Peach & Clove Ice Cream

Happy Labor Day guys!

I always joke that this is my day... well, because my last name is "Labor".  I know, I'm a dork.

I thought I'd celebrate the day by sharing a special treat with you guys!

This was the first time I had busted out my ice cream maker all season long.  And I had to make it perfect if I was going to get Andy to like it - he's got this crazy belief that "dessert should not include fruit" - so if I was going to make this, and make him like it - it had to be incredible.

And you know what?  He LOVED it!  Albeit... he did mix it with a crumbled up brownie and drizzle it with chocolate syrup - but hey, I'll still take it as a win!  Me?  I enjoy the simple flavors of the peaches, and interesting addition of the cloves.  I like to savor every bite of this one, because it truly is one of my favorites!

Ingredients:
Adapted from Oklahoma Peach Fuzz's recipe

1-1/3 lbs ripe peaches (about 6), peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon Triple Sec
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
juice from 1 lime
Combine peaches, water, cloves, and Triple Sec in medium nonreactive saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until peaches are soft and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat.  Mix in sugar, and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Add peach mixture to food processor with Greek yogurt, heavy cream, milk, vanilla, and lime juice. Process until smooth. Chill thoroughly in refrigerator, about 6-8 hours. Once chilled, transfer to ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

Happy Labor Day guys - I'll be spending the day relaxing and not thinking about having to return to work tomorrow!

Chicken Sausage & Peach Tacos

Sometimes one has to stray away from the normal taco.  Sometimes, you just have to be daring.  Sometimes you just have to challenge the pairings of the Flavor Bible and come up with your own (after all - those pairings didn't just show up out of no where - there had to be a first attempt somewhere!).

What was originally a salad, but due to lack of enough lettuce (I know, lame right?), and over abundance of tortillas - soon became one of the most unique tacos I've ever come to know.  And whether it be fate or just pure luck... these things were delicious.


Ingredients:

2 chicken sausages (ours were a sun-dried tomato & basil blend)
shredded lettuce
2 peaches, quartered
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
warm tortillas

In a small skillet, melt the butter under medium high heat.  Add peaches and top with brown sugar.  Cook until peaches are soft and slightly carmelized, "shaking" the pan every so often in order to mix the butter and brown sugar to provide a delicious coating for the peaches.

Ideally, I wanted to grill the sausages, but Mother Nature wasn't havin' it and decided to literally rain on my parade.  So just fry up the whole sausages in a skillet under high heat instead.  Heat until cooked throughout then let rest on a cutting board for about 2-3 minutes, then slice.

Assemble your tacos by placing a layer of lettuce in the middle of a tortilla.  Then top with a few slices of peaches and finally top with a few slices of sausage.  Fold and enjoy!

There was sweet.  There was savory.  And it was all purely delicious!  I can now mark chicken sausage and peaches as a match made in heaven for my Flavor Bible notes - so I dare ya to give it a go and tell me what you think!

And don't forget, I do a CSA round-up every Thursday afternoon - there's still time to submit your CSA/Farmer's Market/Garden pictures!  Just e-mail me at mtlabor85@yahoo.com and I'll put them in the post tomorrow!  See you guys tomorrow.

Grilled Peaches

Happy Monday!  This Monday is especially great because I officially started vacation today!  I don't have to go back to work until next Wednesday!  Major excitement there because I've needed a break from that place for quite some time.

Just a reminder, voting for Challenge #3 of Project Food Blog has started today and continues until Thursday, so if you would be so kind, check out my entry here, and vote here.  As always, you guys are THE best!

This past weekend was the first time I had to bust out my green pea coat because it was a tad on the chilly side.  I love this fall weather!  So to reminisce about the summer, and I'm sure this can count as an early fall snack too, I've included this grilled peaches recipe!  I just absolutely love grilled fruits and peaches are BY FAR my favorite from the grill.  It's simple, it's flavorful... and there's nothing better than having that juice run down your chin.  Yes, it's sublime.  So let's remember summer together and bring in the fall with these peaches!

Ingredients:


4-5 peaches, cut in half and pitted
2 tablespoons butter, melted
8 tablespoons brown sugar
cinnamon (optional)

Preheat charcoal grill to medium high heat.

Brush each peach half with some melted butter and sprinkle 1 tablespoon brown sugar on top, as well as a dash of ground cinnamon, if desired.

Grill peaches face down for about 5-7 minutes.  Flip over and grill about 2-3 minutes longer, or until peaches just start to wrinkle and get juicy.

Remove from grill and enjoy pure happiness.  Seriously... grilled peaches are one of the simplest pleasures that I find absolute joy every time.  Enjoy guys!

P.S. The blog Torview is doing an awesome Food Palette series and a couple of my dishes are featured on there right now... so check it out!

Peach Pancakes

When I was growing up, pancakes either came out of a box in the freezer, or out of a box in the pantry that you just added a few simple ingredients to before you fried them up in a skillet or the microwave.  Nowadays, I wouldn't dream of doing either one!  Call me crazy, but homemade pancakes are extremely easy, so why would I want to use any pre-made mixes or pancakes?  Am I right?  Right.

We had a bunch of peaches a little while back, and besides grilling them, or just eating them outright... we tried to experiment with different ways to using them up.  And so these peach pancakes came about and I'm telling you, it was one of the best Sunday breakfasts we've had in A LONG WHILE. 


Ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 cups milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
4-5 peaches, pureed, plus some extra thinly sliced
1-2 tablespoons butter, divided
maple syrup, for serving (optional)
powdered sugar (optional)

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, milk, eggs, sugar, baking powder, and pureed peaches.  Whisk until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.

Heat a griddle pan or large skillet under high heat.  Melt 1 tablespoon of butter.  Using a ladle, pour in batter.  With my large skillet, I had enough room to do about 3 pancakes per batch.  Cook for about 2-3 minutes per side, or until golden brown.

Serve dusted with powdered sugar and drizzled with maple syrup.  You can even place the thinly sliced peaches on top also!

These pancakes were damn near perfect.  They weren't too thick, not too thin.  They were kind of a cross between a crepe and a pancake in texture and size.  They had peachy flavor all throughout and the maple syrup paired perfectly with it all!  Like I said, if you're looking for a different way to use up your peaches and you happen to be feeling a fantastic breakfast coming on... this is it!  Enjoy!


And check out our CSA goodies... fall is here and I'm ecstatic! (It is my favorite season!)

1 butternut squash (my favorite squash!)
3 lbs. apples (gigantic ones at that!)
1 bunch swiss chard (our first batch of greens!)
2 lbs. sweet potatoes
3 hot peppers

And just a little side note here.  Louisville and the surrounding areas haven't really had much rain this farming season.  In fact, there was a wee bit of a drought there for a little while.  So, our produce has definitely shown that, but on the other hand, we've received an extremely awesome array of produce as well.  The great thing about a CSA is that we're supporting our local farmers, regardless of how the season turns out.  So during their time of drought, when produce may not be necessarily flourishing, the farmers know that their locals still want their product and will be there to support them through it all.  And that's one of the main reason that I enjoy doing our CSA.  Locals supporting locals.  So if you haven't thought about joining a CSA or don't know if you're area even has one... I'd definitely try to check it out (a great resource is Local Harvest.org)!  It's well worth it!