The Berry Thing

Fresh berries are probably the most delicious thing in the world! One of the favourite desserts here at my house is The Berry Thing. Tasty, versatile, easy, useful for more than just a dessert, and it can even be made for diabetics!

Try it out!

Photo by Stacy Spensley, flickr

Ingredients
2 cups fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh red raspberries
1 cup blackberries or blueberries (or 1/2 cup of each)
1/2 cup sugar or Splenda (sucralose)

Method
Chill berries. Wash berries and pick through, discarding blemished berries. Hull and cut strawberries into pieces no larger than the raspberries. Combine all berries into a bowl, cover with sugar, and lightly mash with a potato masher to bruise the fruit and release juices. Cover and refrigerate for two hours or more.

To serve
1) Scoop into bowls and top with whipped cream or vanilla yoghurt; garnish with mint sprig
2) Spoon onto sliced pound cake or madiera cake, top with whipped cream or vanilla yoghurt; garnish
3) Spoon onto waffles or pancakes, top and garnish
4) Roll into crepes, top with sour cream and sprinkle with confectioner's (icing) sugar
5) Spoon onto hot cereal (porridge)
6) Spoon over ice cream
7) Serve along side a chocolate frosted fudge cake
8) Spoon over scones or shortcake sponges, top with whipped cream

What kind of things can you think of to do with the Berry Thing?

Peach Cobbler (using canned peaches)

Photo by Shaw_Girl, flickr

This is a very old-fashioned dessert, something I remember my grandmothers making. It works with fresh, canned or frozen fruit and tastes best served hot with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream over it. One of my favourite desserts as a kid, and when I introduced my husband to it, his eyes just lit up!

Ingredients

2 small (410g) cans sliced peaches in light syrup

⅓ cup brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

  OR ½ cup fructose

 juice of 1 lemon

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

pinch salt

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 cups self-rising flour

⅓ cup fructose

  OR

 ½ cup sugar

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

1 ¼ cups buttermilk or sour milk

⅓ cup vegetable oil (not olive oil)

Method

Heat oven to 400°F (200°C)

Drain peaches, and reserve syrup. Put peaches in a lightly buttered 1-quart baking dish.

Put 1 cup of syrup into a small saucepan; add the sugars/fructose, lemon juice, spices, salt, butter, and cornstarch. Place the saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil; simmer, stirring, until thickened and clear, about 4 to 5 minutes. Pour the hot mixture over the peaches. Place in the oven while preparing topping.

Sift together dry ingredients. Mix together until all is incorporated but do not knead.

This makes a VERY soft dough, so handle it gently.

Drop by spoonfuls onto the hot peach filling. Return to the oven and bake until topping is browned, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Other fruits in similar quantities can be substituted, including apples, berries or pears.

Oatmeal Cookies with Variations

Photo by adriennethecook, flickr

Who doesn’t like moist, chewy oatmeal cookies? And you can add some chocolate chips or raisins or nuts to make your own signature cookie. Try this recipe…a favourite in my family for many years…and see what you think! (Parentheses are for South African readers)

Ingredients 
1 ½ cup sifted flour
1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
1 tsp salt
1 cup softened (not melted) butter (not margarine)
¾ cup granulated (caster) sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract/essence
½ tsp water
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups rolled uncooked oats (Jungle oats)

Method 
Heat oven to 375F (190C). Grease two cookie sheets (baking trays).

Sift together flour, soda, salt. In a separate bowl, blend together butter, sugars, vanilla, and water, then add beaten eggs. Slowly add flour mixture, beat together well.

Now stir in oats and whatever additional ingredients you may wish to use (put no more than 2 cups of additional ingredients in).

Drop half-teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet such that cookie dough balls do not touch each other. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, remove immediately from cookie sheet with a spatula and place on rack to cool.

Makes 6 to 8 dozen

Additions: 
1) 2 cups chocolate chips
2) ⅔ cup white chocolate chips, ⅔ cup milk chocolate chips, ⅔ cup semi-sweet (dark) chocolate chips
    (my personal favourite)
3) 1 cup chocolate chips, 1 cup chopped walnuts
4) 2 cups dark raisins
5) 1 cup raisins, 1 cup dried cranberries
6) 1 cup white chocolate chips, 1 cup chopped macadamia nuts (another fave)
7) 1 cup of M&Ms or Smarties
8) Reduce egg by 1 and add ⅔ cup cinnamon-infused applesauce
9) 2 cups chopped soft dried fruits like cherries, apricots, apple slices

Stewed Fruit

My husband loves stewed fruit. After several experiments I came up with this recipe, which he just loves. Because he is diabetic, I use fructose for sweetening, but you can use sugar.

photo by Mandee84, flickr

Ingredients

2 cups dried fruit of your choice, cut into large pieces

1 sliced lemon

1 cup sugar

  OR ⅔ cup fructose

4 cups water

3 whole star anise pods

6 whole cloves

½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method

Mix sugar (or fructose) and water in large pan and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar/fructose completely dissolves.

Add spices and all “tough” fruits (pears, peaches, mango, apricots, dark raisins, etc), reserving the softer fruits (prunes, figs, etc.) for later addition.

Bring back to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes add the soft fruits and simmer another 20 minutes or until the “tough” fruits can be easily pierced with a fork.

Remove lemon slices, anise pods and whole cloves and discard, set fruit aside to cool.

