Tennessee Locavore

Your Mother Was a Hamster!

My husband and I share a love built on mutual understanding, respect and a deep and abiding love for Monty Python. 

He came late to this love.  On October 19, 1991, Marcus was on a University of Tennessee band bus headed home from Birmingham, Alabama.  A cloud of gloom had settled over everyone - if there's one thing that native Knoxvillians loathed in the 1990s more than anything else, it was being a Volunteer fan who's team has just lost to the Crimson Tide.  Into the depths of despair came a bright light emanating from the TVs on the bus.  Marcus was lying there, half asleep in his chair and he looks up to a movie where a one armed Black Knight is yelling "I've been hurt worse". It was so bizarre, yet so giddily funny that he couldn't turn away.

My love for Monty Python came from my father.  My Dad is a dork but I mean that in the best, most lovable kind of way.  At the age of 16 though, he was just annoying - mainly because he existed and he was my dad.  A sixteen year old's scorn has no bounds.  He watched the weirdest movies and thought the most inane things were funny.  But one day I came into the room when he was watching a movie and heard this "I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries." I mean, how could you not love a movie like that?

Since then, I've had a strange fascination with Monty Python and elderberries in particular.  I've been thinking about planting them in my yard just so I could taste them.  If we traveled to any out of town farmers markets, I looked for them.  I bought a blouse once because the catalog color was elderberry.  If my husband and I are fighting, all one of us to say to diffuse it is to insult the other by telling them that their mother was a hamster and that their father smelt of elderberries.

We were at the Market Square farmers' market a few weeks ago and one of my favorite farmers had a basket full of the most vivid, yet delicate looking berries I had very seen.  If lace was turned into berries, those berries were what it would look like.  I'm a sucker for anything novel at the market so I asked him what they were.  When he told me "Elderberries" I swooned.  And promptly bought four pounds.

I got home, spread a sheet on the couch, popped in Monty Python's Holy Grail and proceeded to strip berries off the stems.  FOR THREE HOURS!!! 

They're such gorgeous berries though and I wish I could make a lipstick out of them.

Four pounds of berries gave me roughly 2 cups of juice.  Be careful with this stuff.  When I got done, it looked like I had massacred an alien with deep fuchsia blood in parts of my kitchen.  To extract the juice, I put the berries in medium saucepan with a quarter cup of sugar and a half cup of water.  I turned the heat on medium and brought everything to a boil and let it simmer for five minutes.  Then I used a sieve to drain the juice.  If you want perfectly clear jelly, don't do what I did which was to push the berries to extract every last bit of juice.  I was more concerned with having enough juice to make the jelly.

I tasted the juice after it was extracted and immediately got very nervous because there was a strong, bitter component to it.  I almost cried at the thought of all that work being for naught.  My husband suggested that I had nothing left to lose but a bit of sugar so why not see if it that made it taste alright.  I've never had this happen before but as soon as I added enough sugar, the bitterness went almost completely away and I can't taste it in the finished product at all. 

I love this jelly.  It's the most vibrant, glistening shade of purple I think I've ever seen.  It's delicious on scones and right at home in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I'm going to be on the lookout for an easier way to extract the juice but as long as I can find elderberries, I'll be making this jelly every year.

In fact, I think it's time to finally order those bushes and plant them in the yard!

Monty Python Jelly
Adapted from the Pomona Pectin blackberry jelly instructions

Note - I made this jelly using Pomona Pectin.  It's become my go-to pectin to use in most of my canning and I love the fact that low sugar jams are cinch with it!

2 cups elderberry juice
2.5 tablespoons lemon juice
2.5 cups sugar (use more or less depending on how sweet you like your jelly-this includes the 1/4 cup of sugar used earlier)
2 teaspoons pectin powder
2 teaspoons calcium water

Measure the juice into a pan with lemon juice. Add calcium water into mixture and stir well.  Measure sugar into a bowl and mix pectin powder into it.  Bring juice to a boil, add the pectin sugar mixture and stir vigorously one to two minutes to dissolve the pectin.  Taste for sweetness and add more sugar if needed.  Return to boil.  Once it comes to a boil, remove from heat.  Fill jars.  If canning, please follow rules for canning jellies & jams from Ball Blue Book or Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

For printable recipe, click here!

Cherry Pies for April

I'm going to be blunt- I really wasn't sure if I should even write this post.  I feel like my writing skills can't even begin to convey what a heartbreaking week this has been.  Part of me doesn't even want to write this because I know I'll cry the entire time.  But I feel like not writing about it would be cowardly - April's been such a strong, courageous person throughout this entire ordeal that it would be wrong not to share it.  It would be wrong not to try to describe how much love and care could be found, even in the worst of times.  I apologize for how inadequate my words are but I had to try.

