Easy *Peach Cobbler

I asterisked the "peach", because I think this would be great with any fruit...  Next time I'll do it with berries or apples, or whatever comes... (adventures in CSA!)

Ingredients
1/4 c butter
1/4 c margarine
6 peaches (Next time, I will try 10 because I thought it could take more fruit, but I haven't done it so won't swear to it here...)
1/4 c orange juice
1 1/4 c sugar, divided into 1 c and the other 1/4 c
1 c flour
1 c milk
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
nutmeg
brown sugar

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Melt the butter and margarine in a baking dish.  I used a round baking dish, but the standard square seems like it would work, also.

Bring a pot of water to a boil on the stove, and drop your peaches into the boiling water for about 30 seconds.  Remove with slotted spoon.  Peel the peaches, halve them, remove the pits and cut them into wedges.

Return your peaches to the saucepan and add the orange juice to the peaches.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Remove from the heat.

Combine 1 c sugar, flour, milk, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  Mix until even and smooth.  Pour over the melted butter in the baking dish.

Use a slotted spoon to add the peaches to the top of the cobbler mixture.  When all the peaches have been added, sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/4 c sugar, and then dust with nutmeg and brown sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees, and ensure is finished by using a toothpick to test.  It's ready when it tests clean...

Serves 6.  AND IS GREAT.  Mark likes peaches now, and even said he wished there were more peaches.  So, I would double fruit in this recipe if I make it again...  :)

Brandied Peaches

I do not take any credit for this recipe.  I followed it exactly as it was posted at Food & Wine...  The only thing I did was divide the recipe by 4.  The original recipe makes two quarts, and I only wanted 2 pints.  (2 pints = 1 quart / See, my time working at Baskin-Robbins all those years ago was well-spent.)

We had so many peaches, and I was looking to preserve some so that they did not go bad...  I also have a lot of brandy in the house, since I haven't made my sangria all summer.

Which totally reminds me that my sangria is the most amazing sangria in the world.  Why haven't I made my sangria this year???  Moving on, while making a mental note to also bring all sangria-making-instruments on vacation with us...

If you are new to canning, you will not realize that you need to sterilize your jars, lids, and rings.  You can either heat up a pot of water to just under boiling and keep them in it until you are ready go to...  Or, you can use the "sanitize" cycle on your dishwasher if you have one...  Just FYI - the recipe didn't say this, but you need sterile jars.

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds peaches
3/4 c water
1 c sugar
1 c brandy

Instructions
Bring a pot of water to a boil over very high heat.  Drop in whole pieces for about 30 seconds, and then remove to a bowl or baking dish.  Let cool just enough to peel the skin off the peaches.  It comes over very easy at that point, and then you can halve them and pull out the pits.  I actually cut them in quarters, because my peaches were kind of large...

Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a saucepan over medium high heat, and allow to reduce for about 5 minutes after it comes to a boil.

Add the peaches to the boiling syrup, and bring the peaches to a boil in the syrup.  As soon as you've reached boiling, use a slotted spoon to remove the peaches to your jars.  (This quantity will yield 2 pints.)

Then, add the brandy to your syrup and again return to a boil.  When the brandy syrup is boiling, use a ladle to fill your peach jars up with the brandy syrup.  Then, use a wet rag to clean the tops of your jars and add the lids and rings.  Allow to cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Brandied peaches are good for three months in the refrigerator.

I'll update the comments with my feedback on flavor after vacation!  :)

Millions of peaches...

We started getting peaches in our CSA three or four weeks ago.  I love peaches.  But, Mark wasn't sure if he liked them, but didn't think he'd ever eaten one...  So began the search for the perfect peach dessert.  In the end, I'm always looking at all kinds of recipe ideas.  So, nothing ever seemed good enough to convince him that the peach is good.

Long story short.  I hesitated.  I procrastinated.  I hoped the perfect idea would come.

It didn't.

So, instead, I made the next two recipes because I was afraid they would go bad while I stalled...  I haven't tried the Brandied peaches yet.  We decided to take them on vacation with us in two weeks (they're canned and good for three months) to eat while watching the sunset with ice cream...  The other is a solid recipe that I think you could swap any fruit in or out of and have a pretty simple, tasty, cobbler...

Bread & Butter Pickles

My Grandma Howard used to make Bread & Butter pickles, and my mom used to love them.  But, unfortunately, my Grandma Howard died well before her time...  So, my mom hadn't had those pickles since 1980.  She recently found a cookbook that belonged to my Grandma, and lo & behold....  There was one dirty, well-worn page that just happened to be a recipe for Bread & Butter pickles.  She came to visit me, and we made them to see if they were the same.  Success!  The pickles are delicious!

Ingredients
1 1/2 c salt
1 gallon water
8 medium-to-large cucumbers, sliced thin
1/4 of a white onion, chopped
1/2 c of chopped bell peppers
5 c cider vinegar
5 c sugar
2 Tbsp mustard seed
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Instructions
Combine the salt and water to make a brine...  I needed two large mixing bowls to hold all of this.  Add the cucumber slices and chopped onion and bell peppers to the brine mix and let stand 3 hours.  Drain.

