We have finally used up the 67 or so pounds of peaches that we picked! It was no small feat to process &/or eat so many golden, juicy globes, believe me. I made 9 pints of peach sauce, which is similar to applesauce (or baby food!). It's really good, with a hint of cinnamon & the bare minimum of sugar. The downside is that it's runnier than applesauce, but I didn't want to cook the piss out of it & kill any & all vitamins, so whatevs.
The other night, Sage & I made peach crisp, which was EXCELLENT. We combined a peach pie filling recipe w/the crisp topping that I always use for apple crisp. We ended up with 3 individual ramekins, plus a large casserole of it.
Excuse the bad night-time photo:
Here's the recipe, if you want to try it. I cut the sugar down a bit, since I like the fruit to be on the tart side, which is balanced well by the buttery, sweet topping. You can make it sweeter if you like it that way.
Peach Crisp
Crisp Topping:
- 1 cup oats
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
Peach Filling:- 4 pounds ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, & sliced***
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 350*F. Make the crisp topping by combining all the ingredients in a medium bowl; set aside. Combine the peaches & lemon juice in a large bowl, then mix together the dry filling ingredients (flour, cornstarch, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon & salt) in a small bowl. Dump the dry ingredients over the peaches & combine them gently. Pour the juicy peach filling into whatever baking dish(es) you're using, then sprinkle the topping over it. Bake until the topping is golden & the filling is bubbly. Let it cool a few minutes before devouring, because it would be a shame to damage your taste buds before you could enjoy this feast!
***hint: The easy way to peel peaches is to cut a little "X" into the bottom of them, then toss a few at a time into boiling water. Leave them in for about a minute, then plunge them into cold water. This will allow you to slide the skin right off. Cool!
Our garden is trying its damnedest to grown & ripen, but we get so little direct sun, due to the ginormous tree outside our apartment. Imagine my excitement when I saw this little tomato the other day!
Most of the others look like this:
I'm really hoping that the red one sends out some hormones or something that will kick-start the rest, otherwise we'll be eating fried green tomatoes & canning green tomato relish. C'mon, babies, go!
Here's a cute succulent terrarium I made recently, using a cool goblet I found at Goodwill. I really like how it turned out.
I've also been knitting this Circle Sock for myself, which is reminiscent of a TMNT shell. Turtle power!
Noodle (Ruben) is doing much better, after a rough patch of health. He's been loving to sunbathe on the porch during our more temperate days.
On Saturday a bunch of us headed out to Bays Farms, in Banks, to pick peaches. The summer has been mild, & Coral had been calling the farms every week, asking if the fruit was ripe yet. It was finally time!
It was a blast & went much quicker than berry picking, that's for sure! The people at the farm are sweet---we go there regularly for fruit & Christmas trees---& they always give us freebies. This time they gave each of us 3 pounds of Shiro plums, which are a beautiful, pale, yellow-green.
Here are the lovely peach-mamas (Allie, Smels, Coral, & Sage), with fresh buckets in hand, ready to go back for another round of peaches:
Here's some of our loot:
Gorgeous golden globes:
Once home, we had to decide what to do with all these peaches. I think I got 50 pounds & Sage got 17 (a much wiser amount, in hindsight!). Here we have peaches in medium syrup & plain peach jam.
Then the next day, Sage made scrumptious poached peaches, with a hint of spice & vanilla. Tastiest. Breakfast. Evar.
And I made a few quarts of peaches, as more of my peaches ripened. (I picked them at various stages of ripeness, since there was no way I could have canned them all in one day---in fact, I still have a TON left). Yeah, they are floating, even though we followed the "rules."
And then Sage made her very first pie! It came out delicious as hell & it was my first time eating peach pie too. Weird!
Then we made more jam. Peach-lavender & shiro plum, with vanilla & black pepper. F'realz! It's an old-fashioned, pectin-free recipe.
The lavender flavor was made by using the peach recipe on the no-sugar/low-sugar pectin box, but we steeped 2 tablespoons of lavender flowers in hot apple juice for 10 minutes. I won't post the basic directions, since they come with the pectin, but the "recipe" contained:
- 2 tablespoons lavender
- 1 cup apple juice (heated to steep the lavender)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 cups diced peaches
- 1 box pectin
- 1/2 teaspoon butter
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
You wouldn't believe how well the lavender flavor compliments the peaches. We were blown away. I can't wait to give a jar to Ethan's mom, Cathy, who loves lavender & once made me some lavender shortbread. :)
Even after all these peach concoctions, we still have about 30 pounds of 'em here. Millions of peaches...
I've been bad about posting because we've been like a bed & breakfast up in here, but I had to write about this tasty pizza we made. We usually just use whatever we have around the house, but this time everything came together to sort of taste like pepperoni!
We used homemade dough (from Martha), then covered it in sauce, feta, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella, pickled jalapeños, smoked gouda & red pepper flakes.
The cool thing is is that most of those ingredients were free or nearly free, & they turned into one of the tastiest pizzas we've ever made.
I also made a hat from the book Hip Knit Hats, which I checked out from the library. Warning: see this errata page, if you get an earlier edition of the book.
The hat is called "Ella" & is an entrelac pattern, the second one I've made. (Well, the first project was a scarf that I didn't like, so I ripped it out before finishing it.) I love it, even though I'm not a "hat person."
Very unenthusiastic modeling shot:
I'd post more, but I've been really busy with company & haven't been crafting or cooking as much as I normally do. I've also been backing up ALL my digital photos onto Flickr, because I'm paranoid. :)
My brother is visiting now, then leaving on Monday after I get off work...then my friend Sage is coming to stay that very same night. She's on her way from Sweden to Vancouver, B.C. for her next round of grad school. My head is spinning, but it's been a lot of fun!
