Give Donsuemor for the Holidays, or Anytime of the year!

Want something to give to somebody, that’s not only delicious, but you don’t even have to wrap it, because it comes in a box that suitable for gift giving ANY time of the year.

Image Courtesy of Donsuemor

An American Company, in the San Fransisco Bay Area since 1976, and Certified Kosher.

Image courtesy of Donsuemor

Made with only the finest of ingredients and 100% Natural.

Individually wrapped to lock in freshness, these little treats are delicious! While all their products are delicious, I’m partial to the French Almond cakes and the Lemon Madeleine’s. and the chocolate. One bite and you’ll be hooked!

Donsuemor – The One You Remember

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Donsuemor, Inc.
2080 North Loop Road
Alameda, CA 94502
888-420-4441 tel
510-865-6947 fax

Disclaimer – I was not paid to post this content. I have blogged with Donsuemor in the past, and absolutely LOVE their products. Perfect for gift giving anytime of the year, all you need is a bow and a recipient!

And Don’t forget the Davidson’s Tea – Organic & Delicious! Many, Many flavors available.

Strawberry Shortcake

Admittedly, my picture could be better.  This shortcake was just kinds slopped together.  (A whole story, but it’s the only picture I have.) But, the biscuit recipe is delicious, and a recipe worth sharing.  It comes from one of my favorite dessert cookbooks: Bon Appetit Desserts.

It has a look inside feature, and I highly recommend it for any dessert enthusiast! Go take a peek!

The recipe I’m referring to is Strawberry Shortcakes with White Chocolate Mousse.  I will be giving you the recipe for the shortcakes.

Cakes:

1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour

3 Tbsp. Plus 1 tsp. Sugar

2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/8 tsp. Salt

6 Tbsp. (3/4 Stick) Chilled Unsalted Butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/2 Cup plus 1 Tbsp. Chilled Buttermilk

3 oz. Bittersweet or Semisweet Chocolate, chopped (I omitted this)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees  F.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  Blend flour, 3 Tbsp. sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in processor.  Add butter; using on/off turns, process until mixture resembles a coarse meal.  Add 1/2 cup buttermilk; process until moist clumps form.  Add chopped chocolate; using on/off  turns; process just to evenly distribute.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Dust lightly with flour; gently press to 1/2 inch thickness.  Using a 3 1/4 inch diameter cutter, cut out rounds for shortcakes.  Gather dough scraps and press to 1/2 inch thickness;  cut out additional rounds for 6 shortcakes total.  Transfer cakes to preheated baking sheet.  Brush cakes with remaining 1 tablespoon buttermilk.  Sprinkle with remaining 1 teaspoon sugar.  Bake cakes until golden and tester inserted into centers comes out clean; about 15 minutes.  Transfer to rack and cool completely.

Yield: 6 Shortcakes.  Can be made 8 hours ahead.  Let stand at room temperature.

Home Made: Winter Book Review

Yvette Van Boven’s newest book being released in October, is Home Made: Winter.  The last book “Home Made” was a treasure trove of Do It Yourself Wonders.  While you’ll enjoy a few of her DIY treasures in this book, (such as Homemade Butter, apple cider, yogurt, brousse cheese, & peanut butter) this book is concentrated more on Winter Comfort Foods.   Because she grew up in a pretty wet and cold country (Ireland) and now spends a lot of time in a warmer one (France) She’ll be rendering it into two volumes. Winter and Summer. In this Winter volume, you’ll find more Irish meals, although there is French and Dutch recipes as well. Yvette focuses on simple recipes for classic dishes that work as well as inspire. This book will be a welcomed addition to your cookbook collection.

The book is broken down into the following chapters:                                          Breakfast, brunch & lunch – Cakes & Sweet Things for Tea Time – Drinks – To Start – Main Courses – and Dessert.  If you enjoyed the first book: “Home Made”, you’ll want this one to complete your set and will be already looking forward to “Home Made – Summer”.

For my Recipe, I chose her Banoffee Pie.

