Peach-Blueberry Crumble Topped Pie

Peaches! Ripe, juicy white peaches just begged to go into a pie. Thought I'd combine them with some blackberries from down the driveway, but it's been too hot to pick berries. Decided to go with blueberries instead and it really is a winning combo.

For this pie you take your favorite pie dough and make a single crust pie shell, then fill it with pie weights (inside a round of parchment is my favorite way to do it, and I use lentils as the weights).

While the pie shell is baking, peel and pit the peaches, then slice them. I doused them with lemon juice, too, to keep them from turning brown at the cut edges.

A mixture of bread crumbs and cornstarch in the bottom of the finished, cooled (and pie weights removed) pie shell help soak up some of the juices from the fruit.

The crumble topping gets made in a medium bowl. Don't forget the nutmeg...it goes so well with peaches. If possible, grate it fresh from an actual nutmeg.

 Now the fun begins. Half the peaches go into the pie shell, half the blueberries are scattered around, the second half of the peaches go on top of that, then the rest of the blueberries. Mound the filling in the middle a bit if you can.

The topping is spread on top and it's ready for the preheated oven.

In a half an hour or so you have a beautiful pie! Let it cool to at least room temperature before serving. There. Summer in a pie.

Peach and Blueberry Crumb Topped Pie

Pie dough for one crust
Pie weights

1 cup blueberries
4 ripe peaches, peeled and sliced and pit removed

1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)

 Topping:

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
6 tablespoons (1/2 stick + 2 tablespoons) cold butter

 Rollout pie dough to about 10" in diameter. Line a 8" or 9" pie plate with the dough, crimping the dough around the edges of the pan. Prick lightly all over. Line with parchment paper and weigh with pie weights (raw beans do fine and can be stored and re-used). Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove pie weights.

 Prepare filling by putting corn starch,  dry bread crumbs and  lemon zest (if using) into a bowl and mix together gently. Sprinkle on the baked and cooled (and weights removed) pie shell. Then add half the peaches. Sprinkle half the blueberries evenly over the peaches, then the rest of the peaches, then the rest of the blueberries.

Prepare the topping by mixing the oats, flour, brown sugar, pecans and nutmeg in a medium mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingers, cut the cold butter into the mixture until incorporated and clumps form.

Pour the crumb mixture over the fruit filling. Spread it to cover the pie.

 Bake the pie in a preheated 350 degree F oven until the topping is lightly browned, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack. Serves 6-8.

 

Peach Time

Peaches are one of my favorite foods and now it's high peach season...it's one of the few things I like about summer.

Too late tonight to post the whole thing, but tomorrow I hope to do a post on what I made with these beautiful white peaches! 

A Small Treat with Summer Berries

I've made Financiers before, but it's been a while. Not sure why I've waited because these are delightful little treats that showcase summer berries and fruit. They are perfect with tea or coffee. They were named after the financial men of Paris (I believe). They are just the right amount of pastry and very rich! This recipe by David Lebovitz is a good one, as his recipes usually are.

One of the wonderful thing about these is that they use browned butter. It's not difficult to make browned butter, but you do have to keep an eye on the pan and focus on how browned the milk solids are getting. Stop when you get a whiff of toasted nuts from the pan, but before the solids get dark brown.

When I first made this I used slivered blanched almonds and ground them in the food processor. This time all I had to do was weigh some almond flour from Costco. I still used the food processor to mix the sugars and the almond flour, but it was like three short pulses!

You can use any kind of fruit in these, but I like fresh berries, especially blackberries. I made these on July 17th and in honor of Max. When he was a little guy he used to go with Sweetie in the morning to walk our dog Shogun around the block. When it was blackberry season (about now) he would come home with his hands stained with blackberry juice...and there were usually similar stains around his mouth since the joy wasn't just picking the berries, but eating them right away. 

For this batch I used blackberries in some, halved tiny strawberries in others, and a few had pieces of nectarines. The ones in the muffin cups also got a sprinkle of sliced almonds. I made five in the muffin cups and a dozen in a cast iron mold I have. They become fairy cakes and are quite cute, plus a better size for snacking. The photo at the top of the post shows one of the small ones that has nectarine and blackberry.