Yesterday, he requested this super-breakfast: home fries, scrambled eggs w/cheese, homemade wheat toast, & raspberries!
The potatoes were from Cathy & David's garden & there were some blues in there! Cool.
The toast was from Dave's actual wheat bread recipe. I've made it so many times, usually in the summer when I have more free time. The rest of the year, I either buy it, or get Ezekiel, which I love as well. The recipe is available here.
With all that food in his belleh, he was powered up for some fun at Mt. Tabor Park!
Horsing around:
Probably gettin' too big for the ol' seahorse, kid...
Swinging away.
After wearing him out, we headed to Fubonn & got the missing components we needed for sushi! Sean was a great sushi maker! The texture of the nori sheets squicked him out, so he was in charge of filling the inari. Look how great they turned out:
I made the veggie rolls, which were filled with chives, avocado, carrots, cucumber, & the best fried tofu I've ever had in my life! It's made locally & is SO FRESH. We got the onion flavor, but they also make a spicy lemongrass that is to die for. Try it if you find yourself near Fubonn. You won't regret it!
Here is one happy kid!
I'd only had lasagna made w/fresh pasta ONCE, & that was when a hilarious Italian man I worked with made it. It was epic---so tender, gooey, & rich.
A couple weeks ago, when I made fresh pasta, I reserved some of the plain sheets, & rolled them up in parchment for lasagna. I try not to use too much parchment/plastic bags, but I'll be re-using these, & just rolled them back into the freezer for my next pasta-making extravaganza.
Here's the pasta peeking out:
I don't usually follow a recipe for lasagna, but use whatever we've got floating around here. This time we had some veggies from Ethan's parents & it just worked out really well. I wrote down the general recipe here though, just in case it was worth repeating. I think it was! :)
Lasagna w/Mushrooms & Rainbow Chard
- fresh lasagna (I used about 6 sheets---they're irregular, so yeah)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 pound mushrooms, diced
- 2 large handfuls of chopped baby rainbow chard
- salt & pepper to taste
- 2 pounds ricotta
- 1 large handful of chopped fresh chives
- 4 ounces of grated Parmesan, divided
- garlic powder (I was out of fresh!), salt & pepper to taste
- 1 pound grated mozzarella
- 1 jar pasta sauce---I used Paul Newman Tomato/Basil or something
Preheat the oven to 375*F. In a large pan, saute the onion in the olive oil until translucent. Add the mushrooms & cook until tender, then add the chard. Cook for about 5 more minutes, until the chard is tender, but not mushy. Season with salt & pepper as you're stirring.
Steamy veggies:
In a large bowl, stir together the ricotta, chives, & about half the Parmesan (save the rest for the top), then season with garlic powder & salt & pepper.
In a 9X13-inch pan, place a thin layer of sauce, then top that with a layer of pasta, then a thin layer of the ricotta mixture.
Try to use a delicate touch here, but even if you butcher the layers, it will taste great & no sane person will complain!
Top the ricotta with a little mozzarella, then sauteed veggies, then sauce. Keep layering until you run out of ingredients. Make sure to have enough sauce & mozzarella for a little sprinkling on the top. Sprinkle with the remaining half of the Parmesan too.
Bake for about 45 minutes or so, until bubbly. If the top begins to brown too much, cover with foil or a lid, if you have one. Let the lasagna rest for about 10 minutes (if you can!), as it will aid the cutting process.
Serve with garlic bread or whatever you wish. Eth made some garlic bread with Dave's Killer Bread & it was tastay. You could also serve a salad or some side veggies, but this had a bunch inside, so we just rolled with it.
Also, check out this cute egg holder I found at Goodwill! I love, love, love it! 
It took me a few days to get caught up on life, before I could make a post about last weekend's camping trip. It was a family trip, with my sister, my brother & I. Believe it or not, the three of us had NEVER gone camping together before this!
We didn't have reservations, so we ended up driving down the coast until we found an open campground. Talk about stressful! Having the car loaded up, the bike rack on, & a few antsy wannabe campers on board was rough. Just as we were about to give up, we stumbled upon Cape Perpetua, just outside of Yachats. We immediately set up camp, ate, then headed to the beach.
We found the coolest beach, called Neptune State Park.
There were all these cool, shallow caves everywhere.
Nearby, there were tidepools full of tadpoles. Weird! They were for sure on their way to becoming frogs though...
It seemed obvious that the area was so named, due to the space-y terrain & unique rock formations. So cool!
Sean & Smels on some rocks:
Sean, looking pensive:
Smels, exploring the rocky terrain:
We went on a couple short hikes, back at camp, including this one to the Giant Spruce Tree.
Smels spotted this beautiful, dewy plant.
Sean proved himself to be a champion kindling chopper!
The next day, we went to another beach, called Bob Creek State Park. We saw a lot of critters there.
A sassy baby crab:
A white sea anemone:
And some green ones:
And this poor starfish was regenerating itself, after some sort of near death experience:
There was a lot of stinky slime!
And some pretty seaweed/kelp. I'm too ignorant to know the types!
Sean was feeling tired, so he decided to take a break for some whittling:
Back at camp, he used candle wax & some scrounged wire to complete the boat & make it seaworthy. It passed the test here, floating in some mosquito larvae-laden water. Ew!
On the last day, before packing up, Smels spotted a couple lobster mushrooms. One of them had already been harvested by another camper.
This was so much fun. We'll have to go camping together more often!
