Elyce Recommends – Cherries

Cherries Rock!

They’re sweet and delicious and extremely good for you. And 2 cups are only about 100 calories! They even fight inflammation. What more can you ask of a food?

So I know what you’re thinking, “Elyce, but what do you do with all those cherries?”

Eat them

There’s nothing better than a chilled bowl of cherries on a hot summer day. Okay, so you can also make cherry cobbler with them—but not with the fresh ones—they’re only around for a few short months. Just pop those babies in your mouth and enjoy. Ambrosia.

But I will share my recipe for cherry cobbler for those of you who would like to try it. But use frozen, or even canned cherries for this. Don’t waste the fresh ones, people. They only come once a year!

I guess my strong love of cherries started at a very young age. When I was little, really little—I’m talking around three here, people—we had a cherry tree in our back yard. One of my earliest memories is coming outside to play one spring morning and seeing the entire tree covered cobwebs. Now to my three-year-old mind, the sight was magical. Like some mystical cobweb fairy had come along and decorated the whole tree!

Caterpillars are Cute

Much to my delight, shortly thereafter, little baby caterpillars hatched out of those cobwebs, and proceeded to wander all around with their fuzzy little   caterpillar selves. They were on the tree, on the grass below. They were everywhere. It was incredible. Especially for the young mind – without any preconceived notions that bugs are yucky.

And then of course, later in the summer we had cherries. Loads and loads of charities. We moved shortly after that, and I never had quite the same abundance of cherries in my life, but I will never forget it.

I guess maybe that was the start of my lifelong fascination with nature and the natural world. Let’s face it, when you’re three and cobwebs turn into a gianormous abundance of cute little caterpillars crawling everywhere, that’s just incredible. And nature produces these kinds of fantastic displays every day.

 

Back to Cherries

Okay, back to cherries. Now I know what question is burning in your mind, “Elyce, tell us what other fruit you really love?”

Okay, so I will. I’m a big fan of pineapple, I love peaches, of course, and watermelon on a hot summer day is just divine. Oh, and I think cantaloupe and blueberries make a particularly delectable combination. But nothing compares with my all-time favorite, cherries.

What are your favorite fruits? Any particular reason? Put a message in the comments if you feel inspired. And most of all—enjoy your summer!

Here is my promised cherry cobbler recipe.

Cherry Cobbler

Filling

• 3 bags (12 ounces each) frozen cherries (about five cups)
• Or 2 cans (15 -21 ounces) cherry pie filling (in which case just mix in the lemon juice and skip down to the topping instructions)
• Or you can do one can pie filling and one bag of frozen cherries and just skip the sugar below
• ½ cup flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon pure almond extract (get the real stuff – it makes a difference)

Topping

• ¼ cut rolled oats (Instant is okay – it’s about 1 package of the individual microwave stuff)
• ½ cup flour or bisquick
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup (4 tablespoons or ½ stick) butter – diced
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla (the real stuff, people!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together the topping ingredients in a nice big bowl (the worst is having flour all over the table) Select a small to medium casserole dish, about 9 – 11 inches or approximately 3 quarts.

Mix the cherries and the rest of the filling, right in the casserole dish. Use a fork and make sure you blend the flour in well. Cover with an even layer of the topping. Place in the oven on a medium rack (don’t go crazy here people, anywhere close to the center of the oven is fine) and bake, 35 – 45 minutes or until the topping is golden brown.

Let sit about 10 to 15 minutes and then serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Fantastic!

Makes 8 servings

Nutritional information (Um… no. Just calories)

• With frozen (or gasp! fresh cherries) = 170 calories per serving (6 servings =225)
• With 2 cans 21 oz cherry pie filling = 300 calories per serving (6 servings = 400)
• With 1 can 21 oz cherry pie filling and 1 bag (12 oz frozen cherries, about 1 ½ cups) = 225 calories per serving (6 servings = 300)

Live a Little!

• 3 tablespoons whipped cream = 30 calories
• ¼ cup vanilla ice cream = 70 calories

Enjoy!

Blog Header Photo Credit: Brooke Lark, Unsplash.com