Peaches and chicken atop rice make a simple, light summer entrée

Summer dinners are so a challenge. Keep it light, keep it simple, avoid firing up the oven, give it the flavor of summer, use fresh-from-the-garden if at all possible. No pressure.

This meal suggestion was a good compromise. Part of the cooking time involved the oven but only for 15 minutes. The chicken was sautéed on the stovetop and finished in the oven to avoid drying it out in the skillet preparation. Peaches combined with the chicken broth created natural juices, so the chicken stayed moist.

These were our garden-ripened peaches, of course, but the farmers markets are a good peach source. The unusual addition of peaches gave the chicken a sweet, fruity taste. We served these Basil-Peach Chicken Breasts over rice, but the recipe suggests it atop couscous or quinoa as well.

Basil-Peach Chicken Breasts

4 skinned and boned chicken breasts (about 2 pounds)

1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (or salt substitute)

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 shallot, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

2 garlic cloves, minced

12 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

1 cup reduced-sodium fat-free chicken broth

4 large peaches, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 2 cups)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use salt and pepper to season chicken on both sides. In a large ovenproof skillet cook chicken in hot oil over medium-high heat 2 minutes on each side or until chicken is browned. Remove chicken from skillet; reserve drippings in skillet. Reduce heat to medium. Add shallot to hot drippings in skillet and sauté 3 minutes or until tender. Add ginger and garlic; sauté 45 to 60 seconds or until fragrant. Add basil, chicken broth, and peaches. Return chicken to skillet and turn to coat. Bake 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Makes 4 servings. (Source: Southern Living June 2012)

Peach cake takes a delightful tumble—and sets world on its right side

Nothing sets the world more delightfully upright  than does a peach upside-down cake.

When we were in our Hawaiian Paradise a few weeks back (sigh—such a memory!), a mango upside-down cake that we were served caught my fancy and went on my cooking wish-list. Since right now we have more peaches than we do hairs on the head, I decided to spring for a peach version before I recreated the mango variety (which I fully intend to do down the road).

This recipe recommended making the cake in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet, into which you pour the mix and bake in the oven. My skillet is at our place at the lake and not at the ready, so I used my largest cake pan to house the batter. Things worked just as well. The recipe also calls for the seeds from 1 vanilla bean. I know this would have been delicious, but no time to round up a vanilla bean. One Internet site said an emergency sub is 2 teaspoons vanilla extract for 1 vanilla bean—a good suggestion.

The resulting dessert ended up being part of Hubby’s Father’s Day fare; he was happy to see the fresh peaches he hauled in off peach tree #4 being put to good use. The cake tumbled out cleverly from the cake pan. We plunked some sugar-free whipped topping on it and had ourselves a peachy good time.

Peach Upside-Down Cake

Parchment paper

4 medium peaches (about 1 1/2 pounds) unpeeled and cut into 1/3-inch-thick wedges

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1 large lemon)

1 cup cake flour (be sure to use cake flour and not self-rising)

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided (I used sugar substitute)

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature and divided

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 vanilla bean (or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract)

2 large eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

1/2 cup sour cream (I used fat-free)

sweetened whipped cream (or sugar-free whipped topping)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (This helps with cleanup.) Toss peaches with lemon juice. Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Cook 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, 10 minutes or until sugar melts and turns a deep amber color. Remove from heat. Immediately add 1/4 cup butter. Stir vigorously. Spread caramelized sugar to coat bottom of skillet evenly; sprinkle with brown sugar. Arrange peach wedges in concentric circles over sugar mixture, overlapping as needed. Split vanilla bean lengthwise; scrape out seeds into bowl of a heavy-duty electric stand mixer. Beat vanilla seeds and remaining 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup butter at medium speed until all is smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time; beat until blended after each addition. Add sour cream. Beat until blended. Gradually add sifted flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended; stop to scrape bowl as needed. Spoon batter over peaches in skillet; spread to cover. Place skillet on prepared baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until cake is golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in center emerges clean. Cool in skillet on a wire rack 10 minutes. Run a knife around edge to loosen. Carefully pour out any excess liquid (if you have any excess) from skillet into measuring cup and reserve. Carefully invert cake onto a serving plate; drizzle with any reserved liquid. Cool slightly (about 10 minutes). Using a serrated knife, cut cake into wedges. Top with whipped topping, if desired. Serve immediately. Makes 8 to 12 servings. (Source: Southern Living June 2012)

Spicy aromas greet as Peach Breakfast Dish bakes

I’m not sure which was the better part of this dish—actually consuming it on Father’s Day morning or the wonderful aroma that greeted us after it had baked in the slow-cooker overnight. Spicy waves permeated every corner of the house as we woke and were reminded of what was for breakfast.

