Peach Cobbler

My great grandmother made the best peach cobbler e.v.e.r!  I still miss it!!  Ha ha I don't think mine will ever be as good as hers was, but it still satisfies my occasional craving for Peach Cobbler, and it is pretty darn good if you ask me!  :0)

Ingredients:
Pie Crust, divided into two pieces (or you can cheat and buy the pre made rolls of pie crust at the store, just get the package of two.  The red box in the refrigerator section, over by the biscuits and what not, works well--much better than the frozen kind!)
1/2 stick butter
2 pounds sliced peaches
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 to 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg--beaten and some water (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Spray an 8x8 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Roll out half of your pie crust to fit the bottom and sides of the baking dish.
If you are using the egg, whisk together the egg and water. Then, using a pastry brush, coat your pie crust with the egg mixture.  Just do a thin coating over the entire crust.
Roll out the second half of pie crust and cut it into strips--about an inch wide.  Save any pie crust scraps and set them aside.
On a piece of waxed paper, lay out the strips of pie dough in a woven pattern and place in the freezer.
In a saucepan, melt the butter.
Add in the peaches and all of the dry ingredients.
Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 8 to 10 minutes.
Cut any pie crust dough remnants into small pieces, and stir them gently into the mixture. 
Remove from heat and add in the vanilla.
Pour the peach mixture into the prepared baking dish.
Remove your woven pie crust from the freezer, and flip it onto the top of your baking dish. 
Tuck in the pie crust edges. 
If you are using the egg, coat the top of your pie crust with the egg mixture.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until it's bubbly and the crust is a nice golden brown.
(I use a clear glass baking dish, so I also pick up my dish to make sure the the bottom pie crust looks cooked all the way through the middle.  If it doesn't I cover the top with foil, and bake it a little bit longer.  This has only happened to me once, but now I check it every time!)

I always taste my peach mixture before adding it to the pie crust.  Sometimes I'll add in a splash of orange juice, more sugar, or even some honey.  ha ha it all depends on my mood that day!  But this cobbler always turns out yummy, and my dad, who is passionate about his cobbler, love it too!  :0)

Chicken Calabrese

This chicken dish goes great with a salad with some of the yummy Fresh Tomato Salad Dressing that I posted the recipe for last week.  It has a wonderful light flavorful taste, and is perfect for a warm (or hot in my case) summer day!

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes in olive oil
4 slices of prosciutto (ham works too)
4 slices of provolone (or any good white cheese)
1/8 cup of basil pesto sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup white wine (or chicken broth)
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 tablespoon fresh basil--chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Split (also known as butterfly) the chicken breasts so that they open up kind of like a book.  It sounds hard to do, but trust me, it's not!
Open the chicken breasts up and layer: prosciutto, 1 teaspoon of pesto, 1 tablespoon sun dried tomato, and cheese.
Roll up the chicken breasts, while tucking in the sides, to completely envelope the filling. 
Secure with toothpicks or tie with baking twine if you need to. 
Put your olive oil into a deep skillet and brown the chicken rolls on both sides.
Add the wine (or chicken broth), tomato sauce, basil, salt, and pepper to the skillet. 
Simmer about 30 minutes.   
Enjoy!

I love to make some crusty garlic bread, a salad, and some steamed veggies to go with this.  You can also play with the filling and it will still turn out great!  You can add mushrooms or bacon, or whatever else you have on hand just to change it up a bit.  Cooking these in the wine sauce keeps the chicken moist, and gives it such great flavor!  Yummy!

Fresh Tomato Salad Dressing

I have had several versions of this over the years, and I absolutely love it!!  It has such a perfect fresh bright taste, and is by far my favorite salad dressing. I think this year, I might try freezing it into cubes to see if I can store it that way.  Then I could make up a big batch while my tomatoes are fresh and then be able to eat it for months afterwards!  :0)  I'll let you now how it goes!

Ingredients:
3 cups chopped tomatoes
1 generous sprig of fresh basil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic--minced (sometimes I saute the garlic to give it more flavor)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup oil (I prefer olive oil, but I have used canola oil too)
sometimes I also add a dash or two of balsamic vinegar just to give it a little more flavor

Directions:
Put the tomatoes, basil, garlic, salt, and vinegar into your food processor or blender and blend until it is all combined.
Then slowly add in your oil and blend until it is all creamy and yummy looking.
Enjoy!

