em + the kitchen - strawberry raspberry rhubarb pie.

After my visit to Emporium Pies last week, I knew I needed to recreate their seasonal Strawberry Fields pie so I didn't have to pay $6 every time I wanted a slice. It was so good that it was necessary for me to repeat it.
I looked all over for rhubarb pie recipes, but couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so this is sort of a mish-mash of multiple recipes. I suppose it's the first real thing I've created on my own and I'm awfully proud of the result.

Because ya'll. This pie is good. So good.
Don't be scared of rhubarb. I'd never worked with it before this pie and actually had to google "how to prepare rhubarb" if I'm being totally honest here. This pie is worth an embarrassing google search.

Rhubarb is not exactly a fruit, but back when people actually ate plants that were in season, this was the closest thing to a fruit they had in the springtime. After a long winter of limited fruits and no citrus, it certainly would have hit the spot.
Rhubarb is delightfully tart, which is why it pairs so well with sweet strawberries and raspberries and a pie filling heaped with sugar. This pie has a kick to it that serves as a pleasant surprise.

Go find rhubarb at your local farmer's market and then immediately make this pie.
You can thank me later.

Strawberry Raspberry Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients:
2 pie crusts, chilled (either store-bought or your favorite homemade recipe. I like this recipe and I especially love making my crust in a food processor. Saves so much time!)
1 & 1/3 heaping cups fresh rhubarb, chopped
1 & 1/3 heaping cups fresh strawberries, chopped
1 & 1/3 heaping cups fresh raspberries
1 & 1/2 cups white sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
1 egg white beaten with 1 tsp water

Preheat oven to 425*.

If making homemade pie crust, roll out one half of dough and place in prepared pie dish (I like to coat mine with shortening). If using store-bought, unroll one disk and place in prepared pie dish. Place in fridge to chill while you're working on the filling.

Mix the rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, cinnamon, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until all fruits are coated well.
Pour mixture into prepared crust and dot the top of the mixture with small cubed butter.
Brush the edges of the crust with the egg wash.
Roll out the other half of the dough (or 2nd disk from the package) and place on top of the filling.
--Here, I chose to use a cookie cutter to cut a flower out of the pie crust to make it a bit more springy and sweet. Also, this being my first fruit pie, I wanted to make sure the mixture was bubbling when I took it out of the oven. This gave me a very convenient window to peek!
Crimp with fingers or fork to seal the edges, then brush entire top with the egg wash.
Place foil around the edges so they don't get too brown and bake for 15 minutes at 425*.
Decrease temperature to 375* and bake for an additional 45 minutes or until golden brown and the filling begins to bubble.

Enjoy warm or room temp, if you can wait that long!
Let me know how it turns out! I'm so eager for ya'll to try this pie! You may even pick up some extra beggers along the way. ;)

What other foods remind you exclusively of spring?
Asparagus is one I love, as well as fresh, bright peas!
-e.

things i love, lately - september.

Praise Jesus, it's finally getting cooler, ya'll.
Fall is officially here and Dallas hasn't quite gotten the memo yet, but we're getting there.

I'm so grateful for the soon-to-be-cooler weather, and for these things, too:

For drinks at picnic tables in 70 degree weather and Harry Potter tattoos.

 For sweet hairstyles from sweet friends.

 For the chubbiest cheeks and touchdown poses.

For full-fat, whole milk, stick-to-your-bones breakfasts and water in a milk bottle.

 For grilled farmer's market peaches and the blackberry sauce that accompanies them.

For pillow talk with my favorite girl.

What's making you happy to be alive lately?

I've got so so much to be grateful for. Thanks to the book of James for making me realize this. It's been sitting me hard on my hiney lately, but that's a good thing.

-e.

things i love, lately - july.

Some of the things in life I'm thankful for lately:

Quiet time spent at 7:30 on cool mornings with coffee and my pup.

 These cherries from the farmer's market near my house that I made my lunch one Saturday.

Good friends, good drinks, and good things to celebrate.

 Early morning walks with this sweet, inquisitive girl.

My first (and unfortunately, last) meal at a tasty 

restaurant downtown with a strange concept.

