Peachy Keen!

Would you believe a pan of  Peach Enchiladas?

Oh yeah...when my beloved Southern Living magazine arrived last month with lots of peach based recipe I was heaven.

When I saw the recipe for Peach Enchiladas, I headed to the kitchen like a shot.

Darn near broke the sound barrier.

The recipe was touted as "This quick and easy recipe won first place at the 2004 South Carolina State Cook-Off in Columbia".

Award winning southern recipes never fail.

Here's the recipe:

2 (8 oz) cans refrigerated crescent rolls

2 lb. (roughly 4 large peaches) fresh, firm ripe peaches, cut in large quartered chunks

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 cup of butter melted. (It is a southern recipe, of course it calls for a full cup of butter!)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 (12 oz.) can of citrus flavored soft drink (Mt. Dew or Squirt for example)

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

Unroll crescent rolls and separate the triangles.

Place a peach chunk on the wide part of the triangle, then roll up the triangle around the peach.

(Don't worry if it is a bit sloppy...)

Place the roll up point side seam down in a lightly greased 13x9 inch pan.  The roll ups should be placed in rows; they will not fill up the pan but will expand during baking.

Stir together sugar,  melted butter, and cinnamon and then drizzle the mix over the rolls.

Pour entire can of soft drink over the rolls.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

As the southern expression goes: Shut my mouth!

No, DON'T shut my mouth.

I want to keep eating these yummies!

Now here's where you come in:  I am going to try making this same recipe with apples this fall.  

Question:  What flavor soft drink should be used for that recipe?

I can imagine a ginger ale, or an apple flavored soda, or maybe cherry coke or Cherry Dr Pepper. Maybe the slightly cinnamon flavored Big Red?  Maybe even just plain coke?

Any suggestions or arguments as to why one kind of soft drink flavor might be better than another?

Also: Any suggestions about other "fillings" that might be good...like maybe pears and a bit of blue cheese?  What flavor soda for that?  Hmmm...get your thinking caps on and let your wild side creative chef loose!

PS: Carefully watching Irene's path.  It has been a really interesting storm to watch during the past week.

First it looked like it was going to mess with my Florida friend's travels.  Then it looked like it was going to wallop South Carolina where my hubs is working for a bit. 

Now they say North Carolina...

no, make that NEW YORK CITY!!!!

(Repenting hourly for hoping Irene makes landfalls in Martha's Vineyard and sweeps a certain vacationing elected officials out to sea. Dear God...I am sorry for thinking that again...)

Expecting a huge squawk if it hits NYC. 

Expecting huge news coverage if it does.

Promising myself that if that happens I will not post chiding comments about how the press shrugged and was basically silent when Hurricane Ike took out Galveston and the 4th largest city in America (Houston) power for a full week just three years ago. 

We had just moved to SLC....leaving a freezer full of meat back in our Houston area home's freezer.  

Our house went without power with over 100 degree temps. 

It was over a week before the roads were cleared of fallen trees and a friend could drive over to see if our house was OK.

Try not to think about what she found when she got there. 

Just sayin' that if it looks like Irene has her sights set on your town, you just might want to start eating out of your freezer and fridge now, especially if you think you might have to evacuate, and have a good store of can goods at the ready.

On the other hand...maybe it will all just blow over and all that  will actually be needed is a recipe for a Hurricane so you can have a real good party instead!

Invite me!  I'll bringing the Peach Enchiladas if you do!

Vinegar

Question: Why would anyone want to make vinegar at home when it is so inexpensive to buy in the store?

Answer: Because the Sunday paper ran a column about how to do it way back in October when there were apples falling all around my neighborhood.

According to the recipe in the article, the vinegar making process was simple. I decided I would give it a try.

Basically all you have to do is randomly chop up apples and drop them into a clear container filled with filtered water. (No fussing either, the apple bits go in including skin, core, stem and seeds. Or just left over skin, core and stem if you want.)

