Fish & Chicken Salad Thursdays?? Oh Yesss!

They say that necessity is the mother of invention.....I completely disagree.  I think hunger is the mother of invention.  How did the caveman first learn to sharpen that stick??  Because he was hungry that's why!!  He was also tired of the wooly mammoth or badger, etc. putting a thrashing on him when he went out to hunt.  He thought to himself "If only I didn't have to get so close to my dinner to whack it on the head...I think I'll sharpen that nice straight stick over there and poke 'em with it!!"

All theories aside, when it came time for my lunch today, there was a woefully inadequate selection to choose from that would give me a fast, easy meal so I can get back to work.  I had plenty of eggs but didn't feel like having a breakfast theme.  Lots of frozen food to choose from and no time or inclination to fix it at this point in the day, and a smattering of leftovers from previous meals.

As I was digging around in the fridge, some different things caught my eye.....There was some grilled chicken, baked salmon, and other odds and ends.  The only problem was there was not enough of any one thing to make a meal.

So as the title of today's post suggests....I improvised.....

Ingredients:

2 - 3 oz of grilled chicken

2 - 3 oz of baked salmon

Romain lettuce

Cherry tomatoes

Dressing of choice

As you can see here...or maybe you can't, the salmon is crumbled up on top so to speak with the grilled chicken below.  Now my favorite dressing happens to be a low cal Honey Mustard as I'm sure you all have your favorites.  Was it different?  Yes it was.....Was it delicious??  Absolutely!!

This isn't the first time and certainly not the last time I will mix and match my foods in order to make a meal.  It all gets mixed up in your belly anyway....

Cloverleaf Wednesday

My profuse apologies to you, the readers for my unexplained absence the past couple of days.  Kind of like the dead air you hear on the radio when the dj doesn't que the song up at the right time.  I have been extremely busy with other work related web stuff and I'm also in the process of making some changes to the blog.

As I mentioned early last week, the boys and I went on the Cloverleaf ride for 4 days last week.  I have been on this ride myself nearly 30 years ago and strangely, hadn't been back since.  I have been riding since shortly after birth and while I'm not nearly a professional in the rodeo sense, I've gained the knowledge you would expect from 30+ years of frequent riding.  I've raised my boys the same way, having pictures of them in the saddle at a few months old.  They LOVE to ride, my oldest more so than my youngest and have been looking forward to this trail ride for weeks.

The weather was for the most part cool and cooperative, with the first morning verrrrry foggy until after lunch and peaceful as well. 

My dad rode with us on the first day (Wednesday) and also the last day (Saturday) and it rained like the devil.  Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on Saturday as I had left it back in camp.  As sure as the sun sets in the west, the day I don't have my camera there were spectacular river / lake views and tall rocky bluffs looking out over the fall colors and you could see for miles.....Sigh!

We went with several friends and stayed in the camper of a long-time friend of mine.  He and I have known each other since forever and have been planning this ride for months.  I didn't tell my kids about it until practically the last minute because I didn't want Murphy to get in the way and ruin a perfectly good plan :-)  They would never forgive me if they had looked forward to something like this for months and we didn't get to go for some reason.  Been there....Done that....

We got up early every morning, saddled up and rode out with all of the other trail riders each day in a different direction. Each day covered about 12-15 miles in the hills of Oklahoma.  I thought the ride was rather flat myself but many people would consider it steep and treacherous at times. 

After the end of the second day, the boys were getting tired and I made my famous Dutch Oven Beer Chili for dinner which you can find here by clicking on the link.  We didn't ride out the 3rd morning with the large group, instead making a leisurely breakfast....Breakfast Casserole...in the dutch oven again with homemade buttermilk biscuits.

After breakfast we saddled up and several of our group rode the back roads west of our campsite just taking it easy riding where we chose and covering about 6-7 miles.  We joked, laughed, and told lies like old friends often do and had a great time just being ourselves.  We got back to camp a little early, fed the livestock, and ourselves and relaxed the rest of the evening.

My trusty mount Buckshot....

