Fresh-picked raspberry and peach crumble

There is a farm near me where you can pick your own berries. They vary by season and demand from blueberries and strawberries to raspberries and even apples. There is also a small market where they sell farm-grown produce, pastured chicken eggs and meat. Needless to say I've found a little patch of heaven. So I took advantage of a beautiful Saturday morning to go berry picking with my oh so patient boyfriend, and came home with two gorgeous pints of raspberries. I had one more pie crust I'd picked up cheaply last month, so naturally I made a pie with them.

Ingredients:
1 pint rinsed raspberries
1 can peaches
1 pie crust

1 cup flour + 2 tbsp
1 cup sugar + 1 tbsp
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup oats
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

Step 1: Mix the dry ingredients - flour, sugar, oats, baking soda and powder,  and a pinch of salt.

 Step 2: Add the cold butter in chunks, mix well. I'm not cool enough to have a pastry cutter, so I just squished it all together with my hands until well mixed. It should be a crumbly, tasty mess.

Step 3: Drain the peaches, place in a bowl with the raspberries. Sprinkle on 1 tbsp vanilla, 2 tbsp flour and 1 tbsp salt, mix.
Step 4: Pour the fruit mix into the pie crust and cover with the crumble mixture.

This is what it looks like just before going in the oven. Drool.

 Step 5: Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, until crisp is browned and fruits are bubbly.

 YES PLEASE.

 The pie crust cover conveniently doubled as a lid. The day after, the berry juices start to pool. Anyone know how to avoid this, besides cornstarch?

This would be simply amazing served warm over french vanilla ice cream. In fact, I'll be going to the store later today...

Easy Mashed Potato Pirogi

As a Hungarian-Slovak-Polish American, pirogi are a critical part of many holidays. And any day of the week really. I had never attempted making them, but since my boyfriend had recently made FIVE POUNDS of mashed potatoes, I decided to give it a try with the leftovers. Since the potatoes are not my recipe, I can't put the mashed potatoes on here, but they were great! I know it involves sour cream, cream cheese, cheddar cheese and butter.... Anyways, start with any mashed potatoes as the filling. And the dough is super-easy to make!

Ingredients:

1 16oz tub of sour cream

3 cups of flour

Mashed potatoes (~1 cup)

1/2 stick butter

1/2 onion, diced

Seriously, it's that easy!

 Step 1: Mix the flour and sour cream well until it forms a dough. Roll it out on a floured surface.

 Step 2: Using a small cup or other cutter, cut out ~3inch circles of dough. You can re-roll the pieces about 4 times.

 Step 3: Place ~1 tsp of mashed potatoes in the middle of the circle of dough. Press the sides together to make a half-moon shape. Crimp the edges with a fork.

 Step 4: Drop into boiling water and simmer for about 5 minutes to cook the dough. Drain.

 Step 5: Melt a half stick of butter (or as much as your arteries can handle!) and cook the onions until translucent and slightly browned.

Step 6: Fry the pirogi in the butter & onions about 3 minutes, until yellow-brown on both sides. Enjoy!

They weren't quite as good as my grandma's or mom's, but pretty darn good for a first attempt! And I have the rest of forever to perfect my techniques.