Blueberry Cherry Crumb Pie

It's a cool and rainy day here in the Lou.  Just the kind of day to crack open the windows and bake a pie.

The children sneak outside and squeal in delight as they ride their bikes up and down the streets splashing through the fresh puddles.  

The sun threatens to peek out from behind a cloud and the birds take advantage of the little bit of warmth to dry their wings.

Meanwhile, I'm snuggled up inside taking in the warm scents of the blueberries and cherries blended together in a flaky pie crust.

Looking forward to spending the afternoon with good friends and wine.

Pondering the thought that fall is so near yet so far away.

Blueberry Cherry Crumb Pie

Yield - One 9-inch pie (8 servings)

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Ingredients:

• 1 deep dish pie crust
• 1 (21-ounce) can blueberry pie filling
• 1 (15-ounce) can Oregon pitted dark sweet cherries in heavy syrup, drained
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/4 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons coconut
• 2 tablespoons buttter

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 425.  Place cookie sheet on oven rack.
2. In medium bowl, stir together pie filling, cherries, and flour.  Spoon into pie crust.  In small bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, coconut, and butter until crumbly.  Sprinkle over filling.
3. Bake on cookie sheet 35 to 45 minutes or until filling is bubbly.

Adapted from Pilsbury

Colorado Wildfires Bake Sale

Hello lovelies!!! 

I have some very important news to share with you today.  Erin from Dinner, Dishes, and Desserts has organized an online bake sale which is being held on July 8th. and 9th.  This amazing event will help the victims of the devastating Colorado wildfires.  Colorado has suffered from more than one very destructive fire so far this summer.  The High Park Fire that started on June 9th has destroyed 257 homes, and burned more than 87,000 acres.  It is now fully contained (that does not mean it has actually stopped burning).   On June 23rd, The Waldo Canyon Fire started.  It has destroyed approximately 350 homes, and burned over 18,000 acres.  The Waldo Canyon Fire is currently 55% contained, with more than 3000 people still evacuated from their homes.  Together these fires have cost over $50 million dollars to fight, and the work is not done.  The proceeds from the bake sale will benefit the Colorado Disaster Relief c/o the American Red Cross. 

The heart behind this online bake sale is Erin from the amazing blog Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts.  She shares the most fabulous dinners, dishes, and desserts just as her blog title states.  She most obviously has a huge heart and it is with this huge compassionate heart that she came up with this bake sale to help with her fellow residents of Colorado.

I am very honored that Erin invited me to be a part of this amazing group of talented, wonderful bloggers who are donating their time and their goods to this very worthwhile cause.  (I am donating my Brownie Crackle-Top Cookies).  There are so many delicious treats to choose from.  As well as products from Kerrygold, Green Mountain Coffee and Le Creuset will also be raffled off!  I would also like to send out a big thank you from the bottom of my heart to Kerrygold for their generous offer to donate butter and cheese to those who are baking for this very important event!

In closing, it is from my heart to yours that I ask that you follow the link over to Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts.  Go ahead and steal a sneak peek of what's to be available on July 8th.  And on July 8th. please bid on any number of delectable treats donated from our amazing community of bloggers who always pull together during times of need.

Thank you Erin for organizing this event for the wonderful residents of Colorado!  You rock, girl!!

Brownie Crackle-Top Cookies

I'm off to the lake for a weekend of fun in the sun!  Boating, tubing, skiing, sunning, cooking, drinking and hanging out with great friends.

Before I leave you though I thought I would tease you a bit with these glorious cookies or are they brownies?  They're both!  What!!?  Get out of town!  Shut the front door!

They are soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Did I mention they were chocolate? Yeah, winner winner chicken dinner!

Brownie Crackle-Top Cookies
Yield 70 cookies

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Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon Mexican vanilla
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) confectioners' sugar, for coating cookies

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until evenly mixed. Set aside.
2.  Scrape the melted butter into a smaller bowl with a spatula and add the cocoa powder. Stir until combined and no lumps remain.  Mix vanilla extract with eggs, then whisk into cocoa butter mixture. 
3. Add wet mixture to dry flour mixture and mix thoroughly by hand with a rubber spatula. It may seem as if you need more liquid, but do not add any. Just keep folding and pressing until the mixture comes together. It will eventually reach the consistency of stiff brownie batter. Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes to firm up. 
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with silpat baking liners or parchment paper. (If you do not line the baking sheets, be sure to lightly grease them.) Pour confectioners' powdered sugar into a small bowl. Scoop dough by teaspoons, roll into balls, and drop into powdered sugar, rolling around to cover completely. Place on prepared baking sheets 1-1/2 inches apart. 
5. Bake cookies for 12 to 15 minutes. The cookies will spread, puff a bit, and form cracks. The longer you cook them, the more crispy they will become. Let cool 10 minutes on the cookie sheets before using a spatula to remove to racks and cool completely. Store in a covered container.  

Adapted from About.com

Enjoy your weekend!

xoxo

Ratatouille Pasta

Don't you just love the abundant supply of fresh organic veggies during the summer?  I get excited over the all of fresh peaches, nectarines, plums, mangoes, blonde lifeguards, zucchini, tomatoes...

On this recent trip to the store I purchased zucchini and eggplant with plans for grilling it with tofu.  However, the family was ever so defiant over grilled eggplant and tofu.  The children don't like eggplant and the husband doesn't like tofu.  How could I go about using up these glorious fresh ingredients and make everyone happy at the same time?  Pasta!  Minus tofu.  It seems like it doesn't matter what goes in to pasta it always makes everyone happy.

Know what makes mama happy?

Ooops.  I'm getting distracted.

Ratatouille Pasta
Yield 6 servings

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Ingredients:

• 2 cups diced peeled eggplant
• 2 cups sliced zucchini
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/3 cups uncooked spiral pasta
• 1 cup sliced onion
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tomatoes,  roughly chopped
• 5 stalks fresh oregano, chopped or 1 teaspoon dried
• 1 garlic clove, minced
•  handful of fresh basil, torn
• Dash pepper
• Parmesan Asiago shredded cheese

Instructions:

1. Place eggplant and zucchini in a colander over a plate; sprinkle with salt and toss. Let stand for 30 minutes; rinse and drain well.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, saute the onion and garlic in oil until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the eggplant and zucchini and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, oregano, basil and pepper.  Reduce heat; cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
3. Drain pasta and combine the ingredients in a large serving bowl.
4. Sprinkle with a dash of Parmesan Asiago cheese.  Enjoy hot or cold.

Loosely adapted from Allrecipes.com 

The kids didn't even notice the eggplant and they all gobbled this dish right up!