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A Fruit Cobbler Creating Quite a Buzz

Posted March 2nd, 2012 in In the Kitchen, Posts

Food Buzz is a site that I like to follow. They select 9 photos each day and I look forward to perusing the selections for dinner ideas, fruit related recipes and such. Today I stumbled onto a “Texas Cobbler” from “Scarletta Bakes”. Apparently she has been nominated for a “Homie” award for food photography from the Kitchn. I can see why, her photos are delicious! She made this decadent fruit cobbler adapted from Cook’s Country. I have been hungry for a great cobbler recipe for Oregon Canned Blackberries. This one definitely made the cut. You don’t even want to know the Weight Watcher points on this one. If I didn’t know better I would think it was a Paula Dean recipe there is so much butter and sugar in it. But it doesn’t seem heavy. It is crispy and moist. Scarletta used some very cute lemon plums. This is a variety I have not tried but will be on the lookout for. The blackberries worked great and this recipe was really easy. Before I could even write this post I spooned some warm cobbler into a lovely dish with a small quenelle of coconut milk vanilla bean ice cream and indulged myself. The lemon sugar did not disappoint. If you serve this to your friends they will be buzzing about it the next day…and the day after that.

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What’s Better than Cherries and Chocolate?

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Posted February 27th, 2012 in Healthy Eating, Healthy Tips, In the Kitchen, Posts

Some of the latest research on both of these foods has demonstrated how good they are for us. Of course we are talking about SMALL amounts of good dark chocolate, not the whole 1 lb. bag of peanut M&M’s! And everything in moderation is a good rule of thumb.

Coffee has also had some good food press and once again we have to talk about the whole moderation thing. I don’t think anyone would recommend the 8-10 cups of coffee I typically drink in a day. But I rationalize that I don’t have any trouble sleeping since the minute I sit down at night I am pretty much asleep and am pretty healthy all things considered. However, the fact that I talk pretty fast and move even faster most of the time could be considered annoying by those close to me.

Inspired by a coffee house drink, my friend Kitty who I met in a cooking class at the local Natural Foods Coop, had a dream about Mocha Cherry Muffins. She suggested I make them with an all natural dark chocolate brownie mix using the pumpkin or yogurt variation so as to reduce the fat, then add some coffee and dark sweet cherries. It sounded pretty good to me so I gave it a try. These are REALLY GOOD! I think she needs a notepad and paper by her bed. She might have a cook book in her dreams.

But back to the whole moderation thing….although these are good for you and low fat, please don’t eat the whole batch in one sitting. Take them to work or share with your neighbors. They will thank you and you will thank me.

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It’s February and Cherry Recipes are HOT HOT HOT!

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Posted February 17th, 2012 in Desserts, Posts, Recipe

I was so lucky recently to make the blog-acquaintance of Claudia at “What’s Cookin Italian Style“. Her photography is beautiful and her recipes are delightful and not terribly complicated. She has made a couple of lovely recipes for Valentines Day and I completely missed the boat. But in my defense I kind of object to the “Hallmark Holiday” nature of Valentine’s Day and I think we should offer loving acts of service to those we love any time we feel like it or they need it. Cooking falls into that category for me.

In February it is traditional to eat cherries in honor of George Washington and the infamous Cherry tree debacle. It doesn’t hurt that cherries are red so they fit the whole Valentine’s Day theme. In most of the world cherries ripen on the tree in SUMMER!! SO if you want to bake your sweetie a cherry anything you have to do it with canned. We admit to bias here but we think that is a plus in some recipes and this one that Claudia created falls into that category. This amazing Heart Brownie with Dark Cherry Rum Jubilee is not to be overlooked. There is really nothing like a homemade brownie and this one is an excellent version. It is dark, rich and delicious. The rum, amaretto and cherry combination just deepens the flavor of the chocolate and makes for an elegant dessert fit for romance.

Plan something special and make this dessert. You are guaranteed to make someone happy.

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Traveling is Good for the Soul and the Food is Good Too!

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Posted February 10th, 2012 in News in Produce, Posts

I just visited one of the places on my bucket list and it was truly amazing. Vietnam is a magical place. Many people of my generation have mixed emotions about this country in Southeast Asia but I found it pretty wonderful. The best part about traveling in the third world is how disconnected you are from all your gadgetry. I really needed to be somewhere I could not be found and it met that expectation perfectly. In addition the countryside is beautiful, the food is excellent, fresh and healthy, the people are friendly and it is CHEAP!

One of the best things about my trip was traveling with my niece, Leah. She is an English teacher in Taiwan and has been there for two years. She is a seasoned traveler in Asia so I did not have to be in charge. She is adventurous and game; from surfing lessons to sliding down sand dunes at daybreak with a beautiful sunrise, to photographing beautiful food, to trying a dozen different fruits for the first time, we were great traveling companions.

Her friend Angela is also an English teacher in Taiwan. She hosted us in her lovely apartment, made us the best “white coffee” we had anywhere and took us tooling around, 3 on a scooter.

The fruit is quite amazing. Most of it I had only seen on episodes of “Chopped” on the food network, usually followed by an exclamation of “what do I do with this???”. We tried mangosteen, rambutan, dragon fruit in two varieties, star fruit, passion fruit, green oranges, a custard apple, jack fruit in fresh and dried form and the very stinky durian but only in ice cream and candy. The ice cream was interesting and even kind of good as long as we ate it side by side with coconut and chili chocolate. The candy was definitely a taste we did not acquire.

My favorite was dragon fruit and I had the red, the white and the juice. It is not very sweet, more vegetable than fruit and tastes a lot like jicama. It is grown in orchards like our blueberries but the plant looks like a cactus and the fruit is big like a grapefruit and dark pink. Inside it is usually white with black specs like black sesame seeds. The seeds have a great texture and don’t get stuck in your teeth.

I could have stayed at least another week basking in the warm sun, swimming in the warm water and enjoying the lovely bahn mi sandwiches and pho soup with fresh herbs. Lucky for me I live a few blocks from the “Little Saigon” section of Sacramento where I will be exploring soon. Unfortunately there is no wide expansive and deserted beach or cute Aussie surf instructor either. That is why we need to take vacations.

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Easy Cherry Brulee-Good for you too!

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Posted February 3rd, 2012 in Posts, Tips and Tricks

It’s onlbruary so New Year’s Resolutions are still in play. I have a favorite dessert I eat all the time, healthy, quick, low fat, high protein. I was watching TV the other night eating my favorite dessert and it dawned on me that this could be fancy enough for company with just a few quick tweaks. So today I am just going to share this brilliant moment with you.

3 cups fat free Greek Yogurt

1 can Oregon Fruit Dark Sweet Cherries, drained syrup reserved

3 TBS slivered toasted almonds

Raw sugar

Put about 6 cherries in the bottom of 4 glass dessert dishes. Mix the yogurt with they syrup until the sweetness is to your liking, the color is a lovely shade of pink but it is still thick.

Spoon evenly over the cherries and smooth the top. Sprinkle the almonds dividing evenly amongst the four dishes. Top with Raw sugar to cover the almonds. If you have a torch, just torch the sugar until you have a crispy top, careful not to burn the sugar. It works fast. If you don’t have a torch you should get one as they are really fun. But if you don’t just put them under the broiler for a very few minutes watching carefully. DELICIOUS!!! and no guilt!