Chef's Tips

Peaches are in peak season in W. MD now. Buy a bunch and when they are very ripe , peel and pit them and put them in zip-loc bags and freeze them.

Peach Margarita

2 Frozen peaches, peeled and pitted

1/2 cup margarita mix

1/3 cup gold tequila

Put all in blender and blend until smooth

Serve on ice or straight up in salt-rimmed glass

Tip 1: To peel a peach or nectarine (or tomato) Cut a small X in the bottom end (not stem end) of fruit. Drop in boiling water for 10 seconds. Skin will peel off easily. Don't put too many in at once , because that will cool the water off.

Tip 2: This is the quick and easy recipe. To make it even better (kick it up a notch), substitute 1/4 cup fresh lime juice and 1/4 peach schnapps for the margarita mix. Don't use the reconstituted lime juice ("Realime") though because it tastes awful.

Tip 3: For a virgin peach margarita substitute 1 more peach for the tequila( or just leave the tequila out, the peach flavor gets overpowered but its still good.) You could also substitute peach nectar (available in the hispanic section of most grocery stores) for the tequila.

Morning Glory Muffins

This is a great healthy muffin recipe. It calls for 1 cup of canola oil. That may seem like a lot but it translates to 3/4 TB per muffin. You can put less oil in, but the muffins won't be quite as moist. Also you can substitute any other type of flour to make them even healthier. I love to eat them warm with my homemade peach butter.

Morning Glory Muffins-makes about 24 regular size muffins

2 cups Flour

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 t. Baking Soda

2 t. Cinnamon

1/2 t. Salt

2 cups Carrots, grated

1/2 cup Raisins

1/2 cup Chopped Pecans

1/2 cup Sweetened Shredded Coconut

1 Apple, Peeled, cored, and shredded

3 large Eggs

1 cup Canola Oil

2 t. Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350º Spray two muffin pans with non-stick pan coating spray (Pam)

Sift together first five Ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Stir in next 5 ingredients.

In a separate bowl, mix together the Eggs, Oil, and vanilla. Then stir into ingredients

in large bowl. Scoop the mixture into the muffin pans and bake for 35 minutes.

This is my base muffin recipe. You can substitute whatever fruits are in season for any

portion of the carrots or apple. For example you can add one cup of blueberries for one

cup of the carrots or for the apple. I made this last week with local cherries and blueberries

and I forget to put the sugar in, and they were still delicious. So if you want you can cut

back on the sugar or leave it out altogether. (Use an ice cream scoop to scoop the batter into

the pans.)

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Farmer's Markets

Farmer's Markets

July 8th. The markets are all open now. The number of farmer's markets here in W. Maryland has been steadily growing over the last few years. I counted over 20 within a half hour drive of my house. There is one open somewhere almost every day of the week. This affords everyone the chance to buy food at the peak of its freshness and also at the height of its nutritional value. The key is knowing what is in season in your area and when. You can go to about.com and print out a list of the seasonal fruits and vegetables in your area. It helps to get to the market as early as possible because certain specialty items can sell out quickly. Also on a hot day some things like lettuce, greens, and flowers can wilt in the sun. What I like to do is to walk through the whole market first and see what is available and to see who has the best stuff. Then I go back and buy what I want. I usually have to make a couple of trips back to my truck because I can't carry it all. Some people bring big baskets with them, which is smart. I usually end up with a lot more food than I can eat before it spoils, so I end up either pickling, making jams or sometimes even freezing stuff. Last year the peaches, strawberries, and nectarines were so good I froze a bunch for later use in pies, cobblers, and such. When I go this week I'll be looking for cherries, blueberries, peas, zucchini and summer squash. Local tomatoes, peaches, corn and melons are just starting to show up but I would wait a couple of weeks on those. That's another bonus about buying fruits and vegetables when they are in season. As the supply goes up the price goes down.

Exercise hint

Think the Letter C-If you do crunches, there is one key move that makes them ten times more effective. I see people all the time doing crunches by lifting up their head and shoulders and then going back down. This is just giving you a nice little stretch on your upper back and lats, but not really helping your abs at all. You could do 1000 of them a day and it wouldn't help your abs.

What you need to do is think of the letter C every time you do a crunch. Your hips need to come up at the same time as your upper body to form the C. Crunches are going to be a whole lot harder, but, hey, now you're not wasting your time!