Berry Peach Cobbler

My husband has a hunting buddy that’s been nice enough to pick him up several times during duck season. This past weekend was the end of the season, and they decided to stay overnight near their lease to take advantage of 2 days hunting. As a “thank you” I decided to make an extra batch of fruit cobbler that the hunting friend and his son could enjoy when they returned home.

The cobbler making adventure came about because it occurred to me that I still have lots of berries in my freezers, and berry picking season isn’t too far away. Berry Peach cobbler is one of my favorite applications. I was way overdue in making one.

These cobblers also became an experiment in gluten and allergen-free baking. For those of us used to conventional baking, gluten-free is an interesting challenge. The recipient’s son is on a restricted diet that has eliminated all grain products except rice and millet. He also needs to avoid high fructose corn syrup, dairy and eggs. To give myself a starting recipe I referenced a cobbler crust recipe in the pink Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I used it as a guideline for measurements and swapped the traditional ingredients for the gluten-free products. The original recipe did call for eggs and dairy (butter, milk). They were replaced with juice from the canned peaches. For those not familiar with tapioca flour, it’s a non-grain thickener. In gluten-free baking it’s used for thickening sauces and providing some structure to flours that lack protein.

Since I wanted to make sure this recipe really worked, I made our batch of cobbler gluten-free as well. The only difference between ours and the gift was the addition of blueberries. Blueberries are on the “do not eat” list for the son. In case you’re wondering about the blackberry juice in the filling, I can’t stand the seeds, so I cook my berries until they start producing juice. They are placed in a fine mesh sieve over a bowl. I use a large spoon to mash them against the mesh, than let them sit over the bowl for an hour or two. When I’m making a dessert I don’t mind the pulp and prefer not to waste more than necessary. I use the spoon to scrape the pulp from the outside of the sieve. In the event that I have more juice than I need, the excess is poured into quart freezer bags. It might make an appearance in another cobbler or get added to a batch of lemonade.

Filling

3 (15 oz.) Cans Peaches (look for light syrup – doesn’t usually use corn syrup; read label)

¼ c. Organic Cane Sugar

¾ c. Blackberry Juice

2 tbsp. Tapioca Flour

Crust

1 c. Brown Rice Flour

1 tbsp. Tapioca Flour

1 ½ tsp. Baking Powder

¼ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Cinnamon

¼ c. Canola Oil

½ c. Peach Juice

Pre-heat oven to 400°. Drain peaches & reserve ½ c. of juice for the crust. The remaining juice can be added to the blackberry juice if you want to use it. To cut down on dishes, measure sugar in glass measuring cup and add juice until it reaches one cup. Once sugar is dissolved, stir in tapioca flour. Like corn starch, it’s best to add to cold liquids. Put peaches in a baking dish and pour juice over them. Stir in a handful or 2 of blueberries if you desire and set the fruit aside.

For the crust, combine all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add the canola oil. The mixture will look like large crumbs. Once the oil is incorporated, stir in the peach juice. Drop the mixture 1-2 tbsp. at a time over the fruit filling. It can be spread out a bit with the spoon to cover more of the fruit. Sprinkle cane sugar and cinnamon over the crust before baking for 25 minutes.

It occurred to me while making this cobbler version that it’s a recipe that can satisfy more than one kind of special need. While it’s still plenty sweet, it’s more diet friendly without the animal products. Know a vegetarian or vegan? Try making this for them. Having tried it myself, I can honestly say it’s very delicious.

The Project Queen

Recycled Pillow Dog Bed

My dogs like to come into my studio and lie around my feet when I’m working on projects. But they don’t always appreciate a cold floor in the winter. Last summer I purchased some remnant fleece found in the clearance corner at Hobby Lobby. Courtesy of a long holiday weekend, I found an hour to sew it for a dog bed cover.

