Remember how I told you about our picnic at the local park? Let’s continue on with another free activity that took place a few weeks back: The Queen Creek Peach Festival. I’m so far behind on updates from May… going back home to California is like a vacuum that sucks me right up every time. It was great to be home; I am sad every time I head back to Arizona!
A local family-owned farm hosted the Queen Creek Peach Festival four days during what seemed like the hottest weekend of the year thus far. On the final day of the festival, we jumped into the car, grabbed some Starbucks (story for another time, I’ve almost entirely cut caffeine out of my diet) and were ready to tackle the festival.
There were tractors providing rides to the orchard, celebrity chef demonstrations (which we couldn’t seem to locate), peach pancake breakfasts and tastings.
It was crazy hot and everyone and their mom wanted to ride the tractor, but we opted to brave the mile walk on the way to the orchard. I couldn’t get over how hot it was already in May. I’m also pretty sure there wasn’t a minute that went by without me wiping sweat off myself. Hot, I know.
But eventually we picked several pounds of peaches and also came home with a jar of farm-bottled peach salsa. Yummy!
So what’s the first thing we did with all those peaches?! Make breakfast, of course!
Pancake Ingredients:
- 2 c pancake mix
- 1 c water
- 2 peaches
- 8 oz package sausage
Syrup Ingredients:
- 1/4 c sugar
- 1 T cornstarch
- 1/2 c peach juice (we just blended up half a peach with water)
- 3/4 c maple syrup
- 1 T butter
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pancake mix and water and pour into greased 9"x13" pan. Arrange peaches alternately with sausages that have been cut in pieces. Bake for 30 minutes. For Topping: mix sugar and cornstarch with juice and cook until thick. Add maple syrup and butter.
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My mom used to make pancake and French toast “casseroles” often. This reminded me of a specific Dutch baby recipe she’s made several times. As an added bonus, ours was made from Swedish pancake mix. Oddly enough, it puffed up to the same thickness as a regular pancake, which confused my crepe-eating palate.
I also enjoyed peach smoothies for days. Funny, we never made any cobblers or grilled peach halves with all those peaches!
Oh well, at least summer (produce) is finally here!! I love watermelon and cherries and am waiting to strike as soon as they’re available at the grocery store.
