Recipe: Simplest Strawberry Pie

I promised some strawberry recipes - results of our wonderful strawberry picking expedition at Riverbend Farm. Their u-pick strawberries are done, but I've heard tell of all kinds of other berries coming ripe. This pie would work with any kind of berry, as long as you get a good corresponding jam.

Really, this is so easy it shouldn't count as a recipe. But here you go anyway.

One baked pie shell - I wrote out my thoughts on pie crust here, or you can check out this tasty almond (and therefor gluten free, paleo-friendly) crust here.



Approximately 4-6 cups of washed and cut strawberries.
1 cup strawberry jam (fresh made? use up last years?)
Zest and juice of one lemon

8 oz. whipping cream or 4 oz. whipping cream & 4 oz. marscapone cheese
Pinch of sugar (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla

Put the jam, lemon juice, and zest in a small sauce pan. Heat to thin the jam and mingle the flavors. Mix with the strawberries. Taste - add sugar or honey if you feel it needs it. I never think it does.

Fill the crust with the berries. Whip the cream till it forms soft peaks. Use 4 oz. if you are adding the marscapone, 8 if not. I add vanilla to whipped cream, but not sugar. Do what moves you. To make the topping truly decadent, use 4 oz. whipping cream, once it is whipped add in 4 oz. marscpone and whip again to combine. Spread on the top of the pie. Decorate with a few extra strawberries if you wish.

That's so easy. And tasty, as you will note by the lack of pictures.

Adventures With Purple Barley

Last night I put 2 cups of Lonesome Whistle's Purple Barley and about 6-7 cups of water in my slow cooker. I've been meaning to try this since my success with the Scottish Oats in the slow cooker. Right before I went to bed I set it on low for 8 hours. This morning - warm and tasty barley cereal ready to go! We added butter, milk, and sweetener as we served. Some of us had it with honey, some with molasses, and some with brown sugar. Everyone enjoyed it - even Sister-Bug who often refuses to eat things that don't have Gorgonzola in them. This is one of my new favorite ways to deal with breakfast and my hungry little bugs who often can't even wait for eggs to scramble! How perfect to have breakfast ready to go, the moment they are up and clamoring for food.

A red bowl of slow-cooked purple barley.

My other success with the purple barley was the following recipe - made up largely because my mom gave me a container of Mascarpone and I didn't have any immediate inspirations of what to do with it. Leafing through old cookbooks I found a recipe for risotto with Mascarpone and Pancetta. The idea struck my fancy, and this recipe was the result. It seemed to be kind of a risotto/pilaf hybrid and I'm just not sure what to call it. It is amazingly rich and warming. Papa-Bug, in particular couldn't have enjoyed it more. 

Decadent Barley with Mascarpone

1/2 onion
5 tbl. butter
2 cups purple barley
1/2 pound ham cubed (I used a nitrite-free ham slice from Deck Family Farm...soooo good)
5-6 cups chicken broth
8 oz Mascarpone cheese
4 tbl. Fresh parsley
5-7 Green onions

Heat the butter in a large, heavy bottomed frying pan. Chop the onion and saute until clear. Add the barley and continue to saute for another 5-7 minutes (in making risotto you wait for the rice to look 'clear', which didn't happen with the barley).  Add the ham and toss to combine. Add the chicken broth and cover. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, and cook until the barley is done through - this took about an hour. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 15-30 minutes (this is essential, as it keeps the Mascarpone from separating too much). Just before serving, mix in the minced parsley and green onions and the Mascarpone.

My thanks go out to my mom for putting the Mascarpone in my fridge, causing the creation of this pleasing recipe!

Overnight Oatmeal

I got a new slow cooker for Christmas. It was time. I was using my mom's old hand-me-down and the small crack in the crock was getting bigger... and wiggly... and soon would not be so watertight. I'm thrilled with my new one. It programs to turn to warm after a set time, so whenever I cook it, the food stays warm, but doesn't over cook. I love it.

With my delivery of beans and grains from Lonesome Whistle there was a bag of Scottish Oats. The instructions call for giving them 30 minutes to cook stove top, and it's rare that I get a full 30 minutes to cook for my hungry tigers in the morning. But with the slow cooker...

Put 1 cup of Scottish Oats and a pinch of salt into a slow cooker with 5 cups of water (yes, this is a cup more than Kasey's instructions call for) at bed time. Set to Low for 8 hours. If you have a timed cooker it will switch to warm in the night, or still be slowly cooking when you get up. Regardless, when you get up, there will be warm oatmeal, ready to go.

The only disclaimer I feel I should add is that because of the long, low cooking time the oatmeal ends up more gooey than some people might like. We didn't mind at all. 

