What's Cooking At My House

Since I've been accused of anti-Semitism for having the nerve to use the expression "JAP"--which I might add we used freely in the Bronx neighborhood I lived in, chastised for not being a sweet, timid, old maid Republican conservative like ALL librarians are SUPPOSED to be (yeah, RIGHT) and am dealing with things at home and work that I won't discuss here for fear someone will start trolling me again, here's a (hopefully) non-controversial entry--unless you want to criticize my cooking

I've revised  "The Recipe File" widget to the right of this to reflect the change of the seasons and the foods I'm cooking at this time of the year.

I made the "Zucchini Corn Pancakes" last night and the girls wolfed them--though next time I am going to use my electric skillet to keep the oil at an even temperature.

"Pesto" season is just weeks away--my basil is flourishing despite the ridiculous amount of rain we have been having.

I have made my mom's fruit "tart"--it's a cake really--with strawberries and blueberries mixed and just this week with peaches. Peaches worth eating won't arrive from my farmer's market for a few more weeks at least, but the store bought kind make a good cake--and it gets SC to eat fruit. As do those "Big Blue" blueberry muffins

And I looked back through my blog, but can't find this recipe, so I am posting it again today. It is based on a recipe from the excellent cooking blog Baking Bites , and there is a variation that came from King Arthur Flour's Baking Sheet. If you are a baker, BTW, this is an excellent item to subscribe to--as long as you aren't on Weight Watchers and don't care about the points values they so helpfull offer.

This is a crumble bar/cookie, but  I layer extra fruit and whipped cream on it for the girls and serve it like a cake. They love it that way. I'm fine though just eating it from the pan...

BERRY OATMEAL CRUMBLE CAKE

The filling:
3 cups of fresh or frozen berries
(I've used all strawberries, & a strawberry/blueberry mix. This week I'm going to use frozen raspberries & fresh blueberries)

1 Tbsp of lemon juice

Combine the berries and lemon juice in a saucepan and let them cook until the berries soften.
(Time will depend on what kind of berries and if they're frozen or not)

Combine 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 Tbsp of cornstarch and add them to the pan.
Bring it to a boil and let it boil until it thickens-- 1-2 minutes. Stir the pan and scrape the bottom to avoid anything burning. Set the mix aside to cool while you make the crust/topping

Combine in a food processor/blender:
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups of oatmeal
1 cup of brown sugar (dark or light)
3/4 cup of canola or vegetable oil  (you can use softened butter cut in chunks, I don't!)
1 tsp of vanilla
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt

Pulse this mix to blend it until it is all crumbled. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of the mix for the top.
At this point you can mix one beaten egg into the remaining mixture--it helps make it less crumbly, but I've done it both ways. With or without the egg, pat the remaining mixture into a greased 9 X13 baking pan.

Add the fruit filling--I use a ladle to "plop" it in, and then spread it a bit with a rubber scrape.
Take handfuls of the remaining mix and use your fingers to sprinkle it all over the fruit until it's covered.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  You can eat this hot, but it will not cut well until it is cool.

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