Mother's Day and PEACHES!

To continue our annual tradition, this Mother's Day we picked peaches at Schnepf Farms.  You may have remembered my post from last Mother's Day as we also picked peaches. Peaches are the best fresh and when you have to work to get them they taste 10 times better.  The best part of picking was as we finished and began to pay for the peaches, my siblings and I were anxious to eat them an the man checking us out said that we could have tasted them while we were picking! If I would have known that I would have already eaten five peaches! They are that good! 

 

 

Although my older sister was unable to join we still had a very fun time picking peaches.

 

 

And having older sisters comes in handy when you can't reach the BIG peaches.   

As I picked the peaches the amount of things that I could create with these delicious peaches went circling through my mind.  Because I made my grandma's peach pie last time, I decided to try something different. I decided to choose a  double crusted peach pie, however instead of the top crust I used a crumble from a separate recipe.  The two combined tasted so good.  You may have to adjust the crumble recipe, because it made a little too much for my pie.  Here is the recipe for the pie: http://www.food.com/recipe/simple-peach-pie-128494.  And here is the recipe for the crumble: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016691-peach-crumble-slab-pie.

 

Izzy really enjoyed the peaches that fell on the floor for her.  Who knew she liked peaches so much?

 

Although it should have been more "pie" shaped, we were so excited to taste it that we didn't let it set all the way.  But who cares what it looks like after all its what is on the inside that counts right?  It tastes SO good!

 

After I made the peach pie recipe, one of my friend's mothers shared another easy and delicious recipe for peaches.  I highly recommend this one! Here is the recipe: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/desserts/cheesecake-stuffed-peaches/.

 

 

Not only did they taste good but they looked pretty too.

 

Here is the final product.  They were so good.

 

We picked the peaches on Saturday so we still at to cook something for Sunday breakfast.  Part of my Mother's Day gift to my mom was breakfast that included all of her favorite things.  We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do for her, and decided on something she could really enjoy (and we could too!)...food.  Everyone loves food.

 

 

I found the recipes for her breakfast on Pinterest however if you try to find the recipes on my Pinterest account, you wont find them because they are on a secret board :) I like to make things first and only share my favorites! Her breakfast included a copycat Starbucks cinnamon swirl coffee cake.  I knew this would be perfect for her because she was so upset when they added a new set of sweet treats with a Paris theme, which did not include her coffee cake.  Here is the recipe for the coffee cake: http://www.saltandchocolate.com/2008/05/cinnamon-coffee-cake-bread.html.  I also cooked a spinach and mozzarella bake.  Even the picky eaters in the family enjoyed this recipe.  It is so quick and easy to make.  Here is the recipe for the egg bake: http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2012/03/recipe-for-spinach-and-mozzarella-egg.html. Along with these two dishes I also made fruit and yogurt parfaits and bacon of course.  I think my mom really enjoyed her Mother's Day gift and we did too.

 

I am on summer break now so I will do my best to post regularly!

 

Breakfast!

You may have missed last weeks post and the week before and the week before and the week before, but that is okay because they don't exist!  It has been quite awhile since my last blog post but that doesn't mean I have stopped cooking.  I have been super busy with school, but thought it would be a perfect time to start blogging again because summer is only three weeks away!  This weeks post is all about breakfast.  Since Sunday morning is a guaranteed time with family I like to cook a nice breakfast to share.  So this week I am spotlighting a few of our past Sunday breakfast favorites.

 

 

My mom's favorite meal is breakfast and one of the unique breakfast side dishes she has discovered here in Arizona is cheesy grits.  She originally was introduced to cheesy grits at LoLos Chicken and Waffles (highly recommended if you visit Arizona!) when the waiter insisted she tried them.  Here is the recipe for our homemade grits: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/grits-recipe3.html.  Also a part of this breakfast meal was our breakfast burritos.  These breakfast burritos are perfect fresh or frozen.  They are extremely convenient for a freeze and thaw breakfast on the go.  Another delicious discovery I have found in Arizona is chorizo.  It is like a spicy breakfast sausage that is perfect with eggs or in a burrito. It is also good for dinners as well.  This particular recipe is my "recipe".  All I did was prepare chorizo, cheese, green and red pepper, and shredded potatoes or hash browns in a burrito.  Then I served it with a side of sour cream and/or salsa.  My family really enjoyed it!

 

 

 

 

My second favorite food (second to potato pancakes) is biscuits and gravy.  I am not one to go for the sweet breakfast foods so I really enjoy finding new salty breakfast dishes.  One of my favorite shows on the Food Network is the Pioneer Woman.  She cooks a lot of southern meals that I really enjoy. This is one of her recipes.  Although it is only the recipe for the gravy, it is the perfect recipe.  You can choose to either make the biscuits from scratch or to buy them.  I bought the Pillsbury biscuits that you can just pop in the oven and they worked out great.  Here is the recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sausage-gravy.html.  My sister loved them so much that she asked me this morning to make them for her next week!

 

 

 Another recipe I had been dying to try is a breakfast skillet, there are so many different recipes for breakfast skillets that it all just depends on what the people you are feeding like.  Izzy really enjoys all of the recipes.  You can also scramble the eggs or leave them over easy. (They look prettier overeasy!) I believe I first found this recipe on Pinterest while searching for breakfast recipe and it looked so good that I had to try it.  It tastes as good as it looks.  Here is the recipe or the breakfast skillet: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/11/25/crispy-hash-breakfast-skillet/.

 

 

 Last but not least, is today's breakfast recipe.  In search of new recipes that my family had not tried, I found this one: FRENCH TOAST.  I never have really liked French toast because I don't personally like eggs BUT with this recipe I barely even noticed there was even eggs involved.  My family loved this sooooo much, especially my mom.  Here is the recipe: http://www.justataste.com/2014/01/easy-cinnamon-french-toast-sticks-recipe/.

 

 

To go along with my breakfast recipes I thought I would share a few pictures from the Fractured Prune.  It is a delicious donut shop in Chandler.  They fry the donuts and then you are able to pick the toppings.  It is delicious! 

 

That is all of the recipes this week but I hope to continue to post throughout the next couple of weeks and the summer.  Feel free to also find me on Pinterest to follow my food boards and lookout for some of the recipes I have recently posted on this weeks blog post!  I hope you have a good week!