Peach Toast

I'm still living off avocado toast most of the year, but in the summer, this is my breakfast of choice! 

The inspiration came from here: https://avocadoskillet.com/air-fryer-peach-cottage-cheese-toast/ but mine is simpler. 

I buy sourdough bread at Sam's Club. It's less than $5 a loaf and it's really tasty. I toast a slice in the toaster (takes two turns to get both ends toasted). Then I spread that with cottage cheese. Then I line up thinly sliced peaches across it. Sometimes I fill in the gaps with raspberries, which we always have on hand. 

I put it in the air fryer at 400* for seven minutes. 

Then I drizzle honey over it. And it's delicious! 

Fresh Caprese Sandwich

My social media feed has been full of varieties of fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil, balsamic glaze and breads. Sometimes it shows fresh peaches, sometimes it shows prosciutto, sometimes they also use brie. Sometimes it's a dip or a sandwich or a tooth-picked appetizer... So many yummy suggestions!! 

I don't want to forget this one, so here you go! 

I bought a loaf of sourdough (from Sam's Club- inexpensive and yummy!) fresh mozzarella (happy to discover it was already sliced), beefsteak tomatoes, and some fresh basil. I also bought prosciutto and fresh peaches, but those weren't part of the first plan. Then the prosciutto was suggested and I still forgot to pull it out. 

My husband did a balsamic glaze, according to The Pioneer Woman blog HERE. 

I put all the slices of bread on the pampered chef baking stone (circa 2000- not dishwasher safe!) and drizzled some olive oil on the top side. Then I broiled it in the oven for about three minutes.

(above shows before the went in the oven. You can kind of see the oil drizzles...)

That single slice was cut in half for my kiddo. To the toasted side, I added fresh sliced beef steak tomato, then fresh mozzarella, then topped it with the other half of the bread.

It went in the air fryer for four minutes, at 400*. (ours has a pull out basket)
For the half sandwich, I added just a few drops of the balsamic vinegar glaze, and just a little bit of torn fresh basil leaves.

Below is my husband's dinner.

It was SO good!! 

My husband said it would have been even better with the prosciutto, he really wanted that hit of salt. Honestly, it could have stood a bit of freshly ground black pepper, so why not salt too? But it was so yummy and I am glad that was our dinner tonight! 

