Day 31: Peach Pomegranate Crisp

Yield: 4 people
Time (Start to Finish): 45 min

Ingredients:
4 ripe peaches
½ lemon, juiced
1 lemon zested
¾ cup pomegranate seeds

¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup flour
½ cup oats
1/3 cup butter, soft
1 tsp cinnamon
¾ tsp nutmeg
½ cup walnuts

mascarpone

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Peel peaches and cut into slices and mix with lemon zest, juice, and pomegranate, and put into a 8 inch square casserole until it comes to almost filled, maybe half an inch from the top.
3. In another bowl, place all other ingredients and mix with hand until forms dough.
4. Crumble dough onto the top of the crisp covering all the exposed fruit.
5. Bake for 25 min or until knife goes easily into fruit and the top is a little brown.
6. Serve with mascarpone cream or whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!

Rating: 4 strawberries
Notes: so, I under baked mine a little and the peaches weren’t ripe enough, but the flavor was right on. I had never baked with pomegranate before, and they didn’t add a ton of flavor like I hoped, but they add a great crunch and a ton of color which was nice. If baked to the right temp this would be killer, and the mascarpone really always makes a dessert wonderful! This is a perfect fall scarf wearing kind of dessert you want to curl up with and watch Annie Hall, and is served best with good company…thanks Travis Maggie and Hailey!

Day 30: The Beet Goes On

Yield: 3 people
Time (Start to Finish): 15 min

Ingredients:
2 beets
2 med carrots
1 lemon zested and juiced
½ tsp salt
½ cup cilantro

Directions:
1. Peel and grate the beets and the carrot into a big bowl
2. Add the lemon juice and zest, salt and cilantro and stir until combined.

Rating: 5 strawberries
Notes: BEST EVER! I think the only way to make this better would be to add a peeled grated granny smith apple. This dish reminds me and was inspired by the lovely Kyle out in Colorado. He made this for These United States and me on a cold snowy day while we were out visiting in Boulder. I’ve been craving it ever since! Its light, fresh and really makes you feel healthy and like your body is healing. Warning…beets make your bathroom time red, so if you think you are bleeding, you are not! And feel free to play with this one, add grapefruit instead of lemon, lime juice, or whatever! By the way, this salad was named by the lovely Maggie…

Day 29: Peppered Watermelon Granita

Yield: 1 9x13 Casserole Dish
Time (Start to Finish): 3 hours

Ingredients:
1 round watermelon (about 10 cups)
2 juiced lemons
½ cup granulated sugar
½ tsp salt
pepper, freshly cracked

Directions:
1. Peel watermelon and cut into cubes. This recipe is dependant on a good watermelon, so if the store doesn’t have a nice looking one, I suggest making another flavor.
2. Put melon pieces in blender with sugar, lemon and salt. I had to do it in 2 batches.
3. Strain into a bowl and taste. If you need to add more sugar or lemon, feel free. The way it tastes now is how the final result will taste.
4. Pour into a casserole dish, it should come about half way up and place in the freezer uncovered.
5. In 1 hour, take out of freezer and scrape with a knife, breaking up the chunks, and place back in freezer. Repeat this every hour until frozen and fluffy.
6. Serve in a dish or watermelon shell, and crack pepper onto the top when you serve. Looks like watermelon seeds! Not too much pepper though, it will be overpowering.

Rating: 5 strawberries
Notes: I think this is so cute with the pepper looking like seeds in the melon. Tastes SO good too! If you want to go the whole nine yards, make a lime granita as well and put it on the bottom of a glass bowl so it looks like the skin of the melon. The flavors mix really well too, and just a touch of pepper really makes it incredible! Happy 4 weeks to me!! It’s almost a month and even though this week I have lacked motivation to blog, I have no for one second lost steam to cook. I think those around me are finally seeing im serious about this. It has also been BEAUTIFUL out yesterday and today, and a frozen watermelon treat is a perfect addition to the day. Sarah Law, remember that watermelon we carried all over high sierra and never ate and went bad and I threw away? This is in memory of that melon! Also, its for Laurence who claims to love ice, so I thought I would make something icy. Its super yummy, and even though it takes a lot of patience, I think it is so worth it in the end. Best summer treat known to man.

