Me as “Bustopher Jones” (the foodie cat) during dress rehearsal last week for CATS (pre-makeup).
It’s been a busy summer full of theatre. First it was directing and music directing The Fantasticks for the Mesa Repertory Theatre; and most recently it has been music directing and performing in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats for Broadway at the Avalon. As the summer break rushes to its all-too-soon ending marking the imminent return to school, I finally have some free time to do some much needed traveling.
So today, I hopped on a plane for a three-week trip to visit my dear friend Terril in Rome and Calcatta, Italy. I had hoped that I would wake up tomorrow morning having just landed in Rome and beginning my Italian adventure of food, friends, and great fun. Instead, due to “an hour-long deluge” that caused my plane and many others to circle for nearly an hour before re-routing to Greenboro for a refuel, I am sitting in an EconoLodge in Charlotte waiting for another 24-hours of travel beginning tomorrow morning at 9am.
As I was eating my dinner at the nearby Cracker Barrel (my selections were limited to either that or the Waffle House next door), I flashed back to last night. After we successfully closed and struck the set for Cats, my friend Gene came over to hang out while I packed and to help me empty out the fridge.
Gene cutting up plums for this Crumble recipe.
We quickly set to work to making this beautiful, colorful, and tasty Plum Crumble. I remember it fondly after my mostly brown and fried meal of chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fried okra, biscuits, and sweet tea.
I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Me mixing up Plum Crumble crust.
Plum Cobbler
This recipe is another wonderful recipe from Clean Eating Magazine. I have made it a few times this summer and have frequently decided to use the juice of the whole lemon rather than the half that is called for in the recipe – this is a mistake making the dish entirely too tart. Enjoy! 🙂
Fresh out of the oven!
4 large plums, pitted and sliced (I used 6 because I had 6 – there were 3 red and 3 white/yellow)
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp raw honey
1/2 cup spelt flour, divided
1/2 cup oats
3 Tbsp sucanat
2 Tbsp coconut butter spread
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375. Place plums in an 8×8 baking dish and drizzle with lemon juice, vanilla, honey, and 1 Tbsp flour. Toss to coat. In a medium bowl, combine remaining flour, oats, sucanat, butter spread, and cinnamon. Blend together with pastry blender until crumbly. Spread mixture evenly over plums. Bake on middle rack in oven until golden – 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly; I like to serve it topped with coconut milk ice cream.
Topped with a scoop of coconut milk ice cream!
The Alchemist's Kitchen 