As mentioned here I’ve seen that honey and peaches go very well together. Today I will add almonds into that mix too.
Did you know that almonds and peaches are in the same plant family? (It’s the genus Prunus). So it makes sense that they would taste good together.
↑ Toasting almonds in a dry frying pan before chopping to really bring out their flavour. A cast iron pan works well. Lift (so you don’t scratch the stove) and shake the pan, so they don’t burn.
Here are three recipes I’ve come up with that mix Honey, Peaches and Almonds together! There’s an entree, a dessert and a drink.
Let’s begin with the entree …
Salad with Peaches, Almonds and Feta Cheese, topped with a Honey Dijon Dressing.
We had this for lunch one day last week and with the protein from the nuts and cheese, it hit the spot and filled us up. And tasted so so good with the contrast between the fresh fruit, tangy dressing and crunchy almonds. And of course, Feta cheese just makes any salad better.
To make enough dressing for two main-dish salads or 4 small ones:
Combine 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon honey, 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard and 1/8 teaspoon salt.
Drizzle dressing over a mixture of salad greens, chopped fresh peaches, crumbled feta cheese and chopped toasted almonds (5 per serving).
Next let’s move on to dessert …
Peaches Baked with Honey and Cinnamon, and served with Ice Cream and Chopped Almonds.
Wanting to take advantage of the morning light on a gloomy day last week, to take better photos, I whipped this up for breakfast. Dessert for breakfast? Why not, especially when it’s relatively healthy.
When I was about eight, we were invited to a neighbour’s house for dinner. Being a kid, the part of the meal I was most looking forward to was dessert. But then I saw that this was going to be baked apples. Apples for dessert?! Sheesh, I was more looking forward to having some cake, that’s for sure.
That was until I tasted those baked apples, that had been cored and filled with a delicious mixture of nuts and sugar. And so it was decided at a young age that yes, baked fruit could be dessert. Wouldn’t Mrs. Jones be surprised to know that her quickie dessert, served to the little neighbour girl, would have left such an impression.
Today I was baking peaches rather than apples …
Here’s what I did: Note, I used our toaster oven but it should turn out the same in a regular oven too.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and cut the peaches in half and remove the pit. Place cut side down in an oven-safe dish. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven, turn peaches over, sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon, a small dash of salt (this makes the juice come out of the peaches) and a teaspoon of honey on each peach half. Return to the oven for another 10 minutes (or until soft and cooked through). Serve with chopped toasted almonds (5 per serving) and ice-cream. [Haha, I first accidentally typed ice-dream, Freudian slip.] And don’t forget to drizzle the juice in the pan overtop.
The third recipe is a combinations of …
Peaches, Almonds and Honey in a Cocktail.
This was so good, that I made it two days in a row over the weekend, and enjoyed them out on the deck while reading a book/day dreaming.
The rum part is optional but oh my, it’s quite nice. I don’t really enjoy the flavour of alcohol, and would never drink a martini or scotch straight up, for example. So when I offered Nick a taste of this concoction, and his first comment after ‘mmm, good’, was ‘Didn’t you put any rum in it?’ So this is one where the taste of the alcohol is very well disguised.
I used our new favourite appliance to make it. It’s a Magic Bullet blender. We were late to the party in getting one of these, but we love this for making various types of drinks, especially if you’re like us and don’t have a regular blender. They’re apparently available in 50 countries, so chances are you can grab yourself one of these babies too!
The drink combines fresh peaches, a tropical type of fruit juice (I used ‘Five Alive Tropical Citrus’), some Almond Milk, and a small dollop of honey. And the rum, if you’re going for it. (I don’t want to be a booze pusher here but really it’s so nice in there!)
Here are the measures that I used to make two small drinks or one tall one:
1/2 Cup Almond Milk (ours is slightly sweetened Vanilla flavour)
3/4 Cup tropical type fruit juice, like mango, pineapple, orange or a blend
1 whole small fresh peach, pit removed and roughly chopped, or 1/2 a large peach
2 ounces rum
A bit of honey. I only used about 1/2 of a teaspoon because our almond milk was already sweetened, but use as much as you like.
Put it all in your blender and blend until smooth. Serve with ice or blend 3 cubes right into it.
For the fellow thrifters out there, this post includes some items I recently got from thrift stores and ebay. Read about: The Gold Bowl in the top picture, The pitcher that the Salad Dressing is in, The plates the salad and dessert are on.
Thank you very much for taking a look. I wish you a fine Tuesday.
loulou
