Peach Cobbler

This is the best peach cobbler recipe ever. For legit homemade peach cobbler made with ripe summer peaches. One time me and my friend Elise planned to hang out and make peach cobbler then watch Spiderman Homecoming. We went to her house and used her recipe, because most of Elise's recipes are the best. But as far as peach cobbler goes, hers was good (especially with ice cream and the lactase pill her mom gave me), but mine is better. That night I came home and made peach cobbler with my younger sisters, using the recipe I'd found. It originally came from Lindsay Ostrom at Pinch of Yum, and it is the best, ever. The peaches are cooked to have a perfectly jammy texture, but the cobbler topping is what really takes the cake. It's neither like a biscuit nor a cake, it's more like a cross between cookie dough and a biscuit top. It's easy to whip up too, especially if you have plenty of helping hands to peel the peaches.

Peach Cobbler 

Ingredients:

peach filling- 

• 4 large fresh peaches sliced thin (and roughly peeled if you desire)
• 1/4 cup sugar

cobbler topping-

• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt 
• 1/4 cup coarse sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Smear bottom of 9x13 pan with butter.
2.  Add peaches and sugar, mix directly in the pan.  
3. Mix cobbler ingredients (everything except the coarse sugar) in another bowl until cookie dough forms. Sprinkle the dough over the peaches. 
4. Bake for 25 minutes. Sprinkle the top with coarse sugar and bake for another 10 minutes. Then broil for three minutes (about 475) until golden brown. It tastes better if you let it sit for 20 minutes, but you can still enjoy it warm. 

Notes:

*If it’s not saucy and bubbling after 25 minutes of baking, it’s probably because your peaches are firm. Pouring two tablespoons of melted butter over the peaches helps the juiciness to come out. 

Chicken Salad

This is a really easy solid recipe for chicken salad- really good with croissants, on sandwiches, or mixed with pasta for a pasta salad. It's really similar to tuna salad, just with different meat and mix ins but pretty much the same sauce. I usually eyeball it and just do it to taste, but I put measurements as guidelines on the recipe.

Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

• 5ish oz chicken (ya know just a small bowlful if it's for one person) 
• little less than 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt 
• 1/2 Tbsp ish of miracle whip (taste and see if you want more sweet tang then add more)
• 1 celery stalk diced 
• 1 tsp dried onion powder (or real diced onion)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• sprinkle of lemon juice (really not much, just a few drops) 
• 1/2 cup grapes, halved 
• 2 Tbsp cashews

Directions:

1. Combine tuna greek yogurt and miracle whip to taste. Add in everything else. Serve with croissants, bread, or combine with 1 cup pasta (and more greek yogurt/miracle whip) for a pasta salad. 

Tuna Salad

This is my go-to recipe for tuna salad (ya know the kind perfect on sandwiches or to dip veggies like celery in). I like it with less mayo than most recipes and sub in some greek yogurt so it still is moist without having a weird sweetness. For add ins with tuna I like pickles and celery, I keep fruit and nuts for chicken salad, tuna salad is strictly savory. I like how you can make this super fast, it's really good for lunches. I never measure anything, I just spoon in greek yogurt and miracle whip to taste, but I put them there as guidelines.

Tuna Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 5oz can tuna, drained
• little less than 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt 
• 1/2 Tbsp ish of miracle whip (taste and see if you want more sweet tang then add more)
• 1 celery stalk diced 
• 1 tsp dried onion powder (or real diced onion)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• sprinkle of lemon juice (really not much, just a few drops) 
• diced pickles (like half a big one or six baby dills)

Directions:

1. Combine tuna greek yogurt and miracle whip to taste. Add in everything else.

Elise's Excellent Banana Bread

This recipe is from my friend Elise Fox. The summer of 2018 Elise and I hung out a lot and we often cooked, making banana bread, pancakes, muffins, cookies, and peach cobbler. We made this banana bread more than once and it was very good. Elise claimed to have the best recipes for kitchen staples all in her ward cookbook. While I didn't think all her recipes were the best (my peach cobbler is definitely better), with banana bread she was right. This is a simple recipe but one of the best I've ever had; it's moist without being dense and cakey, it has a tender crumb, it's has a sweet banana flavor with buttery vanilla undertones, and the pecans add a nice crunch.  

The first time we made this banana bread they were out of buttermilk, so we had to make a quick grocery run to pick some up. We went to Broulims and walked up and down the dairy aisle three times before seeing where buttermilk was supposed to be, and that they were all out. So next we went to Walmart on the other side of town. As we made our way to the milk at the back of the store I remarked that if they didn't have buttermilk here I was going to lose it. An employee behind us overheard and cut in saying that he hated to break it to us, but there was a buttermilk shortage. Their supplier had quit giving them buttermilk so they were out for the time being, and that our best bet was Albertson's. So we went to Albertson's, and there shoved in the back of the fridge was the very last small buttermilk container in all of Rexburg, because of the buttermilk shortage. It was very satisfying knowing that we had the last buttermilk in the whole town. Then we were able to get back to Elise's house and make the best banana bread ever while listening to Hamilton and Jack Johnson and dancing in her kitchen. 

