Feeling Peachy

This time of year always reminds me of summers spent at my grandparent’s house. They had a garden, a variety of fruit trees, and lots of scuppernong vines. Considering how much stimulation my children require, they would have thought how I spent my summers when I was their age as boring but I loved it. I'd go for long walks each morning with my grandma, then we'd pick corn, beans, and cucumbers, we'd shell beans, can tomatoes, pick apples and pears, and then I'd watch as she'd cook up something amazing. These experiences with my grandma created memories I will always cherish. She taught me that cooking was a fun, creative activity with delicious outcomes.

So when summer rolls around I like to take advantage of all the fresh fruits and vegetables which are at their peak. I love fresh fruit and vegetables, and even attempt to grow my own. Although I’m not the farmer my grandad was, I try. So far this summer I've grown plenty of cucumbers, three tomatoes, and lots of basil. The deer keep eating my bell peppers and most of my tomatoes, while my zucchini refuses produce anything. My tiny garden is a teaching me a lot of what not to do next year. Thank goodness for all the local farmers who know what they're doing and keep me stocked in fresh fruits and veggies.

One of favorite summertime fruits is the peach. Contrary to popular belief, South Carolina is the peach capital of South producing twice as many peaches as our Georgia neighbors. I know a good peach when I taste one and a ripe, juicy peach is pretty much perfection. How does one elevate a peach? Look no further than the perfect peach cobbler. Top that peach cobbler off with vanilla ice cream and you’ll have something so good you it will leave you speechless. If you've been looking for the perfect peach cobbler recipe then you'll have to give this one a shot. You won’t regret it. 

Perfect Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:

• 3 cups peaches, fresh or canned, halved then quartered
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• dash of nutmeg
• dash of cinnamon
• non-stick cooking spray

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2 quart baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Spread sliced peaches evenly into the prepared dish.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla until well combined. 
4. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a separate bowl until combined.
5. Stir the flour mixture into the sugar and egg mixture until just combined. The batter will be thick with a consistency similar to that of cookie dough. 
6. Spread batter over the peaches evenly trying to cover the peaches as best you can.
7. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. 
8. Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy on its own or ice cream or whipped cream. Prepare to have your taste buds rejoice! 

Quarantine Baking: Chocolate Cherry Blondies

It feels like we’re on day 649 of quarantine, and I have no idea what day or month it is. Everyday just seems to blend into one reoccurring day. Like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, I am living the same day over and over, the only difference is time is passing. While it feels like it should still be March, half the year has passed. How is it July already?

Well now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, how are y’all handling our current predicament? 

Me and my boys, the hubs included, are getting lots of bonding time so there have been lots of board games and a little too much tv. The other day Emmett mentioned that he wanted to take a cooking class and I jumped at the opportunity to take him up on this. We knew we wanted something sweet with basic ingredients that was simple enough that an 8 year old could make it. I searched Pinterest and came across this recipe from Averie Cooks for Chocolate Chip Cherry Bars. Her recipe was easy to throw together and the outcome is delicious. I added pecans and definitely recommend doing so if you have any on hand. This is a great base recipe so you could add any in number of things such as shredded coconut or any nuts you prefer. I used fresh cherries and think they work best as frozen may result in a soggier blondie. Emmett favorite part was shooting the pits out of the cherries using this pitter.

 

CHOCOLATE CHERRY BLONDIES

      Ingredients

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  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt, optional
  • 3/4 to 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
  • 1 cup, cherries, pitted and halved (fresh is recommended)
  • Instructions
    Preheat oven to 350F. Prep an 8-by-8-inch pan (or loaf pan, mine is 5-by-8-inch) with nonstick cooking spray. 
    Stir melted butter and brown sugar until well combined. Add egg and vanilla to sugar butter mixture and stir until well combined.  
    Next, add in the flour and salt, stir until just combined. It will be thick like cookie dough. 
    Fold in chocolate chips, cherries, and pecans into batter. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  • Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until edges begin to slightly pull away from sides of pan and center.  
  
  
  While it may be very difficult to wait, allow bars to cool before slicing. Store in an airtight container.
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  These blondies are delicious on their own, but serve them warm with a scoop of vanilla icecream a la mode to really take them to the next level. 
  
