Peachy Craisin Crisp

The trip to Calabrese Farms in Southwick, MA on Friday afternoon resulted in purchasing local, fresh, juicy, fragrant Peaches!  If you enjoy making Freezer Jam, as I do, it is time to get moving when the fruit is ripe!  Yesterday a batch of Peach Freezer Jam was prepared.  In a couple of hours it will be stored in our large freezer downstairs.  The afternoon began with preparing Freezer Jam and ended with one very tasty dessert - Peachy Craisin Crisp.  Yummy!  

It has become a tradition for me to bake this scrumptious dessert after making the jam.  I'm sure it's due to the fact that not only are the juicy 6 - 7 Peaches in my fridge, but my kitchen counters and stove contain all of the necessary utensils.  My rose colored Pyrex container can be located quickly.  It's 8" x 8" size is perfect to use.  The combination of Peaches and of dried Cranberries is scrumptious in this dessert with an oat topping. 

***After washing the Peaches in cold water, the skins of the fruit need to be removed.  To remove the skin easily, carefully place each Peach in simmering water for about 35 seconds.  Using a slotted spoon, remove each Peach and place on a plate to cool.  When the fruit can be comfortably handled, peel and cut fruit into slices.  :)
 
Peachy Craisin Crisp

Oven Temperature:  375° F    
Baking Time:  About 45 Minutes

Ingredients:
6 - 7 sliced Peaches
2/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
3/4 tsp. Cinnamon
3/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/3 Cup softened Butter or Margarine
1/4 Cup Craisins (dried cranberries)

Method:

1. Preheat oven.
2. Spray PAM in glass baking dish.
3. Place sliced Peaches in baking dish.  Sprinkle on Craisins and mix.
4. In small bowl combine remaining ingredients thoroughly.  Sprinkle over Peaches.
5. Bake 45 minutes or until Peaches are tender.  
6. Serve warm or cold topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
7. After cool, cover and refrigerate any leftovers. 

This is a great dessert filled with slices of fresh fruit!  An added plus is that there is no pie crust to roll out on a warm summer day if this delicious fresh dessert is prepared.  Sweet!  Do you bake using fresh peaches?  

Yummy!
Enjoy! 

   

     

Ten Large Peppers

After these 10 large green peppers were placed on my countertop the song/book  "Five Little Pumpkins" quickly came to mind.  It's the song that young children learn during the month of October.  For younger tots there is even a board book or two containing the cute verse and illustrations with bright colors depicting the adventure of the bright orange pumpkins.

However, the bright green peppers on my counter would take the journey into my freezer.  During the month of August the local roadside stands sell and home gardeners grow nutritious, delicious green peppers.  It is at this time period each summer I purchase, prepare and then freeze these veggies after they have been cut into strips.  Later in the year and into 2011 whenever I want to add green peppers while preparing a main dish, I'll reach into my freezer and voila, they will be ready to use.  Sweet!  

The process I follow is easy.  The peppers are washed in cold water and dried.  Then, each pepper is cut into strips.  I place a handful of the cut strips into sandwich bags (that fold).  Then, each sandwich bag is closed, rolled and placed into a gallon sized Ziploc Freezer Bag.  For me, about 7-8 sandwich bags of pepper strips fit in one Ziploc Bag.  After labeling & dating the Ziploc Bags, they are stored in my freezer. 

These veggies are now ready to be added to my slow cooker or into any main dish that I will be preparing when the local fresh green peppers are not in season any longer.  In the winter there is no walking past imported green peppers in my grocery store - wishing for our local summer crop.  They are waiting in my freezer!

Do you freeze pepper strips when the green peppers are in season?  Do you like to stash veggies away for the colder months?  

We enjoy them!
Yummy!

   

      

Simply Delicious!