The piece I purchased was 60” wide and 1 yard long. It made approximately a 30” x 36” dog bed after I folded the fabric in half. It was large enough to cover two king-size pillows. Other than making sure all edges were straight, there isn’t any cutting involved. One 60” edge was folded over about ½” and sewn. That gave the cover a finished opening. Then with right sides together, the fabric was folded in half so the selvages met. The bottom and one side seam were sewn. The cover was then turned right side out, and I added 4 toggle buttons and crochet rings to opposite sides of the opening. The pillows were stuffed inside.

Viola! Inexpensive, washable dog bed. (And no guilt because I repurposed 2 not-so-nice pillows)

The Project Queen

Ear-warming Headbands

 My younger daughter, Kristen, has a tendency to drop projects in my lap a few days before she returns to school. At the end of last summer it was an apron she wanted to give her older sister. Before she went back for this spring semester she wanted four knitted headbands. The race was on to complete at least a couple of them before she left. She attends school in South Dakota, and the winter deep freeze has arrived.

Sadly, I didn’t have time to photograph the completed headbands. Kristen promised she would send pictures, but until she does, here is headband 3 with an accompanying pattern.

The yarn is Flicker, a number 4 medium weight made by Berroco. It’s an Alpaca blend that has a metallic thread woven in it. However, headbands are great stash busters. They can take half, to a full skein of yarn, depending on yardage. So feel free to use that one-skein splurge lurking in your yarn basket (closet, dresser, etc.).

The stitch pattern I used is called “Twisted Arches”, a type of cable stitch. I found it in the book, Reader’s Digest Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches, pg 55. Here is some useful info: Multiple of 8 stitches + 2; C3L (Cable 3 left) slip next st onto cable needle and hold at front of work, K next 2 sts from left hand needle, then K st from cable needle; C3R (Cable 3 right) slip next 2 sts onto cable needle and hold at back of work, K next st from left needle, then K sts from cable needle.

For the Headband:

CO 18 stitches

1^st row (RS): P2, *K6; rep from * to end (End with P2)

2^nd row: K2, *P6, rep from * to end (K2)

Rep last 2 rows once.

5^th row: P2, *C3L, C3R, P2, rep from * to end

6^th row: As 2^nd row

7^th row: K4, P2, *K6, P2, rep from * to end (End with K4)

8^th row: P4, K2, *P6, K2, rep from * to end (P4)

Rep last 2 rows once.

11^th row: K1, * C3R, P2, C3L, rep from * to end (K1)

12^th row: As 8^th row

Repeat these twelve rows 8 more times.

BO

 (If you are using a chunky yarn, fewer row repeats may be needed. Also, this is a project with negative ease. The band should stretch. Make it a little shorter than you think it should be, unless you’re trying to make an eye mask or infinity scarf. Measure your head circumference before starting.)

A long tail at either end can be used to sew the ends of the headband together. Weave in ends.

If fancier edges are desired, customize with your favorite knit or crochet edging stitch.

For the Gathering Band:

CO 10 sts and do 2 repeats of the above stitch pattern. BO. Before sewing closed, place the small band over the seam of the large band. Make sure the ends of the small band are sewn together on the wrong side of the large band. If you want to keep the small band in place, tack the sides of it to the back stitches of the large band.

A note on gauge and blocking: Don’t obsess over gauge. Just make sure the band is wide enough to cover the ears. “Twisted Arches” doesn’t curl so blocking to make flat or achieve certain measurements isn’t necessary, unless you’re really obsessive.

For those of you experiencing a cold winter, go ahead and make yourself a cozy headband. (Or a “just because I love you” gift.) Be blessed and stay warm.

The Project Queen



Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

Get a tin of Danish Butter or Shortbread Cookies for the holidays?
Make them more exciting with your homemade hazelnut spread.

I have to confess I enjoy Nutella, but despite their advertising, I really don’t consider it a health food. It may taste like hazelnuts. However, I’m not sure it actually has a lot of nuts in it. I have a feeling a bulk of the product is palm kernel oil and sugar.

I’ve made my own hazelnut spread in the past from some recipes found on the internet. They were OK. Since I was in the mood to experiment with it over the holiday break, I was taking a hard look at a recipe in the Dec. 2012 issue of Bon Appetit. It sounded delicious. There were just two, not-so-small problems. The recipe calls for butter and cream. While I like the dairy, I’ve come to the conclusion that such products have to be practically non-existent in my diet. Once you reach middle age, saturated fat and calories just aren’t your friends.

