brown sugar
Caramel Peach Cobbler
If you love road trips as much as I do, this is the perfect time to hop in the car and visit our Arizona farms and ranches to pick some tree ripened fruit. Even though we are approaching the end of peach season, there are still some tasty ones for the pickin’, and Amadio Ranch is the perfect destination! This small, family heritage farm in Laveen, Arizona produces a number of naturally grown heirloom vegetables and plenty of fruits like peaches, many of which get turned into made-from-scratch fruit pies that you can buy at the ranch. Also, look for the Amadio Ranch Peach Truck at farmer’s markets throughout the Valley. So, once you buy your peaches, give this Caramel Peach Cobbler a try! It goes together in three layers, but in the oven, the bottom layer rises to the top and bubbles over the peaches to create a delicious cobbler! The most time-consuming part of the entire recipe is peeling the skin off the peaches, so I have a fabulous tip that will make the process so much easier in the directions. This reminds me of a farmhouse recipe that you might find at a charming place like Amadio Ranch, and believe me, if you make it for family or friends, they’ll think it’s just peachy keen!
Watch my How to Video for Caramel Peach Cobbler here!
Country Style Pork Ribs
We’re heading into a nice long Fourth of July holiday week and I hope there will be plenty of chances for you to get your grill on and cook up some good eats! Have you thought about firing up a big batch of meaty and flavorful Country Style pork ribs? Those are the ones that are loaded with meat and virtually no bone. So wait a minute. Why do they call them ribs then? Well, country style pork ribs are actually not ribs at all. They are from the shoulder or the blade end near the shoulder. These cuts of pork are meaty and marbled—which equals flavor! They often get passed over in the meat department in lieu of actual ribs, and that’s a shame because they are delicious grilled and slathered with BBQ sauce or cut up for kebabs. Speaking of BBQ sauce, with this recipe, the BBQ sauce is a bonus that is used as a finishing sauce because all of the flavor is in the rub! I’m using a variety of spices for this rub that combines sweet, heat, salty and spicy. What a flavor profile! It’s a great combination that you can make your own by adding more brown sugar or less chili powder, according to your taste. It’s so simple to mix the spices together and sprinkle over the country style ribs, and the magic happens when you refrigerate them! The spices draw out the moisture and when you put them in a hot pan or grill, that juicy outside caramelizes and seals in the moisture. When the ribs are cooked, you can then slather on the BBQ sauce and serve them up with your favorite fixings like baked beans, roasted corn on the cob or macaroni salad. If you’re lucky enough to have any leftover ribs, you can slice them up for sandwiches or chopped up for a salad. So if you haven’t had country style pork ribs lately, this may be a great week to give them a try. I can almost guarantee you’ll be licking your chops!
Praline Apple Pie
The old torn up cookbook has no publishing date on it, but it had to have been produced when home economics teachers were a big part of the regular school curriculum. Those days are long gone, and with them many of the treasured recipes that they undoubtedly shared with students like this Praline Apple Pie. The cookbook is called Our Favorite Desserts from Home Economics Teachers and includes 2000 desserts submitted and tested by teachers from all over the US and Canada. Wow, where to begin? So, I started with the “A’s” and this fantastic and unique apple pie recipe jumped out at me. As if a good home made apple pie isn’t scrumptious enough, this one has a glazed caramel topping that enrobes the pecans and gets poured all over the top of the pie after it’s cooked. The recipe calls for mace, which is the outer covering of the nutmeg seed. It’s a bit sweeter and milder that nutmeg, but if you don’t have mace, nutmeg will work just fine. (Grinding the nutmeg fresh is always so much more flavorful than the pre-ground variety). I have to thank my friends Linda and Luther Bruce of Paradise Valley for the phone call I always love getting, “Jan! We found some old cookbooks and I knew you’d put them to good use!” You better believe I will. Enjoy this twist on the all -American favorite!
Sweet and Spicy Chicken Skewers with Udon Noodle Salad
The origin is said to be Persian or Turkish, but there’s no denying that kebabs have been part of our American culinary lexicon for centuries. We love our Shish Kebabs skewered and roasted over an open flame. We love our kebabs marinated and slathered. We love them with lamb, beef, chicken, pork, vegetables and even fruit. There are never enough ways to enjoy kebabs. Plus, they’re so easy to prepare! This recipe for Sweet and Spicy Chicken Skewers takes the flavor to a new level. Of course, our palate can never get enough of the taste bud teeter totter of spicy and sweet, salty and heat. That’s why you’ll grab just one more skewer, and then maybe one more after that. You’ll notice there are two types of heat in this dish; chili paste and hot sauce like Sriracha. It certainly can kick up the heat, but the flavors from the two chile sources are so different, that it just adds to the overall profile. If you’re not a fan of super spicy, just reduce the chile paste and hot sauce by half and then proceed ahead to a delicious supper on a stick!
Watch my How To Video for Sweet & Spicy Chicken Skewers here!