Our friend April has been fighting breast cancer for the last two and half years.  She was diagnosed at the young age of 33.  When her cancer was discovered, she already had multiple tumors and several were inoperable in their current state.  The hope was that they could use chemotherapy to shrink the tumors small enough so that they could remove them.

She's been through several rounds of chemo.  Some have seemed to help for a while but the tumors always kept coming back.  Some rounds of chemo had to be discontinued because they were killing her.  But we all hoped that the fix for her was right around the corner.  

When Marcus and I got married in November, we asked her to do a reading. She was obviously very tired, but she came and made a day that was already special, even more special to us.  We were all worried but we still hadn't given up hope. 

Even when we found out last week that April's liver was starting to fail, we all still held out hope.  Surely the stopgap chemo would work so that she could participate in a new trial she had gotten into for a drug that showed a lot of promise and hope.

Saturday, April went back to the doctor to see if her liver levels had improved.  The doctor was compassionate, but blunt with her and told her that he needed to let her know that she probably wouldn't be leaving the hospital again.  April turned to her family and said "I'd like to have a house party blow-out, with all the people I love." So plans were put in motion Saturday afternoon for a party on Sunday.  A Hawaiian Luau was planned and we were all told to wear our brightest, most gaudy outfits.

In this country, we love our David and Goliath stories.  We love to hear about people overcoming all odds, fighting through every obstacle in their path.  But sometimes we need to be reminded that no matter how hard we try or how hard we fight,  we can't win. We don't always get our fairy tale endings - no matter how much we want them. We want to hear the Chicken Soup for the Soul version of cancer and we tend to forget that life is rarely that black or white.  No one fought harder than April and her family and no one deserved a happy ending more than them. This is a real story with an ending that no one wanted, but it's the ending that we got.

I can't even begin to convey how wonderful it was to see the tender care that April's husband has been giving her.  Watching him feed her, gently wipe her mouth and try to get her to drink - I still have a mark on my hand from where I rammed my thumbnail into it so I wouldn't completely break down in sobbing tears.  I couldn't even look at my husband because I know in my heart how much we love one another and I know we've both been putting ourselves in April's husband's shoes. When Mac and April said their wedding vows, they had every reason to hope that any sickness they were promising to support one another through would be brief or after they had spent a lifetime together.  Yet the love they've shown one another throughout this whole ordeal has been a gift to all of us who love them. 

I can't even begin to describe the grief of a best friend who put a party together in less than 24 hours - knowing it would be the last gift she could give her.  We watched her hold her infant son in one arm while the other hand held her best friend's hand.

We laughed as one of our friends showed up in a coconut shell bra and grass skirt that was very becoming to him and we were all grateful to see one another and tell stories about April. One of April's best friends, Val, remarked about how heartbreaking it was to know that we were all probably going to be seeing one another again soon.

I can't even begin to describe the grief etched on her parents faces - watching a daughter they loved begin to weaken and knowing that in this unfair, cruel world, she was going to die before them. We listened to her dad break down as he described how they had to have this party because it was April's last request and hugged him, wishing we could do more.  We watched her sister play with her little boy, and wished that he was able to grow up with his Aunt April looking out for him.

I can't begin to describe how helpless I felt, asking if there was anything, ANYTHING I could do to help and knowing that the one thing everyone wanted most was beyond my ability to help.

I can't begin to describe the bittersweet mingling of grief and love that everyone at the party felt.  I heard people that used to work with April talk about how lost they've been without her.  How she was always so organized and knew where everything was.  Friends shared stories about her.  Marcus reminisced about the week they were co-counselors and got stuck with the boys that would not shower.

I can't begin to describe what a beautiful party it was.  We had lots of babies around us, good food to share.  There were fireworks and lots of laughter - tears too - but the party really was a celebration of April's life and what she had meant to all of us.

We made food to bring - how could we not?  But the entire time I was trying to figure out what we could bring, I kept thinking how screwed up it was that I was bringing something to a party to say goodbye forever to a friend.  I mean - what the hell do you bring to that?

April has always told us that she loved the way we experimented with food.  Marcus visited her Friday, bringing homemade sourdough bread and elderberry jelly we had canned that week.  Marcus explained why the jelly was named 'Monty Python' jelly and she laughed and told Marcus that she loved it when we got inventive in the kitchen.  So we made a grilled corn salsa and peach brown butter bars - both are foods that celebrate the bounty of summer and are a little different, without being strange.

Sitting there in that bedroom with her was such a painful experience - seeing how yellow she'd become in two days.  Looking over at the pictures of her on her parent's desk - pictures of her when she graduated from high school, pictures of her looking radiant on her wedding day - times when everyone, including her, thought she had a lifetime in front of her.

There were moments of laughter as well.  When we came back later that evening, she whispered that if we didn't mind, she was keeping the bread we had brought and we both laughed and told her the bread was all hers.  We spent some more time with her and then we both kissed her goodbye and Marcus told her that we loved her.  She had been struggling that day to stay awake with limited success but a brief moment of lucidity came over her and she looked at us and told us she loved us too.  We left and cried all the way home.