This is the perfect thing to do the night before a busy morning. Add some raisins, cashews, maple syrup...

I'm going to try it with barley next. I love barley cereal.

Math Beans

Here in homeschooling land we look for different ways to play and learn, so as to engage as many part of our brains as possible. For math, we really like the skill building over at IXL, as well as cooking, helping with shopping, general counting, and other similar tasks. This week I also made a Math Bean Game, with the help of a few beans and 2 egg cartons. It is basic, almost free, and nicely hands-on for a little person.

(You can click on the picture to get a clearer shot of our game.)

With a marker, write the numbers 1-12 in the first egg carton. Then 1-6 on each side of the second egg carton. In the second carton put the correct number of beans in each side, using two different kinds of beans (we used pintos and garbanzos, but you could also use 2 colors of beads, or marbles, or what ever). That's it. Now play! 

One way to play: take the beans from a #2 slot and put it in the #4 slot. How many of the other kind of bean do you need to make 4? 

Obviously you can do whatever numbers you want to do. You can add, subtract, work forward, work backward... all kinds of math play is possible with this practically free game!

Recipe: Carrot-Raisin Salad

This is about the easiest potluck or quick side-dish I know. It's something I grew up with and falls into the category of my comfort food. If this takes more than 10 minutes - even with hand grating the carrot - you are doing something else.

Grate up about 4-6 carrots into a bowl. Add about a  half cup or so of raisins. Start with a few and you can always increase. Spoon about a third cup of mayonnaise into the bowl and mix it all up. Add some more mayonnaise if necessary - you want it to lightly coat all the carrots and raisins. 

That's it. Seriously. And kids LOVE it. It's also a good side dish when you have a green-vegetable dense main course.

Recipe: Slow Cooker French Onion Soup

It's one of my favorites - rich beef-broth, savory onions, browned cheese... Yum. Luckily it is also one of the easiest things I make in our kitchen. The secret is in the slow cooker.

I never used to make french onion soup because I don't particularly enjoy caramelizing onions. The amount of slow stirring over the pan of onion aromatics... not really a cooking task for me. And then came the realization of Slow Cooker Caramelized Onions. Let me lay this out for you.

I say this is "almost instant" but in reality it takes a day or so to complete. However, most of that time is in the slow cooker, so it doesn't really count. You just have to think ahead a bit.

1) Throw some beef bones and about a quart and a half of water in your slow cooker the night before you want your soup. Add a potato for extra potassium if you wish it. Make sure the bones are covered with water. Turn it to high and leave it over night.

2) The next morning, pour the broth into a container to store in the fridge for the day. Discard the bones. Save the potato and have it for lunch. YUM.

(You can skip these two steps and buy a quart of pre-made beef broth at the store. But it won't taste quite the same.)

3) Slice up enough onions to OVERFILL your slow cooker. I use my food processor for this. You can do it by hand. Either way, you want enough to fill the slow cooker above the brim.

4) Add the onions and a stick or two of butter (8-16 oz.) to the slow cooker. I usually put half the butter in the middle, and half on top. Figure out how to lid this pile - I had to cover mine over with tinfoil this last time. Too many onions for the lid to fit!

**NOTE: If you don't want extra caramelized onions for later, fill your slow cooker only about half way with onions and reduce the amount of butter.

5) Turn the slow cooker back on (high). Leave it for the day. Stir it once or twice if you get the opportunity. Or just let it go. Whatever.

6) 20-30 minutes before you want to eat, open up your slow cooker. You should have lovely onions - a whole pile of them! Way more than you need for your soup. Take about 2/3 of the onions and freeze by the measured 1/2 cup on a cookie sheet or in muffin tins. Keep these guys in the freezer for caramelized onions in an instant. They thaw fast to be added to burgers, quiche, omelets, pasta sauce, whatever! That's a win. You can put them to the side and get them in the freezer after dinner or anytime in the next couple of hours.

**I am compelled at this point to bring up my dad's complaint with this method. You end up with caramelized onions that are more steamed than fried and therefore do not have the crispy caramel bits. I agree with him. I also like how simple it is to caramelize these guys.

7) Add the following to the remaining 1/3 of onions in the slow cooker:
Approximately 4 cups beef broth
1/2 cup (or more) dry white wine
4-5 fresh thyme sprigs or 2 tbl. dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

8) Lid the cooker and let it all warm up.

9) Serve the soup into oven-safe bowls. Top each one with some crusty baguette-type bread and slices of Gruyere cheese (Parmesan is okay in a pinch). Broil until the cheese is toasty and serve.

That's it. Lots of steps, but (with a food processor to cut the onions) no step takes more than 10 minutes. Most steps take more like 2 minutes.

Eat up!