July 13,   Bowl full of Cherries or Just the Pits?

As idioms go, 'Life is just a bowl full of Cherries' is one of the greats.  Hasn't everyone heard this experession of carefree living, all going well?  In opposition, the expression that something is 'the pits' means it pretty much is not going well.   So, when life gives you cherries, know that you will most likely have to deal with the pits before you can relish in the carefree deliciosness.

Our last day in Phoenix I was mesmerized by the produce section at the local Fry's supermarket and wound up bringing home a bunch of fresh fruit.  Cherries and strawberries, peaches and plums, raspberries and blackberries.. oh my.   The bag of cherries I got was huge and although I was eating a handfull a day, it did not seem like I was putting a dent in the bag. Something had to be done or I would lose these beauties,  so I decided to bake them!  Yum.

Before the pitting process.

How long do you think my fingers stayed red?

But first, you must remove the pits.  Yep.  This is no ones favorite pasttime.  Many cherry pie makers will simply refuse to use fresh cherries because of the time consuming task of taking out the pits.  No canned cherry pie filling for us! Let's do fresh.!
I did not have a cherry pitter and my attempt to use the sharp end of the kitchen scissors was not working out so I halved each cherry and removed the pit with a paring knife.  Big, juicy, job.  Look at the stained fingers! Labor of Love.

The end result is a bowl full of cherries!  Pitless (confession I missed at least two which I later found in my mouthfull of pie), and they are ready for cooking.

When life gives you a bowl full of cherries . . . make pie!   Hmmmm... pie requires an oven and we don't have an oven.    Micro-waved pie just does not sound good to me, so that idea was vetoed fast.    In my family we make cobbler.  Usually peach cobbler or blackberry cobbler, but any fruit will do.  My mom's cobbler is not like any other cobbler I've ever seen made.  It is kind of a cross between a pie and a cobbler.  Usually it requires an oven too, but I've made them all my life and I thought a crockpot cobbler was a definite possibility so I decided to just do it. 

Dump into crockpot:
    3 cups or so of fresh ripe sweet cherries, pitted
    1 tablespoon butter
    1 juiced lime
    3/4 cups of sugar
Set on high. Stir.  Let it come to a bubble.
Meanwhile take your 2 crust pie dough (I cheated and bought pillsbury pre-made).  Use the crockpot lid to cut the shape of the top dough and set aside.  When mixture is bubbling, drop big quarter size pieces of the remaining pie dough into the juicy fruit. Distribute but don't stir.   Use all the pie dough.  Cut some holes in the top dough piece and lay it on top of the mixture.  Put the lid on the crockpot, set to medium, and let it cook away for a couple of hours.

IT WAS AMAZING!    I wish I had the pictures to prove it but we devoured it warm with a side of vanilla ice-cream and completely forgot to take an after photo.  Sorry.   I promise I'll be making more all summer so I'll share a photo then.

One last photo about fruit.   Do you see how this (my breakfast today) just glistens with yumminess?

I love summer fruits.     This peach is the same peach pictured above with the cherries.  It was worth waiting for.

I promise to eat my weight in fresh peaches this summer.   I hope they are good for me.


P.S.  Sue, tell Kevin I nailed the cherry cobbler.  It was perfect, thick but not too, sweet but not too, doughy but not too!   It didn't even need ice-cream.   Proud of myself. :)