"Peach French Toast"

 We enjoyed this for breakfast several times this year~since we received so many CSA peaches.  I even froze peaches, hoping to use them this winter.  Unfortunately, we have already eaten all of them too!

Peaches in the caramel sauce~mmmmm!

Since I used fresh peaches, I just used enough to cover the bottom of my casserole dish.  I also used my own bread, sliced think and dipped into the egg mixture before pouring the egg mixture over the top.
The result is a sweet breakfast~ we compared it to having peach cobbler for breakfast.  My husband asked where the ice cream was :)   Since it is so sweet, we chose a savory sausage to accompany it.

I especially liked that it is prepared the day before,  goes into the oven the next morning, and I can do something else while it bakes.

I am hoping to try the same method with my cinnamon raisin bread and apples!  (When I do, I'll post the results.)
Enjoy!
~Tracy

Our Little Garden Experiment...

(*If you read our family blog, you have already read this. :o)  ~Tracy)

Planting the seeds.

Watering.

Trying to save the kale.

Counting out the seeds to plant.

This spring we decided to plant a family garden.  The girls were very enthusiastic and helpful throughout the process.  We chose to use "the square foot garden" style of gardening, due to our small yard.  We had a mixed start, planting some seeds and some plants previously started at the store. (Hoping this would increase our chances at success!)

First strawberry!

DH assembled the garden box and moved most of the soil, since it was too heavy for the rest of us.  The girls spread the soil, with help from me. The girls also created the grid to separate the sections of the garden.

DD8 and DD4 especially liked having some say into the plants we were to grow. Strawberries came into the picture quickly!
It was exciting to see the plants emerge from the soil in around 2 weeks! Weeding was minimal, which kept them willing to help :o)  They also enjoyed the nightly watering routine. (Our summer has been terribly hot and dry.)
We were pleased that the deer seem to have found other sources of food this summer.  Perhaps the direct sun and the high temperatures kept them away.  Although, they did seem to like the taste of the bean bushes!  They also sampled our tomatoes, but mostly left them alone.  The neighborhood cat was a little more of a nuisance, along with the caterpillars who ate all of our kale...
All in all, we have enjoyed the experience and hope to have repeated success next year. ~Tracy

New Summer Favorite~Blackberry Platz

...with ice cream and syrup!

We were thrilled to see so many Blackberries this year in our CSA basket!  Many were eaten straight from the basket, but I was able to bake with some of them :o)  My new go-to recipe for our summer blackberries is a coffee cake called platz on the site where I found the recipe. (*It seems to be of German-Austrian roots, but is very similar to a cherry cake I enjoyed in Poland.)

We went crazy one night and ate it with ice cream and a quick blackberry syrup, made on the stove. The kids loved it! 


It also tastes great made with blueberries. Be careful if they are frozen, my first time attempt resulted in blueberry mush in the middle! My second attempt, I thawed them and strained the excess juice and water.  I also was sure to spread them out across the top of the cake. That took care of the mushy, clumping problem.
Enjoy!
~Tracy

CSA goodies make a favorite~Beef with Snow Peas

One of our favorite dishes early this summer was Beef with Snow Peas! It's my mom's favorite dish and I am glad I can make it myself. I basically followed the recipe, but added mushrooms, red peppers, and peanuts (the next time I made it!). We enjoyed it with steamed white rice. I love how our CSA challenges me to try new recipes!

Finally...The Second Helping of Thanksgiving Post...

So after many months, I have freed my Thanksgiving notecards from the gigantic pile of papers on my desk and plan to finish what I started last year!

This was the menu, in order of preparation:

Hot Apple Cider

Turkey (in this case, a turkey breast only)

Dinner Rolls

Mashed potatoes

Gravy (brown gravy)

Corn

Green Salad (in refrigerator)

Macaroni and Cheese (reheat from day before)

Pumpkin bread / muffins (baked the day before)

Small Cold Vegetable Tray

Stuffing

This was the plan:

1st notecard~Start the apple cider in the crock-pot on LOW. I pour 1 gallon of cider from our CSA into the crock-pot. Then I toss in a handful of "red hots" or as they are called in the store "imperials." Cover. That's it.

Deal with the oven: Take out the pizza stone and move the racks. One rack to the bottom or lowest level. The other rack to the top, making sure to leave enough room to fit macaroni and cheese dish, as well as future mashed potatoes dish.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the turkey breast, I used a little of James Beard's wisdom and most of Ina Garten's recipe for "Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast" (I found it on the food network site and it sounded yummy!) Basically, if I had the ingredients from her list, I used them. I changed the temperature and cooking time, per recommendations from my James Beard cookbook. (temperature increased to 350 degrees and time became 20 minutes per pound) I figured the range for cooking time would be 2 1/2 - 3 hours for the 8 1/2 pound turkey breast. I placed the turkey breast into the oven at 9 a.m.

2nd notecard~Next up were the dinner rolls. I planned about 3 hours for the whole process, they would go into the oven and cook, while the turkey rested. I used the Dinner Rolls recipe from the Betty Crocker Bread Machine Cookbook. Ingredients go into the bread machine on the "dough" cycle. This takes 1 1/2 hours. Giving me time to do other things before coming back to the rolls! 

This is what my Dinner Roll Card looked like:

Dinner Rolls   Start about 2 1/2-3 hrs before needed! 375 degrees for 15 minutes

Bread Machine                                  1:30

Rest                                                       :10

Cookie sheet cover and rise           :30-:40   (Some wiggle room here if needed!)

Oven 375 degrees                               :15

After starting the rolls, I moved onto the next tasks.  


3rd notecard~Prep Potatoes.  I peeled and cubed the potatoes for the mashed potatoes and placed them into the pot of salted water. (*After pulling the dough out to rest, I would turn on the potatoes to cook.) Now was the time, the only time available to make the green salad and cold vegetable tray. These were placed into the refrigerator, until lunch time.

I checked the time on the bread machine.  When it had about 30 minutes left, I took the macaroni and cheese dish out of the refrigerator and placed it on the counter. I figured it would need about an hour in the oven to heat all the way through. (***I am not sure this follows current food safety guidelines, but we all survived...)

4th notecard~The bread machine signaled the time to remove the dough.  After removing the dough and covering with a bowl to rest, I had just enough time to place the mac and cheese into the oven and turn on the potatoes. I returned to shape the dough and place it on a cookie sheet. I covered it and left it to rise. (I figured I had about 1 hour left before serving everything at this point.)


5th notecard~While waiting on the potatoes to cook, prepare beef broth (I use better than bouillon). Use the beef broth to make gravy. ( I make a roux with butter & flour, then whisk in the beef broth.) Keep the gravy warm, either on stove top or in oven, depending upon space available. (*Another option is to prepare the gravy the day before and reheat in the oven.  When made from scratch, I have found that the gravy reheats very well!) Mash the potatoes, then place in the oven to keep warm.  Start cooking the corn, now.


6th notecard~ Check the oven.  When it's time, remove the turkey to rest. Raise the temperature to 375 degrees and place the rolls into the oven for 15 minutes. Now, I have just enough time to make the stuffing (I use a boxed stuffing from the store~I figure I've done enough cooking at this point.)



Now all that's left to do is get everything to the table and enjoy! 
It looks like quite a bit when I read through it now.  I remember being busy, but not rushed. I remember being able to sit down and eat with everyone.  I  remember a delicious, relaxing meal with family. I am looking forward to doing it again, next Thanksgiving.
 


~Tracy