For some reason, I have The Presidents of the United States of America running through my head every July. (No, not the governmental entity. The mid ‘90s, post-grunge/pop punk band from Seattle.

July is Peach Month. It just is. When I was little, we used to go to my grandparents’ place in East Texas and come back with bushels and bushels of peaches. We gave most away, but we kept a lot for ourselves. Now I go to the Parker County Peach Festival with my kiddos.

Don’t ask me to choose between East Texas peaches and Parker County peaches. I won’t!

Let’s face it. We weren’t creative cooks in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of those peaches were either cut up to have over cereal or vanilla ice cream or were simply eaten out of hand. Outside. They were JUICY.

Now that our palates and skills have expanded, I find myself using peaches in almost meal during the summer. I love grilling them or roasting them. They pair well with grilled meats and various cheeses. And, of course, I have to make at least a couple of desserts, even though I’m NOT a pastry person.

So when you go to the Parker County Peach Festival this weekend and stock up on peaches, remember these recipes. I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does!

Savory Peach and Pistachio Galette with Goat Cheese and Hot Honey Drizzle

Ingredients

For the galette
6 to 8 ripe peaches, peeled and sliced*
2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed and stems discarded, some set aside for garnish
½ cup roasted, salted, shelled pistachios, roughly chopped, some set aside for garnish
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 pre-made pie crust from a box of two pie crust rolls (you know what I’m talking about) OR one recipe of your favorite pie crust (if you’re all fancy-schmancy and make your own – I do not)
1 egg
1 to 2 tablespoons water

For the drizzle

6 ounces fresh goat cheese
1/3 cup half and half
2 to 4 tablespoons hot honey (available in most grocery stores)
Pinch of salt

Directions

For the galette

Preheat the oven to 400°.

Toss the peach slices, thyme leaves, pistachios, and cornstarch in a large bowl and set aside.

On a floured surface, roll out your pie crust into a circle. Transfer the pie crust to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the peaches onto the pie crust, being sure to leave a 2-inch border of dough around the edge of the circle. Gently fold the edges of the pastry over the fruit, pleating as you go.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and the water. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash over the pastry edges that you folded over the fruit. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbling and the pastry is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let come to room temperature.

For the drizzle

Using a hand mixer on medium speed, beat the goat cheese, half and half, hot honey, and salt together until slightly fluffy.

To serve

Slice the galette into 6 to 8 slices. Drizzle the goat cheese over each slice and garnish with the reserved thyme leaves and pistachios. Serves 6 to 8 as a side.

*To peel any kind of stone fruit, simply bring a large stockpot of water to a rolling boil. On the bottom of the fruit (not the stem end), make two shallow cuts in a cross. Once the water is really boiling, gently place the fruit into the pot. Don’t crowd them. Do this in batches if you need to! Let the fruit bob around for about 30 to 45 seconds and then remove with a slotted spoon. (You can plunge them into an ice bath at this point, but I don’t do that. It’s just more things to clean later.) You will be able to easily remove the skin from the fruit.

Peach Salad with Fresh Herb Vinaigrette

Ingredients

For the salad

1 English or hothouse cucumber, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 yellow or red bell pepper, diced
½ sweet onion (Noonday, 1015, Pecos, Vidalia, Maui, Walla Wallas), thinly sliced
½ jicama, peeled and diced
3 to 4 ripe peaches or nectarines, cut into chunks (don’t peel!)
5 ounces baby arugula or baby spinach

For the vinaigrette

¼ cup white wine vinegar
handful of fresh herbs, finely chopped (basil, tarragon, parsley, oregano, dill, marjoram, thyme…)
2 teaspoons honey
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/3 cup olive oil

Directions

Place all the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a jar with a lid. Shake well.

Toss all the ingredients for the salad together in a salad bowl. Dress with about half of the vinaigrette and taste. Add more dressing if you like. Serves 6 to 8 as a side or top with some grilled or roasted meat and serves 4 as a main salad.

The post Peachy Keen first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

I don’t know about your family, but mine is all over the place in the summer. One kid is off to Shakespeare camp. The other is off to their job. I’m in and out, as is my husband. It’s easier to simply prep a lot of salad ingredients and keep them on hand for people to throw together as they want than try to make full meals.

