I counted twelve blackberry bushes in my fence row and the largest is giving a continual harvest of soft, ripe fruit. My son, my husband, and I picked a batch a few evenings ago at twilight with friends. The afternoon temps rose that day to 97, but it was bearable as the sun sank. The blackberries felt cool to the touch as we avoided the thorns the best we could. My favorite wine is blackberry, but I confess I have never run a still or made my own spirits at home. I do, however, have a great recipe for gluten-free soul-food peach cobbler, which I have adapted here for blackberries. Recipe: In an iron skillet, boil down blackberries using 1/4 to 1/2 cup brown sugar or 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup honey. Reduce down. In a bowl, mix dry ingredients adding warm butter (you may microwave) and milk. Mix batter but do not overstir. Add dry ingredients to wet. Pour batter into baking dish, preferably corningware or other glass bakeware. Pour in batter first, then add blackberry reduction. Bake for approximately 45 minutes to an hour. When top is golden, the cobbler is done. The batter will rise through the blackberry filling. Remember, the cobbler will continue cooking when you take it out, so avoid over-baking. Enjoy!
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Since changing my diet to heal my body from the effects of Lyme Disease, I have discovered that our dependence on manufactured products with harmful chemicals has lead to an assortment of auto-immune problems in thousands if not millions of people. From artificial sweeteners to chemical-filled make-up, we subject ourselves daily to toxins. I recently began experimenting with essential oils through a relative who sells Do'Terra, which, roughly translated, means "Good Earth." I learned that something as simple as replacing cancer-causing air fresheners with lemon, orange, or peppermint diluted with spring water in a diffuser can lighten a mood or even help sell a house. Recently, I mixed coconut oil and lemon to produce a moisturizer that acts as a lasting perfume. I suppose convincing us we need Corporate America brings big profits for the corporations but at what expense to the consumer? When I learned how easy it was to make all these products myself, with the added benefit of letting me change fragrances on a whim for pennies a day, I wondered how I had become so convinced that I needed expensive bottles of manufactured chemicals to achieve inferior results? The word brainwashing comes to mind . . . .
I get a number of requests throughout the year for my potato salad recipe, most often on the 4th of July. I can tell you that people who hate potato salad love this version, I suspect because there are so many flavors and because this version steers away from the German and Polish-based salads which are heavy on vinegar. In the South, there is no place for vinegar in potato salad when the texture and vibrancy can be achieved with a trip to the vegetable garden. You will need to combine:
Five boiled eggs sliced 6-8 red potatoes sliced in one inch wedges and boiled 1 cup chopped vidalia onion 1-2 green onions chopped fine 1 cup mayonnaise 3 tablespoons Southwest rub, Cajun spice, or Emeril's Bayou Blast Salt to taste [You may add red onion for extra zing] Warning: This potato salad recipe could lead to multiple marriage proposals. . . . |
Author
Mother, writer, reformed culinary disaster, Andrea Mosier shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Award for Fire Eater and was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award for prose in 2014. "The Illuminated Man" will appear in the first edition of Serendipity. Her legendary potato salad recipe appears here on the June 5 entry. Archives
February 2019
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