Cobbling It Together

It happens every year. Usually it starts mid to late May and goes in fits and starts through July & August. It's my ongoing love affair with Summer. Warm weather, flowers; all good. Hot weather, humidity; all bad. But them something that speaks only in the language of summer comes along and woos me, and as soon as it seduces me it runs off and leaves me for another year. Leaving me sitting and soaking in the oppressive humidity.

Well, here we go. Peaches. Blueberries. Together in perfect harmony and lightly spiced.


Peach & Blueberry Cobbler
by way of Smitten Kitchen

Fresh peaches and blueberries from some of our local farmers. The peaches were stupidly juicy and just the right amount of tart. The blueberries were bursting with sweetness. Add a little flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, freshly grated nutmeg and a pinch of salt.

The ingredients for the buttermilk cornmeal topping. Mix until resembling lumpy sand. Add buttermilk. Spoon on top of the peach/berry mixture.

I gilded the lily...sprinkled a pinch of coarse demura sugar. Bake at 425 for about 20-25 minutes.

When your kitchen is full of the heady, fruity aroma, you know things are gonna be good. Allow to cool for a bit.

Dig in. Serve with some whipping cream, ice cream or even some yogurt if you like. We skipped all and just enjoyed the delirious fruit flavors and tender biscuit topping.

Ooops, all gone. Good thing I made four individual cobblers...I'll have one for breakfast, with the yogurt.




This recipe will make a 9x13 baking dish full of goodness. I halved the recipe and made four small ramekins...portion control!


Peach Blueberry Cornmeal Cobbler
Via Smitten Kitchen
Adapted from The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern

For the fruit
1 1/2 (about 4 cups) pounds peaches, pitted and cut into slices*
1 pint (about 2 cups) blueberries, rinsed and dried
2/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the biscuit topping
3/4 cup (3 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup fine stone-ground cornmeal (yellow or white)
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).Toss peaches with blueberries, sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in the bottom of a 2-quart ovenproof dish.

Make the biscuit dough: Stir together the flour, cornmeal, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into the dry mixture with your fingertips, a fork or a pastry blender. Stir in buttermilk with a rubber spatula until a wet, tacky dough comes together.

Plop spoonfuls of the biscuit dough over the filling; don’t worry about covering entire surface. Bake until the cobbler’s syrup is bubbly and the biscuit tops are browned, about 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool slightly and scoop it into bowls. Top with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, of if you’re having an accidental run-in with this cobbler before noon, plain yogurt.

*Want to peel your peaches? Here’s how: Cut a small “x” in the bottom of each peach. Dip them in boiling water for 30 seconds, and the skins will slide right off.

Blueberry Yogurt Cake

This was a super simple, delicious summery cake. Give it a shot. All you do is dump, mix, bake! This reminded me of a decadent blueberry muffin.



Blueberry Yogurt Cake
From Mom's Best Recipes

Batter:
1 box Duncan Hines white cake mix (do NOT mix according to box directions)
3 egg whites
1 cup milk
1 - 6oz. container fat free blueberry yogurt
2 cups blueberries; fresh or frozen*
small bowl of flour

Topping:
1 - 8oz. container fat free Cool Whip (thawed)
1 - 6oz. container fat free blueberry yogurt
1 cup fresh blueberries (optional)
1/4 cup blueberry syrup (optional)

In a small bowl add some flour--place the blueberries in the bowl of flour--toss to coat and set aside.

In a mixer add egg whites, milk and one container of yogurt--beat. Add cake mix--beat until smooth. Remove bowl from mixer--add flour coated blueberries--stir just until mixed using a wooden spoon. Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13 cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes--test with a toothpick for doneness. Cool completely.

Topping: in a bowl add Cool Whip and one container of yogurt--stir. Add 1 cup fresh blueberries--stir OR add the blueberry syrup**. Spread the topping evenly over the cooled cake. Refrigerate until cold.

NOTES:
*I used frozen--which is acceptable when blueberries are not in season. If you use fresh, make sure to rinse and pick thru the berries for stems or other bits and pieces. Funny, I read the recipe a few times, then went to the store without writing anything down, I remembered everything, except fresh blueberries and...
**I didn't get extra blueberries for the topping, but we did have blueberry syrup. It added a little more sweetness, light color and additional blueberry flavor. It was nice.

Blueberry Cream Pie

There was pie the other day. Very simple, pre-made crust. Frozen berries. A little whipping and a little improvising and we had pie. Very tasty, but the texture was way off...sad sad sad frozen berries. Bummer. But again, the taste was great. Will certainly try it again with fresh blues.

Blueberry Cream Pie

Frozen blueberries mixed with a little sugar and some warm spices. Cinnamon, allspice, cloves, cardamom. This wasn't a part of the recipe, but I thought it would be fun. It was!

The blues are then mixed with a "cream" filling. Sour cream, cream cheese, eggs, vanilla and sugar.

Pour into a pre-made pie crust. Bake for awhile.

Before the pie is done, remove and sprinkle on the topping.

Remove from the oven and let cool. Refrigerate before serving so it's nice and chilled and it sets.

Click here for the recipe.

