Day 108 - Three Berry Cobbler

Thank you all for your patience and your continuous reading while I've taken this short hiatus.
I was feeling well enough today to bake although I am still not over my illness. 
This recipe was simple to make, but because of my energy level and inability to focus at times it took me a couple of hours to complete it.
I'm sure it won't take you as long.

Adapted from Fannie Farmer Cookbook Thirteenth Edition

Three Berry Cobbler

1 pint of strawberries
1 pint of blueberries
12 oz. blackberries
12 tablespoons butter, melted
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
½ cup milk
1 egg
1½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat oven to 375ºF.
Pour 4 tablespoons of the melted butter into an 8 X 8"-inch baking dish.  Spread evenly in dish.
In a small bowl, mix together ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ cup of the sugar.
Combine all berries into a large bowl.  Pour sugar/salt mixture over berries and fold in gently with a wooden spoon. 

Place berries in baking dish and set aside.
Pour remaining 8 tablespoons melted butter into a bowl, add the milk and egg, and beat well.
Mix the flour, baking powder, remaining ¼ teaspoon salt, and remaining 6 tablespoons of sugar in a bowl.
Stir the egg/milk/butter mixture into flour mixture and beat together until smooth.

Place 9 dollops of batter onto berries.

Bake for approximately 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into dough comes out clean.  If browning too quickly, cover with foil.

The cobbler was delicious and on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best, this earned 4 rolling pins!  It was even that much better with the vanilla bean ice cream on it, too.
And yes, I had a little bit of an appetite to eat it.  And I could even taste it, too which was a plus!

I had gone to bed early, and I mean like 7:00 pm early hoping to call it a night, but I tossed and turned for at least an hour or more and couldn't fall asleep.  So, I sat on my husband's side of the bed and was on his laptop when I noticed something very near my foot move on the floor.

Fortunately, he's a bigger one and less dangerous than his smaller counterparts.  He was in a plastic cup when this picture was taken 

I was going to put this at the top of the post, but didn't want to freak anybody out. 
It's been a couple of years since we've had a scorpion in the house and usually I'm not too freaked out by them and can dispose of them without having to call my husband for assistance.  Last night was different though.  I didn't need my husband, I just freaked out knowing that I had walked back and forth over that same are not a couple of minutes beforehand to go into the bathroom.
I'm just so glad that I saw it before anyone stepped on it, and not to mention the dog who wanders the whole house.
I'd love to know where it came from and if it has any brothers or sisters we need to be on the lookout for.  Did he come in from a vent in the ceiling or somewhere at ground level.  I'll never know, but I did have trouble walking around the house afterwards and going to sleep.
We didn't have scorpions in Rhode Island.  I can't say that I'm happy to see them here in the desert.
~ Happy baking everyone! ~

Day 42 - Blueberry Pie

     Really this post is for Wednesday, March 9, 2011, I just wasn't able to post it before midnight.  I don't want anyone thinking I skipped a day!      Blueberries have been on sale at our favorite grocery stores this week.  Can you tell?  Today's post and the one Sunday with Blueberry Muffins, and the blueberry pancakes I made for dinner on Monday have officially made it Blueberry Week here at 365.  I don't think I'll do another blueberry recipe before Sunday though - my family may revolt.
     I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself.  I've been nervous about making a lattice topped pie crust, but have always wanted to do it.  Today was the day and since the pie crust needed to be vented anyway I figured why not give it a shot.  It was a success!  Remember, it's good to try new things and take a risk because you never know how it will turn out or what fun you'll have in the process!
     Blueberry Pie

     Filling:
     3/4 cup sugar
     2 tablespoons cornstarch
     ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
     ½ cup water
     3 cups blueberries
     1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

     Pie Crust
     2 cups all-purpose
     1 tablespoon sugar
     1 teaspoon salt
     3/4 cup shortening
     1 egg
     2 tablespoons water
     ½ tablespoon vinegar
    
     Flour for dusting
     Sugar for sprinkling on the top

     For the filling, combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and water in a medium saucepan.  Heat rapidly until thickened. 

