Awesome Ways to Eat Peaches

Millions of peaches!  Peaches for me!

Sorry.

Ahem.  Part of my goal to eat real food is eating seasonally.  Summer is the best, because just about everything is in season!  One of my favorites, though, is peaches.  Peaches are delicious just by themselves, and goodness knows I eat enough of them just straight as they come.  But I also love making things with them, and I buy them in big baskets from the Farmer's Market, so I have tons to work with.  Here are some of my favorite peach recipes, perfect for summer!

Peach Salsa

I looked for peach salsa recipes on Pinterest, and I couldn't find any that required ingredients I already had, so I figured out what the basics are and then made my own.  This is really awesome for me, because I am not what you would call an "adventurous" cook at all.  I follow recipes to the letter, measuring 1/8 teaspoon of salt if that's what it calls for.

So I was really proud of myself for coming up with this recipe, and best of all:  it's fantastic!  Bonus points for using the basil and sweet peppers from my garden, too!

I served it over salmon that I marinated in molasses, garlic, cranberry juice, and soy sauce for a while and then cooked in a skillet with another drizzle of molasses and some of the marinade.  It was awesome, but the salsa was also really good just with tortilla chips!

Peach Salsa
How to Be Awesome At Everything

3 Peaches
1 Tomato
1/2 Red Onion
1 Stalk Basil
2 Small Sweet Peppers
1 Tbs. Lime Juice
1/2 tsp. (1 clove) Minced Garlic
1 tsp. Parsley
2 Tbs. Olive Oil
2 Tbs. Honey
Dash Cayenne Pepper
Dash Thyme

Chop all fruits and veggies.  Mix together with the rest of the ingredients.  Serve chilled.  This does not keep terribly well, so you are free to eat it all in one sitting.

Peach Muffins

This is another recipe that I have made my own.  The original recipe is here, but I have modified it to (mostly) fit our real food lifestyle.  (I say 'mostly' because it does have some brown sugar in it.  You could substitute honey for the brown sugar, but since I'd already done that for the white sugar, I didn't.  That much honey would also make this a very expensive muffin recipe.)  I also threw in some blueberries last time since we had just gone to the you-pick farm, and they were great, too!  Make sure they cool completely before you put them in a ziplock.  Trust me.

Peach Muffins
How to Be Awesome at Everything

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup homemade brown sugar*

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 eggs, well beaten

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 peaches peeled and chopped (you can use more or less)

A few handfuls of blueberries if you want

*To make brown sugar:  Mix 1/2 cup white sugar with 1 Tablespoon of molasses to make 1/2 cup brown sugar.  (Use less molasses for lighter brown sugar.)

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease muffin tins or greased/floured 9" x5" bread loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, sugar, and cinnamon. Add the eggs, applesauce, honey, and vanilla and stir just until moistened.

Stir in the chopped peaches and blueberries if you have them.

Fill muffin tins.  This doesn't rise a ton, so they can be pretty full.  Just leave a little room at the top. Makes 12 muffins.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick tests done.

If baking in the loaf pan, bake at 350 for 1 hour or until done.

Peach Yogurt

This is the easiest, healthiest, best dessert I can find.  Use plain Greek yogurt, top with fresh chopped peaches, and drizzle with some local honey.  Repeat as needed!

Peach Frozen Yogurt

I use an ice cream maker kind of like this one here.

It's really easy to make frozen yogurt with it.  You just put chopped peaches, Greek yogurt, and honey in a blender until it's all smooth.  Then pour it into your ice cream maker, turn it on, and wait until it's frozen!

Delicious, and guilt-free!

Peach Pancakes

Brian is our resident pancake expert, and a few weeks ago, he made us these!

Well, they aren't quite done in that pic, but you get the idea.  The recipe we used was for "spiced" peach pancakes, but honestly, you couldn't taste any spices.  It's basically just pancakes with sliced peaches set on top before you flip them.  They were delicious!

Peach and Blueberry Oatmeal

I love to puree fruit and freeze it in ice cubes to use in our oatmeal later.  Cricket eats oatmeal almost every morning, so she loves doing that.  It's also delicious just chopped up and put on top with some sliced almonds!  Yum!

Peach Cobbler

I have a great recipe for cobbler, but it uses Bisquick, so I hadn't made any in a while.  Then recently, I found a recipe to make your own Bisquick substitute one cup at a time!  Perfect!

Peach Cobbler
How to Be Awesome at Everything

2 tbsp. butter

1 cup flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. milk

3 or 4 peaches, sliced (try to save any juice)

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Put 2 tablespoons butter in 8 x 8 inch baking dish and put it in the oven while it's preheating. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl.  Cut in coconut oil using a pastry blender.  Add sugar and milk. Pour over melted butter. Spoon fruit on top. Pour any juice you saved on top.

Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes. (Can double the recipe. Bake in 9 x 13 inch pan.)

I know there are still tons more peach recipes, but so far, I feel pretty sure that I have successfully enjoyed peach season this year.  Got any others I should try?