Peach Crisp

Hi There,
This is a great time of year for fruit desserts.  Peaches are nice and ripe, usually from local farms.  I try very hard to maximize the bounty of the season.  Today I bought some wonderful peaches at a farm stand.  Some I saved to eat with my lunch but others I used for a delicious Peach Crisp. 

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (if you aren't a fan of nutmeg, omit it and double the cinnamon)
1/4 tsp salt
4 tablespoons melted butter
5 to 6 whole, ripe peaches - peeled and cut into large chunks
1/2 fresh lemon

In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients.  Add the melted butter to make a crumbly mixture. 
Squeeze the lemon and toss the juice over the peaches.  Put peaches into 8 or 9 inch square pan and cover loosely with the dry mixture.  Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes. 

Serve warm with ice cream.  Don't let this dessert sit for too long.  It can begin to get watery.

Enjoy!
Love,
Beth

P.S. My grandson Caleb thinks this looks very gross.  But it really does taste good!!

Chicken Cutlets

Hi There,
This past Friday I cooked chicken cutlets.  My family likes them the easy, simple way, which a restaurant would call Chicken Milanese (my family is from the Milan area of Italy).  Milanese is anything that is cooked with a lemon/garlic sauce.  Very simple ingredients, very simple flavors, but oh so yummy. 
Today I had left over chicken cutlets.  I wanted to have them for dinner, but how should I serve them?  I didn't want to eat them the same way we ate them on Friday.  So I looked around the fridge and pulled out a container of fresh baby spinach, half of a hunk of fresh mozzarella and a tomato.  What could I do with these for a simple, clean dinner.  Here is what I decided:

I took the spinach and sauteed it for about 2 minutes in a bit of olive oil and 2 cloves of garlic.  I put the cutlets in a baking dish, and places a small amount of the mozz on top of each cutlet.  I cut up the tomato into chucks and added that too.  Then the spinach, garlic and all the juice over the top of everything.  I sprinkled a bit of chicken broth in the pan and placed it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

This is such and easy meal and it was soooo good!!.  You could even buy already cooked chicken cutlets at the local meat market.  You will have an "almost homemade" dinner that will taste like you were in the kitchen for hours. 

Enjoy!!
Love,

Beth

Eggplant Donut Holes

Hi
I'm sure the title sounds silly, but believe me, these are delish!!!  This is another recipe for this time of year where you can use the bounty from your garden (or the local fresh market), in different ways other than the same old recipes your family is used to.  This one is fun and really good.  Let me know what you think.  So many of you responded to the Zucchini Bread recipe and I thank you for that.  I really want to know what you think of my ideas!!

This recipe was created because I remember seeing something similar on TV.  I couldn't remember all the ingredients so I just opened my fridge and used what I had.  Here is what I did:

1 large eggplant - cut the eggplant in half, lengthwise.  Score it with a paring knife into cubes but keep the cubes in the skin.  Sprinkle with a bit of salt, pepper and olive oil.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 or 45 minutes.  Let it cool. 

Scoop out the inside of the eggplant into a bowl.  Add 3/4 cup grated Parmesan, 1/2 flavored bread crumbs, 1/4 store bought pesto, 1 egg beaten, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley.  Mix together.  If the mixture is very wet, add a bit more bread crumbs. 

Heat some vegetable oil in a pan (I use cast iron) and using a small cookie scoop (or anything round) scoop the mixture into the hot oil and fry for 3 or 4 minutes per side.  Remove them from the oil and drain onto a paper towel.  Serve with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese.  If you want this recipe to have a kick to it you can add some red pepper flakes to the sauce. 

I'm using these tonight as a first course for dinner - I have a friend coming over and I thought it would be nice to serve something different.  Please let me know if you give this a try!

Enjoy,
Love
Beth

Zucchini Bread

Hi There,
In keeping with my theme "all things zucchini" this month, today I'm sharing zucchini bread.  Now to some people bread sounds dull and boring.  I assure you this is not dull and boring bread.  It is sweet and moist.  Wonderful for breakfast with a bit of cream cheese or a late night snack.  My family was recently on vacation in Lake Placid, NY.  I brought two loaves of this bread to share.  It was devoured moments after it was served. 
This recipe makes two loaves.  When I make it I leave one out for us to eat and put the other in the freezer.  Nothing is better on a cold winter's day than to have a wonderful loaf of sweet summer bread with a cup of tea.

Zucchini Bread:

3 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups zucchini, grated
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grate the zucchini in a food processor or with a box grater.  Place the zucchini in a strainer in the sink and let it sit.  In a bowl combine the flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar.  In another bowl combine the oil, eggs, water, and lemon juice.  Squeeze the zucchini in the strainer as much as you can to get out all the moisture.  Add the zucchini to the wet mixture.  Add the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir.  Don't over mix.  Fold in nuts. 
Spray two loaf pans with nonstick spray.  Add half the mixture to each pan.  Bake for 1 hour or until tester comes out clean. 

After it's cooled, sprinkle with a little bit of powdered sugar and serve. 

Enjoy!!
Love,
Beth



Zucchini Fritters

As I mentioned in my previous post, now is the time for all things zucchini.  It's abundant in gardens and at farm markets.  It's also rather inexpensive at this time of year, so take advantage of a good, delicious deal!!!

This recipe is easy to make and tastes wonderful.  Even the kids will love it and they don't need to know what they're eating.  My family eats them as I'm frying them.  It's hard to have any left to serve!!

Grate 2 small zucchini or one large one.  You can manually grate them or use your food processor.  Place the grated zucchini into a colander in the sink.  Toss in 2 teaspoons of salt.  Let it sit for about 10 to 15 minutes.  The salt will extract some of the liquid in the squash.  After it sits, squeeze out as much liquid as you can and place the zucchini in a bowl.  Mix in 1 small onion that has been chopped finely (I used 1/2 of a large vadallia onion), 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley, 3/4 cup grated parmesan, 1/4 cup flour, 1 beaten egg.  Mix together until combine.  Do not over mix.  Heat oil in a pan and place one spoonful of mixture into pan.  Flatten with back of spoon.  Fry just one fritter, let it cool and then taste it.  Does it need more salt?  If so, then add a small amount to the mixture.  Fry each fritter for 3 to 4 minutes on each side.  Drain on a paper towel and sprinkle with parmesan. 

Enjoy!!

Love,

Beth