Banoffee Pie                                                                                                                                       From: Home Made Winter
By: Yvette Van Boven

Okay, this is sweet (even though my version of this classic dessert isn’t as sweet as most).  But it’s so good and can be made so quickly, especially if you have the caramel made in advance.  I always make a few cans at a time – they keep forever in the fridge.  If you have unexpected visitors, this is the dessert with which you would spoil them.  It will make them love you even more and you, in turn, will love this recipe even more – Yvette Van Boven

For the Caramel:

1 (14 oz./400g) Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
For the Crust:
1 3/4 Cups  All Purpose Flour
Pinch of Salt
7 Tbsp. (100g) Butter, plus extra for greasing
A Few Drops of Ice Water

The Filling:
3 Bananas
1/2 cup (100g) Mascarpone
3/4 Cup (200ml) Heavy Cream
2 Tbsp. Confectioner’s Sugar

Dark Chocolate to grate over the pie (Optional)

Directions:

Make the Caramel:
Put the unopened can of condensed milk in a saucepan filled with plenty of water, cover, and boil for 3 hours.  Add more water as necessary to make sure the can remains under water constantly.  It can explode otherwise – really!
Let the can cool completely.  The milk in the can has now changed into thick caramel.
Make the Crust:
Combine the flour, salt and butter in a food processor and process into a coarse meal (or cut the butter in with swiftly with cold hands).  Trickle in ice water until the dough just sticks together.  Don’t knead too long.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for about 30 minutes in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter a 9 1/2 inch (24-cm) pie pan.  Roll out the dough on a floured surface and line th pan with the dough.  Trim off excess.  With a fork, prick holes all over the bottom of the crust.  Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.  Let the crust cool completely.  You can do this a day in advance.
Fill the Pie:
Spread the entire can of caramel in the pie crust. Peel the bananas, slice them, and arrange them over the caramel.  IN a medium bowl, beat the mascarpone with the cream and powdered sugar until stiff.  Cover the pie with a generous layer of the cream filling.  Grate some chocolate over it, if you like, but you don’t have to .  It’s good as it is – trust me.

Results: 
Absolutely Divine!!   Fast & Easy to make, but Oh SO GOOD!!                               -Fire Up  The Oven

Grain Mains 101 Suprising & Satisfying Whole Grain Recipes for Every Meal of the Day Book Review!

Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough are at it again with their new book Grain Mains  – 101 Surprising and Satisfying Whole Grain Recipes for Every meal of the day“.  Packed full of user-friendly recipes waiting for you to feast on.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I love these guys.  Their sense of humor shines in all they write.  Most of the recipes are vegan or vegetarian, but they do include meat to satisfy the meat lovers.  Some of the recipes give you the instructions on how to make it vegetarian.  It’s all here in Bruce & Mark style.  The book doesn’t disappoint.   This book will show you tasty ways to incorporate these grains into your diet.  The book is broken down into three sections - Early – including The Weekday Cereals & The Weekenders.  Cold – includes Wheat Berry Salads, Rice & Wild Rice Salads, More Whole Grain Salads & Not Salads at All.  Warm -  Burgers, Soups & Stews, Casserole Comfort, Classics Whole Grained and Unexpected Elegance.  Dishes such as Buckwheat Hash, Brown Rice & Beans, Teff Gnocchi in a Cheddar Sauce (Which looks fantastic by the way), Roasted Corn Soup, Barley & Pecan Burgers, Reuben Salad, and Creamy Farro Potato Salad are just some of the delectable s that await your taste buds. Almost all recipes include information tidbits such as Taster’s Note, Make it Easier, and each recipe gives you servings, Active Time and Total time.  A long overdue cookbook that takes whole grains from “good for you” side dishes to zesty and satisfying Main Course, proving that grains are the gourmet ingredient hiding in plain sight.

For my recipe I chose Cinnamon-Raisin Barley Pudding.

Cinnamon Raisin Barley Pudding

From: Grain Mains – 101 Surprising and Satisfying Whole Grain Recipes for Every Meal of the Day

By: Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough

1/2 Cup Hull-less Barley

3 Cups Milk (Whole, 2%, or 1%)

1/3 Cup Sugar

1/4 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Grated Nutmeg

1/4 tsp. Salt

2 Large Eggs, Plus 1 Large Egg Yolk, at room temperature

1/2 Cup Chopped Raisins, Dried Cranberries, or Blueberries

2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1.  Soak the barley in a big bowl of cool water for at least 8 hours and up to 16 hours.  Drain the barley in a fine mesh sieve or small holed colander set in the sink.  Scrape the barley into a medium saucepan, fill it about two-thirds full of water, and bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the barley is tender, about 55 minutes.  Drain the barley again in that sieve or colander.

2.   Pour the cooked barley back into a large saucepan; stir in the milk, sugar, spices, and salt.  Bring the mixture to a full simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  It’s important to keep the heat fairly low from here on out because the barley can stick.  Once everything’s simmering , reduce the heat to low and cook until somewhat thick, sort of like a pudding, about 5 minutes, maybe less depending on the residual moisture content in the barley.

