Juicin'-Bakin'-Guacamole Makin' Kind Of Day

Good morning!  It feels so good to be feeling good!!!  Yesterday morning I decided that I would squeeze that wagon load of oranges for juice.  I send my son Drew home with a gallon of oj when we comes, and I made as many as I could, and then used ice cube trays to freeze whatever else I had.

We like that Dole Orange Strawberry Banana juice, so I save those jugs to reuse.  Gennifer will be here soon to pick oranges for the soccer games on Saturday, and I will send her home with a jug of OJ and a dozen eggs.  The girls are producing like mad again.  It is so nice!!
I cleared a shelf in the freezer and made some OJ cubes.

When solid, I popped them out into a large freezer ziplock bag.

Four trays of cubes fit into one gallon sized bag.  So I will try to juice as much as I can, and freeze it this way.  Giving us fresh juice well after the oranges have gone.  
After the juicing I did, I noticed a large basket of ripe avocados calling my name.  So I made a batch of guacamole to go with our tostadas that I made for dinner last night.

I halve them, remove the pits, and then take a large spoon and scoop out the flesh.  Dump into a large bowl, and mash and season.

I put this photo on instagram yesterday, and Kerri asked what the pits were for.  I put them in to keep it from browning so fast.  You could also add some citrus juice, like lemon or lime.
I still have oodles of avocados, so I will make more today, and freeze some of it.
Then, I just had to try this recipe I saw the other day on my friend's blog.  Linda lives in Canada, where they won't be seeing Spring for some time yet.  But she and her hubby were just in Florida for a month to get away from the cold winter.  She has a beautiful blog, and I hope you will go over and say hello.
Here is the link
Linda made this Blueberry Lemon Buttermilk cake the other day, and I had to do a search on her blog to find the recipe she had posted when she made it the first time.  I knew I had fresh blueberries, lemons, and buttermilk, so of course I had to make this delightful cake.

I used a pan that my daughter got for me one year.  It has the design of flowers on the bottom so that when you invert the pan you can see the print.  It is hard to see on this cake because of the blueberries.

So, let's get started on baking this yummy cake.  Here is what you will need.

 Heat Oven to 350 degrees
Spray a 9 inch baking pan with baking spray

1/2 Cup butter, room temperature
7/8 Cup plus 1 T sugar ( I used one level cup of sugar )
3/4 Cup plus 2 T sugar for top of cake ( I used a scant 1/2 cup of sugar instead, and it was fine for us )
Zest of 1 lemon ( I used the zest of two lemons, I love lemon flavor )
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
2 Cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 Cups fresh blueberries
3/4 Cup Buttermilk
Cream sugar and butter until fluffy.  Add zest and egg and vanilla, blend.
Toss blueberries in 1/4 cup of the flour to coat.  This prevents the berries from sinking, and they will distribute throughout the cake much better.
Whisk remaining flour, baking soda and salt.
Add flour mixture a little bit at a time to batter, alternating with the buttermilk.  Fold flour coated berries into batter.  Spread into a greased 9 inch baking pan.  Top with remaining sugar.  Bake for 35 degrees in middle of oven.  May need more time to be set up.  I baked mine for 40 minutes.  Test middle with toothpick for doneness.

I love this set of three silicone measuring cups that I have.  They are soft and easy to squeeze so that adding ingredients to your batter bowl is much easier.  My Kitchen Aid does not have the lever to raise the arm for adding ingredients.  So these cups are great for that.  I bought mine at Sur le table.Here are the blueberries all coated in the flour as I am ready to fold them in.

I use my microplane for zesting, but you can use a potato peeler if you don't have one, or even the fine edge of a cheese grater.  Just zest the yellow part.  The white is called the pith, and it is bitter.

The cake ready to go in to bake. I have sprinkled the sugar on top just before putting into the oven.

  If you have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, and like to bake, I highly recommend this blade with the scraping  edge!!!  LOVE this.  My dear neighbor Sue, across the street gave this to me.  It is a dream!!

This cake cooks up pretty quick.  Barely had time to clean up the kitchen, and it was done.   Cool for 15 minutes in pan, and then invert onto plate. 

And if you can't wait, like me......cut yourself a little piece, top it with some fat free whip, heck use the full fat whip if you  have it, we didn't....so I snuck a little bit of Erika's.

This is a coffee type of cake.  It is the best cake I think I have ever had!  The buttermilk gives it a rich texture, almost like a pound cake.  It is sweet, but not overly so.  The lemon zest adds such a wonderful subtle flavor.  I will be making this cake often, I am sure.  Linda....thank you for the recipe.  It is a keeper, and one I know I will share with many as well!!
One last little note.  I love to use Buttermilk in things when I bake.  So if you buy buttermilk for using it in one thing, don't toss the rest.  I poured the rest of the carton into cups.  One cup each, and froze them.

I let them set up a bit before I put the lids on top. Then I just stacked them in the freezer.  The next time I need a cup of Buttermilk for pancakes or baking, I can just take out one of these cups.
I hope you are have a good week!!!  Looks like rain is coming our way!  I welcome it.  The heat of summer will be  upon us before we know it.
Bon Appetit!!!
XO  Kris