The last update we heard was that April was mostly unconscious but seemed to be resting comfortably.  So we wait - waiting for the news that we know is going to come.  News that you'd think would be a relief but no one wants to hear. 

We love you April.  The world is a much better place because we had you as long as we did and it will be a much poorer place without you.

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Marcus and I were talking with April's mom Sunday afternoon before the party and she mentioned that April had always loved cherry pie so when she was at Kroger's getting food, she tried to get her something that might get her to eat.  She picked up a cherry coffeecake but like most grocery store baked goods, they're always a lot prettier than they taste.  I knew at that moment, exactly what we were going to do.

As soon as the party was over and we had helped clean up, we let her parents know that we'd be back in a little bit and we drove as fast as we could to the closest grocery store.  We ran in, got our supplies and headed home.  Our kitchen was a mess - full of dirty dishes from cooking food for the party and we had boxes of fruit and tomatoes everywhere that we had been planning to can that day.

Normally, we'd make our own pie crust but in a 90 degree kitchen with no counter space to find, that was not going to happen in a speedy manner.  So we bought pie crust at the store, along with puff pastry.  We did have several bags of frozen cherries we'd been hoarding away since last summer so we combined them with a jar of homemade pie filling we had.

Were these pies pretty?  No - we didn't have time to let them cool before drizzling icing on them.  We raced back to her house and when we got there, I realized that we both looked like deranged bakers - I had flour prints all over my black top and Marcus had managed to splash cherry filling on his ear.

We came in and Mac was feeding her but it was obvious that she was struggling to eat.  After she had rested for a bit, she whispered to him that she wanted to try the pie.  I held the plate while Mac fed her.  Did April eat them because she was really hungry or did she eat them because she knew it would make us feel better?  I have no idea - April's the type of person who would have eaten them even if they had tasted awful.  All I know is that we have never felt more privileged in our lives to cook for someone. 

My Mom later told me what a sweet thing it was that we did.  I explained to her that it was the very least thing we could do - how blessed we were to be able to do it.  Those aren't just pretty words I said - words to show off and prove how humble and giving I am.  I have never in my life cooked something for someone and had it mean so much to me.  I know Marcus feels the same way.  I never want to have to repeat that experience and if there was some way to have warded off the circumstances, we would have done just about anything to do so.  But circumstances were beyond our control.  I'm grateful we could do this one thing.

I know that for the rest of my life, whenever Marcus or I eat a cherry pie, we're going to think of April.  And while we may cry, we'll both be smiling through our tears.

Quick Cherry Turnovers and Quick Cherry Pie

1 can cherry pie filling - try to get a good one so it isn't sickly sweet.
3/4 cup frozen sweet cherries
3/4 cup frozen sour cherries
Sugar - I can't give you a precise amount.  Just add it until the sauce is a little sweeter than you'd like it to be because you want it to soak into and sweeten the cherries a bit.
1/4 cup flour, sifted into mixture and stirred.

Combine all of the above in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until sugar and flour are completely incorporated into the mixture and the filling is heated all the way through.

To make turnovers:
Take one package of puff pastry and thaw one piece.  Cut into four squares.  Spoon a few cherries onto each piece(don't overfill) and fold the pastry over until it's a triangle.  Brush a little beaten egg on the edges and crimp together.  Spread a piece of parchment paper over a baking sheet or pan and place the turnovers on it so they're not touching.  Brush the turnovers with the beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until turnovers are puffed and turning golden.

To make pies:
Take the circle of pie crust and cut it in half.  Cut each half in half again.  Spoon pie filling onto each piece and dab a little beaten egg on the edges.  Fold the dough over to form a triangle and crimp the edges shut.  Brush with beaten egg and cut a couple of slits in the top of each pie.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until pies are beginning to turn a golden brown color.  Mix 1/4 powdered sugar with as little milk as possible to turn it into a thick liquid.  When pies are done, wait until they cool and drizzle icing over with a spoon. 

Just a note - I wrote this post last night.  We found out earlier today that April passed away in her sleep this morning.  Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers.  

Drowning in Peaches - what a wonderful problem to have!

There is nothing in the world that screams summer to me more than a peach.  The way it smells, the way it tastes, the luscious texture, the overabundance when they're in season.  A few years ago, Marcusand I decided that we were going to try to buy all of our fruit locally that year.  We had been buying almost all of our vegetables locally for several years and we wanted to take it to the next level.  Of course, that would be the year that a late freeze in April, after several unseasonably hot weeks, killed off all of our plans for fruit that year.  We went to ridiculous efforts to save our strawberries that involved wrapping our beds in plastic and putting lights out to keep it warm enough not to freeze.  But local farmers around here couldn't do that and the 23 degree nights devastated farmers all over the southeast.  That summer was a lean year on the fruit front.  We had our miracle strawberries and we had melons but that was it.  Without peaches, the summer just didn't seem the same.  So every year since, we've gorged ourselves silly on local peaches.  I like yellow peaches best but any local peach will taste so much better than peaches trekked in from hundred of miles away.  

