When I was a kid, my parents always took us to Dairy Queen to get Peanut Buster Parfaits. It was the ultimate summer treat! But now I live a good 5 miles (which is a long way in hot summer kid miles) from the closest DQ so we’ve taken to making our own… complete with homemade hot fudge.

Here’s what you need:

1 carton vanilla ice cream
1 jar roasted peanuts
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pour about half of the jar of sweetened condensed milk into a small saucepan. Add chocolate chips and stir until melted. Add more sweetened condensed milk until your hot fudge reaches your desired consistency. (I usually end up using about 3/4 of the can)

Layer ice cream, hot fudge and peanuts in glass see-through dishes (i used coffee mugs) and enjoy!

After Monday’s pie incident (a.k.a. I had to take a break from work to make a pie see here), I still had TONS of peaches left over.  And while my kids were downing them at the rate of 10 per day, I realized that I had to do something else.  So, I made freezer jam.  It was so easy!  We had it on biscuits this morning and I froze 8 bags to eat throughout the winter.  Yum.

Five Minute(ish) Peach Freezer Jam

-  3 cups fresh peaches, peeled and sliced (this is why it’s only 5 minutes-ish… peeling peaches takes some time.. but once it’s done, you’re home free)
- 3 cups sugar
-  1 box pectin (I used SureJel)
-  8 quart-sized Ziplock bags

1.  Use a potato masher to crush peaches into a chunky mash.

2.  Add sugar.  Stir well.

3.  Put 1 cup water and package of pectin into a saucepan.  Heat for 1 minute until pectin is dissolved.

4.  Slowly stir hot pectin into peaches.  Stir 1-2 minutes until well blended.  Leave sitting on the counter until cool.

5.  Spoon into ziplock bags and leave on counter overnight to set.

6.  Store jam in freezer until you want to use it.  It will defrost in less than 20 minutes on the counter!

It’s peach season in Texas.  Of course, I wouldn’t know it because I’ve been cooped up in my office writing all summer.  But, my husband took my kids to Fredericksburg to go peach picking last weekend… which means we had dozens and dozens of delicious peaches.

So, I had to make the sacrifice and stop writing for a bit to make a pie.  And some jam.  And a cobbler.  Feel sorry for me?  I thought so.  Here’s my top-secret, world-famous(ish) fresh peach pie recipe.  It takes some time… but it’s totally worth it.

Fresh Peach Pie

Crust:

1 1/2 cubes butter
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
ice water

Put flour, salt and butter in a bowl.  Use a pastry blender to mix butter and flour until pea-sized crumbs form.  Slowly add ice water, mixing with your hands a little as possible until a sticky, crumbly dough forms.  Roll out on a Silpat mat and place into a pie pan.  Decorate edges as you desire.

Filling:

8 cups peaches, peeled and sliced (I dip mine in boiling water for 2 minutes to make them easy to peel)
1/2 cup sugar
squeeze of lime
2 tbsp minute tapioca
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Mix into a large bowl and pour into crust. It will mound quite a bit on top.

Topping

2 cups brown sugar
1 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup melted butter

Crumble on top of pie.

Bake at 425 for 25 minutes with a pie crust protector around the edges (if you don’t have a crust protector, tin foil will work).  Then, drop the temperature to 350 and cook for an additional 45-60 minutes until peaches are bubbling and topping is dark brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

(Reposting this from last year with photos)

My kids love Jello. I hate it. Okay, who am I kidding? I love the stuff… it’s all jiggly and wiggly and delicious. But I hate the fact that its completely PACKED full of sugar and artificial color and artificial sweeteners and all sorts of stuff with absolutely zero nutritive value. So I never make it for my kids…

But, since my kids were begging, I decided to create healthy Jello salad… and after a few trials and errors, we had success! So, here it is… my completely artificial-coloring-free, sugar-free, artificial-sweetener-free, all-natural Jello salad recipe

Watermelon Gelatine Salad

* 1 personal-sized seedless watermelon, cut into chunks
* 1 1/2 cups juice (100% juice white grape, apple, cranberry or grape)
* 2 packages Knox gelatine
* 1 1/2 cups fresh fruit, cut into chunks (I used peaches, plums, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries)

1. Fill your blender with watermelon chunks (about 4 cups, loosely packed). Blend 1 minute until you have a thick liquid.

2.  Strain juice into a small saucepan (you’ll have about 2 cups of juice). (Throw away the pulp)

3. Sprinkle gelatine on watermelon juice. Let sit for 5 minutes.

4.  Heat watermelon mixture over medium heat for about 5 minutes until gelatine is dissolved.

5. Stir in juice.  Pour half of the mixture into a small 9X9 glass pan and put in the fridge for 90 mins. Leave remaining mixture on the counter at room temp.

6. Take out of fridge, sprinkle with fresh fruit, then cover with the remaining watermelon mixture.

7.  Put it back in fridge and let it set 2-3 hours or overnight.

That’s it… your kids will LOVE it.