Summer Fruit Financiers with Almond Flour
makes about 12 small cakes in muffin cups
Based on a recipe in Ripe for Dessert by David Lebovitz


7 tablespoons unsalted butter
157 grams almond flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup powdered sugar
5 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites
½ teaspoon almond extract
one 6-oz basket blackberries

Position the oven rack in the center of the oven and pre-hear to 400 degrees F. Butter a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a skillet, heat the butter until it begins to sizzle. Continue to cook over low heat until the edges begin to darken and the butter gives off a nutty aroma. Remove from the heat. (The butter may sputter and splatter while cooking. If you want, place an overturned colander over the pan to protect yourself.)

In a food processor, grind the almonds with the granulated and powdered sugars. When fine, add the flour and the salt and pulse to mix. While the processor is running, gradually pour in the egg whites and add the almond extract. Stop the machine, and add the warm butter, pulsing as you pour until the batter is just mixed.

Divide the batter evenly among the buttered muffin cups Batter will come up about 1/3 of the way. Poke 3 or 4 blackberries into each cake.

Bake for 18 minutes, until puffy and deep golden brown. Watch so they don’t burn. Let stand a few minutes, then remove them from the pan and cool on a rack. Store cooled cakes in an airtight container for up to a week.

Variations: Substitute peach, nectarine, or plum slices for the blackberries, peeling first if desired. Cut the fruit into ½ inch slices or chunks and lay them over the top of each little cake or push into the batter if a chunk, like with berries, before baking. You can also sprinkle the top of each cake with untoasted sliced almonds before baking.

Do You Like Mushrooms?

Sweetie loves mushrooms! It isn't really mushroom season, but we have a local place that grows them year-round. Like many foods, mushrooms aren't truly seasonal anymore when they are in the market and at a reasonable price every month of the year.

This casserole takes a bit of time because you're making the sauce from scratch, but it's not difficult. You end up with a deeply savory dish that goes well with almost anything grilled, so it's great this time of year. Everything is done on the top of the stove, too, so no oven necessary. That's a real issue since it is truly hot in many places around the world right now.

The starting place is a home-made mushroom sauce, plus boiled pasta. You can use any pasta you like, but these rotelli hold up to a lot of stirring, they tend to capture the sauce well, and you can find them in the multi-colored version I used. The pasta is plain, orange (probably has a bit of carrot juice in it) and green (maybe from spinach juice). This type of pasta takes longer to cook than noodles like spaghetti, but it's also bite sized, so easier to eat.

I confess that I made this casserole over a week ago. I found the photos in my photo group and realized that I never posted it. Since the recipe was made-up, I hope I can recapture all the ingredients!

If you make this, I'm betting you will enjoy the richness, full mushroom flavor, cheesiness from the two kinds of cheese, and the excellent sauce. It reheats well, too, should you have any leftovers.

Mushroom-Pasta Casserole

my own recipe
serves 4-6

1/2 pound (half a package) multi-colored dry rotelli pasta
boiling salted water to cook the pasta according to package directions

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted)
4 oz. crimini (brown) small mushrooms
2 tablespoons finely chopped yellow or white onion
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon dry thyme
1 cup broth, mushroom if you have it, but chicken, beef and vegetable are OK, too
1/2 cup milk - any level of fat OK
salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan - best quality available

Cook the pasta until al dente in the salted boiling water. Drain and keep warm.

While the pasta is cooking, in a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and melt the butter, then sauté the mushrooms and onions in the olive oil and melted butter until the onion is translucent. Add the flour and dry thyme and stir, over low heat, for a minute. Raise heat to medium-high. Combine the broth and milk and pour, all at once, to the skillet, stirring constantly, until the sauce begins to thicken. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the drained warm pasta to the mushroom sauce and stir well to combine. There may be some 'extra' sauce in the bottom of the pot. That's OK. Stir in the Swiss cheese, smooth the top to create a casserole, then sprinkle the Parmesan evenly over the casserole.

Cover and let sit over the lowest heat available, for five minutes. This will allow the flavors to meld a bit and for the extra sauce to be absorbed into the pasta.

Serve hot...and enjoy!

Of Course It's the Garden!

raised bed with cherry tomato seedlings, bean seedlings and a marigold plant

Sooo you can see that I have not been posting lately. The good news is that the reason is mainly the garden. We finally have had good weather, with warm enough nights to plant.

The Black Krim tomatoes that I bought seedlings for have set tomatoes. On the one planted earliest the tomatoes look like they might ripen in a couple of weeks. Most of the Black Krims and all of the cherry tomatoes will really be giving a harvest bounty in September as is the case most years. I grew the cherry tomatoes from seed and there should be three colors once they start producing.