Yummy!  This dressing is seriously good!  I could almost eat it with a spoon!  :0) 

Ingredient Substitutions

I thought I would do something a little different today!  Instead of a recipe, I am going to post a handy list of substitutions.  I am always searching for a substitute for one ingredient or another because I hate having to run to the store.  (Ha ha With Jay, the days of make a quick run to the store are loooong gone!)  Hopefully one of these tips will help you out the next time you run out of something too!

Buttermilk and regular yogurt can be used interchangeably!  Just keep in mind that if you use vanilla yogurt, you'll need to cut down slightly on the vanilla in your recipe.  You use them in equal amounts too, so if your recipe calls for 1 cup of buttermilk, you can use 1 cup of yogurt and vice versa.   

I really prefer not to use oil when I bake, so I have started substituting butter for oil in all of my recipes.  To do this, just use 125% of the oil called for in your original recipe.  For example, if your original recipe calls for 1 cup of oil, you need to use 1 1/4 cups of butter.  (I am sure that this math can also be reversed to use oil instead of butter, but I have never tried it.)

You can also substitute butter for shortening and vice versa.  You use them in equal amounts, so if the recipe calls for a cup of shortening, you can use a cup of butter instead.

If you run out of brown sugar, you can use regular sugar and molasses.  To substitute for 1 firmly packed cup of brown sugar, use 1 cup of regular sugar and 1/4 cup of molasses.  Also, be sure to subtract 1/4 cup from whatever liquid you are using in the recipe. 

If a recipe calls for heavy cream, you can use 1 cup evaporated milk or 3/4 cup milk plus 1/3 cup butter for every cup of cream called for in the recipe.

Have you ever been 1 egg short for a recipe!?  Next time, use 3 tablespoons mayonnaise or half a banana mashed with 1/2 teaspoon baking powder as a substitute.

I always get frustrated when a recipe calls for a specific type of flour!  But these substitutions seem to work pretty well:
for every cup of Bread Flour called for, use 1 cup regular flour plus 1 teaspoon wheat gluten
for every cup of Cake Flour called for, use 1 cup of regular flour minus 2 tablespoons
for every cup of Self Rising Flour called for, use 7/8 cup all-purpose flour plus 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Out of Honey!?  For every cup of honey called for, use 1 1/4 cup white sugar plus 1/3 cup water instead.  It won't taste quite as good as the honey would, but it'll do in a pinch!

For every teaspoon on lemon juice called for, just use 1/2 a teaspoon of vinegar.  You won't get the lemon flavor, but the acid in the vinegar will work the same. 

You can also substitute sour cream for mayonnaise!  I like to use half mayo and half sour cream in a lot of things, deviled eggs especially. 

Instead of Molasses, you can use 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cream of tartar for every cup of molasses called for. 

These have all helped me out of a tight spot at one time or another!  Do you have any great substitutions that you use? 

A Camping We Will Go

The Hubbs, for those of you that don't know, is an Eagle Scout...which means he loves all things outdoorsy.  Ha ha and I on the other hand, am not such a fan of the bugs or heat that typically accompany the great outdoors.  But I have also come to terms with the fact that my Little Man is very much a fan of the outdoors!  So for our vacation this year, we decided to take Jay on his very first camping trip. 

We had originally planned to go to Lake Ouichita in Arkansas, but after a round of rather nasty storms...the state had to close the entire park!  Which meant we had to find a whole new place to camp at the last minute.  Fortunately, we were able to find a state park, Beaver's Bend, in Oklahoma that is in the same national forest as the park in Arkansas.  It boasted a spring fed crystal clear mountain lake and river with the cooler temperatures and family friendly trails we were looking for, and it was only about a four hour drive from our house!  So we packed up the car (so much so that we barely fit) and headed out.

And I have to say that we had an absolute blast!!!  The park was absolutely beautiful and I think we had the best camping site in the entire park.  We went early enough that there weren't many people, and the cooler temperatures kept the mosquitoes away.  We hiked, fished, and even went for a canoe trip!  We cooked all kinds of fun campfire meals, and countless smores.  We even made some wonderful new friends (Hello guys!)  The Hubbs made fun of the 8 person tent I bought, but we sure had plenty of room, and we slept in complete comfort on our air mattress.  :0)  Ha ha I think my version of camping was a little bit different from what The Hubbs is used to, but it worked for us, and I would do it again in a heart beat!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip:

Broken Bow Lake:

 Steam rising off the lake water by our campsite one morning:

The Boys hunting for crayfish on the river:

Our Campsite:

Jay with one of the crayfish they caught:

Jay roasting a Peep to make smores:

The Hubbs teaching Jay how to start a campfire:

Our Nightly Visitor:

(He liked peanut M&Ms and marshmallows!)