I always buy too many peaches and end up with some that are going a little soft around the edges.  This cake is a great way to use them up.  I really loved this recipe.  It's a very light, eggy, sweet cornbread with a deliciously buttery peach layer on top.  Next time I make it, I'm going to wedge in even more peaches - this cake can handle it.

Peach and Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake
Adapted from Martha Stewart

11 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 medium ripe peaches (about 1 1/4 pounds), peeled, pitted, and cut into 3/4-inch wedges
1 cup coarse yellow cornmeal or polenta
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt three tablespoons of butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Make sure to swirl butter up on sides so that they're coated.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar evenly over bottom of skillet.  Sugar will start to bubble and turn a golden-brown color - this will take about three minutes.

Arrange peaches in a circle around the edges of the skillet.  Arrange the rest of the peach wedges in the center.  Reduce heat to low and cook until the peaches are soft and the juices are bubbling.  This will take around ten minutes.  Remove from heat.

Whisk cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.  Using a mixer on high speed beat the remaining stick of butter and the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar until mixture is fluffy and pale.  This will take about three minutes.  Reduce speed to medium and add eggs, one at a time allowing each egg to be fully incorporated before adding the other.  Scrape down the sides of bowl and add the vanilla and cream.  Reduce speed to low and add half the cornmeal mixture.  Scrap down sides and add the rest of the cornmeal mixture and mix thoroughly.

Drop large spoonfuls of batter over the peaches and spread the batter evenly over them using a spatula.  Bake until golden brown and a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.  This will be 20 to 22 minutes.  In my oven, it took 25 minutes.  Place skillet on a wire rack for ten minutes and then run a knife around the edges of the cake.  Do the next movement quickly - Invert cake onto a large plate or cutting board and tap the bottom of the skillet to release the peaches.  Carefully remove skillet - you may need to reposition the peaches on the top.  Let cool slightly and serve.

Click here for a printable recipe!

This is my entry for week two of Summerfest.  Join in the fun!

Barbecued Raspberry-Hoisin Chicken - Finger licking good!

Raspberries are my favorite fruit in the whole world.  As a girl growing up in Wisconsin, we had a patch of wild ones in the back yard and come raspberry season, I stuffed myself with abandon.  My love affair with the fruit has not abated.  I was almost reduced to tears this year when my fall bearing raspberry order got cancelled.  There are no places close by where you can pick them and raspberries have such a short shelf life that it's best to buy them locally and use them up in the next day or two.  I was able to pick up some raspberries from a farmer's market but I can't wait until we have our own to pick.  I'll be able to go out to the backyard and graze for breakfast.  If you have a lot of berries, they do freeze well.  In fact, if you want to get the most juice out of them, freezing them helps you out.

There are thousands of delectable sounding recipes out there for raspberries, but the majority of them seem to be focused on baking.  Baking is an admirable end for a raspberry but there's only so many miles I can face on my rowing machine in an effort to fit into my clothes so I wanted to find another way to use them. 

It's been gorgeous here - in the low 80s which is unheard of in July.  It should be at least 90 with the humidity high enough to make my hair resemble a bad junior high perm.  We're taking advantage of the cool temps while we can and grilling seems so right when the evening are as lovely as they are.  I've always loved Eating Well magazine.  It seems to really place an emphasis on using seasonal produce and the recipes usually don't contain too many processed ingredients.  I glanced through some old issues and found a recipe for an asian-style marinade.

The recipe suggests that you use boneless chicken thighs and after making it, I'd have to agree.  The level of sugar in the sauce (from the raspberries and hoisin sauce) is too high to allow for long periods of grilling.  We're trying to eat down the contents of our freezer so I used a whole chicken instead and cut up one of the breasts to make chicken tenders.  It was still very tasty but very finicky on the grill because of the length of time it took.  It was prone to getting too brown.  The chicken tenders were done quickly but I think using the thighs would be a better option because the chicken would cook quickly enough not to burn but stay juicy.

If berry seeds drive you to distraction, make sure to use frozen berries and put them through a sieve to strain the seeds out.  I'd probably use a little more than a cup as well.  

Make sure to check the ingredients in your hoisin sauce.  I'm trying to cut out all artificial colors and what do you know, there it was lurking in our hoisin sauce.  Next time I buy it, I'll be on the lookout for a different brand.

Barbecued Raspberry-Hoisin Chicken
Adapted from Eating Well

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
3/4 cup hoisin sauce3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Pinch of crushed red pepper
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed, each cut into 3 crosswise strips

Place the raspberries in the blender.

