Peach Blueberry Salad. Not something I’ve always eaten but something I love to eat now! Peaches are best eaten out of hand, juice dribbling down your arm and off your elbow. Grocery store peaches are too hard, having been picked too early for traveling and storage. What a shame. So many people have never had a sloppy-good fresh peach. Growing up in South Alabama right across the Chattahoochee River from Georgia, we had fresh Georgia peaches every year! Sometimes we had Clanton, Alabama peaches, but only if we happened to travel north. But, y’all, if you haven’t been to Clanton and seen the big peach water tower, you haven’t lived!

This year the Georgia peach farms were hit hard with a frost and lost their crops. It’s a very sad thing for farmers and peach lovers. Yet, we move on. I won’t be getting my bushels of peaches, but I did get a few pretty good peaches from our local produce market. They don’t exactly dribble or drip, but they work just great for a salad that I came up with for our cafe. Peach Blueberry Salad. It’s a good one. The peaches are juicy and sweet, with a little tang, the blueberries and feta together are an exciting, perfect blend of salty and soft, and sweet with that little crunch that blueberries have. And the salty, spicy from the nuts combined with the sweet, tangy dressing. Good gravy, it’s yum!

Stack your mint leaves, roll them together, and chop.

HOW TO EASILY PEEL PEACHES

But first you need to know a simple way to peel peaches: with a vegetable peeler. Go buy a double-sided, handy-dandy vegetable peeler that has a serrated blade. It works wonders on soft peaches! If you’re peaches are a bit firm, you can probably use the regular blade.

Peel or slice your peaches. For a fancy presentation, you could slice and artfully arrange them. For easy edibility, chopping is best.

PUT TOGETHER YOUR PEACH BLUEBERRY SALAD

Now that you’ve peeled and chopped your peaches, gather these items for your salad, and put your salad together in order of the ingredients below:

• Mixed greens such as (organic) spinach, romaine, spring mix or whatever you prefer (Skip the iceberg.)
• Feta or goat cheese
• Toasted spiced nuts
• Chopped peaches
• Fresh blueberries
• Fresh chopped mint (I like spearmint.)
• Dressing (Try this RECIPE for Poppyseed Dressing!)

BLISSFUL TIP:

Set up a salad buffet for guests so they can get as little or as much as they’d like of each topping!  And add grilled chicken to make it a meal.

Wasn’t that simple? And delicious? That’s how all recipes should be, don’t you think? Gourmet yet simple.

Keep it simple and blissful,

Darie and Carolina