Saturday mornings are special to our family.  We get to sleep late and eat a lazy breakfast on the back porch during the summer. Breakfast often consists of home made buttermilk pancakes. With Tennessee peaches ripe for harvest, why not whip up some fresh cream, slice some fresh peaches, make a batch of your favorite pancakes, and create some MAPLE PEACH SYRUP!?! You gotta try this for breakfast or brunch real soon, while the peaches are ripe and sweet.

To make Maple Peach Syrup puree in blender or Magic Bullet:

• 2 cups fresh or frozen peaches sliced and diced
• 2 cups real Maple Syrup

Puree peaches and syrup until mixture is smooth. Pour mixture into a medium skillet or sauce pan. Heat mixture over medium-medium high heat.  Let mixture boil slightly for 2-3 minutes stirring frequently.  Remove Maple Peach Syrup from heat and serve over warm pancakes. Top pancakes with fresh peaches and real whipping cream, and more Maple Peach Syrup!  Have a PEACHY day!

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I just love new kitchen gadgets that are worth the space they take up in my cabinets.  I recently bought some FIRE WIRE skewers with my birthday money.  I first saw them at Williams-Sonoma, but they ran out before the 4th of July.
So I found them at Kroger on summer clearance recently for $6.99.

I LOVE them for several reasons.  First the meat and veggies were so much easier to skewer than the traditional bamboo ones. Also, I did not puncture a single finger with these wire ones.  I always do that with the wooden ones.  These flexible skewers are also convenient to use.

I was able to put the loaded skewers into gallon size Zip-Lock bags, add the marinade, and place in a cooler for our camping trip.

For these K-Bobs, I used Kraft Asian Sesame dressing to marinade all the skewers.  I marinaded them overnight, but a few hours would work well too.  Then the skewers went onto the charcoal grill for about 30 minutes, until the chicken was well done.  WOW they were yummy and so easy to make!  So what is on your next back yard cookout menu??

Asian Sesame Kabobs

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Nothing says SUMMERTIME better than home made ice cream right? I have happy, but hot summertime memories from my childhood. We didn’t have A/C until I was 7 years old. We lived in the country near my grandmother. She didn’t have A/C either. But I remember cookouts, and watermelon, cold Double Cola in a glass bottle, and home made ice cream Grandmother would serve to cool us down. Then the family would play croquet until the fire flies appeared and the sun went down. Not only was Grandmother the master cook, but also a wicked croquet player. I don’t recall her ever losing a game of croquet.

In honor of all that Grandmother means to me, I give you Key Lime Pie Ice Cream.

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 ¼ cups key lime juice
• 1 Tablespoon key lime zest
• 1 quart half and half

Beat cream until thickened; gradually add sugar beating until soft peaks form.  Add condensed milk and beat until stiff peaks form. Beat in lime juice, zest, and half and half. Pour mixture into freezer container of a 1 gallon electric ice cream freezer and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.

While ice cream is freezing – mix together in medium bowl:

• 1/3 box Honey Graham Crackers – crushed in blender or by hand
• 1 stick melted butter

In my opinion, the graham cracker mixture makes this ice cream extra special.  I have added the graham cracker/butter mixture to the ice cream freezer during the last 5-10 minutes of the freezing process.  Sometimes I have forgotten to add the graham crackers until after the ice cream was completely frozen – so I sprinkled some mix on top. But the BEST way to serve Key Lime Pie ice cream is to have the crackers both IN the ice cream AND ON TOP. Yum!  (If a firmer texture is desired, transfer ice cream to an air tight container and freeze for 2 hours or until firm).

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Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

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A few weeks ago, I posted my great grandmother’s recipe for shortcake.  My mom would make shortcake and serve it one of two ways – either smothered with hot fudge sauce or topped with sweetened strawberries and cream.  The shortcake was such a hit here with our kids, I’ve created a lemon shortcake and served it with fresh blackberries.  You will have to try all the varieties and tell me which way is your favorite!