If they're frozen, let them defrost a bit in there.  Add your hoisin sauce.  If you like, you can call it hoser sauce like we do.  Because we're twelve.

Get your choppables ready.

Chop your garlic, orange zest and ginger.  Try to ignore your husband offering you tips on how to improve your chopping techniques.  It's all going to end up in the blender anyway.

Add the rice vinegar, garlic, orange zest, ginger, pepper and red pepper to the raspberries and hoisin sauce in a blender or food processor. 

 

Blend until smooth.  Set 1/4 cup aside to use as a dipping sauce. Transfer the rest of the sauce to a ziploc bag and add chicken.  Make sure the chicken is coated.  Lick the spatula.

 

Let that marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.  We marinated ours for six hours.

Heat your grill up to a medium heat.  Remove the chicken from marinade and thread onto four skewers(if you're using boneless thighs), distributing as evenly as possible.  Put the skewers on the grill.  You need to keep a close eye on these on the grill to make sure they don't burn.  

If you notice them getting too brown, pull them over to a cooler part of the grill.  They should take about 4-5 minutes a side.  You can always cut into one to see if it's done.  We use a thermometer, especially when we grill chicken that isn't boneless but you can also grill until you notice the chicken is firm to the touch.  This is something that takes a little practice.

Serve chicken with dipping sauce on the side.  Try not to gross out your loved ones by licking your fingers too enthusiastically.

We really enjoyed this chicken.  The ginger gives it a nice kick and the fruitiness is perfect for a summer evening.  I served it with some leftover rice I tried to jazz up (and I failed miserably at this) and sauteed some grated summer squash and onion with tamari.  The leftovers re-heated beautifully for lunch today. 

I think this is a great way to use raspberries, although there was also a delectable raspberry tart in the same issue that's calling my name.  I think my rowing machine is going to get a work out this summer.

For a printable recipe, click here

Two sticks of butter in one 8X8 pan = heaven!

When I read the recipe for Cherry Brown Butter Bars by Deb at Smitten Kitchen, I fell in love with her blog all over again.  Deb posts some of the most delicious recipes, especially when it comes to baked goods. Last month, a new Earthfare opened near us and they had a fantastic special on organic cherries.  Since our local cherry harvest was so poor, Marcus and I treated ourselves and bought a few pounds to snack on. Brown butter is very trendy right now but it's a trend that I love. The combination of brown butter and cherries?  There was no way I could not make this recipe.

It certainly lived up to its billing. The shortbread crust combines winningly with the egg-y custard brown butter layer.  Deb compares it to a clafouti and the comparison is spot on.  I've made it three four times now and the after the third batch,  I was running low on cherries.  As much as it pains me to say it, the recipe is almost too rich (or at least it is when you're making four pans of it) and the fruit helps to cut through and lighten it a little.  So I wondered how I would taste with sliced peaches instead.  Peaches are in season here and I thought I could add more fruit if I used peaches instead - the cherries are a bit difficult to split between bars.  So I added a thin layer of peaches for the second batch of bars and I liked these even better than the cherries.  I tried thick slices of peaches and several thin layers of peaches.  I think it's really a matter of personal preference because both taste great to me and to my tasters.

Just a warning - watch the butter carefully. It will start to brown in a matter of seconds and you don't want it to burn.

Peach Brown Butter Bars

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Crust:

7 tablespoons butter, melted

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour

Pinch of salt

Filling:

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

pinch of salt

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup butter (equal to one stick)

4 Peaches, peeled and sliced

To make Crust:

 Preheat over to 375°F. Deb has instructions at her site for faking a tart pan.  I used a nonstick cake pan and although I made the first batch using parchment, the other three I didn't bother using it.  Make sure to grease your pan using a little butter.  Using a rubber spatula or fork, mix the melted butter,vanilla and sugar in a bowl.  Then add the flour and salt.  Stir until all of the flour is mixed into the butter and transfer the dough to your 8X8 pan.  Using your fingertips, press the dough so that it's distributed evenly across the bottom of the pan. 

Bake the crust until golden. This takes me about 15 minutes but Deb's instructions say 18 minutes.  Just keep an eye on it.You don't want it too done because you're going to bake it again.  Put pan on a rack and cool slightly.  Keep the oven at 375°F.

Make the filling: 

Melt the butter in a heavy small saucepan over medium heat.  You want to cook it until it's a deep brown.  One thing I noticed is that the milk solids will cook faster than the butter.  I cooked it until those were a dark brown and then poured it into a ramekin to cool.  This took about five minutes.

Whisk eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla in a bowl to blend.  Add flour and whisk until smooth.  Add a small amount of brown butter and whisk.  Gradually add the rest of the butter and whisk until smooth and well blended. 

Arrange peach slices on crust.  If using thick slices, arrange like I have in picture.

  

 

If using thin slices, arrange a layer and then alternate another layer in a criss-cross fashion. Pour brown butter mixture carefully over the fruit.

