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.

No better way than these Peach Waffles to launch a busy weekend

If a better way is out there to kick off a summer weekend morning, I don’t know what it is. Peach Waffles encapsulate all that’s wonderful about the season. Fresh mini-chunks of peaches are folded into a fluffy waffle batter. The batter is cooked to a golden brown and then flipped onto a plate, where sugar-free maple syrup and (later) Peach Syrup (see a future blog) await.

Although I have some standby fave peach recipes, one of my goals for this peach season is to try some new peach delicacies. Peach Waffles was on that list. Fortunately in an Internet search I located one quickly—at mrbreakfast.com, by a blogger who perfects the art of preparing breakfasts and whose blog features nothing but absolutely terrific recipes for that first meal of the day.

We’re still hauling in by the bucketloads fresh peaches off our trees, so this weekend we staged a peach cook-a-thon. Did I even put a dent in the peach supply by preparing this and other recipes? Not hardly. In my future I see the packing of peaches to freeze as well as pulling down the canning jars and dusting off the peach jam recipe to put lots of these fresh-plucked jewels away for other days.

Whew! What a cook-a-thon weekend it was. Glad I had these waffles on Saturday morning to fortify me; they were good to the last peachy bite.

Peach Waffles

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

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

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1 cup milk (we use skim)

1 1/2 cups sliced peaches, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

In a large metal or glass bowl cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and beat until everything is well-mixed. In a separate bowl sift the flour with the baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture along with the milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Mix well. Fold in the peach pieces. Bake in a well-greased waffle iron according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Serve with your favorite syrup and with fresh peach slices on top. Makes 6 servings.