Peaches and Cream Pie

 We made some new friends and took a trip out to Hollins Farm to pick peaches, cucumbers, green peppers and some potatoes.

I've been reading tons of canning and preserving books lately, and feel an obsession with getting fresh fruits and veggies, but with just the two of us we can only make it through so much.

I was looking for at least one dessert with peaches, I'm not a huge fan of cobblers and crisps, because I love, love, love pie crust. I decided on peaches and cream pie from Cook's Country.

I then had to wait, patiently for the peaches to ripen. I may or may not have eaten a couple waiting for optimal ripeness. Here they are in their naked glory. I dunked them in a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, then in an ice bath for 10 seconds and the skin just fell off. Minus one peach, which I hand peeled and then just ate.

Here's the final product, which was so delicious I had to eat it for breakfast!

Although the recipe called for 2 lbs of peaches, I think I should of baked up some more. Mostly because I couldn't get them off of the stone. Which resulted in some pretty mashed up looking halves, which you then roast in a 300 degree oven with about 2 tbsp of sugar. Although that part didn't quite work for me, all the sugar dripped off the peaches and made a huge burnt mess on and under the foil. I was getting worried I didn't have enough peaches and that the lack of sugar would screw up the recipe but in the end, it was probably one of the best pies I've ever had. There's less than 1/2 a pie left, and I can guarantee it won't make it past the weekend.

Almost the New Year!!!

I'm so happy 2013 is over, it was a year of hardships and not my favorite so far, so when the new year came around I was so happy. I know however that this past lunar year has been hard on my dad's family and I'm very grateful that it is also coming to an end. I'm looking forward to both new years, no matter how silly it is I enjoy the promise of new beginnings. With that in mind we've got some fun activities brewing around us, I also can't help but feel so giddy at the thought of spring coming soon, well soonish. 

The Chocolate Lovers Festival in Fairfax, Virginia http://www.chocolatefestival.net/

The Vietnamese New Year celebration http://www.edencenter.com/

Not sure if we'll go downtown to see the big parade but it's nice to know there is a good amount of celebrating in the region http://washington.cbslocal.com/top-lists/best-ways-to-celebrate-lunar-new-year-in-washington-d-c/

Happy New Year!

Chicken Francese - ATK

Chicken Francese on page 304 of ATK's complete cookbook 2013.

Although my boyfriend loved the dish I thought it was way too lemony, he wolfed it down. I served with spaghetti and roasted brussel sprouts pg 794, which almost burned, so I still need to figure out my oven.

Here is the recipe on another website, since I'm not sure I have permission to publish these I'll refrain from doing so, but the only difference was that I used my leftover tenderloins instead of breasts, which made it extra tender.

Smile

Strawberrry Cream Cake - ATK

This was by far the best cake I've ever made. 

   It was the best birthday cake ever. 

 Soooo very yummy!

 Next time it will be much prettier. 

There is another recipe, so we'll have to compare, it's pretty similar Strawberry Cream Cake- Genoise and Cream filling

Pork Medallions - ATK Recipe

These pork medallions with maple mustard sauce, so good, we paired them with glazed carrots and roasted asparagus. It was so good, all three recipes were delicious, the only thing I would do different is to make the carrots slightly less sweet. This wasn't the fastest recipe but definitely one of the best.

Rachael Ray- Satay Sliders

I love Rachael Ray, there I said it, some people hate her voice and her recipes, but I can't get enough. I try to catch her every day on her talk show, am subscribed to her magazine and have recently started checking out her cookbooks. So although I read her magazine cover to cover multiple times I haven't really taken the time to try out her recipes. I decided to start flipping through some old issues and came across satay sliders. Here is the original recipe Satay Sliders.

The only difference was that I pickled some carrots in a little bit of warm vinegar and sugar to use as a topping. We got some tiny dinner rolls and toasted them up, it was so very delicious. They reheated very well with a little water and they stayed moist. The best part of the recipe was how quick and how flavorful it was, definitely will make me try out many of her other recipes.