Coconut Raspberry Ice Cream {dairy-free}

Another dairy-free coconut ice cream win!  I made this for my husband's birthday and it was so delicious.  You will not be missing the dairy at all with ice cream like this around!  It is SO simple to make - only 4 ingredients.  We used some frozen raspberries we had picked this summer and they gave it such a refreshing tartness that we loved.  Give it a try and I'm sure you'll love it too!

Peach Salsa

Sick of peach recipes yet?  Just wait, I have more!  This was a fun thing to whip up with our dinner a few weeks ago.  This peach salsa actually only calls for peaches - no tomatoes, which was great for us because I didn't have any tomatoes that day!  It's pretty much pico de gallo, with peaches subbing in.  Extremely addicting and delicious!  You can serve it with grilled chicken or fish, or just dig in with some tortilla chips.  Summer's not over yet with this around!

Fruit Leather

Is anyone else out there swimming in fruit these days?  We went peach picking last weekend and went a little overboard.  We've been eating peaches, freezing peaches, baking peaches, and canning peaches, so we decided to also make some fruit leather!  It was really easy, it just took a long time to fully dry.  Of course if you have a dehydrator, this is faster, but you can just as easily do it in the oven, as we did.  Just set it as low as it can go, and give it a good 6-8 hrs to do its thing.  You can do it overnight, or even do a few hours at a time if you need to run an errand and don't want to leave the oven on.  Just keep the door closed in between.  

Baked Oatmeal with Fruit

I have a problem with oatmeal.  I love oats in baked goods, but I have never liked oatmeal for breakfast.  I have tried oh-so-hard to like it, because I want to, I really do.  But there's something about that gummy texture I can never get past after a few spoonfuls.  I think I finally found a way to enjoy it though - this baked oatmeal.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

Have you been picking blueberries this summer?  We're fortunate enough to live in a place where berries grow in abundance, and we've been blueberry-picking several times this summer.  This has been one of our favorite ways to enjoy them.  Blueberries are so tasty fresh, but I have to admit, I love them even more when they're cooked and they burst with juices and flavor.  These muffins are super easy to whip up and they are quite healthy too!  You can use fresh or frozen berries; and yogurt, buttermilk, or non-dairy milk.  We've tried them all ways and they're delicious anyway you do it!  Enjoy!

Fresh Apple Cake

Yum!  This cake probably won't win any beauty awards, but who cares?  It's delicious.  My mother-in-law has a binder full of recipes she's given to all her children, and I'm slowly making my way through them.  This is one that caught my eye, especially after we went apple picking a few weeks ago, and I decided to give it a shot!  I actually changed a few things - subbing in some whole wheat flour, brown sugar, and oats, among other things - but it's basically the same recipe.  I may or may not have had a piece for breakfast the next day, and I found it moistened a lot sitting over night.  Both times were delicious.  It tastes old-fashioned and homey and I love it!

Mango Quinoa Salad

I was blown away by this dish.  I thought I would like it, and I knew it would be healthy, but the brightness of the flavors really took me by surprise and made me love it!  If you haven't heard too much about quinoa, it is a seed that acts like a grain but is really more related to beets and spinach.  Confused?  Yeah, me too. :)  Here's what you need to know about it - it is easy to prepare (similar to rice); it is a source of complete protein; it is gluten free; it is high in fiber, phosphorus, magnesium, and iron; and it is a source of calcium.  Pretty good, eh?

Cranberry Orange Sauce

I don't know how, but Thanksgiving is next week.  It really snuck up on me this year, and I completely forgot about some recipes I tried last year but never posted.  Well...here's one of them!  I made cranberry sauce from scratch last year and it was really tasty!  I was amazed at how easy it was.  It can be made a couple days in advance and it tastes great on a leftover turkey sandwich too.  Yum!

Blackberry Crisp

I am aware this picture is crummy, but I assure you, this dessert is not! I love crisps in all varieties, in fact, this recipe is very adaptable to whatever fruit you like. I will give you the recipe for the topping and give you some guidelines on your fruit of choice, and it works great! We had some blackberries in our freezer so I decided to make this last weekend and it was soooo delicious. Served warm topped with vanilla ice cream and it makes one amazing dessert.

Old-fashioned Apple Pie

I realize it has been awhile since I have posted, but we have been so busy lately! Among many other things, we have been busy preparing for our first time hosting Thanksgiving! My in-laws are coming into town and we are super excited (and a little nervous) to take on the big job of preparing the Thanksgiving feast. In planning what pies to make, we decided to nix poor Apple Pie. I felt bad for the pie, so I decided we'd just have to make one before Thanksgiving! So Sunday my sister came up, which gave me an excuse to bake a pie, and we tried Martha Stewart's "Old-fashioned Apple Pie". This is your traditional, double-crust, heaping apple pie and it was delicious! If you've decided to keep on Apple Pie for Thanksgiving, give this one a try!

Banana Bread

I love banana bread, but I've never really had a go-to recipe. I found this one recently on the Joy of Baking website (which I love) and I decided to try it. I'm so glad I did! It's really tasty. I went ahead and toasted the nuts like it suggested (although it's totally optional since it takes a little extra time) and it gave it a really yummy extra flavor. I don't like my banana bread too cakey, and this one was just right. I hope you enjoy it!

Sweet Cherry Pie

Oh my. Cherry Pie.

I was never a huge fan of cherry pie as a kid because of the yucky canned filling. My life changed on Saturday, however, when I went to the Farmer's Market in Salt Lake and bought four pounds of the most delectable looking cherries you've ever seen. I thought, hmm, maybe I should give a fresh cherry pie a chance. And boy am I glad I did!!! This was so tasty. Thanks to Martha Stewart, everything turned out delicious. If you were like me and wrote off cherry pie because of a can, give it another shot this summer with fresh cherries! You won't regret it.

Corn, Avocado, and Tomato Salad

Yum! This salad is perfect for summer. Fresh corn on the cob, cherry tomatoes, avocados, lime juice, etc. Serve it as a side, with tortilla chips, or stay tuned to see what we ate it with this weekend. :) Enjoy!

Apple Walnut Feta Salad

So this recipe stemmed from a need to bring a salad to a church event and having to think of something with what I had on hand. Luckily I had some pretty good stuff on hand. :) Of course you can substitute things with what you have on hand. For the dressing I was just doing a basic oil/vinegar dressing and then I thought it would be fun to juice a mandarin orange to give it a little extra flavor and I really liked it, so I include that. Of course, you could dress it without that, but if you have one around, give it a try.