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I got these beautiful organic and local peaches from the Granville Island Public Market. They are so good fresh, but I was looking for something else to do with them without as much work as making peach crumble or pie. Then I saw Susan’s Roasted Peach Ice cream and read how she roasted the blushing fruits. I knew exactly what I was going to do next.

Good for two peaches, I just combined 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. I rolled the quartered peach slices into this mixture and placed them one cheek against a greased pie pan.

Notice that it’s missing one quarter because I ate it. I mean, it looks like it would be cramped in there so somebody had to eat it! Hah.

I had them roast at 400ºF for 20 minutes. When I took the pan out, I turned the peaches on their other cheek so both sides of a quarter slice will get the syrup at the bottom. And I let them cool for a bit.

Enjoy the peaches warm. It’s a little soft and very…VERY delicious. You can also top it with vanilla bean ice cream, or serve it iced on a bowl if you like it cold. Or add it to frozen yogurt.

What fruits have you roasted (or cooked) and how? I’d love to know! I still have a bunch of fresh blueberries, figs, strawberries, peaches and pears here and I don’t know what to do with them.

I like banana bread and I often have it with hot chocolate when I order my poison [i.e. dark hot chocolate from Blenz]. I also like coffee cake when I need that extra sugar rush. When I saw this recipe and the description said that it’s a cross between a banana bread and coffee cake…I heard ding-ding-ding in my head.

Patience is not the strongest suit in my cards, that’s for sure. When I see something I want, I get it. If I want to accomplish something, I get it done. Then I just sit back and admire my handiwork with all that extra time. When faced with a must-cook recipe, I don’t waste time either. I just make it!

This life ‘formula’ doesn’t always work out perfectly. Like when I made these, I accidentally ate the 3rd banana that was to complete this recipe’s 1 cup of mashed bananas. Ooops! But I had to have banana bread right that instant so I improvised. I thought of something equally thick and mushy to add: almond butter. I don’t usually have almond butter in my cooking arsenal, but my recent diet changes due to my not-so-stellar health has brought a jar of it in the kitchen. It’s not sweet at all and it definitely covers the thickness/richness factor. I was also too excited to notice that instead of using sugar as the original recipe called for, I used golden yellow one. Oops, again. At that point, I just had to go with the flow and see how it goes. I was just hoping it was edible.

It wasn’t just edible. It was wonderful!

It was good fresh. After I let it sit overnight on the counter, it was perfect. The bread became a little moist (but not too much so it’s perfect for those who dislike super moist banana bread), a little packed…and oh my god the crumble topping is meant to be saved for last.

It was gone in a couple of days. I gave some to friends and my parents had the privilege of devouring them, and taking some on their road trip. The ‘mistakes’ were a success!!! Awesome. You better try it. It could actually be healthy, too…but don’t quote me on that.

Here’s the recipe: Read the full story

Last year, Dan and I attended a cooking class at Sur La Table. The instructor happened to be Chef Robert Fair, who I learned recently was one of the ‘hopefuls’ in the most recent Bachelorette show. Not that this tidbit is really of any significance, but I thought it was funny because my reaction upon reading that was — “Why am I not suprised?” Hah. However, what is significant is that this class sealed our pact with the cooking god and it began our journey to obsession.

So back to the class. It was on cooking techniques: frying, searing, sauteeing, and grilling. One of the things we made was stuffed chicken breasts. Chef Robert reiterated — almost painfully as he remembered stuffed wannabees that were really just chicken meat used as a ‘wrap’ — the right way to make stuffed chicken breasts using careful artful strokes to tear into the middle of the width of the breast to create the receptacle for your tasty filling. Yes, it requires patience or you’ll have stuffing bursting out.

I used spicy Italian sausage with sweet onion, rosemary and a little honey. Sear lightly then bake to perfection. It’s easy and it looks impressive for moderate hands-on work:

To make sure these pockets of meat don’t overflow, I just used pieces of toothpick (new and clean ones please!) to kind of staple or sew open ends together.After searing and baking…hello super plump chicken!

Gosh darn, it was really good. Spicy sweet…mmm. And yes, you can pick whatever kind of sausage flavor/blend you like! That’s the fun part. :)

Here’s the recipe for you try: Read the full story

Sometimes a cup of good hot chocolate can make you feel better. Or maybe a chocolate bar. Or ice cream. Pick your poison.

Things as of late haven’t been so nice at all and I guess the lack of posts here reflect the general atmosphere offline. I think you’ll really know if something is going on when you don’t even have the energy to enjoy your passions.

Enter comfort foods. Sure it won’t solve any problems but it does make you feel better. It won’t take out the hives and anxiety attacks either. But heck, it’s nice to cling to some temporary relief.

Writing has always been therapeutic for me, and my attitude towards life is pretty much the same as with writing: I can’t do it half arsed. And so I couldn’t bring myself to post.

I got myself an iphone a month ago and I found a rather good use for it: blog and email when I’m at the coffee shop to just relax. I’m at a cafe right now and nursing another episode of migraine.

Just wanted to let you know we’re still here and alive! It’s just one of those blogging lulls, so please bear with us. We’re glad you’re still visiting. And thanks for the birthday and congratulatory greetings. Perhaps I’ll entertain you with the cake and proposal story on a better day.

I’m trying to get out of this funk. I bought ingredients for banana bread and sweet corn ice cream. For my birthday, my parents gave me a sexy black Kitchenaid stand mixer from the professional series and I hope to finally use it. I didn’t want to break it in because it’ll get dirty. Ahaha.

Hope all is well with you. Cheers foodies.

Joy’s birthday was last week and I wanted to give her something special. Joy got that something special, me. No, not like that, I proposed to her. Ring and all. In typical Gourmeted fashion, I made her a cake [Possibly posted later] with the question written on it. After a long pause and a ‘Are you Serious?,’ She said yes.

The dinner of her birthday was something to be special as well. She had hinted on T Cook’s of the Royal Palms here in Phoenix.  She said she heard about it from a few websites and friends that it is one of the more romantic dining spots in the Valley.  That’s a high standard to hold and I wanted her to remember her birthday forever.

Read the full story