My kiddo asked if we could have pancakes next time. hahaha! 

~~~
Another day I made this open face version

And another day, I used up the French Emmental cheese that we're not fans of, that comes in a cheese platter we ARE fans of, haha.... 

It's all delicious!! 

Safe Hot Chocolate

Where we live, winter gets cold! We have three brands of hot chocolate in our house, and none of them are safe for the whole family to enjoy. Thank goodness there are options to make your own! We tried THIS ONE from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, and it is a winner! Check that link for her notes and instructions.

I'm recording it here, halved, because it makes a lot, and really, it's just one person who 'needs' it. Half is plenty at our house. And I'm recording it halved because the second time I made it, I started with the full ingredient list and panicked at the six cups of milk, ha. 

Ingredients: 

1/3 cup cocoa

2/3 cup sugar

>1/8 salt

1/3 cup water

3 cups milk

1/2 tsp vanilla
half and half

Whisk the cocoa, sugar, salt and water in a sauce pan.
Bring to a simmer for 2 minutes, while stirring constantly.
Add milk and vanilla, and heat to very warm, but without boiling or simmering.
Add a little half and half (or milk) to cool when you serve. Or don't! 

This photo was after it cooled and had started to separate. It is rich and delicious! 

We talked about making whipped cream to top it with, but I also found some safe marshmallows- which amazed me. Marshmallows are made of corn syrup and dusted in cornstarch...and my person can't have corn! but these are okay, so I stocked up! I hope it gets us thru the winter! 

They don't look anything like the packaging which is...cool...but they taste good and they're safe. Fine. ha.

Peachy Chicken

This is one of those recipes that at first glance I thought miight be too weird, but I was intrigued and wanted to give it a try. It was a hit, so we'll be keeping this one too! 

Barbeque Peach Chicken found HERE. 

I made some adjustments, lol. For one thing, when I showed my husband-the-cook the recipe he said that our grill has two temperatures- nuclear hot and almost nuclear hot. I suggested we bake it a while and then grill it at the end? He suggested we bake it and then broil it, so that is what we did. 

I had some leftover peach "jam" that had been made for a dessert. I wasn't sure it would work, and my husband said it didn't quite- the cinnamon and nutmeg didn't quite work with the bbq sauce for him. But everyone else liked it so it worked okay! 

I thawed two huge chicken breasts and cut them into sections of all sizes, lol... I made the marinade as directed: 
 - 1/2 cup peach jam

- 1 tbso apple cider vinegar 

- 1 tbsp ground ginger

- 1/2 tsp salt

- some black pepper

- 3/4 cup bbq sauce (we have Sweet Baby Ray's right now)

- boneless, skinless chicken breasts

I let it marinate in the fridge for about 8 hours. 

I put a cooling rack onto a foil covered baking sheet, and baked it at 350* for 8 minutes, then turned them all over, basting it as I went. Then baked it 8 more minutes. It wasn't very close to temp yet, so I turned and basted again, and baked it another 5 minutes before turning it up to broil. We broiled it 5  minutes on one side, basted again and broiled another 5 or so minutes til it reached about 165*. 

We served this with a quick pasta-roni mix, and vegetables and the whole family enjoyed it! 

Calzones

We tried this recipe this week, and it was a good one! It came from HERE. 

I want to keep this one and make it again. 

I don't make bread, other than quick breads, like banana, so I bought two cans of Pillsbury pizza dough. I made "custom" calzones for my family. One wanted black olives, and another wanted olives and green pepper. They all had sauce, pepperoni, mozzarella and parmesan. 

As the instructions say, I cut the dough into six pieces, so I made two sets to feed the five of us. We had some leftover but people ate those too! 

For the sauce, I combined one can of tomato sauce with a little basil, oregano, parsley, garlic powder and olive oil. 

For the calzones, I did in fact roll out one can of pizza dough, and cut it into 6th. I added a small spoonful of sauce, topped that with a little shredded mozzarella, diced pepperoni, shredded parmesan, and then if requested- sliced black olives or diced green pepper. 
I folded them in half (had to pull/stretch most of them), then crimped the edges with a fork. Then I brushed melted butter over all of them an sprinkled them with Italian seasoning, which I mixed myself with oregano, basil and garlic powder. 

Finally I baked them at 400* for about 15 minutes. 

We served it with more of the pizza sauce for dipping, and carrot sticks and raspberries on the side! 

Chocolate Peanut Butter (cheesecake) Pie

It's PI DAY! I came across this recipe that I thought might be a hit, and gave it a shot. 
You can find the original HERE and below: 

I do not have a mile-high pie pan, just regular pans, ha. So I ended up with two pies! And I made some slight variations, based on what I have and what we prefer.

Crust:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup almond flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

    put in food processor til it was combined and very fine

5 tablespoons melted butter

Combine dry ingredients with melted butter in a small bowl, press into pie pan. 

Freeze while preparing the filling.

Filling: 

2 1/4 cups heavy cream

12 oz cream cheese, softened

1 1/8 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

2 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp molasses

In a large bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate while preparing the rest of the filling. 

In another large bowl, beat the cream cheese til smooth. Add the sugar and mix til combined. (scraping down sides as needed.) Add peanut butter, blend until incorporated. Add vanilla and molasses, mixing til smooth. 

Gently fold in the whipped cream until fully incorporated. 

Pour filling into the crust, and smooth the top. 

Chill in the freezer 30 minutes, or in the fridge 4 hours, before adding the ganache.

Ganache Topping:

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Microwave the chocolate chips and cream for 1.5 minutes, then stir til smooth. 

Cool to 70* before pouring over the chilled pie, and spread evenly.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or freeze for 30 minutes before serving. Serve chilled.

*ice cream-like texture from the freezer, creamier texture from the fridge. 

Corn Salsa

At our house, we don't sport. So we don't watch the Superbowl.
But sometimes it matches up with Groundhog Day and we do observe that, haha!
A few years ago we started making "game food" to eat while we watch the movie Groundhog Day. 

This year, we decided to try some new recipes, that ended up worth keeping. And making notes of. 

First up- Corn Salsa! The recipe came from HERE. 

That link will tell you that you need: 
- 2 cups cooked corn, or 3 cobs worth (which can be grilled, or fresh, or frozen)

- 2 small tomatoes, seeded and diced

- 1/2 cup red onion, diced

- 1 scallion, diced

- 1 jalapeno, diced (and seeded for milder flavor)

- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro

- juice from one fresh lime

- salt and pepper to taste 

My husband knows how to cook and cannot just follow a recipe without doing his own thing, haha. He started by broiling the frozen corn. He broiled and tossed til the corn started getting a bit of char on it.

He used two limes worth of juice. He also added some olive oil and this Mexican seasoning to it.  

His only complaint was that it was very dry. Maybe next time he won't seed the tomatoes, and just include the whole thing? However, it was well received, so we'll keep the recipe. 

Very easy, just a lot of chopping. 
And we just ate it with tortilla chips. 

Glazed Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

I made these in 2020 and 2021 for sure.... and this is a keeper! 
~~~

