sweet miscellany

I have officially reached the point of not wanting to turn my oven on. This usually comes sooner in the summer, but Mother Nature decided to tease us with oddly pleasant July temperatures last week. It was so pleasant outside that I enjoyed a few meals alfresco and did not have to run my AC and fan full blast! In July nonetheless! I guess I naively thought it would last all summer, but I was sorely mistaken. At the market on Saturday I was already sticky with sweat at 9 AM. Yuck. At least the return of blueberry season helped a tiny bit. I’ll try not to bore you with rants about the extreme summer heat so this post will simply serve as a notice that there won’t be many baked goods on the blog until September (unless I cave earlier, which will most likely happen).

Moving on to tastier things, ever since Laura’s post, I’ve been dreaming about pie and ice cream. I was pretty close to making a blueberry and peach pie the other day after the farmers market until I realized that the heat wave had returned. This caused an internal struggle. Should I make the pie and sacrifice a comfortable temperature in my apartment, or not make it and be cool? I probably struggled with this for a good while before I realized I could satisfy my craving in ice cream form. My first instinct was to roast the fruit and bake up some crust in the oven. Then I realized that still required the oven. Maybe the heat has started to affect my brain. Anywho, I knew that I had to make adjustments so I did any necessary cooking on the stove. I cooked up the fruit into a sort of quick jam, mashing it as it cooked so I didn’t have to dirty my blender. Then, I made a maple sweetened crumble/crust in my cast iron skillet. It’s kind of like a quick and dirty granola, but oh so tasty!

I know this recipe may have a lot of steps, but they are relatively easy and can be spread out over a couple of days if you wish. None of the ingredients are too fancy, and I’ve provided notes on substitutions just in case. This is perhaps one of my favorite ice creams to date, and I don’t make proclamations like this often. I thought that this roasted strawberry ice cream was my favorite, but this pie-inspired version may have changed my mind. I think it’s the maple sweetened crumble that makes it for me because I probably ate half of it while waiting for the ice cream to churn. Oops. Oh, and sorry (but not sorry!) for the plethora pictures, but this was one photogenic beauty!

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enjoying all of the summer produce from the market

I had an oh-sh*t moment this morning when I realized this little blog’s 2nd anniversary had come and gone without me even realizing it. It happened nearly a whole month (!) ago and it never even crossed my mind. My brain has been so consumed lately with the market season that I suppose I plumb forgot (or rather “peach” forgot since we are now knee deep into peach season). My brain gets so focused on whatever I’m working on at the moment that it is necessary for me to make lists. Grocery lists, market lists, ingredient lists, target lists, 5-year-plan lists, and millions of others are scribbled onto post-it notes in the hopes that I won’t forget something. Sometimes things fall through the cracks and unfortunately this time, it was an event that should have garnered more attention (and perhaps a spot on a list).

In the midst of all that is going on in my life at the moment, I decided to pause and really think about Sweet Miscellany and where I want it to go in the next few years. I always feel uncomfortable thinking about the future and making plans for which the outcome is not really in my control. I suppose I have a fear of failure and it seems to hinder me from doing things I should or want to do. Somebody told me recently that nobody ever really says about their life that they are glad they played it safe. You have to take risks to reap the rewards. This is not something I’ve been comfortable with in the past, but I’m trying to evolve.

My recent contribution to the summer issue of Chickpea Magazine was one such instance of taking a risk. I wrote an article in addition to developing and photographing 4 fresh summer recipes. The recipe developing and photographing has become easier than it used to be, but I wanted to go a step further and write an article about something I was passionate about. It scared the crap out of me. I’m not much of a writer, especially when it’s not some sort of work assignment. I worried over it for a while before I actually dove in and wrote what felt right. It was a leap of faith, but I’m certainly glad I made it.

Speaking of the summer issue of Chickpea (like that transition there?), I developed 4 light and summery dishes for it that would be perfect for any of your holiday festivities this week. They rely on fresh and bright flavors from summer produce and require no cooking! The only recipe that uses the oven is the panzanella, but you could totally get away with making croutons on the stove top or even by leaving torn up bread out to dry overnight. For the recipes, scroll down to see a sneak peek, then head on over to the summer issue preview. (if you want to support the magazine, you can buy a digital copy for only $4, or a print copy for $17 right here)