Feeling peachy!

Oh, I love the abundance of peaches we have here in Southern Utah this time of year! We have so many peaches we even have a local 3 day festival annually called "Peach Days". We look forward to the parade, rides, carny food, shopping, local entertainment, and Peach cook-offs.  It's a fun little shindig we take part in every year. Point being, peaches are huge here. 

Two weeks ago we got a large case of peaches with our weekly produce basket. What to do with that many peaches? EAT THEM, OF COURSE! And as we do end up eating a lot of them plain-Jane style, we probably had at least 50 peaches, we can't eat that many plain quicker than they ripen. I could always make pie using my whole wheat pie crust...which is very tempting but time consuming, and lately with our new school & extracurricular activity routines I'm scattering for extra time. So that was out this go around. My chickpea salad with peach puree dressing is quick, tasty, and painless. But that is an ideal lunch menu item, and I'm the only one here for lunch so that maybe used up 2 peaches total- not a large dent in our case. Dutch oven peach cobbler was a must-do for labor day weekend while the entire family was in town and that went over well and used about 15 peaches! I still needed to do something with these ripening peaches. 

I started experimenting. Always a dangerous thing ;)

My mom brought me a bag of whole millet and hulled barley along with a book called "Cooking with Chef Brad-Those Wonderful Grains" after she went to a seminar of Brad's on the benefits of grains. She wanted me to learn to cook them. I had never before fooled with these grains but was more than happy to try something new! I looked up several millet recipes online, but nothing popped out at me. Chef Brad in his book gives the ratio of cooking the grains so that's about all I knew about these grains was how much liquid to use. I didn't know what it would taste like but I started thinking breakfast...why? BECAUSE I LOVE BREAKFAST (and because I had a bajillion peaches left to use and peaches go great with hot breakfast cereals)! After 2 attempts I got it just right! If I can go from not knowing anything to a perfect meal then it must be pretty darn simple...so here it is! 

Simply Healthy Peach and Blackberry Millet Cereal:

Ingredients:

1/2 c millet 

1 c water

1/2 c almond milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon (dash more for garnishing)

2 tbsp raw honey

1 peach

handful of blackberries

handful of chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Directions:

In small sauce pot pour dry millet in and toss over medium heat until lightly toasted and fragrant. Remove millet, then add water and almond milk and bring to a boil. Once boiling add toasted millet back to pot, return to boil, add vanilla and cinnamon. Cover and boil for 20-30 minutes, occasionally stirring, until liquid is absorbed and millet is tender. Top with raw honey, sliced peaches, blackberries, pecans, and serve! You could add the honey when you add the vanilla and cinnamon, I just prefer my honey raw & enzymatic so I add mine after the fact. The fruit is interchangeable but let me just say the combination of the peaches with the blackberries and nuts really made this dish fabulous! This feeds about 3 mouths.

Isn't it gorgeous? And you know how I feel about a colorful plate!

So you get the point this was breakfast a few times but what about the rest of the peaches?! They were quickly ripening.

When all else fails: JUICE!

8 peaches (peeled and seeded), 1 large cucumber, 1 orange (peeled), & 1 pear

made a very lovely frothy juice for a very rainy day. 

My daughter and I downed several glasses while my son was at school and still had some left for him when he got home, as well as enough for 1 more glass for breakfast the following day.

Oh but wait, there is more. So much more. We still had and still have more peaches! I started thinking I'd just slice them and freeze them, but then I need shelves and shelves of freezer space because you have to freeze the slices separately on wax paper before you can put them together in a bag...otherwise they freeze into one solid piece. Ughh. BUT THEN, the crafty Nikki came out. I pureed a bunch of peaches in my vitamix, skin and all, poured it into mini muffin tins and stuck them in the freezer over night. The next day I popped them out using a butter knife, threw them in the bag and back in the freezer they went. If I'm making a smoothie and want some peaches all I have to do is grab a little cup or two and toss it in. No washing, peeling, slicing because it's all been done. CONVENIENT, YES?!

Lastly, as we speak...because we got another 8-10 peaches in this weeks produce basket I am making  my kids favorite fruit leather using peaches! 

This scattered post is just proof that fruits don't have to be repetitive...they are versatile. Don't let them get boring. Experiment, switch it up, and make convenience a priority because that always helps make it easier to make healthy choices!

Fun Facts: One peach only contains about 68 calories. They are high in dietary fiber that aids in digestion, and the skin is loaded with antioxidants that ward off free radicals and cancer growth. Peaches are super rich in vitamin A, which is vital for healthy vision, and vitamin C & E, which are antioxidants and tissue builders. Peaches contain vitamin K which is needed for proper blood clotting abilities. Other helpful vitamins found in peaches include thiamin, riboflavin, B-6, niacin, and folate. 

Mineral wise peaches are rich in potassium that maintains blood pressure as well as prevents kidney stones and bone loss. Don't forget about the other minerals that work to support red blood cell, bone, and nervous system health such as magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, maganese, iron, and calcium.