Buckle Up

The other night CB came over for the BBQ Chicken. He brought us a Blueberry Buckle he made. It was delicious. The recipe CB used is below, as he emailed to me, with his notes.

The blue carnage! We kept eating and eating; teeth turning blue.

This recipe came from America's Test Kitchen...

Ok, I changed a few things, first off, did not use skillet obviously. I increased everything by 50% except vanilla which I increased by even more. The original recipe called for Blackberries, I had Blueberries. The rest of changes in parenthesis.

Ingredients
Serves 6 to 8
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (I used salted)
4 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I used two teaspoons)
Whipped cream, creme fraiche, or ice cream, for serving

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt butter in a large cast-iron skillet or ovenproof baking dish, in the oven, 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, place blueberries in a large bowl. Using a potato masher, mash blueberries to release their juices (I skipped this step) . If blueberries are tart, sprinkle with sugar.
4. In another large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add 1 cup sugar, milk, and vanilla extract; mix until well combined. Pour mixture into skillet and pour blueberries and their juices into the center. (melted butter seems to be everywhere, including mixing with berries)
5. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until top is golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the batter comes out clean, about 1 hour. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature with whipped cream, creme fraiche, or ice cream.

Tiny Frozen Blue Orbs*

Frozen fresh picked blueberries. We had so many, I needed to freeze some so we have some berries for later. Rinse your berries and then layout on a rimmed baking sheet. I lined mine with papertowel to whisk away any small bits of water. Place in the freezer until frozen solid, give them one day. Then transfer to a freezer bag or container. Save for later!

*I could have said Tiny Frozen Blue Balls, but then you'd think I was talking about something else...? Get your mind out of the gutter people!

Pork Chops and Apple Sauce--no more!

*First--hate Blogger for messing me up sometimes. I hit the enter key to try to space something and whoops...post published! Not what I wanted. Grrrr.



Anyway!!!

Last night was a busy night with the homemade jelly. So at the very end I took some pork chops and reserved blueberries and made a delicious, very fast dinner.

Season pork chops with salt & pepper and saute in olive oil until browned and just cooked through, depending on the size of the chops, about 5 minutes. These chops were seasoned with a Whiskey Rub by Vanns Spices. Very tasty, but with this sauce, the rub took over the lead flavor profile.

Toss in some onions and saute until they start to brown. Add 1 TB chopped fresh thyme. Pour in 1 cup of chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Add 1 cup fresh blueberries. Simmer for 5 minutes.

The berries will burst and flavor the sauce; which will reduce down. Add 1 TB of butter to enrich the sauce.

Spoon sauce over the chops. Enjoy!

Jealous?

Vanilla yogurt, fresh picked blueberries and granola.

Birthday Buckle

So...
What was I up to at 530 am on Wednesday?

Making a blueberry buckle for a little work celebration. There are two birthdays in one week in my department, so I whipped up this vegan treat, bought some frozen yogurt and headed to work!

It came out beautifully. I sprinkled some sugar, thinking it might add some carmelization or something. Funny thing, it didn't do anything, just sat there looking pretty...which is OK!


We ate a lot of it at work...I brought this back home for a little treat after dinner.

It's pretty dang tasty. Yes, it's vegan, so there is no dairy in there. Yes, there's whole wheat flour, so it can have a certainly 'healthy' taste to it, but it's very satisfying. No one at work is vegan, it just happens to be this recipe is vegan...so we countered that with the frozen yogurt, which makes this a very decadent treat.

Blueberry Ice Cream

Last night for dinner, we had this...again! Sooo tasty, but I made way too much last night.

And then for dessert I made us some Blueberry Ice Cream for J-lo's b-day treat.

Simmer 2 cups of blueberries (frozen or fresh) with 2/3 cups of sugar and 1/2 cup of juice. If you can find blueberry juice, use that, or a blueberry blend, or apple, or cranberry, or orange...

Simmer for 10 minutes over medium/medium low heat until the berries have released their juice and flavor and the sugar has melted. Cool for an hour.

Add 2 cups of 1/2 & 1/2, stir and pour into your ice cream maker and follow the instructions. Enjoy!

Great flavor, smooth and creamy!

It's good for you right? Blueberries ARE healthy!

This past weekend we headed to C&S's for brunch. Good brunch. We enjoyed pie. Then last night C&S joined us for homemade pizza and games at our place. We enjoyed more pie. Mr. C brought one of the two pies he made last weekend. This was the better of the two! So good in fact, I had a second slice...and I have the whole second half of a pie waiting for me to enjoy this weekend!

Here's the adjusted/tweaked recipe:

UPDATED: some ingredients listed were corrected from original posting

Blueberry Cream Pie
Blend the following ingredients together until smooth; 4-5 minutes by hand, less with electric mixer:
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cream cheese
2 eggs
2 TB flour
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt

Gently fold in the following:
3 cups frozen or fresh blueberries

Pour the filling into a 9-inch pie shell (frozen, prepared or homemade)

Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes.

Combine in a blender (until fine texture), the following to make the topping:
2 TB sugar
¼ cup chopped pecans

Remove pie from the oven. Spinkle with the topping over the pie. Return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes longer. Let cool.

Chill before serving. Serve with whipped cream.

Serves 8 to 10