I was raised in south Florida. The retirement tropical paradise. Where the sun shines nearly everyday and I learned how to predict hurricane trajectories with 88% accuracy. Despite being raised in south Florida, I don’t like the heat. I HATE the heat. North Carolina isn’t as terrible as year round humidity that hovers somewhere near ninety. We have what are called mild seasons here. I don’t know how a summer that lasts from May to October is considered mild.

Summer is my least favorite season. I dread when spring comes because I know the oppressive heat will be right around the corner. I don’t enjoy the unbearably looong sunny days or the pool days. Summer bucket lists make me irritable. All I want to do in the summer is sit naked in front of my air conditioner. I hate that turning on my oven turns into a hassle. And the bug spray. I hate wearing big spray. But wear it, I must. I do use a DEET free spray on myself and the kids but it’s unpleasant. I can’t forgo the bug spray because mosquitoes love me. If there are people gathered, the mosquitoes ignore others in favor of me. I guess I should be flattered. Maybe I’m part fairy and that’s why my blood is so delicious. I’ve had them bite me through my jeans!

JEANS, you guys.

The only time I like summer is right now, near the end. The unbearable heat has lifted. The sticky thick air is making way for the windy cool days of autumn. Autumn is the very best season. If you disagree you’re a communist and you probably kick puppies too. The leaves change and heat stops trying to kill you with kindness. The days get shorter and I can break out my cuddle-gear- cozy robes, booties, blankets. I can’t wait till autumn gets here full force.

It’s just getting cool enough to turn the oven on and bake. And you guys know how I feel about baking- I LOVE baking almost as much as I HATE summer. Fruit crumbles are typically thought of as summer desserts. Fresh fruit, oats, sugar, dump and bake. This fruit crumble is my way of saying goodbye and good riddance to summer. This peach raspberry vanilla bean fruit crumble will confuse your sense of time. It has wonderfully fresh (late season) peaches and raspberries mixed with the spices that make me think of fall- cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg. The vanilla bean just makes the flavors sing.

Make it. You’ll love it and pray for shorter daylight hours too.

Vanilla Peach Raspberry Crumble
Adapted from Joy the Baker

makes 1 9×17-inch baking dish

6 large ripe peaches, sliced

2 pints fresh raspberries

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup old fashioned oats

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 vanilla beans, split

Pinch of salt

1 stick unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes

Preheat to 350 degrees.  Toss sliced peaches and raspberries together in the baking dish. Scrape the split beans and toss the vanilla goodness in there too. Use a spoon or you’ll run the risk of having your hands covered in vanilla bean seeds, and that’s not where you want them!

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, sugar, oats, spices, and salt.  Add the butter and break it up in the flour mixture until the butter is the size of fishtank gravel and the mixture looks kind of sandy.

Toss about a cup of crumble topping into the peach and raspberry mixture.  Mix loosely.  Spread fruit evenly in the pan and top with the rest of the crumble mixture. Bake 30-45 minutes. You’ll know it’s done because the fruit will be all juicy and your house will smell like summer and autumn had a delicious baby.

This best eaten warm with two scoops of vanilla ice cream.  Store it in the fridge and heat up on demand.

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I want to say thank you to everyone for the kind emails, tweets and comments. I’m doing fine. Better than I have in years. But not to worry, this won’t become The Depression Blog. There are others who tackle mental illness with much more hilarity and humanity than I ever could. But I will give updates here and there in case they might be useful to anyone who has thought about therapy.

If you’re following me on Twitter (which you should be, if you’re not, what’s wrong with you?), you know that I’m in the process of moving so now is a good time to actually publish my backlog of recipe posts.

Enough chit-chat, recipe time!

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I’ve had these Oreo pudding cookies pinned to my Food Stuffs board for a while. I was hesitant to make them exactly as is because I really don’t enjoy Oreos. I’m well aware of how blasphemous and un-American that is. They’re just…not very tasty to me. The best part is the creme. It’s laced with crack and unicorn tears. If they sold that by the pound, I would be broke? Hear that, Nabisco? The creme is where the goodness is.

The recipe says that any type of pudding can be used. My local grocery store has cinnamon chips and I had to have them. I wanted to try them since reading about them on The Pioneer Woman. Then I saw cheesecake flavored pudding. And I do love cinnamon cheesecake. Genius struck! Right there in the baking aisle! Luck for you, I don’t keep it all to myself.

The first day, right after baking, these cookies had an overpowering cinnamon flavor. Couldn’t detect the cheesecake at all. By the second day, the cinnamon flavor mellowed out some and they were perfect. The pudding kept the cookies wonderfully soft.

Cheesecake Cinnamon Chip Pudding Cookies
adapted from Sweet Treats and More

1 cup butter, room temp
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 (3.4oz) package instant Cheesecake flavored pudding mix
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup cinnamon chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk flour and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside.
Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.
Stir in dry pudding mix, then add eggs and vanilla.
Add the flour and baking soda mixture. Fold in cinnamon chips.

I used a cookie scoop, but it’s not necessary, just scoop out about one inch balls and flatten with your palm or the bottom of a glass.
Place about an inch apart on a lined cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

Let  cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before moving to a cooking rack.  Store in air-tight container.

Makes about two dozen.

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This is what my house looked like all week.

So, let’s get drunk. But adult drunk where you relax and sip your drink and feel the buzz come over you. Not fall-down-in-a-pool-of-your-own-vomit drunk or worse, sleep-with-the-guy-who-looked-so-cute-the-night-before drunk. That shit is only cute till your 25, at the latest. After that it’s mostly sad. But, you know, not judging.

After cooking with strawberries all damn day and into the damn night, I need a damn drink. The drink had to have strawberries in it because I have TEN DAMN POUNDS of berries to use.

The drink also has Bourbon. The transition to Southerner is now complete: I say ya’ll  and drink Bourbon. But I will never ever eat okra. EVER.

Make this drink and thank me later.  It’s fresh and seasonable and it’ll take away all your troubles in that special way alcohol does. Plus its bubbly! Who doesn’t love bubbles?

Full disclosure: the original recipe calls for 1.5 ounces of Bourbon, but after spending the last 4 years either pregnant or breastfeeding, I have absolutely zero tolerance for alcohol. And as I mentioned before, I’m getting adult drunk so I went easy on myself. If you’re a lush (not judging) go ahead and add the whole damn bottle.

Strawberry Basil Bourbon Spritzer
Recipe from here

• 1 ounce of Bourbon
• 1 cup of strawberries, quartered
• 6 basil leaves, torn
• Seltzer water

Put strawberries and basil in a cup and mash them up. If you’re fancy, you own a special “muddler” for this purpose. I am not that fancy. I used the wrong end of the whisk. It’s long and flat-bottomed and it mashed up the berries and basil. Good enough!

Add the Bourbon and ice cubes. Add the seltzer.

Kick up your feet and watch past episodes of Fringe. That’s how I get adult drunk.

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