Blueberry Cream Cheese Cake

Holy crap I forgot how amazing this cake is. 

Blueberry Cream Cheese Cake

Mom

8 oz block cream cheese, softened

½ cup oil

3 eggs

½ cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

18.25 oz butter cake mix

1 ½ cups blueberries

Grease and flour tube bundt pan.  Cream the cheese in electric mixer.  Mix in oil, eggs, sugar, vanilla and cake mix starting on low and gradually working up to high.  Beat on high for 2 minutes.  Fold blueberries into cake mix.  Start in COLD oven and bake for 50-60 minutes at 350* Cool on rack for 10 minutes and then turn out onto plate.  Continue cooling on rack.  

Zucchini Bread

Instructions at the bottom should say 2-8" loaf pans. 

Alfredo/Carbonara

This is my go to meal when it's 6pm and I have no idea what's for dinner. Its butter, half and half, pasta, parmesan and whatever meat I have on hand (chicken, shrimp, sausage, deli meat, bacon or even sautéed veggies).  I use the recipe on the back of the Land 'O Lakes half and half carton for Alfredo sauce. It couldn't be easier and more delicious! For carbanara I just add a couple of raw scrambled eggs to the Alfredo sauce while its cooking and top with bacon. 

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Roasted Veggies With Pita Chips

This is one of my favorites for the summer because you can throw any amount of just about any garden veggie in here. 

Roasted Veggies

Eggplant, peeled, diced, and sweated (below)

Onion, diced

Bell pepper (red, yellow, orange and/or green), diced

Tomatoes, diced

Zucchini, diced

Squash, diced

Okra, cut 1/2 thick rounds

Mushrooms, sliced

Olive oil

Salt & fresh ground pepper

I change up the veggies depending on what I have on hand but I always try to have an onion, fresh tomatoes or grape tomatoes (my favorite for roasting), a red bell pepper and something green for color. The onion and pepper add this sweet, rich, incredible flavor to every batch. I love the flexibility of this dish also because you can add any amount of each vegetable.

Preheat the oven to 425*. Drizzle olive oil (pretty generously), salt and pepper over the veggies and mix well. They don't have to be spread so thin that you can see bottom of the baking sheet but I wouldn't stack them any higher than about 3/4" thick. Bake for about 45 minutes stiring once or twice. Bake time will depend on how thick your veggies are in the pan. I usually have mine about 3/4" thick and 45 minutes is perfect. 

Serving suggestions:

I like this as a dip with pita chips. My sister-in-law uses them in couscous with feta cheese. I have used it a few times as a side dish by itself. Or, last night I had some leftover and threw it in a leafy salad with some fresh tomatoes and ranch dressing. It was delightful. 

Eggplant prep:

Peel, dice an spread eggplant over paper towels. Dust with salt and pepper and let them sweat for about 10-15 minutes. Blot with paper towels and then continue with the recipe.