K & J Orchards

PEARS!

2011-07-29T22:06:00.000-07:00

YES...pears are in!

Our Italian variety pear, Moretini, has come into season. The season is short, we will only have them till the middle of August! They are creamy like a Bartlett and juicy like a Comice. Come by the stand and ask for a sample! It will melt and tingle your taste buds!

"Red Top" Yellow Peach and Blueberry Pie

2011-07-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

In the mood to baking a fresh pie? Here's a recipe that is super simple!

Here is a very easy pie recipe that we tried out this week! You can make your own pie crust but if you are itching for time, we found that the pre-made dough pie crust from Pillsbury seemed to worked the best! Also, we used a super deep pie dish as well as stuffing this pie really thick. If you find that you have left overs of the fillings...put into a separate baking dish and bake along side with the pie. You can use the extra filling to put over vanilla ice cream!

For the Crust:
1 package of Pillsbury Pie Crusts (contains 2 rolls)

For the Filling:
12-14 medium size yellow peaches (about 5-6 cups)
18 oz. blueberries
1 cup of sugar (we used 1 cup of Splenda baking sugar for this recipe)
3/4 cup of flour
4 tbsp of melted unsalted butter
1 juice from a lemon

Direction:
Preheat oven 350º
Prepare the filling by cutting the peaches into big chunks, then into a large mixing bowl. Add blueberries, sugar, flour, butter, and lemon juice. Mix together and set aside.
For the crust, roll out the two rolls of the pie crust to the width of your pie dish with an overlap. Lay the first layer of the crust into you 9-inch pan. Pour the filling to your desired density. Then cover the with the 2nd pie crust. Roll up and crimp sides to seal in the filling. Vent top of pie crust with a fork in a few spots. Cover with foil and bake for one hour. Then uncover to bake for another 45min to an hour. Remove and let it cool to room temperature.

Serves 8-10... or in our case, my husband ate whole thing!

Cherries - No More!

2011-07-10T23:48:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a very short season for cherries this year! With the late rain in May, the cherries were damaged and we lost about 80% of the crop due to cracked cherries. Usually our season can last from May-July but we had to cut it short. Here's a photo of the last batch of cherries we picked on the 1st of July.

Look forward to them next May 2012!

Sweet & Juicy Bing Cherries!

Va de Vi

2011-06-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

On Monday night, the 20th of June we had the opportunity to have a scrumptious dinner at Va de Vi in Walnut Creek, California. A very well respected and talented chef was at the helm that evening, Shane Mcanelly. Here at K&J Orchards we really admire his enthusiasm and the respect he gives us small farmers' as he appreciates and respects the origin of his ingredients. Our peaches and cherries were displayed in a wonderful spicy arugula salad that we had during our 12 course adventure!

Va de Vi's Seasonal Salad featuring our "Early Treat" Yellow Peaches and "Bing" Cherries! It was the right amount of sweet and spice...yummy!

Cherries are here but not for very long!

2011-06-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Hello! We are happy to have some cherries for you this season! We have lost about 80% of our wonderful sweet scrumptious cherries due to the late rainfall during the month of May. Apricots and Peaches are getting into the swing of things by slowly getting ripe and the sugar content slowly inching up the scale. Come to a farmers' market near you to enjoy some of the season's best selections!