How can I tell that summer is coming to an end?

The 100 degree temperatures in Dallas are being replaced by cool 88 degree days.  (Did you know that dropping below 90 degrees in Texas is considered a cold front?) 

Football watching consumes most of our weekends, especially lazy Sunday afternoons.     

The neighborhood pool is filled with kids all summer long but now when I drive but it is always empty.

And the millions of peaches that were prominently displayed at the front of the grocery store all summer long are now being replaced by big, fat pumpkins. 

As I am writing this, the song "Peaches" by The Presidents of the  United States of America is playing in my mind.  Millions of peaches, Peaches for me.  Millions of peaches, Peaches for free.  If you have never heard that song then you were probably too young to listen to mainstream alternative rock music in the mid 1990's.   That also means you are probably too young to be my friend since I was in college when this song was popular.

Both peach season and summer are ending soon, so I thought I would share some pictures of the peach dishes I tested over the past few months.  

One of them was blogworthy, my Puffed Pancakes with Caramelized Peaches. 

Then there was the peach crisp shown below.  Definitely not a blogworthy recipe.  It looks pretty but I think I healthified it too much, so it tasted pretty bland.  I also used white peaches in the crisp, which don't taste as sweet or photograph as bright as the yellow, juicy peaches that I caramelized and served on top of my puffed pancakes. 

After spooning out a serving of peach crisp into a bowl, I added two scoops of Oikos Frozen Non-Fat Vanilla Greek Yogurt.  Basically I was putting bland on top of bland.  This combination was not sweet enough to satisfy my overly sweet tooth.  I took all of these pictures before tasting the dessert, then was majorly disappointed when it did not taste as good as it looked. 

The Oikos Frozen Greek Yogurt tasted much better in a Green Monster smoothie.  I also think it would make a tasty, light dessert topped with fresh raspberries, blueberries and strawberries.  

But if you still have millions of peaches that need to be used up before fall arrives, try this peach topping for puffed pancakes. 

Serves: 4

Prep time: 10 minutes, Cook time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 1/2 cup milk at room temperature
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (divided)
• 4 tablespoons sugar (divided)
• 2 medium peaches
• 2 tablespoons butter

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. 

In a blender, combine the eggs, milk, flour, salt, vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of sugar.  Blend the ingredients on medium speed about 1 minute.

Pour batter into a 9 inch pie pan coated with non-stick cooking spray.  Place in the oven on the center rack and bake until it is puffed up and golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.  Remove the pancake from the oven and cool on a wire rack (it will deflate quite a bit).

While the pancake is baking, peel two peaches, remove and discard the pit, then cut into 1/4 inch slices. 

Melt butter in a pan over medium heat and add sliced peaches.  Sprinkle with remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.  Cover and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Remove from heat.

Cut your pancake into 4 large pieces and spoon caramelized peaches over each slice.  Dust with confectioners sugar if desired.