Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

I wanted to make something new for Todd's parents when they were in town last weekend so of course I headed over to Pinterest to find something easy & delicious.  It seemed like a popular pin recently was this Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake so I gave it a try & everyone loved it!

Source: alexandracooks.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon
7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk

* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.
4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar.
5. Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.


from Alexandra's Kitchen

Memorial Day Weekend

Todd's holiday weekend started a day earlier when his parents came into town on Friday to help him put in our new front door.  I think this is the first time I have and will ever say this but thank god I was at work all day!  I came home from work and we had a giant hole in the front of our house because he wasn't just replacing the actual front door but the entire frame with the window panels too.  We knew when we bought our house this was going to need to be replaced because most of the frame inside and outside of the house was rotted out. Oh, and keep in mind it was also 90 degrees outside so with no AC on, it was sweltering in the house.  Todd & his dad worked the entire day and finally at about 11:00 PM, they were able to put the door in and we could go to sleep. 

This was around dinner time (inside of our house looking out)

Saturday morning I got up early to make Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast cake (recipe coming in the next couple days) for Todd and his parents before going to teach spinning.

Todd & his dad still had quite a bit of work to do even though the frame and door were in.  I honestly never thought it was going to end (and I wasn't even the one doing any of the work!) but by 4:00 PM, they were wrapping up and his parents were on the road back to Leetonia.  We're so grateful that they were able to come down and help because otherwise we would have had to pay someone to do this.

Todd finishing up the door

After his parents left, we got ready and headed downtown for my belated birthday dinner at Marcella's.   This is one of my favorite restaurants in Columbus and there were lots of people out & about since the weather was so nice.

Marcella's

We started with my favorite appetizer ever--melted pecorino cheese with apple slices and crostini

Fettucini and meatball for me with a glass of sangria

We drove back home and stopped at Jeni's ice cream in Powell for something sweet

Todd had to head into work for a few hours early Sunday morning so I got up at the same time to get in my 10 miles before it got too hot outside.  Even with the sun still down, it was hot & humid and I was a sweaty mess by the time I was done.  Once Todd got home, we headed over to Zoombezi Bay just in time for it to open around 10:30 AM.  It was already packed by the time we got there so we threw our stuff on a chair and waited in line for the slides.  We rode 2 slides before lounging on a beach chair for a couple hours.  The sun was hot and we felt like we were getting fried so we headed back home around 2:30 PM.  The good thing is we have a season pass and will have plenty of time this summer to ride more slides.

Some of the slides at Zoombezi Bay

The rest of the afternoon we spent on projects around the house (Todd bulit a desk that we got from Ikea for our spare bedroom), ate dinner, and then met my dad so we could go visit my great aunt who just recently moved from a nursing home in Cleveland to Columbus. 

Our day off on Monday for Memorial Day was another early start as I wanted to head to the track for some speedwork for the first time in 2 years.  The heat was stifling yet again but I managed a great 5 mile workout: 1 mile warm up, 4 x 800 with 400 jog in between, and 1 mile cool down.  I will eventually build up to 8 800s during the summer but didn't want to kill myself since it was hot and I had just run 10 miles the day before.

Olentangy Liberty Middle School track

Todd got a picture of me on the backside of the track

We got to work on more projects around the house as soon as we got home (notice a theme here?).  I painted some of the trim around the door as well as the board underneath the door while Todd put together his giant tool chest his parents got him for Christmas and just brought down on Friday.

Our new front door

We spent the rest of the day running errands and working around the house before I called it quits at dinner time so we could actually spend some time together and relax before the work week started back up.

Weekly Recap: May 21-27

I'm beginning to realize the challenge of marathon training this summer with teaching 5-6 classes/week.  In order to keep my mileage up, I'm going to have to focus on longer runs in the morning before work (8-10 miles) with some shorter, easier runs after work some days.  I'd like to consistently stay above at minimum 30 miles/week for the summer and max out between 45-50 miles/week.

Monday: 4 mi (8:35 pace)

Tuesday: taught 1 hr Spin/TRX Combo class
taught 30 min Core & taught 45 min Spinning

Wednesday: 6 mi (ran last 3 mi w/ Todd; 8:19 pace)

Thursday: taught 1 hr Spin/TRX Combo class
4 mi (8:27 pace)

Friday: REST

Saturday: taught 1 hr Spinning
4 mi (8:22 pace)

Sunday: 10 mi (negative split by 2:10 min; 8:15 pace)

TOTAL: 28 mi

Trip to IKEA

When Todd and I bought our house, we knew a trip to Ikea was going to be necessary.  We were living in a townhome previous to our house and before that, we both lived in apartments or in houses where we were paying rent to the homeowner and didn't need a lot of furniture.  Basically, we didn't have any furniture to fill the majority of our house.  While we know it's going to be a long process of filling our house, we did need some items sooner rather than later.  We obviously would have loved to made our purchases at Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware but our budget suggested otherwise so we decided to make the 2 hour drive to Cincinnati this past weekend to shop at Ikea.

Since Todd & I both drive Civics, Todd was able to rent a car from work for the weekend (one major benefit of him working at Honda is $10/day car rentals!) so we could haul our furniture home.  We had looked up a few items online ahead of time so we had an idea of what we wanted but we ended up buying more stuff than anticipated.  We got some great deals and Todd has already built one of the items so our house is coming along quite nicely.

