Grilled Peaches

You could be the tastiest, most juiciest, most delicious peach out there in the world; there’s still going to be people out there who don’t like peaches .
— Benson Henderson

Last Days of Summer with Grilled Peaches

So question for you my loyal reader were you more a cabbage patch kid or garbage pail card collector?  Tell the truth, be honest.  Or maybe you don’t even know what I am talking about because truth be told, you had to be a kid of the 80’s.

Kid trends are kind of like that, they come, they go, some come back, some don’t, but why is that? If you know could you tell me in the comments below?

 Me, I was a garbage pail card kind of kid. Why? I think because the idea of collecting things was always such a cool idea and also because they weren't actually dolls.

 I wasn't ever much of a doll kind of kid.  Stuffed animals, now that was a different thing.  I had the polar bear, the brown bear, the dog, the horse and on and on depending upon who gave me what animal or whom I could convince to buy me the next stuffed thing. But the idea of a doll with a round face that you put in a crib and took care of, changed it's diapers etc I just couldn't get into that. 

 I am talking about baby dolls with little blue or pink plastic bottles that sometimes were filled with fake milk and when you turned it upside down the milk disappeared.  I never did understand how that worked? Again does anyone? 

 Anyway, I just never got dolls. Was it some instinctual nurture to care  human beings?  Or was it because they didn't have a little brother or sister to care for already? Or maybe they wanted to imitate their mothers and what they did?  I don't know. I still don't know.  But the difference is that now we can "google" it and find out.  So I did.... Turns out there are hundreds of articles on the topic Here is one fascinating article I found. 

 Either way, whether you liked dolls, cars, trucks, stuffed animals,or collecting garbage pail kids the idea is these things take you back.

 You made memories. Some good,  

some maybe,

 not so good.

But, your brain wants to keep hanging onto them, not because you needed another doll or another stuffed animal but because each memory is a story. Your story. 

 So whether you collected garbage pail kids, cabbage patch dolls or just played and created your memories they are yours and yours alone.  

Foods can be memories too.

 Like when I made these grilled peaches this summer.  The juice oozed and the char marks blackened.  The peach flavor melted in my mouth and my summer was complete.  

Summer ends officially in just a few days.  So before you let summer go, grill up a few and make a memory.  

Goodbye Summer, I loved you everyday. Thanks for giving me great memories. 

Peaches before they go on the Grill

Ingredients

  • 3 Peaches Halved and Pits removed

  • 1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Instructions

Step 1

Heat Grill to about 400 degrees. Using a pastry brush, brush olive oil onto flesh side of peaches.

Step 2

Place Peaches flesh side down onto grill.  Cook a few minutes until peaches begin to get warm.  Remove from grill using a metal spatula and eat.

Tips

  • Grilled peaches make a great salad with tomatoes and herbs.

  • Serve grilled peaches over vanilla ice cream.  

  • No grill? Roast peaches in oven instead. You won't have the grill marks but they will still taste great

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Tomato Tart

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
— miles kington

Tomato Tart

What was on your Summer Bucket list this year? 

  • 🍦Make Homemade Ice Cream ✅

  • 🚵‍♀️Take a Bike Ride ✅

  • 🍉 Have a Picnic ✅

  • 🌄 Watch the Sunrise ✅

  • 🗯 Make Giant Bubbles ✅

  • 🏕 Go Backpacking ✅

  • 😎 See the Eclipse 2017 ✅

  • 🔥 Have a Bonfire ✅

  • 🍇 Go to a Vineyard ✅

  • 🍅 Make a Tomato Tart ✅✅✅

You still have time to finish off your List and make this amazing Tomato Tart because officially summer doesn't end until September 22nd!

Why is it that we always have a Summer Bucket List but never get around to doing hardly anything on the list?  Somehow it passes and yeah we might have gone hiking or ate a s'more or two but we seem to miss out on the simple things like playing with bubbles or watching the stars outside.

 Summer seems to come to an end when school starts and yet for most of us school isn't starting in fact, it's still the same week as last week with work on Monday and ending on Friday.  So don't let your work week keep you from this good news: the sun is still shining and it is still a little warm. You still have time to have some fun!  

Do you have something on your bucket list you haven't checked off yet?  Pick one thing and do it, NOW!  Your kids will love you, because you just extended summer and showed them that it's okay to have a picnic, or make homemade ice cream in September.

  It's okay to make a plan to go outside and stretch the limits of summer.  In fact maybe your summer tomatoes are just now coming to their peak.  That is definitely the case if you live in the PNW.  It takes September for the tomato to be at it's best.  

Whatever you do make sure you take some time to smile 😊 and enjoy a little something you love because after all that's what a bucket list is all about. 

And remember the Fall Bucket List is just around the corner...🍁🍂🍁

Ingredients

  •  1 PIe/Tart Crust (Get Crust Recipe Here)

  • 2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard

  • 2 Tablespoons Grain Mustard

  • 1 teaspoon olive oil

  • 1-2 teaspoons dry herbs de provence 

  • 2 large Heirloom Tomatoes

  • 1 pint small tomatoes

  • Salt- 1-2 teaspoons for draining tomatoes

  • Fleur de Sel or finishing salt to taste

Step 1

Make Crust and pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Pre-bake crust for  10 minutes.  Slice large tomatoes and place on paper towels and salt.  Allow salt to drain tomatoes of liquid then pat dry. 

Step 2

Mix mustards together in a small bowl. After crust cools, using the back of a spoon or a brush, brush mustards onto bottom of pre-baked crust.  Next layer tomatoes on top of mustard.  Sprinkle herbs over tomatoes and drizzle olive oil.  

