Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

One of the gifts of spring/early summer is fresh strawberry-rhubarb pie. It's truly magical how the well the orange tang of rhubarb and the mouthwatering sweet of sun-ripened strawberries melt into each other in the heat of the oven. Well, my recipe is based on a recipe from the classic pie bible, Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook. I highly recommend serving with a generous dollop of whipped cream.

Blackberry Pie

One of the treasures of summer was going out into the country with my dad to collect the little clusters of black gold. We would take the berries home, wash them well, and freeze them for use all year round. My favorite application for blackberries is in pie. Blackberries tend to get runny, so to thicken the pie, add tapioca. Unfortunately, for this round of cooking, I forgot to get the tapioca at the store. Even if your pie turns out extra juicy, it's great over ice cream!

Holiday Side Special: Cranberry Sauce

It's a really fun experience to make your own cranberry sauce instead of just taking it out of a can. With a basic recipe, the variations are endless. In this recipe, you can bump up the orange taste by adding the zest of an orange, if you like. Another variation you could do is by adding fresh grated ginger (from a two-inch knob) and ½ teaspoon cinnamon for a spicier sauce. For a sugar-free sauce, replace the sugar with an equal amount of Splenda®.

Blueberries and Cream Cheese Coffeecake

It's lovely, decadent, and it's for breakfast! This coffeecake is perfect for brunches. When serving, this cake tastes best when you've warmed it in the microwave for 20–30 sec.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble

One of the treasures of spring is having fresh rhubarb. The farmer's market didn't have a lot last week, but I could not pass up the gorgeous  ruby stalks of rhubarb. This week I bring you this crumble I adapted from a recipe found in Taste of Home's The Market Fresh Cookbook.