Hubby’s holiday breakfast had to be a peach one, of course, since we’re harvesting peaches from our third of six trees (three more to go) in the back yard. Few cooking decisions are made these days that don’t involve using peaches in some way.

Fortunately great peach recipes are everywhere. An Internet search turned up this one for Slow-Cooker Peach Breakfast from mnn.com. As the blogger who wrote about it stated, the dish made a great breakfast but just as easily could be a dessert. We crowned it with sugar-free whipped topping. It lasted us throughout most of the week, as it made ample.

Slow-Cooker Peach Breakfast

2/3 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup buttermilk baking mix (I used heart-healthy Bisquick lowfat mix)

3/4 cup whole wheat buttermilk pancake mix (the recipe originator used Hodgson Mills brand)

4 eggs (or 1 cup egg substitute)

4 teaspoons vanilla

4 teaspoons melted butter

12-ounce can evaporated milk (I used fat-free)

8-10 peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Combine sugars and baking mixes. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add butter and milk. Mix well. Add peaches and cinnamon. Mix well. Pour into greased 6-quart slow cooker. Cover. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve warm. (Ours made 10-12 servings.)

The essence of summer: homemade Peach Cobbler

When I want to find the best of the best in terms of recipes, I have an inviolable source: the cookbook produced by my former compadre, Ann Criswell, the revered longtime food editor of the Houston Chronicle.

For several years I was privileged to work in an adjacent office cubby with Ann, so she was always available to answer my food questions and more than willing to share recipes. 

I have about three of hers that are absolute favorites; when peach cobblers are concerned, I head straight to her cookbook, The Food Chronicles, which features her most stellar recipes of 30 years in the business. She ran this one in her weekly food section in 1986.

This cobbler meets all the requirements: flaky, tender crust and sweet filling stuffed with chunky, delicious peaches—in this case, the produce of our trees, which just keep churnin’ ’em out.

Hill Country Peach Cobbler

2 - 2 1/2 cups sugar (or sugar substitute)

1/3 cup cornstarch

8 cups sliced fresh or frozen peaches

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 cup melted butter

purchased crust or your favorite recipe for a 2-crust pie

In a large bowl combine sugar and cornstarch. Add peaches; toss to coat. Stir in extract and butter. Pour filling into a buttered 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking dish. (I divided mine into two square baking dishes.) Cut dough for crust into strips. Crisscross dough strips over filling. Brush pastry with melted butter; sprinkle with sugar. Bake in 400-dgree oven 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Makes 10 to 12 servings.
(Source: Candy Wagner, author of Cooking Texas Style, with recipe appearing in the Houston Chronicle 8/13/1986).

Crepelike, fruity pancakes just peachy for our holiday morning

These actually turned out more like crepes than pancakes, but Hubby loved them—said the lightness (and thinness) of them made consumption seem less guilt-inducing than if he were ingesting a big ole thick flapjack.

Besides, tasting the flavorful chunks of peaches contained in the slim cake was easier that way.

This was our Memorial Day holiday morning breakfast—Sweet Peach Pancakes, inspired by a paen to peaches in the brand-new Southern Living issue. (Plenty of other gotta-try peach inspirations besides this one were contained therein. Expect to hear about them in future blogs.) This one contained a mixture of soft-wheat flour and cornmeal for the batter.

The peaches are hitting us so fast in our backyard orchard, I can hardly hatch up ideas fast enough. We’ve gifted sackloads of spare peaches to several friends, but the orange glow out my window from all those beautiful orbs still dangling from peach-tree branches is almost blinding. Beautiful peach crop this year!

Sweet Peach Pancakes

3/4 cup all-purpose soft-wheat flour

3/4 cup plain yellow cornmeal

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

2 large eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

butter for skillet or griddle 

canola oil for skillet or riddle 

3 medium peaches (about 1/4 pound) unpeeled and cut into 10 thin wedges (or 2 medium peaches, diced, may be substituted)

garnishes: sweetened whipped cream, syrup, fresh mint (I used diced peaches themselves)

In a large bowl sift together first 6 ingredients. In a medium bowl whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture; whisk just until combined. (If you are stirring in the diced peaches as a sub for the next step--placing sliced peaches on the griddle--add them at this time.) On a griddle or in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat melt a small amount of butter with oil. Place 3 peach wedges for each pancake on griddle; starting at outside edge of peach slices carefully pour 1/4 cup batter over each group of slices to form a circle. Cook pancakes 3 to 4 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look dry and cooked. Turn and cook other sides 2 to 3 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a baking sheet; keep warm in a 300-degree oven. Repeat procedure with remaining peach slices and batter. Add more butter and oil to griddle as needed.  Makes 10 pancakes. 

