Just Peachy: A Holiday Weekend and Possibly the Best Peach Ice Cream Ever!

Posted on May 28, 2012 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

Luscious homemade peach ice cream. I mean really, can there be anything better than this? (A daylight picture perhaps?)

For those of us in the United States, we are celebrating Memorial Day today and, whether you are here or abroad, I hope you all have had a lovely and safe weekend. Memorial Day is a day set aside in our country to honor those in the United States Armed Forces who have given their lives and their service in defense of our country and our allies, and I bow my head to those brave men and women. Today many memorials are taking place around the country in the form of parades, the laying of wreathes and tributes.

Additionally, this weekend marks the unofficial kick-off to summer and all those good things that come with it like grilling on the barbecue, sharing fun times with friends, the first trip to the beach…and that harbinger of summer, homemade ice cream! We had a small cook-out Saturday night for some friends who were in town and which featured these truly amazing Chile Lime Ground Chicken Burgers with Fresh Guacamole from the lovely and talented personal chef and teacher Karista Bennett, and I do encourage you to click on the link attached to the title of these burgers…and make them! They are awesome, and so is her brother Tio’s Fresh Guacamole, which is on that same recipe post. The only thing I did differently from Karista was put some olive oil on my hands to make the patties because the chicken is so soft, and I used 1/2 of a large serrano pepper in the guacamole instead of a whole one. This recipe is a keeper, and I can see why Karista’s clients love it so much. I even posted it on the Bits and Breadcrumbs Facebook Page because I thought it was so good. I served my Warm Asparagus and Potato Salad with Lemon Tarragon Vinaigrette alongside the burgers, and a grilled corn recipe that I’ll share in my next post. Super-duper good eats, y’all!

As you know, I’ve had a plethora of early peaches on hand, and after going bonkers at the market last week, I had even more. I came into the weekend knowing that I wanted to make peach ice cream, and after looking around for a recipe I liked, I settled on one by Curtis Aikens that sounded really good. Of course I tweaked it just a bit, but in the making of it, I was reminded of some pretty hard and fast tips that can make the difference between having superlative ice cream, and weirdly textured ice milk, or iced soup. The real key here is timing.

I have to say that the result of Curtis’ recipe and my tweaking was quite possibly the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted. Our guests felt the same way, and the peach flavor in this was absolutely stunning. It is now my favorite fruit ice cream base. I’m sharing both his original recipe link and my tweaked version, because mine includes the instructions for a successful freezing on this and any other frozen treats. It’s not hard, you just need to plan in advance for optimal results. After you read the recipe, scroll down to see the step by step photos for achieving great ice cream at home.

I hope you’ll kick off your summer, or any time really, with some of the great ideas in this post. And, if your peaches haven’t come in yet, keep this in mind for when the time is right, or try it with some fruit you have available fresh or frozen. This ice cream is the real deal and very rich, but worth the splurge. It is also well worth the advance planning. Cheers everyone!

Fresh Peach Ice Cream
Makes about 1 1/2 quarts
Adapted from Curtis Aikens’ recipe for Peach Ice Cream

2 1/2 cups chopped, peeled and pitted peaches and their juice
1 1/4 cups cane sugar (if your peaches are super sweet or if you don’t like sweet desserts, you might wish to cut the sugar back by 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons good quality Amaretto
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk, or 1/2 cup 1% and 1/2 cup light cream (this is what I used)
1/2 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract, such as Madagascar Bourbon pure vanilla
4 egg yolks

A 1 1/2 quart capacity ice cream maker. If using a small home electric kind, make sure the bowl is well frozen, as in several days in the freezer before you plan to use it.

2 nights before you want to eat your ice cream, combine the peaches, 1/2 cup of the sugar, the lemon juice and the amaretto in a small bowl. Stir to combine well, cover with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator overnight to well chill. You can stir it occasionally if you think about it.

The same night as you prep the peaches, make the custard base. In a saucepan combine 3/4 cup sugar, heavy cream and the milk or milk/light cream combo as mentioned above, and the vanilla. Bring it just to a boil over medium low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then remove it from the heat. In another small bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Add about 1/3 of the hot cream mixture to the yolks while whisking the yolks, then return the yolk mixture to the cream mixture in the saucepan while whisking the cream mixture. Return the saucepan with the custard mix to medium low heat and continue to cook, stirring with a spoon, until the mixture thickens, comes just to a low boil and coats the back of the spoon, leaving a clean trail when you run your finger through it. Remove the custard from the heat, strain it into a medium bowl through a fine to remove any solids and allow it to cool at room temperature until just barely warm. Cover with plastic wrap allowing the plastic to touch the top of the custard to prevent a skin, then cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and place it into the refrigerator to chill overnight.

Now I know you’re thinking “can’t I just put this in an ice bath to quick chill it and move on?” Sure, and if you’ve looked at Curtis’ original recipe he suggests just that. But most folks have home ice cream makers with the little frozen bowls like I have, instead of the industrial kitchen kind, and they don’t freeze the same. In fact, if your custard base is still warm at all, the ice cream will not freeze before the bowl defrosts. I have had unhappy results with cream mixtures by not allowing the base to chill overnight. Unlike mixtures that contain lower fat content and therefore more water, the butterfat in the cream takes a while to chill and this will all come together much better, perfectly in fact, if you follow my directions. Just sayin’.