Step 3

Bake tomato tart for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until crust is golden brown and tomatoes have shriveled slightly. Finish with Fleur de Sel to taste.

Tomato Tart with Mustard

 

Tips

  • Tomatoes can be pre-sliced and salted up to 1 hour prior and allowed to drain

  • Choose the best tomatoes you can find as this is your prime ingredient

  • Now is the time to use those slightly overripe tomatoes

  • Add a little fresh basil afterwards on top and serve with a salad dressed in a vinaigrette

  • A nice Dry Rosé goes wonderfully with this summer tart

Strawberry Shortcake

Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the ‘Titanic’ who waved off the dessert cart.
— Erma Bombeck

Strawberry Chocolate Shortcakes

Whirlpools and Whip cream have a lot in common. 

Small hot tubs make the most amazing whirlpools when you’re a kid. They feel like the size of a giant swimming pool when you are only 3 feet tall. I will never forget bobbing up, down and around my best friend's hot tub.  The water was cool, not hot, because it was our pool for the summer. We would walk and even run in the water to get the water spinning into giant circles.

   Our swimsuits were ragged with chlorine and faded from the sunshine, but around and around we went not stopping until the moment when we were being "whipped" so hard we would feel the water pull us back. 

Next, we stopped, and  we drifted.

We let the pool water float around our little bodies and occasionally our shoulders would hit the silver pole that was meant for the “adults” to enter.  The entry and exit bar was our personal monkey bar.  Swinging and ducking we would fall, sinking deeper into our floating whirlpool.

Eat Strawberry Chocolate Shortcakes!

Children's dreams are made from these moments, don't you think?  

What did you do? What is your favorite childhood memory? Do you have one to share?

 I have moved on to creating foodie dreams in my head. 

If whirlpools could be whip cream that’s the feeling I get when it has been whipped fully.  Small peaks and valleys of white float by my beater.  I love whirlpools to this day and hot tubs even more.

That round and round feeling continues and doesn't stop.  I watched a chef  make whip cream by hand one time, whisking and whisking, building amazing arm muscles, beating round and round until the cream began to peak. 

I don't beat my cream by hand, lazy? Nah, I like to think more inclined to value my time is all.  But I know how to whip cream by hand and that's what's important.  

Do you own a whisk? Good, you can make whip cream.

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Do you own an  electric beater or even a Kitchen Aid machine with a whisk attachment?  Great!

 Are you a crazy foodie and own a whip cream machine?  Even better! (P.S. They make amazing gifts.)

Whatever you happen to own you can make chocolate whip cream and bring something new for the next backyard party.

 People are going to ask you for the recipe.  I mean it, it's happened. 

They will want to lick the spoon, the plate and wel,l you will be the life of the party all because you found out a little secret from the white radish.  Share it, it's okay.  My secret is now yours and you don't have to keep it, cause it's too good not to share.

This is the simplest dessert you will ever make.  You can serve it with the homemade biscuits or for a gluten free option just remove them. Or if you don't have time, grab some angel food cake at the store or some premade biscuits, it will be good too. No one will be the wiser.

 This dessert has options and that's what we are all about, right?  

Make it simple, make it good, but make it!  

Show off your newly acquired skills of learning how to make chocolate whip cream.  If you don't get a few oohs and aahs then something is wrong with your friends, not you.😉  After all who doesn't love chocolate and strawberries?  It's a love story at it's best.

 Oh and just in case you have extra chocolate whip cream, don't miss out on the tips below.

And next time you are sitting in a hot tub I dare you to make a whirlpool and not think of chocolate🍫 whip cream...😉😄

Summer Berry Shortcake

 

Ingredients

  • 1 pint Strawberries

  • 1-2 tsp sugar

Biscuits-

  • 4 cups Flour (self-rising prefered if you have it)

  • 1 tsp Salt

  • 4 Tablespoons Sugar

  • 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

  • 1 cup of Heavy Cream and or Whole Milk

  • 1 cup or one 8 oz container of Whole Milk Ricotta

Whip Cream-

  • 1/2 pint Heavy Cream

  • 1-2 TBSP Organic Cacao powder or Unsweetened cocoa powder (depending on your chocolate taste)

  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

  • 4-5 tsp Sugar (or to taste)

  • Chocolate Shavings (optional)

Fresh strawberries

Instructions:

Step 1

Chop up strawberries and place in a large bowl.  Mix with Sugar and set aside in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Step 2

Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Make Biscuits. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.  Whisk gently or stir with a fork.

Step 3

Next add Heavy Cream and Ricotta and mix gently by hand until combined and forms a large ball.  You can add more cream 1 tsp at a time as needed, if flour is not sticking. You want to end up with a dough ball. Knead ball for one minute on a lightly floured surface. Flatten dough using your hands and make it about 2 inches thick. Cut out using a biscuit cutter round dough pieces.

Step 4

Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet and brush the top with milk or cream lightly. Bake until browned about 12- 15 minutes. 

Step 5 

While biscuits are baking, prepare chocolate whip cream. In a mixing bowl or kitchenaid bowl lightly whisk in chocolate and sugar and vanilla. Taste and add more sugar or cocoa as needed.  Start on low speed using whisk attachment and mix until begins to thicken.  Turn up speed being careful not to splash and whip until soft peaks form. 

Step 6

 Slice biscuits in half when cooled and smother with chocolate whip cream and layer strawberries. Top biscuit and add more cream and strawberries. Serve and Eat!

Optional: Top with chocolate shavings 

Tips

  • Extra Chocolate whipcream can be used in a shot of espresso for an "espresso con panna au chocolate"

  • Extra biscuits- freeze before baking on a baking tray for 20 minutes then remove and place in ziploc bag or other container for future biscuits