There are occasions (like last night) when I'll open our freezer door prepared to make two ice cream cones.  Unfortunately, there will only be about 1 cup of ice cream remaining in the container.  That is my clue that the next day I will be making Simply Delicious!  It's light, it's colorful and it needs only three ingredients.  Did I mention easy to prepare?  The directions below are for 2 servings, but it can be doubled very easily.  :)

Simply Delicious

1. Boil 1 Cup cold water.
2. Place contents of 1 small pkg. flavored gelatin in a medium bowl.
3. Pour in hot water and stir to dissolve gelatin.
4. Add 1 Cup Vanilla ice Cream.
5. Whisk or stir well until ice cream melts.
6. Pour into 2 serving dishes/mugs.
7. Refrigerate several hours.
8. Serve with whipped cream.

Earlier this afternoon I used one small pkg. Raspberry flavored Jello gelatin and 1 Cup of Black Raspberry ice cream.  Sweet!

Sometimes, I use Strawberry flavored Jello, Strawberry ice cream and a few defrosted Strawberries. 

Life sure is good!  Looking out my window at the colorful bouquet of blooming Zinnias eating Raspberry Simply Delicious!  Yummy!  That was after our visit this afternoon to Stanley Park in Westfield.  Stanley Park is a gem in Western MA.  Filled with flowers and beautifully landscaped, a stroll through this gorgeous park always offers wonderful gardening ideas.  It also has a fountain!  :)

Do you have a favorite quick dessert you make during the summer?  Do you have a favorite park you visit?

Enjoy!

From scratch ...

and also from the soil rising upward!  Usually food is my topic of choice, but during this past week I have been enticed with the plants growing around our home.  Summer in the Pioneer Valley is so colorful - filled with annuals  and perennials.  The local Strawberry and the local Blueberry crops have been sweet and also abundant.  In my last post I mentioned that while growing up my family always had two large gardens filled with veggies.

My Hubby & I continued my tradition.  We lived in an apartment in a suburb and had a great landlord!  He knew that we were dreaming of a garden ... someday.  Well, his thought process was why wait?  Part of his side lawn was plowed, so we could have our wish!  Now, that was totally cool!

We grew corn, cantaloupes, squash and all of the customary veggies.  I canned and froze veggies to my heart's content!  After we purchased our house and moved into our home, my DH and I were raising a family and gardening was in the past.

However, there was always a place for flowers and flower boxes.  Flowers are just gorgeous!  Earlier this summer our Salmon colored Daylilies blossomed for a month.

Last year after having a difficult time locating Zinnia plants that would grow to a certain height, I decided to plant Zinnia seeds.  Until a hard autumn frost arrived, the vibrant colorful display of blossoms were so pretty!  One of our planters contained deep purple New Wave Petunias.  Throughout the growing season, I saved the extremely delicate small black Petunia seeds and also many Zinnia seeds.

This past week has been sunny and bright.  The seeds that I saved and planted in early June (from last year's abundant crop) is now blossoming!  A few Zinnias and one Petunia!  There are so many buds visible!  How cool is that?!?

We will have a very large bouquet of Zinnias in our yard starting this week!  (I did keep my distance from the Bee.)  Cardinals and Blue Jays sing in our trees, but a ceramic bird makes his home on my pot.  :)

Yes, I will be saving seeds, again, to plant next year!  I will plant the seeds 2 weeks earlier.

Do you save flower seeds to plant the following growing season?

We are enjoying their beauty!

         

Creamy Cheesy Pie, Yum!

The past few days here in Western MA, as in so many other parts of our country, have been hot and humid.  Even with A/C, forget turning on the oven for any baking.  Life is good using our outdoor grill at dinner time.  Ice cream is just plain refreshing later in the evening!  Vanilla is my favorite flavor, what is yours?  Orange Pineapple is so good, but not always available!

Speaking of the flavor vanilla, vanilla Creamy Cheesy Pie is not baked in a hot oven!  I was introduced to this delicious, no fuss recipe many years ago by my mother-in-law.  Before tasting her quick make pie, I always baked a cheesecake using a couple of packages of cream cheese, a spring-form pan and directions that needed to be followed.  

