What I Really Think

I have two disconnected memories of Peach Ice Cream from my childhood. One, I'm not sure is real but I remember visiting cousins of my mom, at their house on a lake, and having peach ice cream. Another time, I remember our neighbors, across the street, making it in this big wooden thing you had to crank. Not much came out in the end (at least I thought for what you put into it) but what came out (considering I wasn't a peach ice cream fan - I mean c'mon peach when you can have chocolate?), was pretty darn good.

So other than those two memories, since childhood, I hadn't really given much thought to eating and/or making peach ice cream.

Of course, that was until the Sunday Slow Scoopers stepped in.

Now let me start off by stating, if you don't get good peaches, don't bother with this. Your peaches taste bland, your ice cream tastes bland - there's no way around that axiom.

So while I'm on the subject of good peaches. Let's take a moment to educate the masses on how to choose a peach. Never, ever, ever squeeze a peach. I hate to tell people, but odds are most of the peaches in the bins (especially at the supermarkets) aren't ripe. Squeezing a hard peach, only leaves bruises that won't appear until the peach actually does ripen - so that perfect peach you bought at the market, a day or two later, will be completely bruised from where you poked and prodded it (or worse yet, my perfect peach will be because some shmo before me squeezed the crap out of it - can you tell I'm passionate about my peaches?). To choose a peach, simply pick it up, gently cupping it in the palm of your hand, and sniff it around the stem. If it smells like peach, even if it's hard, it will taste like peach. When you get home, stick it in a paper bag on your counter for a day or too and voila, good peach.

So now, once you have your perfect peaches, and they've ripened, you can make the ice cream (you need four good size peaches for this recipe, 600 grams or 1 1/3 pounds).

First you peel them. Does anyone have a good method for peeling peaches? Because I gotta tell you, those suckers get slippery as your working your way around them and almost lost a couple to the sink. Once peeled, slice all the way around the peach, dividing it in half and basically pry it apart to get the pit out. Now chunk it and throw it into a non-reactive medium-sized pot, with a half a cup of water and 3/4 cup of sugar. Cook that on the stove for 10 minutes, covered, on a medium flame stirring once or twice during the process. Let it cool to room temp.

Peach Mixture After Blending
Now take your peach mixture and in a blender or food processor (I used a blender), puree that with 1/2 cup of sour cream (I used full fat but may try light or no fat next time to see how it changes the consistency), 1 cup heavy cream, 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla and a couple of drops of fresh-squeezed lemon juice. You want some chunks in this sucker, so don't puree too long. I think I did mine for a few seconds at most.

Chill the mixture in the fridge - I've taken to chilling mine overnight. Stick it in your ice cream machine and let it do it's thing. That's it - easy peasy. Oh and Dave says you can do this with nectarines too (follow guidelines above for choosing peaches), but you don't need to peel them because they soften enough during the cooking process.

Peach Ice Cream w/ Blackberries from the CSA

So here's my question though: can I make that sugar-syrup peach step and can or freeze it during the summer, then use those all winter long to make fresh peach ice cream? We didn't go peach picking this summer, but if we do next summer, it may be a good way to use all those peaches!

Update: A 1/3 cup serving is 3 weight watchers points. A 1/2 cup serving is 5 WW points.

This is an old standard recipe that I've lightened a bit using fat free sour cream and egg beaters. Though I think I'm going to go back to either light sour cream and/or real eggs - I just think the consistency is better. I may cut down the sugar instead - consider the lightened version a work in process.

Noodle Pudding (5 points), serves 16 with other side dishes, 12 (and 7 points) solo

16 ounces no yolk egg noodles -- medium
1 1/2 cups sugar
15 ounces applesauce
1 cup egg beaters, Fat Free
2 cups sour cream, no fat
1/4 cup light butter, unsalted
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup raisins

1. Boil noodles and drain put back into the pot
2. Add all ingredients except cinnamon
3. Pour into greased 13 x 9 pan
4. Sprinkle w/ cinnamon
5. Bake 90 minutes at 350 or bake 45 minutes and freeze then bake one hour from the freezer

It's pretty warm here right now - in the seventies - but the calendar says October, the leaves are changing and starting to fall, and for me that means fall. Along with that, it means fall flavors. Nothing says fall like apples, so this hit on all cylendars.

I was going to make this dish last night because I needed something that I could cook based upon what I had in the house (I had a pork tenderloin in the freezer, apples in the fridge and the first apple cider of the season too) because I didn't know if Chris was going to get the food shopping done before dinner or not. Then it turned out that Sammi's friend was sleeping over, and Chris could get to the market, so we opted for something safe last night (hamburgers) and to make this tonight, with the now defrosted pork tenderloin.

As far as the Sweet Potatoes, well, I bought a whole bunch at the farm market Friday afternoon (they scream fall to me too) and we always have maple syrup around, so that was a no brainer.