After your custard and your peaches are well chilled the next day, strain the peaches over a fine sieve, collecting the juice into a bowl, then return the fruit to the fridge. Gently whisk the reserved juice into the custard, and start your ice cream freezer. I use a home Cuisinart ice cream maker, so this means at the last minute removing my frozen container, popping it onto the machine, putting in the dasher and lid, and starting it. Pour the custard mixture into the ice cream maker while it’s running and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions until almost completely done, in my case this was about 22 minutes later (please see visuals below.) When the custard is almost frozen—and this will be soft still—add in the cold peaches and let it run until it’s the desired consistency of frozen, about 8-10 more minutes.

And here’s the other trick. You put it back into the freezer. I know, this is the hardest part…the waiting, but you will be rewarded!

Quickly transfer the ice cream from the bowl into freezer-proof containers or tubs, sealing well. Put the tubs of ice cream into the freezer and allow the ice cream to harden to normal ice cream consistency. I let it go overnight. This ice cream is very creamy and even after being frozen overnight, it will be scoop-able, but not soft serve. If you prefer yours softer, by all means freeze it to your desired preference or allow it to soften before serving. The ice cream will keep for several days in the freezer…but believe me, it won’t last that long!

The peaches all liquored up and ready to chill.

Sorry for the wacky light from the stove bulb, but this is the thickened custard ready to transfer to a bowl and cool.

This is why you strain the custard. Yuk! Who wants THAT in their ice cream?

This is the finished custard cooling. After you chill it overnight, it will be the consistency of a true custard or pudding, before you add the juices from the fruit. You could eat it like this…but then you’d miss the peaches!

The strained peach juice the next day. Stir it into the custard base just before putting it into the ice cream freezer. This will make your base more liquid.

Here’s what the ice cream will look like about 10-12 minutes into the freezing process.

By contrast, this is what it looks like when it is ready to add the peaches. Notice the increase in volume and the icy structure.

When you add the cold peaches, it suddenly all goes to soup again! No worries, it will refreeze.

Fini! This is what it will look like when it’s time to stop the machine, about 30-35 minutes total in my machine.

As you can see before removal of the dasher, it is frozen, but softer than soft serve. Time to load it into tubs and freeze it to the scoop-able consistency of my very first image. Enjoy!

A Very Short Little Peach Cake

Posted on May 22, 2012 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

Peaches! We have them…the first of the season from south Georgia, and boy are they a welcome sight. It seems like forever since peaches were in season, and now at last they’ve arrived, even a bit early, like everything this year.

After the first week of eating them in a few juicy bites, or with some Greek yogurt and granola, I began to calm down once I realized that these were early peaches and we should have peaches for a while to come. And that’s when I started thinking about baking. Now, I don’t bake a lot…mainly because there are just two of us and, well, if I make it, we will eat it…rapidly and until no crumbs remain. But peaches do inspire me to start trying some new ideas.

My first thought was something cake-y. More so than a crisp or a cobbler, but maybe more versatile than a muffin. I love shortcakes…why not combine the idea of fruit and shortcake into one…besides the fact that I’ve never seen it done? And hence the result: a very short little peach cake!

Dressed and ready for the oven.

I started by utilizing some of my favorite flavors from both peach and other fruit crisps, including oats, plus some other fresh ingredients that I think compliment the peach itself, like orange zest and ginger. Then, combining ideas from a couple of shortcake recipes that I liked, I came up with this easy little cake. The shortcake-styled batter is topped with a layer of peaches and almonds, then sprinkled with sugar and baked until golden and the almonds are toasty. The final cake is moist and flavorful, a cross between the biscuity texture of a shortcake and the moist crumb of a traditional cake. It isn’t overly sweet and is quite good on it’s own as a dessert, snack, or even breakfast. But of course for the true shortcake experience you can top it with your favorite topping of plain yogurt (to feel virtuous), whipped cream (to feel sophisticated) or even ice cream (for total gluttony, uh-huh) and all are good. Oh yes, peaches do love some cream!

A slice of moist and not too sweet cake, perfect for a snack and reminiscent of a traditional peach shortcake, but all rolled into one!

All hail to the mighty peach, and welcome to the season, at least in our neck of the woods. What? No peaches for you yet? Well, as soon as they come in, here are a few more tasty looking treats using peaches that you might want to check out: my Mom’s Easy Peach (and Blueberry) Crisp, City Hippy Farm Girl’s Peach and Almond Clafouti rift on my Apple Clafouti, and Geni’s Peachy Summer Muffins and Peachy Puffy Pancake at Sweet and Crumbly. And there are oh so many more great ideas out there. Just click on any one of the folks I follow, go to their site and search for peach recipes, and the world of peach is at your fingertips. Yay, I love peach season!

A little side note. You may or may not have noticed that my posting frequency has dwindled to about once a week over the last couple of months. I’ve alluded to a few reasons for that in addition to just plain being busy, like we all are, plus I’ve been working on a rebrand for my business. I hope to be back up to a more regular twice-a-week posting schedule pretty soon, and appreciate you bearing with me. Like the song for Tinkerbell in Peter Pan, if you believe in me posting more frequently, clap your hands! No seriously, you could just “Like” me on Facebook at the top right sidebar of my home page, and that would be wonderful, plus it would encourage me to post more there, too! Thanks for reading this public service announcement. Back to work.

A Very Short Little Peach Cake
Makes 8 decent sized slices, or 4 extremely generous ones!

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats, ground to coarse flour in a processor
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 teaspoons (I use cane sugar)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon fresh orange zest
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
1 cup whole buttermilk
1 generous cup sliced fresh peaches, about 3 small peeled, pitted and sliced
1/4 cup slivered almonds

Plain Greek yogurt, heavy whipped cream or vanilla ice cream to serve. (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch round non-stick cake pan, and I usually use the butter wrappers for this…waste not!