A bit of cheesecloth or other breathable material goes over the jar opening.  More apple bits can be added right up until the time a whitish foam appears atop the fluid.

At the point the foam appears the jar is removed to someplace where it won't freeze or get too hot and is then left alone for about a month or two.  The bigger the apple chunks and the long the mix stews, the stronger the resulting vinegar will become. 



The whitish foam is called the "mother" and is a form of fermentation.
Whenever you feel the vinegar is at the level that you desire, the fluid is drained/strained off into another container and capped off.  The solid matter is disgarded. 

Again...why would anyone want to bother with this small task?
Well for one: the vinegar has an extra flavor that is quite tasty.
And then there are all the non-culinary purposes for vinegar use: It can be used for many things: an antiseptic, antibacterial and anti fungus fluid, useful for both for cleaning purposes and for wound care (diluted of course).  
A vinegar rinse is good for hair, great for removing hard water deposits on glass and metal, cleaning glass in general.
It also contains most of the essential vitamins and minerals needed for good health.
Just try looking up uses for vinegar and you will see that there are plenty of suggestions and ideas for vinegar usage to replace other chemical mixtures.

I guess I felt like I wanted to be a bit of a pioneer woman or perhaps a survivalist: if things ever get really bad, now I know I can stew up a batch of cleaning and antiseptic fluid and a multi vitamin resource just by using the apples that grow abundantly in my neighborhood. 

Naturally an apple grown without chemical spray is necessary...so watch carefully to be sure no toxic sprays have come around the apples that are used.

All it took was about 15 minutes, an old glass floral vase, some cheesecloth and about three good sized apples to make a quart of vinegar at home in a month. 

Want to see the article that inspired me?  Check it out HERE, the directions are written on the side bar.

So simple...I have to wonder why ever has vinegar making been kept such a big secret until now?

(Another tip: DO make a point of see The King's Speech.  Everything that you've heard or read about it is oh so right!)

This one will never be found on the MGCC blog.

Have you ever heard of "Italian Wedding Soup"?

It is a pretty well known soup; almost every soup cook book includes a recipe for the it. The recipe frequently includes bread, onions, various meat balls, there are minor variations, but the recipe is always carefully documented.

Sort of like a wedding: Every wedding is a little different, but in the end the event is officially documented.

Tonight I made the lesser known variation of the soup, the one no proper Christian cooking blog would ever dare to post.

I made what I call an "Italian One Night Stand Soup".

Italian One Night Stand Soup, (unlike an Italian Wedding Soup), is not a documented recipe.

It just sort of "happens"...one thing kind of leads to another, and there's lots of things involved, spice, a glass of wine, some oil, a ripe tomato and oh yes, a sausage.

Exactly how did the Italian One Night Stand Soup all come together?

Who can really say?

Let's just say as I peered into my food storage and freezer, some things just caught my eye.

I flirted with them, trying to decide what to do with them.

Then I just got carried away.

There was V-8 juice

Beef Stock

Red Italian wine

Parmesan cheese

Peppers (bell, black, and red)

Italian sausages

Top Ramen noodles (yeah, a one night stand tends to involve odd cultural mixes I hear.)

Sun Dried Tomatoes

Garlic

Onion

Cabbage

Mixed vegetables.

Butter

Olive Oil

Oregano and Basil.

And then, of course, it was cooked for one full night.

Well, like most one night stands, it turned out hot and memorable, but I promise it will never happen again.

It couldn't possibly happen again.

In fact, if asked about Italian One Night Stand Soup, I plan to smile my best Mona Lisa smile, raise my eyebrows, and deny that I know any thing about it.

How could I?

After all...I'm really not an Italian, nor have I ever actually had a one night stand!

About once every ten years....

My mom and I used to make Rosette cookies at Christmas time.

The batter: Nothing could be simpler.

If your food budget it tight and you need to make a treat, you won't find a less expensive way to make a few dozen cookie!

Of course the recipe could be "switched up" but we always stuck with the traditional milk/egg/flour mix.