Serve warm or cold with thick cream or vanilla yoghurt.

Applesauce!

Applesauce Fresh, homemade applesauce…and even a low-GI version for diabetics!

I have always loved apples and applesauce, especially my grandmother’s homemade sauce. This approximates hers (she did not use cinnamon but this recipe reminds me of apple pie with cinnamon in it) very favourably.

What do you do with applesauce? It is a great accompaniment for pork dishes, delicious on pancakes, or as a dessert or snack, especially with ice cream or vanilla yoghurt. I find it tasty mixed into a spice cake or muffin batter (sprinkle some rolled oats on top of the muffins before they go into the oven). It is also delicious as a topping on hot cereals. Applesauce will keep in the freezer for up to a year, several weeks in the fridge.
Oh…and babies seem to love it!!

Ingredients 

photo by Mellowyk, flickr

3 to 4 lbs of peeled, cored, and
   quartered Granny Smith apples
4 to 6 strips of lemon peel
3-4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 inches of cinnamon stick
½ cup fructose
  or ⅔ cup white sugar
1 cup of water
¼ to ½ teaspoon of salt

Method
Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, with lid “cocked” for steam escape, for 30-45 minutes.

 Remove from heat. Remove cinnamon stick and lemon peel. Put through potato ricer or mash with potato masher.

May be eaten hot or cold.

Using fructose reduces the GI rating of the dish. Sugar has a GI of 68, Fructose is 23. Suitable for diabetics in reasonable quantities.

Tender, flaky, homemade biscuits

This is a delicious recipe and easy to make. You can cut the recipe in half if you have a small family because these have no preservatives and therefore don't keep longer than 24 hours...but don't be surprised if there are no leftovers!!

Photo by dineanddish, flickr

Ingredients:
2 cups self-rising flour
1 ½ tsp. sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ¼ cups buttermilk*
⅓ cup vegetable oil (not olive oil)

Method: 
Preheat oven to 400F (200C)
Sift together dry ingredients.
Add 1 cup buttermilk (reserve ¼ cup) and stir, then slowly stir in oil.
Mix together until all is incorporated but do not knead.
This makes a VERY soft dough, so handle it gently.

On a floured board, pat or roll out to 1" thick.
Cut 2” or 3” diameter rounds and place on greased cookie sheet.
Brush tops with reserved buttermilk.
 Bake for 15 minutes or until tops are lightly browned.

Serve hot with butter (hint: break them open with your fingers or a fork, don’t cut them open with a knife. They are very tender and flaky inside.)

*If you don’t have buttermilk, sour milk works fine: add 1 teaspoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk, allow to stand for 10 minutes for the milk to curdle, stir and use.


VARIATION

Scones

To make scones, use the recipe and method above but add up to ½ cup additional sugar to the dry ingredients (sweetness depends on your taste) and cut at least 4” diameter rounds.

Use the scones, split, for strawberry shortcake bases, or serve them warm and buttered with strawberry jam and whipped cream for a real English-style tea.

Beef Wellington

This dish is often avoided by the home cook because it is perceived to be complicated to prepare. It really isn’t—it is much less time-consuming and complicated than stuffing and roasting a turkey, for example. If you like succulent, tender, tasty beef and want something a bit more formal and impressive to serve your family or guests, this is the dish for you!

Ingredients

1 chunk of beef fillet weighing approximately 1 kg (2.2 lbs), aged in your refrigerator for 10 to 14 days

1 packet phyllo dough or puff pastry (phyllo dough preferred), thawed

1 onion finely minced

½ to 1 cup minced fresh mushrooms

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1-2 tsp Fines Herbes

½ to ¾ cup soft, spreadable chicken liver paté (can be vegetable if you don’t like liver)

Olive oil

Butter

Salt to taste

Shallow bowl of cold water

Preparation

Preheat oven to 220˚C (425˚F)

While oven heats, prepare meat: rinse under cold running water and pat dry. Brush lightly with olive oil. Place on a rack in a small oven pan and when oven is up to temperature, put meat in centre of oven. Allow to cook for 15 minutes to sear the outside. Remove from oven after fifteen minutes and set aside. Increase oven to 230˚C (450˚F).

While meat is cooking prepare duxelles:

Melt some butter in a skillet and add mushrooms, onion, ginger, herbs, salt and sauté, stirring constantly. When onions become transparent, add garlic and cook for another minute. Remove from stove and set aside to cool slightly.

Spray the bottom of a baking dish with non-stick spray or brush lightly with olive oil. Unroll dough and lay in the bottom of the dish with excess overhanging the sides. Set aside.

Mix the paté with the duxelles until thoroughly blended. Spread about ⅓ of the mixture on the dough in a rectangular shape large enough to make a base for the meat.

Remove meat from roasting pan without piercing it—use tongs or your hands—and place on top of the spread mixture. Now spread the rest of the mixture on the meat, including over the sides.

Fold up the sides of the dough to cover the meat, using cold water spread with your fingers to seal the edge. Now fold the ends of the dough to fully encase the meat, also sealing with the fingers and cold water.

Place in a 230˚C (450˚F) oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 220˚C (425˚F) (leave oven door open until the temperature reduces). Cook for another 10 minutes for medium-rare or 15 minutes for medium. (Beef Wellington should always be served pink in the middle).

Allow to rest 5-10 minutes before slicing. Serve with horseradish sauce on the side.