Not your same old enchilada—try this fun, funky peach breakfast recipe

My cousin, Lynda, reported to me that they were the subject of lots of chatter in her circles—Peach Enchiladas, featured in Southern Living’s bonanza of peach recipes last month. This recipe with the funky title piqued my curiosity. Peach and Enchiladas aren’t two words that one often sees together. But concerning peaches, ’tis the season. I had to try it.

Turns out, a Peach Enchilada was more like, as one proponent described them, “one big fried pie”. Refrigerated crescent rolls, with each triangle rolled out, were stuffed with peach slices (note: the more slices you can stuff in, the better, even if a few initially pop out of their stuffing.) A big challenge is that while baking, the refrigerated crescent-roll dough puffs up big-time and totally dominates the peach stuffing. If you don’t have enough peaches encased in the dough, you’ll end up having all “enchilada” (pastry) and no filling. So be undaunted where wrapping up those peaches is involved and stre-e-e-e-tch that dough to cover many.

Once these roll-ups are positioned on a baking sheet, then you brush a melted butter-sugar-cinnamon mixture over their tops. This is followed by dipping your pastry brush into a diet citrus-flavored soft drink (tested with diet Mountain Dew), basting the rolls in the liquid, and then baking.

SL reported that this quick and easy recipe won first place at the 2004 South Carolina State Cook-Off. It was quick and easy, all right; the inventive number made us some breakfast treats as well as dessert for several days. Not the same old enchilada, for sure!

Peach Enchiladas

2 (8-ounce) cans refrigerated crescent rolls

2 pounds fresh, firm ripe peaches, peeled and chopped (4 large peaches)

1 1/2 cups sugar (or sugar substitute)

1 cup butter melted

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 (12-ounce) can citrus-flavored soft drink

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll crescent rolls; separate into triangles. Place as many peach bits as you can possibly fit on the wide end of each triangle; roll up triangles around peaches. (Don’t skimp on the peaches here.) Start at wide end. Place point-sides down onto a lightly greased 13-by-9-inch pan or baking sheet. Stir together sugar, butter, and cinnamon; drizzle over rolls; pour soft drink over rolls. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 miutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Makes 16 servings.

You'll think you've really done something big when you bake these mini peach pies

One of the funnest things we ever do with our fresh peaches is to make Peach Mini Baked Pies. I love these tiny baked gems with their flaky pastry exterior and the delicious, juicy peach bites inside. A powdered-sugar glaze drizzled on top makes them truly seem as though they are tiny replicas of the larger version you’d get at a bakery. Best of all, they’re baked in the oven instead of fried in a pan. You can have them for dessert and jettison a lot of the guilt.

For this year's version I merged recipes from two different outlets—www.pickyourown.com and my Baylor alumni cookbook, Flavor Favorites!—as sources for this dish, almost an annual ritual when we bring in peaches from our garden (and we’re STILL bringing them in, with three peach trees left to ripen.)

The dough for the crust is formed from two cups of low-fat baking mix (I used Bisquick) with sugar, shortening, and milk blended in; then the dough is rolled out onto a floured pastry board and cut into 3-inch circles. (I used a cutter-crimper gadget that I once purchased at a Pampered Chef demonstration party.) The peach slices are laid onto half the circle; then the edges of the dough are folded over and sealed so that the pie semi-circles are formed. (My Pampered Chef crimper presses down to crimp the edges of the semi-circle together and seal them, or you can use your fingers to pinch them together and seal. Some people use the tines of a fork to further seal the edges and to make decorative indentations in the dough.)

Only one thing I’d do differently—lay more thinly sliced peaches onto the circle of dough before I sealed it up and crimped the edges. The recipe says to lay two fresh peach slices onto it; two seemed as though they would fill it up nicely, but when I baked it, the stuffing shrank and the exterior expanded. You had to search to find the peaches when you bit into the baked pie. I’d suggest doubling that amount and laying the equivalent of at least four thin slices down for the stuffing. In other words, get as many of the peach morsels as you possibly can in, even if you have to really STRETCH the edges to seal or even dice the peaches. Otherwise you may bite into nothingness and miss the whole point of the pies—to showcase those to-die-for peaches, the great treasures of summer.

Peach Mini Baked Pies

3-4 large fresh peaches, peeled and thinly sliced

2 cups fat-free baking mix (tested with low-fat Bisquick)

2 tablespoons sugar (or sugar substitute)

3 tablespoons shortening

2/3 cup skim milk

cinnamon

sugar (or sugar substitute)

enough powdered sugar to fill a 1-cup measure

skim milk or fat-free evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together 2 cups baking mix and 2 tablespoons sugar. With pastry cutter cut in 3 tablespoons shortening. Add 2/3 cup milk. Mix dough with fork. Turn dough onto a floured surface. Roll dough until it is about a 1/2-inch thickness. Brush dough with melted butter. Using round 3-inch cutter, cut dough into circles. Lay the equivalent of about 4 thin peach slices on top of each circle. Sprinkle peach slices with cinnamon and sugar (or sugar substitute). Fold tops of circles over to form semi-circles. Press or crimp edges together. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Makes about 16 mini pies. In small bowl mix sifted powdered sugar with enough milk to make a glaze that will drizzle from a spoon. Drizzle onto cooled mini pies. Allow glaze to become firm before you serve mini pies.

