One Last Bowl of Cherries

2.5 QT Crockpot

The squirrels tried to beat us but we prevailed!  We picked one more big bowl of cherries.  Considering it's over 80 degrees outside, I didn't feel much like turning on the oven which prompted an intense internet search for a crockpot recipe.

Sounds easy, right?  Wrong!  Nearly every recipe I came across called for cherry pie filling.  Can you say yuck?  I'm not really a "pie filling from a can, filled with preservatives, excessive sugar and fillers" kind of girl - can anyone say cherry slime?!

I'm not kidding when I tell you it took some real digging to find a recipe where I could use FRESH CHERRIES!  Luckily, I came across The Crockpot Gourmet.  I did not know this Blog but after some browsing around, I bookmarked it and found them on Facebook.


The recipe is simple...

• 16 oz frozen sliced peaches
• 12 oz frozen sweet cherries (pitted)

• For the filling:
• ¼ cup greek yogurt
• ½ cup all purpose flour
• ¼ cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• For the topping:
• 6 tablespoons cold butter
• ½ cup wheat flour (or regular flour is fine too, I just like the extra texture of the wheat flour)
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

1. In a small bowl whisk together the filling ingredients until well combined
2. Add peaches and cherries and toss to coat
3. Spray crock with nonstick spray and pour filling into crock
4. Using a sharp knife cut up the butter into tiny pieces trying not to touch with your hands
5. Then using a large fork add in remaining topping ingredients and use fork to cut it all in to form a crumble topping (or if you have a pastry cutter then you can just to this all at once)
6. When the butter is pretty well broken up and combined (don't worry if it's not perfect) then sprinkle evenly over the top of the filling in crock
7. Cover and cook on high for 2-4 hours

Notes

I used a 3.5 quart oval crock

The only changes I made were (1) I used our fresh Cherries and a bag of Frozen Mango and (2) I didn't make the topping but only because I just made Strawberry Pie and Cherry Pie. My plan for this is as an ice cream topper.

Grinding Your Own Flour

Okay, that title might scare you – DON’T LET IT!!  I’m sure you have images of sitting on a low, wooden stool, a big wooden bucket full of grain between your legs and a giant wooden spoon.  Then you’ll spend the next 12 hours mashing it into flour.  Perhaps if we were back in the 1800’s but this is the new millennium!  No more stools, wooden spoons or hours of back-breaking time in the barn!

Personally I use the NutriMill Grain Mill because it came highly recommended and at the time I was a novice taking a leap of faith. Yes, it’s expensive (the average cost being around $250) BUT the health benefits of grinding your own grain far outweigh the initial cost.  

As of this post, I have had my mill nearly 10 years, that’s just $25 per year and each year that number goes down. Did you know, there are over 60 different nutritional properties in a SINGLE GRAIN!  Among these properties are essential oils.  In commercial grain, ALL the properties of the grain are stripped, washed, bleached and then only certain properties are added back in (hence, “enriched flour”).  

Did you catch the word BLEACH?  Yes, flour is NOT white.  Commercial flour is white because of bleaching. Now if we’re talking organic flours, yes, they are MUCH better than your store-brand or name-brand commercial flours but they DO NOT have the essential oils or nearly ALL the original nutrition.  If they did, they would turn rancid on the shelf long before you ever bought them. 

Remember, commercial flour is ground, treated (either commercial or commercial-organic), packaged, stored, shipped, stored at grocery store, then put on the shelf.  And if it’s not made here in the USA, you can double that time frame.  Yuck! 

Do your research!  There are many different types of grain for different cooking and/or baking applications.  Personally I use Organic “Soft-White” because it’s the most universal.  I also like the ancient grain Kamut because it has a slight nutty flavor. Did you know, Kamut is considered an ancient grain.  It had once been found in an Egyptian tomb dating back 5,000 YEARS and was still in perfect condition!  Grains won’t ever go bad if stored properly.  I store my grain in 5 gallon food grade buckets with tight fitting lids I purchased at Lowe's for about $6.

Where can you get grain?  Just about anywhere nowadays!  I buy mine online because I purchase large quantities. Recently I purchased a 50lb bag of organic Soft-White for $70 shipped.  That’s barely $1.50 per pound!  Organic flour will run you upwards of $5 per pound!  I grind about 3 pounds and store it in the freezer.  If you want it ULTRA-HEALTHY, grind only what you need and use it right away.  Freezing the flour will cause some nutritional loss but still by far outweighs buying commercial flour.

So, how do we make flour?  Well, get ready.  Take out your Nutrimill  (or whatever grain mill you purchase), put the grain in the top, turn the dial. Now walk away for a couple minutes (the machine is LOUD!).  Come back to fresh flour in the bucket.  Wait, that didn’t take HOURS of backbreaking labor!  That took just 3-5 minutes!  Whew, better go rest now…