sour cherries are here!

i have been awaiting their arrival since their short season ended last year! last year my mom was able to get tons of them, so i had an abundance. not the case this year. due to the lack of a winter, the warm weather early, and the few icy cold days we had early in the spring, the entire crop of sour cherries was severely hurt. they have a very short picking time to begin with, so this year there was a very limited supply.

i have been asking around at the farmers market in south side about when they might be getting any, and they had said this week may be the week. so i was very excited to find one farmer with a small stock of them. of course i bought up all he had out on the table. when i turned to leave, i noticed he was putting out more...i almost went back for more, but decided as long as i could make one pie, i would be happy. 

sour cherry pie. probably my favorite kind of pie of all time. with a lil vanilla ice cream...yum. so, here is a recipe for one if you are lucky enough to get your hands on some this season!

MY FAVORITE SWEET PIE CRUST (make 2 if you want a top on your pie!)

1 1/4 cups flour.

1 tbsp. sugar.

1/4 tsp. salt.

6 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter cut into small pieces.

2 tbsp. cold vegetable shortening.

3-4 tbsp. ice water, as needed.

sift flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. work in butter & shortening with your fingers until crumbs form. add water little by little, just until a dough begins to form. form dough into a disc, wrap tightly, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. once chilled, roll out a 12" circle & press it into a 9" pie pan. form edges. cool again, for about 30 minutes. preheat oven to 375 degrees. line pie shell with parchment paper & pie weights (i don't have these, so i use uncooked beans or a glass baking dish that is slightly smaller than the pie dish). bake until set, about 12 minutes. if you are baking a pie who's filling will not be cooked, remove the weights/lining & bake 8-10 more minutes, until golden brown. but for this pie, just set the crust aside for now.

SOUR CHERRY FILLING

3 pints sour cherries.

1 cup sugar.

3 tbsp. corn starch.

gently mix all ingredients together & stir until corn starch has dissolved & there are no lumps. 

set oven to 425 degrees. add cherry filling to pie. if you want a top crust, add it now. then brush top & edges with a beaten egg. sprinkle with sugar. bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees & bake another 30 minutes, rotating pie at the half way point. i always place a cookie sheet under my pie, because most pies end up bubbling over. let cool & enjoy!

$1.00!

 

 

 

 

i also got my little tool box planter all filled up today with some little succulent plants from lowes, and found this lil fella in the discount section for $1.00.

 

 

yum! chocolate chip zucchini cake!

so i mentioned the fact that my mom & i got 4 zucchinis for $1.00 at a flea market yesterday. i love buying fresh, local produce that i know i have to use asap. it's fun to find new recipes, or just make ones i remember loving as a kid. of course i could have made something healthy with my fresh veggies, but i decided to make one of my favorite cakes that my mom makes pretty often when zucchinis are in abundance - chocolate chip zucchini cake!

it's delicious, and you can pretend it's not bad for you since there is a good amount of zucchini in there. i have come to find you can use a lot of different veggies in baked goods, and they always seem to turn out great. i have substituted apple sauce, pumpkin, and beans for oil and/or butter with awesome results. i used a home made apple butter that sam & i canned last year in place of the oil in this recipe. so, if you have any zucchini laying around & love sweets, give my mom's recipe a try!

CHOCOLATE CHIP ZUCCHINI CAKE

1 1/2 cups sugar.

1/2 cup butter, softened.

1/4 cup oil (or apple sauce!)

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs.

2 1/2 cups flour.

1/3 cup cocoa.

1 tsp. cinnamon.

1 tsp. baking soda.

1/2 cup butter milk (i used skim & it turned out fine, 

but i'm sure buttermilk would be better).

2 cups shredded zucchini

1 cup chocolate chips...or 2 cups.

preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease a 9 x 13 cake pan. combine sugar, butter, oil, vanilla & eggs.  beat well. add flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon & butter milk. blend well. fold in zucchini & chocolate chips. bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out from the center clean.

