I started a new job last week which I’m absolutely loving. Problem is, I forgot how exhausting a new job is — Having your mind ON constantly to absorb everything, meeting a million new people and trying to remember their names, figuring out what in the world you’re doing. Throw in the fact that in general, my new job is far more demanding than my last job, I’m trying to figure out a balance between life and work.

We love gnocchi especially for a quick & easy weeknight dinner! Homemade is definitely better, but there is some good shelf-stable gnocchi out there which is super handy to have on hand since gnocchi boils in about 2 minutes. This recipe is our go to favorite. We eat it without spinach too if I don’t have any. I’ve tried it with peas which is okay but the spinach is definitely better. Garlicky goodness.

Garlic Chicken & Spinach Gnocchi

1 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced
1 (17.5-ounce) package shelf-stable gnocchi
2 large cloves garlic, minced (~1 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (or more to taste)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 – 3/4 cup chopped spinach

Cook the gnocchi according to directions. Meanwhile, heat ~1 teaspoon of olive oil and add diced chicken in a large skillet over medium heat, until lightly browned. Add minced garlic and cook until softened & fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Add remaining olive oil (~2 teaspoons), butter, drained gnocchi, salt & pepper. Cook until gnocchi are golden brown on the bottoms. Use a spatula to flip the gnocchi. Add the spinach, tossing frequently, until the spinach is wilted, about 3 minutes. Serve hot.

Hubby is a flight instructor which means he’s always got a flow of students coming & going. Most are local but sometimes he gets international students. Recently, he had two students from France who were here for six weeks. We gladly took the opportunity to show them some good old Texas / Southern cuisine, which included cornbread. We couldn’t let them leave without trying cornbread because it really is just fabulous. I love love love sweet cornbread.

I already have a go-to cornbread recipe that took me a couple years to find so I didn’t go into this one expecting too much. But not surprisingly, I really enjoyed this recipe. Hubby is anti-corn in this cornbread so I usually make it without but followed the recipe this time and included some fresh corn which adds a bit of extra sweetness. These are perfectly sweet and buttery tasting. I usually like a little extra butter slathered on my cornbread but did without for these.  The recipe says it yields 2 dozen muffins, but I got 2.5 dozen out of mine.

Head over to Amanda’s blog, Fake Ginger, for the full recipe. Thanks Amanda for a great choice!

This week was my turn to host Project Pastry Queen. Its hard choosing a recipe from a cookbook where every recipe looks and sounds fantastic, especially as we continue to try more recipes and learn that Rebecca’s recipes are in fact just as tasty as they look and sound! There are some caramel brownies in the cookbook that I am dying to make but the end of summer is approaching (wishful thinking?), so I decided to make a practical recipe choice — Watermelon Lemonade. Locating watermelon in a few months will be tricky so I figured now would be a good time to try this one out!

I honestly didn’t read the recipe until after I picked it out. I assumed there would be watermelon puree but there’s not. Its basically a regular lemonade recipe with lots of chunks of fruit although the watermelon does break down the longer it sits! I served it immediately and ended up loading up my glass with at least 1/2 cup of watermelon and eating/sipping my lemonade with a spoon! Its delicious… a perfect summer beverage!!

Watermelon Lemonade
Yields: 12 servings

Sugar Syrup:
2 cups water
2 cups sugar

Lemonade:
2 cups water
2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
4 cups ice cubes
2 cups diced watermelon
Mixed diced fruit of your choice (such as apples, pears or strawberries)
1 orange, preferably organic, sliced into rounds
1 lemon, preferably organic, sliced into rounds
1 lime, preferably organic, sliced into rounds

To make sugar syrup: Combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Turn the heat to medium-high and boil for 10 minutes. If you are planning to make the lemonade immediately, place 2 cups of the sugar water in the freezer or refrigerator while you do the rest of the prep. (The recipe makes about 2 cups syrup. When stored in a tightly sealed glass jar, sugar syrup keeps indefinitely in the refrigerator).

