Peach Crisp

In response to a post I wrote about missing home and my mother's peaches, that wonderful woman sent another whole box of them to me! I woke up Saturday morning and ran down the stairs like it was Christmas, to find my box waiting for me. We made pancakes with peaches, and since then I've been so excited to make peach crisp. Had to buy ice cream first, because come on, you can't eat peach crisp without ice cream. Here is the recipe I found. It was just perfect! Totally satisfied my craving. The crunchy topping is sugary and cinnamony and delicious.

Peach Crisp

6-8 medium peaches, peeled and sliced into thin slices
2-3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest (or a few drops of lemon juice will do)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup white flour
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats, uncooked
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
8 tablespoons slightly softened butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, mix first 4 ingredients until blended thoroughly. Spray a 2.5 qt baking dish with cooking spray and add peaches. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes.

While the fruit is baking in the oven, add flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon and butter to a mixing bowl. Mix ingredients with your fingers until crumbly. Once the fruit has cooked 20 minutes, remove from oven and sprinkle the crumble evenly over the top of the peaches. Return to the oven and bake for 15 minutes longer. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Recipe found on For the Love of Cooking.

Burgers and Fries

Klane and I really enjoy a good burger with fries. We also enjoy saving money. Therefore a burger for $6-10 at a restaurant sometimes isn't the best answer. We like to make burgers and fries at home. It is easy and fun, so here we go.

Burgers (for three-four people)

1 lb ground beef
Worcestershire Sauce (1 Tbs?)
Seasoned Salt (a few good shakes)
Pepper (less shakes)
Soy Sauce (1 tsp?)
Minced garlic (1/4 tsp?)
Slices of cheese
Buns, Lettuce, Tomato

Kind of funny that I'm posting this as a recipe. You just squish the seasonings into the meat, use as much of them as you want. Then form them into patties. The cook them in a pan (a grill pan would be better but whatever). Top with a slice of cheese at the end of grilling. We like to mix it up and copy things from restaurants. Mushroom + swiss? Bacon + cheddar? Add some avocado? Caramelized onions? Just go wild. It'll be greasy and delicious.

Fries (for two)

2 Baking Potatoes (we used Idaho)
Oil (I've heard Peanut oil is best, we used vegetable)
Salt
Mayo + Ketchup = FRY SAUCE

Peel the potatoes and slice into 1/4 inch sticks. Fill a large bowl with cold water, soak the potato sticks in water in the fridge for at least an hour. It pulls the starch out and allows them to fry better. Take them out of the water and dry them off thoroughly with paper towels. Heat oil over med-high heat on stovetop. Fry the potatoes in a single layer until just slightly crispy (not brown yet), turning once. Remove from pot to paper towel lined plates. Turn the heat up a little and fry them again till golden brown. Serve with fry sauce and lots of it!

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

Made our favorite Banana Cupcakes. (I almost want to let my bananas go brown, just for an excuse to bake with them.) Decided to mix it up and try a different frosting when I found this one on Smitten Kitchen. I've never seen a frosting with brown sugar. Since it has a higher moisture content than powdered sugar, cornstarch is added to lighten it up and thicken it a little. It was really yummy!

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (4 ounces or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch and powdered sugar. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the sugar-cornstarch mixture and vanilla, beat until frosting is smooth and light. Chill the bowl in the refrigerator until it thickens back up a bit, about 30 minutes, then spread or dollop on cooled cupcakes.

Recipe found on Smitten Kitchen. Her pictures are much prettier than mine too, I think it's a combination of light brown sugar and natural light.

Frozen Lemon Cake

Friend Casey found this dessert and we made it on a Thursday afternoon. Then she made it again and had us over on Sunday to share. Then I made it again on Monday to feed the missionaries. I am loving this dessert right now! It's different than my usual chocolate/caramel/peanut butter routine. It's a light and fresh tasting dessert. Perfect for summer, but would be great anytime. The lemon taste was nicely balanced with the sweet. It's creamy, but light enough to serve up a big slice and not feel too full. Four of us devoured an 8x8 pan, no problem. Maybe you should double it....

Frozen Lemon Cake

1 1/4 cup crushed graham crackers, divided
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3 eggs, separated
1 lemon (all juice and all zest) {you can use 3 Tbs bottled lemon juice instead}
½ cup sugar
1 cup whipping cream
4 tablespoons sugar, divided

Combine 1 cup of the crushed graham crackers with the melted butter, stirring until a crumbly loose mixture forms. Line the bottom of an 8x8-inch pan with the mixture.

In a bowl set over hot water (not boiling) mix egg yolks, lemon juice, lemon zest, and sugar. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens. It will take about 10 minutes for the mixture to thicken. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool.

Beat egg whites until light and fluffy. Gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar and continue to beat until glossy, stiff peaks form. Next, beat whipped cream until fluffy, and gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar. Then, gently fold all three mixtures together.

