Labor Day Dinner with Raspberry Pie for Dessert

All I ever want to eat for Labor Day is the best that the changing seasons have to offer. I opened my window this morning and I could feel the Fall coming in. September is like a cool breeze of hope for those of us who live in scorching climes. It's a hint of Autumn in the mornings and evenings, sandwiching warm, sunny days. All of the wonderful summer garden bounty is still ripe for the picking-corn, watermelon, juicy tomatoes. But the Fall harvest is beginning also-apples, late raspberries, wintersquash. And, mama, I want it all. Give me a piece of corn on the cob with an apple turnover on the side. So here's what we're having for dinner on Labor Day, to celebrate the very best of late summer. Now for dessert: I've been thinking about Raspberry pie all week long. I thought about it when I was balancing my checkbook, when I was teaching my college students about Galileo, when I was peeling potatoes. I had to stop the madness and make one. It's fantastic. Except now I want another one, so the madness really hasn't stopped at all. Betcha can't stop thinking about it, too now. It's fantastic and contagious, this berry pie obsession. Happy Labor Day, my dear, clever readers. Be safe and take it easy.
Grilled Steaks with Mushrooms, Blue Cheese and Red Bell Pepper

Mexican Corn on the Cob

Avocado and Nectarine SaladRoasted Red Potatoes and an Assortment of Potato Chips for Kids
For Dessert:
Watermelon
Miniature Apple Turnovers
Raspberry Pie (recipe to follow) served with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream End of Summer Raspberry Pie
Cost: as cheap as $6.00 if you can get a good deal on berries-now's the time!
Notes: I used frozen berries that I bought cheap a few weeks ago. No problem whatsoever.
double pie crust (click here for my tutorial), or purchase them
4 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen (not thawed)
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup flour
squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon cream or milk
more sugar, for sprinkling
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard piedish with one pie crust. In a large bowl, combine berries, sugar, and flour, and lemon squeeze if using. Pour into piecrust. Dot with butter. Top with remaining piecrust. Poke holes with a fork to vent steam. Brush with cream and sprinkle with sugar. Place prepared pie on cookie sheet. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until crust is browned and raspberries are bubbling.
Happy Labor Day!

Oatmeal-Peanut Butter Raspberry Bars

School is almost out around these parts and even we obsessive homeschoolers snap the whip just a little bit less often in the summer. Those last few weeks of school are hard-going. I think it's because human beings have a tendency to psychologically prepare ourselves for only the designated amount of time required, and no more. If we know school gets out on June 1st, then we start dreading school around the end of April. If we know a marathon is 26 miles long, then we start feeling wiped out around mile 20. If we know that a pregnancy is nine months long, we start to gripe and swell around month seven. Well, I usually complain my way through the whole thing, but still. So here's what I propose: tell the kids that school gets out in August. Then on June 1st, surprise them by yelling "School's Out!" and promptly squirt them with a bottle of silly string. I think it might just cure end of school year burn out. And if that doesn't work, you could always try these oatmeal peanut butter- raspberry bars. They seem like the perfect afterschool snack, especially when you've got a passel of hungry little mouths around 3:30 PM. When I was babysitting a million and one babies last week, I got the idea for these bar cookies. I never actually made them, because I was babysitting a million and one babies. See how cute they are. This is just a sample section, since they couldn't all fit in one picture. Aren't they sweet? They're hungry too, and sick of school, so you better get mixing. My family found them to be the perfect afternoon snack. They were hearty and delicious, and the perfect cure for May's sick-of-school blues. Hang in there, kiddos. You're almost there.
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars with Raspberry Preserves
Estimated Cost: $2.50 for 12
Notes: These would be delicious with just about any flavor of jam or preserves, so be creative.
1/2 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter (don't use natural style)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour (I used half whole wheat)
1 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup raspberry preserves
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 8 or 9 inch square baking pan. In a large bowl, cream butter and peanut butter with brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Stir in powder and salt. Gently mix in flour, then oats. Pat half of mixture into prepared pan. Spread with preserves. Crumble remaining mixture over the top of the preserves. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until golden brown and set. If you want them to slice perfectly, let them cool and then chill for 30 minutes. If you don't care, dig into them warm with a tall, frosty glass of milk.
Next Up:
Rhubarb Strawberry Jam