This news article which pays homage to this city I love so dearly.
And in no particular order: twerking, sleeping in on rainy mornings, and the Dallas Public Library.
When was the last time you checked out a book from the library? You should try it again sometime.
-e.

em + the kitchen - peach upside-down cake.

As I type this, delightful summery smells are wafting through my house. My doors are open, allowing a breeze to come in, because THIS WEATHER ya'll.
I bought peaches at the farmer's market this past Saturday with the intent to make this particular recipe and nothing else. I'd been itching to try it because, not only did it sound delicious, it looked delicious. Some recipes are just meant to be photographed. This is one of them.

So, while I haven't even tried the now-cooling cake yet, I still feel like I can vouch for it. It smells wonderful and if it tastes anything like it looks, it's going to be a winner.

 

Peach Almond Upside-Down Cake
recipe originally from kitchentrials.com

Ingredients:
Topping -
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 lb peaches, peeled and sliced

Cake-
1 cup flour
1/4 cup ground almonds
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cups white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
6 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

 
Preheat oven to 350*.

Topping:
Put the butter in the bottom of a 9" round pan and place in warm oven for 3 min or until butter is melted and beginning to brown.
Sprinkle the brown sugar into the pan and press into an even layer with a spatula.
Arrange peach slices on top of sugar.

Cake:
In a small bowl, mix together flour, ground almonds, salt, and baking powder.
In a larger bowl, whisk together sugars and eggs until creamy (I used the whisk attachment on my kitchenaid). Add melted butter and whisk. Add sour cream and both extracts and whisk. Finally, mix flour mixture in and whisk until combined. Batter should be thick.
Pour on top of peaches and flatten top of batter.
Lightly drop the pan on the counter a few times to ensure batter has fallen in between the peach slices.
Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown.
Let rest in pan for 5-10 minutes, but no more. Flip right-side up onto a plate to let finish cooling. Some peaches will probably stick to the bottom of the pan, but it's easy enough to figure out where they fell from.

Enjoy!
What's your favorite summertime dessert?
-e.

em + the kitchen - blackberry pie bars.

For any of you who have ever been to church, you know the sort of "preacher's formula". Funny anecdote that you hopefully don't have to stretch too far to reach the eventual message of the sermon. Bloggers seem to have this same formula. I, on the other hand, would love to just walk in here and say "look. I made food. I tasted pleasant. Here's some pictures", or "I went and did something cool in Dallas. You should do it too." I just typically don't have a story to go with the Pinterest recipe I decided to try, but it was yummy enough to share. Isn't that enough?

So. I made some food. It was tasty.
These blackberries cost me an arm and a leg at the farmer's market because they saw my deer-in-headlights look before I could sneak away to the cheaper baskets of berries.

 They baked well, though!


Blackberry Pie Bars (recipe from Key Ingredients, changed slightly)
I halved the entire thing because I only had so many blackberries and I don't need more baked goods in my home than I already have. I used an 8x8 dish, same baking times, and everything worked fine.

Ingredients:
crust/topping:
3 cups AP flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, chilled

fruit filling:
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup plain yogurt (called for sour cream, I only had yogurt)
3/4 cup flour
pinch salt
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 16oz packages of frozen blackberries (obviously I used fresh)

	Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to mix. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes, and add to the flour mixture. Process until the butter is evenly distributed but the mixture is still crumbly, 30-60 seconds. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the mixture to use as the topping. Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the pan, and bake 12-15 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes. To make the filling, whisk the eggs in a large bowl, then add the sugar, yogurt, flour, salt, lemon zest, and vanilla extract. Gently fold in the berries and spoon the mixture over the crust. Sprinkle the remaining flour mixture evenly over the filling, and bake 45 to 55 minutes. I made food. It was good. There are some (mouth-watering) pictures. -e.

things to do - farmer's market

I got to shrink my ever-expanding List O' Things to Do in Dallas today by not one, but TWO things!
My sweet friend Maggie and I had been planning to go to the Dallas Farmer's Market for a while, but things kept getting in our way. We finally carved out this time today and made a trip downtown!

Unfortunately, it was a yucky day and it started raining on us about an hour into our adventure. We did, however, get to check out what's touted as the "best BBQ in Dallas" and it was excellent!