The morning of the fourth and final day, dawned hot and humid, with the sky covered in dark clouds just promising to get us wet.  We saddled up making sure we had our slickers, the extra large long kind that cover you and the saddle and rode out around Brushy Lake.  Right after lunch we got pounded with those big, fat raindrops that you know is just the beginning.  And rain it did, with a couple of very close lightning strikes.  I don't mind riding in the rain one little bit....I've done it a million times....and when you have a good slicker and hat it can rain all it wants with little effect.

Lightning, however, is a different story.....We were riding in some old growth forest right beside a lake....not the best combination.  Lightning as you can imagine, can get you killed, or bucked off, or you can have a runaway and get scraped and bruised and just hurt in general.  Luckily, none of those things happened to the 150+ riders that day and everybody had a good time.  We had lake views, multiple river crossings, and big rocky bluffs that dropped straight down for 250'-300' that you could look over and see for miles.

All in all one of the most pleasurable trips of my life.  It was a tremendous amount of work but seeing the looks on my boys faces made every bit of the aches and pains go away.  Even though we took a mini-break on the 3rd day....we rode 50+ miles in total.  I'm so thankful for my family and friends that made it all possible and to God for giving me those boys and letting me wake up on those beautiful mornings and take part in memories we'll never forget......

To Your Health Thursday - Washing Your Chickens The Right Way

I've never TRULY washed a chicken.....I've washed kids, dogs, horses, mules, cows and maybe another animal or two but never a chicken.  Oh I've tried....don't think I haven't but those darn things are FAST!!  I got after them with a water hose when I was a kid so much that when I would actually turn on the hose to water them, they'd practically leave the county.

All kidding aside, you have all washed your raw chicken prior to cutting / and cooking it and according to this article, we may have been doing it wrong.

Read this article from SlashFood......

Photo: stephenjohnbryde, Flickr

You might want to think twice before rinsing off raw chicken in your kitchen sink.

Recent studies by the British Food Standards Agency show that rinsing chicken can potentially spread bacteria on work surfaces in a three-foot radius, The Daily Telegraph reported. The report says up to 75 percent of consumers wash poultry before consuming it.

The FSA says 65 percent of raw chicken is contaminated with campylobacer, the most common cause of food poisoning, the paper reported. And while cooking will kill the bug, Campylobacter causes more than 300,000 cases of food poisoning and 15,000 hospitalizations a year in England and Wales.

That means washing your bird can spread harmful bacteria around your kitchen, potentially contaminating other foods in your kitchen that may not be cooked before eating.

The FSA is looking into ways to reduce contamination across the chicken production line, including disinfecting chickens with an antimicrobial wash -- a method not yet approved in the EU.

"Washing raw poultry is a common kitchen mistake, and it simply isn't necessary," an FSA spokeswoman told the Telegraph.

"Tap water won't get rid of the germs that cause food poisoning but they will be killed by thorough cooking. By washing your raw bird, you're actually more likely to spread the germs around the kitchen than get rid of them." 



I've never personally thought of it in this light before but it stands to reason.....What are your thoughts / comments??  Do you wash your chickens?

What's In Your Diet Wednesday - How Much Is Too Much?

How many times do you think about your food?  I know, I'm the same as many of you, I DON'T want to know what's in my food or I wouldn't eat it!!  That is the main reason that I, like so many of you, like to catch, grow, hunt and prepare my own food.  There are plenty of mysteries in life to solve without puzzling over that aspect of your life.

While many like to ignore it, myself included, many others must always be vigilant.  Those with food allergies, whether they be lactose, nut, fish, or gluten related, MUST know what they are eating in order to be healthy.  Other people must know for different reasons such as diabetics and those with heart disease.  We are becoming much more aware as a society of what we put in our bodies and that is a GOOD thing!!  We will all be healthier for it.

Read this article on salt from Medicinal Food News.....

