WIAW #37: Homemaade Peach Tea

Another Wednesday has come today… be glad and sing! (Do that while humming please.)

On other news as I told you on Monday, Aaron and I are mostly moved in to our studio apartment in Philadelphia. All we need now are chairs and curtains.

My mother bought us sheets and towels at the Buy One, Get One for $1 at Kohl’s.

Yes, I know I need these things after three years of college? Well, after three years my zebra cream and brown towels smelled and I never had a pair of matching sheets let alone nice ones. Since we have to single mattresses we needed nice matching sheets.

Do you even realize how hard it is to find twin sheets above 300 thread count? Nearly impossible, seriously. Apparently in America, people (parents) could care less what their young children and college students are sleeping on.  For practical reasons such as spills and washing, I get that. But really? No college student ever asked for nice sheets?

But luckily 400 thread count sheets in Camel were found in Kohl’s after three different visits to JCPenny’s and even Target! Yes, Target has Organic sheets but not over a 300 count. Kohl’s to the rescue baby.

And towels of course. Quick dry for Aaron as even since I’ve know him I’ve found still-wet towels bundled into a heap all over his apartment, his room at his parents, who knows his locker at his ROTC detachment probably has the same thing. THANK GOD I don’t have to clean those abominable things EVER.

It’s my own fault, I got myself into this!

But then again….he has taste. Thanks again God, really, thank you.

Oops….time for eats….here’s what we ate from our moving weekend and my Monday at work (my last week! yAy!) I'll have stay my Summer staples this week would have to be peaches! So delicious.

Friday

Had to take the train back from Harrisburg to Philadelphia because after moving from 8am to 9pm on Thursday I had to go back to work for the day and deal with my morning train being 45 MINUTES late!

So here’s what we had for dinner when I got back. We went to our favorite restaurant, Al a Maison in Ardmore, PA. Great food, BYOB and free parking! LOVE.

Shared a charcuterie plate with four cheeses, three poultry based pâtés, and saucisson for Aaron with bread. That was enough! Now entrees needed!

We split a bottle of wine (too sweet for my taste but you can’t complain when your fiancé buys you wine. That’s bad manners.) I drank it anyways so not that sweet I guess!

While we were very full from cheese and pate we had to split a dessert. Luckily that Night’s special was Peach Cobbler Al a mode. And oh man was it good! Tender peaches, crumbly crust, raspberry sauce, and delicious vanilla ice cream.

I got a decaf café au lait and he got Earl Gray tea (Mighty Leaf!)

Hey not bad price for a nice meal out since we skipped the entrees and just went for the cheese! Nom nom.

Saturday

Made a nice English inspired breakfast at Lisa’s.

Juggling taking care of Lisa’s “cat” in Exton and moving parts of the apartment in slowly we had no food since breakfast so we went to a Asian Bistro in Wynnewood (Mainline) we had never been too. Good prices, great food.

Started with some young coconut water. YUM! No wonder coconut milk is so delicious.

Entrees split:

Mango and Shrimp with brown rice

Chicken Lettuce cups: sautéed chicken, mushrooms, water chestnuts, crunchy noodles in lettuce cups with plum sauce. Over the top!

Lots of leftovers making lunch on Sunday on my apartment floor with a beer.

Monday

Breakfast

Coffee and cream,
black cherry 0% Chobani Greek yogurt with two Chunks of Energy Goji Berry crushed up!

Lunch

My mom’s homemade red curry chicken over basmati rice. So good!

Iced Water with cucumbers and a donut peach

Later: Cucumber and Mint tea with agave nectar (last of my Conscious Box tea bags)

Dinner

(not pictured oops)

Homemade chicken piccata over rice and sautéed asparagus

 

Homemade peach iced tea with Mighty leaf Ginger Peach iced tea

After an exhausting weekend and good eats I need some sleep!

But first I know you want to know more about that iced tea (and probably the Thai my mother made)

As for the tea, I’ve been dying to make the tea sample from Mighty Leaf I received in my Conscious Box and few weeks ago. I wanted make something really nice with it. Since I had two peaches that needed to be used, I got to work.

First to make it sweet I made a ginger peach simple syrup and then added it to the tea. For a grown-up drink add a splash of triple sec and a little vodka or brandy to each glass.

Either way you get a lightly sweet, crisp summer drink that is just what you needed! Adjust the simple syrup quantity for your own tastes and preferences, but try it out!