To make the lemonade: Mix 2 cups of sugar syrup, watermelon, lemon juice, and lime juice in a big bowl or pitcher. Add the ice cubes, diced watermelon and other fruit. Add the orange, lemon, and lime rounds. Stir well and chill until icy cold.

Source: The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather

This recipe comes to you courtesy of my friend, Jill of Baby Rabies. She just got back from BlogHer; But back when she first started planning for BlogHer she found a restaurant in NY that she really wanted to go to for the purpose of Frito Pie. I told her it was a shame that she was going all the way from Texas to NY for Frito Pie!! haha. By the way, Jill, did you actually go get some Frito pie?? Anyway, I just could not get Frito Pie out of my head after that. My cravings for foods will go on for weeks. Most people seem to forget their cravings after a few days, but not me. Weeks and even months can be spent dreaming of certain foods. So I spent weeks dreaming of Fall Weather & camping so that I’d have an excuse to make some Frito Pie. But who can wait, and why do I need an excuse for frito pie?? I came up with an excuse anyway. Hubby was scheduled to go camping a few weekends ago while I was away at girls’ weekend with my cousins (I don’t camp when its 100 degrees outside. Its not good for my marriage. ha!) Anyway, I said scheduled because his truck broke down 1.5 hours away from home (& 3 hours from where I was which ended up cutting my girls’ weekend short). Two days and $500 later, he was without camping trip and a grumpy fellow. But he’s headed back for attempt #2 this weekend and he will be taking leftover frozen chili & fritos to make some frito pie.

Really, you can use any chili recipe you please for Frito pie. I modified my Texas Chili recipe to utilize ground beef and I changed the spices a little bit. Not a fan of beans? Leave them out. I however am generally a fan of beans so into my chili they go! The formula for frito pie is simple: fritos & chili + toppings of choice. Cheese is a must; everything else is just icing on the cake. You can even buy smaller bags of fritos and just dump the chili & toppings right into the bag! Delish!

Frito Pie

Chili:
1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
1 can Rotel (diced tomatoes with green chiles)
1/2 c beef broth
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 large gloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp ancho chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cocoa powder
1 Tbsp tomato paste
Salt & Black pepper to taste
1 (15 oz) cans beans, drained (optional)

Frito Pie:
4 cups of Fritos
4 cups of chili
Garnish as desired: shredded cheese, onion, sour cream, jalapenos, etc.

To make chili: In a large dutch oven, add ground beef. Season with salt & freshly ground black pepper. Stir occasionally, until browned (drain excess fat if desired). Over medium heat, add onions & garlic and saute, stirring occasionally until softened and aromatic. Add the chili powder, cumin, oregano, paprika, Rotel, cocoa powder,  tomato paste and beef broth. Bring to a low boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour, or longer (add beef broth if needed). If desired, add drained beans and allow to simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Season with salt & pepper as desired.

For Frito Pie: For each frito pie, spoon one cup of chili over one cup of Fritos. Garnish as desired — we like shredded cheddar & diced onions.

Its really hot this summer. Technically its not as hot as it was last summer, but somehow it seems worse this year or I’m becoming a bigger and bigger wimp. You’d think that being born & raised in Texas would mean that I have some sort of tolerance from the heat but no! One of the best ways to cool down is a bit of ice cream. I’ve mentioned before that sherbet is my new summer go-to. Not as bad for you as ice cream but fruity with some fabulous creaminess. One of my priorities for this summer was to find/create a perfect orange cream sherbet. This is it. We love love love this recipe. You can use grocery store orange juice. Its still good but fresh squeezed is worth the effort Enjoy!

Orange Cream Sherbet

1 Tbsp grated orange zest from 1 to 2 oranges
1/2 – 3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp kosher salt
2 cups fresh-squeezed orange juice, ~ 2 to 3 pounds oranges
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole milk

In the bowl of a food processor or a blender, combine all of the ingredients except the milk, and process until the sugar is dissolved, approximately 1 minute. Transfer this mixture to a mixing bowl, and whisk in the milk. Cover the bowl, and place in the refrigerator until the mixture reaches 40°F or below, approximately 1 hour.