 Bake bars until filling is golden and puffed.  This took around 40 minutes for me.  Cool bars completely on rack.  Cut into squares and serve.  If made more than a day ahead, store in fridge.

The next time I make these, I think I'm going to cut the peaches into thin slices and do about three layers, all criss-crossed over the previous layer of peaches.  I would have tried this again so I could have gotten pictures of it but there's only so many sticks of butter I can eat in a single week.  My friends all love them but have made me promise not to bring them any more of these because they can't say no to them.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a rowing machine!

Route 69 Cherry Limeade

My husband thinks I have a very annoying habit.  When it's hot out, one of my favorite things to drink is a Route 44 Cherry Limeade from Sonic.  It just screams summer to me.  I've noticed though that they aren't nearly as good as they used to be.  They also always forget to put cherries in it which to me, is half the fun of the whole thing. But liking Cherry Limeades is not the annoying habit that irritates my husband.  Along with mispronouncing Crappie and calling a bobber a float, whenever he goes to order a Cherry Limeade for me, I make sure to tell him I want a Route 69 Cherry Limeade.  I'm hoping that one day, just because I've put this idea in his head, he'll head to Sonic and instead of ordering a Route 44 Cherry Limeade, he'll pull up to the drive-in speaker box and ask for a Route 69 Cherry Limeade.  And then die a little death of shame.

So far, he hasn't fallen for it.  So I figured a little more indoctrination is necessary.  Since Sonic seems to be slipping in the quality department, I wanted to create my own version of the drink.  It will also help me use up the giant bag of un-pitted sour cherries I have in my freezer.  And if you're going to call it a Route 69 Cherry Limeade, you might as well throw a little liquor in it.  Here's the recipe:

Route 69 Cherry Limeade:

First take 2 cups of sour cherries and 1/2 cup of sugar.  Mash them up a bit and simmer with a lid over medium low for about an hour.  Strain out the bits and save the syrup.  We froze the extra to use later.

Use a 16 oz glass.  Take 2T cherry syrup.  Add 2 T fresh lime juice.  Add 1 shot vodka or to taste.  Fill glass 3/4 full with soda water and add ice.  Garnish with a slice of lime and as many cherries as you would like!

Enjoy!  And don't blame me if you slip up at the drive-thru!

One Local Summer - Week Four

This week has been full of OLS meals!  On Monday, I made a delicious frittata with local eggs, ham, zucchini, potatoes and onions.  In fact, even the mozzarella we subbed in for the cheddar was local because we made it from Cruze Farm milk!  Tuesday, we made tortillas using local lard and filled them with local chicken and onions.  Only the cheese wasn't local.  We served them with homemade salsa made from local ingredients.  Wednesday was tomato toast made with homemade bread, local garlic and tomatoes from our back yard.  On Thursday, we made one of my favorite grilled meals, Vietnamese Chicken, made with local chicken and grilled local zucchini and onions.  We finished the night off with a cherry crisp made from frozen local cherries. We made a simple pasta sauce out of local zucchini, tomatoes and garlic on Friday and served that with a grated beet salad made from beets from our friends' yard.  On Saturday, we started the day off with local raspberries, blueberries and blackberries and had that with a scone from VG's Bakery.  We had a wonderful sandwich for dinner made with our homemade local milk mozzarella, leftover grilled zucchini and onions, homemade basil mayo and ciabatta rolls from VG's bakery.

However, today was our "official" OLS meal and everything we ate today was local, except for some feta cheese and flour.  We started the morning out with local eggs scrambled with feta and local garlic scapes.  For lunch we had local beet greens and swiss chard sauteed with local bacon and served that with steamed local new potatoes with local butter and dill.  Tonight for dinner, we had a pizza with local potatoes and leeks and local goat cheese.  I even made a sourdough crust so we didn't have to use yeast in our pizza crust!  For dessert, we had homemade peach granita we made from local peaches.  I had wanted to make sorbet but all the recipes I found contained lemon juice.  Instead, we made peach granita from David Lebovitz's book, Perfect Scoop. I do have an ice cream maker but the beauty of this dish is that you don't need one to make this.  I had never had granita and I had visions of it being an icy mess.  I'm an idiot because this is good stuff.  I love that it doesn't have a lot of sugar and it was perfect for the 93 degree day we had today.

Peach Granita:

6 ripe peaches, peeled
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 cup sugar

Slice peaches and cut into small chunks.  Cook with 1 cup water in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Cook until cooked through which is about ten minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in sugar and let cool.  When cool, place in blender with remaining 1/3 cup water and blend until smooth.  

Pour the mixture into a shallow non-reactive pan in the freezer. Check after 30 minutes. As the mixture begins to freeze, use a fork to scrape the frozen puree that froze around the edges into the center. Return to freezer.

