LOS ANGELES, YOU'VE BEEN GOOD TO ME

Chalkboard drawing of the downtown Los Angeles skyline

Today I am driving up the 101 and making my way to the Bay Area to start a new job and embark on what looks to be a new chapter in life. The transition is undoubtedly a mixed bag of emotions- butterflies over the thought of something new, but also the inevitable sadness in leaving family, friends, and a city I really grew to love.

A quote I read in C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves, really rings true to me- "No man loves his city because it is great, but because it is his" Though I was born and raised in Southern California, LA never became mine until I moved there after college. In my three years back, I've rediscovered my relationships with family, had the privilege of sharing life with some of the most incredible people I've ever met, and said "I do" to a lifelong commitment to my best friend. I could never put it in words, but I am so thankful for my time here, LA - the people, the places, even the smog filled traffic, made their mark on me, and I am forever changed because of it.

FOOD WE COOKED FROM THE FARM

STUFFED BELL PEPPERS:
A very loose adaptation of this recipe here. I used to make this with cous cous, but since it's not "Taylor approved", I used ground turkey instead.  It turned out to be very filling but in a light way, and really quick to make.  I feel like you could really put anything you wanted in there to, so if you have the peppers, it's one of those recipes where you won't have to go buy more ingredients.









BRUSCHETTA
A very loose adaptation of this recipe here. The main thing I took from it was to roast half the tomatoes and mix with uncooked tomatoes. I made the tomato mixture the night before, so all the flavors had some time to meld together, then put it on freshly grilled bread.  This was insanely good. I usually try to buy whole wheat for home cooking, but if I'm going to eat white bread, this is how to do it!

IN THE MOOD FOR PEACH COBBLER

I don't really have much of a sweet tooth and hardly ever bake anything requiring hard core mixing and measuring. However, with the 4th of July being last week, and all this talk of BBQs and pies, I started to majorly crave some peach cobbler! I tried a dish similar to this at a wine bar in Eagle Rock that Jerilene and Alisa took us to a few weeks ago.  (I can't remember the name of the place at the moment though, and it's driving me crazy right now because it was a really cute!)

Anyway, Jerilene ordered the peach cobbler, and the ice cream oozing onto the oven fresh granola and peaches was just sooooo good!  It seemed like it'd be really simple to make, so I found a similar recipe here and decided to try it!


SOME BASIC INGREDIENTS:





Here's the recipe from all recipes:
The pictures don't completely match up with the recipe though because I didn't have some ingredients with me, and I'll have to admit that I was lazy and didn't peel my peaches!  For someone who isn't a pie expert, I didn't really taste a difference (but I'm sure some of my more sophisticated baking friends would have been horrified that I did that!) 

Ingredients
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup honey-sweetened granola
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
5 cups fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (optional)
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, combine the oats, granola, 3 tablespoons flour, and brown sugar. Cut in the 1/4 cup butter until crumbly.
Place peach slices in an 8-inch square baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon flour. Scatter the oat mixture over the peaches. Sprinkle top with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and pecans.
Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

After that, I let it cool for about 10 minutes and then put some ice cream on top!