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake in a piedish

I always feel a little wistful on the last day of the year. How did 2009 slip away from me so quickly? If only I could get earth to complete its revolution at a more reasonable speed. Does anybody have any time I could borrow? No, we are all fresh out with none to spare. 2009 is dying in the night and I'm left wondering, did I finish everything that I set out to accomplish? Did I make it memorable, happy, and magical for the charges? Did I spend too much time worrying about things that really didn't matter? Did I appreciate the moments that turned into days, then weeks, then months, then years?

These are the questions that fill the pages of my journal on the last day of the year. They are good questions to ask before making New Year's resolutions. I don't want to resolve to do anything deeply meaningful. I'd rather resolve to do little things that make us more contented and unified as a family, before these babies of mine fly the coop. I know they're little, but if every year zooms as fast as 2009, it'll feel like I have approximately 12 minutes left before they are free-thinking adults. Here's one to get started:

New Year's Resolution #1

Watch the entire collection of I Love Lucy with the charges and the Quiet Man. Laugh hard. Rewind. Laugh some more.

New Year's Resolution #2

Make more cheesecake.

All right, Resolution two may not make it past the editing table, but it works nicely into this post, since it should really be about cheesecake and not angst and the unstoppable tidal wave of time. This cheesecake is low and luscious, filled with suprise bits of raspberries and a smooth round richness from melted white chocolate. Best of all, you don't need a springform pan since it bakes neatly in a pie dish and it's ready to bake in less than twenty minutes. It would be a great way to ring in the new year, or it would be a fantastic way to bring cheer to any regular night, since regular days and nights are what life is really made of. Maybe New Year's Resolution #2 really is a good idea, after all. Happy New Year's to you and yours!

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

Estimated Cost: $7.00
Crust:

1 and 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter, melted

Filling:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 ounces white chocolate, melted and cooled slightly

1 cup frozen raspberries, not thawed

Raspberry Sauce

1 cup frozen raspberries

1 tablespoon water

3/4 cup sugar

squeeze of fresh lemon

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare graham cracker crust by combining crumbs, melted butter and sugar. Press into 8 or 9 inch pie plate. Place in freezer while you prepare the filling. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with a mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar. Stir in eggs and vanilla, beating until combined well and mixture is free of lumps. Stir in white chocolate. Remove crust from freezer and scatter berries over the bottom of the crust. Pour white chocolate filling over crust. Tap cheesecake on the counter a few times to remove air bubbles. Bake until the outside of the cheesecake is set and lightly browned on the edges but the middle is still jiggly, about 40-45 minutes. Cool on rack for at least one hour. Chill in refrigerator at least three hours before serving.

To prepare sauce, combine raspberries, water, sugar, and lemon in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook, mashing berries for two minutes. Strain sauce. (If big chunks of berries remain, you can blend the sauce before straining.)

Happy New Year:

Be Back in 2010 with my Favorite Soups in the Crock Pot

Golden Delicious Apple Raspberry Crisp

Yesterday's comment section got a little, um... feisty. I just want to say that I love the lovers and I love the haters. I hope we can all love each other. Because what the world needs now is love, sweet love. And apple crisp, preferably with a brown sugar oaty topping, and maybe a few raspberries sprinkled in.

You're in luck, because today is Tuesdays with Dorie, and I've got some apple crisp to share that fits your parameters exactly. Isn't that a lucky coincidence? Now there will be peace. Ohm.

I used my own recipe here even though Dorie's apple crisp was the TWD assignment. I love the recipe that I already have and I must make it at least once a year. It's fast. It's easy. It's cheap. It's divine. It's yours, tonight if you'll give it a try.