Check every 30 minutes, scraping each time.  David says it usually takes 2 hours but when we went to bed last night, it still wasn't frozen enough and it had been 3.5 hours.  So we some for breakfast!  If it gets too hard, just leave it out for a bit.

One Local Summer - Week Three

We have been roasting here in East Tennessee.  It's been over 90 degrees the past few days with high humidity.  Combine that with a kitchen that has no air conditioning (or walls, cabinets and ceiling but that's a story for another day!) and cooking is the last thing you want to do.  We've been grilling out a lot and doubling up recipes so we have lots of leftovers.  Later this week I'll post recipes for roasted green beans and an amazing recipe for a potato, squash and ham frittata.  I thought I didn't like frittatas but luckily, I was wrong.  My favorite recipe this week comes from one of my fail safe cookbooks,A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop.  It was very easy to make and it was delicious hot and cold.  It's also deceptively filling.  The only non-local ingredient was the lime juice and the ginger, which although it wasn't local, was still reasonably close - it's from Alabama.  This soup served with grilled chicken thighs from Laurel Creek Farms was my "official" One Local Summer meal.  We finished it off with a peach cobbler that was completely local except for the flour. We sweetened it with local honey and homemade butter from local cream.  The ice cream was made with local honey and local milk and cream.

Chilled Curried Yellow Squash Soup with Cilantro-Lime Puree

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds yellow summer squash, chopped (about 5 small squash)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced ginger root
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons curry powder
6 cups vegetable broth
1 medium russet potato (about 8 ounces), peeled and diced
Salt
1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Heat 2 T oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering.  Add the squash and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes.  Stir in the ginger, garlic, and curry powder and cook just until fragrant, about one minute.  Add the broth, potato, and salt to taste and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the potato is very tender, about 25 minutes.  Cool slightly, purée the soup in batches until very smooth.  Adjust the seasonings.  Transfer to an airtight container and chill thoroughly.  When ready to serve, purée the cilantro, lime juice, and remaining 3 T oil in a blender until smooth.  Salt to taste.  Taste the chilled soup and adjust seasonings as necessary.  Ladle soup into small bowls.  Drizzle some cilantro purée over each bowl and serve.  Serves six to eight.

One Local Summer - Week One

I apologize for the lack of posting - one of our furbabies died a couple of weeks ago after a short but serious illness.  Between running around to our local and university vet, keeping his meds and six feeding times straight, sleepless nights and getting all the furbaby love we could pack in, it's been a long six weeks.  Little Man was one of two kittens that Marcus and I hand raised and we've always joked that we'll always consider them our first born kids - just slightly furrier.  He was our baby and a huge part of our lives and his time on this earth was just too short. 

While at the Market Square Farmer's Market Saturday morning, Marcus and I were reminded that local eating can sometimes be a disappointment.  We tend to get a lot of our fruit from the Fruit and Berry Patch.  They're not organic producers but they try to limit the amount of chemicals they use, especially since they're a Pick Your Own kind of place.  Last summer, we discovered the wonders of their cherries - both sweet and sour pie cherries.  I dried a decent amount of sweet cherries last year because I'm not a fan of raisins and these are a great substitute.  I also fell in love with pie cherries.  They're not quite as much fun to pick because they're not as tasty straight off the tree but they're amazing to cook with.  We managed to make the pitting more enjoyable once we found a really good cherry pitter and we concocted the Cherry Pitter Cocktail which involves sour cherry juice, limeade and vodka.  The weather this year has not been kind to the early fruits.  We had a lack of rain and then got all of our rain all at once which has caused a lot of farmer's strawberries and cherries to rot.  So after falling in love with cherries last year, I'll have to try to get by on the few bags we have left in our freezer.  Cherries from the grocery store don't hold a candle to them and you can't find fresh pie cherries in the store because they're so delicate.  We did make several cherry crisps this week - I'll post the recipe for the crisp later on this month.  It's easy to make a large batch of crisp topping and keep it in the freezer so you can make fruit crisps whenever you want.  We also made up some cherry sorbet that we also made last year.  Another dessert that we've made a lot of is Strawberry Shortcake.  Just mix up a batch of biscuits (I'll have to get Marcus to post a tutorial - the boy can make a biscuit to rival anyone's family recipe), slice some strawberries and top with whipped cream.  Thanks goodness we haven't had a late frost so the other fruits look to be doing ok - just pray for enough rain at the right time!

We've been eating a lot of breakfasts involving swiss chard.  My brother brought back eight pounds of it from my parents and we're trying to eat as much as we can before freezing it.  We usually add it to scrambled eggs that are topped with Locust Grove cheese.  Bacon is from Laurel Creek farms and bread is made from non-local flour but local sourdough and topped with local, homemade butter and jam made from local cherries or homegrown strawberries.  Lunch is usually leftovers or a salad made from local lettuce and greens, local hard-boiled eggs and local bacon.  One meal we've made several times is Pasta with Peas and Cream.  The pasta and cheese isn't local but everything else is and it is heavenly.  Fridays are pizza nights here so we made crust using our sourdough starter, homemade frozen pizza sauce made with our own tomatoes and topped with our favorite toppings this time of year, garlic scapes and caramelized onions.  We also made up a stir-fry using local ground pork, local broccoli, local bok choy and the first garlic of the season.

