Berry Best Won Ton Napoleons

Looking for a light summer dessert?

And a way to use up some of your backyard stone fruit?

Want a dessert that's fast and easy?

Give these Berry Best Won Ton Napoleons a try!

I have a Babcock peach tree in my backyard that's full of fruit--it's a great way to use them!

Here's what you'll need:

peaches and berries, or other assortment of fruit

sugar or powdered sugar

won ton wrappers 

oil for frying

whipping cream

Wash the berries and put them in a bowl large enough for mixing.

I didn't have any powdered sugar, which I usually use, so I ground some granulated sugar in my small blender.

I came out pretty fine, not as fine as powdered sugar, but in the end--I liked it.

It gave the berries and peaches just a bit of texture.

Nice!

Add a little to the berries and stir.

With my backyard peaches, they're Babcock's, so that means delicate white flesh.

They don't have any pesticides on them, so best cut them in half to be sure there isn't a worm.

Since they're tree ripened--that means that they're picked when the peach falls off the branch with just the slightest tug--they also bruise easily.

Tree-ripened also means the skin comes right off.

Yes, they're that ripe and super juicy!

No hot water bath for these babies!

If you add just a bit of sugar, they'll make the yummiest juice/syrup to pour over the dessert.

If you like liqueurs, you can marinate the fruit in a little Grand Marnier or Frangelico.

It's especially good with peaches or strawberries.

If you use a liqueur, let that set for at least a half hour.  

Be sure to add just a small squeeze of lemon to the white peaches so they don't turn brown.

Any kind of won ton wrappers will do, I got these at my local grocery store.

Fry them until brown in a little bit of hot oil.

They should look about like this.

If you noticed in the ingredients collection above, you may have noticed I got heavy whipping cream out.

Mistake.

Use regular whipping cream--the heavy one is too heavy!

Whip it with the mixer.

Be careful, it spits and splatters a bit.

Add some powdered sugar to taste.

You can also add a touch of vanilla, that's good too.

Gather all your ingredients to assemble.

Put a dab of whipped cream on the plate.

It anchors the won ton.

You could also use the whipped cream in a can.

Put the won ton on top of the whipped cream.

Then a generous dollop of whipped cream on top of the won ton and a generous scoop of the peaches on top of that.

Then another won ton, whipped cream, and then a generous scoop of the berries.

Want to see that again?

Small scoop of whipped cream.

Won ton, then another scoop of whipped cream.

Then some peaches.

And some strawberries if you have them.

The next won ton will sit a bit better if you put a dab of whipped cream on top of the fruit.

Then another dollop of whipped cream.

And the berries.

Garnish with a small sprig of mint.

Itadakimasu!

***

I have been working a lot these past few months on slideshows.

Two for a niece and nephew graduating from high school.

One for a friend celebrating her 30th birthday.

And one for a nephew and his fiance to show at their wedding reception.

*Whew*

I wish I could share them here, but they're blocked because of the songs' copyrights.

I love photos.

And I love music.

The two go together so well--putting the photos to music can really set the time and place as well as convey emotion.

Earlier this year, I went to a luncheon where June Kuramoto and Kimo Cornwell of Hiroshima played the koto and the keyboards, respectively.

One of the songs they played was Heritage.

When they played it, it instantly brought tears to my eyes.

The song evokes such melancholy for me because I used it for a slideshow shown at a funeral for someone close to me--the song has a reverent quality to it that I find very touching.

Out of all the songs they could have chosen to play, they played Heritage.

I felt like they played it for me.

I had the opportunity to speak with June about what the song means to me.

She said Kimo is the author of the song.

What a beautiful creation.

You can hear it on iTunes, or if someone will send me a link, I will post it.

***

Ingredients:

An assortment of fruit--blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and peaches 

sugar or powdered sugar

won ton wrappers 

oil for frying

whipping cream

sprig of mint for garnish

Wash the berries and put them in a bowl big enough for mixing. Add powdered sugar to taste and mix.

Slice peaches and/or strawberries into bite-sized pieces, add sugar as desired and mix. If you're using white peaches, add a squeeze of lemon so they don't turn brown.

Fry won ton skins in about a 1/2 inch of oil, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Whip whipping cream until peaks form, adding sugar and/or vanilla to taste. Add a little at a time so it doesn't get too sweet.

Layer a small dab of whipped cream, fried won ton, whipped cream, fruit and repeat. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

Assemble just before serving so the won tons don't get soggy.

Camping Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Bacon

Sometimes I don't know what to cook, I'm wracked with indecision over the simplest thing--

What to make for dinner?

When you're camping, you'd think it would be easy--just make what you brought and have planned.

But what I have planned doesn't always suit me at the time.


I have issues, I know.

We had a few slices of bacon left from the 3 lbs. we brought along.

I got to talking with Mitchell about what to make with the bacon.

Mitchell loves bacon.

He said that maybe we could fry it up, then crumble it onto some mashed potatoes.

That sounded so good!

Only problem was--I didn't bring a potato masher.

In comes Keith to the rescue!

Keith said he had just made some mashed potatoes at home using a slotted spoon, and that's what he and Karen did.

They made mashed potatoes with a slotted spoon and slotted spatula.

When you're camping, you have to improvise!

It was so much fun watching the two of them mashing the boiled red potatoes with the improvised utensils, adding butter and milk, salt and pepper.

They also added the leftover roasted garlic cloves from the night before--which Rick and Jessica removed from their husks and painstakingly trimmed all the burned parts off.

When it was done, they tasted the finished product and adjusted the seasonings.

Mitchell fried up the remaining slices of peppered bacon and crumbled them.

These were some of the best mashed potatoes I've had--they had really nice texture, with a bit of chunkiness, but still creamy--and topped with just a sprinkling of bacon bits for a blast of flavor and saltiness.