When mixture is thoroughly chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Serve immediately or transfer to storage container; press plastic wrap against surface of sherbet & freeze until firm. To serve, let stand at room temperature until softly softened.

Source: Adapted from Alton Brown

For now, head over to Tara’s blog for the recipe!

Check out the other recipes we’ve already cooked up thus far:

Peach Jam Scones

Creme Brulee French Toast

Fried (or Baked) Pies

Kolaches

…and stay tuned cause I’m hosting next week and Watermelon Lemonade is on the menu!

I was really excited when Josie chose Peach Jam Scones for this week’s recipe. You see, when Shawnda and I went to Rebecca’s cooking class in Austin, she actually made this recipe for us and it was really good! I only took a bite during class & took the rest home to share & of course that meant it disappeared quickly and I’ve been craving more since!

Rebecca made a confession in that class: she never ever uses a food processor for this kind of stuff. She was advised to adapt the recipes using something like a food processor so her recipes were more friendly for the home cook but she actually does it all by hand; she likes the feel of the dough and insists its the only way to do it. Depending upon my mood, I like to work with dough by hand as well but sometimes I just don’t want to be messy. The recipe below is written for a food processor, but you can definitely mix it all up by hand in a bowl. You want to use really light hands though to keep from over working the dough and handle it as little as possible so the butter doesn’t melt. Since I have warm hands, I use a pastry cutter instead of using my hands & I chill the scones for 10-15 minutes before putting in the oven. Unless you’ve got company coming, I’d recommend at least halving the recipe (I actually made 1/3 of the original recipe) and/or freezing unbaked scones for later use!

Peach Jam Scones
Yields 8 very large scones

6 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled
1 1/2 – 2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup high quality peach jam
3 fresh peaches, pitted & sliced (or a 8 oz. pkg frozen peaches, defrosted & drained)

Preheat oven to 425°F. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process the flour, 1 cup of sugar, the baking powder and salt for about 30 seconds. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and add it to the flour mixture. Pulse about 15 times, until the butter-flour mixture is crumbly. With the processor running, slowly pour 1 1/2 cups buttermilk through the feed tube. Stop the processor as soon as the buttermilk has been added. If the dough has begun to stick together in a ball, remove it. Otherwise, add buttermilk a Tablespoon at a time and pulse until dough begins to clump up and form a ball.

Place the dough on a lightly floured flat surface. Pat dough into a 1/4-inch-thick rectangle, about 12×10 inches. Spread a thin layer of jam length-wise over half the dough and arrange the peach slices in a single layer on top of the jam. Fold the plain dough over the peaches making a 12 by 5-inch rectangle with the jam & peaches inside. Cut into 8 triangles and sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar.

Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Source: The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather

I’ve been bad lately in terms of my eating habits. I’ve been eating everything in sight and not particularly in moderation. Ice cream? Scones? Cookies? Yes please! Have you noticed?? Lots of baking recipes lately! With all the guilt that’s come along with all that bad eating… I decided to make something healthy! Cookies! ha! Ok, I decided to bake something to make me feel a little less guilty. Wheat flour? Check. Fruit? Check. Equation for healthy right?

These are great cookies! Half scone/half cookie, buttery but not too sweet with a bit of peachy goodness. Summer perfection! And if you’re not sick of peaches already, stay tuned cause there are even more peach recipes coming your way! But for today, I’m gonna take a moment to participate in a little Getting to Know You exercise. Branny recently tagged me recently and I decided to actually participate!  I spend a lot of time talking about food and food related things and not that much time talking about myself so here are some tidbits for you:

