wow. so what’s a good excuse for not contributing anything delicious, colorful, temptingly delightful during the most vibrant time of the harvesting year?! i don’t have it. time feels like it moves forward so relentlessly, and suddenly may becomes…august? yikes. my life’s pace just keeps pushing forward. between getting a new job managing a garden downtown, running a relay across michigan, playing as a returning teammate in detroit’s neighborhood futbol league, things just move fast.

but today, dear friends. this grand wednesday, the seventeenth of august, i bring you stain pie.

prepped and ready, stain pie!

by stain pie, what i really mean is blueberry peach crisp. oh, the lovely and satisfying delights of michigan blueberries and peaches in summertime, swimming in a buttery, oaty crumbled topping! and, even better? doing it while wearing white!

this past sunday, i was invited to attend a diner en blanc–detroit’s pop up picnic in white, a la paris. asked to bring dessert for forty, i knew that crisp was the answer. clearly. and blueberries and peaches, saucing and mingling, would of course play the leads. but never did i really consider the danger of bringing gorgeous, purply, juicy blueberry peach crisp at a party with people all in white. HA!

oh, sweet crisp!

the night was enjoyed by all, and all came away a little stained. but, it was worth it. it’s worth it for some stain pie!

a little sunset, a little skyline, a lot of fun

stain pie

note: i used frozen ambrosia michigan peaches from last year, clearing out for this year, and thus added no sugar to the innards of this crisp

2 cups blueberries
2 cups peaches
1 tablespoon whole wheat pastry flour
1 lemon, juiced
1/3 cup oats
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
spoonful honey
1/4 cup roughly chopped nuts (sunflower and cashew for this one)
good sprinkling of cinnamon

6 tablespoons butter, cold

1. preheat oven to 375 and butter a shallow baking dish.

2. mix berries, peaches, flour and lemon juice, and pour into the buttered baking dish.

3. mix the topping ingredients, up to butter, till combined. then cut butter into 1/2 inch cubes and mix into the flour, using a pastry blender or clean hands to mash butter and flour et. al together.

4. pour over the peaches and blueberries, and place in oven to bake for 50 minutes, or until crisped and bubbling.

enjoy!