Cobbler-Strawberry

2 ½- cup strawberries diced(if you increase this to three it won’t be a big deal in this recipe, roughly this is just one container of fresh strawberries from the store though sometimes it does vary roughly half a cup sometimes when diced up)

1- banana peeled and diced

1- Orange juiced(optional, you could also choose to use the lil wedges in the orange instead as wholes instead of juicing the orange itself as well, both are just fine and very tasty variants of this recipe)

1 teaspoon orange zest(basically grate a lil bit off the orange while its still whole after you have made sure to have washed it in cold water with a drop of soap to make sure insecticides and anything else possibly harmful to you and your family are removed-since different grown foods have different ways they need to be cleaned I will link some ways to do so for the required items in this recipe entry the end to make things easier for those of you who may like to try it, if you prefer not to use it, you can do this without zest and use 2 tablespoons of orange juice from the store, not recommended but you can do so if that is the way that is best for you and your family, I myself have in the past done it when I was very busy and unable to do so for some reason or another, or we just had orange juice and all other ingredients but no fresh orange, also a good substitute is using frozen fruits and using orange juice during the off season so while not the best option, it is an option)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups flour

1 dash salt

½ cup sugar(separated by ¼ cup each-keep this in mind as ¼ cup goes in the topping and ¼ in with the fruit.

2 cups milk

Casserole dish(recommended size between nine and twelve inches, nine works just fine but if you need to use a bigger dish you will need to check it more often as well)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease your casserole dish in your chosen manner(some people use spray and some people use shortening or butter so whatever your method, just make sure its thoroughly greased so it can’t stick to the sides so much-if you forget its not the end of the world… not until you have to wash it anyway-lol-plus it comes out much cleaner when you grease it as well and not so much a mess). Now you want to make sure to place your strawberries, your banana, and your orange(juice or wedges whichever you chose to do) in your chosen casserole dish. Sprinkle your ¼ cup sugar reserved for the fruit in the bowl(this is done because in some areas the fruits don’t produce as much pectin or natural sugar or simply come out a lil more bitter though pollution can also do that as well so this is my personal method to drown out that and bring back more of the natural flavors before all the denizens of humanities mistakes). Now mix, in a separate bowl, the rest of your ingredients and stir, get out as many of the clumps as you can but if you can’t get them all its ok, just make sure the biggest are taken care of(a few little ones won’t hurt). Next mix in a small portion of the batter into the casserole dish: enough to cover the fruits. Lastly, pour the rest on top before putting it in the oven to bake for 30-45 minutes.

Be sure to check it roughly about every ten minutes until the end, a light in the oven is easiest to do this with as just peaking in is usually enough to see how it is progressing. This is useful in two ways. One, every oven is different and some factors such as altitude effect many baking times for many things. Two, if you have children old enough to help you this is also a learning experience(just make sure they aren’t in the kitchen without you because I know I was that kid… ‘don’t touch’ is sometimes overridden by pure childhood curiosity a natural urge to touch and explore everything in the different developmental stages, especially in younger children, as long as they are supervised and your simply taking them in to look and keep them from touching, it is a great tool for building young minds. Just be prepared as they will ask plenty of questions like “why does it rise” and you have to simplify the answer for smaller children more so than for older children, unless you go with the story my mom told me about the cooking fairies and how they hated her no matter what she did. Lol It was a story like santa clause in our house and it wasn’t exactly a lie. No matter how closely she followed the directions my mother burned everything as if it was divine intervention; accept tuna casserole and especially birthday cakes- for some reason my grandmother was the same with gardening without acceptions as she even killed cactus no matter how closely she followed how to do it while my mother on the other hand gardened as effortlessly as my grandmother cooked so… it evened out I suppose… though I can never explain how my mom could bring back plants so close to death when I’ve never met anyone since then who could and… I certainly can’t).

So… anyway back to cooking and off of memory lane.

When its been in about half an hour check it with a tooth pick or a fork or even a butter knife by sticking such in the center and putting it halfway or all the way or somewhere in between, down into it. When you bring it back up, if its ‘clean’ and not all doughy then your good to go. If it has some dough on it, then put it back in for another ten minutes checking it again. If its especially close to being done you can check in five instead, just a reminder… the more times you open the oven the longer it can take having to replace the heat that has been let out of it. This is a note for those of you with children, as this is both true and I know you may forget right then in that moment while looking at their pouting faces… the explanation so they will in some way kind of understand why.

When its done, let it cool down and enjoy. It can be eaten chilled, hot, or warm. Keep the leftovers refrigerated and don’t leave out more than an hour(less if you have pets-lol-or children who will try and get it no matter how far back you put it, in which case id suggest a lock of the refrigerator and a spot you can sit something hot, not on plastic, so it can chill without being catalyst of accidents). 

As promised here are the links on washing the fruits involved. 

 http://localfoods.about.com/od/strawberries/qt/Washing-Strawberries.htm--- strawberries specifically

http://napavalleyregister.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/wine/wash-your-bananas-and-other-lessons-in-cleaning-produce/article_38a7f88f-027a-519c-bdf9-979f89ce6b27.html bananas and in general-yes bannana's, you should wash those as well. 

when looking for a link about washing oranges i was shocked to only find a YouTube video and countless questions as to why washing them was important. because if its on the skin and your touching it, its on whatever you touch after you touch it, including the part you peeled free. geez... its one of the ways to get sick or get others in your home sick if your not careful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b9rqm6a7xY anyway, here is a video of someone washing oranges if my explanation of how to do it with oranges doesn't help. The middle link that i got for bandannas also has a couple tips for different things as well.

Have fun and Enjoy

Luna