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the first 8 ingredients (flour through zest) and stir with a fork or whisk to well distribute. Add the butter and lightly mix with your hands to combine the dry ingredients with the butter, resulting in a coarse meal appearance. Add the buttermilk to the dry ingredients and stir with a fork until just combined, do not overmix. Evenly spread the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the peach slices in an even and single layer over the smoothed top of the batter, gently pressing and using an artful design if desired. Sprinkle the sliced almonds evenly over the peaches, then sprinkle the sugar evenly over the top.

Bake the cake in the 400 degree F oven for about 25 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and shrinking from the sides of the pan, and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake and cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 8 minutes. Remove the cake gently from the pan, and place it back on the wire rack to cool completely. Serve as is or with a dollop of your favorite creamy topping. Enjoy.

A Mahvelously Mediterranean Salad with Garlic and Cumin Roasted Chickpeas

Posted on May 14, 2012 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

One of the main reasons that I’ve come to enjoy blogging so much is the incredible range and variety of ideas that get shared and exchanged via comments here, and in reading and commenting on other blogger’s posts as well. Honestly, there are so many terrific sounding recipes out there that I want to try, and I know I will never get to them all. But each and every one informs and inspires me in some way…informs my thought processes in planning meals, in buying and growing food, and inspires my creative efforts in the kitchen. As I rapidly approach my first year of blogging, I realize that this process has become an integral part now of who I am and how I operate.

And here’s a perfect example of this process in action.

Charles’ chickpeas in a reasonably sized snack bowl, but don’t be fooled…you’ll eat more than this!

A few weeks ago I read a post from a fellow blogger that tantalized my tastebuds and tickled my imagination. That post was from the talented Charles of Five Euro Food (isn’t that a great premise and blog name?) and it was an easy recipe called Garlic and Cumin Roasted Chickpeas, a little snack he whipped up one day while on holiday, and because of a desire to create a healthy munchie.

Now as it so happened at the time, I’d been searching for a roasted chickpea recipe for snacking purposes, and wanted one with some real pizzaz because chickpeas can be a little bland on their own, in my opinion. And suddenly there was Charles’ post…I could just taste how good these would be and couldn’t wait to try them! The result was a truly tasty and quite spicy little snack that both my husband and I really enjoyed…and enjoyed, and enjoyed!

The second night after I made these, we enjoyed them as a mezze along with some babaganoush from a local Iraqi bakery. Please excuse the plastic tub…we were hungry!

But wait! Even though these were so wonderful on their own and also as part of mezze the next night, I kept thinking how great they’d be as an ingredient with something else…something to play with all these great flavors, including the roasted garlic. ‘Hmmm,’ I thought, ‘these are pretty substantial little bits, and therefore would be a nice way to add some protein and heft to a light dish.’ That’s when it hit me. But of course, why not use these as a component of a Mediterranean-inspired salad?

And so my salad was born. It was built around all my favorite flavors in a Greek salad, and ideas from other Middle Eastern and Mediterranean salads, but very much enhanced by the spicy profile of the chickpeas and the toasty garlic. And wow, what a salad this makes, my friends. A very satisfying vegetarian meal on a plate, with a real flavor explosion going on.

We enjoyed this salad for dinner, feeling quite satisfied, and no meat was needed or missed. I could eat this almost every day! And it was all inspired, and much more than that, MADE by Charles’ amazing chickpea recipe. So thank you Charles, for your recipe and your inspiration! These chickpeas are now one of our favorite snacks and one we’d serve to guests, as well as a component of our new favorite salad. They’re as easy to make as the glazed red pepper and fennel almonds recipe, and equally as versatile to use as a springboard or an enhancement to other dishes. Give both these recipes a try and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

A Marvelously Mediterranean Salad with Garlic and Cumin Roasted Chickpeas
Makes two salads, can be doubled

Salad:
2 cups baby spinach leaves
2 cups baby arugula leaves
1 large roma or other tomato, sliced, then slices halved
10 brined black, green or mixed Mediterranean or Greek olives, pitted and quartered
1/2 cup thinly sliced English cucumber, slices halved
2 oz. crumbled good quality feta cheese
4 thin slices of red onion
1/3-1/2 cup of Garlic and Cumin Roasted Chickpeas

Dressing:
1 generous Tablespoon of fresh finely chopped oregano
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
Pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 Tablespoons of good quality olive oil

Layer the salad ingredients, except for the chickpeas, in the order listed above, dividing evenly between two plates. In a bowl or glass jar, combine the salad dressing ingredients, whisking or shaking to emulsify, then pour the dressing evenly over the two salads. Top with the chickpeas and garlic, dividing evenly, and dig in! This is also great with a little nan or pita bread on the side for sopping up any juices.

Into each life, some rain must fall…hopefully!

Posted on May 6, 2012 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

We’ve waited and waited. Weeks on end without rain and with record high temperatures, close to or in the 90′s, and dry as a bone. Then finally this weekend, some rain!

Our house in the forest, by artist Jeanie Holland.

A time or two now, I believe I’ve mentioned that our property is mostly shaded. And by this I mean we practically live in a forest of 80-year-old and 100-foot-tall pine trees, with an understory of dogwood trees, Japanese maples, shade-hearty shrubs, and various perennial plants and ferns.