The one thing I do like to do to make salads a bit more interesting is to make a variety of dressings. Once a week, I make between four and five dressings for people to use throughout the week. I’ve gathered some of my recipes here for you and your family, and I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Honey Dijon Vinaigrette

This is wonderful on salads with leftover grilled meats or pasta salads. It’s GREAT on a salad with Brussels sprouts and almonds with leftover rotisserie chicken. Because it doesn’t have any mayonnaise in it, you can take it on picnics without worry.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (I like coarse ground or whole grain, but you can use smooth, too)
1 to 2 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 small shallot, finely diced
1 teaspoon dried tarragon or 2 tablespoons fresh, destemmed and chopped
Salt and pepper
A dash or two of hot sauce (you will see that this is my secret for great dressings and sauces; I use Cholula in this)
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Put all the ingredients in a large jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake until the salt is dissolved. This will keep for about 5 days in the fridge.

Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing

Oh, this is SO good! It’s similar to one we made at one of the restaurants I cooked in, and I love it. My favorite salad right now (it will change by this time next week) is to toss spinach, fresh peaches, fresh apricots, red onions, and leftover grilled chicken in a little bit of this dressing. Heaven on a plate!

Ingredients

1 cup mayonnaise
¾ cup buttermilk
1 to 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 to 2 teaspoons honey
½ teaspoon dried marjoram or oregano (marjoram is a little sweeter, so I prefer it in this)
Salt and lots of freshly ground pepper
1 5-oz container crumbled blue cheese or gorgonzola
A dash or two of your favorite hot sauce (I use a Louisiana hot sauce like Crystal or Tabasco in this)

Directions

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Place in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and allow to chill for at least an hour before serving. If the dressing is too thick for your liking, add a little more buttermilk. This will keep for about a week in the refrigerator.

Really Green Goddess Dressing

This is a healthy and delicious take on that old favorite. It’s wonderful on almost every kind of salad, but it works really well with grains and beans!

Ingredients

1 large, ripe avocado
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 to 3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 green onions, roots removed and roughly chopped
Lots of fresh leafy herbs – I use what I have on hand or what the garden is producing like tarragon, basil, parsley, oregano, dill, chervil, and/or sage
Juice of ½ lemon
A squeeze of anchovy paste (you won’t taste it, I promise) or a couple of drops of fish sauce
Salt and lots of freshly ground pepper
A dash or two of hot sauce (I use good ol’ Cholula for this)

Directions

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and puree. Pour into an airtight container and refrigerate for at least an hour before using. This will keep in the refrigerator for about 3 days.

green salad dressing with avocado, lime and cilantro in a glass jar on a rustic background

Cilantro Lime Dressing

This is fabulous on salads with a Tex-Mex or Southwestern flair or with a Middle Eastern bent. It’s funny how the same ingredients are used in such disparate cuisines.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon tahini
2 to 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
½ teaspoon ground cumin
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 2 to 4 limes (I like mine sour, but not everyone does)
Salt and pepper to taste
A dash or two of hot sauce (I use Cholula for this, but if I’m feeling wild and wacky, I’ll throw in a bit of harissa instead)
1 bunch cilantro, rinsed and shaken dry
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Place all ingredients except olive oil in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine the ingredients. With the motor running, add the olive oil in a slow stream. Taste for seasoning and store in the fridge for up to a week.

The post Shake Up Your Summer Salad first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

To cut down on delivery/drive thru expenditures and pounds, I try to do one “cook day” a week, but let’s face it, that doesn’t always happen. So here are some easy last-minute dinner ideas for you!

Big Salad with Hummus Dressing

Let’s face it, salads are a little boring. However, they are great for easy meals and are perfect for using up leftovers. I try to have lentils and green on hand, and we each can throw in what we like. The dressing is easy as pie because it uses your favorite flavor of pre-made hummus. Okay, so maybe not the chocolate hummus, but seriously, any other kind is fine! Healthy, yummy, and easy. What more could you want?

Ingredients

• Leftover grilled/roasted/poached meats and vegetables
• Greens – your favorites (I love the peppery bite of arugula, while my family prefers the heft of romaine)
• Lentils, cooked according to package directions (these are great because they take only about 20 minutes to cook, and you can keep them in the fridge for up to a week) or precooked/leftover couscous, quinoa, rice, farro, or other grains
• Raw vegetables – whatever you might have on hand; spiralized vegetables/Zoodles are great for this, as are sprouts
• Hummus dressing
  • To make this dressing, simply thin down pre-made hummus with lemon juice. Or if you prefer a creamy dressing, stir in some Greek yogurt along with the lemon

Directions

Choose your ingredients. Place said ingredients into a bowl. Toss with a couple of tablespoons of dressing. Eat. It’s that easy!