 

 in other news, the flowers i got yesterday for 30 cents each are in the ground & happy. most of them are perennials, which won't bloom again until next year, but i got 2 plants that had buds all over them, and are blooming today. both my mom & i are stumped as to what kind of flowers these are. anyone have any idea? they are small, about the size of a nickel, or maybe a little bigger.  

flea market finds!

in case you didn't know, i love junk! i call it junk because its usually dirt cheap items i don't need at all, but can't pass up. i really think you can find some great old treasures in what other people call trash. i think i got it from my dad, who has always enjoyed searching flea markets, antique stores, yard sales, and any other places that look promising for good junk. summer time is here, which means flea markets are happening everywhere. i have spent the last few weekends at quite a few different ones, and have come home with lots of new items. well, new to me i suppose. 


today my parents and i went to two new flea markets we had never been to before. one in connellsville, and one on the way back from connellsville. i am not too good with directions or towns, so i can't say exactly where it was. i think maybe coraopolis. it's interesting how different flea markets can be. the first one we went to was at an old drive in theater. it really was mostly junk. people had extremely cheap items, most under $3.00. some lady even shouted out anything on her table was free because she didn't want to pack it all back up. people had items thrown in the dirt and really didn't seem to care about the value or condition of what they had. my dad found quite a few cheap cans and tins that he will surely sell on ebay & make a nice profit from. my mom and i got 4 zucchinis for $1.00(more about what became of mine in a future post). good deal! i found a little bird candle for 25 cents, and then found what turns out to be one of my favorite finds in a long time...

it's a little wooden thread spool holder! it can sit like a bleacher on a table, or it can fold flat & hang on a wall, which is what i will end up doing. it has a nice wood flower inlay on top. i think it has a lot of character, and it's also quite useful. a great find! it came with all the thread too, and a thimble. all for the bargain price of $4.oo. not bad. i also found a cook book for sam with lots of simple game recipes. we left the first flea market & rushed over to the next. sellers at flea markets tend to pack up and leave relatively early - around 11:00 or noon. we have the theory that the earlier you get there, the better "junk" you'll find. we aren't crazy enough to wake up at 5:00 am though, so we usually get there around 8:00-10:00. however, there are some advantages to arriving late; sellers that don't want to pack up all of their items are more likely to give you a better deal, just so they don't have to deal with packing it all up again. this was the case when we arrived at our next stop. 

my mom and i have sort of an obsession with "rescuing" discounted plants that are dying or are just done blooming for the season. we check out all of the lowes around (fyi - lowes sells discounted plants in the back of their greenhouse area. you can get 6 packs of flowers for as little as 10 cents! most of the time the plants just need a little water & to get into the ground) for cheap plants that need a home. so, when the first seller at this particular flea market had a huge lot with tons of plants, we went running toward them. the seller had ridiculous deals on perennials from this year that had already bloomed, but will come back bigger and better next year & for years to come. they typically cost $4.00-$6.00 per plant. on a good discount day at lowes you can get them for $1.00-$3.00 each. this seller had flats of 15 plants for $5.00. that's about 30 cents per plant! crazy! so of course, my mom and i began picking out our favorites. we shared one flat, deciding 15 was more than enough, seeing as we are both running out of room for flowers.

i picked up this unique little strawberry planter that is shaped like an envelope (weird) for $1.00, and this old wooden tool box that i plan on lining & filling with flowers for $5.00. my dad got a few more cans & some other random things. my mom, who is better at resisting the urge to buy things she doesn't need (and keep me from buying way too much junk), just got the flowers & zucchini.

all in all, it was a fun day. it's nice to hear stories from my mom and dad about items they remember having or seeing when he was small. i think i spent $12.00 total for all these treasures! it's fun because most of these items are things you can't just go out to the store and find any day. the excitement of finding a good deal on a unique item keeps me going back for more. if you haven't been to a flea market before, summer is the perfect time to find one near by and get out there! happy junking!