Peach Dumplings - Two Recipes

Today, I will share two versions of peach dumpling recipes.  Both recipes start with same basic ingredients:  fresh peaches and Pillsbury crescent rolls.  The first recipe uses bigger pieces of peaches, and is cooked in a syrup, while the second recipe uses smaller pieces of peaches and does not have a syrup.  They are both delicious, but you might like one more than the other.

Pictured above are the dumplings from the first recipe.  We liked them, and the sauce gave it good flavor as it was cooking, but we preferred to eat them without the sauce.

First, cut your peaches into quarters, removing the pit.  Wrap each peach quarter in a crescent roll, placing it at the wide end of the roll and rolling it until the point is pressed against the rest of the crescent roll.

Place each of these in an 8"x8" baking pan.

Next, make your sauce by combining butter, sugar, and water in a large sauce pan and heating until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved and the syrup starts to thicken.

Pour the sauce over the dumplings and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until the tops are golden brown and the peaches are tender.

If desired, serve with some of the sauce.

Peach Dumplings with Sauce
Ingredients:
2 peaches, cut in quarters
1 pack Pillsbury crescent rolls (8 pack)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
Cinnamon
Sugar

Steps:
1.  Roll each peach quarter in a crescent roll.  Place each roll in an 8"x8" pan.
2.  Combine butter, sugar, and water in a large saucepan until butter is melted, sugar is dissolved, and syrup starts to thicken.
3.  Pour syrup over the dumplings and sprinkle with additional sugar and cinnamon.
4.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on the top and peaches are tender.

Garlic Parmesan Potato Stacks

I realized the other day that I have a ton of potatoes in my pantry that I need to use before they go bad.  I decided to try a bunch of different recipes with them.  So today's recipe is one of those.  A great vegetable side dish to go with almost any meal.

First, thinly slice 4-6 potatoes (depending on size).  My potatoes varied in size, so I ended up using 5 potatoes.  Then in a large mixing bowl, I mixed together my Parmesan cheese, minced garlic, garlic salt, black pepper, and melted butter.  Then I added the potatoes and mixed again so the potatoes were all well covered with the cheese mixture.  Then I removed one potato slice at a time and stacked them in my greased muffin tins until all the potato slices were used and each muffin tin was filled evenly.  Then I scraped the remaining cheese mixture from the bowl and spread it on top of the potato stacks.

Then I baked these potato stacks at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes until the potatoes were tender and the cheese on the top was starting to brown.  Allow them to cool for about 5 minutes before removing from the pan and serving.

Garlic Parmesan Potato Stacks
Ingredients:
4-6 potatoes, thinly sliced
1 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
4 Tbsp. butter, melted

Steps:
1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease muffin tin well.
2.  Thinly slice potatoes.
3.  In large mixing bowl, combine Parmesan cheese, minced garlic, garlic salt, black pepper, and butter.  Mix well.
4.  Mix potato slices into cheese mixture until all slices are covered.
5.  Removes potato slices and stack them in greased muffin tins.
6.  When all slices are stacked in the muffin tins, scrape out the remaining cheese and spread it on top of the potato stacks.
7.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are tender and cheese on top is starting to brown.
8.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan and serving.

Peach Shake

I wanted a sweet treat the other day, but also wanted some fruit in it.  I decided to take a peach that I had in the fridge and combine it with some ice cream and make a milkshake.  It was perfectly refreshing!  (Though I will admit that I added too much milk so it was thinner than I usually prefer.  I blame M. because he was pulling on my arm as I was pouring the milk and made me pour more than I meant to pour.)

Combine ice cream and chopped peach in a blender, and blend, adding milk until desired thickness is achieved.

Peach shake
Ingredients:
1 peach, peeled and chopped
1 cup vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup milk (more or less depending on desired thickness)

Steps:
1.  Combine peach and ice cream in blender and blend together, adding milk until your shake is as thick or thin as you want it to be.
2.  Pour into a cup and enjoy!