  
  
  
  Let me know if you make these and what you think. I hope you all stay healthy and enjoy this time with your family. While it may seem stressful, we are building memories with our kids that they will treasure for a lifetime. They won’t care about the shows they watched but they will remember the experiences you created and time spent together. 

Weekend Roundup + Corn Dip

And so it’s Monday again. I hope that everyone had a fun weekend and you’re enjoying these beautiful fall days. Thankfully this weekend was pretty carefree. I didn’t have any set plans or places to be which is such a relief after the busy free weeks I’ve had. 

On Saturday our neighborhood hosted a neighborhood wide yard sale. I didn’t sell but the boys and I went around and did a little early shopping. After that we headed off to Emmett's soccer game. I have to say, his team is really improving and that includes Em. He scored two goals with one being the tie breaker! Woohoo!

Saturday I decorated outside for Halloween. Our neighborhood has really gotten into the Halloween spirit and I didn't want our house to be left out. I like simple decor on my house but I’ve gotta give props those of you who go all out. We drove around Saturday night and checked out all the spooky houses. There’s a skeleton house, a zombie house, and werewolf house just to name a few. Emmett loves all the creepy ones. Oliver, not so much. 

I want to get a couple more big spiders to put on the two windows on the right. My illustration isn't great but shows what I still need to do.

Some animal has bitten my pumpkin and given it a creepy jack-o-lantern face. Any ideas what could have done this???

Sunday we got up early and headed to Folly Beach with the boys. Pierce has been wanting to go metal detecting for a while now so we thought we’d give it a try. Let me tell you that metal detecting with young children isn’t easy. I didn’t mind running around and chasing the boys but for Pierce, who was trying to actually find stuff, it wasn’t much fun. Oh well, Pierce can try it solo next time. I made the best of it and enjoyed our wild beach time. Afterwards, we grabbed some Zaxby's on the way home and had a picnic in the yard.

We also stopped in at the Train Museum at the Citadel Mall. The boys thought it was cool and made sure they pushed all the buttons.

I did a little shopping too. I haven’t had the time to buy much lately so it was fun to get out and get few items for fall. I’ll be sharing those with you very soon. Here's what I wore.

shirt (on sale for $10!) // jeans // booties

I also wanted to share this dip recipe with you as well. Every one in my house is a big fan of dips so I figured I would try and make a new one each weekend that we could eat during the week. My goal is to make healthy versions of yummy dips (which are usually calorie laden) so we can have a healthier option for snacking.I made the first one this weekend. It’s a Greek yogurt spicy corn dip. I used the recipe found here but made some tweaks to it since I found it a little bland. The end result was delicious and everyone in the house ate it up. The only other thing I would add that I didn’t have on hand is fresh cilantro... I think that would have made it perfection.

Greek Yogurt Corn Dip

• 1 cup plain non fat greek yogurt
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup fresh or frozen corn, thawed
• 1 (4oz) can diced green chiles
• 2 green onions, sliced thin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon chili
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup bacon bits
• 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro 
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Combine all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to let the flavors come together and deepen. 

Enjoy with tortilla chips.  

Fall Eats- Chili Time

Guess what? Fall has finally arrived in Charleston. By this, I don't mean extremely cool weather and tons of fall leaves, but I was able to sleep with the windows open and I can now wear jeans and boots most of the day without having a heatstroke. There was even a little rain yesterday, so I was able to wear a cozy cardigan. I'll take what I can get. Soon it will be cold and miserable and I'll be wanting these fabulous "fall" days back again. 

Now that we have fall weather, I've been in the mood to make some cold weather meals and it just so happens that I looking through my Southern Living magazine when I came across a chili recipe that looked delicious. Nothing screams fall food quite like a hearty bowl of spicy chili. I have a standard chili recipe that's my go to but I wanted to give this one a try since my standard could use a little something-something. (I also want to work on my chili recipe so that I can be more competitive at this year's neighborhood chili cookoff.) I added just a few ingredients to give it a little more depth and heat, but all in all, this was a delicious chili. 

Beef and Bean Chili Recipe

2 tablespoons canola oil
1 pound beef stew meat
1/2 cups chopped white onion
1 cup chopped poblano chile
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon tabasco (optional)2 cups beef broth
2 (14.5-oz.) cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes

1 (16-oz.) can light red kidney beans

Toppings:Shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Saltines
1 small jalapeño chile, thinly sliced

Step 1
Heat oil in a large sauté pan, add beef and cook, stirring once, until browned, about 10 minutes. Remove the beef from pan. Add onion and poblano chile to pot, and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften, about 3 minutes.

