summer baking

banana blueberry muffins
(recipe adapted from this one)

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
zest from 1 lemon
2 large bananas mashed (mine made just under 1.5 cups)
1 Tbl olive oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 whole eggs
milk (as much as you need to make the muffin mix a bit wetter, if you like dry muffins don't add, I think I added less than 1/4 cup)
almost 1 pint of blueberries (packed as many as I could in the muffins)

:: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin pan.

:: In a large bowl, mix the flours, brown sugar, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, mix the bananas, eggs, olive oil, lemon zest, and vanilla extract.

:: Mix the banana mixture into the flour mixture until smooth. Add milk here if you need. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan.

:: Bake 16 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

this is a dead easy recipe and super good.




peach pie

Use this pie crust recipe, seriously, the best I have ever had and really easy to make. Trust me, there is no crying (or throwing of the dough against the wall) when I use this crust.

Filling

6 cups sliced peeled peaches
1 tbs lemon juice
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
pinch of cardamom
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbs butter

:: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

:: Line the bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie plate with one of the pie crusts.

:: Place the sliced peaches in a large bowl, and sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix gently. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, allspice and salt. Pour over the peaches, and mix gently. Pour into the pie crust, and dot with butter. Cover with the other pie crust, and fold the edges under. Flute the edges to seal. Brush milk over the crust and sprinkle with sugar. Cut several slits in the top crust to vent steam.

:: Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and bake for an additional 30 to 35 minutes, until the crust is brown.

Gregg always says the best pie is apple, he might not even try other pies simply because he knows he will be disappointed that the filling is not apple. However, he said this peach pie makes him forget about apple pie. That is HUGE! I am not like that, I like any pie, especially for breakfast with my coffee.

ps... did you see Project Runway last night? I would love to see what my red carpet dress would look like after only a day and a half to design and sew one up? HA! Designers are so talented (sigh).