Fresh Peach Dessert

My darling friend let me pick a bunch of delicious peaches off of her tree the other day, so I was thrilled to make one of my favorite summer/ fall desserts.  If you're a peach lover, I am sure you will love it also.  In my book you simply can't go wrong with fresh peaches, cream cheese, and nilla wafers all involved in one delightful concoction. mmmmm....

The unfortunate part about this fabulous recipe is that it's a bit on the time consuming process; not difficult at all, just time consuming.  Plan on making this while you work on other projects in the meantime. 

Ingredients
Crust:

• 1 cup crushed Vanilla Wafers
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cube butter, melted

Filling:

• 11 oz. cream cheese or neufchatel cheese (lower fat but works great for baking), softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 small container cool whip

Topping:

• 5 cups fresh, peeled and sliced peaches
• 1/4 cup sugar
• lemon juice
• orange juice
• 3 TBS cornstarch
• 2 TBS butter
• pinch of salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, sprinkle sliced peaches with fresh lemon juice (I used 1/2 a lemon) and the sugar.  Set aside and allow the mix to stand for an hour while you make the crust and filling.

Mix together crust ingredients in a bowl, and spread into a 9x13 pan. 

Bake for 25 minutes, or until crust is lightly golden on the edges.

Allow crust to cool while you start working on the filling.  Mix all ingredients together with beaters until smooth and creamy.

Spread over cooled crust.

Are you drooling yet?

Put the pan back in the fridge to cool while you finish the peach topping.

Strain the juice from the peaches and set peaches aside.

Add fresh lemon and orange juice to the strained juice until you have 1 cup of juice.  (I used the remaining half of a lemon, and filled the rest with orange juice).

Place juice in a saucepan, add cornstarch and stir well to blend.

Cook over low heat until mixture thickens, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat, and fold in butter and fruit.

Allow mixture to cool (I let it sit in the fridge for a little while) and then spread mixture over the cooled filling.

Check out those beautiful layers...

Enjoy!

~PW

Sharing with:

 

Little Houndstooth Chair

Remember the kind of frightening looking little green chair I shared with you a little while ago?

My client chose a gorgeous houndstooth fabric that she wanted two of these matching chairs to be re-upholstered in.

Here's the-little-chair-that-could now:

 Here's her cute little back side.

 And her pillow-less front side.

 I think she looks darling with a bright and bold colored pillow like the one I made for my front porch.

 You have to see this fabric up close.  It really is so gorgeous and is so thick and durable for upholstery.

This fabric is made by Robert Allen, called Square Pegs Noir.  It's got a hefty price tag (regularly $80/yard at Joann) but is on sale for half price right now.

I will share the full tutorial on this upholstery job when I have finished the second chair.  I sort of failed to take pics as I worked on this one.  I'll be better on the next chair, promise.  :)

Thanks for reading!

XO

~Penny Wenny
 
I'm sharing this project with:

BEST. SALSA. EVER.

I am not kidding.  This recipe is for the BEST salsa I have ever had... in my life.  It's quite bold to say, but it is true.

My neighbor Marti asked if she could have a few tomatoes from my garden to finish the salsa recipe she and her friend who was in town visiting her were making.  She said she'd pay me back in some of the fresh salsa.  I told her to please not bring me any since I still had a giant batch I made myself in my fridge that just wasn't being eaten fast enough (we sort of had tomatoes growing out our ears this year).  Well, Marti denied my request and brought some over to me shortly after it was made.  In about 5 minutes flat, I had inhaled the entire container's worth.  It was, quite simply put, the BEST salsa I have ever had. 

Marti's friend Amber shared this recipe with me, which I am now sharing with you fortunate folks. 

Amber's BEST EVER salsa

Ingredients

• 10-12 roma tomatoes
• 1 large white onion  (I used 1/2 since my onion was huge and I felt like it was plenty)
• 1 full head of garlic (approx 8-10 cloves)
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 6-8 limes
• 4 cans El Pato Salsa (In the yellow can, one side says "Salsa de chile fresco" and the other says "Tomato Sauce"
• up to 1 can El Pato Jalapeno Salsa (green can) depending on your desired "heat"
• salt to taste (at least 1-2 tsp)

*** Note- you can find the El Pato products in the Latin foods aisle of your grocery store.  Walmart carries it if your other stores don't. ***

Directions

Chop tomatoes, white onion, and cilantro. Amber uses her Pampered chef chopper to get the perfect sized chunks for the tomatoes.  You can also use this for your onion and cilantro.

Mince your garlic cloves. I also used the chopper for the garlic, and just chopped longer than I did with the tomatoes until they were minced to very small pieces. It worked perfectly.  

Add the juice of 6-8 limes (I used 6).  My sister Ali taught me to first microwave your limes so that they can be juiced more easily. 

I did this for about 20 seconds, then kneaded the limes with the palm of my hand before cutting in half and juicing into the bowl. 

You can also use Oprah's trick of squeezing the last little bit out using you teeth.  I actually had to try this myself after watching the episode where she and Gayle went camping and it seriously works!  However, the potency of the oil from the lime rinds in my teeth was about enough to kill me.  Try it and you'll know what I'm talking about.  :)

Combine all of the above ingredients in a bowl with the 4 cans El Pato salsa de chile fresco/tomato sauce, and then taste for flavor. 

If this is spicy enough for you, skip the Jalapeno salsa.  If not, slowly add in the jalapeno salsa until it's perfect for you.  I like the full can.  Season with salt to taste. 

The last and most important step is to hide the bowl away from anyone who may encounter it.  You will want to eat this entire batch by yourself... I promise.

I have decided that what makes this salsa unique from the other recipes I typically make is the amount of limes and the amazing flavor from the El Pato sauce.  It's so divine....If you don't love the chunks, you can also mix all of the ingredients together in the food processor for a more blended salsa.

If you do happen to have more than you need, I would suggest canning some.  I saved just enough to can one jar's worth for experimentation. 

I want to know if the flavor is still as strong and delicious.  I'll be sure to let you know when I pull it out in the dreaded winter months when I am wishing I could run out back and harvest a bajillion tomatoes again...

If you need me in the meantime, I'll be sitting back on my couch with a diet cherry coke in hand as I continue to chomp on my chips and BEST. SALSA. EVER.

Enjoy your Sunday, my friends.  :)

~PW