Step 2
While beef browns, in your slow cooker add tomato paste, cocoa, chili powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, tabasco, sugar, broth, tomatoes, and beans. Add browned beef and sautéed onion and poblano. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook on low for 8 hours. 

Step 3
Serve chili with cheese, sour cream, cilantro, and jalapeño slices for topping.

Recipe was modified from Southern Living's recipe which can be found here.

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If you watch my Instastories you might have seen my progress on making Emmett's lily pad costume. Tonight was his pond performance and he was the cutest lily pad ever! I made his costume as a cape, using felt, which I cut and drew in the shape of lily pad. I added water lilies which I made from paper plates and tissue paper. I also added a couple of frogs I found at the dollar store. 

Emmett is a born performer. He did such a good job.

I also painted his face

Yes... I know... I'm one of those moms. I enjoy making costumes and going a little overboard on these sorts of things. I don't have the luxury of being a room mom or doing much during the day in the classroom so I want to make sure he knows I care on the things I can be there for.

Delicious Smoked Grilled Chicken

I don't know why it's so hard for me wrap my head around three day weekends, especially when I don't have to go work on Monday. All day it's felt like Monday, but, of course, it's Tuesday. I guess that's not a bad thing... only three more work days in this week after today. 

I hope you all had a productive and fun Labor Day weekend. I sure did. I got in lots of quality time with the family and got a home project checked off my list that I'll be sharing with you soon. Here's a hint... it's something our guest will appreciate. 

Today I wanted to share one of the easiest, most flavorful chicken recipes ever. If you haven't noticed the trend yet, my recipes are all about making the most of what limited time I have to prepare food and creating a dish that can be used in a variety of ways, and this one is no different. 

We eat lots of chicken breast. It's affordable, lean, and very versatile but it can also be dry, bland, and tough if not prepared right. This recipe is taken for several different ones that I've combined to make this juicy, flavorful grilled chicken. My mother-in-law introduced me to the idea of brining chicken breasts, while Pierce added his own flare by smoking it. The outcome is a smokey, tender chicken recipe you can eat as a main course or chop up for chicken salad or add to a wrap. I used leftovers to make my favorite chicken salad recipe found here. 

Smoked Grilled Chicken

• 4 pounds of chicken breasts (boneless or bone-in, your preference but allow additional cooking time for bone-in)
• 10 cups of water
• 1/4 cup of salt
• 1/4 cup of white vinegar
• wood chips (I used hickory) soaked in water

On your stovetop in a large pot over medium heat, combine 3 cups of water with all the salt. Heat until the salt is dissolved stirring occasionally. Remove from heat when dissolved. Add the rest of the water and all the vinegar. When mixture is room temperature add the chicken breasts.  Cover and refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours. The longer you marinade the chicken the saltier it will be. You can marinade for as little as 2 hours but wouldn't recommend marinading for more than 6 hours. 

Soak wood chips in water for several hours prior to grilling. 

When ready for the grill, pour off the salt and vinegar water from the chicken. Place breasts onto preheated grill. I prefer charcoal but use what you've got. Flip occasionally. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the chicken breasts. Cook until the internal temperature of chicken reaches 165℉. 

Smoking the chicken is optional but adds a nice flavor. If you want to smoke it, pour water off of soaked wood chips and add to the charcoals in the last 5 minutes of grilling. You can go longer but you don't want it too smokey that you can't eat it. If you're using a gas grill, place wood chips in a smoker box and place on grill rack and close the lid for the last five minutes. Flip at least once. 

When chicken is cooked thoroughly, remove from grill and let rest for at least five minutes before serving to allow time for the juices settle. 

Enjoy!

Every time I serve this chicken I get so many compliments. I grilled this on Saturday and served it with corn on the cob, tomato cucumber salad, and buttered baguette. It was fabulous. Pierce made himself several sandwiches with the leftovers and on Monday I used what was left make chicken salad. I love how many meals I can make off this one recipe. 

It looks like the southeast may be in for another hurricane, so stay safe out there. 

