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What is a Balaboosta?
Balaboosta (n.)(bah-lah-b00-sta) A Yiddish term meaning the perfect housewife, homemaker, wonderful mother, cook, and gracious hostess. She does it all and does it well.
I make simple food with easy recipes and I like to try new things. My family and friends love my cooking and always ask me to share, with them, what I know about food, flavor, and technique.

I'm not a professional chef and I've had no formal culinary training. What I know and do in the kitchen comes from three women...Nana, Grandma Della, and Rose, my mom. Each one of them knew more about putting a meal on the table than any fancy chef in a white hat. They were the ultimate Balaboostas.

What I offer you is a lifetime of experience in the kitchen with my compliments and theirs. I hope they'd be proud. I will bring you my recipes as I make them with photos of the actual food I'm preparing. I'm no professional photographer either but I promise, my food will speak for itself in every picture.

The food on my table isn't stacked in a trendy tower.
Instead, my food is stacked with flavor and full of my passion for cooking. So please come in, make yourself comfortable, and enjoy.

To see amazing detail in any photo just click on it!
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Disclaimer: While most of my recipes are "Jewish Style", I do sometimes cook with pork. This might have been a great disappointment to some but my grandmothers knew that I live in modern world. I light Shabbos candles religiously but I have to admit...I do not keep a Kosher home.

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Blueberry Crumble Cake

If you haven't tried any of my grandmas' recipes yet, this might be the one to inspire you.   Simple and easy this ultra moist blueberry coffee cake will be the hit of your brunch buffet.
The blueberry can be as small as a pea or as big as a grape.  They come from the same family as cranberries, azaleas, and rhododendrons.  The fruit grows in clusters and range in color from blue to a purplish black. 
According to a study done in 2009, a diet that contains a rich amount of blueberries lowers blood cholesterol levels and improves insulin sensitivity thereby lowering the risk of diabetes and heart disease. 
Blueberries offer some other great health benefits too.  Because they are packed with vitamin C, B complex, vitamin A, vitamin E, copper, selenium, iron, and zinc, the blueberry can boost your immune system and help prevent infection.
Blueberries also offer an anti-aging benefit.  They are chock full of anti oxidants primarily as a result of the pigment that makes them dark blue in color. 
In a University of Michigan cardiovascular study, it is suggested that eating blueberries can aid in reducing belly fat.  Berries that contain seeds, like blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries are low on the glycemic index and will help control cravings in a healthy diet.
I am giving you the original recipe that uses real butter, full fat sour cream, and white sugar.
When I make it I modify some of the ingredients to make it more figure friendly.  I substitute granular sugar substitute for 1//3 of the sugar. I use a healthy choice margarine,  low fat sour cream, and fat free milk.
Okay, okay, enough information.....here's the recipe...

Ingredients...
 For the Cake:
  • 1/4 cup butter OR margarine
  • 3/4 cup sugar (I use 1/2 cup Splenda sugar substitute and 1/4 cup sugar)
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder 
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 2 cups floured fresh blueberries

For the Crumb Topping:
  • 1/4 cup butter OR margarine
  • 1/2 cup sugar ( I use half Splenda and half sugar)
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon 

Here's how you do it....
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Prepare an 8 x 8 baking dish (I cut a square of parchment to fit in the bottom of my baking dish...this makes the cake removal much easier.
  3. Combine the ingredients for the crumb topping mixture in a small bowl using a pastry cutter if you have one.  The mixture will be crumbly.  Set aside.
  4. With your mixer cream together the butter and sugar (they will seem dry)
  5. Add the egg.
  6. Scrape the bowl.
  7. Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) alternately with the milk and sour cream.
  8. By hand, fold in the floured blueberries
  9. Pour into the prepared 8 x 8 baking dish.
  10. Sprinkle the crumble topping mix over the batter.
  11. Bake at 375F for about 40 min.
  12. Remove from oven, cool on rack.
  13. Use a knife to loosen the sides of the cake from the dish.
  14. Transfer to a serving platter.
  15. Cut into squares.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing! I'm going to try it!! Cheers!

mamadaley said...

I will be making a grocery run tomorrow to give this a try!! I am a terrible cook, honest...I am not filled with false modesty when I say that!!! ---but I love blueberries and I owe my husband a blueberry treat!! Love the blog!!

mamadaley said...

Blueberry thingie sounds divine!! I am a horrible cook, and believe me I am not filled with false modesty when I say that...(thanks you Elizabeth Bennett)... no one every really taught me. What a wonderful story about your grandmother .. I will be giving this a go tomorrow!! Thanks for sharing! Loved the blog!