Blackberry Pie Bars

Summer is quickly coming to an end. But first! Labor Day weekend! Summer's last hurrah, in my book. If you are having a barbecue or not having a barbecue, I suggest you make one last summer-y treat before September starts. School may have started, but I'm determined to keep living like it's summer, which means more grilling out, one more beach trip, and more summer desserts with fresh berries like these blackberry pie bars.

Blackberry Pie Bars
for the crust & topping:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
zest of half a lemon
3/4 cup (12 Tbsp) unsalted butter, cold

for the filling:
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
6 Tbsp flour
pinch of salt
juice of half a lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
15-16 oz blackberries, fresh or frozen (thawed and drained of excess juices)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x9-inch baking pan with foil and grease lightly. In the bowl of a food processor or electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Pulse briefly to blend. Cut the butter into small cubes, then add to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Process in short pulses to cut the better into the dry ingredients until only small pieces of butter remain and the mixture is crumbly.

Reserve 3/4 cup of the mixture for topping the bars. Add the rest of the mixture to the prepared pan and press to form an even layer of crust on the bottom of the pan. Bake 12-15 minutes, until light golden. Let cool 10-15 minutes before proceeding.

In a medium bowl, make the filling mixture. Combine the eggs, sugar, sour cream, flour, salt, lemon juice and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Gently stir in the blackberries with a spatula. Spread the filling mixture over the pre-baked crust in the baking pan. Crumble the reserved topping mixture over the filling evenly.

Bake until the top is beginning to brown and the bars are just set, about 45 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Chill to firm up before slicing and serving.

source: recipe from annie's eats, originally from The Pastry Queen via pink parsley

How to learn any foreign language

How many languages do you speak? I have always loved foreign languages, and I just finished this fascinating new book on how to learn a foreign language and actually remember it. I've studied four foreign languages but would only say I am proficient/can remember anything in one, and I truly believe it's due to how I (tried) to learn them and how often I practiced speaking. For Latin (kindergarten - grade 4), we sang songs and learned conjugations; for French (grades 10-12) we did projects and watched movies; for Arabic (one semester in college), we learned vocab and took so.many.quizzes; for Chinese (grades 6-9, and then in college), I lived in China for three of those years, had a tutor who didn't speak any English, spoke it every single day, and then later spent three months in an intense immersion program with no English allowed. Not surprisingly, I remember a couple of songs in Latin, I know enough French to order food, I can say thank you in Arabic, and I can actually speak Chinese.

The methods described in Fluent Forever are very detailed and provide all the information and resources you would need to begin tackling the language you'd like to learn. Some of the methods from the book are:

*Never translate. Cutting out English (or whatever your native language is) allows you to actually think in your target language. You can use pictures at first to learn words, slowly graduating to simple definitions and fill-in-the-blank flash cards. This allows you to learn the vocab and grammar of your target language without having to translate back and forth. This will help you attain fluency rather than just the ability to translate.

*Make personal connections. We can remember a concept with a personal connection 50% more easily than a concept without one. For example, if you can connect the word for dog in your target language with an image of a cute little dog, you'll probably be able to remember that word pretty easily. But if you can connect the word for dog in your target language with the dog you had growing up, it will be essentially impossible for you to forget the word.

*Study using spaced repetition. This is a learning technique that incorporates increasing intervals of time between reviews of previously learned material. The intervals are specifically chosen to have you recall material at the optimal time to push them deeper into your long-term memory.

*Choose the right vocabulary. Pick up a frequency dictionary to begin studying your target language by learning the first thousand most frequent words. Beyond that, target the specific type of vocab you need, whether political, academic, financial, etc.

If you're interested in learning a foreign language, or want to delve back into one you studied years ago, I suggest picking up this book. It has motivated me to get back into regular Chinese study, incorporating some of these techniques I've not tried before. If you don't want to read the book, you can also check out the website here for more information on the tips and techniques.

What do you think? Will you try to learn a new language? Would you want your kids to be bilingual?

Disclosure: I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my review. I picked this book to read + review, and I absolutely loved it. All opinions are 100% my own.

Mocha Brownie Milkshakes

I confess that I am an ice cream addict. I would have no problem eating a bowl of ice cream every night (and some weeks, I do). I blame it on my parents and the ubiquitous half-gallon of Breyer's we had in the freezer growing up. And while I do love a good milkshake (looking at you, Cook-Out), rarely do I make them at home. So this weekend I threw together this mocha brownie milkshake to switch things up a bit. The brownies that I used were from an Immaculate Baking mix. Have you tried their products? Their new dry baking mixes have no trans fat and do not contain any artificial preservatives or high fructose corn syrup! Two thumbs up. You can find their new baking mixes in the baking aisle at Target.