Best Ever Chicken Salad

While everyone else is obsessing over the Nordstrom anniversary sale I thought I'd go in a completely different direction and share a delicious recipe I made recently. Not that I don't love a good sale, but it seems like its the only thing being talked about and it's a bit overwhelming. So instead of sharing shopping lists, today I'm sharing one of my go to, super easy, and uber-delicious recipes.

I find that chicken salad is a quick entree that can be used to prepare several different meals. Eat it with crackers, pile it onto a salad, or make it into a sandwich or wrap. No matter which way you serve it this chicken salad is fantastic. I like to buy chicken breasts and either boil with spices or brine and bake them, or you can use leftover rotisserie chicken. It's so simple, you'll kick yourself for not making it before now.

Tarragon Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked chicken breast, diced
1 1/2 cups olive oil mayo
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tsp dried tarragon
salt to taste

Mix together all ingredients. If you're using salted toasted pecans, mix all ingredients without adding any additional salt. Taste and add additional salt if needed. If you want to make it a little less fattening you can replace 1/2 cup of mayo with non-fat Greek yogurt. You can add more mayo and dijon if you want it creamier.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to let the flavors blend. Enjoy!

In the photo above I served the chicken salad on a Joseph's pita bread with chopped romaine, tomato, and onion with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. So good!

Oliver enjoyed helping mixing everything together, and enjoyed eating it even more. 

Easy Spanakopita Bites

This weekend our neighbors hosted a Memorial Day party which was so much fun. One of my favorite things about where we live are our neighbors. I grew up seeing neighborhoods like this on tv but never imaged I would live in one. You can go next door if you need an extra cup of sugar or hang out for hours while the kids play and run from one neighbor's yard to the next. It's pretty fabulous and it makes me so happy that we are able to give this to Emmett and Oliver.
So back to the party. When we host these get togethers, everyone brings a dish. I like to bring something outside of the predicable chips and dip, but also easy to prepare and easy to eat. I wanted a finger food that would be good hot but also taste just as yummy when it cooled off. I decided to go with spanakopita but with a twist by making it as an easy to prepare bite size appetizer. This is not your traditional spanakopita (Greek spinach pie for those not familiar with it) but an inspired bite size appetizer. You whip up the filling, fill the mini fillo shells, bake, and enjoy. Let me warn you, these little nuggets of deliciousness will go fast. My husband ate four before we were even out the door! The saltiness of the cheese and the buttery, flakey shell are so indulgent and delicious. These little appetizers are definitely a winner that I'll have to make again.

Easy Spanakopita Bites

Ingredients

• 3 trays of mini fillo shells
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 green onion, chopped
• 1 egg
• 10 ounces of chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 6 ounces of crumbled feta cheese
• 1/3 cup shredded parmesan
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp chopped garlic

Instructions

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.
2. Heat butter in a small pan on medium heat. Add onion and green onion. Saute until tender, about 5 minutes. 
3. While onions are cooking, in mixing bowl mix together egg, cheeses, salt, pepper, and garlic. 
4. Add cooked onions to mixture.
5. Spoon mixture into mini fillo shells and arrange onto a baking sheet.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until filling is cooked through. 

After filling and ready for the oven.

After baking the shells should be a nice golden brown.

The perfect little nugget of spanakopita goodness. 

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Fresh Homemade Salsa Recipe

Happy Belated Cinco de Mayo, everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderful start to the weekend, and if you're like me, I celebrated Cinco de Mayo by eating and drinking a little too much. I love Mexican food, so any excuse to eat it and I'm there.
We went to our neighbors. I brough the tacos and fixings which included delicious fresh salsa. I make pico de gallo all the time to throw on top of salad or eat as a dip. I delicious, healthy, and one of my favs. I didn't have the time for all the chopping required for pico de gallo so I decides to use the same base ingredients, but throw it into the food processor to whip up a fresh salsa... muy delicioso!

I'm also working on perfecting a light margarita. I love a good margarita but I find all the pre-made mixes too sugary or artificial tasting. Not to mention they are loaded with calories from all the sugar. I made some good steps towards what I think will be the perfect light margarita and once I have it perfected I will share it. For now I thought I'd share the freshest, easiest salsa recipe. This recipe uses a food processor. If you prefer a chunky salsa (more like a pico de gallo), use the same ingredients but chop by hand rather than using the food processor. Either way, this recipe is a winner!