Lemon Shortcake:

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 stick real butter – softened
• 2 whole eggs slightly beaten
• 1 cup buttermilk
• zest of 2 lemons
• juice of 2 lemons

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, soda, and baking powder together in a medium bowl. Add butter, eggs, and buttermilk, lemon zest, and lemon juice.  Mix by hand or with a mixer on low speed until blended. Do not overbeat.  Pour into a greased/floured 9×13 pan. Bake at 300 degrees 25-30 minutes or until shortcake is golden brown. 

Blackberry topping:

• 1 quart fresh blackberries
• 1 cup sugar
• juice of one lemon

Partially crush or puree fresh berries, leaving a few whole berries for garnish.  Add sugar and lemon juice.  Mix well and refrigerate 1-2 hours.  Serve berries over warm shortcake with ice cream.  Garnish with whole berries.

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I can’t believe I’ve lived in the south all my life, and just now had my first taste of chocolate gravy.  WOW! I’ve been missing out.  This recipe is so easy, our daughter made it while I rolled out the biscuit dough.  Thanks Autumn for the recipe.  I had extra half-n-half on hand that was begging to go into the gravy, so I used it in place of the water.

• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup cocoa
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 ½ cups half-n-half (can also use water)
• Dash of salt
• 2 Tablespoons real butter

In a medium bowl, combine sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt.  Stir dry ingredients together and blend well.  In a large skillet, add the butter and half-n-half.  Then stir in the dry ingredients.  Turn heat to medium and stir with a wire whisk until mixture begins to thicken or begins to boil.  No need to boil the gravy, just remove skillet from heat as soon as it begins to thicken.

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Chocolate Gravy

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Extra butter, chocolate, and peanut butter take the traditional Rice Krispy Treat to another level.  Kids of all ages love these.  Make these treats today and you will never desire to buy the store bought treats again.

• 1 stick real butter
• 1 10 oz package mini marshmallows
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 6 cups Rice Krispy cereal
• 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate

Melt butter and marshmallows in microwave a minute at at time, stirring after each minute, until mixture is melted and smooth.  Then add the peanut butter and mix well.  Pour cereal into large buttered bowl.  Pour marshmallow mixture over Rice Krispies and stir to coat cereal.  Turn mixture into a 9×13 greased pan.  Press Rice Krispy Treats into pan.  Pour semi-sweet chips over Rice Krispy Treats.  If treats are warm enough, the chocolate chips will eventually melt for easy spreading.  Or the whole pan can be placed in a warm oven (150 degrees) for 3-5 minutes until chips are melted enough to spread.  Let treats cool completely before cutting into squares.  YUMMY!

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At this moment Tara is hosting a house full of friends at a class on canning and freezing one of my favorites…strawberries!! They spent the morning at a strawberry patch just over the river in Trousdale county and then gathered in Tara’s kitchen. We love to preserve strawberries for future use in different ways. Stay tuned for some new strawberry recipes. Meanwhile check out the sidebar to the left for some strawberry favorites.

Here are some pictures from a post last year when Tara took the kids for a fun day at the strawberry patch.

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Although I’ve been passionate about cooking for many years, my first “going public” attempt was about 2 years ago – when Channel 4 came to our kitchen and filmed Better Cinnamon Rolls for a Mother’s Day Brunch Segment. Since then, with the help of my smart hubby, Taracooks.com was launched and we now have over 150 different recipes on this website. Check our side bar for other Mother’s Day Brunch menu ideas, but I know what my #1 favorite is – Cinnamon Rolls!

 Better Cinnamon Rolls Part 1:

Better Cinnamon Rolls Part 2:

RECIPE

In large pot add:

• 1 quart whole milk (4 cups)
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup sugar

Clip a candy thermometer to pan and into milk mixture. Turn on medium heat and stir frequently. You want the temp to be between 105 and 115 degrees. Turn off heat when liquid is between this range and sprinkle 2 packages fast rising active dry yeast over the top of the mixture. Let it set a couple of min’s and then whisk the yeast to mix it into the liquid.

Add 8 cups plain bread flour. Work flour into liquid using a wooden spoon. Keep dough in pot and place in a warm (80degrees) place. I like to turn on my warming drawer for a couple of min’s and then turn it off when I place the dough in there. It also works well to put dough in an oven with the light on.