I wish I would have gotten photos of everyone helping put this together--that's what makes it all so much fun for me--everyone helps.

I think that's what makes the meals taste so good!

The night before, we used one of the steaks to make bacon wrapped camping kebobs, and cut the remaining rib eyes into thirds, which was plenty for everyone.

Robert barbecued them over the campfire perfectly.

We made a quick citrus marinade with lemons and limes I brought along with sliced onions and cilantro.

I added some Tapatio hot sauce and Keith added some shoyu.

Connie sliced the chicken breasts and thighs into strips, which made the grilling fast and easy.

The result was delicious!

Connie, Keith & Emily roasted the squash perfectly.

Robert roasted the peppers and Rick & Jezzie peeled and sliced them.

Yum!

There was especially a lot of fervor around the food table that night.

Beeto doesn't eat much, but she said she ate two platefuls that night.

Robert and Connie are always the last in line.

Thanks for suggesting the mashed potatoes, Mitchell, they were delicious!

Thanks, Keith, for working hard to make them!

Karen and Connie, too!

The kids went on a hike around the lake and up to a patch of snow.

Is that the patch of snow you walked to?

It looks far!

Jessica took her camera and got some nice shots on the hike.

Thanks, Jessica, for sharing your photos!

Time to pack up and go home!

Thanks, everyone, for such a fun trip!

No printable recipe.

Camping Kebobs

If you're looking for something to cook over the fire when you go camping, you might like to try these Camping Kebobs.

Every year, one of the dinners we make while camping has turned into "bacon wrapped everything" and is a favorite of everyone there.

This year it was especially good, Gary's already mentioned it several times since we got home!

I found these individual wire baskets at Home Goods last year.

They worked really well, much better than the large, flexible wire cages for kebobs.

The Bacon Wrapped Everything started several years ago with our friend Keith making appetizers over the campfire, and it has expanded every year.

Now it's tradition.

This year we made them with shrimp and steak.

Peel the raw shrimp, add a slice of garlic, and wrap it in bacon.

We used a 1/3 slice of bacon--we're using pepper bacon here--the bacon you can buy that's partially cooked works well, too.

With the partially cooked bacon--the bacon doesn't take long to get crisp and it's more on line with the cooking time of the shrimp.

Stack the pieces in the wire basket.

It's narrow so it fits one piece perfectly--which makes it fun for everyone to cook their own--or, when they're done, open the basket up and pass out the individual pieces around the campfire.

We also made bites of rib eye steak like this.

Make a little slit into the steak, insert a small piece of garlic and wrap it with bacon.

Earlier, we had roasted cloves of garlic, drizzled with a bit of olive oil, in foil over the campfire.

The roasted garlic in the bacon wrapped bundle was really good.

Scallops are good like this too.

It was difficult to cook them over the fire skewered marshmallow-style, so we put some foil down on the campfire grill and they cooked well like that, too.

Use long-handled tongs to turn them over.

This way worked the best.

This morning, after breakfast, Gary mentioned how tasty the bacon wrapped shrimp and steak was--again.

He said that when you bite into the hot, straight off the grill, shrimp or steak, with the crisp bacon and the flavor of the garlic mid-bite--

It was delicious!

Gochisousamadeshita!

(Thank you for the good meal!)

***

Over the holiday weekend, we took our annual trip to Convict Lake near Mammoth Lakes.

This is Keith and his girlfriend, Emily.

It was nice meeting you, Emily.

Keith took Emily and Beeto fishing and they caught several trout!

Beeto reeled in her first fish.

Being exhausted after fishing deserves a little nap.

Keith and Emily came all the way from New York to camp with us.

Connie is cooking the trout.

Connie works hard around the campsite.

She loves shopping and ice cream.

We kept it simple with the fish and grilled them on the stove.

We seasoned them only with a little salt and pepper.

Beeto helped cook the potatoes.

They were yummy!

Karen helped grill the asparagus and eggplant.

Karen always wins the game count.

The kids keep track of who wins each game, and they play a LOT of games!

Karen and Mitchell had a really long drive to get here.

We're so glad you came!

The asparagus and eggplant were yummy.

We just drizzled a little bit of olive oil on them and seasoned them with salt and pepper.

Jessica helped cook and clean up.

Thanks, Jezzie!

Gary and Rick are always helping, too.

The clean-up crew is super-important when camping!

After clean-up, it's time to roast marshmallows!

Karen and I miss Robert's trusty green jacket that he had for 30+ years.

He got a new one a couple of years ago.

Robert is indispensable when we go camping.

Beeto's fun.

She made up a campfire game, on-the-spot.

She asked, "What's your favorite color?" and everyone around the circle answers.

Then she chose someone who had to go around and repeat everyone's answers.

Then that person asks the next question and chooses someone to repeat the answers.

It was really fun and we got to know everyone a little bit better.

Some of the other questions were:

Who's your favorite actor?

What's your favorite car?

If you could have any superpower, which would you choose?

Thanks, Beeto, for the fun game!

Jezzie made s'mores.

She's saying, 'Here, take a closer look!'

Yum!

Rick's really good at fishing the creek.

He likes to release them, we had plenty to eat.

Mitchell's fun.

He's game for anything.

Last year he swam across the lake in the icy water.

This year, I think he won the cookie count.

I really enjoy his commentary during our card games.

Mitchell put the roasted marshmallow on top of a chocolate chip cookie.

Yum!

We all couldn't go camping without Gary.

He works hard to get everything ready, packs it all up, and when we get home--he unpacks it all, cleans everything up, and puts it all away.

I really appreciate everyone making the effort to come camping!

Thank you, all, for such a nice weekend!

No printable recipe today.