I am so excited that I have the opportunity to take part in the Booking Across the USA series, and as a proud Virginian I am overjoyed that I get to represent my beautiful state….

Virginia

Bring Me Some Apples and I’ll Make You Apple Pie: A Story About Edna Lewis

By Robbin Gowley

Edna Lewis was born and raised in Freetown, Orange County, Virginia. A farming settlement that was founded by her grandfather and two other emancipated slaves. She became an accomplished chef in a time when it was extremely unusual for a woman to be a chef, let alone a black woman. The book “Bring Me Some Apples and I’ll Make you Apple Pie” follows Edna’s family through the seasons as they plant, harvest, and preserve food on their small family farm.

I chose this book for several reasons… It’s a wonderful book about a famous Virginian, February is black history month and Edna Lewis is a great example of a pioneering African American woman, and finally because we are coming up to planting season here on our farm in Virginia and I felt it would be a great way to get Big B excited about planning and starting our garden.

At the end of the book there are 5 recipes (strawberry short cake, corn pudding, apple crisp, pecan drops, and nut-butter squares) that include fruits and vegetables that are harvested during the book. Big B loves strawberries and I am a bit of a sucker for strawberry shortcake, so I decided that we would do the strawberry short cake recipe after reading the book…

Strawberry Shortcake

Filling:

• 7 cups of strawberries (1 of these cups will be used for garnish)
• 1/3 cup sugar

Whipped Cream:

• 1/2 pint heavy/whipping cream
• Sugar to taste

Shortcake:

• 1/4 cup sugar plus 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons for dusting
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
• 2 tablespoons of melted butter
• 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk

Recipe:

1. Rinse and hull the strawberries. If you have large strawberries half or quarter them. Sprinkle the strawberries with the sugar. Allow the mixture to stand for about an hour, stirring occasionally. 
2. Chill heavy whipping cream in the fridge. The instructions call for you to put the cream in a metal bowl, but we do not have one, so we used a glass bowl.
3. Set oven to 425 degrees.
4. Grease a baking sheet with butter
5. In a food processor, combine 1/4 cup sugar, the flour, cut-up butter, baking powder, and salt. Lightly process until the mixture resembles coarse meal and lumps the size of peas. 
6. Add milk and pulse until the dough is just mixed. Do not over process.
7. Scoop dough out of the processor (once blade is removed) onto a floured surface. 
8. Gently pat the dough into a 4×8 rectangle. Handle the dough as little as possible in order to insure a fluffy shortcake. 
9. Dust a knife with flour and cut the dough into 8 squares. Place the squares onto the greased baking sheet.
10. Brush them with melted butter and sprinkled with 1/2 tablespoon of sugar. 
11. Place the baking sheet in the middle of the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the squares are golden brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheet. 
12. Whip the chilled heavy cream with an electric beater. Add the sugar until you reach the desired sweetness.
13. Serve by splitting the shortcake. Spoon a generous helping of the sweetened berries over the bottom half of the shortcake. Cover with the second half of the shortcake and top with the whipped cream. Finally garnish with the fresh berries.

Seriously.. How amazing does this look? And it tastes just as good.

Here is a complete list of all the blogs that are participating in this series:

Alabama: Everyday Sanpshots

Alaska: Little Wonders’ Days

Arizona: Simply Kinder

Arkansas: Homeschooling in Arkansas

California: Juggling with Kids and The Outlaw Mom

Colorado: Learners in Bloom and Living Montessori Now

Connecticut: The Teacher Park

Delaware: Mama Miss

Florida: Teaching Stars

Georgia: Fabulously First

Hawaii: Teaching With Style

Idaho: True Aim Education

Illinois: Growing Book by Book

Indiana: Teach Preschool

Iowa: Surviving a Teacher’s Salary

Kansas: KCEdventures

Kentucky: Chicken Babies

Louisiana: New Orleans Moms Blog

Maine: Maine Adventure Mom and Country Fun Child Care

Maryland: Picture Books and Piourettes

Massachusetts: Mama Smiles

Michigan: Play DrMom

Minnesota: The Wise Owl Factory

Mississippi: Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk

Missouri- Ready. Set. Read!

Montana: The Honey Bunch

Nebraska: The Good Long Road

Nevada: Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts

New Hampshire: Elementary Matters

New Jersey: The Pleasantest Thing

New Mexico: Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

New York: What Do We Do All Day

North Carolina: Realistic Teacher Blog

North Dakota: ND HealthWorks

Ohio: Smart Chick Teacher’s Blog

Oklahoma: Herding Kats in Kindergarten

Oregon: Journey of a Substitute Teacher

Pennsylvania: Land of Once Upon a Time

Rhode Island: Smiling in Second Grade

South Carolina: Cookies and Kiddos and JDaniel4’s Mom

South Dakota: The Wise Owl Factory

Tennessee: No Monkey Business

Texas: Curls and a Smile and Kid World Citizen

Utah: Teach Beside Me

Vermont: Burlington Vt Moms Blog

Virgina: Once Upon a Story and The Freckled Homeschooler

Washington: Home Learning Journey and Boy Mama Teacher Mama

West Virginia: This Week @ Great Peace Academy and Mamas Like Me

Wisconsin: Reading Confetti

Wyoming: No Twiddle Twaddle

USA: The Corner on Character

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