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.

Recipe: Palee-ish Corn Muffins

As I mentioned in my Dinner Swap post, the family I swap with eats a mostly paleo diet, which I love because it makes me cook different things and approach standby recipes from an experimental perspective. Gluten really doesn't work for the Mama in the family, so regualr bread products are out. But I love to bake, and last night the menu called for cornbread. But cornbread without some wheat flour?

I did a Google search and came up with lots of recipes, bless the internet! I adapted what I found to what I wanted and what I had. I came up with these delightful muffins. I call them "Palee-ish" because the cornmeal isn't strictly part of a paleo diet. Adapt for yourself as you see fit.

Palee-ish Corn Muffins with Bacon & Applesauce
Preheat oven to 350.

1/2 cup (one stick) softened butter (if you don't use butter mix coconut oil, olive oil, and/or bacon grease)
6 eggs
2/3 cup applesauce (no sugar added)
1/2 cup bacon bits - I chopped up leftover bacon ends. So good.
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

In a stand mixer, or with a strong arm, whip the butter, eggs, and applesauce. Add the bacon bits and combine. Mix in the flours and baking powder until well blended. Scoop into muffin tins and bake for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

We served this with salmon and collards and more applesauce. It was a very satisfying meal.

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A quick word on bacon ends: These are the bits that are taken off of the more uniformly shaped bacons strips. They are odd shapped and inconsistent - though just as tasty as their asthetic counterparts. Usually they are priced cheaper than bacon strips. The bacon I used was from Deck Family Farm, of course, from the pig I purchased last fall. Bacon ends are perfect for any time or place you need chopped bacon. If you are trying to eat local, organic, pastured meat they can help strech that budget a little bit.