Is their anything more quintessentially fall than apple picking? Being in the orchard, with the changing leafs on the hill, and a cool crisp feeling in the air? No, I don’t think there is. Maybe if we could scent the air with pumpkin pie spice it might up it a little, but it’s basically perfect.

Recently I was lucky enough to find a free afternoon to make the trip out to Larriland Farms in Western Howard County with Carlos and Eileen. Larriland is my favorite place to pick your own fruit throughout the summer and fall, and in the past I’ve picked apples, peaches and blueberries there.

Larriland, which always seems like a completely different world from Baltimore and most of urbanized central Maryland, really seems different in October, when the fall festival and Halloween decorations are in full swing. We had a really fun time checking out all of the pumpkins and gourds that were for sale up at the Barn and posing with some of the fall decor items.

And then there were the apples. Even though there were only two varieties available when we were at the farm (Stayman and Braeburn’s) we sure did pick our fill quickly.

Yeah, who knew three adults could pick 50 pounds of apples in less than half an hour? Turns out it’s not that hard when the apple trees are full of gorgeous fruit! Carlos was totally new to apple picking, but he learned pretty quickly.

We’re hoping most of these apples will soon be apple butter, which then hopefully will turn into some holiday gifts. Because if I’m left alone with all of that apple butter, someone better save me from it–I love it sooooo much!

Sometimes, I think I’m almost predictable to a fault. I know what I like. I know my routine and I like to stick to it. Call me boring, but it’s what works for me.

So it should surprise no one that the first cold weekend I was ready to make soup. Soup with squashes. A perfect side to a good loaf of french bread!

Soup, football, friends…fall is here!

Please forgive the shortness of this post–I’m 100 pages from the end of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and I NEED to finish!! Don’t let the length of the post deter you from this soup though–it’s delicious! Even Noel liked it! In fact he liked it so much, he wants to make it again–next time with crab!

Winter Squash Soup
Adapted from Epicurious

1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
3 14 1/2-ounce cans low-salt chicken broth
4 cups 1-inch pieces peeled butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)
4 cups 1-inch pieces peeled acorn squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)

Melt butter in large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Add broth, all squash and herbs; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until squash is very tender, about 20 minutes.

Working in batches, puree soup in blender or use an immersion blender to blend it in the pot. Return soup to same pot. Stir in cream; bring to simmer. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill. Rewarm over medium heat before serving.)

As I mentioned in my last post, last weekend was the weekend of CRABS!!

Our friends Kim and Randy invited us to their house out in my old stomping grounds (oh college on the hill, what fantastic memories I have of you!). This is an annual thing, so it was fun to be back in their backyard, picking crabs, drinking beer, and visiting with some of my favorite people anywhere.

Also in standard fashion, I planned on making a dessert for the event. I was thinking that I would go to my (new) old standby, the whole wheat brownie, because they’re simple and I ALWAYS have the ingredients. But then while I was chatting with Elizabeth during Crabs and Beer on Saturday, I discovered she had called brownies ages ago. So I had a momentary scramble. What would I make? And then it hit me. Peaches. Peaches are in season. I could figure out something with peaches!

Except…I’ll be honest, I once took the world’s runniest peach cobbler to this same event. So I wanted something foolproof. So I turned to Pam Anderson. If you’ve never heard of Pam, you need to head to her blog Three Many Cooks right now and check it out. Pam has authored many cookbooks, and she was one of the main people cooking for us at the BSP. Everything she made was amazing, and I knew she wouldn’t lead me astray with a peach recipe, whatever it may be. And she didn’t.

Peach Cobbler
by Pam Anderson, available at Three Many Cooks

Ingredients:

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon almond extract, divided
2 pounds peaches, peeled and sliced (about 4 cups)

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Put butter in a 13- by 9-inch baking pan; set in oven to melt.

Meanwhile, whisk flour, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, baking powder, and salt in small bowl. Whisk in milk and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract until smooth. Toss peaches with remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. When butter has melted, remove pan from oven. Pour batter into pan; arrange fruit over batter. Bake until batter turns golden brown, 45 to 50 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Deliciously served with a side of cinnamon gelato!

You all know I have a tendency to get a little bit excited about local produce. Maybe sometimes too excited.