From the get-go, I knew my desire to have a vegetable garden of any type was an exercise in futility, but I pursued it anyway. And this spring, on top of having no sun in my yard, we’ve struggled with having very little rain at a time when we usually get the bulk of rainfall we’re going to for the next few months. The clouds tease, the forecasters make promises and all the moisture goes right around us. I’ve watered, only just enough to keep everything going and within our watering restrictions, but city water with all that chlorine just isn’t what the plants want. Then Friday rolls around, and what’s this? We have moisture coming from the sky…ta da! Suddenly everything is growing again.

We’re going to have some French filet beans on the table here pretty soon!

The transformation that Mother Nature can inspire, and particularly where plants are concerned, is endlessly fascinating to me. Just a day or two before, there were no beans and only the beginnings of a few blossoms showing, but no signs of seedlings from what I’d direct-seeded into pots and into the ground. And now, with just half an inch of rain, the French filet beans are growing rapidly on the bushes and tomato and basil seedlings are popping up, soon to have their second leaves. Hoo ya!

My young collards before harvesting.

The seedlings coming up…tomatoes around the outside and a tiny basil plant in the middle!

Collards in the pasta dish…really wonderful this way!

And so, my little and mostly sunless garden is still plugging along, I’m happy to report. Further proof that plants can adapt and fool you, surviving on very little of what they need. I probably still can’t grow tomatoes in my little bed…at least not until about September, and by then it’s a bit too late. Therefore, my seedlings will stay in pots on the deck where we get the most sun. But below in the garden, greens and beans do very well in this limited light space. My collards were signaling me that it was time to do a harvest, so I snipped and clipped and used them to make this great pasta dish again, my Penne with Kale, Roasted Tomatoes and Sausage, for which you can see the previously posted recipe here, substituting the collards for the kale. I may get one more round of collards, or I may pull them up for compost and start some zucchini seed…another thing I haven’t had much success with, but I just must…try, try again.

Catnip, sage, Greek and Italian oregano, marjoram, thyme and kitty grass wintered over in their pots…if you could actually say that we had winter here this year!

Gardening is such hard work, isn’t it Cin-cin?

Our deck is the best option for year round gardening, and all these herbs that you see wintered over in their pots. The amazing catnip plant above left was started from seed two years ago in the garden bed, I pulled it out in February and plopped it in a pot, and now it’s thriving on the deck where my garden “assistants” can get to it. They still prefer their catnip dried so it mellows out a bit, but they do enjoy the oat grass we grow for them to nibble on.

My garden assistants surveying the property and deciding where we need to dig next.

The “pick-up stick” garden design, quite an ornate “kitty intervention” device. It’s being copyrighted right now.

These two are most excellent diggers, so you can see how I’ve had to cat proof my garden bed by using my own “pick up stick” design, and getting to the plants is now quite a trick, even for me!

Guess who likes to dig in my garden the most? Need I say more?

Yes, this weekend, life is good and thriving. We’re eating from our garden and have high hopes of some more eats to come. And while I still pine (not the trees) for the ability to truly feed ourselves from what we can grow, and which will not happen while we live in this house, at least we are able to enjoy some small fruits of my garden labor. Always so much better than anything we can purchase.

Ah, look, here comes the rain again! Happy Sunday!

(A brief note as has been posted from fellow bloggers. We all LOVE comments to our posts, but I don’t think anyone wants to have their email box filled with every single comment someone makes on a post. To avoid this, you must uncheck the “Notify me of all comments made on this post” box just below the comment area when you start to comment…before you comment. WordPress is currently auto-checking this box as a default, and if you don’t uncheck it, the consequences are very annoying, but can be worked around. Let me know if you get stuck! )

Picnic Perfection: Couscous Salad

Posted on April 29, 2012 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

Ready for the picnic, cookout or pot luck, this salad has outdoor fun written all over it!

As a complement to my last post, I’d like to share one of my favorite salads that is just great for picnics, a cookout or a weeknight vegetarian dish. I first saw this couscous salad by chance on an episode of Paula Deen’s cooking show on the Food Network, and intrigued, I adapted it a bit to my taste…then a bit more. It’s one that comes together very quickly and lends itself to adaptation, so you may wish to try your own versions as well. Couscous is so versatile, which is one of the things I really love about it!

Regardless of whether you make this salad as I suggest, or play with it a bit, I think it’s one you’ll really enjoy. And I think you’ll agree, it’s a perfect salad for your outdoor adventures, or any time!

Spring-Summer Couscous Salad, with Variations
(Adapted from Paula Deen) 8 servings

1 cup golden couscous
1 1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon olive oil
10 oz. grape tomatoes, cut in half or quarters (about 2 cups total)
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, cut into quarters lengthwise
1 cup Italian flat leaf parslely, chopped
5 oz. crumbled feta cheese

Dressing:
3 Tablespoons olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste

Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan with the 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Add the couscous, then turn off the heat and cover, allowing it to sit for 5 minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork and transfer it to a large bowl to cool slightly.

Add the tomatoes, olives and parsley to the couscous and stir to combine. Add the feta and stir lightly to incorporate. In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients to emulsify, then add the dressing to the salad and stir gently to incorporate.

Allow the salad to sit at room temp for an hour before serving, or place it in the fridge until ready to serve.

Variations:
Cinnamon: Now I know this sounds weird, but it’s fantastic. Sprinkle about 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon to the finished salad and stir it well to combine. This is the way we most often have eaten this salad.
Marjoram: Add 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of minced fresh marjoram to the dressing, then stir it into the salad. Marjoram can be strong tasting to the uninitiated, so add it to your taste, and I’d not recommend using cinnamon with the marjoram. We had this last night and I now like it even better than the cinnamon, because it is so fresh and lively.
Greek: Certainly you could add about 1/2 cup of peeled, seeded, finely diced and patted dry cucumber to this salad, a little chopped red onion, and add 1 teaspoon or more to taste of minced fresh oregano and even a dash of minced fresh garlic if you like to the dressing, et voilà, Greek couscous salad. (Again, no cinnamon with this one, I’d say.)

