Humorous? Clean. Does it lift and inspire others? Lifting and inspiring is one of the reasons I write. If it isn’t worth reading, then it probably isn’t worth writing and it definitely isn’t worth sharing with the world. That’s my opinion, anyhow, and it has evolved over the years.

So, … I want to write something worthwhile to lift, edify, inspire or motivate others. I’m going to sleep on it and hopefully, by morning I will have a plan. At least a starting point. That’s what I’m doing right now, is it not? Starting?

No more looking at a blank screen or baking before writing. I’ve got some work to do and mornings shall be my time to do it – after breakfast and scripture study, but before exercise. Perhaps the scripture study prior to writing will help me stay on track with my purpose – to uplift, inspire, and motivate.

I've just shared my first 600 words with you. And away we go!

If you would like to join me in this NaNoWriMo quest, it's not too late. Here is the link to sign up. https://nanowrimo.org/

I'll try to keep you posted on my progress throughout the month, but I may be too busy writing, or baking!

Running Granny Green encourages women, especially grandmothers, to gain greater fitness by providing tips and inspiration to insure long years of joyful grand-parenting. The cookie recipes are a bonus!

Happy Running!

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.