Found here: https://www.laurenslatest.com/soft-glazed-pumpkin-sugar-cookies/
(also pinned to Tried & Approved)

Ingredients

• ▢1/2 cup softened butter
• ▢1/2 cup vegetable oil
• ▢1/2 cup pumpkin puree canned pumpkin
• ▢1 cup granulated sugar
• ▢1/2 cup powdered sugar
• ▢1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• ▢2 large eggs
• ▢4 cups all purpose flour
• ▢1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• ▢1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ▢1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• ▢pinch of cloves
  
  

for the glaze-

• ▢3 cups powdered sugar
• ▢4 tablespoons water
  1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat and set aside. In a large bowl, stir butter, oil, pumpkin, sugars, vanilla and eggs together until incorporated and smooth.
• Slowly mix in all dry ingredients until completely incorporated.
• Scoop onto prepared baking sheet using 1 1/2 tablespoon scoop and flatten to 1/2 inch thick using the bottom of a glass. If the dough is sticking to the glass, press the bottom of the glass in granulated sugar before flattening. Bake 8-9 minutes.
• While cookies bake, stir all ingredients together for glaze until smooth.
• Once cookies are finished baking, cool 3 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to cooling rack. Spread 1 1/2 teaspoons glaze over each warm cookie. Let glaze harden 2-3 hours before serving. OR eat them warm with lots of runny glaze
• 
  
  Yeah, soo my cookies baked 9 minutes. They were too puffy to put the glaze on top, so I flipped them over and glazed the bottom!! My dad's grandmother did that with her sugar cookies so why not? It worked great! 
• Also my glaze was 2 cups powdered sugar, 4.5 tbsp water and at least 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice... Next time i'll use milk or cream.
• I got 57 cookies, plus dough out of this batch.  69 out of the second batch (smaller for sure)

Six Sisters Monte Cristo Sliders

 I saw an Instagram post for THESE sliders and thought they looked delicious- even if the ingredients sounded like they should not go together... 

When I served it for dinner, the initial results were mixed, ha. My middle could not gag down cheese and jam in the same bite. My youngest picked off the parts she liked and just ate that. However, I continued to make it (ha!) and now people eat it willingly, on occasion. It is now a favorite dinner for my youngest. So, thanks, family, for trying something new taht looked bizarrely tasty to me! 

Ingredients: 

12 Hawaiian rolls (I actually get them from Sam's so I use a pack of 16)
1/2 cup raspberry jam

1/2 lb deli turkey (I buy sliced!)

1/2 lb deli ham (again, pre-sliced)

6 slices Swiss cheese

1/2 cup butter melted - divided! 

1 egg, beaten

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp mayonnaise

Powdered sugar for garnish

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325*

Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. 

Slice rolls horizontally, keeping them as connected as possible. Put the bottom in the baking pan.
Spread jam on the open bottom half of the rolls. 

Layer turkey, ham and cheese over the jam. I start with whole slices and then cut halves to make sure the whole thing is covered in all three.

Whisk together 1/4 cup melted butter, egg, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and mayo. Spread that mixture on the top of the open rolls. Place the roll tops on the meat and cheese, to make sandwiches.
Brush remaining 1/4 cup melted butter on top of the rolls.

Bake 15-20 mins, or until the cheese is melty.

Remove from oven, sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar and cut into individual servings.

I usually don't use all of the egg-mustard mix. I have put the rest in the fridge, but I don't ever make a second batch soon enough to use open egg... 

 

Zucchini Banana Oat Bread

ETA: I will only make this in two of my smaller loaf pans, ever. lol. 

I tried this recipe six years ago and pinned it to my "tried and approved" board. Today I made it again and shared it with a friend. It is SO yummy! You can find the original post HERE. 

From the comments, someone suggested adding in chocolate chips, so today one loaf had none and the other two loaves had maybe 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.

The loaves are very short, splitting the batter into three pans. I might try using just two, larger bread pans... I don't know how much that would effect the baking time. But for three loaves that are less than 2 inches tall, it baked 40 minutes in my oven.

I am linking it here and copying over the recipe because the original post is eight years old and I don't want it to disappear. Also, I refer to this blog way more often than I look at Pinterest for food ideas. I get too distracted on Pinterest! And this is a keeper! 

Zucchini Banana Oat Bread
from Amanda Rettke at I Am Baker.

INGREDIENTS

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 3 cups shredded zucchini
  
  INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Heat oven to 350°F and prepare loaf pans. (I used three small loaf pans.)

  2. In large bowl add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and oats. Stir together.

  3. In a smaller bowl combine sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla, and mashed banana.
     Pour sugar mixture into the flour mixture and stir by hand. Add in zucchini and mix until well incorporated.

  4. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until bread pulls away from sides of pan and an inserted toothpick is removed clean.