Popcorn Balls

My sister gave us a popcorn maker for Christmas so that we could pop our own popcorn for our weekly Friday night movie night.  Sometimes we stay home and watch something on Netflix and sometimes we go to our local drive-in.  So this week I decided to break out the new popcorn machine and pop some popcorn.  I followed the instructions and made 6 quarts.  We ate almost half of it during the movies between D., M., and myself.  I decided to use the last 6 cups of popcorn and some mini marshmallows I had in the cupboard and make some popcorn balls.  They were very quick and easy to throw together (like Rice Krispie treats).

First, I wanted the popcorn to be warm, so I stuck it in the oven at 200 degrees while I made the marshmallow mixture.

In a large saucepan, I melted my butter over medium-high heat.

Then I added the marshmallows, stirring often until melted.

I then removed the popcorn from the oven and poured it into a large bowl and drizzled the marshmallow mixture over top. Then I mixed it well to ensure all the popcorn was covered.

I buttered my hands (actually I sprayed them with PAM, but you can grease them with butter too).  Then I formed the popcorn into 10 balls that were about 2.5-3 inches in diameter.

I wrapped each ball in plastic wrap and used a twisty tie to hold them closed until we were ready to eat them.

Easy Popcorn Balls
Ingredients:
6 cups popcorn
3 Tbsp. butter
2.5 cups mini marshmallows
Optional Mix-ins:  nuts, candies, etc.

Steps:
1.  Keep popcorn warm in 200 degree oven while making marshmallow mixture.
2.  Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat.
3.  Add mini marshmallows to butter and stir often until melted.
4.  Remove popcorn from oven and drizzle marshmallow mixture over top.
5.  Grease hands with butter or PAM and form popcorn into balls.
6.  OPTIONAL:  Can add nuts, candies, etc. if desired before forming into balls.

Salad with Pan-Fried Salmon

Like mentioned earlier this week, today's recipe is a salad that includes yesterday's Pan-Fried Salmon recipe (http://alwaystrynewthins.blogspot.com/2014/02/pan-fried-salmon.html).  D. said this main dish salad is filling and delicious.  He said that the combination of the fresh salad and the fresh salmon made it light but filling and that it was a delicious meal that he wouldn't mind having every day.  That's a win for me!

I used a spring blend salad mix for our salad and filled our plates with a generous amount of lettuce.

Then I cooked the salmon (see yesterday's post for that recipe).

Then place the salmon (one filet per salad) on the lettuce.  As you can see, I cut the salmon in half during the cooking process to be able to see if it was fully cooked easier, so each of my salads got two pieces.  Then drizzle Italian salad dressing over the salad and enjoy!

Salad with Pan-Fried Salmon
Ingredients:
Salad Blend or Lettuce of your choice
Salmon
Italian Salad Dressing

Steps:
1.  Cook salmon according to recipe (http://alwaystrynewthings.blogspot.com/2014/02/pan-fried-salmon.html).
2.  Place generous amount of salad or lettuce on plate.  Place salmon on top and drizzle with Italian salad dressing.

Pan-Fried Salmon

This salmon recipe is really simple, but delicious.  It can be served as a main dish, or as part of tomorrow's main dish salad.

Rinse salmon filets under cold water.  Then gently rub both sides of each filet with salt and pepper.

Drizzle oil on griddle or in frying pan.  Place fillets in and cook about 5 minutes on each side until cooked through and golden brown and lightly crispy on both sides.

Pan-Fried Salmon
Ingredients:
2 Fresh Salmon Filets (about 6 oz. each)
Pinch of salt and pepper
Olive oil (to drizzle on pan)

Steps:
1.  Rinsh each filet under cold water.
2.  Rub both sides of each filet with salt and pepper.
3.  Drizzle olive oil on griddle or frying pan and place filets on/in pan.
4.  Cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes on each side, or until cooked through and lightly brown and crispy on each side.

Asparagus with a Lemon-Mayonnaise Sauce

When D. and I got married and went on our first grocery shopping trip together, I tried to buy some asparagus, but he wouldn't let me saying that he didn't like asparagus.  We've now been married almost 3 years, and he's found very few things that I make that he doesn't like, so he's started letting me make more variety now, including a couple of recipes that include asparagus.  When he ate this asparagus recipe, he gave it a rating of 5 out of 5 stars.  This dish can be served by itself as a side dish, or can even be served over rice (as pictured) for a simple healthy main dish for lunch or dinner.

