Peach Raspberry Cobbler

As with most recipes, I ended up combining techniques from Ina Garten’s Peach and Blueberry crumbles and the Deen Brother’s Peach Cobbler. This recipe is great for summer, and the good news is you don’t have to wait for peaches to be in season since they cook anyway. I experimented and made the cobbler ahead of time and then baked it off hours later. The cobbler was delicious and is really good for a make ahead dessert. If you don’t like raspberries you can substitute a pint of blueberries.

**A big thanks goes to some of my favorite relatives Mim and Bill for an awesome graduation gift! The casserole dish was perfect for this dessert and I couldn't have made it without the dish. Thanks!!**

Raspberry Peach Cobbler

For the filling:

·      6 small/medium size peaches

·      1 pint raspberries

·      ½ cup sugar

·      ¼ cup Jello© instant tapioca pudding mix

·      1 tsp cinnamon

·      juice of ½ lemon

·      1/8 tsp salt

For the cobbler:

·      1 2/3 cup flour

·      3 ½ Tbsp sugar

·      1 ½ Tbsp baking powder

·      1/8 tsp salt

·      6 Tbsp cold, unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

·      2/3 heavy cream

Butter a 1 ½ or 2 ½ quart baking dish; set aside. Prepare a large bowl with cold water and ice cubes; set aside. In a large pot of boiling water, add peaches whole. Boil for 60 seconds then quickly remove the peaches and add to the cold ice water. One at a time, peel each peach, remove the core, and slice into ¼ inch slices. (**If the peaches are under ripe, this process takes a bit more time, but I found boiling the peaches for 2 minutes makes it easier.) In a large bowl, add the peaches, sugar, tapioca, salt, cinnamon, and lemon juice. Stir, then gently fold in the raspberries. Add the filling to the buttered dish.

In another large bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir gently. Add the cold small cubes of butter and with clean hands, mix the butter into the flour until the butter is mixed in and it has the texture of sand. (*You can also use a food processor for this.) Slowly add the heavy cream, stirring each time until the mixture just barely comes together. It will appear too dry, but if you take a chunk of dough and squeeze it gently in your hand and it comes together, it is perfect.  Dump the dough onto a floured surface, and gently form it into a disc. Shape the dough into 2 inch balls, and gently flatten so the balls more oval shaped. Add each on top of the fruit filling. Any extra dough that is left can be sprinkled over the entire dish. 

At this point you can either bake it at 350° for 45-60minutes uncovered or refrigerate and bake off later. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. 

Bouquet of flowers for HIM

I found this idea on Pinterest (Thanks @ashleyccrowe for the repin) and so all credit goes to Christy Brown and her blog: http://christylbrown.wordpress.com/page/2/

 I love this DIY idea for Valentine's day, birthdays, whatever. It's so easy to do! I made a few changes to my version of 'flowers' but essentially it is the same as what is on the blog (see above).

 Supplies needed:

• ceramic pot (the blog above used a cardboard pot, but I tried and it was way too top heavy for cardboard. you can get these at walmart, target, any craft store for around $1.
• medium thick ribbon cut long enough to form a bow
• white styrofoam ball to fit in the pot
• green styrofoam rectangle (or square, circle) to fit in the top of the top
• fake moss or grass
• 6-8 10" wooden skewers (don't go with the longer ones, they're not as stable)
• scotch tape
• hot glue gun
• 5-7 travel size liquor bottles
• 2-3 cigars

If your recipient enjoys a certain type of liquor then get that kind in all different brands. I wanted to give a good variety so I went with whiskey, vodka, schnapps, tequila, rum, and baileys. The same goes with cigars, if there's a certain type then go for that. But again, I wanted to have variety. I ended up finding $2 cigars, flavored in wine and chocolate (hopefully appropriate for Valentine's Day).

1. Line up a skewer around 3/4 way up the back of the liquor bottle. Get a piece of tape, around 1.5-2" long and carefully tape the skewer at the bottom of the liquor bottle. Use two more pieces of tape to secure the skewer to the bottle. Here's the first bottle I did, it was easier since the bottle is flat. Try to get the tape as close to the bottle as you can when taping around the skewer, it will make it more stable.

 2. Tape a skewer to each liquor bottle and cigar. Make sure to get the skewer in the middle of the back of the bottle. In hindsight I should have gotten bottles that were either rectangular or square to make it easier, but I did alright with the circular ones.

3. Cut off the bottom of the white circle styrofoam. Using a hot glue gun, glue the bottom of the styrofoam into the ceramic pot.

4. Cut the green Styrofoam so it fits on top of the white Styrofoam. This doesn't have to be perfect since it's going to be covered with moss and the "flowers". Hot glue the green Styrofoam to the top of the white Styrofoam.

5. Hot glue the moss or grass onto the green Styrofoam. There's no method to this other than just make sure all the Styrofoam is covered by the moss.

6. Carefully stick the skewers in one by one into the pot. Like real flowers, make sure it's arranged nicely and that the bottles are going in different directions.


