Monday, June 15, 2009

Delightful Peaches


Lots of peaches
Lots of sugar
Water
Quart mason jars

Before you begin ... make sure that your peaches are almost completely ripe. Not mushy, not crunchy ... it's best if they are almost totally ripened.

Peel all of your peaches and put them into a bowl of salt water to rest, until you've finished peeling all of your peaches. (You can peel them with a potato peeler, or you can blanch them and then pull the peels off -- I tried blanching, it didn't work so well, so I used the potato peeler)

Before you begin slicing up your peaches, pour about 3 inches of water into each quart mason jar and then put 3/4 cup sugar in each jar. (NOTE: 3/4 cup sugar for each QUART jar, not pint) Stir the sugar and water in each jar until it is dissolved.

Once all of your peaches are peeled and your jars have the water/sugar mixture ready to go, slice the peaches into quarters, removing the pits. Fill up each jar, to the curved neck with peaches, then fill the rest of the way with water. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Process the quarts in a water bath canner, boiling them for 20 minutes. They will stay fresh and delicious on your pantry shelf for up to one year. YUMMY!!

Friday, June 12, 2009

$2 cookies

I'm calling these $2 cookies because that's what you would pay for EACH one of these beauties in a fancy bakery. They are the perfect cookie!!

2 c. All-purpose flour
½ tsp. Baking soda
½ tsp. Salt
¾ c. Butter, MELTED
1 c. Brown sugar
½ c. White sugar
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
1 Egg
1 Egg Yolk
2 c. Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1½ c. Chopped pecans

1. Mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. Mix melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until blended thoroughly. Add vanilla, egg and egg yolk. Blend until light and creamy.
3. Mix in dry ingredients – a little at a time – until just blended. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans.
4. Chill the dough 30-60 minutes or overnight (or put in freezer to speed up process).
5. Preheat oven to 325ยบ F. Drop cookie dough ¼ cup at a time (or really large spoonfuls) onto greased cookie sheet 2-3 inches apart.
6. Bake 15-20 minutes or until edges are lightly toasted. Do NOT wait until they’re brown all over!
7. Cool on the cookie sheet (or rack for crispier cookies).

Deep Dish Breakfast Pizza

This is a GREAT alternative to the breakfast casserole idea ...

1 can Pillsbury Pizza Dough
1/2 lb bacon, cooked & diced
1 lb breakfast sausage, cooked & drained
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
2 cups cheddar cheese
6 eggs
salt and pepper

Cook bacon, drain, and crumble into pieces. Cook sausage and drain well. Dice peppers.

Preheat oven to 425*. Spread pizza dough out in a casserole dish. Bake pizza dough for 6-7 minutes -- do not let it brown, you just want the cooking process to begin. While the dough is baking, beat 6 eggs with a little bit of salt and pepper.

Remove dough from oven and pour egg mixture onto dough. Then sprinkle with sausage. Then sprinkle with bacon. Then, sprinkle with peppers. Finally, top the dish with the 2 cups of cheese. Place back in the oven to finish baking, for about 15 minutes, or until the eggs are solid and no longer runny. The cheese will be bubbly and browned.

Turkey Salad Wraps


1 lb cooked, diced {leftover} turkey
1/2 cup mayo
3 TBS turkey broth {from drippings}
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 cucumber, seeded and finely diced
salt & pepper

Combine everything in a bowl ... add more mayo, salt, pepper ... to taste. It's delicious with the broth!!