Update: No more peaches :(

 

Saturday afternoon, after dropping off the luau cake, I went to my grandmother's for a corn party.  If you've never been to one then you are missing out, at least in my opinion.  My family is big time into corn.  Both my mom and dad's side of the family have always had beautifully planted rows of corn since forever.  Because of this, corn is pretty much my favorite food and by far my favorite vegetable.  I have lots of really good summertime memories that revolve around corn.  

Saturday's corn party consisted of 488 ears of freshly picked corn.  We sat in the shade of the carport of my grandparent's house and shucked, silked, boiled, cut, and put up corn.  Even my cousin Amy, who is going into the 3rd grade, is a skilled worker by now.   Of course, I went into this knowing that this occasion would be very bittersweet without my grandfather.  He was the very definition of a gardener and knew exactly how many ears of corn was in his garden from day to day.  My dad, who always helped out with the garden but never had one himself, planted corn in one of the fields across from our house this year.  It's funny how things happen I guess.  But we shared lots of stories about my grandfather and laughed and it was a good day for all of us.  

 

Luau Birthday Cake

Sarah, daughter of a friend who used to work with me at Koontz, had a full out well decorated Luau 10th Birthday! When I dropped the cake off by the pool she was decked out in a grass skirt and everything!

For the bottom I was going for a sort of tiki-hut look after seeing some cakes on CakeCentral.com. The seashells and starfish were made using candy melts and a Wilton candy mold. The sand is brown sugar and graham crackers (and very tasty!).

I hope Sarah enjoys it for her Luau party :)

Day 3: On the search for the best peach cobbler

And perhaps I found it?!?

Over the years I've tried out a few peach cobbler recipes but haven't really loved any of them.  Mainly this is because I have such high expectations after having my grandmother's wonderful, perfectly crusted peach cobbler around all this time.  

So the recipes I have tried have failed to live up to hers.  Paula Deen's I had really high hopes for.  As a Southern lady I just knew hers would be perfect.  But the crust was like a thick cake on top, way overpowering.  So today I set out on google to find a good recipe and instead of looking at the ingredients I just google image searched "the best peach cobbler" and looked through the results.  Not too cakey, a little crisp, gooey, .... 

After some not so impressive photos and some really random photos of things not even related to peaches or cobblers I came upon the winning photo and recipe that can be found here on this blog.  It's good to discover recipes on other food blogs, I mean that is the whole reason of creating one right?

It looked a lot like my grandmother's so I decided to search no further.  Very easy to make.  I forgot the cinnamon, which I was sure was a necessity, but after tasting it I didn't notice.  Soooo good.  

And I actually had a real occasion to make this dessert for and a new taste tester!  I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it.  

So, I'm sort of impressed that I found so much to write about on a simple peach cobbler but I think this will be my official peach cobbler recipe from now on.  

Day 2: Grilled Peaches with Cinnamon Whipped Cream

Okay, I thought of this all by myself.  No Ina, no Martha.  

I've never actually had a grilled peach.  So I broke out my George Foreman grill that I got for Christmas but still hadn't used.  There was little prep: cut the peach in half, remove the pit, and put it on the heated grill.  Pretty simple.  

As it was grilling, I raided my fridge hoping and praying I had some heavy cream that wasn't expired.  To my surprise I found that I had one that hadn't even been opened yet and didn't expire until the end of this month.  Excitedly, I poured some in a bowl and started up my electric mixer.  I whipped and whipped and whipped.  Then after seeing no results stuck in my finger and tasted it...

...I definitely was whipping buttermilk.  

But it gets better.  On another shelf I found some fresh heavy cream.  I added about 1/4 cup of sugar and maybe 1/4 tablespoon of cinnamon (a good sprinkle).

By this time my peaches were ready and all I had to do was add a dallop (I love that word) of the whipped cream.  

My overall impression,  grilled peaches are okay.  Maybe it was my George Foreman grill, but they sort of had a weird taste that I wasn't expecting.  But the whipped cream was amazing!!!!  The cinnamon added the perfect warmth to the already sweet cream.  So even if I wasn't the biggest grilled peach fan I will definitely keep this whipped cream recipe in mind for my next peach creation.  And how good would that be on apple crisp or pie????

Peach related photos

After putting the crumbles in the oven, I left the kitchen since it is always the hottest part of my apartment.  Awhile later I went to sneak a peak in the oven and found the cutest arrangement on my kitchen table.  Isabelle loves laying there.  I've tried to train her but the sun comes in really good in the early afternoon and she looks so cute I gave up.  This results in me cleaning the table everyday but after cute photos like this I think it's worth it.  

Day 1: Peach & Blueberry Crumbles

Ina's Barefoot Contessa at Home was the first place I went looking for more peach recipes.  Luckily I looked in the right place first :)  

I cut the fruit recipe in half since I wasn't willing to give up that many peaches on my first recipe.  This still filled up 5 small ramekins.  I kept the crumble recipe the same and used all of it.  What can I say? I like my peaches extra crumbly.  I baked two of them and have the rest stored in the fridge for now.   Tonight I'll probably bake them up and share them with some of my neighbors.  

If only I had some vanilla ice cream right about now....as Ina would say, "How gorgeous is that!!!"

Peach & Blueberry Crumbles

~Ina Garten from Barefoot Contessa at Home

For the Fruit

2 lbs firm, ripe peaches

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 cup fresh blueberries

For the Crumble

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 stick cold unsalted butter, diced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

Immerse the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until their skins peel off easily.  Place them immediately in cold water.  Peel the peaches, slice them into thick wedges, and place them in a large bowl.  Add the lemon zest, juice, sugar and flour.  Toss well.  Gently mix in the blueberries.  Allow for the mixture to sit for 5 minutes.  Spoon the mixture into ramekins or custard cups.  

For the topping, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas.  Rub the mixture with your fingertips until it is in big crumbles, then sprinkle evenly over fruit.  Place the ramekins on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the tops are browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  

A Peachy Keen Challenge

I have to admit that I'm partial to fruit desserts.  Over the weekend my dad went to Asheville and I jokingly told him to buy me something from one of the many wonderful farmer's markets.

On Sunday afternoon I was very happy that he had actually listened to me and bought home a huge basket of South Carolina yellow peaches.  I love fruit desserts but peach fruit desserts are on an entire different level for me.  Last summer I made a few desserts with peaches (summer fruit crisp  and peach and raspberry crisp) but having this many peaches I think that I need to try out a few more.  

So here is where the challenge comes into play: 

First up: