Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

In a quest to use up the peaches, I made a batch of these for the kids. It was a bit amusing trying to do it with my mini-prep food processor but I got the job done. It's made for an easy thing to throw at my kids at 6:30 when they demand breakfast. Oh and it says berries in the recipe but the peaches and blackberries worked just fine.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
Crust and Topping:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
2 1/2 cups quick-cook oats
2 tablespoons apple or orange juice

Filling:
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons flour
Pinch of salt
3 1/2 cups (18 ounces) fresh blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice


1. Heat the oven to 375°. Grease a 9- by 13-inch pan.

2. Add the flour, light brown sugar, and salt to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse once or twice to combine, then add the butter and pulse five or six more times until coarse crumbs form. Add the oats and pulse two or three more times.

3. Remove 1 1/2 cups of the mixture and set it aside. Add the juice to the remaining mixture and pulse three or four times until it's just moistened. Press this mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom of the pan using your fingers or the bottom of a measuring cup.

4. For the filling, whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt in a medium-size bowl. Add the fruit and lemon juice and gently toss the mixture using a rubber spatula until the fruit is coated. Distribute the filling over the crust.

5. Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture over the filling. Bake the dish until the top is golden, about 35 to 40 minutes. Let the pan cool on a wire rack for about 2 hours, then cut the sheet into 16 bars. Store them in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Joan's Easy Peach Cobbler

Missouri seems to have a slew of "pick your own" places with lovely offerings. Last week it was peaches. The biggest, juiciest, yummiest peaches I have ever had. They were so tasty that I had to bring home two boxes even though Paul won't touch them.

I've never done cobbler before but had to give it a try when my very pregnant friend Wendy said she'd be over to pick up half of whatever peach dessert I was making! I threw in a few fresh picked blueberries too and it was a hit!



Ingredients:

* 1/2 stick (4 ounces) butter, melted
* 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 3 to 4 ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, thinly sliced
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation:
Heat oven to 375°.

Pour melted butter into a 2-quart baking dish (11x7 or 8-inch square). In a mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of the sugar, the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir to blend. Stir in the milk and vanilla until blended. Pour the batter over the melted butter. Toss the peaches with the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Arrange the peach slices over the batter. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. The top will be browned and the cake will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Serve warm with a little heavy cream, whipped topping, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Pizza!

I am still doing my best to tackle the weekly mix of veggies from our CSA box. The eggplant has been the most recent veggie that has been causing me problems. Last week I threw it in a stir fry and tonight in made it on a pizza. It was great! This crust recipe is one our family has been using for a while now. It is very "bread-like" so if you like crispy crust, this isn't for you. Honestly, it's great at my house because it's soft enough that the baby can actually chew it. I think Abby has a recipe for crispier crust. Maybe she'll post it!



Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups white flour
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbs olive oil

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Allow to rest 5 minutes. Stir in whole wheat flour, surgar, salt, olive oil, & 1 cup white flour. Knead in remaining ingredients & remaining white flour by hand, about 5 minutes.

Spray a medium sized bowl with no-stick cooking spray. Place pizza dough in bowl and turn to coat. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for 15 minutes. Spray one 14 inch pizza pan or 2 10 inch pans to cooking spray. Stretch crust to fit pan and flute outer edges to hold fillings. Top as desired. Preheat oven to 425. Bake until cheese is melted & crust is browned.

You can top this with whatever tastes good to you. For the eggplant pizza I made tonight. Slice one small eggplant into 1/4 inch slices. Place on foil lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt & brush with olive oil. Broil for 5 minutes, flip slices and broil for another five minutes. Use as you would any other pizza topping. I also added yellow tomato, onions, & nearly white bell pepper.

Gluten Free Smore

So Meagan doesn't post here much which is too bad because she makes some of the most interesting recipes, especially since she sticks to a gluten free diet. Anyway, this isn't a recipe but a nod toward her creativity. She wanted to enjoy smores with the rest of us around the campfire over the fourth but wasn't about to eat a graham cracker, so she pulled out her corn thins and slapped on the marshmallow & chocolate. I didn't try but she said it was good!