Day Tripping: Mountains, a Winery and a Picnic

Posted on April 24, 2012 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

Lovely Dicks Creek Falls at the juncture of Waters Creek and Dick's Creek in the Chattahoochee National Forest.

As I’ve alluded to before, we’ve had a rather turbulent Spring around here thus far which has resulted in a few blips on my blogging radar, as well as generating a pervasive feeling of constantly playing catch-up. After returning to town last week, I found myself extremely busy with a hundred things to do on my plate and by the time the weekend approached, I had begun to feel the need to get away from it all for a few hours and recharge the emotional batteries. What better way to do that than a little day trip, I ask you?

We are blessed with a wonderful geographical feature in our area situated just one short hour north of Atlanta in the form of the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and the mighty Appalachian Trail. I love a casual hike, but I’ve only walked very short segments of this trail. Perhaps one day I’ll tackle more of it, but this weekend was all about escape and having a little picnic—the first of the season—and Sunday was a beautiful, albeit cool, day for it. So sit back and enjoy the ride as I take you to a couple of my favorite picnic spots and sites in the North Georgia mountains.

While North Georgia is chocked full of great little mountain towns, lakes, camping areas and parks, one of the closest areas and easiest to get to from the city is around a town called Dahlonega, Georgia. It’s a straight 59 mile shot up GA 400 from here, and a pleasant drive. Dahlonega is a charming little town in Lumpkin county located at the foothills of the mountains, and is the county seat. It was the site of the first major gold rush in the U.S., but these days it’s a pretty touristy area filled with little craft shops and restaurants, and the site of all kinds of festivals, and this weekend was a musical one called “Bear on the Square.” Dahlonega was actually not our destination, but we usually pass through it on our way to two areas we enjoy, so we were caught amongst the festival goers for a brief time.

Following U.S. 19 North from Dahlonega, you’ll find yourself along a large stretch of the North Georgia Wine Trail…yep, that’s what I said…wineries! There are several I’ve mentioned before on this blog, but our two favorites are Wolf Mountain Vinyards and Frogtown Cellars. It’s been quite interesting (and tasty) over the years to see how the wines have come along, and now both wineries can boast of some notable and award-winning wines. We’ve tasted several good ones, and while I’ve had a tendency to prefer the wines of Frogtown in the past, Wolf is getting better and better, and we happened to be driving past on the way to our picnic, so took a little detour to see how the vines were looking.

Above and below are views from the patio off of the Tasting Room at Wolf Mountain Vineyards.

Wolf Mountain Vineyards is sited on a mountain, as you might imagine, and commands a lovely view of the mountains over the vines. The main building boasts a bar upstairs which is used for private tastings and has a pretty balcony attached to it to take your wine outdoors. There is also a large dining room which features themed brunch buffets every Sunday, and the food looks good, though we didn’t partake due to our picnic plans. Downstairs is the main tasting room, all glass fronted to enjoy the mountain view, with an outdoor wrap around patio. You can order small plates to go with your wine or tastings, and again, the view is quite lovely here. We’ve had tastings here before, but chose to have a glass of their rosé and enjoy the view before continuing on our journey.

Very young grapes on the vines.

This particular weekend the vineyard was celebrating the “reawakening of the vines” and we visited the vines to see the baby grapes…so tiny and so cute! If you’re in the area, I’d recommend you stop by Wolf Mountain Vineyards for a taste or a glass…they are better every year! April is a great time to visit, too, because it’s just before the huge wedding season up here. You can still stop by anytime, but we’ve experienced the frenzy that is wedding season, and during that time parking, as well as a quiet moment, is at a premium.

Dogwoods just beginning to bloom at Lake Winfield Scott

After leaving the wolf behind, we continued to head north on U.S. 19 and then veered onto Hwy 60 towards Suches, GA., on the way to one of our favorite picnic and camping destinations, Lake Winfield Scott. Shortly after you reach Suches, you’ll turn right onto Wolf Pen Gap Road, State Road 180, and Lake Winfield Scott Recreation Area will be on your right a couple of miles down the road.

Lake Winfield Scott is an 18-acre mountain pond managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and is the centerpiece of the recreation area. It features swimming, picnic areas and pavilions, a walking trail around the lake, non-motor boating, fishing, camping and an additional trailhead which feeds to the Appalachian Trail. It is one of Georgia’s highest elevation lakes, and is really quite beautiful. We’ve camped there, and even had a black bear visit us once! On this day, the wind was blowing across the lake and while we had the area almost to ourselves…which was great, it was a bit too cool to picnic, unfortunately. We took some pictures, looked around and enjoyed the dogwoods, which were just beginning to bloom as spring here is quite a bit later than ours, then headed on to our next destination.

A portion of Lake Winfield Scott.

We backtracked to U.S. 19 from Lake Winfield Scott, but you can continue on to a spectacular mountainous drive full of switchbacks (Lance Armstrong trained here) on Wolf Pen Gap Road towards Vogel State Park and pick up U.S. 19 again at that point, if you prefer. Our destination was Dicks Creek Falls, which is located off of U.S. 19 on F.S. (Forest Service) road 34 near Cleveland, GA. As you head north on 19 (or south if you go to Vogel), you’ll see signs for “The Chattahoochee Wildlife Management Center” and “Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church” and this is where you’ll turn onto the Forest Service road in the midst of the Chattahoochee National Forest.