3.  Whisk the eggs, egg yolk, dried fruit, and vanilla in a medium bowl.  Whisk half the barley porridge into this egg mixture, then whisk this combined concoction back into the remaining barley porridge in the saucepan over the heat.  Cook on low, whisking constantly, just until thickened, no more than 2 minutes.  Serve warm.

Active time: 15 minutes

Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes, plus soaking the hull-less barley for at least 8 hours

Make Ahead:  Once cooled, store covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.  Microwave individual servings for 30 seconds or so to warm them up.

Save Time:  Use 1 1/2 cups cooked hull-less barley and omit soaking and cooking the raw grains.

Make it Easier:  Skip the dried fruit in the recipe and the necessary chopping.  Serve the hot pudding with some jam or preserves to top each bowlful.

Testers Note: Say bye-bye to rice pudding.  Barley is way more luxurious; chewy, rich, and satisfying.  You might even save some of this breakfast for dessert!

Results:  Rich, creamy and very tasty!  I love barley to begin with, and the taste of this was fantastic.  I didn’t miss the rice at all in this recipe, and actually agree it’s even better with barley.

This cook book will not disappoint, and is a definite welcomed addition to my cookbook collection. – Fire up the Oven

Baked Elements: Our Ten Favorite Ingredients Review!

Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito are back at it again with their newest release, Baked Elements: Our Ten Favorite Ingredients.   As with their first two Books, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking & Baked Explorations, this too is a must have.  Beautifully illustrated, well written and with recipes that tempt the taste buds, but are easily made with readily available ingredients and clear instructions. The book will not disappoint!  Packed with 75 inventive new recipes revolving around their ten-most loved ingredients.  Peanut butter, Lemon & Lime, Caramel, Booze, Pumpkin, Malted Milk Powder, Cinnamon, Cheese, Chocolate, and Banana.  Complete with the commentary that fans adore, chapters also include feature-ingredient infographics with quicky facts & charts, and helpful Baked notes that make creating these desserts easy.

For my choice to make for my review, I opted for the “Good Morning Sunshine Bars.  I’ve made these twice, and my husband is asking for them again! Delicious little bars, and they’re a No Bake recipe.  You use a pan, bowl and spoon and a pan to press the mixture into.  These go quick!  I made a double batch to take to a family reunion, and they had a hard time making it to the table.  They were passed from person, to person and I heard a little kid say to his mom, “these are the kind of snacks we need mom”.

Good Morning Sunshine Bars

From:  Baked Elements

We rarely identify our “favorite” recipes for the simple reason that they change all the time based on mood, environment, and time of the year. Therefore, we consider it a slightly big deal to induct this recipe into the rarefied kingdom of “Matt & Renato’s All time favorite recipes”, which is neither a book nor a file nor a thing, but just a place in our collective minds. The recipe itself is embarrassingly simple – really, just cereal (therefore making these bars a perfectly plausible breakfast solution), peanut butter, peanuts, and chocolate.  Combined, these ingredients make a bar that is absurdly transcendental – salty, sweet, crunchy, and addictive, with nods to some purer form of childhood nostalgia (think bakes sales and campfire tales) – yet uniquely current like an Eames chair.  We make them for afternoon snacks, for parties, for romantic dates, for large events.  In fact, there is rarely an occasion not to make these bars. We actually prefer them in the morning, with a hearty cup of coffee.  The world just seems like a better place when you wake up with our Good Morning Sunshine Bars. – Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito

Baked Note: Though it might be tempting to cover the entire surface of the bar in chocolate as opposed to making just a few chocolate stripes or zigzags, we encourage you to refrain.  Too much chocolate obscures some of the peanut flavor and crunch, thereby diluting the whole Good Morning Sunshine Bar experience.

