Yelton Manor Bed and Breakfast fruit smoothies are utterly amazing for one simple reason: they are 100% fruit.  Our Smoothie always features one variable: whatever fruit is at the peak moment of its season.  The backup singers (“Do wop, do wop!”) are cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew, kiwi and banana.  We freeze the bananas at their peak moment, all the melons can be frozen as ready to use chunks too.   So when it’s all whirred up together, it needs no water, no yogurt, no nuthin! Frosty, creamy and awe inspiring DELISH! This week we made strawberry every day.  Next week it will be cherries.  Soon the blueberries come in, ooh la la! 

We are frequently asked by a potential guest: “What do you serve for breakfast?”  Standard answer: the menu changes.  But it also stays much the same, there are healthy, delicious options all the time.  We have some of the best jams and jellies you’ve ever tasted. We serve our homemade granola (on the sweet side) as well as 3 flavors of Uti’s Gluten Free Granola, and 4 other choices of cereal.  Chobani Organic Greek yogurt tempts in various flavors.  The coffee bar has one of our 3 special Manor blends of locally roasted, free trade Costa Rican coffee and juice.  Our hot buffet (this photo is from today!) includes a fruit platter, fresh whole grain bagels or English Muffins, cream cheese and butter. Today the egg strata was Spinach and Feta Cheese, with a fresh farm market tomato salsa spooning in as a veggie condiment. The Stuffed French Toast was blueberry, the syrup Michigan Maple. We served our “Go Nutty” Pistachio Bundt cake too!

Here’s our strawberry smoothie posing with the rest of breakfast!

From August 9th through the 12th, The Blueberry Festival is the highlight of summer in South Haven, MI.!   Come and eat blueberries!

We make about 6 different kinds of breakfast cake, the Lemony Lemon being my personal favorite.

When we researched lemon cakes (long before there was Google!) we tried about 15 different, mostly complicated recipes. To our utter delight, the recipe we left for last because it seemed too EASY to be true…turned out to be dramatically superior in flavor to all the rest. 4 ingredients, believe it or not, and so so good.

Once again we take a little short-cut by using boxed cake mix. This makes each cake reliably perfect every time and adds a huge convenience factor too.

1  Yellow Cake Mix, best brand you can get

3/4 cup sour cream

3 eggs

6 oz lemonade concentrate, thawed

Combine all ingredients. Whisk until very silky smooth. Bake in a well greased bundt pan for 35 minutes in a 350 degree over.

For added oooomph, serve with a fresh blueberry compote. Blueberries, water, fresh lemon juice, grated lemon rind, cook to boiling and then simmer to desired consistency. Add a few fresh berries to the cooled compote for texture.

Ever wonder what Grandma was doing down in the cellar so long!?? Now the truth is revealed!

All you need is a great organic market and you are ready to transform the summer bounty into winter’s delight.

This is blueberry, raspberry and watermelon infused vodka!! I also made a few jars with black cherries. There is no reason why you can’t also choose peaches, plums, pear, honeydew or cantaloupe melon or any fruit that suits your fancy.

Simply place the fruit in mason jars, fill with vodka (keep the bottles), seal tightly.  Store in cool, dark place.  Flavor will deepen as weeks go by, I find that the ideal time for best outcome is 2-3 weeks.  Give them a little shake once or twice during the process.

When at peak flavor, decant back into vodka bottles.  Now wait and see how amazing it is to taste the summer season…in the winter!… in a martini glass, uh huh!!!!

Makes a great holiday gift for the tipplers in your family.

This is a delightful pancake recipe that is fancy enough (and easy enough) to merit a “breakfast in bed” quality rating! This recipe is great with your favorite fruit or fruit syrup.

1 C + 2T Flour
3 T Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
5 Lemons, Zest of
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
3 Eggs, seperated
3/4 C Ricotta Cheese (non fat works)
6 T Buttermilk
6 T Butter (unsalted), melted
2 T Fresh Lemon Juice
1 tsp Real Vanilla

In a bowl mix together the flour, 1 tablespoon of sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and lemon zest.
In a small bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, butter milk, melted butter, lemon juice, real vanilla, and egg yolks…whisk until smooth.
Add the egg and cheese mixture to the flour mixture, and blend until smooth. The batter will be heavy and dense.
In a bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks form.
Add in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
CAREFULLY fold in the egg whites into the batter. Do not mix until the batter is fully combined. A few dots of egg white is ok.
Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 hour.
Prepare the griddle or large nonstick frying pan with cooking spray and place on the stove at medium heat.
When the pan or griddle is hot, spoon about 3/4 to 1 C of batter on to the pan and smooth to a pancake, about 5 inches to 6 inches in diameter.
Cook until large bubbles form on top. About 2-4 minutes.
Turn pancakes and cook until the remaining side is golden
brown.
When fully cooked, remove pancake from pan to a warm dish and keep warm until all pancakes are complete.

Great served with your favorite fruit syrup and a sprinkle of confectioners’ sugar, nothing short of awesome topped with lemon curd and fresh blueberries.

The very best quality blueberries I have ever tasted are grown right here in South Haven, Michigan.

At The Manor, we make as many wonderful recipes as possible from this exquisite, delicious, healthful fruit, the single best source of antioxidants of any fruit there is! Now that I’ve touted the “healthy” aspect, how about the “just plain good fun” aspect?

Here is a recipe for a blueberry cordial, the delicate, blueberry flavor as intoxicating as the vodka ingredient.

