Peaches

All summer long I find myself saying that my favorite fruit is whatever is in season...strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, raspberries...BUT THEN peach season comes and I remember...Peaches are my favorite. I love peaches. They are delectable. They are pricey too but today I splurged and bought a box at our local farmer's market.
(Image found HERE.)

After searching online for a bit, I found a great Peach Pie recipe to use my delectable peaches in. The recipe is a WINNER! This will be my go-to peach pie recipe now.

For the crust I used the easy Pat in the Pie Plate crust.

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. oil
1 t. salt
2 T. sugar
2 T. milk
Mix together all ingredients with pastry blender. Pat into pie plate. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown.

Go...Buy peaches...Make this pie!

New Recipes for the File

I made a couple of new recipes this week for the family and wanted to share them with you. I know we all need some encouragement in the area of cooking once in awhile. I was in a cooking rut again. I hate getting stuck there but this week I jumped out and my Hubby is so happy.

One of the things that I made was a Tomato Mozzerella Tart with Basil Garlic Crust. This was super, super good. It was very rich so I probably wouldn't make it alot, only when I need to a recipe for tomatoes and basil.

Today for lunch I made a WINNER that will be made more frequently. It was a Chicken Alfredo Pizza. It was superb! Hubby was grinning from ear to ear after biting into this delightful taste adventure. The next time I make it, I will:

1.) Make a roux at the beginning of the sauce. I will add flour to the butter so the sauce thickens up. She does not call for flour so the sauce was very runny. I added 1 T. of flour to the sauce and that worked. It thickened right up.

2.) Be sure to add spincach again. I added a layer of spinach after spreading the sauce and it made it even extra yummy. It also helped me think it was a little healthy!

Also I sliced some chicken breasts and sauteed them in olive oil with salt and pepper. They were delicious on the pizza and cheaper than buying the pre-made chicken slices.

I had a girl's day out on Tuesday with some really great friends and needed a crock pot meal for Hubby and the girl. I used another one from The Farmer's Wife. It was Crockpot Baked Ziti. It was really good. I do recommend making sure you have enough sauce. I used 26 oz. instead of the 32 oz. the recipe calls for and it needed more sauce. Don't skimp on the sauce. This was good and a great go-to recipe when I need something in the crockpot quick. I really like her blog. I found some great recipes that I want to try.

Then yesterday I was craving chocolate and remembered we had a container of chocolate frosting, so my daughter and I made a Wacky Cake. YUM! I love this cake because it isn't overly sweet and you don't need eggs or milk for it. It always turns out great.

Blissful

IT.IS.RHUBARB.SEASON!!!!!!!

Why is there no rhubarb festival that I know of? Why? Rhubarb is wonderful. I do know that it is something you either LOVE or HATE. I LOVE it.

While I was up north I raided my dad's rhubarb patch. I used part of the treasure to make the following recipe and it was simply divine. DIVINE! I even cheated and used a store bought pie crust and it was still awesome!

Homemade Rhubarb Custard Pie

1 1/2 c. rhubarb, diced

2 T. flour

2 eggs

1 1/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. cream

In a large bowl stir together all of the ingredients except the rhubarb. Beat well. Add rhubarb and pour into a 9 inch unbaked pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until set.

This is my new favorite rhubarb recipe.

I will be back with more rhubarb bliss though.

I have more in my fridge.

Cake Balls

I was able to get to my dad's home for almost a week long visit. It was wonderful, just wonderful. I was missing home so much and aching to see friends from up north. It was truly a sweet visit. Part of the sweetness was getting together with a group of girlfriends from our old church and making Bakerella's cake balls. Yum! You do know who Bakerella is, right? If you don't, you must stop by HERE and visit with her. She is amazingness!

She created these little balls of sweet, yummy cake delight. They are adorable and can even be turned into cake pops. (I'm very sure they are low calorie too.)

My sweet friend at The Back Door opened her new home in the countryside for us. I was dying to see the homestead and her. She is a delight! (I just want to say something here for the public to read. I was thinking the other day that I used to live less than a block from her and I didn't take the time to get to know her. HOW SAD!!!! I wish I would have taken the time to step out of my comfort zone and gotten to know her then. I mean, she was a stone's throw away from my little green house. There would have been some extra sweet Back Door memories with her. Love you, Friend and thank you for hostessing!)

Now let me just say for a moment here...go ahead and giggle. Just go ahead and get it over with. You know you want to. I mean...cake balls???? What grown person can NOT giggle over that name. Oh, okay...so you're more mature than we are? Your mind isn't in the gutter like ours were? Maybe we had a bit too much fun with the name. But come on...all of us who were there are married, we're all grown-up, and we were starving for adult conversation, so yes....we giggled and cracked many jokes about the sweet little name of cake balls. A very sweet friend thought maybe we should call them cake bites when telling people about them. Oh Bakerella...did you have any idea when you named your sweet treats?

Ok...breathe...no more giggling. Grow UP!

We had fun. We crumbled. We mixed. We froze. We melted. We dipped. We tasted. YUM!

A piece of advice if you do find yourself craving some cake balls (no giggling). Melt your chocolate in small batches and do it in the microwave. We did some in a double boiler and it did not work well. The almond bark we melted in the microwave worked so much better. If you do it in small batches, you will have less crumbs in your melted chocolate to deal with too.

We made all sorts of cake balls. (I see that giggly sparkle in your eye. Focus...focus...focus!) The different types were cherry, strawberry, dark chocolate, confetti, lemon, and brownie. I did have a favorite. Is it ok to voice it here? No hurt feelings co-cake ball makers. The dark chocolate cake with chocolate frosting mixed in and dipped in white almond bark were wonderful.

And before BFF posts it in my comments...Hubby's nickname is NOT sweet cake balls.

Come on people.....GROW UP!

(For the record...this will be by far my most rebellious post. Heehee!)

Fall Enjoyment

Yesterday my dad and his "special" friend ;) came down to visit us and see our new home. We were so glad to have them. I gave them a tour of our community and we visited a local small town that is full of gift shops. It was a beautiful day out, a bit chilly, but the leaves are just gorgeous right now. It was such a fun time together. When we got back to our house, we enjoyed a yummy fall supper together of Old Fashioned Beef and Noodles, corn, homemade bread and Chocolate Chip Pumpkin cake. The cake was so easy and really nice way to end a beautiful fall day.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cake

3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
2 c. pumpkin
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 c. chocolate chips
2 c. walnuts
1 c. oil

Mix all ingredients together. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

***I didn't have any walnuts so I didn't add those and it was just fine without.