Money Saving Tips: Use any baking apple that you can find on sale. Granny Smith or Honey crisp would work well here. Use fresh or frozen raspberries, or cranberries if you've got them. You could also leave them out. Watch for butter to go dirt cheap over the next few weeks as stores try to lure in Thanksgiving shoppers. This would be a great alternative to pie for Thanksgiving, especially since you wouldn't have to make a crust.

Some pics: Mix the fruit in the dish.

Top it with streusel and it's ready to go. It's good. Oh yeah, it's good.

Golden Delicious and Raspberry Apple Crisp

Estimated Cost: $6.00

2 pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, sliced (about 4 large apples)

3/4 cup raspberries (I used frozen)

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup old fashioned oatmeal

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

8 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces

Butter a 9 inch square baking dish. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put apples, raspberries and sugar right into the prepared baking dish and stir them around. In a separate medium bowl, combine oats, flour, brown and cinnamon. Rub in butter with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Bake until mixture is bubbly and topping is browned, about 40 minutes.

One last thing before you go. It's time for me to again humbly ask you to vote for my French's recipe. I've made it to the semi finals, along with 20 other recipes. 5 of us will make the cut and be invited to the spring Cook-Off in NYC and be eligible for a shot at the $25,000 prize. But I need your help. Just click here and vote for lucky number seven, that's me. You can vote every day until November 25th. Thank you so much, good and kind readers.

Next Up:

Best Ever Tortilla Soup

Homemade Vanilla Raspberry Ice Cream and Raspberry Lime Sorbet

Raspberries went on sale last week, and when that happens I leap like a tiger with claws exposed, fangs bared. I snatched up three flats, and we nibbled on them like bottomless buckets of popcorn at the movies. Then comes that moment in the short life of berries, when you've got to freeze or bake or lose them all. What I really wanted to make was some luscious vanilla ice cream, studded with bits of raspberry, but this little girl had other plans: raspberry sorbet. (Please focus on sincere child and ignore messy kitchen.)As a child, my mother generously let me create whatever I wanted in the kitchen. With such memories, I'm forced to repress my urges of "No, dear, I've got a better idea," and "I was saving those for something else," and "Wont' that be quite messy?" and "Wouldn't you rather do a page of pre-calculus?"Compromise trumps sacrifice in the kitchen as well as anywhere, so we made both. And they are brilliant together. Brilliant. Think of a raspberry dreamsicle, with a hint of lime, jewels of fresh raspberry in silky vanilla. Maybe I should listen to my little girl more often. Maybe we could make a great team in the kitchen. Maybe it's time to buy a second ice cream maker.

I'm scooping up our frozen ambrosia for the Sugar High Friday Event, focusing on berry desserts.

Raspberry Sorbet

Estimated Cost: $5.00

Notes: Make these with fresh berries only when you can find them on sale. Otherwise, stick with frozen.

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

3 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen, thawed

1 teaspoon lime zest

1 tablespoon lime juice

In a small saucepan, bring water and sugar to a simmer over medium heat. When sugar is completely dissolved, remove from heat and cool. Meanwhile, blend berries in the bowl of a food processor or blender until smooth. Press through a strainer to remove seeds. Combine syrup, berries, lime zest and juice in the bowl of an ice cream maker. Process according to manufacturer's direction.

Vanilla Raspberry Ice Cream

Estimated Cost: $4.00

Notes: You can play around with this simple vanilla ice cream and add in whatever you please.

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup heavy cream

3 cups milk (low fat is fine)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup slightly crushed raspberries, fresh or frozen

In the bowl of the ice cream maker, combine condensed milk, cream, milk, and vanilla. Process according to manufacturer's directions. Stir in raspberries when ice cream is almost set.

