Last Friday Ronnie called me around noon and asked if I would like to go to Maddox with him? He had been out of town all week for work, and I thought he would be working a full day at the office on Friday. I jumped at the chance to go and be with him!!! He works hard to provide for us, and being a commission only salesman, he really never gets any time off. Even when he is supposed to be on vacation, he has to take his calls. I’m so grateful for his dedication in providing for our family for almost 38 years now! We are truly blessed!

We’re a pretty simple couple. We don’t have any toys – boats, trailers, wave runners, four wheelers, etc. We don’t travel a lot for pleasure, but I do enjoy going with him on some of his sales trips. What we are good at, is taking little snippets of time to go to dinner. One of our most favorite places to go is Maddox Ranch House in Perry, Utah – near Brigham City. This is a 30-45 minute drive north, depending on traffic. Brigham City is known as the “Fruit Capitol” of Utah, specifically for their world-class peaches! These peaches are beyond description!

We try to get up there a couple times during peach season in August and September. I love to bring home fresh peaches to freeze (the recipe is below and much better than traditionally bottled peaches), as well as a piece of “Maddox Peach Pie”.

I knew we were well past the seasonal peach pie at Maddox, but secretly hoped I would be able to find one last sack of fresh peaches at one of the fruit stands on the same street. We went to the drive-in, which is what we usually do, and ate our late lunch/early dinner in the car. Then we drove across the street to “Paul’s Fruit Stand”. Much to my happiness, I found the last crop of peaches for the season, as well as a bottle of Amish sweet dill pickles. I LOVE pickles, and Paul’s teenage son highly recommended them!!! I’m always sad knowing it will be another year before I get another delicious ,fresh, juicy, sweet, peach from Brigham City. But I love knowing I have some in my freezer ready to serve at a moment’s notice.

When I was little, I remember my mother and aunts doing a lot of canning, and peaches were one of the many things they canned. I never liked bottled peaches . . . they tasted rubbery to me. You just can’t beat the taste of a fresh ripe peach straight off the tree!!! It is my MOST favorite fruit of all time. Years ago we had a neighbor who served us fresh peaches over vanilla ice cream - in DECEMBER!!!! Those peaches tasted like they had just been picked. When we asked Mrs. Rogers where she got such delicious peaches in December, she told us, they were frozen. And then she shared with us how she made them. This is Carol Roger’s Frozen Peach Recipe:

Make a Simple Sugar Syrup. You can choose from the three different sweetness and thickness levels below, but I prefer the thin one because it showcases the taste of the peach without being too sweet. I think it has just the perfect amount of sweetness.

Thick: 1 Cup Sugar & 1 Cup Water
Medium: 1 Cup Sugar & 2 Cups Water
Thin: 1 Cup Sugar & 3 Cups Water

Let this cool to room temperature or a little warmer, but not hot.

Scald and Peel the peaches. You do this by placing the peaches in a bowl in your sink, then you pour hot boiling water over them, just long enough to loosen the skin. Peel the peaches, slice them, and discard the pit. Then place the desired amount in Quart size Freezer Zip-Loc Baggies. Mrs. Rogers didn’t use Fruit Fresh or anything like it in hers, just the sugar and water mixture.

Pour the Simple Sugar Syrup over the peaches to totally cover them inside the Freezer Baggie, and seal tightly.

I place these next to each other in a plastic bin in an upright position in the freezer until they are fully frozen. This prevents the juice from leaking out of the Zip-Loc seal. Mrs. Rogers put hers in plastic freezer containers instead of baggies. These are actually better because the baggies are difficult to keep in an upright position until they freeze. But I just do it the hard way and use Quart size Freezer baggies. Then when they are frozen, I place two or three of them inside a bigger Gallon size Zip-Loc Freezer baggie for double protection against freezer burn.

As long as these are kept frozen, they will last more than a year or more in your freezer, and will not turn brown as long as they are fully covered in the simple syrup.

Pull them out and eat them plain, serve them over vanilla ice cream, add them to your favorite smoothie recipe, or use the following recipe from Martha Stewart to make a super fast, super easy, “Fresh Peach Ice Cream.”

6 Cups slightly thawed frozen Peaches (I leave them in the frozen simple syrup for this recipe)

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

Add the two ingredients together and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

Now back to Maddox! They are NOT open on Sunday or Monday. I can’t tell you how many times we have forgotten that, and drove up on a Monday night only to be sadly disappointed to see an empty parking lot. They do have many options for food service. A sit down restaurant, and there’s ALWAYS a wait – so reservations are a good idea. They also offer many of their meat items in freezer packs you can take home and cook in your own oven, or on the grill. There is a drive-in with girls that come to your car and take your order. Then you sit in your car with a tray that hangs on your window to eat your food. We even do this in the winter time, they are open at the drive-in come rain or shine or snow! They also have picnic tables you can sit at as well. A walk-up window where you can place an order, wait for it, and take it to go from there. Or another option where they have a set menu, you call and place your order, then pick it up about 20 minutes later in a drive-through fashion. No matter which way you choose, the food is down-home, feel good, comfort food. The quality is always the same, and the Maddox family has owned it for many generations now.

I still remember going there as a little girl maybe once a year. Their fried chicken basket is a fan favorite, but they are also known for their blue-ribbon beef and bison. My new favorite is their shrimp-steak sandwich. I know it sounds strange, but it’s delicious!!! It tasted just like a yummy shrimp cocktail! I like it with their home-made cocktail sauce, but it normally comes with tartar sauce.

Everything there is made from scratch, right down to the rolls, raspberry butter, and salad dressings. I can honestly say, I’ve never had anything there that’s been bad, and we’ve been going there for years now! When Steph was little, and our only child at the time, we took her on all our dates. She was so much fun, and so well mannered. The waiters and waitresses just loved her, and remembered her each time we went.

One of my favorite things is their pie. They have their standard ones, but my favorites are the seasonal ones – raspberry and peach being my two faves!!! I often say, “I want to go to Maddox and have a little bit of chicken with my pie.” It’s literally the BEST peach pie I’ve ever had, and it’s only available during the prime time of peach season.

They also serve home-made Root Beer, Sarsaparilla, and Cream Soda. Brigham City is so well known for their peaches, they even have an event to celebrate called “Peach Days”. Me? I’m just there for the pie at Maddox . . . and to stop at one of the many fruit stands along the main drag and take some fresh peaches home with me.

Ron and I had a lovely day, and took the REALLY long way home. Instead of dealing with traffic on I-15, we went through Pleasant View in North Ogden, up over North Ogden Canyon, and down into Eden and Huntsville near Pineview Reservoir. From there we, went up over Trapper’s Loop past Snow Basin Ski Resort, and down into the Morgan Valley near Mountain Green. The views are breathtaking, especially during the Fall-Leaf-Spectacular time of the year! We then went down Weber Canyon to Highway 89 and make our way home back to Kaysville.

We’ve discovered we don’t need a lot of fancy toys or expensive vacations to have fun and spend time together. Being spontaneous makes an unexpected day trip sheer perfection. And bringing home left-overs from Maddox for one more meal, and some Brigham City peaches makes the light-filled-memories of the day last even longer. So get out there, take a little drive and enjoy the places of beauty that naturally surround you, and don’t forget to eat the pie while you’re at it! You only live once!

Love Ya, Les

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Fresh Peaches and Maddox in Brigham City, Utah