It's Peach Season Ya'll!!

Well. .we are on our second full week of school.

Everyone survived the two a day football practices, getting back into homework routines, and attempts to be in bed at decent hours!! And by the time I got through 3 clinics, a 2 hour each-way trip to Cami's pediatric dentist for another filling with pulpotomy, and a 1 hour each-way trip to the eye doctor spending the rest of the day in the DMV office there getting Grant's license. .We were ALL ready for the weekend!

BUT. .

while getting fuel Friday morning before the eye appointments. .

we noticed the big Colorado peach truck parked across from the fuel station!

YES!! Two big boxes of peaches from our favorite grower!

They were as good as they looked. .and we are filling up on our favorite peach recipes! Like

grandma's peach dumplings,

peach crisp, butterscotch peach pie courtesy of  my friend Bonnie at What about Pie?. .

and pretty peach freezer jam!

The rest of the weekend news is as follows. .

Cami was SO excited to have a little homework for her preschool class!! They are studying the letter M this week, and had a poster to complete "All About ME." We covered the carpet with scrapbook papers and stickers, pens, scissors, and photos too!!

And she was SOO proud of it all fancy and stickered and glittered up! She had a HARD time deciding what her favorite color is. .but opted for Pink!! Her favorite book is Pinkalicious. .thanks Aunt Tina! and her favorite food is Hot Gogs (dogs) and mac and cheese!!

While we were working on that, the boys were playing cops and robbers with the gun collection!

Kelsey brought his little metal targets, coupled with the targets our guys have. .

They kept score and had a little friendly competition!!

I will NEVER understand the love that boys have for these kind of toys. .

But. .if they aren't careful. .

this little girl will be right there with them!! She was loving every second of that! Who would have thought. .a dress, feathers in her hair and a pellet gun!

The boys are all becoming excellent marksmen like their dad!! And it is a de-stressing hobby for them.

I never see this view of my house as seen from across the pasture to the east. .I was tickled with the appearance of the red door, and how my memory garden and cedar fence (barely visible behind the white pipe fence of the cattle pens) has changed the view! I am anxiously hoping and waiting to change that bedroom window on the far right. .to a double door leading to a small, private sunroom, which will square up the house a little. I have recently visualized a small patio coming off of the sunroom with a cedar arbor/pergola for some vining plants to climb, framing in the new room. .creating a little courtyard if you will, where I can sit and gaze into the memory garden. .and hopefully have a smaller garden within the courtyard that the afternoon heat won't burn up and the wind won't destroy!! I've contemplated the idea for years. .but after Kelsey came and assessed the project thoughts a while back. .I have been planning the details in my mind and on pinterest for over 6 months now. I am amazed at how slowly the details come. .but with each revelation of what it could be, I get a little more excited! I don't look for any construction to begin for a long while yet, but I'm not in a hurry. .because the longer I have to plan it. .the more satisfied I will probably be in the end!

So. .back to the work week realities. .

I thought I would share this super easy freezer jam recipe with ya'll. .

since peaches are seemingly abundant everywhere right now. .

No special equipment needed here. .

and it will take you an hour at the max to fix up some luscious jam for your families. .

you won't regret your decision to do so next February when you are slathering it on those homemade biscuits you made to go with your steaming bowl of soup!!

Have a great week!

Pretty Peach Jam

8 medium peaches, cut into wedges

1 small orange, cut into wedges (leave the peel on)

16-20 oz crushed pineapple, undrained

12 maraschino cherries

3 tbsp maraschino cherry juice

2 pkgs powdered fruit pectin

10 cups sugar

In a blender, cover and process fruits and cherry juice in batches until smooth.  Transfer to large kettle, stir in pectin.  Bring to a rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly.  Add sugar, boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, pour into jars or freezer containers.  Cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.  Cover and let stand overnight or until set (no longer than 24 hours) Refrigerate or freeze.

Peach Dumplings

This is absolutely the best thing one could EVER do with a fresh peach!! The recipe was handed down from my maternal grandmother and is an old Bohemian recipe.  My mother in turn, made this every summer when peaches were in season.  I started making it before we had kids, and because the real way to eat them is to put some butter pats on the top and dump on some sugar, my husband scoffed at me for taking any nutritional value out of the peach!! "Whatever!!" I said!!  However, now the children LOOOOOVE them--and I believe the old guy also put 3 of them down his esophagus the other night too-so he has finally conformed!!  I just don't think that anyone could hate them!!

