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.