If you take two highly toxic chemical elements - sodium (chemical symbol Na) and chlorine (chemical symbol Cl) and combine them, you get NaCl, or common table salt. NaCl is something that we can't live without. However, it seems that most of us are getting too much of this white powder. Campaigns to reduce the salt or the sodium in your diet are now becoming popular

Human blood has a salt content of about 0.9%. Although our bodies cannot function without salt, our daily requirement falls within a narrow range

It is the salt in your blood that helps control blood pressure. As the amount of sodium from salt in your blood increases, the blood volume increases because sodium attracts and retains water. Your heart then has to work harder to move the increased volume of blood through your blood vessels. This creates increased strain on the arteries and high blood pressure. There is mounting evidence that shows there is a direct relationship between excess salt in the diet and the incidence of heart disease and strokes.

It has been noted that the salt content of our foods has been increasing over the years. Many food manufacturers say they have added salt to their product to enhance the taste in response to consumer demands. However, some health and advocacy groups suggest that consumers have developed an unhealthy craving for the salt because of the unregulated addition of salt by so many food manufacturers.

According to some estimates, North American consumers are getting three to four times as much salt per day as they need; the average Canadian consumes about 3400 mg of Na /day in the form of NaCl. Even if you don’t have a salt shaker on your dinner table, you could be still be getting too much salt. Every food contains some salt. Salt is added to many processed foods for taste, and in some cases it serves as a preservative. Even foods that you would not expect to have salt in them can be major sources of salt. Bread, processed meats, processed vegetables and tomatoes and vegetable juices are the major sources of salt in our diets.

Checking the nutrition facts panel on most processed foods is a good place to start to see how much “hidden” salt you are eating. Food composition tables often provide sodium levels; so when checking composition tables or recommended daily intake statements it is necessary to understand whether the recommendation is for salt (sodium chloride) or for just sodium.

Today there are many types of salt being sold. The traditional white table salt is now competing with expensive sea salts that come in many colours. The colour of sea salt is due to minor impurities such as minerals, so the health concerns about table salt also apply to sea salt.

It is believed that reducing salt in the diet is the most cost effective way of reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease. Cutting down on salt is an easy way to improve your health.

Many people, myself included, have made the transition to ancient sea salt in their diets instead of the iodized table salt.  I personally do it for taste but many believe there are some major health benefits as well.  What are your thoughts on the subject?

Tasty Tuesdays! Crushed Pineapple Cake

It's been another busy weekend as my boys and I are getting ready to go on a 4 day trail ride this week.  This particular trail ride has been in existence longer than I have and is known as the "Cloverleaf".  You have a central campsite at the same location and every morning, you get up, saddle up, and ride in the cloverleaf pattern making a big loop and finishing up at the campsite.    Each morning is a new direction and you'll cover about 15 miles per day horseback, or in our case, "muleback".  I've never heard anyone call it that before, but I always liked to be the pioneer so I'll be the one to say it here.

I have been on this very ride, at the tender age of 5 years, many moons ago.  My dad took my sister and I, along with a neighbor kid and nearly worked himself to death taking care of three kids and at least 4 horses.  This will be my boys first official trail ride and they are very excited.  They have been riding since they were about 1 month old, first with me, and as they got older, on their own and I'm looking forward to this sooooo much!!  It will be a lot of work but we are going with some good friends so it will be a lot of fun.

As for this weeks Tasty Tuesday recipe......

First let me say that I considered myself a cake connisseur.  I have certainly eaten my share, and probably yours as well.  I've eaten home-made cakes, store-bought cakes, cakes from down the street and around the world and until yesterday, I have NEVER in my life tasted a cake as delicious as this one!!! 

This cake is not low fat, low sugar, or low anything else for that matter and why should it be???  It is as the name implies, a cake that makes you say...."Ohhhhh Myyyyy!?!?"  What you don't see in the title are the secret ingredients that take it to a whole 'nother level.

......Let's get to the recipe!!

Cake:

2 cups all purpose flour (those with gluten issues can use GF flour)

2 cups crushed pineapple

2 eggs

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

Mix all ingredients well and pour into greased / floured 8 x 10 cake pan.  Sprinkle top with small amount of brown sugar.  Bake at 350 degrees approx 30 minutes or until cake tests done with a toothpick.