Our entirely local meal tonight was broiled pork neck-bones from River Ridge Farms, salt boiled new potatoes from Good Earth Farms and steamed snap peas from our garden.  Butter to top the veggies was made from Cruze Farm Milk.  Dessert is sliced strawberries.

One Local Summer - week two

I love this time of the year.  Eating locally is so easy and we often find that we've eaten a meal that's entirely local without even thinking about it.  We had an abundance of shelling peas in our garden as well as more radishes.  Most of our spring crops are done so we've spent most of the time this week planting more tomatoes, hot and sweet peppers.

One of my favorite spring treats is from a recipe in Local Flavors.  Combine unsalted butter with diced radishes.  Spread on bread and sprinkle with sea salt.  This is so good!  We've had several of these sandwiches this past week.  We've also made Peas with pasta and cream a couple of times.  One night we made a ground pork stir fry with snowpeas, side shoots of broccoli and garlic scapes, all from our garden.  I made goat cheese from local goat milk and some butter from the cream we skimmed off the top of our Cruze Farm milk.

Today was one of those days where we realized we had eaten completely local without even trying.  We split a white chocolate and cherry scone from VG's Bakery.  We ate this with a smoothie made from homegrown frozen strawberries, yogurt and honey.  Only the yogurt wasn't local.  I plan to try my hand  making yogurt later this summer.

Lunch was sauteed spinach from A Place from the Heart Farm with a hamburger patty.  The ground beef was from Laurel Creek Farm.  It was pretty hot out today so we had a snack of homemade cherry sorbet.  Supper tonight was a grilled sirloin steak from Laurel Creek Farm and grilled marinated summer squash from A Place from the Heart Farm.  The only nonlocal ingredients were the olive oil and red wine vinegar in the marinade - the herbs and garlic were from our garden.  An hour ago, we split the first ripe peach of the year from The Fruit and Berry Patch.

Tomorrow we're on our way to check out our reception area for our wedding.  Instead of fast food, we're taking sandwiches, cherries and a peach.  The first sandwich will be made with bread from VG's Bakery, leftover grilled squash and my homemade goat cheese.  The other sandwich will be store bought cream cheese mixed with chives and green garlic and topped with local cucumbers.  Mickey D's cant touch that!

Cherries up the wazoo!

This past week, we've picked over 20 pounds of cherries.  Picking them in the easy part.  I never remember in my zeal for picking them that we will have to process all of them which is not quite as much fun.  I try very hard not to buy too many specialized gadgets but I will be buying a cherry pitter for next year.  If you don't have a cherry pitter, you can make due with a paper clip that's been bent into a 'S' shape.  Bend the botton curve up a tiny bit and insert it into a cherry at the stem end.  Pie cherries are much easier to pit but do this outside in old clothes.  Once pit, you can freeze the cherries, can them or dry them.  It was so hot this past week that the thought of spending a couple of hours over a hot, steamy stove made me feel faint.  So we froze most of the cherries.  We did dry some of the pie cherries and I really liked how they turned out.  I think they'll be amazing in muffins and recipes this fall.  We use a dehydrator - it gets rather humid here so this is the easiest way to dry stuff for us.  We dried several pie cherries plain and they're tasty.  Very tart but still good.  The other recipe was more like the Craisins you buy in the store.  We're going to pick a few more pounds next week to dry this way.

Cherry 'Craisins'
2 cups pitted pie cherries
1/2 cup sugar

Combine in saucepan and let sit for ten minutes.  Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for one minute.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Strain and dry cherries.

Do NOT throw the leftover cherry juice out.  It makes the most amazing cherry limeades ever - we froze it ice cube trays to use later this summer.  I also plan to experiment with the amounts of sugar.  I think we could use a little bit more in the recipe.

I am now so in love with pie cherries that I'm going to figure out a way to put one in on my city lot.  Cherry juice is so amazingly wonderful but it gets a little pricey when it's made from cherries that are $2 a pound!

We froze the rest for canning later.  I plan on making several different kinds of jams and there's a chutney recipe that looks yummy.

Local Cherry Sorbet

We made this a couple of days ago from local sweet cherries from the Fruit & Berry Patch.  It's been miserably hot here this week so this has tasted especially good.  I got this recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.  It's one of my favorite books.

Cherry Sorbet

2 heaping cups pitted sweet cherries
3/4 cup sugar (or honey to taste)
2/3 cup water

Combine sugar and water over low heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved completely.  Let cool.  Combine with cherries in a blender and blend until smooth.  Pour into ice cream maker and freeze as directed.