Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Cherry Cobbler

A few weeks ago I wanted to try my hand at stuffed peppers. Yes, the title of this post is Cherry Cobbler, and we'll get to that, but it all starts with stuffed peppers.  I have no recollection of ever eating stuffed peppers before. Not at the dinner table as a kid. Not at Grandmas. Not at the local smorgasbord that seems to have every food imaginable. For some reason I consider stuffed peppers to be a food from the'70's.  Is that when they were invented?  Were they a popular dinner party item?  Maybe I'm remembering a commercial featuring them?

I was curious about stuffed peppers so I went to my trusty source for all information-Google. And from Google I learned that I have much to learn. Stuffed peppers have been around since the 1800's. So yeah, way before the 70's, lol. Anyway, I invited the family over for dinner. They are generally my  willing taste testers in my cooking/ baking endeavors. In addition to the peppers, I wanted to make a desert but didn't want anything too sweet to go with the spicy peppers. And that's how we arrive at the Cherry Cobbler.

 Cherries. Not a fruit that's generally found in my fruit basket, but this recipe sounded too good to pass by. The recipe I used was from Brown Eyed Baker. The same blog that brought those amazing bread and butter pickles from last weeks post. You can find the full recipe HERE.



I found a large selection of beautiful, ripe cherries at my local grocery store. I have to say though, I didn't put much thought into how I was going to get the pits out of the cherries. So what's an inquiring mind to do?  Google. I swear between Google and Siri I look at least one thing up every day!  But Back to the cherry pits.  Google provided several solutions to my delima but I didn't want to purchase some little kitchen gadget just for cherries -although that seems to be a booming business- and tweezers seemed kinda wrong. I thought both the toothpick and straw options had promise so I started with those. First up, toothpicks.  Oh my word. It was like digging to China with the smallest shovel ever. I did not have the patience, or desire, to work my way through 2 pounds of cherry pits with a toothpick. Next option. A straw. Whoever figured this out is a genius!  Insert a straw in the middle of the cherry and push the pit right out the other end. The end of the straw was just sharp enough to slices right through the cherry and the pit slides right into the middle of the straw. Then you blow the pit out into a container if it doesn't fall out on it's own. It all depends on the diameter of the straw and ideally you want to use a smaller straw so you save most of the cherry interior. Note:  I would recommend covering the drain in your sink so you don't lose any stray pits down the disposal. I had a stray pit make it's way unknowing into there and oh the racket that one little pit made when the disposal was eventually turned on. Yikes!

Caution: Wear old clothes that you don't mind getting cherry stains on because if you're using fresh cherries, you will end up with juice everywhere. Seriously. My kitchen sink looked like I'd had a cherry killing party.

  


Next step, make the cherry filling and the biscuits. (I'm still getting back in the blogging habit and forgot to take pictures of all the steps).



Then bake.


Then eat. Then think it would be even better with a scoop, or two, of vanilla ice cream and eat again.



And end up with this.

You're welcome.

P.S.  the stuffed peppers were a hit too.

Thanks for stopping by
-Teddra

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Bread & Butter Pickles



Do you like pickles?  Honestly, I'm kind of on the fence about them. One thing I'm sure of though is that if I'm adding a pickle or two to my sandwich, it needs to be crunchy!

This year I've tried my hand at basic canning. Nothing elaborate. Actually, I'm not even sure what I've been doing is considered canning!  It involves mason jars. And the lids did pop on one of the recipes. So to me, those two things mean canning.  This summer I've discovered one of the best farmers markets in our area. It's about a 30 minute drive but they have such a great selection it's definitely worth it!  On this particular Saturday I was on the hunt for pickling cucumbers. And I found some beauties.

Out in blog land, one of the sites I visit on an almost daily basis is Brown Eyed Baker. She originally posted THIS pickle recipe back in 2011 and it's the recipe I followed.

Slice your pickling cucumbers into 1/4 inch pieces. Add salt, stir, cover and leave in the fridge for an hour and a half.

At the end of the hour, rinse well with cold water.




Next, slice half an onion into thin strips.  Add the onions to the cucumbers and mix the brine.



Pour the brine over the cucumber-onion combo, cover and place in the fridge for 24 hours. 




Divide the mixture into jars. The pickles will stay fresh in the fridge for two weeks. 



I think I just became a pickle fan!  Crunchy and flavorful. I didn't know what I was missing out on.  What should I try next?  Any suggestions?  

Thanks for stopping by-
Teddra