Turns out the Bon Appetit recipe can be adjusted quite easily. A very delicious spread can be made with five ingredients. I opted for a mostly vegan option by using almond milk. You will notice it makes a decent size batch, and it works best in a larger food processer. (No mini processors.) The object of the magazine recipe was to divide into small jars as gifts. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, you could certainly do that, but I wouldn’t think any less of you if sharing isn’t an option. It keeps in the refrigerator quite nicely.

2 c. Hazelnuts (raw and unsalted)

1-2 tbsp. Nut Oil (or unflavored oil such as Canola)

1 lb. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1 c. Low-fat Milk

¾ tsp. Salt

Peel the skins from the hazelnuts before placing in the food processor. In case you haven’t tried it before, check out this site: http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/how-to-peel-skin-hazelnuts/. If you use the boiling method, put the nuts in the oven for 10 – 15 min. to toast. While your nuts are toasting, place your chocolate and milk in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat just enough to melt the chocolate. After putting the nuts in the food processor, drizzle the oil over them and run the machine until they are a coarse meal. Place the remaining ingredients in the processor. Run the processor until the mixture is blended. If you want a really smooth product, watch the outside of the processor bowl. The nuts will gradually disappear into the chocolate. Once processing is finished, pour the spread in a storage container or gift jars and place in the refrigerator. The chocolate chips will help thicken it to spreadable consistency.

A tip for those who have never purchased shelled, raw hazelnuts: Look for them at grocery stores that sell nuts and other products in bulk bins, usually in a natural foods section. Don’t like hazelnuts? Blanched almonds work great too.

The Project Queen

Rice Pudding for Supper

(I know, my Midwest roots are showing with this blog title.)

I doubt I’m the only one who suffers from kitchen burnout. You see the clock ticking down to zero hour and still don’t know what you want to make for the evening meal. Darn it all, it’s too late to defrost something. For some reason take-out isn’t an option. What’s a cook to do? Breakfast in the evening is a fun option, but occasionally I just go straight to dessert.

While struggling with the “I don’t want to cook” doldrums this evening, I was staring at the contents of my pantry. Finally, I noticed two bags of rice. I keep brown rice for myself. White
rice is for those who are concerned they may have too much fiber in their diets. There was my supper solution. I would make rice with milk and raisins (my mom calls it milk rice). As I was hauling out everything I needed it occurred to me that I may as well make rice pudding. Milk rice has some sugar in it so it’s basically dessert anyway. There is only one major difference between it and my Grandma Hewitt’s rice pudding; eggs. Her rice pudding had a silky custard base.

Once upon a time, I had a copy of Grandma’s recipe. I’m not quite sure what I did with it. I suppose I could have looked at the BH&G cookbooks on my shelf for reference, but I decided to fly by the seat of my pants instead. This is what I ended up with. (I decided I wasn’t in the mood for raisins.)

1 1/2 c. rice (3/4 c. brown, 3/4 c. white)

2 qts. water (8 c.)

1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk

¾ c. organic cane sugar

½ tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. cardamom

¹/₈ tsp. nutmeg

½ c. dried cherries

½ c. dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350°. Cook rice in water until al dente and at least half of the water is absorbed. Add evaporated milk, sugar and salt. Beat eggs in heat proof bowl or glass measuring cup. Once liquid in pot is beginning to bubble, scoop small amounts of it into eggs to temper. At least ½ c. of hot liquid should be stirred in. Make sure the eggs are whisked constantly while tempering, and add slowly to the pudding while stirring. Blend in the spices and fruit. While still hot, the pudding can be poured into a baking dish. Bake in the oven for 15 min.

Note: I cooked my pudding in a 12 in. chef’s pot. It looks like a stainless steel mixing bowl with handles on the side. Since mine is oven safe, I left the pudding in the pot when I baked it.

The Project Queen