Smoked Salmon One-Pot Pasta

One-pot pasta dishes are great for summer – minimal cook time and easy clean up! Smoked salmon is available at most grocery stores and is perfect for easy summer meals.

Ingredients

• 12 oz linguine
• 1 bunch asparagus, woody stems removed, or enough green beans, topped and tailed, for four people
• 10 oz frozen peas
• 16 oz ricotta, divided
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 shallot, peeled and minced
• 1 bunch fresh dill, roughly chopped, divided
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 6 oz smoked salmon***

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the linguine and cook for 7 minutes. Add the asparagus to the pot and cook for 1 minute. Add the peas to the pot and cook for another minute. Drain the pasta and vegetables, reserving about ½ cup of the cooking liquid.

In a large bowl, toss the pasta and the vegetables with half of the ricotta, the lemon zest and juice, the shallot, and most of the fresh dill. Add the reserved cooking liquid a little at a time until you get the consistency of the sauce that you like. (Some like it drier, some like it soupy. We don’t judge!) Divide into four bowls, top with the smoked salmon and the remaining ricotta and dill. Enjoy with a green salad and some good bread.

*** You can choose either hot smoked salmon or cold smoked salmon for this. Hot smoked salmon is cooked during the smoking process and can be divided into chunks. Cold smoked salmon is cured (like gravlax or lox) before smoking at a cool temperature. To use cold smoked salmon, slice into long strips. Either is delicious!

The post Easy Meals for When You Don’t Want to Cook first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

Salads are extremely personal. In our family, we all have different tastes when it come to salad ingredients. Some like only lettuce. Some like only veggies, either fresh, grilled/roasted, or a combination thereof. Some like cheese, while others prefer only plant-based ingredients. Some weirdos like nuts in their salads. I happen to love a handful of fresh herbs that I grab from the herb garden tossed with mixed greens. We’re all different!

Instead of trying to tailor each person’s salad to their particular tastes (an impossible task since the adolescents’ tastes change on an hourly basis), I simply provide what I used to call a mise en place back when I was a journeyman cook. I provide various salad ingredients, all nicely chopped/sliced/diced/shredded, and my family makes their own from what is available. So much easier than trying to make one dish suit everyone’s tastes!

I’ve come up with some recipes for dressings that you might want to try for your family. Always remember, these “recipes” are just guidelines – you can alter them to your family’s tastes and nutritional needs!

Ginger-Lime Dressing

I love this on homemade slaw. I shred some Napa or Savoy cabbage, throw in some red/orange/yellow bell peppers, green onions, shredded carrots, and (if I’m feeling crazy) julienned jicama. Serve it with thinly sliced grilled pork or shrimp and scallop kabobs, and you’ve got a great meal!

Ingredients

1 1-inch knob fresh ginger, grated

2 or more cloves garlic, minced

Juice of 3 limes

2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari

1 teaspoon sriracha or chili-garlic sauce

1 tablespoon honey

¼ teaspoon white pepper

1 tablespoon neutral-tasting oil like canola, avocado, or grapeseed

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

Directions

I simply put all the ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake. This will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Honey Lemon Dressing

This is wonderful on mixed greens with lots of fresh veggies – blanched green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, and roasted root vegetables. My older daughter loves to add some grilled, lemon-marinated chicken, too!

Ingredients

Juice of 2 large lemons (microwave each for 5 seconds to make them easier to juice)

1 medium-sized shallot, minced

3 tablespoons local honey

Salt and freshly-ground pepper

¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Once again, I simply put all the ingredients into a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake. This also keeps in the fridge for about 5 days.

Hummus Dressing

One of the easiest dressings you can make, this is delicious when tossed with grilled veggies, especially onions, eggplant, summer squash, tomatoes, and peppers.

Ingredients

1 cup of your favorite prepared hummus

Juice of 2 large lemons

2 tablespoons water, if needed to thin the dressing to your desired consistency

I usually add in some minced garlic because we all love garlic in this house!

Directions

Jar. Tight-fitting lid. Shake. This can last for up to a week in the fridge.