Spread the mixture in the pan over the prepared crust. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of crushed crackers. Place in freezer for at least 3 hours. When you're ready to serve, remove from the freezer, and cut into squares and plate them. Then allow to melt ever so slightly - about 4-5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Recipe found on Vintage Victuals.

Oatmeal Blueberry Peach Pancakes

I've had this recipe on file for a while. A rainy Saturday morning seemed like the perfect time to try them out. What could be better than ultra-filling oatmeal pancakes in bed on a rainy day? These were just exactly what I hoped they'd be: hearty, puffed, very filling, and perfectly spiced. The blueberries were perfect paired with peaches and cream, and the pancakes had a nice spice flavor with the nutmeg and cinnamon. Yum!

Oatmeal Blueberry Peach Pancakes

1 cup Oats
1 cup Whole-Wheat flour {I actually used white and they were fine}
1 cup All Purpose flour
2 Tbsp. Baking powder
½ Tsp. Nutmeg
½ Tsp. Cinnamon
½ Tsp. Salt
1 ½ cups Milk
¼ cup Vegetable oil
2 Eggs (separated)
1 Tsp. Vanilla
Tbsp. Honey
Blueberries

1-2 peaches
confectioner's sugar
heavy cream

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Whisk together the oats, flours, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Using the same whisk in a second bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, egg yolks, vanilla, and honey. In a third bowl, whip the egg whites to soft peaks with a hand mixer. Pour the wet into the dry mixture and stir until just combined. Mix in blueberries. Gently fold in the egg whites until incorporated and let the batter rest a few minutes. {This allows time for the baking powder to react and creates air bubbles in the batter, making your pancakes nice and puffed.}

While it's resting, peel and dice the peaches, stir in confectioner's sugar and heavy cream, and warm in microwave if desired. {We also make our maple syrup. Mix ½ cup each of sugar, brown sugar, and water, with a bit of maple extract, in a glass measuring cup. Heat in the microwave till it bubbles. Stir, make sure sugar is dissolved, and you've got maple syrup.}

Pour batter into skillet using about 1/3 cup of batter per pancake, the batter will be thick. Once bubbles form on the outside of the pancake and do not fill in again - it is time to flip them over. Finish cooking, then serve with butter, peaches and cream, and maple syrup.

Serves 6, about 12 pancakes. Or 6 giant pancakes, the way we like to do it. We halved this recipe.

Recipe found on One Food Guy.

Chicken Gyros

There's a big craze in NYC right now about Halal food. One of the things they serve at the numerous Halal street carts is the gyro {pronounced "yee-row" if you're correct and "jai-row" if you're an ignorant New Yorker with a strong accent}, a sort of wrap served on soft pita bread. The famous "white sauce" is the crowning glory of the gyro {and any Halal dish} and is absolutely delicious. The white sauce is actually called tzatziki sauce {don't ask for pronunciation on that one, I got nothing}. We were excited to find a recipe for it. I would make this again, it was yummy and different!

Chicken Gyros

For the tzatziki sauce:
2 cups plain yogurt (not nonfat, if possible)
½ hothouse cucumber or 1 regular cucumber, peeled and seeded
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice {or bottled... if you're me}
Extra virgin olive oil

For the chicken:
4 cloves garlic, smashed
Juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 heaping tbsp. plain yogurt
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper
1 ¼ lbs. chicken pieces {I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts}

To assemble:
Pita bread
Fresh tomatoes, seeded and diced
Red onion, sliced thin

To make the tzatziki sauce, strain the yogurt using cheesecloth over a bowl. Let strain for several hours or overnight, if possible, to remove as much moisture as possible. If you use Oikos you don't have to strain it. {Ok let's be honest here. Did I buy Greek Oikos yogurt? No. Did I strain my yogurt? No. Did the sauce turn out fine anyway? Yes. Might it be delicious if you did it as directed here? Yes. But you may not have cheesecloth on hand. (Where do you get cheesecloth, anyway?) Just sayin.}
Peel, seed, and shred the cucumber. Wrap in a towel a squeeze to remove as much water as possible. Mix together the strained yogurt, shredded cucumber, garlic, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, and lemon juice. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to meld.

To prepare the chicken, combine the garlic, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil, yogurt, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste in a medium bowl. Whisk together until mixed well. Add the chicken pieces to the bowl and mix well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for about 1 hour.
Cook the chicken as desired, either in the skillet or with the broiler. {I diced the chicken breasts and cooked them in a skillet over med-high.} Once the chicken is completely cooked through, transfer to a plate and let rest for 5 minutes. Cut into strips.
Heat pitas {you could warm them on a dry skillet or griddle or in the microwave}. Top with chicken, tzatziki sauce, diced tomatoes and sliced onions. Serve immediately.

Recipe found on My Kitchen Cafe.