This weekend we made only a quick stop at the West End Market, a rare break from the market-hopping marathons I’ve been filling our summer weekends with. Then again, we were just at the new Old Town market on Wednesday, although we were restrained there with just a few peaches and apples purchased. Since two of my favorite peach vendors were there, D&S and Bigg Riggs, I intended to do a taste-test. I have a theory that Southern Maryland peaches are addictive because they are planted on former tobacco land … but I have not had a chance to test them against WV and PA peaches at the same time. And since the toddler devoured both our Bigg Rigg’s peaches before we left the market, my taste-off plans were thwarted for now. My sherbet (below) did use a combination of supersweet Harris Orchard peaches from Southern Maryland, a variety they described as lower-acid and therefore sweeter tasting, and Papa’s Orchard donut peaches from Pa., which are his sweetest variety. Of those two, Harris was clearly in the lead.

Last week saw limited cooking in the FoodieTots house, as my mega-cold/sore throat dragged on for a second week, and was topped off with an oven deciding to quit working. Talk about a foodblogger’s worst nightmare - especially with the toddler’s 2nd birthday just around the corner! Here’s hoping we can get it fixed in time… We are also about to leave town for a week, so we spent the weekend cooking up as much of our lingering CSA and market produce as possible. One night, I cooked a rather unappetizing roasted eggplant salad — the oven only broils which resulted in over-roasting of the veggies. Fortunately dinner was salvaged with a fresh tomato, green bean & mozzarella salad over quinoa*.

The husband on Sunday whipped up a tasty peach teriyaki stir-fry of buffalo hot dogs, tomatillos, green beans and peppers. The sauce was garlic, fresh peaches and soy sauce* — again all served atop quinoa with grilled corn on the cob on the side.

And since the broken oven thwarted my peach blackberry cobbler plans, I broke in the new ice cream maker instead with a Peach Berry Sherbet - yum!

* quinoa and soy sauce were non-local.

I had been suffering a serious case of foodblogger envy watching others whip up homemade ice cream treats this summer, so finally broke down and bought the KitchenAid ice cream attachment. I’ve gushed before about the wonderful local ice cream/custard/gelato treats we have available, but I’ve been wanting to experiment with healthier variations. Since the toddler seems to have inherited my family’s ice cream addiction — seriously, he woke up one morning recently requesting, “i skeem? i skeem?” — I wanted to try out some low sugar options. Using the sweet, ripe fruits at market right now makes that easier as they don’t require much added sweetener. For my first attempt, I decided to try a sherbet - the full fruit flavor of gelato, but with 2% milk instead of eggs. So it’s low fat too! I used honey under the theory that it requires less to match the sweetness of regular sugar, and was pleased that this turned out pleasantly sweet even with the tart blackberries. I was worried that the berries might overpower the peach flavor, but it turned out wonderfully balanced. It’s not as creamy as ice cream, but still a luscious summer treat.

Recipe: Peach Berry Sherbet

Ingredients:

• 1 c water
• 1/3 c honey
• 1 c berries (used 2/3c raspberries & 1/3 c blackberries)
• 2.5 cups peaches
• 1 c 2% milk

Instructions: Bring water and honey just to boil in small saucepan over high heat, stir to dissolve honey. Add berries, crushing with back of spoon and reduce to low simmer for 10 m. Remove from heat and strain through fine mesh sieve. Chill while preparing peaches.

Peel and dice peaches. Puree in food processor or blender until smooth, add milk and berry syrup and pulse until blended. Chill for at least 1 hour. Process in ice cream maker as instructed, freeze and enjoy! Makes about 1 qt., 4-6 servings.

Blend peaches, milk and berry syrup in food processor. Chill 1 hour. Freeze in ice cream maker.

Food Miles: This was 100% local! South Mountain Creamery milk 63mi., Toigo Orchards honey 114mi., Papa’s Orchard’s donut peaches 87mi., Harris Orchard’s supersweet peaches 24mi., Westmoreland Berry Farm black & raspberries 71mi. All but the milk (delivered) and Harris peaches were from Alexandria farmers markets — this recipe is being shared with the Farmers Market Report at the new “To Every Meal There is a Season”.