Icing:

1 1/2 stick butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup chopped pecans

3/4 can condensed milk

Approx 6-8 oz fresh, shredded coconut (I never eat things with coconut but I can't stay away from this cake...)

Bring icing ingredients to a boil and let simmer for 5 minutes, pour mixture over cake while cake is still hot.  Cool and serve!
(As soon as the cake comes out of the oven you can start your icing prep. When it is finished, pour over cake and you're done.....)

This cake is sooo easy to make and hard to put down!!

I intended to take a picture of the whole cake but got busy and before I could turn around.....this lonely piece was all that was left!!

I have never met the woman that made this recipe famous but I have heard soooo much about her.  Ms. Opal is a dear friend of the family and my dad's arch-rival in the garden.  Every summer for the past couple of years they have sent each other pictures and also the actual fruits / vegetables in a friendly competition of who grew the best tomatoes, squash, strawberries, peppers, corn and anything else you can imagine.  While I haven't met Opal, I intend to remedy that very soon and meet this great lady that I have heard so much about........ Enjoy!!!

This post is part of the following blog carnivals.....Go check out these great sites!!

Mouthwatering Mondays

Monday Mania
Hearth 'n Soul
Slightly Indulgent Tuesday
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

An Ever-Changing World

From global warming to climate change and for an example that hits close to home for me, my alma mater going from the Redmen to the Riverhawks.  We live in a world that is constantly shifting and changing.  I've been told from an early age, "The only constant in this life is change."  It is true whether we agree with it or not. 

For those that follow the global warming debate, it was thought that the term didn't carry the day so "climate change" was used to more accurately fill the shoes so to speak.

In the case of my alma mater, Northeastern State University in Oklahoma, someone, somewhere thought that the term Redmen was deameaning to those of Native American descent, so Riverhawks was used in it's stead. 

Whatever the reasons from a changing world to political correctness or company restructuring, rebranding is a big part of our lives.  Companies often change names (as well as blogs!) to better define themselves or their products and market to that ever important consumer.  There are countless examples throughout history, both successful and non, of rebranding in an ever changing world.

Read this article from the Care 2 Green Living Blog........

The rebranding of six popular food Items
By Mel, selected from DivineCaroline
Posted Tue Oct 5, 2010 4:47pm PDT


By Allison Ford, DivineCaroline

Here's a food riddle: When is high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) not high-fructose corn syrup? When it's "corn sugar." Yes, get ready to start seeing this new, innocent-sounding moniker pop up in commercials and on labels.

Because of the thrashing HFCS has taken in the court of public opinion in the past few years, its makers have decided to help it shed its old, battered skin and emerge as a sleeker, more natural-sounding product.

Rebranding happens all the time in the corporate world. Philip Morris became Altria. The SciFi Channel became SyFy, GMAC became Ally Bank, Puff Daddy became Diddy, and Prince became The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. When a name -- for one reason or another -- just isn't working, the strategy is to regroup and debut as something else.

You may think of foods as having fixed and immutable names, but the truth is that food products can be rebranded just as easily as any other corporation, product, or person. The latest example is the attempt by the Corn Refiners' Association to shed the negative image of HFCS by calling it something sweet and tempting, like "corn sugar."

Some rebrandings are successful and some aren't, but some of our most commonplace foods didn't always go by the name they have now.


Aspartame, aka AminoSweet

Discovered in 1965, aspartame was among the first major artificial sweeteners to hit the U.S. food market, and because of its potency and lack of calories, manufacturers put it in everything. But due to competition from newer sweeteners and persistent rumors that the chemical is linked to cancerous tumors, sales of aspartame have lagged in recent years.

The FDA has consistently maintained that aspartame is safe, but in early 2010, Ajinomoto (one company that manufactures the compound) decided to rename it AminoSweet. The new name is meant to make the product sound more natural and to evoke the two amino acids that account for its sweetness.


Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed Oil, aka Canola Oil

There's no such thing as a canola. Actually, the proper spelling is "Canola" with a capital C, because Canola isn't even a plant -- it's the proper name of the product.

Canola oil comes from the rapeseed plant. Rapeseed oil was used in many parts of the world for cooking and industrial purposes, but it wasn't until the 1970s that it became a staple in American kitchens, after Canadian scientists genetically engineered a strain of rapeseed plant that yielded a product significantly less bitter than regular rapeseed oil. It also contained less erucic acid, which had been associated with heart problems.

The tasteless, odorless oil was perfect for cooking and baking, but manufacturers decided that "low erucic acid rapeseed oil" was not likely to motivate consumers to buy. They called the new oil Canola oil, after the name given to the experimental seed by the Canadian government: Can.-O.-L.A., which stood for Canadian, oilseed, low-acid.

Thanks to smart branding, today it's the third most popular cooking oil in the United States.


Prunes, aka Dried Plums

Prunes rank at the very top of the "Things That Are Closely Identified With Old People" list, making them a tough sell to anyone other than older folks.

The fruit, which is extraordinarily high in vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber, gained a bad reputation in the United States, even though people from other countries consider it a normal and healthy snack.

In 2000, California prune growers decided to rebrand the fruit as a "dried plum" in order to distance it from images of the elderly, laxatives, and nursing homes.


Chinese Gooseberry, aka Kiwifruit

In another case of Americans and our fruit prejudices, importers in the 1960s decided that the Chinese gooseberry, imported from New Zealand, needed a makeover.

They decided to rename it kiwifruit to honor the flightless national bird of New Zealand. Once the new name took hold, sales took off.


Baby Carrots, aka Junk Food

In an attempt to get kids to eat more fruits and vegetables, carrot farmers have unveiled what's believed to be the first marketing campaign expressly intended to boost sales of a single vegetable. Their message: Carrots are just as cool as other crunchy, neon-orange chips, doodles, and snacks.

According to USA Today, the 25-million-dollar plan includes packaging baby carrots in junk food-style packaging, selling them in vending machines, and circulating catchy slogans like "The original orange doodle." The goal is to create an image of carrots as sexy, tasty, youthful, and "extreme."

Would a prune by any other name taste as sweet? Well, in the eye of the American consumer, a name is everything, and these products have risked everything to become something more palatable, more approachable, and more profitable.

People may be turned off by high-fructose corn syrup, but who can resist the sweet appeal of corn sugar? In the eyes of these products' manufacturers, hopefully not you.

Does rebranding make a product more appealing to you?  Goodness knows that our society today is one of labels / brands  From the fashion world to the political one, branding is an enormous part of our lives.  What products do you remember being rebranded?  Did the name change have any effect on you?  Tell us in the comments.....

Tasty Tuesdays! Jersey Style Noodle Pudding

What a wildly busy, wonderfully successful, and sleepless weekend I had just a few days ago!  I know this is Tuesday but speaking of yesterday.....Have you ever been THANKFUL that it was a Monday??  I was so excited about Monday being here I could hardly stand it.  The previous 7 day week was so jam-packed  and busy that I was standing on my tip-toes trying to see the beginning days of the next week so I could schedule a few hours of down-time.  Please don't mis-understand!!  I love to be busy!  As long as I can have some Jason time mixed in there once in a while I'm good.  It's the times that we've all had where you turn around and can't remember when you read a book, watched a movie, a ball game, listened to some music or had an adult beverage that life starts to get to you.

This week's post is a dish that until recently, I have never had the pleasure of eating.  While some might describe me as an adventurous eater, others might scoff and say that I am a babe in the woods concerning matters of the palate.  In many ways, they would both be correct.  On one hand, I have eaten what many people wouldn't dream of, except in their nightmares, and on the other, there are limitless other culinary creations that I haven't tried and probably some that I wouldn't on a bet.

This one is not exotic or strange or any of those things and is in fact super easy to make, it just slipped through the cracks I guess and circled back around many years later to land on my plate.  Let's get to the recipe!