Day 28: Lemon Peach Bars

Yield: 9-12 bars
Time (Start to Finish): 1 hour

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter
2 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup powdered sugar

2 cups gran sugar
2 lemons zested
¼ cup lemon juice (about 2-3 lemons)
4 eggs

½ cup cream cheese
1 egg
2/3 cup peaches

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325F
2. Mix soft butter, flour, cinnamon and powdered sugar in bowl until forms a dough
3. Press into bottom of a casserole dish and bake 20 min until cooked but not brown
4. Mix in a bowl the gran sugar, eggs, zest, lemon juice and pour into cooked crust
5. Mix in a food processor the peaches, cream cheese and egg until smooth and pour on top of lemon.
6. Bake for 20 min until it browns on edges and stop shaking in the center. Let cool before you cut them

Rating: 4.5 strawberries
Notes: THESE ARE SO GOOD! They didn’t get a 5 because the peach cream cheese melts in and you cant tell its there, but it makes the lemon bars way less tart and gives it something very special. I could eat a ton of these! It is a great snack for this beautiful sunny day and I am having trouble staying inside and waiting for them to cool!! Please make this recipe; it is so easy and so delicious. The peaches really change the whole flavor…so while your mouth waters, I’m going to go eat one out in the hammock!

Day 27: Apple Chips with Peanut Sauce

Yield: 8-12 chips
Time (Start to Finish): 2.5 hours

Ingredients:
1 granny smith apple
1-2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp honey
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 250F
2. Peel, core and slice apple into 8-10 slices. Using a mandolin works best, but I don’t have one so a knife works just fine.
3. Place slices on a cookie sheet and drizzle honey on each slice, just a thin drizzle. Bake for 1 hour
4. Flip the slices carefully and drizzle honey on the other side. Bake for another hour or until browning, but not too brown!!!
5. I know this takes a while but so worth it! While they are baking mix honey peanut butter and cinnamon together. It will be a little thick so don’t over mix
6. When chips come out of the oven, immediately transfer to a cooling rack, and enjoy them!

Rating: 4.5 strawberries
Notes: These were so good!!!! I LOVE apple chips and the sauce was just such a killer compliment. I served them to my roomie in bed and she said they would be perfect after school while watching animaniacs…so true! I ate these so fast, and since it took 2 and a half hours to make, I suggest making more than 1 apple worth.

Day 26: Rocky Road Brownies

Yield: 9-12 brownies
Time (Start to Finish): 1 hour

Ingredients:
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 ½ sticks butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp almond extract
1 cup flour
1 2/3 cup almonds, chopped
½ bag marshmallows, sliced in half

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Melt chocolate and butter together in either microwave or in a double boiler (bowl over water boiling on stove)
3. In bowl put sugar, add melted chocolate
4. Add eggs, almond extract and flour, then add almonds
5. In greased casserole pan, pour batter and bake until 5 min away from being done
6. Take out and put a layer of marshmallows on top covering and bake in oven until brownies are done and mallows are slightly brown. 20-25 min

Rating: 4 strawberries
Notes: If you cant wake up in the morning…eat one of these. There is so much sugar you will be awake for hours. Keep them covered or the marshmallows will get hard, but they are so good!!! These are really good, but you can only eat a small bit, so if you don’t want a lot cut the recipe in half, and use as good a chocolate as you can. I brought these to work during a long busy day and I think they helped everyone wake up! They were hard to carry to work though, I think I got a bruise on my hip from the bag hitting me!

Day 25: Blue Potato Gratin

Yield: 3 people
Time (Start to Finish): 1 hour

Ingredients:
5 blue potatoes
3 cloves garlic

¼ cup cream
¼ cup soy milk

¼ parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Peel and slice potatoes into 1/8 inch slices.
3. In small loaf or small oven friendly bowl, layer potatoes with chopped garlic and parmesan cheese. Tear pieces of butter every layer and press down
4. Pour in the cream and soy milk. You may not need all of it (mine was too soupy)
5. Top with parmesan cheese and bake until bubbly and potatoes are soft when poked with a knife

Rating: 3 strawberries
Notes: It was pretty soupy, I think I needed to add a little less liquid, but it was still very delicious! Anything with potatoes and garlic is a winner for me. Sorry I haven’t blogged in a couple days, but remember, I AM cooking every day, just not blogging. Sometimes computer work is tiring. I made this and brought it to work and everyone liked it but agreed I put in too much liquid. Maybe remove the soymilk and have it be all cream…

Day 24: Potato Salad 1

Yield: 2-3 people
Time (Start to Finish): 1 hour

Ingredients:
2 red potatoes
2 blue potatoes
1 small gold potato
1 hard boiled egg
½ cup caramelized onion (cooked on med until golden brown, takes like 10 min)
3 strips cooked bacon
1 celery stalk
3 sprigs cilantro
salt and pepper

¼ cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp mustard
2 tsp vinegar (red wine or apple cider)

Directions:
1. Cut potatoes into cubes, skins on and boil until BARELY soft. A knife should have a little resistance going in and cool
2. Make sure boiled egg and onion are cooled too, they don’t have to be cold. Cut egg into same size cubed
3. Cut up celery into same size pieces as potato, and chop up bacon and cilantro.
4. Throw all into a bowl and lightly toss together. Add salt and pepper
5. In a separate bowl mix mayo mustard and vinegar. Pour onto the mix, about 2/3 and mix, adding salt and pepper to taste. I like light dressing and didn’t use all of it, but add more if you like a lot of sauce.
6. Let cool and serve! Yummy in your tummy!

