The best seasonal dessert ever!

It's one of my favorite times of year - peach season!

Peaches in season are unmatched in flavor. And we are lucky enough in St. Louis to have wonderful local peaches that you can find at any farmer's market! You can even buy local peaches at Schnuck's. Or, go peach picking at Eckert's!

One of my favorite desserts is my mom's peach crisp. Peach crisp is basically peaches with a crumble topping. I ask for this pretty much every year for my birthday instead of cake. This year, I tried it myself and we've had a steady supply of it! Everyone who has tried it is a fan. Here's how to do it:

1. First, you need to buy PEACHES! The amount really depends on how big they are. So prepare how many you think you'll need and you can always add more. Just buy a lot and eat whatever remains!

2. Peel and slice the peaches thin. Peeling is so easy! All you do is boil a pot of water and drop the peaches in. Leave them in for about 5 minutes (or longer - I usually leave them in while I peel one, then get another out). I take them out with a ladle and then dip them in cold water. The peel literally falls off. Then slice! This is a great recipe for over ripe peaches too - they work really well.

3. Slice enough so your pan is filled to about 2-3" from the top and fill up. This recipe is for a square 8x8 glass baking dish. I have also doubled the recipe and made it in a 9x13. You can't have too much crumble topping!

4. Mix in 1/4 cup sugar and 3 tbsp flour with the peaches.

5. To make the crumble topping, put following in a bowl and mix - my Kitchenaid works perfectly for this. Mix until it has a crumbly texture.

- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup flour
- 1/2 cup oats
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 cup (stick) of cold but slightly softened butter

6. Spoon mixed topping over peaches.

7. Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes.

Word of wisdom: The peaches can get a little bubbly, so if you filled your pan to the top, you might want to put a cookie sheet with foil under the pan in case it bubbles over, because it can be a sticky mess!

Serve warm or cold with ice cream or without. YUM!

A Delicious Meal!

It's amazing how long it's been since I've blogged. My excuse is that I'm wedding planning and while I am cooking, I have been too busy to document it!

Tonight I got it in my head to make two new side dishes (veggies) that I had read recipes for in a food magazine that Ben's mom ordered us. They both turned out so well!

The meal:

Clockwise from the left - TJ's Harvest Grains, Sesame Ginger Broccolini, and Warm Brussels Sprout Salad

1. Trader Joe's Harvest Grains mix. Let me say that I think that it is freaking AMAZING! It has quinoa, baby garbanzos, Israeli couscous,  and two kinds of orzo (red pepper and spinach enriched). So easy to make - just cook in broth (I used veggie) for 10 minutes and voila! It's a dry good found near the soups and pastas. Definitely try it.

2. Warm brussels sprouts salad. I love brussels sprouts. I've never cooked them like this before, and really liked them prepared this way.
Recipe: 
Ingredients: Brussels sprouts, salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon, parmesan cheese.
Directions: Cut brussels sprouts into shreds. To do this, cut off the stem, halve it, then cut lengthwise so they are small strips. Heat oil on low, put BS into the oil, season with salt and pepper. Toss well and stir over heat for 10-15 minutes. Take off heat, squeeze some lemon over it, then top with a bit of parmesan cheese when you serve it warm.

3. Sesame ginger broccolini. You can also use this with broccoli or baby broccoli. It takes a little more effort than the sprouts, but is delicious!
Recipe:
Ingredients: broccolini, sesame seeds, olive oil, water, fresh ginger, garlic, soy sauce.
Directions: Toast sesame seeds first, heating over low and stirring frequently. Set aside. Cut broccolini off stalks. Heat about 2TBP of oil, then add broccolini, along with 1-2 garlic cloves and 1 piece of fresh ginger, cut into strips. Put a couple tablespoons of water in and cover. Cook for 10-12 minutes (or until desired consistency), stirring every couple minutes. Pour 1-2tsp of soy sauce in, stir and cook for about 3 more minutes. Stir in sesame seeds and serve.