Pork Medalions with Double Apple Sauce and Maple Sweet Potatoes

For this week's Sunday Slow Scoopers, Chris chose any flavor of chocolate from the Perfect Scoop. At first I thought I'd keep it simple and go with the Philadelphia Style Chocolate Ice Cream - basic and simple. But then I saw the chocolate peanut butter, which is one of my favorite flavors and it was way simple, meeting the second requirement, so that's I went with.

And Lisa, if you're reading this, just come over for some before it's all gone.

Oh, and for weight watchers, a 1/3 cup serving is 5 points.

On Sundays in the winter, I love dishes that sit and simmer on the stove or in the oven for a long period of time. They make the house smell wonderful and if I get them going early enough, cooking dinner doesn't interfere with Sunday football!

I found this recipe on, where else, Cooking Light and made it for dinner this past Sunday. Everyone loved it. Along with a tossed salad and some fresh bread it made for a great meal and I finally got to use two acorn squash that I got from the CSA a few weeks ago.

Okay, I know you're expecting Sunday Slow Suppers but I didn't get a chance to do it yesterday (feeling under the weather), so I'm going to make it tomorrow.

In the meantime, I got this recipe from Sheri of As the Seasons Change when we were talking Crockpot recipes. It's so easy! I ended up making it on Friday and then we went out, so I put the roasted pork in the fridge and yesterday, shredded it and reheated it with BBQ sauce.

BBQ Pulled Pork

2 - 2.5 pound pork tenderloin (I used two that weighed about 2.25 pounds)
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup water
BBQ Sauce

Put the first three ingredients into the crockpot. Cook on low for 8 hours. Discard the liquid. Shred the pork and rewarm with a BBQ sauce of your choice (we used KC Masterpiece). That's it.

Now, I used a bit more than a 18 ounce bottle of sauce b/c I was trying to keep the points down but you'll probably want to use more. I served these on potato rolls, with cole slaw and fries and it could not have been easier!

Points for the pulled pork figuring this makes 10 servings (about 1/2 cup in size), is 5 points (plus 2 for the roll, total of 7). If you get 12 servings out of it, well then it's 4 points for the meat.

Sorry no pictures.

. Yes, you read that correctly, goat! That's because Deborah of Old Shoes, New Trip likes to push us the the limits of our comfort zone and boy did she succeed with this one.

For me, it struck a cord on several levels - 1) Goat - need I say more? 2) Fennel - I'm not a big fennel eater 3) Preserved lemons - do I make, do I buy and if so, where??

Really, I think all along, I had no intention of making this recipe, or if I did make it, I always intended to substitute lamb shanks, which is really no substitute at all, since the original recipe upon which this one was based, actually called for lamb. No matter though, I didn't believe it was going to happen for me. Until...

I woke up on Saturday in a semi-adventurous mood. So that was me, calling all the halal butchers in the area to see if they had goat shanks. Well, it was hard enough for them to understand that I wanted goat - my accents and theirs got in the way, let alone the shanks. But I persevered and finally found a butcher in the next town over that at least had goats, if not the shank.

Next, was the preserved lemons. Yes, I was in an adventurous mood but no, I was not in the mood to do any extra work than necessary. Amy said a Lebanese market would/should have preserved lemons so I called our local market and they told me they did have them.

Got dressed and headed out the door.

First stop was the Phoenecian Bakery for preserved lemons. All I have to say is why don't I pop in there more often!! Seriously, the place smells fantastic. They have all sorts of great food items, preserved olives, fresh pita, Turkish coffee and both dried and preserved lemons (spicy and regular). We purchased some oil-cured olives and some lemons but passed on the baklava (this time).

Next stop, the supermarket where I couldn't find fennel (seriously) but did fine "anise" which I'm assuming is the same thing.

Last stop was Mawab Grill near five corners. This was an adventure unto itself. The store isn't crammed full with stuff (some curry mixes, a refrigerator section filled with sodas and milk, and a small hot "buffet" area that had some prepared dals, biyriani and a couple of other items). The butcher case was empty.

But there was one burka-clad woman behind the register, three gentlemen butchering and grinding meat behind the counter and two gentlemen up front. When I approached the elder and started to speak, he immediately knew who I was when I said I called. "Ah, yes the goat. Come with me."

He led me behind the counter and into walk-in refrigerator where four full goats hung from hooks. I showed him which part I thought would be the shank (upper arm/leg and shoulder) but he told me he couldn't cut that part from each of the goats, so instead they cut me an entire leg which one of the other men, who spoke no English, I used my fingers to indicate how big, cut into chunks for me to stew.

He wanted to know what I was doing with the goat and I explained the tagine to him and told him, if we liked it, we'd be back. And we will!

After leaving the store we headed home and I got to work.

I think it was two years ago (right, not last summer?) that the Sunday Slow Cooks decided to make their way through Dave Lebovitz's book, The Perfect Scoop. Since then I've spent some time making other recipes of his, as well as experimenting a little too.

Sammi's been hocking me to make ice cream for her (I made three batches last week, but brought them to a friend, so I promised to make some this week with her), and since I had milk chocolate in the house, I opted for this flavor.