Rating: 4.5 strawberries
Notes: Happy Half Birthday to me!!! What a better way to celebrate than relishing in my irish/polish heritage and making something with potatoes! This salad is so yummy and not at all overpowering, like it seems like it would be. Laurence, you are a genius with the celery idea. I normally leave it out, but this salad craves a bit of crunch, so you rock. The flavors work really well without shocking your mouth and would go great at any picnic, or just eating it out of the bowl like my roomie Christina and I did. I love half birthdays! It was a good bright day and it was nice to come home and make something up…a lot of it was thrown together from things in my fridge. Oh, and the 3 different potatoes I think totally make it rock. And its named potato salad 1 because there will be others...you wait and see…

Day 23: Buttermilk Waffle with Strawberry Syrup

Yield: 3 waffles
Time (Start to Finish): 15-20 min

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 ¼ cup buttermilk
½ tsp cinnamon
1 egg + 1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp strawberry jam
½ cup maple syrup

cream cheese (Tbsp per waffle)
butter (for topping waffle)

Directions:
1. Turn on waffle iron. spray with pan spray and get heated
2. In bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt
3. Add buttermilk, eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. It should be thick but runny…if too thick add a little more buttermilk
4. Pour into waffle maker and cook until brown, about 3 min
5. In a bowl, mix jam and syrup to make a strawberry syrup
6. When waffles come out, pour melted butter on them and serve with a big dollop of cream cheese and a lot of the sauce.

Rating: 4.5 strawberries
Notes: What a perfect start to a Sunday! This was a yummy treat. The waffles were crispy and soft and the syrup was really good. The cream cheese I think finished it off perfectly. Yet another week down on my project, and we are creeping up on a month! Im still motivated and have been dreaming of drawers filled with spices. So far the outlook is very positive, and I still have a TON of great ideas both thought up and in the works.

Day 22: Fried Heirloom Tomato

Yield: 1-2 people
Time (Start to Finish): 25 min

Ingredients:
1 firm heirloom tomato (med)
salt and pepper
pinch ground cayenne

½ cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 egg
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup flour

3-4 Tbsp olive oil

¼ cup sour cream
½ lime

Directions:
1. Preheat skillet on med with olive oil in it to coat bottom plus a little
2. Slice tomato in ½ inch slices and put salt, pepper and cayenne on them. Let sit 5-10 min
3. In 4 bowls place the egg, buttermilk, flour and bread crumbs
4. When oil is heated, dip each slice in buttermilk, then flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs and put immediately on the skillet.
5. Cook all slices, add more oil of you need to, until the sides turn brown and flip them. Should be about 3-4 min per side.
6. In separate bowl mix sour cream and the limejuice and serve on the side. Add some salt to the tomatoes if needed.

Rating: 4.5 strawberries
Notes: These were SO GOOD! I know, Travis, you can make a killer fried green tomato, but this is Annie Style, and I must say, I rocked this one. I used a greenish yellow heirloom and it was so delicious! Any tomato will do, but green or yellow ones I think work best with the sauce…just make sure they are FIRM tomatoes. I ate these so fast! Enjoy this one!

Day 21: Stuffed Bell Pepper

Yield: 1-2 people
Time (Start to Finish): 1 hour

Ingredients:
1-2 bell peppers

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
¼ cup chopped yellow onion
1 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper
1 ½ cup chicken stock
¼- ½ cup white rice (uncooked)

½ cup eggplant

¼ cup black beans (cooked)
2-4 slices mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. In saucepan on med – med high cook oil, onion, and garlic until soft. Add salt pepper and cumin
3. Add rice and slowly add chicken stock until rice is cooked and rice is slightly moist, but not wet. Stay with it and keep stirring. About 10 min.
4. Cook eggplant cut into 2 inch pieces until just soft on a skillet. Mix into rice.
5. Take bell pepper(s) and cut top off and remove seeds and stem. Make sure they are still intact, and slightly trim the bottom so it can stand up on its own.
6. Fill with layers, rice, beans, cheese until filled. Make sure cheese is your last layer and they are very filled.
7. Put on sheet pan and wrap foil around the bottom to make sure they stand up.
8. Bake for 15 min or until cheese melts and runs down sides and slightly browns
9. Serve with more of the rice if any is left and enjoy!