Homemade Ginger Peach Iced Tea:
Makes 2 liters of tea

Ingredients:

1 Mighty Leaf Iced tea, tea bag in Ginger Peach
32 oz. of boiled water
1 liter plus more ice
1 cup of sugar or preferred sweetener
1 cup water
2 ripe yellow peaches, pitted and cut into small pieces
4 thin rounds of fresh ginger
Lemon for garnish

Optional:

Peach for garnish
Favorite spirits


Directions:

In a kettle bring a little more than a liter of cold fresh water to a near boil.

In a heat proof pitcher, add water to tea bag and seep for 4-5 minutes. Once tea bag is take out add about a liter of ice cubes and stir.

Meanwhile in a small saucepan mix cup of water and sugar. Add ginger and cut peaches until and cook until sugar is dissolved. Boil until mixture sticks to spoon.

Strain peaches and ginger out of the syrup, crushing into the strainer, adding the syrup straight into the tea.

Stir syrup and tea well. In glasses add sweetened tea to a few ice cubes, small slice of lemon and peach. Add spirits add this time and stir.



Enjoy!

Love,

The College Cuisiner

Roasted Red Pepper Pesto

Today I can proudly say that Aaron and I finally are moved in to our new apartment! Yay! All we need is chairs for our "dining room" table.

I have a very stylist fiancé if you can't tell!

As you should be able to tell, we have a very small apartment in Philadelphia. But nonetheless it's ours for the next 12 plus months! Our building even has a pool!

I can't wait to show you more of our new home once its established. And of course, all the food I will be making in our little kitchen!

But I promise I won't put the video "tour" Aaron produced on my iPhone which includes a failed attempt by me to demonstrate how the bed folds out. That's not fair to you my readers.

We even have a pretty decent view.



But since we were busy from Thursday to Sunday moving in and do not have internet yet, I must make up for it with a recipe. 

Yes! Remember those?

I think you'll like this one.

Roasted Red Pepper Pesto.

Earlier last week I started getting cravings for ingredients: roasted red peppers, anchovies, basil, parmesan crostinis....so I got to work.

After getting a couple of ideas mostly from here at GirlChef, I came up with my own recipe which has a little more flavor and stands up to pasta or other dishes that might dilute the pesto yumminess.

YOU BETTER TRY IT NOW!! It's too easy to let this one slip through your fingertips people!

Roasted Red Pepper Pesto: 

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients:

14 oz. of Roasted red peppers (A jar and a half)
1/2 cup of shelled walnuts
3 cloves of garlic
1 cup fresh basil (mix of green and purple)
can of anchovy fillets (or 1 to 1 1/2 tbsp. of anchovy paste)
1/4-12 cup of grated Parmesan
Good quality olive oil
Coarse salt
Black Pepper
Juice and zest of half a lemon
White balsamic or similar type of vinegar

Directions:

In a food processor (or blender) add red peppers, garlic, and a drizzle of olive oil. Blend well until mostly smooth.

Next add walnuts, basil, anchovies, and Parmesan and blend well.

Add additional olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon to taste. If needed, add vinegar to the mixture a 1/2 tsp. at a time. You DO NOT want to add to much vinegar so be sparing.



There is so much you can do with this recipe and it is so easy, just blend.

First time I made it I used whole wheat penne.

The perfected recipe was the pesto tossed with orecchiette pasta. yum.

This can also be used as a great salad dressing with a little more olive oil or as an appetizer on top of Parmesan crotinis! Instant party classic!


Enjoy!

Love,

The College Cuisiner

WIAW #36: Coming off Camp Air

I'm officially back from camp and boy did I miss all of you! It is so hard being away for a whole week but I hope my friend Jen kept you company. And if you didn't check out her blog yet, DO IT NOW!

Jenn at Peas and Crayons had declared August the month of Summer Staples. What's more Staples of Summer than Summer Camp, cooking outside, and really all of the stuff I'm about to show you? I'm pretty proud of myself! So get ready for a staple filled month and lots of great recipes on the way!



  I had a great "relaxing" week at camp and here are some of my highlights:

This was my male Co-Counselor

My Campers singing a G-Rated rendition of “Camping Dream” to the tune of “Tennage Dream” by Katy Perry that I wrote!

