Everything's Peachy

Mr. Doughboy's sister and her husband have moved to Salt Lake City, the closest "big city" to us. They have decided to forego the whole "buying a house with a yard and commuting to work" routine this time around and have decided to have the true urbanite experience -- living in an apartment in the heart of downtown, walking to work and church, riding Trax (public rail transportation) to get anywhere that's not within walking distance. They are taking note of all the events happening within the city and planning their social calendar to try them out.

Last weekend while we visited with them in their apartment, an advertisement came on TV about downtown's annual "Dine-O'Round" event. 31 restaurants in downtown Salt Lake City will offer three-course dinners for $15 or $30 per person. Some eateries also will offer a two-course lunch for $10. Food options include Asian, Italian, Lebanese, American, Austrian and Mexican cuisines, as well seafood, steak and vegetarian fare. It sounds like a really good time. If that sounds like something you might enjoy, check out this link for a list of participating restaurants.

During our get-together, I was in charge of the dessert. Since I've got a bushel of peaches at my house, I figured a quick and easy peach dessert was in order. It was tasty. Later that night, I began to think of other things to do with it. I did a version 2.0 of the same dessert the next night by adding pecans and vanilla ice cream. Mr. Doughboy liked it so much he had seconds. Doughnut Hole #5 was also there and gave his seal of approval.

Here they are all ready to be put in the oven. Please ignore the wicked butter hiding camouflaged amongst the pecans. Trust me, when these come out of the oven and go in your mouth, you will be thrilled there was wicked butter involved.


Caramel Baked Peaches
3 large freestone peaches (peeled and cut in half)
lemon juice
3 tsp butter

2 Tbsp chopped pecans
1/4 C brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
caramel sauce or dulce de leche

vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine sugar and cinnamon together. Place the peeled peaches cut side up in a shallow baking dish. Drizzle a bit of lemon juice on each peach. Place 1/2 tsp butter in the center of each peach half. Top the butter with chopped pecans. Sprinkle at least 1 tsp cinnamon sugar on top of each peach. Cover the baking dish and place in oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove peaches from dish and place onto single serving plates. Drizzle dulce de leche or caramel sauce over each peach half. Place a scoop of ice cream alongside the peach. Serve warm.

Note: You can also serve with a dollop of Cinnnamon Whipped Cream or sprinkle granulated sugar on the top after baking and if you have a kitchen torch, use a creme brulee approach and burn the sugar topping just before serving.