America the Beautiful-8/9/10

I mentioned in a post not long ago that June got away from me.  I didn't post once the whole month.  In hindsight, July wasn't much better.  I posted only four times and made only fifteen recipes from the month's Bon Appetit.  June's excuse was the bi-annual trip to my parents house in New Hampshire, where we attended my brother's burial service and a special memorial service held at his work.  The trip is usually a vacation but this year carried a bit more weight.  Our more restful summer vacations took place in the month of July and the beginning of August this year.  Eyrleigh and I got the chance to join my friend, Lynette, on a trip to Sarasota, Florida where we enjoyed the ocean for a few days and spent a day at the surprisingly extensive Ringling Circus and Art Museum.  Then on the next to last day of July, we all flew to Denver to attend the wedding of  Richard's brother, James.  We decided that spending almost $800 on airfare for 3 days was ridiculous so we added a week long trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.   As I sat one morning looking out from the top of Mt. Washburn in the middle of Yellowstone, I thought about the ocean I looked out at only a few weeks before.  We have an amazing country.  The variety of vistas is incredible.  The flora and wildlife is spectacular and even the human imprint upon these places is at times, brilliant and endearing.  I love to travel around the world but I was once again reminded that we have some pretty extraordinary places to see right here at home.

That tangent didn't seem to have much to do with cooking but I know that in a way, cooking something special and sitting down to dinner as a family to enjoy it helps make each day unique, a bit like the days you spend on a vacation.   The place may be the same but each new meal is something different, something special, and a bit like a mini-vacation.  That first home-cooked meal after a vacation doesn't have to be super special to feel different.  Tonight, I made a recipe from this month's Bon Appetit magazine titled Ribeye Steaks with Garbanzo and Green Bean Salad.  I made a rather major change though.  I grilled chicken breasts instead of ribeye but the salad was the same.  The salad was the real crux of the recipe anyway.  The meat was flavored with chili powder and mesquite and I think chicken worked as well as steak here.  The salad was another success for chickpeas/ garbanzos.  I loved this salad with the fresh crunch of green beans and red onions.
There are nineteen desserts in this month's Bon Appetit and I'm in trouble if I make all of them since it's already the 9th of the month.  I thought I'd get started with a simple Toffee, Pecan, and Peach Crisp.  The recipe called for individual servings but I didn't have the right size ramekins so I made one large dish.  This dessert was really much better than it looked.  The toffee in the crust added a sweet note while the pecans added crunch.  Sadly, the dish looked a bit sloppy but it tasted great.

Ribeye Steaks with Garbanzo and Green Bean Salad-A
Toffee, Pecan, and Peach Crisp-A-