While I am taking some vacation time over the holidays, I'm revisiting a few memorable recipes from my life.

A snowy day, time alone, and Christmas music inspires me to get baking and messing about in the kitchen

If you've never made the treat before, here is how it goes.

The cast iron form is screwed onto a handle. There are at least sixty different styles of molds to collect if you are interested. I have this star shape, a rose window shape, a butterfly and a heart which makes a quarter cup shape suitable for fillings.

The form is dipped in hot oil for a few moments to heat up...

Then dipped into the batter being careful not to have the batter flow over the top edge.

For the batter I used two eggs, 1 and 1/3 cup of half and half, one cup of flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, cinnamon, and clove and a teaspoon of sugar this time.

The batter coated form is plunged into the hot oil.

About a half a minute wait....and the batter begins to separate from the form.
A dull knife can be used to ease off any batter parts that clings to the form.

The form cooks a few more moments to brown, then is flipped to cook the underside.

Then it is fished out VERY gently with tongs.

Drain the hot cookies on some paper towels....they are as fragile as butterfly wings at this point.

Sprinkle with sugar.

(Outside the snow was falling like the finest of sugar...I thought the world looked like I had gotten carried away with the sprinkling process! I had to take a picture to show how fine the snow was on our deck railing.)

A nice collection of snowflake cookies.

I pack them in an air tight bowl, and freeze them.

They will last several weeks, and taste their absolute best re-heated and served with a hot drink like cocoa, coffee or spiced apple cider.

(BEHIND THE SCENE: Just so you know...while it is "easy" to make Rosettes, in the same way that pancake making is easy, they still can be a bit tricky. The first few tend to stick to the form, and it can be rather aggravating to have to scrape a form clear and start again.

While I was growing up, one of the moms in our neighborhood noted that kids were like pancakes...the first couple you make are usually messed up and the kids and pancakes turn out better after the first few.

Being a second child myself, this flattering observation has stuck with me.

Having two kids of my own...hmmm...I wonder what the rest of my "batch" might have looked like if there had been more than two attempts.

Anyway...getting past my neighbor's winsome thought...it does help to let all batters like pancakes and these cookies sit for awhile before cooking. The flour particles take a bit of time to fully absorb the fluid, and that is why these sort of things get better with each attempt.

It also helps to have an attention span longer than a gnats...once the rosette is off the form and frying up, you can not wander off to do whatever catches your attention unless you enjoy burnt black forms.

It is also necessary not to do the math to figure out how much each rosette would cost to make if your current rate of pay at work was applied.

You must not think about how many of your family and friends will avoid a fried food.

You must resist eating ALL the rosettes that shatter.

You must resist eating each rosette as soon as it is sugared. (This is why I suggest freezing them...it will slow the mindless munch process down considerably by doing so.)

If you have a friend who gives you rosettes, know that it was a labor of love that she is giving you.

Either that, or she has lost her mind.

Making a loaf of banana bread or a tin of fudge would have taken her half the time. There has got to be a happier way to spend an hour of one's life than dipping batter into boiling hot oil at Christmas time.)

Have you ever seen a lassi....

Two requests of Laura's Papaya Lassi recipe! Wow!

Well, truth be told, she is just like me, and rarely uses an actual recipe. Lassi is a yogurt based drink from India. It is popular there both as a cooling drink and as a digestive aid, and is made with many variations. Lately we have just been hooked on the Mango version.

Mango Lassi

Ingredients:

3 cup plain yogurt (fat free is a great option, still tastes great!)
1 cup milk (whole, low, non-fat, whatever you've got...)
1 cup water (we prefer to use canned mango juice instead.)
1 cup mango pulp (good and ripe...)
1/4 cup sugar (or more if you want it sweeter, less for more tart.)
Dash salt
1 cup of ice

Whirl all of the above in a blender until smooth. OR if you are without a blender, stir everything except the ice together, then pour the mix over ice. We usually forget the salt...still tastes good.