And here is a slide show with some more pictures (There were just WAY too many to fit them all into a blog post!)


If you are looking for a fun place to camp, I can recommend this one for sure!  We stayed in the Blue Jay campground in site 12, and it was gorgeous!  I think it was the best campsite in the whole park!!  We had water on three sides, and some seriously stunning views of the lake.  It is also on a smaller outcropping of the lake, so it was very quiet and peaceful.  But I used the bathhouse in the Armadillo campground just down the road because it was much cleaner (smelled like bleach!) and the hot showers seemed to last forever.  I have learned that I can do camping, but not without a good hot shower and my coffee!  :0) 

We had so much fun that we're thinking of planning another big camping trip next year!  Maybe we'll check out some place like Big Bend, Yellowstone, or the Grand Canyon...         

Red Velvet Cake

I love red velvet cake, but the catch is that it has to be a good red velvet cake!  I am half convinced that the people that say they don't like red velvet cake, have just never had a good one.  :0)  Too many red velvet cakes are lacking the subtle chocolaty taste that is a must for the cake to be a winner in my book.  Anywho, Jay and I made this recipe for my dad's 53rd birthday, and it was a big hit! 

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour--sifted
2 tablespoons cocoa powder (I used 3 tablespoons, because in my book, you can never have too much chocolate!!)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 oz red food coloring
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla (always use the real stuff, the imitation vanilla just doesn't cut it!)

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 (340 if you are using a dark, nonstick, or glass pan)
Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking dish
Cream the butter and sugar.
Add in the eggs one at a time.
In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients.
Add the dry mixture alternately with the buttermilk until it is all combined.
Add in the red food coloring, vinegar, and the vanilla.
Pour into your prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Top this with a cream cheese frosting, or try this Praline Frosting:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Bake pecans on a baking sheet at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown, stirring once.
Bring butter, brown sugar, and cream to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring often; boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
Remove from heat, and whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.
Add toasted pecans; stir gently 3 minutes or until frosting begins to cool and thicken slightly.

Seriously, give the praline frosting a try, because you may never go back!  It is SO good!!  Yummy!  I hope you enjoy this cake as much as we have!
 

Italian or Mexican Popover Casserole

This recipe is a real crowd pleaser, and it is very easy to make!  There are two different variations for the filling, so it's like getting two recipes all in one!  :0)  I toss together a quick salad or cut up some fresh veggies and dinner is served! 

Ingredients for Italian Filling:
1.5 pounds ground meat (I use half beef and half turkey)
1 small onion--diced
1 small green pepper--diced  (In all honesty I never add this)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic--minced
1 jar spaghetti sauce
8 oz mozzarella--shredded

Ingredients for Mexican Filling:
1.5 pounds ground meat (I use half beef and half turkey)
1 small onion--diced
1 cup frozen corn
1 jar of salsa
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 oz cheddar or Mexican blend cheese--shredded

Ingredients for Popover (Used regardless of what filling you use):
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon oil (I use olive oil)
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Filling:
Brown meat and add all of the filling ingredients except for the cheese. 
Simmer for 10 minutes or so.
Lightly spray a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray.
Pour the filling into the pan and top with cheese.
Set aside.
Popover Topping:
Beat milk, oil, and eggs for 1 minute at medium speed. 
Add in the flour and salt and beat for 2 more minutes, or until smooth.
Pour batter over the filling mixture. 
You want all of the filling covered with the batter, so spread it with a spatula if you have to. 
Top with Parmesan cheese.
Bake at 400 for 25 to 30 minutes.

I have even cooked the filling ahead of time, and put it into the fridge.  Then when I am ready to cook it, I whip up the popover batter and pour it over the top.  It works great!  I have also found that for the Mexican version, if your salsa has a lot of onion chunks in it, skip the diced onion for the filling.  Otherwise, it just gets too overpowering!  This recipe is just different and fun.  Jay likes to put his with the popover side down and eat it like a slice of pizza!  Yummy!