First, trim the ends of your asparagus, to remove the discolored, woody part of the end of the asparagus (where the green starts to fade).  I also decided to make all my asparagus the same length after I had done this and laid them next to each other, lining up the tops and cutting the ones that were longer to make them the same.  Then lay your asparagus in a shallow casserole dish, or a 9x13" pan.  Drizzle with melted butter.

Next make your lemon-mayonnaise sauce by mixing together mayo, lemon juice, salt, pepper, dry mustard, and minced garlic.  Then drizzle this sauce evenly over your asparagus.

Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until asparagus is crisp-tender and Parmesan and breadcrumbs are lightly browned.

Asparagus with a Lemon-Mayonnaise Sauce
Ingredients:
1 lb. fresh asparagus
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. dry mustard
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Steps:
1.  Trim asparagus and place in greased shallow casserole dish or 9x13" pan.
2.  Drizzle melted butter over asparagus.
3.  Blend mayonnaise, lemon juice, seasonings, and minced garlic.  Pour evenly over asparagus.
4.  Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and then Parmesan cheese.
5.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until asparagus is crisp-tender and Parmesan and breadcrumbs are golden brown.

Baked "Fried" Pickles

A couple of years ago, a friend introduced me to fried pickles when we went out to lunch together.  I thought they were okay, but not so much that I would want to try them.  Then when I was visiting my family last summer, my mom stopped at the local Sheetz gas station to gas up the car and get some lunch.  They had what I guess you would call it a fast food spot inside, where you could get burgers, hot dogs, salads, fries, and many more items, including fried pickles.  This time, I thought they were actually pretty good and I might like to try to make some sometime.  However, a couple of months later, while making homemade corn dogs, I burnt my fingers with the oil I was frying them in and D. said he doesn't want me to fry things.  At least for now, I'm making him happy by not frying foods for my own health.  However, if I ever find a long handled strainer, or get a deep fryer with a basket with long handles, or find some other way to ensure I won't burn myself, I might start trying to fry things again.  There are so many delicious fried foods I want to try to make, including actually frying pickles.  But in the meantime, I decided to try to make a baked version of fried pickles.  I decided to do this by breading the pickles and then baking them at a high temperature so they would hopefully still stay perfectly pickle-y on the inside, but get crispy on the outside.  And my idea actually worked.  They were delicious.  Not as amazing as pickles that have been deep-fried, but a pretty good alternative.

You can either slice whole dill pickles yourself, or you can use pre-sliced pickles.  I sliced my own, because I had an open jar of pickles in my fridge.  I ended up making 3 dozen, but still had plenty of flour, egg, and breadcrumbs left over, so I could have made more.  (I think I will do that later this week.  They were so delicious!  At least in my opinion.  D. said they were okay, but that he doesn't really like fried pickles to start with.)

Once you have your pickle slices, your next step is really easy, but really important.  Use a paper towel or napkin and blot them dry.  You want to remove some of the salty brine so your "fried" pickles aren't super salty.

Next, coat in flour.   I just dropped each slice in the flour, and flipped them to coat the other side and this step was done.

Then you need to do an egg wash.  Beat an egg in a separate bowl and dip both sides of the pickle slices in the egg to coat them completely.

Then using another bowl with seasoned breadcrumbs, coat each pickle slice again.

Lay each of your pickle slices on a greased baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes.  Then flip them over and bake for an additional 5 minutes until both sides are crispy and golden brown.

And there you have it.  Crispy.  Salty.  Delicious!  Baked "Fried" Pickles!  You can eat them with Ranch dressing, or just the way they are (how I prefer mine).

Baked "Fried" Pickles
Ingredients:
3 dozen pickle slices (about 4 whole pickles)
1 egg
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs

Steps:
1.  Slice pickle slices if using whole pickles.
2.  Blot each pickle slice dry using a paper towel or napkin.
3.  Coat each pickle slice in flour, followed by a coat of egg, and then breadcrumbs.  Place on a greased baking sheet.
4.  Bake pickle slices at 400 degrees for 5 minutes.  Flip each slice and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
5.  Serve immediately either by themselves or with ranch dressing.