Combine the vinegar, sugar, and spices in a large stock pot or preserving kettle and bring the mixture to a rolling boil.

Add the drained cucumbers and heat thoroughly, but do not boil the pickles.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the pickles into sterilized pint jars while they are still very hot.  Pack them in very tight and use a ladle to spoon the liquid into the jars to fill.  Seal at once, and allow to cool to room temperature.

Corn Chowder with Potatoes & Carrots

We got a great load of vegetables last week...  Fresh corn, teeny tiny carrots, red potatoes, onions, etc...  We've already done corn on the cob, so I went for Corn Chowder instead!  It was well worth the effort - very tasty!

Ingredients
5 ears of corn, shucked
4 medium red potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 c carrots, peeled and diced
1/2 c diced celery
1/4 c diced red onion
Approximately 5 c chicken broth (enough to cover the vegetables in the pot)
1/4 c butter
1 c half & half
1 c skim milk
1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp hot sauce
1/4 tsp cumin
salt & ground pepper to taste
2 c shredded CoJack

Instructions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and drop corn into the boiling water.  Let corn boil for five minutes, and remove corn from the pot.  Rinse out the pot, while allowing the corn to cool.

Return the pot to the stove, and add all the vegetables (except the corn) to the pot.  Cover with chicken stock, and bring to a boil.  Once it boils, reduce heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 25 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are tender.

Cut the corn off the cob while the vegetables cook.

In a small pot, combine the butter, milk, half & half, flour, hot sauce, and cumin.  Stir until the mixture is creamy, but don't allow it to stick to the bottom.  Add salt & pepper to taste.

Combine the milk mixture with the vegetable mixture, and add the corn and cheese.  Stir constantly until the cheese is melted into the mixture.  Using an immersion blender, blend about half of the soup to add to the creamy consistency, but leaving some of the rustic chunks!  Enjoy.  Serves 6.

Still kind of shocked I had all these ingredients in the house...  :)

Zucchini & Yellow Squash Quiche-ish

It isn't really a quiche, but I didn't know what else to call it, to be honest...  My mom was coming to visit for the weekend, and she got stuck in traffic for over an hour...  I knew she would be ready to eat when she finally made it and she's usually game for trying something new - plus she likes squash!

Ingredients
1 medium-large zucchini, halved and sliced
1 large yellow squash, halved, seeded and sliced
1/2 of a small red onion, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, sliced
4 eggs (We get a dozen of Dry Dock Farms fresh eggs each week, so this was a no-brainer!)
1/4 c olive oil
1 tsp baking powder
1 c baking mix (like Biscquick)
Grated parmesan
salt & pepper to taste

How to:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch round baking dish.

Prepare your vegetables and add salt and pepper to taste.

Whisk together the eggs with the oil until they are nice and fluffy.  Mix in the baking powder and baking mix until it's combined evenly.  Then, fold the mixed vegetables into the egg mixture.  Pour into the baking dish and top with the tomato slices.  Sprinkle grated parmesan over the top, and place into the oven to bake.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until it starts to brown and eggs appear cooked through.

This was our main course, so it only served four big pieces...  And, I should have taken a picture before we dug into it.  But, we were hungry - it was 9:00 p.m.!  :)  I'll make this again, and may even try it with different vegetables.  It seems like any combination would work!

Creamy Italian Potato Salad

Mark was still in NYC, so the mayo continues!  However, just because I like things made with mayonnaise doesn't mean I welcome all the calories...  So, I tried something a little bit different.

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds red potatoes, cleaned, and cut into quarters
1/4 c Italian dressing
1/4 c mayonnaise
1 hard boiled egg, chopped
3 green onions, diced
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp chopped fresh dill
1/4 tsp yellow mustard
1/4 tsp honey mustard
1/2 tsp lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Place the quartered potatoes into a large pot, and bring it to a boil.  Once the water is boiling, cook them for 12 minutes, or until they are the tenderness you prefer.  Drain the potatoes and set them aside to cool down.

In a large bowl, combine the Italian salad dressing, mayonnaise, egg, green onion, garlic, dill, mustard and lemon juice.  Stir the cooled potatoes into this mixture already in the bowl.

This was creamy and delicious, and I felt a little less guilty!

Deviled Eggs With Green Onions & Garlic

Now that I've finally found the secret to hard boiled eggs, it is time to make deviled eggs...  You can tell Mark was out of town that week, because it was mayo-pallooza at my house!  (Mark is a strict anti-condimite, particularly of the white and creamy variety.)

Ingredients
6 hard boiled eggs
1/3 c mayonnaise (I used that olive oil kind with less fat, and didn't think anything was missing...)
1/2 tsp yellow mustard
1/2 tsp honey mustard
3 green onions, diced
1 tsp minced garlic
pinch of salt
hungarian paprika (Which is an awesome spice to have on-hand - I use it all the time!)

Directions
Cut the hard boiled eggs in half, longways.  carefully remove the yolk from the whites

Place the yolks into a bowl and mix with the mayonnaise, mustard, honey mustard, green onions, garlic, and salt.  Mix together to reach a creamy consistency, and spoon the mixture back into the egg white halves.  Sprinkle paprika over the top, and enjoy!