You should know a few things.

1) His ice creams are for the most part way fattening. He justifies the eating of these by limiting yourself to one perfect scoop. But even with that, I still found many of them overpoweringly rich in that I could feel the fat on my tongue. So as I've been making them recently, I've been swapping the milk proportion with the cream proportion. Or reducing in some other fashion. They are still in no way low fat, but at least my tongue doesn't feel coated with fat when I eat them.

2) For this flavor, he suggests using good milk chocolate, that has at least 30% cocoa. The first time I made this, I found some organic chocolate that did specify how much cocoa, percentage-wise, the bar contained. The second time, I had Lindt chocolate that does not specify, and that's what I used.

3) His recipe calls for 8 ounces of chocolate. The bars I had were 3.5 ounces and I only had two. Using a total of 7 ounces of chocolate didn't seem to affect the recipe at all.

Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

7 ounces good milk chocolate, chopped fine
1 cup cream (he uses 1.5 cups)
2 cup whole milk (he uses 1.5 cups)
3/4 cup sugar (I used a scad less and might consider reducing it a bit more)
1 big pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
2 t cognac (I used it the first time, and didn't use it the second time - do what you like).

Melt the chocolate in the cream in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water (I used the top of a double boiler). Set aside with a sieve over the top (I scraped my mixture into a bowl and then put the sieve over the top).

Beat the egg yolks in a medium bowl.

Heat the milk, sugar and salt in a medium sauce pan. When warm (not boiling), slowly add this to the egg yolks, stirring with a whisk as you go (if working alone, wrap a dish towel and base of bowl that holds the yolks, so it doesn't spin). Return yolk-milk mixture back to pot and warm on stove until it thickens, stirring constantly with a heat-proof spatula or in my case a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom. The mixture is done when it coats the back of spoon/spatula and you can trail a finger through it and the pathway remains (the more ice cream you make, the better you'll get at figuring out when it's done).

Pour the custard (aka egg-milk mixture) through sieve into bowl with chocolate mix. Put bowl in ice bath (I actually do this ahead of time, so it's already there when I add the custard), and stir to cool, adding cognac if you want. Pour into a container and put in fridge to chill thoroughly (I like to chill mine over night).

Put mixture in ice cream maker, following manufacturer's directions.

Oh, and if you can get 16 "perfect scoops" out of it - they're five points each. I'm going to try this as ice milk soon - that should knock it down some but of course, it won't be as creamy.

Yesterday was the first day of school for my youngest, it was pouring and I had some over-ripe bananas sitting on my counter. I don't know what that adds up to for you but for me that means baking. But Sammi, I don't think, is not a big banana bread fan and personally, I wanted something that would be warm and wonderful when she walked in the door only 45 minutes later - banana bread takes too long. So I scoured My Recipes, looking for things made with banana, that had appeared in Cooking Light, and found this recipe. Easy to do, tasty and it was ready when Sammi walked in the door.

Banana Snacking Cake

Ingredients

• 6 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups - btw I love measuring flour but c'mon do scales really measure to the hundredth decimal?)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt (didn't have but used 1 cup of low fat buttermilk instead)
• 3/4 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 medium)
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 cup frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed (we didn't bother with this)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and the next five ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Make a well in center of flour mixture - not sure why I bothered, with the buttermilk the liquids totally overpowered the dry ingredients anyway.
3. Combine yogurt, banana, oil, vanilla, and egg in a small bowl; stir until well blended. Add yogurt mixture to the flour mixture in large bowl, stirring just until moist.
4. Pour the batter into a 9-inch square metal baking pan (I used an 11x7 pan) coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake in the pan 10 minutes on wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Serve with whipped topping.

This came out to 5 Weight Watcher Points Plus (no topping), when I plugged it into their recipe builder.

I think the title should say it all. But if you need more convincing here's the picture!

These were quite good and came together easily enough. The batter was very thick though which made distributing the chocolate chips at the end a bit difficult. I think next time, I may use mini-chocolate chips to get a better disbursement. Also, these were 4 PPV (points plus value) as described in Cooking Light at 20 servings for the pan, but I used my Perfect Brownie Pan which only allows for 18 servings, so that brought them into the 5 PPV range.

These will definitely be made again!

Peanut Butter Cup Blondies

Ingredients

5.6 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (I swirled the melted butter into the measuring cup so the peanut butter came out a little easier)
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 tablespoons 2% reduced-fat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray
4 (0.75-ounce) peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped - This was one King Size Reeses package that contained 4 cups.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients (through salt), stirring well with a whisk. Combine peanut butter and next 4 ingredients (through eggs), stirring well. Add peanut butter mixture to flour mixture; stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Scrape the batter into a 9-inch square metal baking pan lightly coated with cooking spray (mine was 12x8), and arrange the peanut butter cups over batter. Bake at 350° for 19 minutes (it took mine 23 minutes and I've seen others say 24 minutes) or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Cool in pan on a wire rack.