Strawberry Cobbler ~

This weekend I tried a new recipe from the Strawberries we had left over from last weekend's picking . . . it was so good, you have to try it!

4 Tbsp butter
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar
1 teas baking powder
1/4 teas salt
3/4 c. milk
2 cups sliced fresh berries
1 Tbsp sugar

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position, and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put butter in pie dish and set in oven to melt. When butter has melted, remove pan from oven. Whisk flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, salt in small bowl. Add milk; whisk to form a smooth batter. Pour batter into pie dish over the melted butter, then scatter fruit over batter. Sprinkle with remaining 1 Tbsp sugar. Bake until batter browns and fruit bubbles, 50-60 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Strawberry Jam

I have never minded the work involved in preserving food in such an old fashioned way. The excitement of steralized jars in my kitchen ~ the first canning has begun with the strawberries we picked on Saturday and by Saturday night the process was finished, only to be greeted by a hungry family Sunday morning for breakfast. It was all worth the effort indeed!

The recipe as promised:

Strawberry Jam

6 cups of cored strawberries
4 cups sugar
1 ½ packages Sure-Jell
1.5 lemons squeezed
Lemon zest

Mash and cook strawberries
Mix ¼ cup sugar with 1 ½ packages of Sure-Jell – add to strawberries
Add lemon juice and zest
Bring all this to a boil

Add remaining 3 ¾ cup sugar
Bring back to boil
Skim off foam

Funnel into sterilized jars, put on lids
Put jars in water bath for 5 minutes

This should yield 6 jelly sized jars.

Enjoy! ~

flour belly ~

Okay, my bread baking has officially started. If I make something twice in a row, I know it is more likely to become a habit in my kitchen, especially if I start seeing better results with each making. First time go round, I wasn’t too pleased with my efforts, but with the way my family reacted, I knew I had no choice but to make more bread to make them happy! Also, I really did want to become better at it. Last night was my 2nd attempt. I immediately saw that my dough was better, right off the bat, and I didn’t have to add as much flour while kneading as I did the first go round. I saw this bread being made on You Tube, you can find the video here. It was humorous, but it was what I needed, simple, to get me started. Once thing I changed this time, is when I made the dough sponge, I wisked it up a bit to make it frothy, I had read in The Bread Bible that it would make the bread lighter. But all in all, this really is a simple bread recipe.



Dough Sponge
1/3 cup flour
1 ½ cups hot tap water
1 packet yeast
1 teaspoon sugar or honey

Wisk and sit 10-15 minutes (or while you tuck the kids into bed like I did)

Mix in:
1 teaspoon salt
1-2 teaspoons oil
3 cups flour gradually

Mix together in bowl until dough is sticky and stingy
Take and knead on floured surface 8-10 minutes

Once you have a nice, smooth, springy mass of dough, oil bowl and place dough in bowl.
Let rise 1-2 hours or until doubled.
Stick finger in, should leave hole when it’s ready.

Cut in ½, knead loosely and shape into elongated shapes.

Bake 20-30 minutes on 350. Let cool 10 minutes.

Blackberries!!

Our family picked wild blackberries this weekend. We cooked this delicious cobbler Sunday night that you've got to try!

EASY BLACKBERRY COBBLER

3 c. blackberries

3/4 c. sugar

1 c. flour

1 c. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c. milk

1/4 lb. butter

Melt butter in 8 x 8 pan. Mix blackberries and 3/4 cup sugar. Mix flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and milk. Pour mixture into melted butter; spread evenly. Pour berry mixture on top. Cake should cover the berries and be golden brown when done. Bake at 375 degrees for about 1 hour. Serve warm with milk on top or ice cream. ~ and that we did!

Crockpot Barbeque

Spicy Hot Mama Barbeque!

For our beach trip, I promised the family that I would bring along Crockpot BBQ.

Here’s the recipe:

1 5-7lb fresh pork Shoulder
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
Pepper to taste
1 1/4c vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
½ c. Ketchup
½ c. BBQ sauce
1 ½ tbsp crushed red pepper
Hot sauce – dash

Put Pork Shoulder in crock pot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper – add vinegar. Cover and cook on low 9-12 hours. Remove and pick meat and strain liquid. Discard excess fat and keep 1 ½ to 2 cups of liquid. Then add remaining ingredients to the pork (put in crockpot) cook on low for 1 to 2 hours. This is spicy!!