View down the falls at Waters Creek.

You’ll continue about 2.8 miles until you reach a series of small waterfalls leading up to the main falls, where assessable flat rock formations form the top of the falls, along with a trophy trout stream where Waters Creek and Dicks Creek come together. We’ve enjoyed many a picnic at this locale, and today was no exception. In fact, the area was quite protected from the cool wind by the thick tree growth surrounding it, and very few people were there because it’s still too cold to swim.

Mmmmm, brownies!

We spread our blanket on a rock next to the gorgeous and vigorous waterfall, and enjoyed our repast of breads, cheeses and quince paste, olives, salad, and a wee bit of wine, along with some homemade brownies for dessert. It was so peaceful there, just perfect for relaxing. After a while we were almost lulled to sleep by listening to the sound of the rushing water, the birds singing in the trees, and watching the lazy shafts of afternoon sunlight filtering through the bright green spring leaves.

View at the top of the falls from our picnic rock, where the two creeks meet.

View upstream from our picnic spot.

The falls viewed from downstream.

Alas, the days are still a bit short in Spring, and so before long it was time to take one last little walk around the falls, pack up our picnic and travel back to the hustle and bustle of the big city. But I can honestly say that we were refreshed and ready to head home to normal life by then, and our very hungry pussycat children.

A field along the side of the road covered in goldenrod.

It is said that you need to take time to “stop and smell the roses along the way.” I’m a great believer in this, and whether you decide to take a little road trip, walk to your nearest park or to your back yard terrace or deck, a picnic is a wonderfully grounding way to take some quality time to stop, look, listen and nibble.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our little road trip to North Georgia. As I said, there are many things to see and activities to enjoy there, including perusing the wine trail, and I’m sure I will share more little adventures as the year progresses. Have you scoped out what’s an hour north of your area or even in your own back yard? Do you have any favorite picnic spots to share? Do tell.

Happy trails and happy picnics to you all!

Strawberry Orange Almond Crisp and a Terrific Casserole

Posted on April 16, 2012 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

This photo almost ended up with the spoon in it...I couldn't wait to taste!

I was out of town for several days at the end of last week to visit with family and friends, and took my new laptop with me so I could post and read while away. Woe was me when I found that I couldn’t “connect” from where I was due to spotty internet service and no wi-fi available yet. Ah, technology, it’s great when it works…

A fabulous bread pudding-like casserole that is great the next day, too!

I’m back home now and I’d like to share a couple of very tasty items I made before I left town. One was the lovely dessert above. The other was a dish from blogger friends Katherine and Greg over at Rufus’—a wonderful Kale, Spinach and Bread Casserole that we enjoyed oh-so-very-much and that I highly recommend. Katherine’s recipe, which you can find here, immediately got my attention because I’m such a fan of savory bread puddings and greens. She used gruyere and blue cheeses in hers, which sounds divine and I would have, too, except for the fact that I was leaving town and only had fontina and parmesan on hand. I’m happy to say that it was terrific with these two cheeses, so I know it must be outstanding with the other two…especially since gruyere and blue are two of my favorite cheeses. I’ll be making this one again, and thanks, Katherine, for the recipe!

And now for the dessert. I had lots of fresh Florida strawberries on hand, and I wanted to try something I’d never had or seen, a fruit crisp made with strawberries only. I’ve often wondered why you never seem to see a strawberry crisp even though you do see pies occasionally—I guess it’s because it takes a lot of strawberries to make one—but I have to say, it’s really a terrific thing! My recipe, which pairs the flavor of orange and some almonds with tart berries, is really a delicious way to enjoy this spring fruit treat. It’s not an overly sweet dessert and can be made more so when topped with vanilla ice cream, or more complex by enhancing the natural sweetness of the berries by topping it with crème fraiche. The first time we had it, ice cream was on hand, but I can tell you that the next day, using the crème fraiche just took it into the stratosphere! And of course, you could use whipped cream flavored with Grand Marnier…or whatever you like.

I hope you’ll check out Katherine’s recipe above for yourself and give it a try. It’s a great way to use and enjoy greens even if you aren’t a fan of them. And, I hope you’ll “live with passion” and buy, procure, or even better…pick, enough berries to try this little dessert while the berries are plentiful.

Me, I’m off to the market for more berries, and I’ll be back shortly!

Strawberry Orange Almond Crisp
6 servings

For the berries:
2 1/2 lbs. fresh strawberries, stems removed and sliced
zest of one orange
1/3 cup sugar, preferably cane sugar
2 Tablespoons Grand Marnier
1 Tablespoon flour

For the topping:
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup cane sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/4 cup blanched slivered almonds, coarsely chopped
1/4 lb. (I stick) unsalted butter, cold and diced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a glass or other rectangular casserole dish, about 8 x 11 inches and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the berries, zest, sugar, Grand Marnier and flour, stirring to mix well and set aside while you make the topping.

In a small bowl combine the flour, both sugars, salt, oats, almonds and the butter, and use your hands to lightly work the butter into the dry ingredients until it just becomes crumbly with pea-sized pieces of butter.

Transfer the berries and their juices to the prepared baking dish and spread evenly. Top evenly with the crumble topping. Place in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees until the filling is bubbling and the topping is a light golden brown and crisp. (It’s never a bad idea to put a sheet of aluminum foil underneath to catch any drips.) Remove from the oven and allow it to sit for about 5-10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla bean ice cream, crème fraiche or whipped cream with another little splash of Grand Marnier if you feel particularly wicked.

