Blackberry Delight!

A friend at church told me about this idea.  I'm sure I had no idea when she said this was like having ice cream!  But it sounded good, and it is nutritious and fat free, so I tried it!  Oh my!  Oh yum!!

You take frozen berries and put them in a bowl.  Any berry will do. I used blackberries because we have them growing along our drive-way.  Let me tell you how much more eager I was to go pick after I discovered this little beauty!
On top of that you can pour some sweetened syrup, or I imagine you could sprinkle some sugar.  We have a grocery store here locally that sells Torani Syrup.  They have tons of flavors and many of them are sugar free if you don't have any objections to Splenda.  I've used Almond Roca and Vanilla flavor.  Just a little is all you need.
On top of that you pour a little Half and Half.  The fat free stuff has only 20 calories for 2 TBS.  Then just let it sit a minute or two and do it's magic.  Ice Cream!  Wow!
This is as simple as it is good!

PS I've been doing the same thing with fresh, non-frozen peaches and it's oh so good, too!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Susie also made this recipe while she was visiting.  She cooked it in a bundt pan, and it looked as good as it tasted!

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup butter or oil (she used oil)
2 cups sugar (I think it was sweet enough this could be reduced a little)
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp grated orange peel (I don't believe she add this)
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup milk
Mix.  Pour into coated bundt pan.  Bake in preheated 350º oven for 50 minutes or until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.  Invert (turn upside down) bundt pan to cook for about 10 min. before removing from pan.

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
3 TBS milk
1 tsp vanilla
Beat until smooth.  Drizzle over warm cake.

Fresh Wild Oregon Blackberry Crisp

Emily is my blackberry picker.  She loves to pick blackberries and have me make a crisp with it.  This has been our favorite.  She planned a day this August (2010) to pick blackberries and made this crisp.

Fill a pan with fresh washed blackberries.  Sprinkle as much sugar on top of the blackberries as you like.

Mix together:
1 cup flour
2 cups oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Cut in 1/2 cup butter
Sprinkle on top of crisp and bake in a preheated 350º oven for about 30-35 minutes.  Best served warm.  Whipped topping or ice cream is great on it!

Susie's Altered Zucchini Bread

My friend Susie came to visit for a week in August. We had a lot of zucchini coming out of our garden and she loves to bake so she took a recipe of Paula Deen's and altered it to her liking, and it turned out so amazing! Love this recipe!

3 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1/3 cup water
2 cups grated zucchini
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup chopped nuts (optional, we didn't use them)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

Peach Pie

Emily spent a day with me in August 2010 and I helped her learn how to make a peach pie.  It was yummy!

Make a pie crust using My Favorite Pie Crust recipe. 

5 cups of fresh peaches.
2 TBS lemon juice
1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2 TBS butter

Slice the peaches and toss with the lemon juice.  Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Toss with the peaches.  Place into pie crust.  Dot with butter.  Put top crust on and slit vents in crust.  Sprinkle top with sugar if you'd like.
Bake at 450º for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350º and bake 30-35 min.  Cool on rack.

Honey-Glazed Snack Mix

Another Holiday favorite!

4 cups of Quaker Oats Squares cereal
1 1/2 cup pretzel twits
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Combine in a large bowl.
1/3 cup margarine or butter
1/4 cup honey
Heat over low heat til melted together.
Pour over mix and toss to coat.  Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 350º for 15 minutes.  Cool and spread on wax paper to harden.

Lemon Bread with Glaze!

This bread is so yummy!

2/3 cup butter
1 1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
4 tsp baking powder
4 1/2 cups flour
2 cups milk
3 tsp lemon rind
Glaze:
2/3 cup powdered sugar
6 TBS lemon juice

Cream butter and sugar.  Add other ingredients and mix.  Pour into 2 greased loaf pans.
Bake at 350º for 60 minutes or until tester comes out clean.  Pour on Glaze.  Let sit 20 min. before removing from pans.  Cool on wire rack.