Let dough rise until doubles in size. This may take about an hour. I have also left this dough covered overnight and it was ready to roll out the next morning.

Then add 1 more cup flour to the dough along with 1 Tablespoon salt, 2 heaping teaspoons of baking powder, and 1 teaspoon baking soda. Work all this into the dough. Turn onto floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes. Instead of forming a ball with the dough, form a rectangular loaf. Begin rolling dough into a rectangle that is about 10” wide and about 3 feet long and around ¼ inch thick.

Cover rolled dough with soft butter – I use around 1 ½- 2 sticks. Cover with brown sugar (2 cups) and generously sprinkle with cinnamon.

Begin on the longer edge away from you and start rolling the dough towards yourself until you have completely rolled the dough into a log.

Use any remaining melted butter to brush your pans. I use 4 disposable 10” aluminum pans. This way you can cover and give as gifts during the holidays. Otherwise you are going to need at least 2, 9×13 pans for all this dough! Maybe more pans.

Cut dough into 1” thick slices using a serrated bread knife.

I like to sprinkle chopped pecans on top of some rolls and let them get toasty in the oven. You could also sprinkle the pecans on the sugar/cinnamon before you roll up the dough.

Continue cutting and placing sliced rolls into pans.

Put in center rack of preheated 350 degree oven. I cook mine about 20 min’s. You don’t want to get them too brown, but they need to cook long enough to be done in the middle.

While rolls are cooking:

• Pour a 2 pound bag of powdered sugar in large bowl.
• Cream in 1 stick soft butter
• Add ¼ cup milk or cream
• Add ½ cup strong coffee
• Add 1 t maple flavor
• Add 1 t vanilla
• Beat with mixer until smooth.
• Pour over rolls while right from oven.

Variation:

Use ¾ cup Orange Juice in place of milk and coffee

Use almond flavor instead of maple.

ENJOY!

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This pie recipe is a new creation of mine, made with Cinco De Mayo in mind. Serve frozen or slightly thawed for a refreshing treat as the thermometer rises.

• 1 Graham Cracker Pie Crust
• 1 10 oz can Bacardi Margarita Frozen drink mix
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 8oz container Cool Whip
• Limes for zesting

Prepare Graham Cracker Pie Crust recipe in a large 9-10” deep dish pie pan.
In a medium size bowl, add the frozen Bacardi Margarita mix and the sweetened condensed milk. Mix well and pour into Graham Cracker Pie Crust. Chill in freezer until frozen or well set. Before serving , top with Cool Whip and Lime Zest.

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Margarita Pie

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Nothing says SPRING like a good serving of Strawberry Shortcake made with fresh Tennessee berries. And berry harvesting time will be here soon. So find a local strawberry patch and go pick yourself a batch. Then come home and make shortcake from scratch! It’s EASY!
This recipe was handed down to me from my Great Grandmother Lou Gregory. But we all called her Mother Gregory. Although the original recipe called for “2 lumps of lard the size of an egg”, a “scant cup of buttermilk” and “1 egg +leftovers”, I have adapted the measurements to reflect 21st century cooking.

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 stick real butter – softened
• 2 whole eggs – slightly beaten
• 1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, soda, and baking powder together in a medium bowl. Add butter, eggs, and buttermilk and mix by hand or with a mixer on low speed until blended. Do not overbeat.  Pour into a greased/floured 9×13 pan. Bake at 300 degrees 25-30 minutes or until shortcake is golden brown.  Slice a quart of fresh stemmed strawberries. Add a cup of sugar and stir well to coat. Let berries and sugar set for an hour or two and that wonderful strawberry juice will form.
To serve, drizzle strawberry juice over a serving of shortcake. Top with vanilla ice cream, sweetened strawberries and real whipped cream. What a treat!
Variation:My mom would sometimes make this shortcake and serve it with her homemade fudge sauce and ice cream. I remember this making my father very, very happy!

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Old fashioned strawberry shortcake

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