Fresh strawberries meet strawberry cobbler meet strawberry shortcake

Today we went strawberry picking (which was actually a lot of work and wonderfully fun) and now I have six quarts of beautiful fresh strawberries. And I have 4 days in which to eat them all!

Courtesy of K.K.

Well, obviously some type of strawberry crisp or cobbler should be the first thing that comes to mind. However, my uncle is staying with me for a couple of weeks and has a gluten allergy, so making a cobbler can be a bit more of a challenge. Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour to the rescue! I found an incredibly easy strawberry cobbler recipe from Divas can cook and modified it slightly to use the gluten free baking flour and a little less sugar (because I love the natural taste of strawberries!). The result was not really a cobbler-type of dessert, but instead, a delish strawberry shortcakeish outcome! I served it with soy milk vanilla ice cream (yup, there's a lactose intolerance too!) and the combination was outstanding.

Strawberry Cobblerish-Shortcake

Ingredients

 

Strawberry filling:

- 3 c. fresh strawberries, diced

- 1/2 c. sugar

 

Cobbler/Shortcake:

- 1 c. + 2 tbsp. Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour

- 2 tsp. baking powder

- 1/2 tsp. salt

- 1/4 c. sugar

- 1 c. lactose-free milk

- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

- 1 stick (8 tbsp) butter, melted

Instructions

 

- Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 9-inch casserole dish.

- In a medium bowl, add strawberries and 1/2 c. sugar. Stir to coat strawberries in sugar and set aside.

- In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

- Add in milk, vanilla extract and melted butter.

- Stir until combined.

- Pour batter evenly into dish.

- Spoon strawberries evenly on top of batter. Do NOT stir.

- Baked for 35-40 minutes.

- Enjoy!

Goat a few minutes to make some meatballs?

For some reason, the meat stand at the farmers market is always sold out of ground beef. But, not to worry! My last experience with ground goat was AMAZING, so I purchased 2 pounds of ground goat instead. Did you know that goat meat is considerably leaner than both chicken and beef, yet contains the same amount of protein (reference)?  

I used one pound to make the same delish goat and asparagus recipe that I made last summer. What to do with the other pound? Meatballs. Not just any meatballs. Meatballs with goat cheese. 

I found this recipe by Bonnie Wolf (NPR) and only made a slight modification to use 1 pound of ground goat and 1 pound of ground lamb instead of 2 pounds of goat. And what resulted were the most fantastic meatballs EVER. They should be called amazeballs!! They were so simple to make! I served them with rice and a side of steamed fresh broccoli - no sauce needed.

Billy Goat Meatballs

These meatballs, adapted from The Meatball Shop Cookbook, were inspired by the ingredients often found in a goat cheese tart — pungent chevre, fresh thyme and caramelized onions. Like most gamier meat, goat is so lean that it is important to add fat to avoid dryness. Here the goat cheese provides both fat and flavor. These can be served with a tomato sauce, but I prefer them as is.

 

Courtesy of Bonny Wolf

Makes about 2 dozen, 1 1/2-inch meatballs


4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 tablespoon fresh/dried thyme leaves
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup goat cheese
1 pound ground goat, 1 pound ground lamb
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of the olive oil into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and use your hand to evenly coat the entire surface. Set aside.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions, 1 teaspoon salt and the thyme. Lower heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and nicely browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and place in the refrigerator to cool completely.

Combine cooled onion mixture with remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix by hand until thoroughly incorporated.

Roll the mixture into round, golf ball-sized meatballs (about 1 1/2 inches), making sure to pack the meat firmly. Place the balls in the prepared baking dish, being careful to line them up snugly and in even rows vertically and horizontally to form a grid. The meatballs should be touching one another.

Roast for 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are firm and cooked through. A meat thermometer inserted into the center of a meatball should read 165 degrees.

Allow meatballs to cool for 5 minutes in the baking dish before serving.