Baking with Seasonal Ingredients

Summer gives us an abundance of healthy and frugal fruits and vegetables. Depending on where you live, you may get more or less, here in Alberta we tend to have more vegetables than fruits (we get a lot of fruit from British Columbia next door). We do have some homegrown fruit and overall fruit is very inexpensive at our local grocery stores. The Farmers Market does offer a large variety of fruits as well, that are also sold at very reasonable prices.

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To keep my cooking and baking frugal (and delicious), I try to use ingredients that are in season. I continue baking all through summer, it is just not as hot here as down south; plus, it cools down a lot once the sun goes down, so your house cools down and you can bake in the late evening or early morning without your house feeling too hot. There is really only 2 - 3 weeks (over the entire course of summer) that it is just too hot to turn on the oven.

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Here are a couple of recipes that are inexpensive to make and will please the whole family!

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Fruit Custard Pie:

* I suggest blueberries, cherries, apple and rhubarb (the picture of mine above is rhubarb - as it is free!)

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3 - 4 cups of fruit, cleaned and diced

1 tbsp flour

3/4 - 1 cup sugar (depending on on how sweet or tart you like things)

3 eggs

1/2 cup cream (you can use milk if you want a lower fat option)

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Mix the fruit and flour and put in an uncooked, prepared pie crust. Mix the sugar and eggs together till frothy, mix in the cream and blend till smooth. Pour over the fruit.

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Topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1/3 cup flour

With a fork, mix untill crumbly. Sprinkle over the pie.

Bake at 400 F for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350 F and bake for an additional 30 - 40 minutes, or until set.

Serve warm.

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Fruit Crisp

* Any fruit combination is fine - my favorites are apple, rhubarb and apple-rhubarb.

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4 - 6 cups of fruit, clean and diced

1 cup margarine

1 cup flour

1 1/2 cups oatmeal

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

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Place fruit in a large cassarole dish. If you would like you could sprinkle sugar or cinnamon over the fruit.

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Mix together topping with a fork until crumbly and sprinkle over prepared fruit. Bake at 350 F for 40 - 50 minutes or until the fruit is soft and bubbly and the topping is lightly toasted. Let cool on the counter for 15 minutes before serving.

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Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

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For more Frugal Tips and Recipes see Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, Life As Mom, Friday Recipe Swap, and Foodie Friday!

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Related Posts:

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Summer Express - Fresh and Easy Meal Ideas

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Managing our Money - Spending Habits

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Have a great weekend,

Christine