Bake at 68F

The weather here is lovely.  You can be outside at all times of day, you can enjoy the sun without baking, you can wear a light jacket in the evenings, the summer here is delightful.  I do bear in mind though that this means the winter will be fierce.  At least for someone like me, I was made for blue beaches :)


Here's what's been on my mind and heart lately,


Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.
    The wise have eyes in their head,
    but fools walk in the darkness.
Yet I perceived that the same fate befalls all of them.  Then I said to myself, "What happens to the fools will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?"  And I said to myself that this is also vanity.


This is in Ecclesiastes, which for those of you who have never bummed yourselves out reading it is a whomp whomp whomp book.  I'm sort of surprised that Solomon was able to finish the book and he didn't just lay in bed forever with his sorrows, cause he's all "downer."  Anyway, the prize of this for me has been this: as I'm heading into graduate work I feel and I hear the temptation for self-importance, bragging, arrogance, and all that you might have experienced from a professor or at a lecture or something.  I have been praying that I won't fall into this mindset,  I like books, I like studying (generally), and I am here because God made me that way and he wants me here.  That's what I know, so I try to remember that, life could go lots of ways from here, but it won't ever be about what book I've read, who I've impressed, or if I wrote something publishable (ehhhh, never been crazy about that...).  Not well articulated point, but it's what I wanted to share...


Now about the baking... I've been baking a bit lately, and while this isn't a cooking blog, I thought I'd share, since it involved a lot and a little inventing.


Overze-st-alous Blueberry Peach Pie Bars
serves 8, or I could eat about half and then serve four others

I made this for a game night with some friends from church (Josh and Kerilyn) and their friends Corey, Laura, and Whitney.  I particularly wanted to share the recipe because the game night was a great time and they are a wonderful group of people, I'm very excited about hanging out with them!
Cast of Characters:
Crust and Topping-
1/2 c sugar
1 & 1/2 c flour
pinch of salt
7/8 ZEST of one lemon (I got a little overzesty, hence the title, I just love the smell of zest, but the actual recipe called for 1/2 of the lemon zest, your call)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 stick unsalted butter, cut in squares
1/2 egg (yes, 1/2? I just scrambled it and estimated, I think I had about 3/4, whatever)
Filling-
2 c blueberries, fresh please
1/4 c sugar
1 peach, diced, also fresh
2 tsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease an 8x8 pan.

Mix the sugar, baking powder, and flour together.  Add the salt and lemon zest.   Add the butter and egg into the flour mixture and blend with one of those pastry device things, a fork, or your hands until combined and crumbly (hands work best I think).  Press half the dough into the pan to create the crust.  Try a little bit, it's great!

In a small bowl mix the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice together.  Mix with the blueberries and the peaches!  Pour the berry-peach mixture into the pan and spread evenly.  Crumble the remaining dough on top of the blueberries.

Bake for 45 minutes or until top is golden brown.  Cool completely and store in the refrigerator. EAT!

And now, hmmm, I can't name recipes well, but in honor of the picture, and in general the ingredients used, I'll call this one

Red-headed Step-child Chicken

Ha! See, it's Russell! He's red-headed!  Sometimes, we eat lunch together over the video chat.  It's actually kind of fun, at least until school starts.  Also, the ingredients, as you will hear, were just sort of thrown together and picked out from things I had around, and I feel like this has connections, however loose, to step-childness, like Cinderella.

Okay...

gang members:

Two chicken breasts, butterflied and cleaned (yes, this IS the worst)

1/2 eggplant, sliced (you may also julienne slice, whatever fits in your casserole dish)

1/4 green bell pepper, julienned

1/4 onion sliced (rounds, julienned, diced, I had a little bit of everything)
1/4 zucchini sliced in rounds

1 8-oz can diced tomatoes (okay, mine came pre-seasoned, which I despise, but it tasted fine, in any case I recommend the regular type)

dash of oregano

several splashes of balsamic vinegar

around 2 T of olive oil

pinch of crushed red pepper

touch of dried basil

some roasted red bell pepper (pine nuts would be good too, think about adding that, great)

Okay, dump everything into a casserole dish, I had a 9x12 pan, but whatever works, cover with foil and bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until done.  Set everything aside and cover it so it stays hot and dump the liquid stuff into a pot and add oh, 1/2 T of cornstarch and stir with a whisk at medium temperature for about 5 minutes.  This is just for some delightful gravy.

Serve with rice or potatoes (which you could add to the baking dish, chopped up) and enjoy!

Serves about oh, 4 girls or 2-3 boys...