Rating: 3.5 strawberries
Notes: If any of you have EVER met me, know me, or read my blog, you will know the one food I don’t like is bell peppers, but we got these beautiful ones in a CSA box, and I had to make one of these stuffed ones. I didn’t eat it, but my roomie alley did and she gave it a 4, but said more cheese and beans. She is right, so I lowered the rating because I hate bell peppers. The rice is AMAZING and you can put it with anything, and with this bell pepper it’s perfect...unless you hate them. Add more layers of cheese and beans than I did.

Day 20: Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies

Yield: 21 sandwiches or 42 cookies
Time (Start to Finish): 2.5 hours (including chill time)

Ingredients:
¼ cup butter
½ cup cream cheese
¾ cup sugar
½ lemon rind
1 egg
2 cups flour
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

4 oz cream cheese (1.2 cup)
1 Tbsp strawberry jam

Directions:
1. Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar together until fluffy
2. Add vanilla, lemon and egg and mix well
3. Add flour, baking soda and salt and mix until forms a ball…I end with mixing with my hands
4. Roll into a log 2 inches around, wrap in foil and put in freezer for 30-45 min
5. Preheat oven to 350F
6. Take log out of freezer and slice ¼ inch cookies, turning log as you cut to keep them round and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet
7. Bake for 10 min until beginning to brown and let cool completely
8. Mix soft cream cheese with jam until smooth
9. Take 2 cookies and spread a thin layer of the cream cheese in the center and sandwich them together! ( you can also sprinkle them with sugar before baking and just eat them like that)

Rating: 3.5 strawberries
Notes: Needs more frosting!! If you make these, double the frosting for sure! You might even want to add a little sugar on top anyways…these were made after a long day of work, and a sweet strawberry treat was just in order…watch out girls! These are trouble! Dunk in a glass of milk if that’s your thang.. Quote from Alley, "oh i want another one...but i just ate one..." (sigh)

Day 19: Wasabi Mashed Potatoes

Yield: 2-3 people
Time (Start to Finish): 25 min

Ingredients:
7 small potatoes (I used 3 red and 7 yellow)
3 Tbsp wasabi
1 Tbsp cream cheese
1-2 Tbsp butter
¼ cup half and half
salt and pepper
garlic salt

Directions:
1. Skin and boil the potatoes in water with lots of salt and then press them trough a ricer. You can also just mash them if you need to
2. Add wasabi (if dried, mix wasabi with water first to make a paste), cream cheese and butter and mix until evenly distributed, then add half and half
3. Add salt pepper and garlic salt to taste…I like a lot of garlic salt
4. Serve with a nice steak or any dish with a lot of sauce…the potatoes taste good with a wine sauce.

Rating: 2.5 strawberries
Notes: I think this needed maybe half an onion caramelized or something…maybe a clove of garlic...but something was missing. They were for sure tasty and good and I didn’t hesitate eating them, but an onion would have made them perfect…and thanks for the meal Travis! Good conversation always makes a meal better. The pic is of the steaks we had as well as some green beans we deep-fried in buttermilk and flour with an awesome secret Travis sauce…maybe it’ll be a later recipe!

Day 18: Buttermilk Pancakes with Fruit and Parm Cheese

Yield: 8-9 Pancakes
Time (Start to Finish): 20-25 min

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 ½ Tbsp brown sugar
¾ tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tbsp vanilla
blueberries
strawberries (cut up)

parmesan cheese
butter (for pan)
maple syrup

Directions:
1. Heat skillet to med high.
2. Mix flour, brown sugar and baking powder in a bowl with a wooden spoon
3. Add egg, buttermilk and vanilla and mix a little bit
4. Add melted butter and mix until just combined
5. Pour about 1/3 cup batter into pan (about 3 cakes at a time, they will spread) and sprinkle in blueberries and strawberries.
6. Cook until little bubbles appear on top of cake and they are brown on bottom and then flip
7. When you take them off the skillet, grate parm cheese on top. Just a little, not like you would on pasta. You want a hint of the salty cheese
8. Serve with maple syrup

Rating: 4.5 strawberries
Notes: This makes me think of my best girl Cydney and Leo who gave me the idea of parm on pancakes, and it is incredible! This is a great buttermilk pancake recipe, but the parm with the fruit is really something different and marvelous. Try it! Its not weird, its delicious!!!