4. And for dessert, apple crunch pie! I usually make this as apple crisp (no crust), but wanted to try Trader Joe's pie crusts, so I adapted it. So delicious, especially with vanilla ice cream, also from TJ's. We have had a lot of apples from going picking at Eckert's, so I've been making stuff with them.
Recipe:
Ingredients: apples (any good cooking apple - I've used jonathan, honeycrisp, and fuji), brown sugar, white sugar, lemon, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, salt, butter. Pie crust optional.
Directions:
1. Peel apples and slice into thin slices. It's hard to say how many you'll need because they vary in size so much. I usually throw them into whatever pan I am using and keep going til it reaches the top. This recipe fits a standard size pie pan or a square glass baking pan.
2. Pour apples into a bowl. Add 1TBP lemon juice, 1/4 cup white sugar, and 1/2tsp cinnamon. Toss and set aside.
3. Mix the following ingredients in a mixing bowl: 3/4 cups brown sugar, 2/3 cup flour, 1/2 cup oats, 1tsp cinnamon, 1/4tsp salt, 1/4 tsp nutmeg. Add 3/4 of a stick of cold butter and mix with a mixer until it gets a crumbly texture.
4. If you're using a pie crust, put it in the pan and pour the apples in. If not, pour the apples directly into the pan. Sprinkle crumbly mixture over the apples.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 375. Check the apples to see if they are cooked. Can cover with foil or other top to help it bake through.
6. Serve warm with ice cream!

Sweet Potato Muffins/Cupcakes!

As I've mentioned before, reading the food blogs that I do, I often get inspired by something. One major inspiration lately has been this blog. The author fixes healthy and super creative meals for her kids. And posts cool recipes (like the samosas I made recently). When I saw these sweet potato "cupcakes," I was inspired.

Raspberry Adventures!

Lakeview Farms, take two! After being turned away so early last Saturday and not being able to pick, I decided I would attempt to drag myself out of bed early one day this week to go try to pick again. Wednesday morning, I did just that! Anyone who knows me know that getting up at 7am is difficult. Even on a work day. But I did it!

Arriving at the farm, I noticed it wasn't too busy. Score! One cool thing about this farm is that instead of going on a picking free for all, they give you your own area to pick in. That way, no one is infringing upon your territory and they can keep track of where has been picked over so the next person who comes to pick goes in an area with riper, not yet picked berries. That's a good model in my mind!

I started picking. The pickings were great! Lots of ripe berries to choose from. I really dug in there to get good ones. Raspberry bushes are prickly so it got a bit uncomfortable, but was worth it!
In no time, I had filled up several containers.
Looking to the west, the sky was ominous. I started picking like mad, worried that the skies might unleash upon me at any minute. People started fleeing to their cars. Dangit, I was going to fill all of my containers. If I got a little wet, it wouldn't do me any harm. I finished just as the sky looked like this:
I wanted to strawberry pick, but the lady where I paid said they would probably close so I decided to leave. I ended up with 8 containers. Total cost? $15.
Yummy, yummy berries! This much would've cost $24-36 at a store! So what did I do? I turned these into this:
And this:
DELISH!

To make the jam, I used 6 containers, about 1 cup of agave nectar, juice of 1 lemon, and a squirt of honey. Used my immersion blender (what a handy tool!!) and boiled it for about 30 minutes. Then followed standard canning procedures. I saved a cup of jam to make the raspberry oatmeal bars. Here is the recipe I used. It turned out great!! And I feel good that I hand picked the raspberries at a local farm and turned it into these yummy treats. I might go again tomorrow. I'm addicted!!

My New Toy!

I got a new toy.

I've acquired some new cooking utensils and gadgets in the last month to make cooking more efficient and do some cool things. My latest addition is an immersion blender, which is basically a little gadget that you stick into (aka "immerse") into the bowl/pot you have food in to blend it up. It's very low maintenance, easy to clean and use. And only cost around $30.

So Ben and I have eaten like toothless old people this weekend! I pureed and blended the crap out of our food, using any excuse to use my new gadget. Saturday night, I made a sort of root vegetable soup with squash, yams and parsnips. It was ok, but I honestly wasn't the hugest fan. The best part about it was using my new toy.



I also made apple crisp, which was much yummier. The last time I made an apple dish (applesauce), Ben commented how good it would be to put some vanilla ice cream on top. So I granted his wish this time, stopping at Oberweis for some delicious vanilla to top off the crisp.



Last night (Sunday), I decided to make a Pair of Purees - potato puree and butternut squash puree. Both were quite yummy! I also made applesauce - this time, I didn't have to spend forever cutting them up. Just let them bake and then blend them up with the new gadget. The consistency was perfect- just like real applesauce. Yum!! Served all three with some asparagus. Delicious!