Yield: 24 bars

6 cups Crunchy, Plain Cereal (Rice Chex or something similar works best)
1 1/4 Cups Salted Peanuts, coarsely Chopped
1 Cup Firmly Packed Dark Brown Sugar
1 Cup Light Corn Syrup
1 Cup Smooth Peanut butter
1 Tbsp. Pure Vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
6 oz. Good Quality Milk Chocolate, chopped

Directions:

Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 by 13 inch baking.  Line the pan with parchment paper so that  the paper overhangs the pan on two sides. Butter the parchment.
Place the cereal and peanuts in a large bowl and use your hands to toss together until mixed well.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together the sugar and corn syrup.  Bring the mixture to a boil for one full minute.  Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter, vanilla, and salt. Stir until the mixture is combined.
Pour the sugar mixture over the cereal mixture and use a spoon or well-greased hands (be careful as the liquid may still be very hot) to toss until the cereal is completely coated with the sugar mixture.
Turn the mixture out into the prepared pan.  Grease your hands and press the mixture into the bottom of the pan, being careful not to crush the cereal.  Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.  (If you wish to speed this process, ou may place the entire pan in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes.
Melt the chocolate in a microwave or double boiler.  Use a spoon or piping bag to decorate the tops of the bars in a stripe or zigzag pattern.  Allow the chocolate to set.
Lift the bars out of the pan using the parchement paper overhang, cut them into approximately 3 by 1 1/2 inch rectangles (i.e. candy bars).
The bars can be stored at room temperature, in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.  If the weather is hot and humid, you might want to keep them in the refrigerator instead.

This book is full of recipes that I want to make. As nice as all the other books they have wrote to date, this will be a welcomed addition to my collection. This book will not disappoint. If you own the other 2 books, you’ll surely want this one to complete your set.

Celebrating Cherry Fest with Whole Foods Market

As mentioned in an earlier post, Whole Foods Market celebrated Cherries in the Month of July.  I was invited to participate in hosting a Cherry Fest of my own, compliments of Whole Foods Market, whom supplied a gift card to obtain the cherries, and the ingredients to make what I would like for the Cherry Fest.  I decided to go all out, and host a cherry fest with multiple dishes.  From a Cherry & Apple stuffed Pork Tenderloin (which my daughter Sherie, kindly made) to breakfast Danish, to desserts, all featuring the beloved Bing Cherry, which is only in season for such a short time. I’d like to Thank those who participated, and also, a Big Thank you to Whole Foods Market for inviting me to participate and kindly supplying the ingredients to make my dishes.  Thank you once again. We had a blast, and ate more cherries than I ever have in my lifetime!

First up, the Main course – Cherry Apple Stuffed Pork Tenderloin.  This dish was delicious!  Cherries and Apples were spiced, rolled up into a roast and baked to perfection.  My daughter Sherie, and my son-in-law Ryan were kind enough to prepare this dish.  The remainder of the cherries & apples that did not fit in the roast were sautéed in butter, and then poured over the cooked & sliced roast. Ryan also made a nice Apple glaze sauce and drizzled it over the completed dish.

Here’s the roast, sliced after baking.  This would make a great Holiday Roast. We used dried cherries in this dish, thankfully available all year-long.
With it, we served Lipton Potatoes and a veggie.  I’ll post the step by step pictures and the recipe in my next post.

These little Cherry Almond Tarts are delicious as well as addictive. Betcha can’t eat just one!

Cookie Crust:
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Egg
1/4 tsp. Almond Extract
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp. Cream of tarter
2 Cups All purpose Flour

In a food processor, pulse sugar, powdered sugar and butter til creamy. Add remaining ingredients and mix until a smooth dough is formed. Chill 15 minutes, wrapped in plastic wrap. After dough has rested and is firm, I rolled my dough into little balls, (about 1 Tbsp. dough balls) set them into mini muffin tins, use a tart tamper (or a shot glass works great) to form the shells.  Set aside.

Almond Filling:
3 oz. Butter
6 oz. Almond Paste
1 egg

Cherry Pie Filling (canned or Homemade)
Sliced Almonds (Optional)
Whipped Cream (Optional)

Cream almond paste and butter until soft and fluffy.  Add egg to the almond butter, and mix for about 1 minute.  Fill the tart shells with the Almond Filling, filling them about 3/4 full.  Top with cherry pie filling and sprinkle with sliced almonds if desired.  Bake Cherry Almond tarts at 325 degrees F, for about 20 to 30 minutes, or until crusts are browned and filling is set.  Cool completely.  Serve with whipped cream if desired.

Cherry Danish

This Cherry Danish won rave reviews. Delicious and easy to do, it uses crescent rolls and takes only a short time to prepare it.  The recipe comes from the Food Network.   The crescent rolls give it a nice buttery flavor.