Like last weekend. Instead of our normal Sunday Baltimore Farmer’s Market run, I decided to go to the uptown Waverly Market on Saturday. Because, you know, I had other stuff I was doing on Sunday morning. After becoming thoroughly disoriented on my way to Waverly and then further confused by the market setup–they practically let you park in the MIDDLE of the market!–I was overly excited by the produce.

There seemed to be more and different things than I had seen just a week before downtown, including strawberries, my favorite early summer seasonal item. Okay, maybe it’s a tie between peas and strawberries, but I do LOVE strawberries. I excitedly snatched up some strawberries and took them home.

But then when I went to eat a few. And it was not good. They weren’t bad per se, they were just early season. So instead of letting them die a slow death in the fridge, I went to look for recipes. I had a strawberry loaf in mind. But then I found these muffins, and they seemed the perfect compromise. The bready treat I was looking for, but without two sticks of butter! Bonus!

Strawberry Muffins
Adapted from Whole Living

These muffins aren’t too sweet and don’t have too many strawberries–so they’re just right! Because they’re not overly sweet, they make a good breakfast item or afternoon snack!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup low-fat buttermilk (I used 1 cup skim milk with 1 tablespoon vinegar)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Toss together strawberries and 1/3 cup sugar. Using a potato masher, lightly mash berries; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a glass 2-quart measuring cup or a medium bowl, combine buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla; whisk to combine.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk mixture and the berry mixture (with juice). Fold just until combined. Using an ice cream scoop, divide the batter among the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with remaining sugar.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.

This whole week I’ve been in a major funk. I started off the week with a major migraine/24 hour bug, and well, I’ll admit it, I’ve just been in a pretty bad mood ever since. Maybe it’s because I’m tapering for my half marathon on Sunday, and going from 25 miles last week to a mere 10 this week has me feeling like a pretty lazy lump.

Maybe it’s because I have a bit of shower hangover. I had so much fun prepping and planning the shower, and now it’s over. Major bummer. Guess it’s time to start planning that killer Fourth of July Party we’re having at the beach house! (Who is coming to the beach house for the fourth? Lovely cottage in a charming island community with it’s own Fourth of July parade and fireworks! Camping spots still available!!)

Or maybe it’s because things in my other life–you know the one that pays me–have been a bit slow, and when things are slow I have a tendency to let my mind wander. I’ve been following along as a certain famous blogger and her husband open their bakery, and I’m a bit wistful. A bakery is sort of a dream of mine…but yet I digress.

One thing that is always certain to pull me out of a funk is food. Really good homemade food. Preferably made with some of the fantastic local ingredients that are just coming into season. Like this asparagus soup, which uses fantastic early season produce to give a taste of spring, and the summer to come!

Creamy Asparagus Soup
Adapted from Dishing Up Maryland

This is another winning recipe from the Dishing Up Maryland cookbook. If you don’t have it yet, go and get yourself a copy!

Ingredients:

2 pounds asparagus
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshing ground pepper
1/3 cup white rice
2 cups milk

Directions:

Rinse and dry the asparagus. Trim the ends, then snap the asparagus into three pieces. Place a dozen tips in a bowl and set aside.

Melt the butter in a stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the asparagus pieces and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the stock, salt, pepper and rice; cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Steam the asparagus tips in a steamer for 3 minutes while the soup is cooking.

After 30 minutes, puree the soup with an immersion blender. Gradually add the milk. Once the soup is pureed, reheat. Serve hot, garnishing each serving with the reserved asparagus tips.

Last week, I would have told you spring was right around the corner. It was beautiful here in Baltimore. One of the nicest birthdays I’ve had weather-wise in many years–hey, if it’s not snowing, I’ll take 65 and sunny! And Friday and Saturday were beautiful too, making for a gorgeous first half of our weekend at the beach.

And then the clouds rolled in and it feels like it’s been cold and rainy ever since. We’ve had two bouts of crazy severe thunderstorms, high winds, and now bone chilling cold. None of this is very exciting for me, since I’m supposed to run a leg of a relay race in DC on Saturday morning. When I signed up for this, I was expecting spring–I mean the Cherry Blossom Festival starts on Saturday–not January! Yes, there is the possibility of a bit of snow on Sunday morning, but even that is not enough to get me to give up my grudge against this weather reversal.

