Ohhhhh my moly.

If I were the demanding type I’d demand that you make these immediately. I’m not, of course so I’ll just strongly suggest it.

The peaches are so good this year and I bought more than I’ll ever be able to eat, so I wanted to some up with something to do with [...]]]>

Ohhhhh my moly.

If I were the demanding type I’d demand that you make these immediately. I’m not, of course so I’ll just strongly suggest it.

The peaches are so good this year and I bought more than I’ll ever be able to eat, so I wanted to some up with something to do with them. This is based on the apple crisp recipe, but with more of the crumble part so that you end up with a crust. It is OH so good.

Gather:

• 2 medium-to-large peaches, chopped
• 1/3 cup Craisins
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/3 cup butter
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder

To make:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and chop the peaches, then put them in a saucepan with the Craisins, cornstarch and sugar. Bring it all up to a nice bubble and let it cook till it thickens, then set aside
2. Cream butter and sugar, then mix in remaining ingredients — it will look coarse like a crumble topping
3. Take two cups of crumble mix and press into a greased 8×8 dish and bake till it’s lightly browned, around 10-12 minutes, then spread fruit mixture over crust. Sprinkle the rest of the crumb mixture over the top and bake till that’s lightly browned, about another 15-18 minutes or so

Fast and good! How can you beat that?

The folks over at Pom Wonderful contacted me a while back and asked if they could send me some of their juice to try (for free, okay, FTC?). I [...]]]> Some people come from money; I, on the other hand, come from funny (which is even better). My Uncle Steve named this drink. Don’t you love it?

The folks over at Pom Wonderful contacted me a while back and asked if they could send me some of their juice to try (for free, okay, FTC?). I was honestly a little hesitant because, um, I was pretty sure I was the last person who hadn’t tried pomegranate anything yet and I wasn’t sure what to expect. A lot of people love the stuff, however, so I gave it a shot.

For my first attempt I thought I’d try pomegranate molasses.

Fail, party of one. Not having a clue what I was doing following a specific recipe, I cooked the mixture too long and ended up with a giant Le Creuset-shaped lollipop. Oops.

Not wanting to wash that pan again repeat my mistake, I thought I’d try something different. And, if y’all haven’t noticed, it’s a million degrees outside so a cool cocktail sounded like the thing for my next pomegranate attempt.

Success! It is yummy and tart and sweet and limey (is that a word?) and I’m loving it.

Please to mix:

• 2 Tbsp. simple syrup
• 2 Tbsp. pomegranate juice
• 1/4 cup rum
• squeeze of lime

Pour over ice and enjoy!

This makes a sweet drink, so feel free to adjust the simple syrup as your little heart desires.

It is also from an era when food wasn’t asked to [...]]]> This recipe comes from my great aunt Eva who named it thusly. Or perhaps she got it from her mother, my great grandma, who named it thusly? Either way, who am I to argue? It is, indeed, one of the easiest desserts you’ll ever make.

It is also from an era when food wasn’t asked to look pretty for the camera.

Obviously.

Gather together:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup milk
• 3 cups fruit (cut up; don’t drain)

And then:

1. Combine sugar, flour, baking powder and salt; cut in butter like you’re making biscuits, or pulse in a food processor, then stir in milk till well combined
2. Pour batter into a buttered cast iron skillet or baking dish and top with fruit and its juice
3. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes; sprinkle sugar on top for the last few minutes of baking

See? SEE? How crazy easy is that? And at the end you get this?

No brainer.

What it is:

What it’s not:

What’s not to like?

Combine these:

Stir or shake to combine. The end! See? Crazy easy. And you can customize it, [...]]]>

What it is:

• Crazy easy to make with only two ingredients
• Completely natural, chemical free

What it’s not:

• Loaded with high fructose corn syrup
• Neon (because, um, ew)

What’s not to like?

Combine these:

• 16 ounces simple syrup
• 12 ounces key lime, lime or lemon juice or some combination thereof

Stir or shake to combine. The end! See? Crazy easy. And you can customize it, of course, and make it a little more sweet or a little more sour — whatever floats your boat. Or your margarita shaker.

This recipe originally came from here, but has lived in a binder in my kitchen for years now. This is good chicken. Man catching chicken even. It’s crispy and juicy and lemony and fabulous. I gave this recipe to my sister a few years back and she’s married now. SEE?? Try this:

You will need:

This is another one of those recipes that I have written down on a scrap of paper and tucked away. I have no idea where it came from, but it’s so yummy.

It’s also what I had for breakfast this morning. Is that wrong? It’s fruit, people.

Try this. Seriously. Gather:

Can one addition change a really great recipe into a really amazing recipe? You bet your Red Rider it can. Especially when that one addition is a bag of Craisins.

I started with the recipe for super simple bagels. You remember this, right? Flour, water, yeast, salt. I said they were simple! [...]]]> Oh my moly.

Can one addition change a really great recipe into a really amazing recipe? You bet your Red Rider it can. Especially when that one addition is a bag of Craisins.

I started with the recipe for super simple bagels. You remember this, right? Flour, water, yeast, salt. I said they were simple! But to the mix, toward the end of the kneading, I added a bag of Craisins.

They still puffed up just right.

They survived the boiling just fine.

And they baked up beautifully.

And I got to eat this for breakfast!

Hard to argue with that, isn’t it?

Here’s a quick run-down of the recipe; full details can be found at the original post.

Make a starter of:

• 2 1/8 oz bread flour
• 2 oz. cool water
• a pinch of yeast

and let it sit overnight at room temperature.

The next morning mix your bubbly starter with:

• 17 ounces bread flour
• 10 ounces cool water
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Then:

1. Knead with abandon. Bread flour is high protein and will take longer to develop gluten; I let the stand mixer have at it for about eight minutes
2. About five minutes into the kneading, add one bag of Craisins
3. Let the dough rise for one hour, then deflate it. Let it rise for thirty minutes more
4. Divide the dough into 12 roughly-equal parts, roll into balls, and let rise under plastic wrap for 30 minutes
5. Preheat oven to 425 and bring a pan of water with 1 Tbsp. brown sugar to boil
6. Poke your finger through the middle of the dough balls and twirl on your finger to shape into a bagel. Poke in any Craisins trying to escape
7. Boil bagels, a few at a time, for 2 minutes on one side; flip with chopsticks and boil for one minute on the second side, then move to parchment-lined cookie sheets
8. Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes, but start checking after 15 — you want them browned, but not too crispy

Enjoy! These are great with cream cheese. They also mail rather well, which is a nice bonus.

I picked these up over the weekend and just could not decide what to do with them. Strawberry scones? Strawberry shortcake? What about strawberry shortcake cookies?

Decisions, decisions.

In the end, I cut them up like this: And I ate them.

Every single one.

Just like that.

So now I [...]]]> Ah, summer. Does it get prettier than this?

I picked these up over the weekend and just could not decide what to do with them. Strawberry scones? Strawberry shortcake? What about strawberry shortcake cookies?

Decisions, decisions.

In the end, I cut them up like this: And I ate them.

Every single one.

Just like that.

So now I clearly need to go buy more strawberries, and maybe actually make something with them this time.

What will you be doing with strawberries this summer?