7. Attach the ribbon to the top of the ceramic pot. Tie a nice bow and if you'd like, stick a little bit of hot glue behind the bow to keep it from moving.

Viola!

Peanut butter chocolate oatmeal cookies

I love this cookie because it combines my three favorite cookies: oatmeal, chocolate chip, and peanut butter. I didn't have the chocolate squares the last time I made these, so I used mini chocolate chips instead, it turned out great and was easier, too.

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 6 (1 ounce) squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

2. Mix flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. 

3. Beat butter, sugars and peanut butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.

4. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. 

5. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing until well blended after each addition. Stir in chocolate.
 

6. Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of dough, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased baking sheets.

 

7. Bake 10 to 12 min. or until lightly browned. Cool for 1-2 minutes; remove from baking sheets to wire racks. 

 

 

 

homemade maryland crabcakes

HOMEMADE MARYLAND CRABCAKES

Excellent crabcake recipe with fresh lump crabmeat! Eat them now or freeze them for later!

INGREDIENTS :

 2 - 1 lb. containers of fresh lump crabmeat; Will be added last to avoid breaking large pieces apart

Dry Ingredients Bowl:

1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon crab seasoning (i.e. Old Bay)

Wet Ingredients Bowl:

2 eggs

2 Tablespoons Mayonnaise 

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

5 slices of bread - cut crust off and moisten with milk (squeeze out excess moisture); break apart while stirring

1. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl

2. Mix wet ingredients in another bowl

3. Combine wet and dry ingredients in a larger bowl

4. Pour combination of wet and dry ingredients over fresh lump crabmeat and fluff until mixed. 

5. Make cakes any size you want. I made mine pattie sized for a sandwich!

6. Broil in oven on cookie sheet, flipping half way through cooking OR pan fry in 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil on low-medium heat until golden brown and cooked through.

7. These may be served fresh after cooking or frozen for later. 

8. Serve the crabcakes with a sauce made of 1 part Dijon mustard, 2 parts Mayonnaise and a good squeeze of lemon or lime juice!

Will make ~10-12 sandwich sized crabcakes

Step 6 shown above

ENJOY!

Three Bean Turkey Chili

This is the easiest recipe for chili I have ever seen. The recipe calls for the use of a crockpot but I only had 45 minutes so I did it on the stove. It took 30 minutes start to finish.

Ingredients:

3/4 lb. ground turkey

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 bell pepper, chopped 

1 can  (28 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 jar (16 oz.) salsa (mild or medium)

3/4 can  (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed 

3/4 can (15 oz.) kidney beans, rinsed

3/4 can  (15 oz.) great Northern beans, rinsed

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp.  ground cumin

1 tsp. salt

pepper 

1 pkg. (7 oz.)  Shredded Cheddar Cheese

  

Crockpot method:

In a saute pan, cook turkey meat with onion and pepper until turkey is no longer pink. Combine all ingredients except the cheese in a slow cooker. Cook on low 4-5 hours or high 2-3 hours.

 Stove top method:

In a large pot, cook the turkey meat with the onion and pepper until no longer pink. Meanwhile, drain and rinse the three cans of beans, set aside. Once turkey is done, add tomatoes, salsa, beans (you may add more or less depending on your preference), cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for 20 minutes. Serve with cheese.

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

I wanted to make an easy, yet cute holiday gift. I found this biscotti recipe on the food network. I love the idea of dried cherries, but dried cranberries were 2.99 at the store while cherries were 4.99. (you do the math!) I changed the recipe a bit and added a glaze, and the end result was a very delicious cookie!


This recipe came from Anne Burrell's Cherry-Almond Biscotti on food network. (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-burrell/dried-cherry-and-almond-biscotti-recipe/index.html)

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, plus 1 egg white
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch salt
• 1 lemon, zested
• 1/2 cup whole blanched almonds, toasted
• 3/4 cup dried cherries (or dried cranberries)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Add the vanilla.

Gently mix in the flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Once the dry ingredients are incorporated, fold in the almonds and dried cherries. 


Divide the dough in half and roll the dough into 2 logs, around 9" long and 2" wide. The dough will be VERY sticky, this is normal, dust with flour. Don't be afraid of adding too much flour, I ended up adding almost a cup because the dough was so sticky. Roll the logs to the length of a sheet pan fitted with parchment paper. I found that the dough spreads quite a bit when cooking. The easiest way to avoid this is to put each log on its own cookie sheet; yes you dirty one more dish, but at least your biscotti does not cook together!

Remove from the oven let cool for 10 minutes. Remove logs to a cutting board and slice on the bias about 3/4 inch thick. 

Lay the biscotti back on the sheet pan and return to the oven for another 10-12 minutes. I moved mine apart a bit so they could dry better in the oven. Cool completely on a rack. 

Once cooled, you can either serve the biscotti as is, or you can make a simple glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp (maybe more depending on the consistency)
1/2 tsp vanilla


Combine all ingredients and drizzle over biscotti. Here's the finished product! I cooled mine completely and put them in small craft bags found at any craft store.