At least if it’s going to be cold outside, I can have a bit of spring in my kitchen. Spring in the form of pesto, a spring pesto made from arugula instead of basil. If you know anything about crops in a Maryland spring, arugula and other baby greens are one of the first things to show up, so it really is the first taste of spring!

You’re probably wondering how a person comes up with an idea like arugula pesto. Well my idea came from the delightful cookbook Dishing Up Maryland, which I received two copies of for Christmas, but didn’t crack open until this past weekend. What was I waiting for? Well, to be honest, I was waiting for spring, and the arrival of produce. The book is separated into seasonal produce chapters, and I just didn’t have the heart to open it and see all of the beautiful produce I wouldn’t be able to get my hands on for months. So I waited. But now I am rewarded. With a taste of spring in my kitchen! When served with some fresh ravioli from the Annapolis Whole Foods, my new absolute favorite store, this was the perfect easy weeknight dinner!

Arugula Pesto
Adapted from Dishing Up Maryland

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups arugula
1/3 up basil or parsley
1/3 cup fresh spinach
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese, and more for topping the pasta

Directions:

In the bowl of a food processor combine arugula, basil, spinach, pine nuts. garlic, and salt. Blend. Then add the olive oil and parmesan, and blend again. Use immediately, served over fresh pasta or toasted bread.

Remember when I went peach picking? And then made all that jam? That wasn’t the end of my peach adventures.

The truth is I couldn’t bring myself to can ALL of those peaches. I picked them with my own two hands (and Noel’s too) so I thought we should get to eat some of them fresh out of nature. So I saved some of them, figuring that we could eat them for the next week or so after the canning. They were firm ripe, so I thought they would last a while. That was a cute idea on my part, since the peaches were totally soft 2 days later. Whoops!

In a mild panic (I hate to let fruit rot) I racked my brain for peach recipes. After running through a whole bunch of muffin and quick bread possibilities, I remembered something from Martha Stewart’s cookies–a recipe for a cake like cookie using peaches AND peach preserves. Perfect accidental recipe planning!

It turns out it wasn’t just the accidential recipe planning that was perfect–but really the whole cookie. Because these were SUMMER contained in a cookie–fresh peaches with a cakey, cobbler like outer cookie. In a word, delicious, all the way through. As soon as I made the first batch I decided to make a second, because I knew one would just not be enough to satisfy my peach love. Which I think, I was never actually satisfied, but there’s always next year!

But for you, dear readers, this cookie magic can happen THIS year. Go out there, find some late season peaches, and get baking!

Fresh Peach Cookies
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cookies

As I said, for me these cookies are perfect, just as they are. The cakey cookie part + the soft peaches part = peach cookie bliss! But would I expect anything less from the Martha test kitchen? I still love them even though the Martha show has moved to cable, and thus beyond the reach of my non-cabled household.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/4-inch dice (about 1 3/4 cups)
1/3 cup peach jam or preserves
2 tablespoons fine sanding sugar
1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda.

Beat butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Add peaches and jam, and beat until just combined.

Using a tablespoon sized cookie scoop (or just a regular old tablespoon), drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing about 2 inches apart. (If not baking all of the cookies at once, refrigerate dough between batches; dough can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days. This is really important, or otherwise the dough starts to get soupy) Combine sanding sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle each cookie with 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 11 to 13 minutes. Make sure you watch the cookies, because they can go from uncooked to overdone really fast! Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, and then transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

So the only thing that didn’t go swimmingly in our whole Maine wedding cake baking process was the math. Math? Yes the math that we did to figure out how much of each ingredient we would need to make enough cake batter to fill our pans.

We thought we would need WAAAAY more batter than we did to make our cakes. Like 7 times the original recipe instead of the four times it actually took. I’m still not sure how we messed up that one quite so badly, but we did. At least we didn’t UNDERcalculate. That would have been bad news with the nearest grocery store 40 minutes away.