While we were down visiting quite a few years ago she opened her fridge after dinner and out came a cheesecake.  It was vanilla flavored and had a graham cracker crust that was purchased.  She served it with fresh berries and whipped cream.  It was mighty fine!  So, I did what one does when something looks and tastes really good...I requested the recipe - much to her great joy!  It was already a fact to her and to my father-in-law that I cooked.  They had never met anyone (before me) who prepared fresh corn and stored the kernels in freezer bags for meals in the winter.  They had lived in NYC in an apartment before relocating to FL.  I grew up in Western MA and my family had two large gardens.  :)

This "easy does it" delicious cheesecake requires 4 ingredients:  (1) package of Cook & Serve Pudding Mix, Milk, 8 oz. Cream Cheese and a Graham Cracker Pie Shell. 

Creamy Cheesy Pie 

 Ingredients:

(1) pkg. Cook & Serve Vanilla Pudding Mix
(1) pkg. 8 oz. Cream Cheese
(2) Cups Milk
(1) Pre-made Graham Cracker Pie Shell

Method:

1. Prepare Pudding according to package directions.
2. Place Cream Cheese in a medium bowl.
3. Pour hot Pudding over Cream Cheese and whisk until smooth.
4. Pour mixture into Graham Cracker crust.  Smooth mixture to crust edges.
5. Cool - maybe 30 minutes and cover with plastic wrap.  I leave small amount unwrapped on edge.
6. Refrigerate overnight.
7. Cut into slices.  Add whipped cream on top.
8. Place berries on the side.
9. Refrigerate remaining pie to enjoy again.  Yum!

**My family uses 1% Milk, so I add 1 Tablespoon powdered milk into pot before making pudding.  

**I use Jello brand pudding mix, because when using the Jello brand I do not burn the pot.  :) 

Yesterday afternoon Vanilla Creamy Cheesy Pie was prepared and tonight we will enjoy it after dinner.  :) 

My son has prepared this yummy dessert using Jello chocolate pudding and the word is, "It tastes great!!!"

Do you make easy, no fuss, delicious desserts during the summer?

Enjoy!
Yummy!

 

Blueberry Season is here!!!

The local blueberries are available at roadside stands!  On Friday afternoon it was time to stop working on my sewing project.  My blue shorts were put on hold.  My DH & I drove out to Calabrese Farms in Southwick to purchase our year's supply of blueberries.  For me it is a tradition started in  my childhood to prepare & freeze the sweet, juicy, blue fruits of the summer.  Years ago (we'll forget about the number), my family would spend a day in August picking these tasty small pieces of fruit and pay for them by the pound.  There was a procedure involved - first the buckets were weighed after arriving at the blueberry fields.  I prefer my new method - purchase a large quantity of quarts already picked.  :)  

Later on Friday afternoon a large amount of the scrumptious berries were prepared to be frozen.  After going through them, they were double washed, drained, packed in Ziploc Freezer bags, labeled and dated.  

Now, Blueberries are also in our fridge!  Who can resist reaching into a container and getting a handful, especially when so many are available?  Rinse and a tasty, healthy snack awaits!  Oh, there has been snacking.  One batch of Blueberry Freezer Jam was made yesterday and another today.  

I also see a batch of Yummy Blueberry Muffins on the horizon.  If you'd like my recipe, click and print a  recipe card.  I use an Egg and also Egg Whites when baking these light, yummy muffins.  Cinnamon is also added.  One batch yields 22 muffins and they also freeze very well!  So good!       

Are local blueberries available to you?  Do you add them to cold cereal?  Have you made Blueberry Freezer Jam?  It's easy to make and tastes delicious!  Does you family like Blueberry Muffins?

Yummy!
Enjoy!

                     



               

Nice and easy!

Last week’s heat wave resulted in totally appreciating our A/C. Since keeping cool was the top priority, it was the perfect opportunity to thread a bobbin or two and start my Janome humming. Over the years I’ve always believed that one needs to be “in the mood” to sew, just in case a seam or two need to be ripped out. :) 

Grilled fish was the perfect choice for dinner and there were choices. “Wild caught” fresh Sockeye Salmon or “wild caught” fresh Swordfish were featured at my local grocery store, Big Y. Just the selection for dinner on a very hot evening!

Fruit salads at lunchtime tasted so good and still do this week! Yes, Banana slices were included along with the sweet red grapes and pieces of juicy cantaloupe. We devour much more fruit in the summer. Do you?

Summer is the time to take it easy! It is nice!