Mocha Brownie Milkshake

1 pint vanilla ice cream

2 brownies, cut into small pieces (I used Immaculate Baking)

1/4 cup milk

3 Tbsp cold coffee

1-2 Tbsp chocolate syrup

Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth with tiny brownie pieces visible. Drizzle chocolate syrup on inside of a glass. Pour in milkshake and serve with whipped cream and crumbled brownie pieces. Makes 2 large or 3 small milkshakes.

source: recipe from bakerella

Disclosure: I received the information and prize pack from General Mills through Platefull Co-Op. All opinions are 100% my own.

REESE'S Dessert Bars

Continuing my recent obsession with all things chocolate + peanut butter, I made these REESE'S bars a couple of weekends ago. We had friends over for dinner at the last minute since bad weather canceled our beach trip plans, and I didn't have time to make a time-consuming dessert. Enter these bars, and a confession: they are from a box . Yes, I prefer to make many things from scratch, but I am not above a Betty Crocker box mix. These bars were so good our friends asked me for the recipe.... and then I had to admit I served them dessert from a box. Thankfully they are good friends and totally didn't care :) These bars are really quite delicious and all it takes is mixing up each of the three layers with butter, egg, and milk (only the bottom layer has to be baked!). Next time I need a quick and easy dessert, I'm going to try the HERSHEY'S S'mores bars. 

Disclosure: I received the information and prize pack from General Mills through Platefull Co-Op. All opinions are 100% my own.

National Lemonade Day

Apparently today is National Lemonade Day (is it just me or is there a "national day" for everything?), so I thought I would share some of my favorite lemonade recipes today. Or maybe this is just another desperate attempt of mine to hold onto every last second of summer!

Freckled Lemonade

Rosemary Lemonade

Strawberry Basil Lemonade

Rosemary Peach Lemonade

How to add fiber to your diet (that tastes good!)

A couple of weeks ago, I had such terrible stomach pains. Caleb was out of town (of course) and I was on the couch crying, absolutely convinced I was going to die (or have an appendectomy or some other horrifying medical procedure). Thankfully, the intense pain subsided after a while and I was able to get in to my doctor's office the next day. My doctor did an exam and had x-rays done and concluded I had had a strong reaction to something I had eaten... resulting in violent spasms of my colon (hence the pain) and... other intestinal difficulties (I'm really not trying to get all TMI here, so sorry!). The funniest part was that I came home from work to a big package filled with the new Fiber One cookies to taste and review. The timing just made me laugh! I was pleasantly surprised to find the cookies actually tasted good! They are soft and chewy, and the double chocolate and chocolate chunk ones are my favorite. Thankfully, I am feeling MUCH better these days. We'll just never know if it was the medication, the spinach salads I was eating twice a day, or all of the Fiber One cookies. But if you're looking to add some more fiber to your diet, I suggest these cookies... they go down much easier than the alternative :) You can find them at Publix and here is a coupon.

Disclosure: The information and prize pack were provided to me by General Mills through Platefull Co-Op. All opinions are 100% my own.

Peach Crumble Pie

This past weekend we had Caleb's parents in town visiting us, and as I was planning the menu and thinking about what to cook, I realized I had made not one peach dessert this summer! I'm trying to hang on to summer as long as possible (even if school has started), so I figured a peach pie would be the perfect summer-isn't-over-yet dessert. This was my first go at peach pie, but I have to say I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I always make my pie dough a couple of days before I make a pie (I store it wrapped well in the fridge or freezer), and I also made the crumble the night before and stored it in the fridge. When it came time to make the pie on Friday afternoon, I prepped the peaches and made the filling and put it all together in no time at all.

Peach Crumble Pie
one recipe for pie crust dough (I use this recipe)

for the filling:
3 lbs peaches, peeled, halved, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch slices
2 Tbsp light brown sugar
2 Tbsp flour

for the crumble:
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly flour a rolling pin and work surface and roll out pie dough to a 12-inch round. Place in a 9-inch pie plate, fold overhang under, and crimp edges.

Make the filling: in a large bowl, toss together peaches, brown sugar, and flour until combined.

Make the crumble: in a small bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, and oats; using a pastry blender, work in butter until large clumps form.

Transfer peach filling to pie shell, then sprinkle crumble evenly over top. Place pie on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until juices are bubbling and topping is golden, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack 1 1/2 hours before serving. Store, covered, at room temperature up to 2 days. 

Source: Everyday Food, July/August 2011