Ingredients:

3 lbs cooked pasta (egg noodles in this case)

1 quart of 1/2 & 1/2

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup macerated raisins (soaked in bourbon or other alcohol...not to worry, it cooks out)

1/2 tbs ground cinammon

1 tsp ground ginger

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a buttered pan.  Bake in 400 degree oven for 45 minutes.  A topping may be made and spread over pudding when baking.  Add the topping at the 30 minute mark or approx halfway point.

Topping:

1/2 cup crushed chex or cornflakes

1 tbsp  butter, melted

1 tbsp brown sugar

Mix together topping ingredients. Sprinkle over pudding.  You may leave out raisins if you do not like them.  

This noodle pudding was very delicious and a treat for the taste buds.  The sweetness of the sugar, along with the tanginess of the macerated raisins.  For me it was an unusual, albeit welcome dessert.  Noodles have always been a comfort food in my home and the smooth, al dente texture paired with the crunchy, crumbly topping gave me another reason to try this again very soon!

Enjoy!!

This post is part of the following blog carnivals.......Go check out these great sites!!

Mouthwatering Monday 

 Hearth 'n Soul

Tuesday Twister

Pennywise Platter Thursday

To Your Health Wednesday! (Thursday Edition) - 5 Spices To Help You Lose Weight

I have really started to pick up on my excercising lately.  I have come to the point in my life where I cannot even come close to eating all the food I want and not gain an inch.  I think the mid-thirties must be a magical age for me.  I have to constantly watch what I eat, excercise more and relax less just to maintain a happy medium.

We are always hearing about this weight-loss product or that excercise gimmick....What if there were some powerful ingredients in the kitchen cabinets to help burn the calories??

Read this article from Shine.......

5 Spices That Can Help You Lose Weight.
.Healthy LivingWednesday, October 6, 2010

Although we’re inclined to scour the Web in search of the best diets and meal plans, the truth is, some of the tools to weight-loss success are already on your spice rack! Here are five ingredients that not only add flavor to your favorite dishes but can help in your battle against the bulge.

1. Cinnamon

A 2003 study published in Diabetes Care showed that as little as one teaspoon of cinnamon per day can boost the body’s weight-loss ability by reducing blood sugar and promoting healthier processing of carbohydrates. It also lowers LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) by seven to 27% and total cholesterol by 12 to 26%. Plus, cinnamon has been shown to prevent the metabolic syndrome commonly seen in pre-diabetics. But before you go on piling the spice by spoonful, note that cinnamon contains a chemical called coumarin, which can lead to liver damage if consumed in very large amounts.

2. Cayenne

The main ingredient in spicy cayenne—capsaicin, which is also found in other hot peppers—has long been studied for its fat-burning abilities and thermogenic properties (the stimulating of the central nervous system to produce heat in the body, leading to an increase in calorie burning). In fact, Nicholas Perricone, M.D., cites several of these studies in his wildly popular The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet and concludes that capsaicin acts as an appetite suppressant. Many think that cayenne pepper promotes weight loss because it’s simply difficult to overindulge in spicy food. However, later studies performed by the Journal of Obesity also found that the spice increases fat oxidation, “ramps up energy expenditure, and stimulates activity by the sympathetic nervous system”—all which help the body to shed excess weight. Not a fan of fiery cuisine? Not to worry! Research has found that cayenne’s ability to reduce appetite is equally effective whether ingested as food or in capsule form.

3. Black Pepper

Among the dozens of health benefits of this common household ingredient is its ability to improve digestion and promote the absorption of nutrients in tissues all over the body. Plus, its main component—piperine (which gives pepper its pungent taste)—boosts fat metabolism by as much as 8% for several hours after ingesting it. If you want your pepper to pack the most punch, use freshly ground pepper, which has the most concentrated amounts of piperine.