I like to add a very fine light sprinkle of cardamon to the top for an exotic flavor; Laura likes finely crushed pistachios.

But wait...there's more!

Rosewater Lassi is a really unique flavored version.

2 cups yogurt or buttermilk
2 cups water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon rose water.

Garnish with a rose petal.

I'm also a big fan of Cucumber Lassi for when I am burned out on sweet flavors:

1 cup plain yogurt
1 1/2 cup milk
1 medium cucumber, skin and seeds removed
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried mint leaves, or a two teaspoons of fresh fresh mint
2 cubes ice cubes (more or less..)

Whirl in blender until smooth, makes one quart.

Obviously once you get thinking about it, you can come up with your own versions: Avocados with lime, pepper and garlic powder...strawberry.... bananas...cantaloupe...

As an added bonus: Do you remember drinking Orange Julius as a kid when you went to your local mall? French Vanilla coffee creamer added to fresh orange juice and whirled with ice will give you a beverage that is a dead ringer for the original drink. I just start with a tablespoon of creamer to a cup of juice, and regular orange juice works pretty good too. If you liked Strawberry Julius, just use strawberry juice.

I'm being summoned for a Scrabble game...gotta go...

Celebrations Southern Salad

One of the best things about living in the South is Southern cooking. While rarely as stylish as California cuisine, with it's "baby this" and strange sounding "on a bed of that", Southern cooking instead relies on delicious "may I have another helping please?" taste.

Since moving to Texas from California nine years ago, I have enjoyed finding new Southern style recipes each month in a regional publication called Southern Living

Their recipes are consistently easy and delicious. I quickly learned I could trust the Southern Living test kitchen to provide winner recipes for my table.

The magazine's July issue arrived here early in June. On the cover was the picture that is on the top of this post. It took me a second to register what was in that side dish/salad:

Watermelon and tomato.

Huh?

I kept looking at it, and the recipe, trying to image those two flavors together.

I couldn't.

But I knew this magazine always publishes fantastic recipes, so I decided to give it a try.

Here's the ingredients:

Tomato-and-Watermelon Salad

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Prep: 20 min., Stand : 15 min.

Chill: 2 hr.

Recipe adapted from Seasoned in the South: Recipes From Crook's Corner and From Home by Bill Smith

SL June 2007

5 cups (3/4 inch) seeded watermelon cubes

1 1/2 lb ripe tomatoes, cute into 3/4 inch cubes

3 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 small red onion, quartered and thinly sliced

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Romaine lettuce leaves (optional)

Cracked pepper to taste

1. Combine watermelon and tomato in a large bowl; sprinkle with sugar and salt, tossing to coat. Let stand 15 minutes.

2. Stir in onion, vinegar, and oil. Cover and chill 2 hours. Serve chilled with lettuce leaves, if desired. Sprinkle with cracked pepper to taste.

I chopped up a bowl full last Sunday, and it didn't last long. The flavors melded in a new taste sensation, a lively crispy chilled refresher salad, perfect for supper on a warm summer day.

Since currently I am on a goat cheese kick, I even tried some of that on one serving. It was good too, but the original recipe really needs no additions. It has plenty of "wow!" as it stands.

Well, I know the Canada crew will be partying on Sunday, and the USA gang next Wednesday. Around here, we always try to incorporate red, white and blue into our Independence Day meal plans. This salad would certainly do the trick!

And if I were a Canadian, I would be digging out some tiny maple leaf cookie cutters and watermelon maple leaves would be substituting for the unimaginative cube shapes.

How cute would that be?

And come to think of it, maybe I can use my Christmas bell shaped cookie cutters to make Liberty Bell cut-outs for us.

I wanted to give everyone the recipe early enough to sneak in a half recipe test run. It does sound weird combining watermelon and tomatoes, not to mention red onion and vinegar.

But trust me, like I trusted Southern Living magazine, and give it a try.

I think you will be please.

Happy Celebrations!