Created by you at the fruit’s peak freshness and sweetness in July, you wait to drink it until February before a raging fire to spice up a romantic evening! At The Manor, we use the syrup for topping pancakes/waffles, or for a base for  non-alcoholic drinks combining it with chilled club soda. But at home and with friends? Combined with good quality vodka (“no skimping!” we say), this clear, beautifully bluish sip is like heaven.

2 pints perfectly ripe blueberries
6 cups sugar
3 cups water
2/3 cup strained fresh lemon juice
Good quality vodka

Sort and stem, then rinse and drain the blueberries. Puree the berries, using a blender or food processor. Place the puree in a ceramic bowl, cover with a towel and let stand for 36 hours. Stir the puree occasionally. Don’t worry if the puree forms a crust or gets foamy. Pour the puree into two layers of cheesecloth set over a large bowl, and let it drain. When the flow dwindles, twist the cheesecloth and pulp to extract as much juice as possible. Toss away the pulp and retain the juice, which should measure about 2 2/3 cups.

Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat until it reaches about 235 degrees on a candy thermometer (will form a small ball when dripped into ice water). Add the blueberry and lemon juice. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.

Add 1/2 cup vodka to each cup of syrup. Funnel into clean, dry bottles with cork or cap.
Makes about 3 quarts. Feel free to double the recipe!

  Yum! What’s better than homemade jam, both on the breakfast table and as a gift to friends? But don’t do all the work just to create a forgettable jam that you can just as easily find at the supermarket (I hereby decree a ban on grape and  strawberry jams!). Here’s a spread that captures the bold sweetness of summer blueberries offset by the eye-opening tartness of fresh lemon zest.

It also has a wonderful texture because the pulp of the blueberry is not discarded.

In August I preserve a slew of pints for serving at The Manor, but also dozens of half-pint jelly jars for “taste of the Manor kitchen” gifts.

What’s even better? If you gobble up your entire summer’s harvest, you can still make this in the dead of winter with frozen blueberries! What are you waiting for?

9 cups fresh or frozen (unsweetened) blueberries
6 lemons
9 cups sugar

Sort, stem, wash and drain the blueberries. Using a zester, peel the lemon into thin strips. Be careful to peel only the yellow part, not the bitter, white pith. In a saucepan, cover the peel with water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside. Feel free to experiment with extra peel if you want to increase the tartness and/or texture of the marmalade.

Juice the lemons. Measure the juice and add water to obtain a total of 1-1/2 cups.

In a large preserving pan, crush the berries with a potato masher. Add the blanched peel,sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Continue to boil gently until the marmalade reaches 220 degrees F on a candy/jam thermometer. Ladle hot marmalade into sterilized jars, with 1/2 inch headspace, and process in a water bath according to standard methods.

Makes 6 pints or 12 half-pints.

This is perhaps the only recipe we are still making regularly since the first day we opened The Manor in 1988.

We’ve printed 1000s of copies and shared it with guests for all these decades. It’s timeless, delicious, and easy. So easy, in fact, that we’re a little embarrassed. But we set aside our pride and admit that what makes this cake so absolutely effortless is that it begins with a simple Yellow Cake Mix. The convenience of having the dried ingredients premeasured, consistent and always on hand is an innkeeper’s dream!

Ingredients:

1 Yellow Cake Mix, with pudding in the mix (buy the best brand , it’s worth it, trust me)

3 eggs

3/4 cup oil

3/4 cup sour cream

2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

Mix the blueberries into the dry ingredients first, this keeps them from clumping up or falling to the bottom of the pan during baking. Add the eggs, sour cream and oil and mix in gently. Spray a bundt pan liberally with Pam or other nonstick oil. Spread the cake mixture into the bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

Let cool 10 minutes before gently turning it onto a platter or rack.

We no longer glaze the blueberry cake for breakfast because it’s just too sweet that way.  But if you are presenting it for a luncheon or dessert, it’s beauitiful when drizzled with a simple icing.  Mix 2 T melted butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 T orange juice. adjust for thickness with either more sugar or more juice.

Drizzle on top so the glaze runs into the grooves of the bundt cake, so gorgeous!

  Blueberry Pie, the quintessential summertime treat!

When the blueberries are coming in at the peak of summer, this pie is a MUST!!! Excellent by itself, but sublime with vanilla bean ice cream!

Pastry for double crust 9” deep dish pie

Fillings:

Cheese: 4 oz cream cheese

½ cup confectioner’s sugar

1 ½ T lemon juice

1 egg yolk

Blueberry:

½ cup plus 1 T sugar, divided

2 T all purpose flour

1 ½ T cornstarch

¼ cup cold water

2T lemon juice1T fresh mint, minced

6 cups fresh blueberries, divided

1 egg white, beaten

Line a 9” deep dish pie plate with bottom crust. Trim pastry to ¾” beyond plate edge, flute edges. Do not prick pastry. Line with double thickness of heavy duty foil. Bake at 450 degrees for 7 minutes.  Remove foil and bake 5 more minutes.  Cool on wire rack.  Reduce oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, confectioner’s sugar and lemon juice until fluffy.  Beat in egg yolk until well blended, spread into crust bottom.

In a large saucepan, combine flour, cornstarch and ½ cup sugar. Whisk in cold water until mixture is smooth.  Stir in 2 cups of blueberries.  Bring to a boil. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened.  Cool slightly. Combine lemon juice. mint and remaining blueberries into mixture, gently. Pour over cream cheese filling.

From remaining pastry, cut out decorative designs and arrange over filling.  Brush pastry with egg white and sprinkle with remaining sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cover edges of pastry with aluminum foil during last 20 minutes to protect from burning.  Cool on wire rack.