Cook of the Month

SummerCobblers

Food styling and photos: Brooke Echols

Cherry Cobbler

The smell of a homemade cobbler is one of the most delectable and comforting scents to grace our homes. The ready availability of fresh fruit makes summer the perfect season to bake a cobbler your family will savor. So what exactly is a cobbler and how is it different from a pie? We asked our friends at the Alabama Cooperative Extension System to clear that up for us. “The defining difference between cobbler vs. pie really comes down to the crust (or lack thereof),” says Elaine Softley, ACES regional extension agent II, Human Nutrition Diet and Health for northwest Alabama. “A pie, whether sweet or savory, always has a bottom crust, while a cobbler doesn't. A cobbler is a baked fruit dessert without a bottom crust and the top crust is a kind of biscuit dough instead of a traditional pastry or pie dough. While almost all fruit pies need some kind of pie pan, you can bake a cobbler in any kind of baking dish, using almost any kind of fruit.” While some cooks like to prepare their cobblers in an iron skillet, others use a baking pan in the oven. Softley says either will work. “I have made cobblers in an iron skillet, in a glass pie dish and an aluminum pie pan,she says. “All turned out delicious and were easy to prepare.” The recipes from our readers this month call for a variety of fruits, and even some unusual fillings, including bacon and sweet potatoes. Let us know which ones you like the best! – Lenore Vickrey

Photo by The Buttered Home

Crock Pot Blueberry Cobbler is an easy dessert that captures the essence of a Southern summer. Using fresh or frozen blueberries in a hands-free cobbler is a real treat to make and eat!

Brooke Burks

Crock Pot Blueberry Cobbler

1 cup self-rising flour 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed 1 cup milk ½ cup melted butter 1 and ¼ cup sugar, divided

In a large bowl, mix self-rising flour and 1 cup of the sugar and milk. There will be some lumps. Add in melted butter and mix well. Pour into a well-greased liner pot of the crock pot. Coat berries with 2 tablespoons of sugar and allow them to sit. Sprinkle blueberries over the top of the cobbler mix in the crock pot liner. Evenly distribute them so you will not have to stir them. Sprinkle ¼ cup of sugar over the top. Cover and bake in the crock pot on low for 2 hours or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Red, White and Blue Berry Cobbler

1 stick (½ cup) salted butter 1 cup self-rising flour 1 cup whole milk

Pinch of salt 1½ cups sugar, divided 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and halved 1 cup fresh blueberries 1 cup fresh raspberries

Vanilla ice cream

In a large bowl add ½ cup sugar and lemon zest to the fruit. Gently stir to cover the fruit. Allow fruit to sit for 30 minutes before baking. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. As the oven preheats, melt butter in a 9x13-inch casserole dish or a 15-inch cast iron skillet for a rustic look. Whisk together the flour, 1 cup sugar, milk, vanilla and pinch of salt. Pour mixture over the melted butter. Do not stir. Spoon the fruit and juice over the butter and dough mixture without stirring. Bake until the cobbler crust has turned a light golden brown and cobbler is set. This takes approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cooking time can vary depending upon how much juice your fruit produces. Remove from oven. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream

Kathy Phillips Wiregrass EC

Cook of the Month:

Vicky Byrd, Covington EC

Vicky Byrd of Andalusia has been making her grandmother’s Cherry Cobbler for more than 30 years. The use of pitted and stemmed cherries, mixed with lemon juice, gives the cobbler an extra “zing” that sets it apart from other fruit Vicky Byrd desserts. She makes it for family gatherings “and they all enjoy it,” she says. This recipe is also just as tasty if you want to use peaches instead of cherries, she notes. And maybe even a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, we might add!

Cherry Cobbler

6-8 cups cherries, pitted and stemmed 1½ tablespoons lemon juice 2 teaspoons cornstarch ¼ cup white sugar 1½ teaspoons vanilla ½ teaspoon cinnamon 1¼ cup yellow cake mix ¼ cup brown sugar ½ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 6 tablespoons butter Seed and stem cherries. In a large mixing bowl, add cherries, lemon juice, cornstarch, white sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix lightly. Pour into 2-quart baking dish. For topping, mix yellow cake mix, brown sugar, salt, and baking powder. Stir to combine. Use pastry knife to cut in butter into coarse crumbs. Add topping to cherry mix. Place in 425 degree oven for 25-35 minutes, until topping is golden color and juice is bubbling.

1 29-ounce can sliced peaches with syrup 1 package butter pecan cake mix ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Layer ingredients, in order listed, in an ungreased 9x13-inch pan. Bake 55-60 minutes. Let stand at least 15 minutes before serving. Serve warm or cool with ice cream, if desired.