Fresh Peach Salsa atop grilled fish makes things cool, calm, and collected

An impressive entrée and a snap to make, especially with our this year’s peach abundance—that’s today’s featured recipe, Fresh Peach Salsa atop grilled tilapia. Peach pies, peach cobblers, peach jam . . . they’re down the road, for sure. But using those magnificent peaches to grace a main course—now that doesn’t happen every day.

This recipe can be put together in a flash—three small-to-medium peaches (peeled and cut into cubes), 1 tablespoon lime juice, 2 chopped green onions, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, and 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped, seeded jalapeno pepper, salt (or salt substitute), and pepper. I’m pleased to brag that the peaches, the green onions, and the jalapeno all were brought in from our garden. Next year I’d like to get some cilantro going, since I use it by the droves.

I have the website, www.fitwoman.com, to thank for this creation, which I served for dinner this past weekend. The recipe says the Fresh Peach Salsa also can be paired with grilled chicken or meat. I brushed the fish with a little olive oil and lime juice before I stretched it out on the grill.

This was pure delight—a light dinner that was perfect for the soaring temperatures. The Fresh Peach Salsa helped keep things, as Hubby likes to say, cool, calm, and collected.

Fresh Peach Salsa

3 peaches, peeled and cut into cubes

1 tablespoon lime juice

2 green onions, chopped (about 2 tablespoons)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped, seeded jalapeno pepper

salt (or salt substitute)

pepper

Mix all ingredients in a small bow. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Makes 4 servings. (Recipe can easily be doubled to be sure you have ample amounts of salsa to go atop the fish.)

Peaches and blueberries on a burger? You better believe it. Delicious!

With freshly painted toenails I was seated in the pedicurist’s chair when I saw it—a recipe for Turkey Burger with Peaches and Blueberries. Thumbing through a Better Homes and Gardens magazine while I waited for my toes to dry, I got so excited I almost leaped off the chair—wet toes and all—and flew home to try it.

Peaches and blueberries on a turkey burger? In my refrigerator are five huge plastic containers of peeled and chopped peaches—waiting for my planned weekend cook-a-thon to fold them into pies, cobblers, preserves, and other delicacies. Peaches I have. But the delight of this recipe is that it combined peaches with blueberries, another of my favorite things, as a topping and called for creating the burger by mixing chopped peaches with ground turkey and serving with Monterey Jack cheese on top. Would this actually work? Do people actually do things such as this? I had to see.

The recipe called for adding 1/4 teaspoon chili powder to 1/2 cup blueberries and three chopped peaches to make a burger topping that cooks until the fruit is tender. What would chili powder do to this fruit mixture? Furthermore it called for Monterey Jack cheese to be placed as a layer between the grilled burger and the fruit—atop a slice of toasted garlic bread. Whoa! An oddball assortment if one ever existed.

But it worked. The Southwest flavors of the Monterey Jack cheese, chili powder, and garlic in the bread served as a perfect counter for the sweetness of the fruit. Hubby said the fruit atop the thick bread reminded him of his growing-up mornings when his mother sent the kids off to school with steaming fruit (peaches, strawberries, or applesauce) over hot biscuits in their bellies.

Best of all the recipe was what BH&G touted it to be—30 minutes prep time start to finish—a good thing since my late-afternoon nails appointment made me a tad late getting home to start dinner.

2011 peach crop—I’m onto you with this, the first of many great concoctions from this year’s orchard yield.

Turkey Burger with Peaches and Blueberries

4 small peaches

1 pound ground turkey

salt (or salt substitute) and pepper

4 slices Monterey Jack cheese (I used shredded)

1/2 cup blueberries

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

4 thick slices roasted garlic country bread or garlic bread, toasted if desired

fresh mint

Finely chop one of the peaches; add ground turkey, salt (or salt substitute), and pepper. Shape into four 1/2-inch-thick patties. You may need to dampen your hands before you shape the burgers. Grill burgers directly over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until no pink remains (165-degrees F). Add cheese; cover and cook one minute more. Meanwhile coarsely chop remaining peaches; in a large skillet combine peaches with blueberries and 1/4 teaspoon chili powder. Cook fruit mixture, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 5 to 6 minutes or until heated through and the mixture begins to have juices form. Top each piece of garlic bread with one patty and some of the peach mixture. Add mint and additional chili powder. Makes 4 servings.