I got the Hot Mess - a jumbo sweet potato stuffed with barbacoa, cheese, chipotle cream sauce, and topped with green onions. I only finished half, but I'm already brainstorming ways to recreate the dish at home. YUM, ya'll.

 

 Ugh, please ignore the fact that I'm a 5-year old and pushed all the green onions to the side.

After Pecan Lodge, we wandered around the market in the drizzle. I got some green beans and white onions and tasted some of the best grapefruit ever. Must go back for that someday.

Aside from the weather, it was a great day full of color and delicious food. There's nothing quite like a farmer's market to bring you back down to earth.

Also, because I promised this once upon a time, here's the rest of my Dallas bucket list:

Ride the McKinney Ave Trolley

Participate in Restaurant Week

Fuel City Tacos

Stay at the W

Dishcrawl (more details on this, coming soon!)

Go to a roller derby bout

Watch the sunset from White Rock Lake

Go to a midnight showing at Inwood Theater (ya'll, they do Rocky Horror Picture show, like, once a month. Other movies of note: the Goonies, Indiana Jones, etc. Awesome.)

Tour Deep Ellum Brewery (but Emily, you don't even like beer! ...and?)

Go to an FC Dallas game

See a Lakewood burlesque show

Technically not on the list anymore, but I've been draaaagging my feet making a post about it:

Go to a Dallas Stars game. Coming to a blog near you, soon, I promise!

What's on your city's bucket list? Am I missing something crucial from my Dallas list? Let me know!

-e.

community supported agriculture.

If ya'll remember, I bought a Groupon a few months ago for a CSA half-share from Urban Acres. I finally picked up my first share this past weekend and was so excited to get started on it!

So, what to do when life hands you a CSA full of produce you've never worked with?
Well, if you're me, you google things like "how to prepare beets", "kale chips", and "how to dry fresh dill". (If you're curious, the answer to that last one is: 6-8 hours in a 110* oven. Yeesh.)

In what was a happy accident, Peter and I decided to saute the kale only to discover that it gets crispier the longer it's in the pan. I assume what we created is similar to what baking kale into chips would yield. Dusted lightly with salt, I would continue to eat kale this way. It was really yummy.

I also found in my google searches that you can make a kale pesto! I figured since I already have the ingredients on hand for a pesto base, I could swap out the basil for kale in this instance. I was a little skeptical because I love the flavor of basil (but I also had a ton of kale on hand that I needed to use up!). It actually turned out spectacularly! Great flavor and easy to make. Win/win!
(For a quick reminder of how to make that pesto, go here.)

I also roasted the potatoes with fresh dill for a quick side. Not much to it, but really tasty.

I plan on making roasted brussels sprouts with garlic aioli and a beef and broccoli dish tonight.
If anyone has suggestions for beets or radishes, I welcome them!
I'm excited to be supporting my local farmers and organic agriculture. Hopefully one day I'll have my own garden and be able to eat from my own hard work. But for now, I'm happy to participate in a CSA and encourage you to join one, too!

-e.

things i love, lately - january 2013

I'd like this headline to be a recurring theme on the blog, but am not sure how to subtitle. "January 2013" seemed most appropriate, but it's only the 11th, and I certainly hope to encounter more things I love this month. It'll stick for now until I decide to change my mind.

These boots which have been with me for 3+ years (and it shows). If ya'll know where I can get a seriously identical pair, let a sister know!

This sweet, crazy girl who lifts my spirits daily and can eat just as much as I can.

This adorable child that I creepily took a picture of. LOOK AT HIM.

Fresh produce from the farmer's market with my man.
Side note: I've never been to the Dallas Farmer's Market! It's open 7 days a week. What on earth is wrong with me? Must go. I did, however, just buy a Groupon for a CSA in Dallas and I could not be more excited. It's through Urban Acres and supports local and organic farms. Yes!

These flowers that I may or may not have (read: did) bought for myself.
They bring life into my living room!

This little fluffy butt (Penelope) who got a bath today, so her fur is extra unruly.

Anything you would like to add to this list?
Tell me what cool things you've been loving, lately!

-e.