Fresh Homemade Salsa

• 6 roma tomatoes
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 large or 2 small jalapeños
• 1 medium red onion
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp light agave nectar

Rinse all produce. Quarter the jalapeño and onion. Place in the food processor and pulse until roughly minced. Quarter the tomatoes and place them along with all additional ingredients into the food processor. Pulse until chopped to the consistency you prefer. I prefer chunky over soup so I don't pulse the final ingredients for very long. I add the jalapeño and onion first because I don't mind if they are minced finer than the tomatoes plus they don't have liquid like the tomatoes. You want to pulse all the ingredients until they are chopped but not pulverized. The salsa should still be a little chunky. You can always add or reduce the jalapeños. If I'm going for a medium salsa, I use a large jalapeño and remove half the seeds. Perfecto!

So give this recipe a try, I have a feeling it will become a staple like it has for me. It's a great healthy dip not to mention you can throw it onto salads, tacos, and wraps to add favor without the guilt. 

If you have any tips for my light margarita recipe, send them on. It's still a work in progress and I can use all the help I can get. Thanks!

 

Gifts and Dessert for Mom

We are less than three weeks out from one of the more important days of the year... Mother's Day. There are so many moms in my life who have loved me, taught me, and inspired me so it's nice to show them that their impact on my life is meaningful. Picking up the phone and giving them a call to let them know I'm thinking about them is probably all they'll say they want but it's nice to give them a little surcee to show them how much I care about them. They deserve it.
Here are a few gift ideas for the lovely moms in my life. I may have included a few that I wouldn't mind having as well. (hint, hint Pierce... actually, he's already gotten me mine. See below.)

1. Pineapple Travel Blanket- The perfect gift for the mom who loves the beach or picnics.

2. Sullivan's Island Print- I'm impatient and ordered this for Pierce to get me and it's technically an early Mother's Day gift. I love Teil's work, especially the beach scenes.

3. Rosy to Red Nail Lacquer Set- For the mom who loves a fresh nail color. 

4. Rambling Rose Crossbody- A little pricey but a cute, bold piece.

5. Open Heart Ring- For the mom who has your heart. A splurge but it is a perfect little ring. 

6. Burlap Wrapped Bouquet- Who doesn't love flowers, plus these bouquets are so fresh and unique.

7. Silver & Rose Gold Mesh Watch- I'm all about the mixed metals right now, so this watch goes with everything. Pierce bought me this when we were out a few weeks back because we found it for an awesome price. I'm already getting lots of use out of it ;-)

8. Hello Sunshine Floppy Hat- Spring and summer are calling, so help your favorite mama welcome them with fun hat. 

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If you know me then you know I love dessert. I love to make desserts, share desserts, and eat desserts. This recipe is fabulous and a wonderful treat to make and share for Mother's Day. A friend made these for me after I had Emmett and they were irresistible and ate almost all of them by myself. The cookie base, smooth chocolate layer, and crunchy toffee are to die for.

Marscapone Chocolate Toffee Bars

Ingredients

• 1 pound refrigerated sugar cookie dough 
• 4 chocolate-toffee candy bars, coarsely chopped OR heaping 2/3 cup Chocolate Covered Heath Bits
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 cup (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese, at room temp
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a 7 X 10 3/4 baking pan with foil and grease with non stick cooking spray. 
2. In a large bowl combine cookie dough and 1/3 cup of chocolate toffee bits and vanilla extra. Press into prepared pan, using wet fingers press until even. Prick the dough all over with a fork and bake for 18-23 minutes or until golden brown. Place on wire rack to cool. 
3. In a medium bowl combine chocolate chips and vegetable oil. Place the bowl over the pan of a simmering water, so that the bowl is not touching the water. Mix chocolate and oil until all chocolate is melted. Take bowl off of water filled pan and set aside to cool for 10-15 minutes. Take the bowl of melted chocolate and whisk in the mascarpone cheese until the mixture is smooth. Spread the chocolate mixture over the cooled crust. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate-toffee candy pieces and sliced almonds over the chocolate mixture. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours until the chocolate layer is firm.

Notes

To toast nuts place on a cookie sheet and toast at 350F for 10-15 minutes.

Recipe Source: Food Network

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Your Southern word of the day is surcee. A surcee is a thoughtful or unexpected gift given for no reason other than to share a token of friendship.