Orzo with Lemon, Asparagus and Ham

Posted on April 11, 2012 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

Light and Lively...oh wait, that's a yogurt isn't it?

You know how sometimes you’re just putzing around in your kitchen and you remember some ingredient that’s been in the pantry for a while? You meant to use it before now, really you did! A perfectly good, even wonderful, ingredient like that little tin of some special something, that interesting package of pasta, dried beans, a grain of some type, that pesto. Well in my case it was, and is, orzo.

Now I’ve had many an orzo salad in my day, and many meat dishes with orzo used as a side. It’s a wonderful pasta and every single time I have it, I ask myself why I don’t make it more often. A few years ago I was in the position above, and it was Easter weekend and I was casting about for something to make for the two of us with what I had on hand that would be, well, Easter-ish or evocative of Spring in some way. Enter the orzo and this wonderfully simple concoction below. It’s so light with such lively flavors, and comes together so quickly, just my kind of dish. And it’s made with ingredients that I often have on hand in the spring, including asparagus…my favorite spring vegetable. We enjoyed this dish late in the day on Easter Sunday, along with a little spring dessert I’ll share with you later.

I love pantry inspirations, don’t you?

Orzo with Lemon, Asparagus and Ham
Serves 4-6

3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 lb. fresh asparagus, end stem trimmed off, then cut into 1 inch pieces
Pinch of Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) cooked ham cut into 1/2 inch pieces or a combination of ham and prosciutto
1 lb. dried orzo
zest and juice of 1 lemon
Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano to serve

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and add salt according to the package directions for the orzo.

Very few ingredients, really.

Heat 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium low heat. Add the onion and cook until it is soft and transparent, about 4-5 minutes. Add the asparagus to the onion and season with a tiny pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Cook for 4 more minutes.

Add the orzo to the pot with the water boiling, and cook according to the package instructions, about 7 minutes to al dente. Add the ham (and prosciutto) to the asparagus and onion mixture, continue to cook until the asparagus is crisp-tender, and the ham is lightly browned. Turn the heat to low.

Ready to add the drained orzo and lemon.

When the orzo is done, drain the water and then return the pasta to the pot, adding the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and stirring it through to coat. Add the orzo to the vegetable and ham mixture and stir to incorporate. Add the zest and the lemon juice, and season with more freshly ground black pepper, and another pinch of salt if you think it needs it to taste…I usually don’t. Stir to combine and rewarm gently, then turn off the heat and serve the orzo by itself or with a little freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Enjoy.

I'll take mine with just a little cheese, please!

Ma’amool for Easter

Posted on April 7, 2012 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

These cookies have Easter written all over them. Festive and rather stunning, if I do say so myself!

The Ma'amool mold with the tag.

A dear friend of mine is a treasure hunter. By this I mean she finds the most amazing treasures in any number of places…yard sales, estate sales, thrift stores, etc. She’s so good at it, that some of my most creative and interesting objects in the house are things that she’s found…everything from a hand painted swashbuckling hat holder to a very cool and Don Quixote-styled metal horse sculpture. Last fall on my birthday, one of her gifts was an odd (to me), but really beautiful hand carved mold.

The tag with it's recipe.

I had no idea what on earth this thing was, but fortunately it had a tag bound with a piece of twine, and inside the tag it said it was a Ma’amool, a hand crafted gift from Damascus. It explained that this was a cookie mold hand-carved from apricot wood, and it included a recipe for making the cookies. COOL!!!

Here's what the design looks like.

This was last October, and I had originally thought I’d be making these cookies around Christmas…which came and went. Then as we progressed into the new year, I’d look at the mold when I was cooking, because I had it hanging by my stove and I kept thinking to myself…”I must make these cookies.”

Week before last, I was in the store and remembered that I needed dates and walnuts as well as farina, to make this recipe, and though I purchased all the ingredients, I then didn’t have time last weekend to make them. And so now here we are, Easter weekend, the day before Easter in fact, and I still hadn’t made them, until now! And guess what? It turns out that they are considered to be a Middle Eastern holiday or Easter cookie! Meant to be made this weekend, that’s all I can say.

Filled, molded and ready to bake.

Below is the recipe that was on the tag attached to my mold. In reading more about these cookies, I see that adding orange flower water and/or rose water is a traditional way to make these, but that was not in my recipe and I didn’t have either on hand. Each mold design is indicative of a different type of filling, and my recipe says to use either dates or walnuts, but I used both. For a truly Lebanese version, visit Nina Baydoun’s blog, Tabkhet el yom, and check out her Ma’amool recipe. Also, please see my highlighted comments in the recipe that I made below. There are some essential tips left out of the instructions that came with the mold…surprise! Isn’t that always the way with recipes that are handed down through generations? But, thanks to Nina’s blog, I was able to overcome some initial slowness and make these pretty fast.

First batch out of the oven...one cracked, but hey, this was my first attempt!

These were fun to make, lovely and unique, and very, very delicious, and would be good anytime you wanted to make them, holiday or no. I can’t wait to try different flavors, including the rose and orange water. I just love how you can learn something new every day! So now if you see one of these molds while you’re out and about somewhere, and you didn’t know what it was, you should grab it! You’ll have hours of fun ahead and tasty treats in the palm of your hand. Thank you Wanda, for the gift that will keep on giving, and also thank you to Nina Baydoun, who made this much easier to do with the great instructions on her post.

Wishing each and every one of you a very Happy Easter, Happy Holiday and Happy Spring!