Set aside to cool as you make the pie crusts.  When the mixture is cooled, add the blueberries and the lemon juice.
     Preheat oven to 425ºF.
     Combine flour, sugar, and salt.  Cut in shortening.  Whisk together egg, water and vinegar.  Add to flour mixture and toss lightly with a fork.  Turn out onto a lightly floured board and combine dough using your hands.  Separate into 2 single crusts. 

Line the bottom of a pie plate with 1 of the crusts.

     Pour filling into dough-lined pie plate. 

Place second crust over top, cut vents, and flute the edges.  Sprinkle a small amount of sugar on top.  Place the pie on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350ºF and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes.

      I really think the recipe could've have used 4 cups instead of the 3 cups of blueberries.  There seemed as if there wasn't quite enough and it may have cut down on the sweetness just a tad.  As I said before, I really wanted to attempt the lattice crust, so I found this video on youtube.  It really wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  I did mess up in the beginning, but after a while got the hang of it and didn't have any problems (except for a couple of end crust pieces breaking off as I lifted them, but it didn't make a difference).  I think I'm hooked now and will have to do more of these.  It was very pretty and fun to do.  I also took quite a bit of time rolling out both crusts so that they were pretty evenly rounded.  I wanted to make sure this pie was just right!  AND I finally figured out how to get the crust off the board and into the pie plate!  That was a huge accomplishment in itself.  I know I've seen it done on cooking shows, but I've had problems in the past.  I just rolled it right onto the rolling pin and unrolled it over the dish.  Voila!  There are definitely more pies in my future.

     I have a rating system of 1-4 with 4 being the best.  Both my husband and son thought it was a little too sweet, but my neighbor said it was the best blueberry pie he's ever had (and no, I'm not making that up and I didn't pay him to say that).  I really, really liked it, too!  So, I'm giving this baby a rating of 4 rolling pins!  I think the lattice crust was what sealed the deal and I really like the fact that because of the lattice there wasn't too much crust.
     I'm starting to feel sore because of my workout today.  If you haven't checked the weigh-in page, take a look, I updated it today.  So if my arms are as sore as I think they'll be tomorrow, it might be a challenge putting something in the oven. Ha Ha.  I guess I'll just have to make sure the dish or pan isn't too heavy.
     Happy baking!