Nancy Sites Sizemore Baldwin EMC

Seedless Dewberry Cobbler

1 quart dewberries, washed and stems removed 1½ cups sugar 2 tablespoons self-rising flour ½ stick margarine 1 small can layered flaky biscuits 2 tablespoons sugar combined with ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Bring dewberries and ¼ cup water to a low boil. Remove from heat and strain through a sieve, retaining all the juice possible. Discard seeds. Mix 1½ cups sugar and 2 tablespoons flour together, add to juice. Boil on low heat until thickened. Remove from heat. Melt margarine in a casserole dish. Pull biscuits apart, layer by layer. Roll out each layer until very thin. Cut into small strips. Place layer of biscuit strips in melted margarine. Pour small amount of berries and juice over this first layer. Add biscuit strips and berries with juice alternately, ending with biscuit strips on top. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake at 350 degrees until biscuits on top are golden brown. Serve plain or slightly warm with whipped topping or ice cream.

Diane Jenkins Black Warrior EMC

Strawberry Cobbler

1 stick margarine, melted 1 cup sugar 1 cup self-rising flour 1 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring 1 pint strawberries, sliced and sprinkled with sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a casserole dish with cooking spray. Place strawberries in dish. Melt margarine in microwave, set aside. Mix sugar and flour together. Add milk and mix well. Add melted margarine and vanilla flavoring, mix well. Pour batter over fruit in the prepared casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cook's note: This recipe was found in an AREA magazine in the late 70s or early 80s. It was my father-in-law’s favorite.

Rebecca McCarter Pioneer EC 4-5 slices bacon, reserve bacon grease 1 stick butter 5 apples 3 cups lemon lime soda 1 cup apple juice 1 tablespoon cinnamon ¼ teaspoon nutmeg 1 cup sugar 2 cups Bisquick 1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place bacon in a cake or lasagna pan, baking for 30 minutes. Core, peel and slice apples, putting them in a large bowl with the 3 cups of lemon lime soda. This will keep the apple slices from browning. In a large skillet, add butter, apple juice, cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg. Drain the liquid from the apple slices; add to the skillet and bring to a boil. Boil on medium heat for 10 minutes. Remove the bacon from pan, chopping and adding to the apples. Pour apple and bacon mixture back into the baking pan and mix with the bacon grease. In a bowl mix Bisquick and milk and pour over the top of the apple-bacon mixture and bake for 30 minutes on 350 degrees.

Kirk Vantrease Cullman EC

Holiday Cookie

CONTEST

Calling all bakers! Do you have a favorite holiday cookie recipe or special cookies you take to all the holiday parties and cookie exchanges? Share your favorite holiday cookie recipes with us for a chance to win! Enter online at www.alabamaliving.com. Each entry must include your name, address and phone number as well as the name of your electric cooperative. Entries may also be mailed to Alabama Living Cookie Contest, PO Box 244014, Montgomery, AL 36124. Entry

deadline is September 2, 2022.

Submit to win $50!

Recipes can be developed by you or family members. You may even adapt a recipe from another source by changing as little as the amount of one ingredient. Chosen cooks may win “Cook of the Month” only once per calendar year. To be eligible, submissions must include a name, phone number, mailing address and co-op name. Alabama Living reserves the right to reprint recipes in our other publications.

Themes and Deadlines:

October: Sweet Potatoes | July 1 November: Turkey leftovers | August 5 December: Holiday Cookie Contest | September 2

3 ways to submit:

Online: alabamaliving.coop Email: recipes@alabamaliving.coop Mail: Attn: Recipes P.O. Box 244014 Montgomery, AL 36124

Our Friend Jim

Our friend, Jim Sullivan–and he was a friend to everyone who knew him– left us on May 4 of this year. Jim lived a full life. He was a football star, playing at Ole Miss. He was a successful businessman in the family furniture business. He was president of the Alabama Public Service Commission for 25 years. In that role he established a logical formula for utility service that is still used today. He served as president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and guided that organization for a number of years. He was an adviser to many energy companies and a leader in the electric industry.

But Jim was more than a success in the business world. He was a tireless supporter of Glenwood, a Birmingham-based organization that treats adult autism. He served on the Glenwood Board of Directors for many years. He was chairman of the Glenwood Adult Services Campaign, which raised $3 million dollars to expand autism treatment. The facility built to house the program was named The Sullivan Center in honor of Jim and his late wife, Susan.

Jim had fun. His dry sense of humor was evident in almost everything he did. He had a mischievous little grin, and he used it often. You couldn’t tell if he knew everything or nothing about the subject being discussed.