Elise's Excellent Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup oil 
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 3 mashed bananas
• 2/3 cup walnuts/pecans
• 1 Tbsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Beat together on medium speed flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, oil, buttermilk, and eggs. 
2. Add bananas, nuts, vanilla and beat again. 
3. Pour into two 4x10" greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, 325 for 15 minutes, then at 300 for 30 minutes. 

Notes:

*For banana nut muffins bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. 

Kara's Pretzels

These pretzels are a Sunday staple at our house. When you need bread but don't have all day, you just make these and have fresh pretzels in less than an hour. Aunt Kara made these pretzels as a teenager. She got the recipe in a cooking class in junior high, so they are easy and foolproof. Grandma and mom use the recipe, and so do I. I usually make them on Sunday when we're hungry after church. You can enjoy them salted and with butter, cinnamon sugar, or like rolls with butter and jam. This is probably the easiest recipe for bread you'll ever find, so hang onto it!

Soft Pretzels 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 Tbsp yeast
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 4 cups flour

Directions:

1. Combine yeast and water in large mixing bowl. Let it rise for one minute, add sugar and stir and let rise one more minute.
2.  Add milk and salt and combine. Stir in flour to make a stiff dough (more flour=chewier pretzels)
3. Knead with flour. Let dough sit for 5 minutes. 
4. Roll into ropes and shape into pretzels. Place on greased baking sheet. Brush with milk (or egg wash if you're feeling fancy) and sprinkle with salt. 
5. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Rice Pudding

Rice pudding is one of our favorite breakfasts. Grandma Knight's grandmother, Kristina Johnson, immigrated to America from Sweden. She passed down many of her traditions and Swedish culture to her children. Things that I grew up with that seemed normal were actually unique to our family. Other people had never had rice pudding, or Swedish pancakes, and didn't have gingerbread cookies just as frequently as chocolate chip.

Everyone in mom's family has a recipe for rice pudding, but each household, (Grandma, Kara, mom) does it a little differently. Grandma uses eggnog, Kara uses cornstarch, Mom uses cream cheese. They're all delicious, but this is the version I grew up with.

Dad taught us to spread it out on plates to cool it faster so it wouldn't burn our tongues. That was something he learned from his mom.

Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

• 4 cups water
• 2 cups rice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 cups milk
• 2/3 cup sugar, or honey to taste
• 1/2 cube cream cheese (really 3 oz, not 4), softened
• 2 eggs
• vanilla

Directions:

1. Cook the rice (water, salt, rice) for 15-20 minutes, or until done in a big pot. 
2. Add milk and sugar. Continue to cook on medium high heat. 
3. Combine cream cheese, eggs, and a few tablespoons of milk in a separate bowl. Temper with some of the rice milk mixture. Pour into the pot and stir. 
4. Cook for 3 minutes or until it is thick enough to your liking. Add eggnog, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins, raspberries, whatever you want. Serve on plates to get it to cool faster.  

Water Brownies

Water Brownies. Uuugh, they've got to be on of the best desserts ever. Our family, including extended family, loves this dessert. It is one of Jacob's favorite things to make. I remember making it and reading the directions off of the handwritten recipe card. Grandma made this and passed the recipe down to all of her children, so we often have it at Grandma's or Kara's house. 

Aunt Kara tells the story of how the brownies got their name 

"I got this wonderful recipe for hot fudge cake from my mom. It was a favorite dessert at our house and I remember having it often as a child. We all love it! One year when my mom asked my little brother Matt what treat he wanted for family night, he told her “Water Brownies”. None of us had any idea what the heck he was talking about. We couldn’t figure it out, so she just made something else. A few weeks later, she made this dessert. When Matt saw her pull this out of the oven, he exclaimed excitedly, “Yay, you made water brownies!!!” I have called it that ever since."

When I was cleaning out old papers of mine I stumbled upon one that said something like, 20 best desserts ever, and it listed about 20 variations of water brownies, water brownies with ice cream, with caramel, etc. This is a beloved family favorite! Plus the way it cooks is like magic. You put the dry ingredients on the bottom of the pan, pour on hot water, and as it bakes it becomes brownies with it's own caramel hot fudge sauce!

Water Brownies

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 2 cup flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 Tbsp cocoa
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4 Tbsp oil

Topping:

• 2 cup brown sugar
• 6 Tbsp cocoa
• 3 1/2 cups hot water

Directions:

1. Stir together dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. 
2. Add milk, vanilla, and oil. Stir till well blended and spread in a greased 9x 13 pan. 
3. Mix brown sugar and cocoa and sprinkle over the top. Pour hot water on top- do not mix in! Bake for 40 min at 350.