1. What was on your To-Do list today? Since I’m actually writing this post Tuesday night, I’ll tell you what’s on my to do list for tomorrow: Buy frames for new office prints, Order photo mats for new prints, Laundry, Bible Study.
2. Five Snacks you enjoy: (1) Goldfish, (2) Strawberries with Vanilla Sugar, (3) Butter Popcorn, (4) Chocolate anything, (5) Chips & Salsa.
3. Five Places you have lived: (1) My parents’ home in Austin, Texas (2) College Dorms at Texas A&M University (3) My first apartment living alone in Austin, Texas (4) Singapore, kinda. I was there for 9 months but that was broken up among 4 trips but we had an apartment (5) Our first home!
4. What were you doing 5 years ago: I was graduating from college (WHOOP!), starting my first job, moving into an apartment by myself (first time living alone), getting a proposal from my wonderful sweetheart and starting wedding planning (which was a whirlwind since we got engaged Sept 17 and got married Jan 6! Not much time to plan!)
5.  Five things you would do if you were a billionaire: (1) Travel. A lot. (2) Build my dream house complete with my fabulous gourmet kitchen (3) Give to charity/Start a non-profit (4) Take care of friends/family (5) Have a big family.

I’d love to know a little more about you, my wonderful loyal reader, take a stab at a question or two or all of them if you’re ambitious!

Wheat Peach Shortcake Cookies

2 cups pitted & roughly chopped, ripe peaches
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse salt
6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup half-and-half

Preheat the oven to 375°F and line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper. Toss the peaches with 1 tablespoons of sugar and set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub it between your fingers (or mix with a pastry blender) until it looks like coarse crumbs. Gently stir in the half-and-half, followed by the peaches.

Scoop up about 2 tablespoons of dough and drop onto prepared baking sheet(s). Repeat with remaining dough, spacing the cookies about 2″ apart. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until beginning to brown on the edges. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Best served immediately, but can be stored at room temperature for up to 1 day.

Source: Adapted from Martha Stewart as seen on Cate’s World Kitchen

I have an egg intolerance. It sucks. I didn’t always have an intolerance for eggs, but its developed over the last few years. I’ve been tested and I’m not allergic so I can eat eggs but its not good. I feel sick for hours/days depending upon the quantity. The exception seems to be baked goods where eggs are not a major ingredient such as cookies. French toast is not one of those exceptions though. I considered skipping out on this week’s project but decided hubby would love this dish so I went ahead and fixed it (and tasted a couple bites cause I couldn’t resist). Rebecca wasn’t kidding when she said this dish was very rich; we definitely thought it was more bread pudding/dessert-ish than breakfast-ish. It was just so incredibly rich (and I used half-and-half instead of cream) that none of us could eat very much of it; not that I could anyway because of the egg content.

This post comes with a warning: Learn how to use your broiler. I’ve only used the broiler in our house once before. I have a double oven. Sounds amazing right? Except not. The top one which is tiny is where my broiler is located and its never heated properly. I actually thought it wasn’t on (why is there no visible flame with my gas broiler??) and walked and away and this was the result! The sugar definitely didn’t get all caramelized and pretty. I snapped a picture quickly with the intent of making another batch of french toast for a better photo but decided I’d keep it real

I’m not perfect in the kitchen. I burn stuff. I have failures for sure. But if they’re edible, we don’t stop ourselves from digging in. A few pieces were too crisp/burnt for eating, but we actually preferred the top crisp layer to the bottom softer layers. Definitely smoosh those layers down if you give this recipe a try; mine was too uneven which is what yielded the burnt tops + unmelted sugar. I’d highly recommend using a torch if you’ve got it!

Despite the burnt parts, we did enjoy this recipe. It also gave me a chance to try my hand at homemade Challah (a recipe to be posted another time). Definitely grab a glass of milk for this one and be sure to check out everyone else‘s results for this week’s Project Pastry Queen project! Oh and special thanks to Shawnda for choosing this week’s recipe!

Overnight Creme Brulee French Toast
Yields: 8-10 Servings

1 large loaf of challah
8 large egg yolks
4 cups heavy whipping cream or half-and-half
3/4 cup plus 3-4 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup pure vanilla extract
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Grease a 2 1/2-quart-oven-safe casserole or souffle dish. Slice the challah into 1/2-inch slices, then into cuves. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks, cream, 3/4 cup sugar, salt, vanilla & butter. Put a quarter of the bread cubes in the casserole dish. Pour in enough of the cream mixture to cover the bread. Using a spoon, press the cream mixture into the bread so that it is thoroughly soaked.  Continue layering in the same way until all the bread is soaked with the cream mixture. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat 325°F. Put the casserole in a larger baking pan and set in the oven. Pour enough boiling water into the larger pan to reach halfway up the sides of the casserole/souffle dish. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, until the top is light brown and set.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with 3-4 Tablespoons of sugar in an even layer. Return to oven with broiler set on medium-high, or a kitchen torch to cook the topping until the sugar becomes brown and liquefies. (It will harden as it cools). Serve warm.

