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| Easy Red Bean and Rice |
Another month has disappeared! Where do the days go? Your guess is as good as mine. But we're still here. Still kicking. And still eating.
We have a peach orchard local to us. Nothing like fresh-off-the-tree peaches. The weather was brutal to this year's crop. But there were enough of a harvest for us to have our two favorite summer recipes. I'll link them below instead of rewriting the recipes. 
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| Homemade Peach Ice Cream |
I asked Daddy-O to stop and get peaches on. his way home from the lake this week. I really wanted homemade peach ice cream. I have a countertop 1-1/2 qt electric churn. It's so quick and easy. Stir the ingredients together, pour the mixture into the churn and push the button that says ice cream. (Gelato and sorbet are the two other buttons.) And 25 minutes later, you have soft serve ice cream. Of course, we eat it soft the minute the churn turns off. The rest goes into the freezer and I'll need an ice cream scoop next time.
Click "homemade peach ice cream" to find the recipe.
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| Peach Cobbler |
Daddy-O gets credit for baking the cobbler while I was in a piano class this afternoon (on zoom.) I could smell this baking while I was trying to pay attention to the class. It had just come out of the oven when I finished. It tasted as good as it smelled. We've used this recipe for ages and ages.
Click "peach cobbler" to find the recipe.
And glory be, here's a new recipe. Needed to find something for supper a few days ago. Of course, I had not been to the grocery store yet. But I had a turkey smoked sausage in the refrigerator. There was the first green pepper ready to be picked in the garden. Thankfully I had two cans of kidney beans in the pantry. If you are a true red beans and rice connoisseur, this is not authentic by any means. But it was quick and it was easy and it was delicious.
RED BEANS AND RICE
2 cups water
1 cup uncooked rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (16-oz) package of smoked sausage (I used turkey) cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon minced jarred garlic
2 (15-oz) cans light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (16-oz) can whole tomato, chopped (use the juice, too)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
Cook rice according to package directions. While rice is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet. Add sausage slices and cook about 5 minutes. Stir in onion, bell pepper and garlic and cook until tender. Add tomatoes with juice, oregano, salt and pepper. Simmer uncovered about 20 minutes. Serve over rice.
If you don't find a 16-oz can of whole tomatoes, you can do like I did and use a can of diced tomatoes. The recipe says to chop the tomatoes anyway. So what's the difference? I can tell you. There is not nearly as much juice in a can of diced tomatoes as there is in a can of whole tomatoes. So I added some water as it started to look dry while it was simmering. If I'd had tomato juice I would have used that. But we work with what we have.
I put 2 pint containers of the bean sausage mixture in the freezer for another time. I'd be happy eating it without the rice even. But the name is so classic—red beans and RICE.
I'm posting this supper photo from earlier in the week just for fun. About once a year I fry chicken and make gravy so I don't completely forget how to do it. Roasted green beans and mashed potatoes finished the plate. Daddy-O usually has clean up duty when I cook. As much as he loved this meal, I think he might be glad he only cleans up after this meal once a year! Frying anything is messy. But, oh, it was so good.
I'll leave you with a couple of summer photos. We have been so lucky to have had days to enjoy being outside. The screened porch is my favorite spot. And this week it hasn't been too hot and the humidity hasn't been too high. A cup of coffee in the morning. A book in the afternoon. Every now and then a glass of wine in the evening. There's no place like home.
