what i saw this week:
dawn

although i know we have a good bit of summer left, especially here in the south, it feels like fall is coming way too soon. i can't visit the farmer's stand often enough to get wonderful summer fruits and vegetables. and i'm very lucky to have a produce stand right across the street from my house.




tracy, you know i gotta say it....how do you like my melons?


What I'm wolfing down in the mornings this week
Tracy

Dawn's morning berry bliss- - -yummm!

Breakfasts look a little different in the summertime around Chez Crazy. At least for my own quick morning meal, I try to incorporate as many fresh fruits and berries as possible, and it has to be something that can be prepared in around 5-8 minutes. Not being a smoothie person, I have to get a little creative. (Don't hate on me, smoothie lovers! I like 'em, it's just that in my experience, any kind of liquid breakfast doesn't stick with me and leaves me banging on the nearest vending machine at work by 9 a.m.)

My current favorite summer cereal "sundae" was inspired by "Yogurt With Strawberries and Honey" from Everyday Food. Mine starts with a base of shredded wheat cereal (Kashi makes a good one) and milk, and then I top it with a couple spoonfuls of lowfat vanilla yogurt, a good handful of washed berries and a drizzle of honey. It's a refreshing, cold, creamy-crunchy blast of protein, fiber and fruit all in one bowl. If you don't want to use sweetened yogurt, plain unflavored works well too.

This past week I tried something a little unconventional, at least for me. I've noticed Giada De Laurentiis uses ricotta in breakfast and dessert dishes quite a bit. In sort of a combo move, I started with a toasted Van's buckwheat waffle, then added a scoop of part-skim ricotta, berries and a drizzle of Smucker's sugar free breakfast syrup. The syrup was recommended in hubs' Men's Health magazine as the one sugar free syrup on the market that "tastes like the real thing." I have to agree! And I feel oh, so exotic eating ricotta for breakfast. I should be looking like Giada any minute now! Or not.

And speaking of melons ---Dawnie, you know yours are looking as luscious and ripe as ever, baby! I tell you, those are some firm, youthful-looking melons! Heh-heh. . .she said "melons!"

Um, sorry---I am apparently eleven years old and implied metaphors are simply too hilarious for me to handle. I have a mini cucumber packed in my lunchbox today too. . .heee-heeee. . .oh, I can't stand it. . .

what i saw this week:

dawn

my boss' sweet new golden retriever puppy.

sweet, luscious freestone peaches with good brie and honey.  i made a brie and peach quesadilla with honey lime dipping sauce.  sinful.  you can get the recipe here.  tracy, will you please share some more ideas for peaches?  you are a virtual kitchen magician you are.

an amazing summer sunset.

What I'm Cooking (and thinking of cooking) this week

Tracy

"Greeked-up" pasta salad and some thoughts on peaches

The other night hubs threw some awesome Johnsonville brats on the grill and my only chore was to come up with a side that I could toss together quickly. I already had some wagon-wheel pasta in the pantry, along with some black olives(I prefer calamatas but the fam gives them a thumbs down) and a packet of Good Season's "natural" vinaigrette dressing mix.

That evening on the way home I picked up some grape tomatoes, some crumbled feta cheese--Athenos makes a great one spiked with basil and sundried tomato--and a seedless cucumber. I tossed everything together after cooking up the pasta and running some cold water over it after draining it. All I did with the vinaigrette was follow the package instructions and make it with olive oil instead of vegetable oil, then I drizzed about a cup over the pasta and tossed to coat. After chopping up the veggies I arranged those on top, sprinkled on the feta and then drizzled a little more dressing over all.

This came together in under a half hour and was a hit, especially with Olivia the olive-gobbler!

Since Clover wrote that she has some extra peaches on her hands, I thought I'd share a couple of my favorite ways to use up these summer gems. 

One of my favorite desserts in the summer is a peach and strawberry cobbler with sugar-cookie crust. I first got the idea of mixing peaches and strawberries from a recipe I saw on epicurious.com and then I saw another cobbler recipe in an old church cookbook that used sugar cookie mix as the topping. The crust spreads out thin and cookie-like with a crispy, sugary top layer.

Here's what you'll need for the filling:

About 5-6 peaches, peeled and cut into 1-inch thick wedges

A pint of strawberries, hulled and halved

1/3 cup sugar

1 tblsp cornstarch

For the topping:

1 pkg Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix

1 egg

1 stick butter, melted

Mix fruit, sugar and cornstarch together in a medium bowl, set aside. In a seperate bowl, make the cookie dough according to package directions. (Just stir everything together until soft dough forms). Scoop out about half the dough and freeze in a ziplock bag for later use--you only need half the dough for this recipe or else it'll absorb too much of the fruit's yummy juices.