4. Mustard Seed

Like the other hot ingredients on this list, spicy mustard helps boost metabolism and allows you to burn fat more quickly, thanks in part to its thermogenic properties. Scientists at England’s Oxford Polytechnic Institute recently found that eating just one teaspoon of hot mustard can “boost metabolism 20 to 25% for several hours after eating, resulting in an additional burn of about 45 calories if a 700-calorie meal is consumed.”

5. Ginger

Long used for its medicinal properties, ginger is also an effective diuretic (a substance that increases the elimination of urine). It improves gastric mobility (i.e. it pushes food and waste through the digestive system) and hinders the absorption of cholesterol. Although according to the Mayo Clinic, more study is needed, preliminary evidence suggests that this versatile spice helps to increase metabolism.

Do any of you readers have experience in this regard??  Are you an avid eater of the above spices while sporting a lean and mean physique??  Tell us your stories........

Tasty Tuesday! Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler

Fall is definitely here in Oklahoma with the nights getting into the loooow 50's and occasionally the high 40's.....with the daytime temps often struggling to reach 75.  I had a great time this summer and I'm sad to see it go. 

But on the bright side, my boys won their soccer game last night, the first win this season!!!  My oldest had a World Cup worthy block on a close range goal attempt and my youngest had a couple of steals that had me out of my seat.  I loooooove to watch my kids play sports!!  I don't really watch sports on television at all (except for the big rivalries) but I do and have driven 150+ miles round trip to watch them play whether it be soccer, baseball, etc....  They're not always the most graceful, athletic, or winning-est team on the field, but the devil himself couldn't keep me away from those games. 

So with their first win under their belt, they are feeling invincible and rightly so as it was a rout, 2-0!!  I think they have found their groove, as they are very aggressive on the field, they just need to work on the team aspect of it and share the glory.

Ok now that is off my chest so we can get to the recipe!  This week's post is a Peach Cobbler as you know from the title and my first crust from scratch so cross your fingers........

Ingredients:


• 3 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (I used about 1/4+ cup of sugar)

• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter cut in small pieces



• Crust:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Sweet White Sorghum Flour)

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter

• 1/2 cup (or less) heavy cream

Preparation:

Lay sliced fresh peaches in a buttered 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of sugar. Dot with the 1/4 cup butter which has been cut into small pieces.

For crust, mix together, flour, baking powder, 1 tablespoon sugar, and salt. Cut in the remaining 1/4 cup butter. Stir in heavy cream until dough is manageable. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface; place over sliced peaches. Bake at 375° for 35 minutes, or until top is nicely browned.  Peach cobbler serves 6.

Of course when I went to roll the dough I couldn't find my rolling pin!  Note to self.....Gather up all the tools before you get started!!  So after having a dismal failure with a glass.  The crust you see here is completely hand formed. (smashed, flattened, and otherwise shaped)  Then I had to flip it over onto a plate and then use a spatula to slide it over the cobbler.  If any of you ladies out there who are veterans of the kitchen have a quick & easy method for placing the pie crust on the cobbler I'd love to hear it...
 

I'm very curious to see how the crust will turn out since I used the sorghum flour.  I was out of regular flour as luck would have it so after much scrounging about in the pantry, I found it and thought "Well what the hey...I'll give it a try."  It is kind of different when you're judging the browness of the crust as it was almost a creamed coffe color to begin with!  Enjoy!!
 
p.s.  I'm no longer curious about the sorghum flour!!  While the dessert is sweet and flavorful as you know peach cobbler to be, the crust turned out to be sandy and gritty.....not crisp and crumbly....  Possible operator error??  Absolutely!!  But I think I'll run to the store next time for the all purpose flour!!
 
However, I should mention that after refrigeration, the crust was much more crust-like and crumbly-good.
Perhaps it was too hot when I did the first taste-test??

This post is part of the following blog carnivals......Go check out these great sites!!

Monday Mania
Mouthwatering Monday
Hearth 'n Soul
Slightly Indulgent Tuesday
Tuesday Twister
Gluten-Free Wednesdays
Real Food Wednesday
Pennywise Platter Thursday
Recipe Swap Thursday