Ingredients:

Icing:

• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 drop vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon jet-puffed marshmallow creme
• 1 tablespoon fat-free whipped topping, thawed from frozen

Danish:

• Half an 8-ounce tub fat-free cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon light vanilla soymilk  (I used regular milk & added a tsp. of pure vanilla)
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup frozen unsweetened dark sweet cherries, thawed
• 1 tube refrigerated seamless dough sheet or reduced-fat crescent roll dough  (Regular crescent Roll dough will work just fine too)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
To make the icing: In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine powdered sugar, cornstarch, vanilla extract, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of cold water. Mix until the ingredients have dissolved.
Add marshmallow creme and microwave for 5 seconds, or until the creme is soft enough to fold into the mixture. Stir until smooth. Add whipped topping and stir again, until mixed well. Cover and refrigerate the icing until you’re ready to ice the Danish.
Cook’s Note: Spray measuring spoon with non-stick spray to prevent the marshmallow creme from sticking to it.

To make the Danish: In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, oats, granulated sugar, soymilk, and almond extract, and stir until thoroughly mixed. Fold in cherries and set aside.
Spray a large baking sheet with non-stick spray. Roll out the dough on the sheet into a large rectangle of even thickness. If using crescent roll dough, pinch together perforated seams to seal. Arrange baking sheet in front of you so that the short sides are on the left and right and the long sides are on the top and bottom. Spoon the cherry filling lengthwise across the middle third of the dough, leaving 1/2-inch borders on the left and right of the filling.
Starting from the top, make 12 vertical cuts-about 1 inch apart-along the top section of the dough, stopping about 1/2 inch from the filling. Repeat with the bottom section of the dough. This will create 1-inch-wide strips of dough on both the top and bottom of the filling.
Alternate folding the 1-inch strips from the top and the bottom over the filling, covering the filling completely and creating a crisscrossed, “braided” appearance. When you reach the last few strips, cross them toward the middle of the Danish. After all the strips have been folded, fold the left and right sides of the dough in toward the filling, so the filling cannot escape, and pat firmly to seal.
Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until pastry is crispy and golden brown. Allow it to cool completely.
Just before serving, stir icing and drizzle it over the entire Danish. Cut Danish into 8 slices. Refrigerate any leftovers.

I ran across this recipe for Rhubarb Almond Coffee Cake at Not Derby Pie Blog, substituting Bing Cherries for the Rhubarb.  Cherries and Almonds naturally pair so very well together, I just couldn’t resist giving this recipe a try with the cherries. Boy am I glad I made it.  This coffee cake is SO GOOD!  Follow the link for the recipe. You won’t regret it, and you’ll love the blog.

At another one of my favorite blogs, The English Kitchen you’ll find a delicious recipe for a Cherry Crumble Cake. I suggest doubling the recipe to make the cake.  My cake turned out perfect, but I wished for more height to the cake.  This is on the order of a muffin almost. Quite good, and not to be missed when fresh cherries are in season.  Follow the link here for the recipe.

Cherry Crumble Cake.

One of our favorite dishes to make, especially when the temp’s are though the roof, and its muggy and nobody wants to move, let alone eat is Chicken salad.  We had several of these days here recently, and I decided to make Cherry Chicken Salad.  I’m glad I did.

Cherry Chicken Salad

Cherry Chicken Salad

1 pkg. Chicken Breasts (boneless, skinless)
Olive Oil
Garlic Salt
Freshly Ground Pepper
Dried Thyme
1 Large Onion, peeled & diced
6 Ribs Celery, chopped
Mayonnaise
1 Packet Dry Good Seasons, Italian Dressing
1 Packet Hidden Valley Dry Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix
Sweet Bing Cherries, pitted and cut in half, or chopped if preferred (Optional)

Directions:

In a large skillet, add about 2 Tbsp. Olive oil and saute’ chicken breasts.  Sprinkle with garlic salt, pepper, and sprinkle lightly with thyme. Turn chicken, lightly season and cook the chicken just until cooked through. (Do not over cook.)  Remove chicken to a plate and let cool slightly.  In the bowl of a food processor, combine chicken and pulse until chicken is ground.  Remove chicken to a large bowl.  Add onion and celery and enough mayonnaise to moisten the chicken well.  Add Dry salad dressings, 1 teaspoon at a time, tasting before adding more.  When you reach the desired seasoning for your taste, stir in cherries, cover and refrigerate the chicken at least 1 hour before serving to allow the flavors to develop. I like to chill mine overnight, but usually someone is in it before that. It still tastes great even if you don’t get that overnight chill.