Ma-amool
(I made a half recipe, which made 3 dozen cookies, this full recipe would make twice that easily.)

Dough:
2 lbs. farina (cream of wheat)
1 lb. butter (softened)
1 cup flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 cup milk

Filling:
1 lb. ground walnuts OR 1 lb. chopped pitted dates (I used a mixture)
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix butter, farina, flour and sugar well. Stir in milk to form a workable dough. (Even with softening the butter, I ended up using my hands to thoroughly incorporate the ingredients.) Shape dough into walnut sized balls and place in mold, using thumb to make a small depression. Place filling in the thumbprint and seal with dough. Strike mold sharply on chopping block to remove dough from mold.

Above is the way the tag instructions said to do this. It is super hard to get it out of the mold and it doesn’t allow for much filling. Makes a super sharp impression, though.

Okay, here’s where referring to someone like Nina, who makes these regularly, was really helpful. You certainly can make these in the mold, I did my whole first batch this way, wondering why so little filling would go into the depression and I also couldn’t hear from having to slam the mold down so many times to get them out. Flatten these out with your thumbs in the palm of your hand, making a little curved saucer. Spoon or place your filling in the center, and pinch the edges together into a crescent, then form gently back into a ball, press into the mold then sharply rap them out. Not only do they come out easier, but you can get more filling in them! Ya!

Above is Nina’s way…by far easier, faster and more effective!

Place cookies on greased baking sheet (I used a silpat) and bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes (It took a good 20-25 minutes in my oven at this temp). Cool completely and dust with powdered sugar. Fini!

Strawberry Shortcake for Breakfast and the ABC Award

Posted on April 3, 2012 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

We’ve had some fine Florida strawberries in the market lately and I wanted to make something special with them…at least special to us as we don’t eat dessert all the time around here. Enter the current issue of Bon Appetit, where I saw this recipe for shortcake that sounded intriguing and a bit healthier than some. Not that it has any ‘diet’ ingredients, or low fat this or that, but it incorporates ground almonds and oats into the batter…lovely! I tweaked it only a little in that I used half and half instead of cream because that’s what I had on hand. The result was really flavorful and not too sweet, with a coarser and more crumbly texture than the traditional biscuit or cake-y versions. We had some for dessert the first time, and then I realized I’d like it ever so much better for breakfast! I layered it with Greek yogurt instead of whipped cream and it was a really nice way to start the morning. Here’s the link to the original recipe, if you’d like to try it for yourself.

Meanwhile, more awards have come my way! It’s so gratifying to have fellow bloggers think so highly of you that they wish to acknowledge you on their own blogs, or award you in some way. I thank all of my blogging friends for their continued support, and thank all of my readers for following me wherever I go along these trails!

Julie over at Outtakes on the Outskirts kindly nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award. Julie’s blog is about her experiences living in rural Ohio including some really funny moments with her cat, Cougar. She’s crafty and creative, and I’ve learned a lot from her posts including a terrific new place to hang earrings in the form of a radiator grill! Thank you Julie, and here is a link to my answers and original post for the Liebster Blog Award.

Two bloggers have awarded me the ABC Award, Mandy over at The Complete Cookbook and Choc Chip Uru at Go Bake Yourself. Mandy always has such great posts ranging from recipes to sound kitchen wisdom, from shots of her fur babies (cats) to her travels. Plus she’s got a new camera and she’s taking some really awesome shots, so do check her out. Choc Chip Uru is a very bright and talented 16 year old, who bakes like a demon! I get a happy sugar high just from reading her delectable posts on everything sweetly imaginable. If you love desserts, you really need to check out this gal’s blog. Heck, even if you don’t have a huge sweet tooth you should see what she’s up to. And she’s only 16! Wow, you have to admire that inventive spirit and dedication to blogging…I couldn’t have done it at that age, I can only blog now that I’m just a few years older! Thank you both, ladies!

There are no specific rules attached to this fun award; just thank the person who gave it to you and share something about yourself using each letter of the alphabet…this was very hard for me!!! Then, pay the love forward to as many or as few bloggers as you wish, which is always tough to do, not only because there are so many great blogs, but because I tend to forget someone I want to mention whenever I do this! I’m taking the road that Mandy chose, and will pass this along to my “top recent” and my longest time commenters to say thanks for your support, and because I’d like to give them a shout out…whether or not you already have this award. They are listed at the end of this post.

A – Artistic

B – Brown-eyed girl

C – Caring/Calm

D – Dedicated

E – Eater…ummm, yes!

F – Friend, I try to be a good one!

G – Genuine

H – Happy. I think making a conscious effort to find happiness in one’s life and to be happy is the greatest gift you can give to yourself, your health and to others…just sayin’

I – Inquisitive

J – June bugs. I think they’re funny creatures. When I was a kid we used to tie thread to their legs and watch them fly. Kids can be cruel…but I digress.

K – Kind…it’s important, even if you don’t feel like it.

L – Loving/Learning/Lightening bugs! We just rescued one in the house, in March, mind you. That guy was all mixed up!

M – Married, with two kitty girl kids

N – Nature lover

O – Optimistic, it’s what gets your through the day and the tough times

P – Positive, in general, because negativity doesn’t get you very far down the road

Q – Quark…I just love the word, not the software so much…quark! quark!

R – Realistic, but not pessimistic

S – Science Fiction. Love it, am on the 5th book of The Game of Thrones Series, and am a Trek fan from way back.

T – Thumbelina and Cinderella, our two shelter kitties (their names stuck)

U – Understanding. Sometimes to a fault.

V – Vivacious…don’t know that I am so much as I love the word!