Summer Fruit Crisp

Mmmmmm...local blueberries and raspberries from our food coop, and Colorado peaches at our local grocery store, collided in our kitchen to become this delicious fruit crisp! You can make this crisp with any fruit you have available - fresh or frozen. Adjust the amount of sugar and spices in the filling to suit the fruit and your taste buds. Reduce the amount of cornstarch in the filling if you want a looser (runnier) crisp. No matter what changes you make, this is almost fool proof!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Fruit filling:
Roughly 2 pts. total fruit - I used 1.5 C frozen blueberries, 1/2 C fresh raspberries, and 5 small Colorado peaches (peeled and sliced)
1/4 c. granulated sugar
2 tbsp. cornstarch
pinch of grated nutmeg
Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl, and place in a buttered or sprayed 9x9 inch baking dish, or one of similar capacity.


Topping:
1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. rolled oats
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 c. walnuts, pecans, or almonds, chopped
1 stick softened butter, cut into slices (for easier incorporating)
Mix together the dry ingredients, including the nuts, and then work in the butter with a pastry blender or a fork.

Sprinkle half of the topping evenly over the fruit and cook for 10 minutes. Add the rest of the topping and cook for another 15 minutes, until top is crisp and brown and juices start to bubble up around the edges.

Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream!

Fruited Rice and Lentil Salad with Chicken

This is another recipe which started with a recipe in Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special cookbook. The biggest difference is that you won't find chicken in the salads in this cookbook! I certainly don't mind a vegetarian salad, but this is one example of a way to make a more hearty dinner salad by adding a little grilled chicken or shrimp.

1. You will need about 3 C of cooked rice, and 1 c cooked lentils for this salad. This is approximately 1 C uncooked brown rice, and 1/2 C dry lentils. When I made the salad, I had leftover cooked rice and therefore simply cooked up the lentils. If you cook either the rice or lentils from the raw state, follow the package cooking directions and add a bay leaf and a clove of garlic to the cooking water for both.

2. Adding chicken to this salad is optional. I used two grilled, chopped chicken breasts, and added it at the same time that the fruit and vegetables were added.

3. To the cooked rice and lentils, add the following:
1 apple, unpeeled and chopped - toss with a little lemon juice to prevent browning
1 1/2 C seedless grapes (black preferred), sliced in half
1 large red or yellow pepper, medium dice
1/2 C celery, chopped
cooked, chopped chicken if using

4. Dressing:
1/2 C olive oil
1/3 C white wine vinegar
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 tsp. dried tarragon
1/4 tsp. dried mint
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Add about half the dressing, or as much as you need to make the salad moist enough for your liking. You can offer more of the dressing when you serve it. OR...I made this salad the day before, tossed half the dressing into the salad the first day and then added the other half of the dressing the next day before I served it.

Pear Salad

This has been one of our daughter's favorite salads for some time now. We tried it out for the first time a number of years ago on some died-in-the-wool Mainers and they loved it! This photo shows the addition of fresh blackberries, which we don't always have available, but it's a wonderful compliment. It's simply a composed salad, one you layer on a plate. We use one whole pear for each person, but that can be changed of course.

Here's a list of the ingredients:
spring salad greens
ripe pear, cored and sliced
thinly sliced red onion
fresh black raspberries or another berry if in season
toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
blue cheese crumbles or soft goat cheese bits
raspberry vinaigrette - homemade or purchased

Rhubarb Crisp

This is a "once in a while" treat since it's so sugary, but adding some whole grain helps keep the balance a little doesn't it??!! The kind of rhubarb we grow doesn't have much of that traditional red color, and I don't like to add food coloring, so it looks a little green in this photo! It's nice and tart though, just the way it should be!

Whole Grain Rhubarb Crisp

Topping:

1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2/3 cup softened butter

Filling:

5-6 cups rhubarb,chopped
3/4 cup granulated sugar

Heat oven to 375. Spray an 8-inch baking dish or a 1.5 quart casserole with non-stick spray.

Combine nuts, flour , rolled oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.

In large bowl, toss rhubarb with sugar. Place rhubarb in baking dish. Sprinkle topping evenly over rhubarb . Bake, uncovered, 35 minutes, or until rhubarb is tender and topping is deep golden brown. Place foil loosely over the crisp if it gets too brown during the cooking time. Of course this is traditionally served with ice cream, and if you can find it, cinnamon ice cream is amazing with rhubarb crisp!

Rhubarb Upside Down Cobbler

Ever made a rhubarb cobbler? This will make you glad you tried one! BE SURE you chose a large enough dish since it will flow like lava over the sides if you don't! This is a very interesting recipe to watch as it's baking. The batter ends up wrapping itself around the rhubarb filling - nice!

2 C sugar
1 C whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. butter, slightly softened
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 C milk
3 C diced rhubarb
3/4 C boiling water

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a pan, at least 9x9x3, with non-stick spray. Stir together 1 C of the sugar, the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Cut in butter. Add milk and vanilla, stirring in gently. Pour into baking pan. Sprinkle rhubarb over batter. Mix 1 C sugar and the boiling water together, stirring to dissolve sugar; pour over batter and rhubarb - yes really! Place on cookie sheet and bake for 45-60 minutes. The cake should be set when done. Protect from over-browning by tenting the dish with foil if needed. Of course this is fabulous with a dollop of frozen yogurt or ice cream!

Black Walnut Cherry Coffee Cake

I was craving something home baked and came up with this, which is a modification of a couple of internet recipes - what a surprise huh?! This dish doesn't utilize anything from our garden, but it does incorporate local honey and local black walnuts, and local food is a growing passion for us - no pun intended. I recently read that the attitude you have while you're eating something can have a great effect on how it's processed in your body. That made a lot of sense to me. Making this was therapeutic, smelling it was therapeutic, tasting it was healing!

Black Walnut Cherry Coffee Cake

3 tablespoons butter
1 C whole oats
1/4 C whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
**********
2 C whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 C honey
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 cup canola or walnut oil
1 cup skim milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 (12-ounce) bag frozen, unsweetened tart cherries, thawed and drained
1/4 cup chopped black walnuts or substitute any other nut of choice

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9-inch round cake or 9 x 9 square pan. Mix butter, oats, 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 C brown sugar in small bowl with fork or pastry cutter until crumbly. Set aside. Combine flour, honey, 1/2 C brown sugar, oil, milk, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and egg in large bowl. Beat mixture by hand or with a mixer for 1- 2 minutes, until well blended. Stir in thawed cherries. Spread half of the batter in pan and sprinkle ½ of oat mixture on top. Add remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining oat mixture and chopped walnuts. Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

Orange Dip for Pears

My uncle has a pear tree and is such a good sharing gardener! We thoroughly enjoy getting these little pears and here is one of the ways we enjoyed them. This was a dish I took to a women's fellowship meeting. It makes a lot of dip, so for a smaller group you may want to make half this much.

Orange Dip For Pears

2 Tbs. lemon juice
1/3 C sour cream
1/3 C mayonnaise
3 Tbs. orange juice concentrate
zest and juice of one orange
1 tsp. ground ginger
Drizzle pears with lemon juice. Reserve a little zest to garnish dip and whisk all other ingredients together . Serve fruit and dip chilled.