Note: Sorry I do not have measurements for this recipe.  I usually make this with  a large package of chicken, because this really goes fast around here.  Also, everyone’s tastes vary somewhat in the seasonings that their family likes. So, I suggest adding the packaged dressings a little bit at a time.

Bing Cherry Pie

Bing Cherry Pie

Crust:
3 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 Tbsp. Sugar
1 1/2 Sticks Unsalted Butter, cut into cubes, Very Cold
1/3 Cup Shortening, Very Cold
8 Tbsp. Ice Water

Directions:
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse a few times to evenly distribute.  Cut the butter into cubes, and freeze for about 20-30 minutes along with your 1/3 cup shortening.  Add the butter cubes and shortening to the food processor, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add the 8 Tbsp. of Ice water, and pulse until dough forms a ball.  Remove from processor bowl, press into a disk, rap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a least 30 minutes, preferably 1 hour.  Remove from refrigerator, and on a clean, floured work surface, roll dough out slightly larger than your pie plate.  Lift crust on your rolling-pin and set over pie plate.  Unroll crust and gently maneuver crust into pie plate.  (Do not stretch dough.)  Leave a 1 inch over hang, fold dough under on rim, and flute the edges.  Place in the freezer until ready to fill.

Bing Cherry Filling:

5 Cups Bing Cherries, pitted (Cut in half if desired. I left mine whole)
1/2 Cup Brown sugar (Do not pack)
1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
3 Tbsp. Tapioca (or 1/2 cup flour)
1 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp. Pure Almond Extract
2 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

Crumble Topping:

1/2 Cup Rolled Oats
1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 Tbsp. All Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter, melted
1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Salt

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine all the cherry filling ingredients, and stir to mix well.  Pour cherry mixture into prepared pie crust.  In another bowl, combine the oats, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt.  Stir well.  Pour the melted butter over the mixture and stir with a fork until butter is fully incorporated.  Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the top of the cherry filling.

Bake at 350 degrees F, for 35-45 minutes, or until the topping and crust is golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Top pie off with some homemade Bing Cherry Ice Cream if desired.

Cherry Chunk Ice Cream

Lastly, but definitely not least, over at Whisk Kid, there’s a Cherry Chunk Ice Cream recipe that I made. It sounded wonderful and I had to make it.  I didn’t cook my cherries down though. I chopped the cherries into quarters, and then stirred them in at the end, along with the granola.  I also doubled the recipe. This ice cream does NOT Disappoint! It’s rich & creamy and VERY More-ish!

We made pancakes with Cherry Sauce too, but they disappeared before I could even get a picture of them.  I will be sure to post them the next time I make them, and there will be a next time. It was like dinner and dessert all in one with the waffles with Cherry Sauce over them, and mounds of sweetened whip cream. (The grand kids love breakfast for dinner, and I aim to please.)

If you haven’t had any cherries yet, you can still get them. But time is running short. I highly suggest you make it over to Whole Foods Market and pickup your cherries there.  They were delicious and they’re organic!  I’m still not tired of them, and thinking of going to Whole Foods Market tomorrow to pick up some more before the season is over.   I have a few more cherry recipes I’d like to try before the season is over. :’)

Wild Alaska Salmon – Friday July 27th $8.99/pound at Whole Foods Market!

Wild Alaska Salmon One-day Sale

Salmon image from Whole Foods Market

It’s that time of year again – Wild Alaska salmon is in season for a few short months! Jump on board this Friday, July 27 to take advantage of Whole Foods Market’s one-day sale when fresh, wild coho salmon fillets will go for just $8.99/pound.

The fillets come from a Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fishery and are hand-selected by two Whole Foods Market port buyers who spend the summer at Alaska’s port openings, selecting the highest quality and most flavorful salmon as it comes into season. The featured salmon is troll-caught, meaning fish are individually caught by one or two fishermen using a number of baited hooks and lines. The fish is shipped directly from the icy waters of Alaska to stores within 24-48 hours of the catch!

Quick and easy to cook indoors or outdoors, coral-hued coho and ruby red-colored sockeye are full-flavored salmon that offer the perfect taste of summer. Here are a few of our favorite simple salmon recipes:

(Recipes courtesy of Whole Foods Market)

• Almond Crusted Salmon with Caramelized Onions and Basil
• Citrus-Marinated Grilled Salmon with Tabbouleh Salad
• Baked Salmon with Spinach and Strawberry Salsa
• Salmon Ceviche
• Wild Coho Salmon with Sunshine Rice
• Balsamic-Citrus Wild Alaska Salmon