Day 39 - Blueberry Muffins

     So I climb into bed last night and I'm lying there for about 10 minutes when I feel something crawl across my nose.  I SAT UP IN BED SO FAST!!!!!  I'm brushing my nose, rubbling my hands all over my face.  I'm running my fingers through my hair, then I'm doing wide sweeps of the covers and of my pillow.  All of this is going on in the dark mind you because the light switch next to bedroom door was off, so I couldn't turn the light on my nightstand on.  I was freaking out!  And I was making so much noise rustling the covers I'm extremely surprised my husband didn't say anything.  I race to the light switch, turn on the light and then closely examine the pillow, covers, floor and surrounding area because there is NO way that bugger is crawling on me again!  Nothing.  I didn't see a thing.  For all I know, I probably smeared him on my pillow, but I'm sure I would've felt that.  I was so eeeked out and jittery!!  You have to understand that I'm really not afraid of bugs, snakes or spiders.  I was the one at the vet clinic everyone came to to extinguish the little critters because no one else wanted to do it, except the doctor.  So, I really am not bothered by them WHEN I CAN SEE THEM AND DON'T FEEL THEM CRAWLING ON ME!!  Ooohh, chills just thinking about it.  I finally calmed myself down, turned off the light and climbed back into bed.  Every single one of my senses was on high alert, especially all those nerve endings on my skin.  I'm lying there wondering if I should go into another unoccupied bedroom and then I started thinking about the mouse we had in our old house. 
     Back in Rhode Island, I was sitting at the kitchen table with the kids and there was a package of Keebler Peanut Butter Sticks on the counter.  The mouse came out from behind the oven and ran over to the cookies, took one out and tried to squeeze back behind the oven, but had the cookie positioned the wrong way - like carrying a log through a door, he had it the long way instead of the end going through first.  He figured it out though.  It was pretty remarkable to see him reposition himself so that he could finally fit and take his prized possession with him.  Usually, people scream and jump on to chairs when they see a mouse, but I was entertained. However, I was really disgusted with the fact that he ran on the counter and contaminated a newly opened bag of really good cookies.
     So, yeah, this was something I thought about while lying there in bed, too.  Little creepy crawly things that really don't bother me.  What really does bother me are things that fly and come into my home.  Again, back in Rhode Island we had a chimney and on occasion birds would fly down and then be stuck in the house trying to escape.  That really frightened me because they're scared, they're flying around and they're so doggone unpredictable.  Ha ha I haven't even gotten to today's recipe yet, but this is a story I have to share.  Our daughters were about 5 and 3 years old at the time and shared a bedroom.  Our son was an infant, and I had put him down to bed and was reading the girls their nightly bedtime story.  This night will forever be stuck in my head.  The book we were reading was  Emma at the Beach.  It's about a good, little witch named, Emma, and her friends, a cat, an owl, and a bat.  We're sitting on one of their beds, one of them on either side of me when I notice something black about the size of a small shoe on the floor that I hadn't noticed before.  I thought it was a pair of pants one of the girls had thrown on the floor.  I continued reading and the thing started to move.  Interesting.  What the...?  Then it started to fly!  It was a BAT, circling around in the bedroom!  OH MY GOSH!!!!!  I'm screaming.  My daughters are screaming.  I was FREAKING OUT!!!  All I could think about were stories where the bat gets stuck in a girl's hair and has rabies and bites her in the neck.  EEEEWWWW!!  So the three of us are screaming.  My husband's downstairs and I'm thinking why the heck (ok, hell) hasn't he come up yet with all this noise?  Light bulb goes on in my head:  I'll stand up, get the bat to follow me out of the room and the girls will be fine.  Ok, I stand up, open their door, look for the bat, run out of the room and slam the door behind me.  PHEW!  I hated doing that, but we're all ok, and every thing's fine.  Wait, the girls are still screaming.  Where's the bat?  OH MY GOD!!!!  They're in their room with the door shut and the bat is STILL flying around!!  WHAT KIND OF A MOTHER AM I???!!!  OH MY GOSH, I HAVE TO GO BACK IN THERE!!!  So, I stood there in the hall, yelling for my husband, who came running up the stairs, and then took a VERY deep breath and quickly opened the door to get the girls out of their room.  What a night!  Our neighbors ended up coming over because we knew their boys would be interested in seeing it.  We eventually caught it in a hamper and took it outside to release it, but it will forever live in our memories.  So ironic that we were reading a story that had a bat in it.
     Last night, after climbing into bed the second time, a couple minutes later I thought I felt something touching my leg.  Again, I'm on even higher alert and wondering if I'll be able to fall asleep.  Finally, exhaustion just took over and the lovely Mr. Sandman paid me a visit.  Yes, you can bet I washed our bedsheets this morning.  All this previous chit chat had no relevance to today's recipe, but was something I wanted to share.
     Blueberry Muffins was the recipe for today.  They came from Alton Brown at http://www.foodnetwork.com/
Here's the link, since I can't post the recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/blueberry-muffins-recipe/reviews/index.html.  It called for cake flour, but I didn't have any, so I used regular.  And I also used Greek yogurt for the 1 cup of plain yogurt.

The sugar, egg, oil, and yogurt combined.

 Ready for baking!

Complete yummy goodness...

     I have to say that these were the most delicious blueberry muffins I have ever made.  Ok, to be honest, I've never made blueberry muffins from scratch, they've always been from those store bought mixes.  Not any more!  These are definitely the way to go!  They were so good!  The tops were nicely browned and a little chewy and crunchy and the inside was so moist.  MMMMMmmmmmmm......deliciousness!  The only problem I had was that even though I greased the muffin tins, they still stuck when I went to turn them out and about a quarter of the tops came off.  Next time, muffin cups.  This is where I'm going to gain most of my weight, eating the scraps of the goods that won't hold together.  A bit here, a piece there, it will all end up on my hips creating, are you ready, it just seems so appropriate with today's post, a MUFFIN TOP!  Sorry, hard for me to hold back on that one.  Also, they didn't rise up, they were more like flat muffins.  Maybe that was because I didn't use cake flour.  I didn't care though, those little bits and pieces were still delicious.  My rolling pin rating:  on a scale of 1-4 rolling pins with 4 being the best, Alton's Blueberry Muffins scored a 3½!
     Happy baking!