And this:

 

He's Martin Luther

My "twin" staff member

My Campers

Of course one of the highlights I mentioned two weeks ago regarding camp was the cooking. Cathy, the camp cook for 20+ years is pretty incredible. She makes balanced, delicious home-style meals for 100+ people, 3 times a day. This woman is a saint.


Here are some of my favorite eats from my week at camp:

(Not exactly in order:)

• Baked chicken, rice, mixed vegetables
• Homemade Apple crisp! My favorite!
• Oatmeal with all the fixings and orange slices
• Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream
• Peanut butter fudgie oat bars
• Chocolate chip cookie bars
• Grilled Cheese turned tuna melt and tomato soup
• Mountain pies over the fire: if you've never had these, you haven't lived.
• smores! 

Here's what I ate on Monday once I got back:

Breakfast

cup of coffee, light cream 

Toasted English Muffin, light cream cheese, my sister's homemade peach preserves

Lunch

Leftovers twist of Banh Mi: Roasted chicken, Sriracha mayo, shave carrots, lettuce

Handful bagel chips with one Laughing Cow French Onion wedge

One ripe Donut peach, my favorite!

Iced water with cucumbers

Other Eats Since I got Back:

Homemade Amaretto Chocolate Chip Milkshake with fat-free vanilla yogurt. 

Recipe to come, so good!

Arugula and Spinach salad with slice donut peach, poached egg, bleu cheese crumbles,

fresh chives, homemade vinaigrette

 Just found my favorite Dark Chocolate Digestive Biscuits at a Celtic gift shop in Gettysburg, PA. I was ecstatic! (With my smuggled Earl Gray and a donut peach)

Drinking it up! Iced water with cucumbers Jenn@Peasandcrayons style and some V8

I’ve gone peach crazy if you haven't noticed!

I haven't shared a recipe on WIAW in awhile so hopefully it will make up for it and sticks with the theme.


On Friday morning after a terrible thunderstorm and a botched sleepout with my 19 campers and two co-counselors, we still decided to make breakfast outside over a fire. In previous experience, pancakes for Breakfast Out has been a big success even with large groups. You build a fire and just start cooking with the prepared ingredients. Despite the fact that we collected and stored enough fire wood for a week it all seems to get damp and refused to burn despite almost an entire box of matches, three different lighters and the strength of 22 Lutherans praying simultaneously. 

So after an hour we were about to give up and cook on a stove inside one of the camp lodges but of course our camp directors asked for us to use one of the fireplaces instead inside the assembly hall. So after all that, we still had pancakes over the fire and they were delicious. 

To my campers' credit none of them complained about eating breakfast an hour and half late and even mostly entertained themselves as I cooked. This gives me hope for my own children, but then again those campers have the benefit of not having my family's crazily impatient genes.

But back to the pancakes. In similar fashion I hope you have better luck with this recipe whether you decide to built an outdoor fire while camping or dust off your fireplace. Either way these fireside pancakes are a real treat and I hope you give them a try with much better success than my first time around.

Fireside Pancakes: 

makes around 6 pancakes 

 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. sugar (or 1 1/2 tbsp agave)
1 1/4 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
3 tbsp melted butter
Extra butter for cooking


Optional: 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon, add with flour


Directions:
Over a small outdoor fire or in a fireplace, stack wood for a small fire and place metal grille over the pile so it lies flat. Next lay a long flat griddle on top of the grille. (You can also use a cast iron skillet.) Light wood making a small fire and allow it to burn for a couple of minutes.


Meanwhile, in a large bowl mix milk, vanilla, egg, and butter. Add flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together until smooth.


Add a little butter to the hot griddle and immediately using a ladle pour about 1/3 cup of pancake batter onto the hot griddle. Depending on the size and strength of your fire the pancakes will cook very fast or very slow.


Once pancake begins to bubble using a metal spatula, flip pancake over and brown. If the pancake does not easily move onto the spatula it is not ready to flip. Brown evenly on each side.


Serve immediately in a varieties of ways:

• Using the same griddle, brown some apple pie filling with a little butter and cinnamon and scoop on top of hot pancakes
• Top with fresh blueberries and agave nectar instead of syrup
• Top with other fresh seasonal fruit and almond butter
• Add chocolate chips or crushed walnuts into the batter 
• Do it classic style: butter and maple syrup

Enjoy your pancakes they way they should be made. Summer Camping style!

Love,

The College Cuisiner