Pour the fruit into an 8-inch square or oval baking dish. Drop the dough by rounded spoonfuls over the filling. Sprinkle top with 2-3 tsp granulated sugar. Bake about 35-40 minutes or until golden and bubbly. This is so delicious with vanilla ice cream and the sweetness of the peaches compliments the summery tang of the strawberries perfectly! It's also a lovely rosey color.

Another great use for an abundance of peaches is freezer jam. I'd never even tried making it until last year, when Dawn assured me it was super easy and virtually fool-proof. I don't think she was calling me a fool by suggesting that- - -or WAS she? Anyway. Just follow the instructions on any Certo or Sure-Jell pectin box. You can make just a few or a dozen containers depending on how much fruit you have; it keeps up to a week in the fridge or a few months in the freezer and they make great gifts.

Ah, the peach. Sadly, the season is coming to an end rapidly. Makes you want to go all misty-eyed and give a salute to the shrine in Gaffney. Check out the July 22 post here to do just that.

what i'm liking this week:
dawn


this soap from thymes is the best smelling stuff ever. it also really lasts.

my friend tracy told me that our local grocery store is now making their own tzatziki dip. i really hate her for telling me that. this is great on grilled chicken or dipping vegetables into. it's very addictive.

i picked up this very inexpensive lamp shade at ikea last weekend. mr. s. hung it for me but since i didn't buy the correct light fixture for it, it ended up having to be hung upside down which turned out to be a happy accident.

What I'm Cooking This Week: Texas Sheet Cake--Thinking outside the cake-mix box

Tracy

As a general rule, I don't bake cakes from scratch. I've only tried it a couple of times, and they came out either too dry or heavy as lead. I tried making a sponge cake last winter, and let's just say it was more Brillo pad than sponge. The only saving grace was the thick fudge icing that I slathered on it to conceal my utter shame.

But the kids and I were visiting my dad last week, and I'm often inspired to try new things in my childhood kitchen. Maybe it's because it's the place where I first learned to scramble an egg, grease a cake pan and stir up a pitcher of iced tea (heavy on the Dixie Crystals) , but there's something about the place that makes me want to venture into new frontiers.

I fell in love with Duncan Hines at around age nine or ten and just never looked back. Why bother, when it came out delicious whether you overmixed, undermixed or even occasionally left out an ingredient? Once, in a sleep-deprived baking frenzy when my son was a baby, I made a lovely lemon pound cake without oil or butter. I thought it was odd that the instructions didn't call for it, but I just figured that ol' DH was just looking out for our health. But, then, after I drizzled on the glaze and took another look at the back of the box- - -the butter had jumped back into the ingredient list. The cake was still happily gobbled up by everyone and no one suspected a thing. DH had my back!

It's always kind of bugged me, though, that I'd never been able to conquer something that seemed so basic. A cake from scratch is still derived from humble, familiar ingredients- -flour, sugar, butter, eggs---but left in my hands the end result was usually still something that resembled a very sweet biscuit covered in really good icing. Icing I can do.

But! Last week I saw this on http://recipezaar.com/ and I have been redeemed! Try it as soon as possible and please, don't mind the nutrition information. Remember, this is CAKE, not tofu souffle for Pete's sake---you're treating and comforting yourself, so dump in those sticks of butter with abandon! Do take note that it says it serves 12, which is hogwash. The recipe makes a virtual ocean of dark, delicious Devil's food cake and can easily serve 24-30 when cut into ample 2x3-inch squares.

It's so easy, and it's one of those recipes that halfway into it, you just know it's gonna be good. The batter starts out on the stove, bringing cocoa and butter to a boil, and the aroma alone is a pretty big clue. Another plus is that once the cake is in the oven it only takes about 20 minutes to bake. I adjusted the time a bit for my dad's prehistoric oven (it's a 1978 poem in Harvest Wheat) and it was ready in about 17 minutes.

The whole thing tastes like a fudgy tribute to Hershey's cocoa; like if a mug of hot chocolate could be a cake, this would be it. You'd think that a batter with two sticks of butter would be dense, but it miraculously comes out with a light texture and moist crumb, thanks to the sour cream in the recipe. Sorry---I had to giggle when I typed "light" and "two sticks of butter" in the same sentence. Oh, and um. . .there's another stick in the frosting, you'll notice. And oh, the frosting--it's one of those warm, melty ,pour-over deals. Exquisite.

The end result was an exercise in compromise;I added chopped pecans to only half of the frosting because my kids won't touch them and there are a few other family members who ARE nuts but don't eat them. Freaks.

Anyway. Carve an hour or so out of your schedule and make this, but be sure you have lots of friends coming over, or you'll end up like me, constantly walking by it and slicing a teensy sliver down the center just to "even things up." By bedtime that night, it was the straightest two-inch-wide sheetcake in the world. THAT picture, I won't show you.