FRUITS OF MY LABOR

I've been spending time in the kitchen with delicious fruits the season. Here are a couple of little yummies I came up with for a dinner we had with our neighbors, Tiffany, Bob, 8 month-old twins Cambria and Nichalos, and Tiffany's brother Doug. The babies didn't have much, but they liked the tastes of dessert that they were allowed.

Fresh Juicy Peach Salad
Salad
In a big bowl, combine:
1 head lettuce (I chose curly green leaf)
1 big juicy peach (or 2 small) cut into thin wedges
Chevre (goat cheese) - 1/2 cup crumbled or as much as you like
1/2 cup candied walnuts
1/8 cup red onion, thinly sliced

Dressing
In a small bowl combine:
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tbsp. honey
1/4 cup cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste


Whisk to combine. While whisking, slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil or canola oil.

To the mixed dressing add 1/8 cup minced red onion and 1/8 cup crumbled chevre cheese. Stir to combine.

Pour 1/4 of the dressing over the salad and toss well. Add more if you like. My husband always does like.

Apricot Raspberry Crumble
Fruit:
3 cups chopped apricots
1 pint raspberries
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Arrange fruit evenly in the bottom of a 13x9 glass pan. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

Crumble Topping:
In a small bowl combine 1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup oats (old fashioned)
1 tsp. cinnamon
chopped nuts (any kind will do, chopped fine)

When the topping is crumbly, sprinkle evenly over the top of the fruit.

Bake at 3:50 for 45 minutes to an hour. Start checking at 45 minutes. The fruit should be bubbling and the top should look like a soft cookie, but should not be too brown. If the topping is getting too brown but the fruit is not boiling, cover with aluminum foil and continue to cook until the fruit bubbles.

Let cool for a 1/2 hour or more (because boiling fruit is like molten lava and will take the roof of your mouth clean off if you aren't careful) and serve with good vanilla bean ice cream. Or any vanilla ice cream on sale. Cause $7.99 is way too much to spend on a half gallon of ice cream, no matter how damn good it is.

Everybody loved the crumble. Levi wasn't so hot on the salad, but the rest of us loved it. Let me know what you think.

Enjoy!