cherries & cream coffee cake

i was racking my brain and then the interwebs for some new toppings for a buttermilk coffeecake base. in the past, i have always topped coffee cake very simply with some streusel crumb, but i came across a blueberry coffee cake with a cream cheese center. still wanting a sort of simple cake and one that wasn’t too wet or too sweet, i started to fiddle with combining the two recipes. cherries are my all-time favorite fruit and i figured cherry preserves would be less wet and sweet than a pie style cornstarch thickened filling. i still wanted my streusel topping, but with some extra punch, so i added almond flour to the mix. My dear friend Brenda calls this the SuperNova Cake.

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skinny carnitas

i fished a long forgotten vacuum packed pork tenderloin out of my freezer the other day (how great is vacuum sealing, it must have been in there for a year or more) and puzzled for a while over what to do with it, a nice long braise seemed the safest way to go. i knew i’d be having company the next day and decided that carnitas would be perfect. the biggest dilemma is that tenderloin is really lean and the pork butt traditionally used for carnitas, is not lean at all. at a time like this bacon drippings are your friend and i always have a container of bacon drippings on hand. IMG_4191

another great thing about carnitas is they store well in the fridge and can be easily reheated on the comal to crispy deliciousness.

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