So instead of the 8 cups of fresh picked Maine blueberries we actually needed, we had 14. And you can’t just let fresh, wild Maine blueberries that you picked IN THE RAIN go to waste. So there was only one answer–coffee cake. And luckily King Arthur had a solution that appeared on their facebook page just in time.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Coffee Cake
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

This was as close to a perfect coffee cake as I think I’ve ever had. The blueberries with the lemon steusel were just perfect! Since we’re going through a whole wheat kick, we decided to substitute half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat, and I used yogurt instead of sour cream. It was still amazing! If you’re not feeling the lemon, try this with your favorite crumble top.

Ingredients:

Lemon Streusel

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest
6 tablespoons butter, softened
juice from 1/2 lemon

Cake

8 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup yogurt or sour cream, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, well drained

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ baking pan or two 8″ x 2″ round pans.

For the lemon streusel: In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt. Gently toss the lemon zest until it is well coated. Using a fork or your fingers, work the softened butter into the flour/zest mixture until it resembles granola, some larger chunks, some smaller. Sprinkle on the lemon juice and toss again to combine. Set mixture aside.

For the cake: Cream the butter and sugar until light colored and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition. Be sure to scrape down the bowl well each time. Beat in the yogurt/sour cream and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the batter, mixing until combined. Avoid over-beating or the cake will become tough.

Gently fold in the blueberries until well distributed throughout the batter. Pour into the prepared pan(s) and spread evenly. Sprinkle with the lemon streusel until the batter is completely covered.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Wendi–you guessed right!

All those peaches were procured as part of a jam making mission. A massive jam making mission.

We’re about to enter a particularly busy stretch in our lives where we spend a good chunk of our lives on the road. It should be fun, and hopefully not to exhausting (I’m not a big fan of long car rides).

Luckily, I realized this busy time was almost upon us a few weeks ago, right around the time when I read an article that said peach season was likely to peter out earlier than normal this year, thanks to the uber-heat we’ve had all summer. In a panic, I scanned the calendar for time to put up some peaches and settled on last weekend as the perfect time.

As luck would have it, I realized early last week that there were local places to pick your own peaches, so with the cooperation (just barely) of the weather, Noel and I were off to pick at Larriland on Saturday. Which set Eileen and I up for a lovely–cool and rainy–day for canning on Sunday. It’s so much nicer to stand over a stove with a pot of hot fruit and a canner on a cool day than on a hot one!

Three hours and 25 pounds of peaches later we had 30 odd jars of jam in two flavors–peach and peach vanilla. And we had learned a few valuable lessons about jam making. 1) Big batches take longer to cook (duh) 2) peeling peaches is annoying, even if you boil them first and 3) sometimes you can have peach FAIL but don’t let it ruin your day!

Peach Vanilla Jam
Adapted from multiple sources

Of the two types of peach jam we made on Sunday (we also made blueberry jam, but that’s a whole other story) this peach vanilla combination really was something special in my book. The vanilla bean + peach made this jam taste rich and almost decadent on the tongue. After tasting the cooled jam, I immediately wished we had made more. Guess there’s always next year!

Ingredients:

6 cups mashed peaches (from about 12 peaches–each peach yields about 1/2 cup mash)
3/8 cup lemon or lime juice
3/4 cup honey
4 1/2 teaspoons Pomona’s Pectin powder
6 teaspoons calcium water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

Directions:

In a large bowl combine mashed peaches, vanilla extract, scraped seeds from vanilla bean and whole vanilla bean. Allow to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Pour fruit mixture into a large stockpot. Add lemon or lime juice and calcium water. Bring fruit to a boil. While fruit is cooking, add pectin powder to the honey and mix well.

Once the fruit is boiling, add the pectin-honey mixture and stir vigorously for 1-2 minutes to make sure the honey dissolves. Return mixture to a boil and cook until the jam is set (ours took about another 10 minutes of cooking). Use the plate test–place a plate in the freezer to get it cold, remove and add 1 teaspoon of jam to the plate, then place the plate back in the freezer for 1 minute; if the jam wrinkles when pushed gently with your finger when you take it back out, the jam is set–to check if you jam is set.
Once the jam is set, remove the vanilla bean. Spoon into prepared jars and process.*

Allow jars to cool on the counter for 24 hours, then remove the rings to check the seals. Store in a cool dry place for up to one year.

*If this is your first time canning, I suggest you read the USDA guidelines here, because I’ve glossed over a lot of details in the instructions above!

See those little flecks of vanilla? AMAZING! Especially on cornbread, as shown here!