Coming Tomorrow:

Grilled Whole Wheat and Honey Pizza with Tomatoes and Basil

Plus Super Fast Pizza Sauce

Food and Furthermore: II

First of all, Happy Day After Mother's Day to all. Hopefully, there will be no dishes in the sink to serve as a reminder of yesterday's festivities. With the exception of a popcorn bowl, my kitchen is clean. (Nice work, dear.) Here are some other reasons that I had a wonderful Mother's Day: Two little charges that didn't bicker, banter, squabble, dare, bet or argue for 24 hours. (Although they did "jinx" each other about 7,483 times; I can't quite cure them of that.)Big Stuff (my Dad) and the Quiet Man (my husband) made all the meals AND did all the dishes (except for that popcorn bowl I told you about).

My mom, recovering from foot surgery in a wheel chair, and I twiddled our thumbs and did whatever else we wanted to do, like pose for awkward pictures and ask for second helpings of grilled chicken.

I got this.

And that.I'm a happy mom.
Furthermore, my sister (Little H, sister #7) came to visit for the whole week. I got to play with her chubby pink baby all week. Ain't she sweet?

My two little charges played with their cousins all day long. Their favorite activity? Dressing as twins. They could almost get away with it, too. Especially the cuckoo boys.

And furthermore.....

I received another blogging award from the recipe girl. Hooray and thanks! You'll love her blog. She's got an enormous compilation of mouth-watering recipes with beautiful pics that'll make you want to lick the computer screen.

I don't even have to dust it! But I do need to pass it on. I'm going to do that. This week. It's a good thing I'm not in a relay race. I always hang on to the baton for too long.

Still Furthermore....In the meantime, from recipe girl's extensive collection, I got this yummy banana brown sugar muffin recipe. I made a half batch and baked it in a mini muffin tin. (Estimated Cost $1.50)

Some of the muffins I topped with brown sugar and almonds, others got miniature chocolate chips, but the very best ones got a frozen raspberry and a sprinkling of course sugar. Ohhhh, they were good.

Coming Tomorrow:Cranberry Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing

Pineapple Rasberry Orange Sherbet

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

I always overdo it when it come to Mexican food. Maybe it's because chips and salsa come in big baskets and bowls, and not in 100 calorie foil bags. Maybe it's because I grew up in southern California and I'm yearning for the flavors of my childhood. Maybe it's because I'm greedy and I can always get a lot of chow for my dollar.....Or maybe it's just because the food is so darn good! The times that I have been the fullest in my life have not been on Thanskgivings. No, they've been after the chimichanga combo platter. So when it comes to dessert, I want something (and yes, I still want something-even when I'm full) that is light and refreshing. Something fruity to play off the spiciness of the meal. This sherbert is a delicious and fitting choice. It's tropical, creamy, orange, and soft with little bits of rasberry, banana, and pineapple. (Please don't tell my sister Leslie that you put in a banana. She'll curl up in a little ball.) Just a little scoop will hit the spot that your spicy dinner missed.
Pineapple-Rasberry-Orange Sherbert

Estimated Cost: $4.50 for about 1/2 gallon

Notes: You can make this without an ice cream maker. Just freeze the mixture in a big bowl and give it an occasional whisk while it's firming up. It works well, albeit the end result is a little less creamy than with an ice cream maker. Just be sure to let it thaw a bit and stir in a bit of extra orange soda before serving. (If you're short on time, make it even easier by mixing the fruit into store-bought orange sherbet.)
Leftovers make a spiffy punch mixed with some extra soda.
1 (14 ounce) can condensed milk
4 cups orange soda (diet works, too)
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juices
1 small banana, chopped
1 and 1/2 cups frozen rasberries, slightly crushed
In a large bowl, stir together milk, soda, and pineapple. Process in ice cream maker until almost set; add in banana and raspberries. Freeze until serving time.

Great Movie Choices for Cinco De Mayo
Nacho Libre-Hilarious Jack Black goes from spartan robes to stretchy pants.
Giant-Rock Hudson and Liz Taylor in a multi-generational Texas epic.
Three Amigos-Silly Chevy, Martin, and Steve in Mariachi gear.
Three Caballeros-Disney's animated tribute to Latin America
Did I miss any? Leave a suggestion in the comments section!