He loved hunting, fishing, photography, building homes, and he loved people. Jim loved his friends and kept up with all of us. But, most of all, Jim loved his family: his wife Toody; his daughters, Leigh Ann and Brannon; his sons-in-law; and his nine grandchildren.

The following poem was read at his funeral. It is so appropriate for Jim.

“If”

by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Jim was a man. He was our friend. We will all miss him dearly. His legacy is that we remember him as the man he was.

I hope you have a good month.

Gary Smith is President and CEO of PowerSouth Energy Cooperative.

Spotlight on Guntersville Reservoir: A summer destination of choice

With world-class bass fishing, pristine waterways for kayaking and Small Wild Areas for gentle hiking, the Guntersville Reservoir offers a wide range of recreational pursuits.

What makes Lake Guntersville the ultimate bass mecca? According to David Brewster, manager of West Operations for TVA Natural Resource Management, it’s a combination of factors that include water depth, constant temperatures, and plentiful vegetation.

The Guntersville Reservoir is 67,900 acres of water, but the average depth is only 15 feet, and that shallow range is very conducive to bass. Unlike a lot of other reservoirs in TVA’s system, Guntersville’s water level only fluctuates about two or three feet—it’s a stable pool, so bass aren’t moving around to get to deeper water. Guntersville Lake has fish in residence year-round.

The lake is home to many species of aquatic plants, both native and invasive, which TVA manages to prove maximum benefits to all lake users. (Without management, some aquatic plants—such as hydrilla, Eurasian milfoil and water hyacinth—could make waters impassible to recreational users and even to the most avid anglers.)

Brewster notes that these aquatic plants produce a safe haven for the bass and for the baitfish that the bass feed on, and since bass are predators, they’re also a great stalking ground for them.

The vegetation gives small fish a better chance to grow after spawning, which is important because Guntersville Lake is very heavily fished. The staff at TVA encourages everyone who fishes Lake Guntersville to catch, photograph and release.

If you enjoy kayaking, visit Lake Guntersville State Park, a publicly owned recreation area located on the far north side of the City of Guntersville in Marshall County, Alabama. You can put your kayaks in at Town Creek Fishing Center, a small area with a boat ramp, boat rental and a bait/snack shop. There are plenty of places to float or paddle.

For safe paddling, follow these tips: • Wear a helmet and a personal floatation device. • Paddle water appropriate to your skills. • Dress to prevent hypothermia. • Watch for fallen tree limbs, barbed wire, bridge piers and other hazards. • Don’t paddle alone. • Don’t paddle in rivers in flood stage after a heavy rain. • Never fish, wade or paddle too close to the face of a dam.

Two Small Wild Areas in Guntersville are perfect for gentle hiking, mountain biking, photography or birdwatching. SWAs are sites with exceptional natural, scenic or aesthetic qualities that are suitable for low-impact public use. These are areas TVA has set aside for conservation. They are small pockets of land that TVA staff members keep as close to their natural state as possible while allowing the public to enjoy their beauty.

Cave Mountain Trail is a 1-mile loop trail that takes you past a historic cave that was used during the Civil War to mine saltpeter, a base ingredient of gunpowder. Another highlight is the hardwood swamp that attracts waterfowl. It takes about a half-hour to complete, and it is generally considered to be an easy trail to follow. It is on the south side of Guntersville Dam about 6.5 miles north of the City of Guntersville, off of Highway 69.

Honeycomb Trail stretches 7.7 miles and is considered a moderately challenging route. It offers five bluff overlooks for stunning views, and plenty of opportunities to dip your toes in one of the many spring-fed creeks along the way. Look for bald eagles and ospreys as you walk or bike along the trail. The secondary trailhead is currently open and located just before entering Honeycomb Campground on Highway 31, about 18 miles north of the City of Guntersville.

Kevin Chandler is the customer relations director, Regional Relations South, for the Tennessee Valley Authority. Guntersville Reservoir offers world-class bass fishing.

Closing Deadlines (in our office): September 2022 Issue by July 25 October 2022 Issue by August 25 November 2022 Issue by September 25

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Miscellaneous

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Vacation Rentals

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Land, Lots & Real Estate Sales

QUALITY CUSTOM HOMES BUILT ON YOUR LOT! Watermark Builder offers Affordable pricing and amazing standard features. We make building easy! Schedule your FREE design consultation now! Call (334)512-9866 or visit BuildWatermark.com

Education

FREE BIBLE CORRESPONDENCE COURSE – write to P.O. Box 52, Trinity, AL, 35673

Farm / Agriculture

TRACTOR SHADE CANOPIES, sturdy fiberglass and steel construction, Custom made for your tractor. By Cole BoatWorks (334)318-1986 or kcole@elmore.rr.com