We're here!

One desk, one bookcase that will be turned into an alcohol cabinet, one bookcase/storage unit, and a bunch of random stuff

I had to sit in the backseat on the way home and we really couldn't have fit much more in there

What we bought:

 Storage Combination for our family room

Todd already put it together and I spent Sunday night unpacking our DVDs and adding some pictures & my wedding bouquet

Desk for one of the spare bedrooms we're going to use as an office

This is the add-on that goes on top of the desk for more shelves/storage

Todd found this bookcase and thought it'd be perfect to store his liquor bottles and drinking glasses

The bottom few shelves will be covered with glass doors which is perfect to store all the glasses

Weekly Recap: May 14-20

This was my first time hitting 30 miles since marathon training last fall & I felt great.  I had some fast miles mixed in with some easy runs and it seems like 8:30 pace is definitely my easy/comfortable pace from the looks of some of my runs.

Monday: 4 mi (7:54 pace; progressive run w/ last mile in 7:16)

Tuesday: taught 1 hr Spin/TRX Combo class
5 mi (8:31 pace)

Wednesday: 5 mi (8:02 pace; 8:30, 8:12, 7:57, 7:49, 7:41)

Thursday: taught 1 hr Spin/TRX Combo class
4 mi (8:29 pace)

Friday: REST

Saturday: taught 75 min Spin/TRX Combo class
3 mi w/ Todd (8:30 pace)

Sunday: 9 mi (8:09 pace)
taught 1 hr Spin/TRX Combo class

TOTAL: 30 mi

May Babies

In the past week or so, I've not only been able to celebrate my own birthday but also 2 other special birthdays.  Todd & I drove up to his hometown of Leetonia last weekend to celebrate our niece's 1st birthday.  We hadn't seen her since Christmas and she looked so grown up!  Speaking of grown up, our nephew, who is 5, has already lost several teeth since we saw him last and is starting kindergarten in the fall.  I can't imagine how fast flies by when you're a parent.

Audrey's cupcake cake

Apparently Audrey & Andrew were not happy to have their picture taken

I was hoping she'd smash her face in the cake but she was so lady-like as she carefully dipped her finger in the icing for a taste or two

Todd & I with the birthday girl

On Wednesday night, the Sexy 7 (high school girlfriends) + husbands went to Figlio for dinner and then over to see Katie's new baby, Emmerson.  She was only 10 days old and cute as a button.  I still can't believe how little babies are, it really does blow my mind!

Holding baby Emma

Todd's turn

Sexy 7 minus Lauren plus Emma

And to top off a great night with my best gals, they surprised me with birthday cake and Graeters ice cream....my favorite!

Last Year in My 20s

Yesterday, I celebrated my 29th birthday and it was nothing short of wonderful!  If you know me at all then you know that I absolutely love birthdays, including my own, and think everyone should celebrate their own special day.  This past year was one of the best years to date since I got married & we bought our first house and I know that the last year in my 20s will be just as memorable.

So how did I celebrate the big 2-9? 

It started on Monday night when Todd & I went over to my parent's house for cake and presents.  My mom makes this homemade icing that I LOVE and look forward to it every year on my birthday.  She even saves some of the leftover icing in a bowl for me to eat straight with a spoon. 

Birthday cake

Blowing out the candles

Opening a few presents...

and I was so excited to get a new camera (my iPhone takes better pictures than the camera I was using), a lululemon gift card, and some pink gardening gloves

I took yesterday off work since I don't think anyone should work on their birthday and started the day with my favorite things: teaching Spinning/TRX, running, and catching up on a few shows on the DVR.  Todd worked a half day and came home so we could pack up a picnic lunch and head to the zoo for the afternoon.  We just bought a Zoo/Zoombezi Bay membership since we live so close to it now and are trying to get our money's worth out of it.

After the zoo, we had to go to Lowes to pick up our new front door that we ordered a few weeks ago and were planning on going to dinner at Marcella's in the Short North but those plans got nixed when I got a text from my co-worker in the afternoon saying I had to be at work at 3:45 AM this morning.  We ended up just getting takeout from City BBQ and are taking a raincheck on Marcella's until Memorial Day weekend. 

**I started using my new camera on my birthday but didn't realize there was a time stamp on the pictures until about half way through the day**

A couple of the ladies in my Spinning/TRX class bought my flowers & it's perfect for our back patio

Catching up on Real Housewives of the OC while running

Todd had bought me a chocolate chip bagel from Panera for breakfast...my fave!

One of my good friends sent me flowers

I opened my present from Todd when he got home from work

Pretty excited!

Looks like a purse...

but it's actually new sunglasses!

I've never had nice sunglasses before (I usually just buy really cheap pairs from Target) so I'm thrilled to have a nice pair of Tory Burch sunglasses with a case

It was a beautiful day for the zoo---almost 80 degrees and sunny

First stop was the polar bear exhibit

One of them was in the water playing with a ball & bouncing it off the wall

and then he found a stick to play with

We were able to walk below and see the same polar bear from a different view

We stopped for our picnic feast lunch at a table in the shade

We finished our brownies before I had time to take a picture of them

Finally a picture of the two of us....and finally no time stamp!

Love the otters

The penguins are one of my favorites but they were kinda boring yesterday just standing there

The koala was actually awake!

And the gorilla was just happy sitting there hanging out

I really had a great day and thanks to everyone who made it so special!