Creamy Cilantro Dressing

This is a fabulous dressing on all sorts of grilled meats – chicken, pork, beef, seafood, etc. I also love to toss a little with some drained light tuna in water that’s been mixed with some jicama, cucumber, and bell peppers.

Ingredients

1 bunch cilantro, stems included, rinsed and excess water shaken off

2 to 4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

1 to 2 fresh jalapeños, seeded and ribs removed if you want to reduce the heat, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 cups plain Greek-style yogurt

Directions

Place all ingredients except the yogurt into a food processor. Pulse 10 times to roughly chop the cilantro and combine the ingredients. Add in the yogurt and pulse 10 more times to combine. You need to allow the flavors to meld for at least 30 minutes before you use this. Taste before serving and adjust the salt and pepper. This will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 5 days.

The post Simple, Summery Salad Dressings first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

Brussel sprout chicken

A post shared by Pacific Table (@pacifictable) on Jun 16, 2018 at 6:23pm PDT

We decided to do a quick and unscientific tally of the restaurants that got mentioned the most and share the top five with you here. The results may not come as a surprise to many in the group, but there might be some on here you haven’t tried yet.

5. Snappy Salads – While some people mentioned salads by name, we think of Snappy as mostly a build-your-own-salad place. The menu salads we’ve tried have been very good, but for us the big draw to Snappy Salads is you can basically get whatever you happen to be in the mood for that day.

4. Mi Cocina – The Rico Salad got several mentions in our groups discussion, and for good reason. The Rico is delicious! Fresh Romaine lettuce topped with tomatoes, bacon, avocado, grated cheese, crispy tortilla strips, and your choice of steak or chicken. Try it with the chile-garlic dressing. Yum!

3. Press Café – We love Press Café! Not only is the food amazing, but how fun is it to sit on the patio by the gorgeous lawn and oak grove? Three salads from Press got several mentions, however the Steak Salad and the Trailhead Chicken Salad were the clear favorites. The steak salad is a delicious combination of perfectly prepared filet mignon with tomatoes, wild greens, haricot vert, and Huntsman cheese. The Trailhead Chicken Salad is an equally delightful blend of wild greens, pinenuts, bacon, avocado, and Point Reyes blue cheese topped with savory organic rotisserie chicken.

New chimichurri for the steak salad is on point #yum #presscafefwtx #steaksalad #chimichurri

A post shared by Press Cafe (@presscafefwtx) on Oct 11, 2017 at 10:04am PDT

2. Pacific Table – Is there anything that’s not delicious at Pacific Table? If so, we haven’t had it, but one salad on the menu was a clear standout. In fact, this salad tied for most mentions. It’s the Brussels Sprouts Salad. Roasted chicken, Brussels sprout leaves, Manchego cheese, golden raisins, and a chopped egg provide one of the best flavor combinations ever! The sweetness of the raisins plays beautifully with the slight bitterness of the Brussels sprouts leaves, while the mellow egg contrasts with the sharp Manchego. This salad is pure bliss!

1. The Tavern – The Tavern was a clear winner here with three salads garnering a LOT of mentions. The Zuni Chicken Salad consists of roasted chicken, chopped egg, wild greens, julienned apples, walnuts, pecans, golden raisins, and goat cheese with their amazing bacon vinaigrette. The Sonoma Steak Salad is wild greens, tomatoes, avocado, pecans all tossed in bacon vinaigrette and topped with blue cheese crumbles. And finally…! Tied for first place with the Brussels Sprouts Salad from Pacific Table is The Tavern’s Crab Cake Salad. People love this salad, and it’s obvious why. A big yummy crab cake on top of fresh greens, tomatoes, corn, avocado, cucumbers, walnuts, and croutons all tossed in that yummy bacon vinaigrette.

There were other restaurants mentioned, of course, with Charleston’s, HG SPLY, Zoe’s, and Meso Maya as standouts. Interestingly though, (but perhaps not surprisingly) the three top restaurants are all owned by executive chef, Felipe Armenta. His other Fort Worth restaurant, Cork & Pig, received several mentions as well, so it’s clear Chef Armenta knows his way around a salad. His flavor combinations are sometimes surprising, occasionally curious, but they are always thoughtful and on the mark. No wonder so many people love his salads.

The post Top 5 Fort Worth Salad Spots first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.