In a large bowl mix 1 1/2 cups milk, 2 eggs, 1/2 tsp salt and 4 cups of flour to make a nice soft dough. Add more flour if needed so that it doesn't make your hands overly sticky.

Take a small lump of dough (depends on the size of your peaches) and pat it out flat on a floured surface.

Put the washed peach in the middle. . .

and enclose the peach in the dough patty.  If it doesn't want to stick, put on a little extra flour to pinch the edges shut--you want it completely enclosed with no open seams or holes or they fall apart in the water--but you can still eat 'em, they just don't look good.  If your crust is too thin or won't close, add a little extra dough on it and pat it together.  Trust me, ANYONE can make these!!

Throw them into a pot of boiling water, stirring gently IMMEDIATELY to keep them from sticking to the bottom or each other.  Swirl them gently and occasionally for 15 minutes and then remove from the pot.

The recipe makes enough dough for about 10 regular sized peaches.  Since mine were smaller, I had about 16 dumplings.  I used to always cut the recipe in half and make about 5--and they refrigerate well so you can eat them again the next day!  Cut the little suckers in half on your plate, and then into bite sized pieces and apply butter or margarine if you like and sprinkle with sugar.  And then you can thank me for introducing you to this sinful treat!! But consider all of the vitamin C you are getting!!

I think we'll have them again tonight!!

Addendum:  my editor: AKA my mother--told me that I should make a note that we eat these with meat.  We are meat-eaters at our homes--and we don't eat these FOR a meal, we eat them WITH a meal.  She grew up eating them with fried chicken.  We eat them with anything around here--we used to eat them with salmon patties--just because those don't take too long to fix.  But the other night, we ate them with pork chops.  I probably COULD be provoked to eat them AS a meal--but I really like meat--so I don't.  How was that mom???

Man Vs. Wasp

Some of the peaches are ready to go.  Jeremy directed everyone outside a couple nights ago to salvage all of the peaches from these. . .WASPS!!   Apparantly, they like peaches too, so it was TOTALLY Man VS. Wasp at this homestead!!  Man-- score. . .wasp--zero!!

So, we had the pickers. . .

and the tasters. . though the ones in the little buggy didn't eat much. .the other two ate nearly twice their body weight in peaches.

We picked probably half of the peaches and they are now sitting in walmart sacks all over my kitchen floor, which really un-nerves me!!  I googled freezing peaches whole this afternoon, and found that at least one person has had good luck with that. . and claims that I will never freeze a peach any other way again!! Hope she's right.  I picked through the peaches and took the nicely ripened ones and froze them like she said.  I found the reference on a taste of home website--and pasted it here for my future reference, and possibly yours!!

  

I did get my cucumber relish done the other day, along with a few dill pickles (I located small pickling cukes at the very bottom of one of those big buckets) and some okra and peppers.  I am on strike from any produce work this weekend, except for the a-forementioned freezing of a sack of ripe peaches.  Cindy, Grandma wrote out some recipes for me today including 2 types of pear honey, pear butter, and pear preserves--so I am excited to try the honey--that has totally intrigued me!!

So instead of working, we went skiing yesterday afternoon and fishing last night and this morning, catching enough to grill for lunch!!  And as if my neck didn't hurt enough from the jolt it got yesterday as I drank water through my nose, after it made a complete cycle through my sinuses and quite possibly the inside of my skull--we are camping out in the yard tonight by the fire pit while devouring smore's like there's no tomorrow!!

Hey, summer will be gone before we know it. .time to soak it up!! Enjoy!

How to freeze peaches!

Let whole, unblemished peaches ripen - dead ripe. (I did not wash first)

2. Arrange whole peaches on a cookie sheet and place in freezer.

3. After peaches have frozen solid; place them in a plastic bag.

4. When you are ready to use, removed the desired number of peaches from the bag, run cold water over frozen peach and slip off the skin.

5. Microwave for 10 to 15 seconds.

6. Slice peaches to use as you desire for cereal toppings, pies or cobbler, ice cream, or simply slice them, add a little sugar if needed and enjoy.

Peaches frozen this way taste just like peaches picked fresh from the tree. IF IN DOUBT, TRY A FEW! You will never freeze peaches any other way again.