Source: The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather

Peaches, peaches, peaches. I’ve definitely been eating/using a lot of peaches lately. I have several other posts involving fresh peaches that I haven’t gotten around to writing up yet that will soon make their appearance! Actually I have a huge backlog of posts in general right now that I need to catch up on. I’m trying desperately to catch up! Anyway, with the abundance of peaches around these parts — I’ve been baking up all sorts of peach goodness and these muffins just might be my favorite of the season (well the peach kolaches might win out) but these run a close second! Go whip up a batch with those peaches sitting on your counter!

While you’re waiting for these glorious peach muffins to come out of the oven, you can read my results from the 7 link challenge from ProBlogger. I noticed that Chelle & Jenn both participated this week and thought I’d give it a try as well! I did a little bit of tweaking to the original questions posed like Chelle did, so here we are:

1. Your first post – Confession: I’ve deleted most of the early posts from my beginning days of blogging. You see, when I started blogging about food/recipes it was a way to share recipes with a small handful of friends. I didn’t even know REAL food blogs existed. Pictures of food to go along with the recipes, what?? With that in mind, the oldest post I left on the blog cause the recipe was too good to delete: Chicken Tortilla Soup. Don’t worry, I’ll be revisiting that one this fall/winter with actual photos.
2. A post you enjoyed writing the most — Natural Pumpkin & Peanut Butter Dog Treats cause I was soooo excited about our new pup (and geez was she skinny when we got her!). Actually that excitement and love still exists over a year later. She really is the best dog ever! (p.s. there are more dog treat recipes here in case you’re smitten with your dog like I am!)
3. A post which had a great discussion – Menu Planning 101. It’s interesting to see how everyone approaches menu planning!
4. A post with a recipe from someone else’s blog – Light Brioche Burger Buns by Smitten Kitchen. They really are fabulous. I’m hooked on these for burgers.
5. A post with a title that you are proud of – I actually never use creative titles! Does that mean I’m a horribly boring blogger?! I figure you’re coming here for recipes so I just want it to be easy and you know what you’re getting into But since this is a 7 LINK challenge I should link to something so I’m going to go with a recipe with a “unique” name… Ally’s Cookies (aka No-Bake Cookies).
6. A post that you wish more people had read – I had to think about this one for quite awhile but finally decide on Texas Chili (or not). Most of my self developed recipes go through several rounds of testing but this Chili took two years of refinement. Its perfect for us and I love my chili. I’m still super proud that hubby loves it since he didn’t think I’d ever be able to match/beat his dad’s!
7. Your most visited post ever — Of all time: Salmon & Asparagus Pasta (clearly a post from the old days with the fabulous photo! :: sarcasm ::). Since relocating to my own domain last year: Creamy Taco Mac. Maybe I need to blog about pasta more??

And seriously, if you haven’t gotten up yet to get those peaches off the counter and make these… do it!! Oh and you love streusel, consider doubling the recipe. I was trying to be healthy and not go overboard (haha)!

Peach Muffins with Streusel Topping
Yields: 18 muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 c plain lowfat yogurt
2 large eggs
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted & cooled
3 Tbsp milk
1 1/2 cups peaches, pitted & chopped

Streusel:
2/3 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/3 cup flour
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Coat 18 muffin tins with vegetable oil spray or line cups using liners.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the yogurt and eggs together. Gently fold the yogurt-egg mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in the melted butter and chopped peaches. Use a large ice-cream scoop to divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Prepare Streusel: In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour,  and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in pecans.

Sprinkle topping evenly over muffin batter. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffins comes out clean, approximately 25-30 minutes.

Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then flip out onto a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Best served same day.