Peaches and Cream

Summer is coming to an end now that school has started but the weather is still putting up a fierce fight. I deal with the heat and humidity during the summer, because hey that’s what summer is for! And when it gets too unbearable I can always take a dip in the pool. But now that we have school… I’m just praying for the thermometer to drop below 90. 

 
And don’t worry, I noticed your confusion. I did not make a mistake writing that “we” have school. I know, I’m sorry, I’m confusing you even more. I did not change my mind and go to school for my senior year. I am still homeschooled, but I take dual enrollment courses at Miami Dade College. Dual enrollment is a program we have here in Dade County where high schoolers can take specific college classes while still in high school. If timed correctly, a studious high schooler can complete their associates degree at the same time as they receive their high school diploma, thus saving two years of repetition. 

I’ll go more into detail about dual enrollment in an other post. This one is dedicated to a delicious end of summer treat: Peaches and Cream. 

Even just the name sounds extremely flavorful. Sweet and soft just like its name, peaches and cream is a perfect breakfast (for my brother at least), snack, or dessert. 

It’s a quick meal to through together and only requires five ingredients:

• Peaches
• Yogurt
• Cream cheese
• Honey
• Roasted almonds (can be substituted with granola for a different crunch)

  
The first step is to cut your peach in half and remove the pit. (Sorry I don’t have a picture of this step. What I do have is a I tire of a nice juicy, fuzzy peac.)

  
Drizzle it with a little bit of oil (I know it wasn’t in the five ingredients, but everyone has oil, and if not it’s not really necessary). Put your peach on a baking tray, or a cake pan, or anything that can get hot, and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes or until the peaches are soft and juicy. 

  

While they’re baking mix together equal parts yogurt and cream cheese to make the cream part of this delicacy. 

   
 

Take the peaches out of the oven and carefully put them on a plate. (The peach juice is extremely hot!)

  

Scoop some cream into the hole in the center of the peach,

  
dividing the cream evenly between the two halves. 

  

Drizzle some honey over the top. 

   
    
   
Doesn’t this look delicious?

Sprinkle some almonds on top and enjoy warm. 

  
The contrast between the cold, smooth cream and the warm, tangy peach with that little crunch from the almonds is what makes this treat standout. You can eat this anytime of year, but peaches are in season at the end of the summer, so stock up on them now! 😉
Leave me a comment down bellow and let me know what your favorite end-of-summer treat is. 
Much love,

Tammy

Peaches and Cream 

Serves 1
Ingredients:

1 Peach

1 tsp sunflower oil

2 tbsp Greek yogurt 

2 tbsp cream cheese

2 tsp honey

2 tbsp roasted almonds (can be substituted with granola)

• Cut your peach in half, remove the pit, place cut-side up on a baking tray, drizzle with oil, and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes or until soft and tender. 
• While the peach is baking, mix together the yogurt and cream cheese to make the ‘cream’.
• When the Peach is finished, carefully place it cut-side up on a plate and scoop the ‘cream’ into the wholes in the peach slices. 
• Drizzle with honey and top with the almonds. 
• Enjoy while still warm. 

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Sushi

I love being in the kitchen. Baking is my favorite, but I like to cook too. I try to make at least  one dish every week, and this week I decided on making sushi for my family.

I’ve made sushi twice before. The first time was not so much sushi as sushi burritos. I used too much nori (seaweed) and didn’t press the rice enough, resulting in a giant roll of sushi that couldn’t even be sliced.
My second attempt was together with my sister, and it worked out well. Little bite size rolls personalized to each family members specifications.
Because of my previous success I decided to try out my luck at sushi again, this time alone.

First I assembled my ingredients to make sure I had everything.

Roll ingredients: nori (seaweed), sushi rice (short grain), [not pictured:] rice vinegar, sugar, and salt
Filling ingredients [feel free to customize]: avocado, carrots, cucumber, cream cheese, and imitation crab
To make the rice you can either cook it on the stove top or in a rice cooker (I used the stove top). Then, while the rice is still warm, add the vinegar, salt, and sugar, and mix it all together in a wooden (as used in traditional sushi making) bowl.

Make sure you cook the rice all the way through until it’s soft and sticky. This will help it press flat and adhere to the nori for more smaller and more manageable sushi bites.

Set the rice aside to cool while you chop and slice your veggies.
Cut the cucumbers into long thin slices that can reach from one end of your nori to the other.

In traditional sushi the carrots are cut into matchstick slices, but I decided to turn mine into ribbons using a peeler.

