CHERRY SEASON YESSS!! I’ve been scooping up cherries every chance I get and it is glorious. I’m on the road a lot and my car is littered with cherry stems and I’m not sorry about it. While my cherry intake is pretty ferocious I typically can’t finish a whole bag solo. These blondies are the perfect way to use up extra ripe or leftover cherries (or whatever fruit you have lying around). This is the most simple recipe, just a handful of ingredients you probably have at home…. you don’t even need baking soda/powder. You don’t even need to have room temp butter. You could probably make these right now. Plus they’re loaded with chocolate… need I say more.

 Inspired by AverieCooks

You’ll need:

0.5 cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

0.25 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped dark chocolate (you can use any chocolate you want, you could also use chocolate chips)

1 cup cherries (this is not a lot… took a few minutes to chop/pit… I left mine in big chunks… you could use a cherry pitter or buy frozen cherries that are already pitted)

To make:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8X8 inch pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray and set aside.

Mix melted butter with brown sugar. Add the egg and vanilla. Stir to combine. Add the flour and salt. Stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate and cherries. Pour into pan and smooth. Bake for 32 minutes or until they seem ready. These are VERY gooey with all the fruit and chocolate so a toothpick might not come out clean when inserted. Allow the bars to cool for a least an hour.

The farmers market is now open outside in all its glory. I am beyond ready to embrace warm weather and all the food choices that come with that. Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy all weekend ultimately leading to comfort food craving. Enter: parmesan polenta with lemon thyme mushrooms. Gorgeous mushrooms from the farmers market sautéed with shallot, garlic, thyme and lemon on top a bed of creamy, cheesy polenta. Yes please. A little side of farmers market greens and this was one comforting, vegetarian, gluten-free meal.  Sidebar- this polenta is pretty full proof and would be great with a number of hats including shrimp, chicken, spinach, etc.

Inspired by JoyfulHealthyEats

You’ll need:

For Polenta-

2 tablespoons olive oil

0.75 cup finely chopped red onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 quart chicken stock

1 cup cornmeal

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Salt/pep

3 ounces parmesan, grated

For Shrooms-

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 shallot, thinly sliced (I used mandolin)

1 garlic clove, minced

2.5 cups mushrooms, sliced (I used cremini)

Juice of one lemon

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
For Polenta:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large saucepan (I used a dutch oven) heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add red onion and pinch of salt and cook for 4-5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, add garlic, and sauté 1-2 minutes. Don’t burn garlic.

Increase heat to high. Add chicken stock and bring to boil. Slowly add in cornmeal while continually whisking. Cover pot and place in oven. Cook for 35-40 minutes, whisking every 10 minutes to prevent lumps. Remove from oven add butter, salt/pep (season aggressively maybe a few teaspoons of salt) and parmesan.
For Shrooms (I started cooking this when there was roughly 15 minutes left until the polenta was done):

Heat a large non-stock sauté pan over medium high heat. Add olive oil and sliced shallot.

Saute for 3-5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Immediately add in mushrooms. Saute for 10 minutes. Off the heat, add lemon juice and thyme.

For heaven:

Fill a bowl with a polenta pile. Top with a solid amount of mushrooms, a sprinkling of thyme (if extra’s around… I know thyme is just awful to pull off those little twigs) and some more parmesan.