Veganized Cobbler...don't be scared

To say that dessert in my house is important would be an understatement.

My children LOVE dessert. 

It is often the motivation they need to finish up dinner or complete a chore.

You can't argue with cleaning your room when you can smell something delicious cooking in the oven.

Last night as a treat, and not motivation, I baked peach and blueberry cobbler for the family and as the resident vegetarian member of my family I decided to "veganize" it.

Ingredients for the fruit filling:

5 peaches (sliced)
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 C sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp cinnamon
juice from 1 lemon

Ingredients for the cobbler:

1 C all purpose unbleached flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp Earth Balance
1/2 C almond milk (unsweetened)

*as a preference I use all organic ingredients

To prepare the fruit filling combine, in a skillet, your sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and lemon juice. 

Stir to combine and then top with peaches and blueberries.

Stir the mixture frequently until it boils and the sauce begins to thicken.

While the sauce is thickening prepare your cobbler dough.

In a bowl combine your flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Cut in your Earth Balance.  Then add your milk to form a dough.

By this point your sauce and fruit mixture should be thickened and ready to spoon into an ungreased baking dish.

Man does that fruit look GOOD! 

I contemplated stopping here and just consuming the fruit with some ice cream (non-dairy), but I thought the kids might enjoy the cobbler/biscuit so I proceeded on.

Top the fruit with your cobbler dough.  I found it easiest to make small hand formed biscuit rounds and place those on top of the fruit.

Bake in the over for 25-30 minutes on 400 degrees.

Et voila:

Or if you prefer:

This was fantastic, as witnessed by my exclusive taste test panel

Yep Andrew is wearing a "robe" he was the king last night and of course all kings should have royal vestments.

However I cannot deny that the proof is in the pudding..errr cobbler

We licked our bowls clean.

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Just Peachy!

This weekend was HHHHHOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTT!!!

And I am not exaggerating. 

When you wake up at 6:30 and your windows already have dense condensation on them from the humidity you know things will not be pleasant when you go out.

To alleviate some of that pain I made this:

Peach Sorbet

I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

Ingredients

4 C chopped peaches
1 C sugar

pinch of salt

2 C water

I chopped my peaches and left the skins on

Next you will need to combine the water and sugar in a pan over medium to low heat until the sugar completely dissolves.  Then stir in a pinch of salt.  This creates your simple syrup.

Combine your peaches and simple syrup and blend till smooth.

I did leave a few chunks because I like to have a little something to chew when I have sorbet.

The mixture needs to be refridgerated for at least 2-3 hours (but can be as long as overnight), just follow the directions of your ice cream maker for this.

Pour your ingredients into your ice cream maker and wait (mine took 20 minutes to get to the desired consistency.

Waiting can be the hardest part

Finally we are ready for consumption

Man oh Man!

I wish I could share some of this with you. 

It was fresh, delicious, and peachy. 

I highly recommend whipping some up and sharing with others. 

This has been a delightful treat for the kids and a tad bit better for them with the absence of any dairy.

Day 8 of Operation Declutter My House is seeing these little gems go

We had a small collection of these snap together boxes occupying an armoire.  Now they are gone and our board games, which previously shared the space, have a little room to breath.

Just a quick note if you enjoy reading my blog please consider "following" me. :)

I'll see you tomorrow for WIAW (What I Ate Wednesday) and a terrific apple recipe!!!

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Peach Bread

In my kitchen was this

What is this you ask?

Well it is the left over "juice" from a jar of peaches I canned here.

I thought it would be a great shame to just pour this out when SURELY it could have a purpose

The purpose came to me as I gazed on 3 peaches from my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) that we had not yet consumed.

I thought surely I could make banana bread with peaches and then was born:

Peach Bread

Ingredients

1 1/2 C unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 C sugar
2 peaches pureed
1 peach diced
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 shake nutmeg
1 flax egg (1 Tbsp ground flax meal, 3 Tbsp water)
1/4 C oil

I mix my flax egg first (so it can thicken) and then I combine all the other ingredients (the least amount of dishes to do afterwards the better).

Add the flax egg and mix it to incorporate

Pour into a greased loaf pan

Bake for 50 minutes at 375 degrees and out pops this

While it was still warm I brushed the top with some of the reserve "juice" to give the bread a sheen.

The bread is very mild in flavor, but super moist.

My kids have especially liked this bread sliced and toasted followed up with a smear of jelly (their current favorite is Crofter's Four Fruit)

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I Got Canned

Last year my husband and I decided, for fun, that we would give canning a try.  It seemed daunting and very foreign.  However I had some good source of information (i.e. a good friend who keeps me supplied with apple butter, best around ever...I swear Linda) and a list of items we would need:

Canning Kit
Ball Pint jars
Ball Blue Book of Preserving

Fast forward to this past weekend.

Peaches are in season and it is time to can again.

Last year the bulk of time was spent cleaning and cutting the peaches by hand, this year (a little wiser), we knew there had to be a quicker way to slice these.

So a quick trip to Williams Sonoma and we were the proud owner of:

This little gem works just like an apple slicer (although you do have to be careful and be sure to line it up).

While my husband was washing and cutting everything

I was responsible for the sanitizing of the jars, lids, and rings. 

Not that difficult to do.

We just loaded up our canning pot and made sure water covered the tops of the jars.  You have to boil the jars (and accessories) for 10 minutes.  If you don't want to use a water bath you can put everything in the dishwasher.

Once your 10 minutes is up remove all of the items (make sure to pour out any water in the jars) and put them on a dish towel so they can be packed with your fruit.

We do a raw pack, which is just what is sounds like, you don't do a lot of prep work for the fruit which I find easier.  Your other option is a hot pack, in which you place your fruit in boiling water for 30-60 seconds.  You then dunk in a bowl of ice water to stop the “cooking.”.

Now that the jars are packed you must cover the peaches with a syrup, I prefer extra light so that there isn't too much added sugar.

Extra Light Syrup
5 1/2 C Water
1 C sugar

Combine the two ingredients and simmer until all of the sugar dissolves.

To add the syrup to your jars I HIGHLY recommend a funnel (a lot less mess)

The syrup should come just to the mouth of the jar.

You may have to make several batches of syrup.  For the 27 jars we filled I had to make 4 batches of syrup.

You want to make sure that there aren't any air bubbles in your jars so you need to take a long object (such as a knife) and poke it in several places around the jar (you may see some bubbles rise to the surface).

After checking for bubbles you are ready to put on the lid and rings.

Your must then boil the jars to ensure they seal (which will allow them a nice long shelf life).  For my canning kit I can fit 9 pint jars in the pot. 

Cover the jars with water and boil for 25 minutes (the recommended time for peaches).

Once they are done remove them from the pot and allow to cool on the counter. 

After about an hour you will hear a popping sound and that is your jars sealing.  When you open them the top will pop to release the pressure.

When we were done this is what we were left with 27 jars of delicious, and naturally sweet, peaches.

You will be left with a bowl of pits like this

I would like to recommend that you compost these as they make great soil for a garden.

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