by jphilo | Jul 30, 2010 | Recipes
A couple weeks ago, I promised to get off my blueberry recipe kick and move onto other foods. Technically, I’m keeping the promise by sharing this yummy dessert from Family Camp, Huckleberry Pizza. But in truth, Midwesterners without access to the delectable mountain fruit will have to substitute blueberries. The flatland cousin to the smaller, purplish berry won’t have quite the same tang, so you might want to add some lemon juice to punch up the flavor.
Due to cool temperatures this spring and early summer, the huckleberries weren’t quite ready for picking during this year’s Family Camp. Thankfully, we still had plenty frozen from last year’s bumper crop, so the cooks were able to prepare one of my favorite camp desserts. It was so good, I had two pieces…and didn’t feel bad about indulging since who knows when I’ll taste it again?
Huckleberry Pizza
Mix:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Press into a 9×13 pan or pizza pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool completely.
Cream:
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup Cool Whip
Spread on cooled crust and chill.
Mix:
1 cup sugar (probably can cut this to 1/2 cup if using blueberries)
1/4 cup cornstarch
Stir in 1 cup water. Stir and cook over low heat until thick. Add 3 – 4 cups huckleberries. Spread over cream cheese layer and refrigerate for several hours before serving.
by jphilo | Jul 23, 2010 | Out and About
On the last morning walk Hiram and I took in Idaho, a very noisy bird interrupted our conversation. Hiram located the rude critter in the tippy-top of an evergreen tree. While I whipped out my camera, Hiram also spied the mystery bird of prey’s nest in the next tree over.
Maybe the bird was trying to scare us away from a clutch of eggs. As if the constant ruckus and our lack of desire to scale the tree weren’t enough, one look in the telephoto lens at the bird’s hooked beak would have convinced us to keep our distance. That beak, though slightly blurred by my camera shake, is one wicked weapon.
With weeds to pull, wedding supplies to store, bills to pay, a mother to visit, and a book to write, bird identification isn’t making my top ten list any time soon. So, if you can identify the mystery bird, have at it.
To be honest, my travel recovery is taking too long for this efficiency queen. I’m way behinder than expected going into the weekend. So our encounter with the noisy, conversation stopping, mystery bird has me wondering how and why our feathered friends migrate twice a year. But the bigger question is this: Why do human snow birds voluntarily do the migration thing? It’s hard enough unpacking from a week of vacation. But to open a second house, put everything in place, adjust to a new climate and time zone, get reacquainted with friends – whew! I don’t think I’m up to it.
But someday, I’d like to be free as a bird, like you. So please, human snowbirds, share your travel tricks with non-migratory folks like me. And leave your comments before August 4, when I go to Florida for a few days. I want to become flexible and adventurous before meeting my first alligator!
by jphilo | Jul 22, 2010 | Recipes
A couple days back, I blogged about eating Harold Walker’s biscuits & gravy at Family Camp…without Harold Walker. After posting it, several readers asked how to make it. With this being my first day home – jet lagged, knee deep in laundry, and too short on sleep to write creatively or be profound – copying out the recipe is a task I can handle. So here it is.
Harold Walker’s Biscuits & Gravy
According to Harold, you must use Jimmy Dean ground sausage.
Brown 1/2 pound of sausage and set it aside.
Whisk together:
1/2 cup flour
3 cups milk
Pour the milk mixture into the skillet containing a few tablespoons of the sausage grease. Stir and heat until it thickens. Add the sausage. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over biscuits.
Maybe one of the camp cooks could leave a note about how many times they increased the recipe for 35 people. Also, I believe they used Bisquick for the biscuits. But if you need a biscuit recipe, leave a comment about that also, and I’ll post mine soon.
by jphilo | Jul 29, 2008 | Family
Huckleberry pancakes were on the menu at Shadow Valley Family Camp this morning. Tonight we’re having huckleberry pie and huckleberry pizza for dessert. We’ll all enjoy this seasonal, regional treat thanks to the nimble fingers of sixteen Walker relations, ages 5 to 53.
Prairie girl and self-proclaimed wimp that I am, the idea of scrambling around on the sunny side of an Idaho mountain to pick enough huckleberries to feed 40 wasn’t appealing. But since I’m a dessert junkie, the promise of huckleberry pie moved this Mohammed to the mountain.
I didn’t complain as a I crept up the steep and extremely dangerous cliff everyone else treated like a little bit of nothing. I hiked over fallen logs and past bear poop (I’m not kidding. Beth who grew up in Idaho said that’s what it was) and found a particularly abundant huckleberry patch where I could plop down for a good long time. As I picked away, I overheard a conversation between two kids adopted from Russia four years ago.
“Aunt Beth,” Misha explained. “I used to pick berries in Russia with my mom. But we didn’t pick them to eat. We sold them for money. My mom picked berries very fast.”??“Did you see these, Meesh?” Victor asked. “They’re almost like the red berries we used to pick when we were at the orphanage. I wish we could find a whole bunch like that. They make really good jam.”
You know what? After after my little eavesdropping interlude, I was as hot and sweaty as ever, with bright purple huckleberry stains right down to my underwear. The bear poop still worried me and the thought of descending the dangerous cliff I’d ascended earlier still terrified me. But I was happy to be way out of my comfort zone, right where God wanted me to be: on the side of a mountain with sixteen sets of nimble fingers belonging to relatives, young and not-so-young, some of whom have endured much and taught me more.
Huckleberry heaven is a good place to be.