Slice up your avocado and your ready to start assembling.

Place your nori onto the rolling mat and start applying the rice in a thin layer. Add your fillings and roll it up, it’s as simple as that. I experimented with my sushis a little bit, rolling them up with the nori or avocado on the outside.

When I got tired of rolling sushi I made sushi bowls or deconstructed sushi. All I did was place the ingredients in a bowl on top of the rice and nori rather than on the sushi mat.

Serve your sushi with sesame seeds on top, soy sauce on the side, or simply with a pair of chopsticks.

Leave me a reply down bellow and let me know if you’ve ever made sushi and how it went.

Much love,

– Tammy

Sushi

Makes 8 sushi rolls

Rice ingredients:

1 cup sushi (short grain) rice

2 cups water

1 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tsp sugar

1 ½  tsp salt

Sushi ingredients:

4 sheets of nori (seaweed)

1 cucumber

1 carrot

1 avocado

1 pack of imitation crab meat

1 block of cream cheese

• In a cooking pot boil the rice until fully cooked (or cook rice in a rice cooker as per your rice cookers instructions).
• Transfer the rice to a wooden bowl and mix in the remaining rice ingredients with a wooden spoon. Set aside to cool.
• While the rice is cooking/cooling begin prepping your veggies and sushi ingredients:
• Cut the cucumber, peeled carrot, and cream cheese into long strips of your desired thickness. (They should be long enough to reach from one end of the nori to the other.)
• Cut the avocado in half, remove the seed, and peel off the skin. Then thinly slice the avocado lengthwise.
• Break each piece of nori in half and place one at a time horizontally on your rolling mat. Wet your fingers slightly (to keep the rice from sticking to you) and apply some rice to a nori in a thin layer by pressing firmly with your damp fingers.
• When the nori sheet is covered with rice you can either apply some slices of avocado along the middle and flip the nori over (avocado and rice side down) or continue with the nori side down.
• Apply your fillings one on top of the other length wise. Try not to over stuff your sushi. (Sorry I’m missing pictures from this step.)
• Rolling from the end closest to you out, roll up your sushi using the rolling mat. Give it a little squeeze to be sure the rice stocks and your done!
• Slice your sushi into as mani pieces as you like (I cut each roll into 8) and garnish with sesame seeds, pickled ginger, soy sauce, or leave them plain.
• Enjoy your home made sushi!

Stereotype or Stereotruth

As my first ever post on this blog I want to start a new series about homeschool stereotypes. I’ve decided to call this series “Sterotype or Stereotruth”. I’ll go over the stereotype and discuss the truths in it as wells the not-so-truths. In the end I’ll rate it as either a stereotype if it’s all made up, or a stereotruth if it holds the truth. 

Anyway, I think the number one homeschooler stereotype is that we have no friends. 

I cannot count how many times someone has found out I’m homeschooled and the first thing they say is, “So you don’t have any friends?”. I have gotten this question so many times that I have developed a monologue as my go to answer. Before I continue, I just want to clarify that I don’t go around with a sign over my head telling the world I’m homeschooled. These people who are asking my about my “lack” of friends (and yes I say people because I have had both kids and adults ask me this question) are good acquaintances at the least, if not my friends. 

I have friends. And probably more friends now than if I were to go to a traditional school. As I iterate in my go-to speech; I get to see different people almost every single day thanks to my wide array of homeschool classes and after school activities. Whereas if I were in school, I would see the same couple  groups of people all week. People in traditional schools are stuck in their school all day long. Then, after they get out of school, they have homework to take care of and maybe have time for one or two after school activities. I do take academic classes, some taught by my mom in my house, some taught by other parents or hired teachers at enrichment programs, and some taught by college professors at my local community college MDC. However I intersperse these classes with fun activities such as music and art lessons/practice, field trips, homeschool hangouts, homework time, and baking or cooking. After which I continue to some after school activities like more art lessons, orchestra, martial arts, and community service ops. 

Because most of my classes are WAY smaller than traditional school classes my teachers can gear the class more specifically towards me. If I finish the lesson early, that’s it I’m done. If I don’t understand one lesson, my teacher explains it in further depth or assigns me some homework. In the end, I accumulate way more free time than someone in school. 

Because of all of these different classes and activities I see new people all the time. Some of my friends do multiple activities that correlate with mine, others a see once a week. I have both homeschool friends from my classes, and traditionally schooled friends from my after school activities. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on the social aspect of life at all. 

So to conclude this common misconception I will have to rate it as a Stereotype.