Planted three zucchini seedlings, again ones I purchased. Two are doing well and one died. I might buy one more and try again. 

Bean seedlings, planted directly in the soil from seed just last week, have sprouted and grown up enough to have the first leaves and new ones coming in below. I planted two kinds, a thin green French style one and an heirloom spotted on that I save the seeds for last fall. Drip irrigation means they get the right amount of water.

Last of all I just planted the seeds for small cucumbers. They haven't even sprouted. I really have gotten a late start this year due to the shoulder injury when I had a divot biopsy about a month ago. It's all good, but I managed to mess up my shoulder joint at the time, so there was no soil prep, weeding, planting, etc. just at the time when it was finally warm enough to do all that.

Still, there should be veggies by August and plenty in September.

The flowers have been awesome. First there were the self-seeded nasturtium in shades of yellow, orange and red.

Then came the lilacs (no photo), iris (above), early roses (below), followed by morning glories and daisies (above). 

Now I have some lobelia with bright blue faces (above with the marigold), more roses and some marigolds and pot marigolds (calendula) (no photo). The lipstick sage and bright red geraniums (directly above) keep blooming all year and add a welcoming note to the front steps.

Happy Summer!

A Pie with Zing for Father's Day

Sweetie asked for a creamy pie for Father's Day, which is kind of funny considering all the fruit we have in the house...cherries, both red and Rainier versions,  plums from our tree, strawberries from the farm stand, raspberries, mandarins, apples and bananas.

Still, a creamy pie is less common than a fruit pie, so I went back to my recipes for banana cream and coconut cream and even chocolate silk. None of them seemed right, so I switched to doing a search on the Internet. After a bit of surfing, I found Atlantic Beach Pie on the Delish website and it sounded promising. It has a cracker crumb shell and a filling that included both lemon and lime flavors. A can of sweetened condensed milk thickened the filling and then it was baked for a short while and chilled. For garnish, whipped cream was decorated with wisps of lemon and lime zest.

As I often do, I made some changes. I prefer a graham cracker crust and I like that flavored with cinnamon. Making those two changes probably makes this nothing like an Atlantic Beach pie, but it ended up being a great change, especially when I used some melted butter, along with the softened butter, to pull the graham cracker crumbs together.

I also like a strong citrus flavor in a filling, so I stirred some extra lemon and lime zest into the filling. It really made the citrus zing and sing. I still used zest on the mounds of whipped cream for both decor and flavor.

This is the sort of recipe that has some parts that can be done on the day or you can do some and then finish on another day. The crust and filling can be done on one day, covered well, then kept in the fridge for a day or two before serving. The whipped cream and zest decor are done right before serving.

This is a delicious pie. Sweetie said it might be his favorite of all my pies. Of course that may be because he was thinking about a second piece!

I'm giving you the recipe as it is on Delish, except for the zest in the filling. If you prefer a graham cracker crust, use your favorite one or look one up on the 'net. I tried to modify this one and it took a lot of trial and error, so I wouldn't recommend doing that.

ATLANTIC BEACH PIE from Delish website

 Ingredients:

Cracker Crust

2 1/2 sleeves butter crackers (about 75 crackers/250 grams)
1/2 cup soft butter 
1/4 cup light brown sugar

Lemon-Lime Custard Filling

4 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 2 large lemons) {Note: zest the lemons first}
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (from about 3-4 large limes) {Note: zest the limes first}
1/2 teaspoon, each, lemon and lime zest

Whipped Cream Topping And Assembly

1 cup heavy cream
3 Tablespoons light brown sugar  
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. lemon zest
Flakey sea salt

Directions

Cracker Crust

Step 1 In a food processor, pulse crackers until finely ground with a few pea-size pieces remaining, 25 to 30 pulses. Add butter and brown sugar and continue to pulse until butter is incorporated and a crumbly dough starts to form, about 15 pulses.

Step 2 Transfer cracker mixture to a 9" glass pie pan. Press into an even layer in bottom and up sides of pan. Freeze 10 minutes.

Step 3 Preheat oven to 350°. Bake crust until deep golden brown and smells nutty and fragrant, about 15 minutes. Let cool slightly, about 10 minutes.

Lemon-Lime Custard Filling

Step 1 In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks, eggs, and milk until combined. Add lemon juice and lime juice and whisk until smooth.

Step 2 Pour custard into pie shell. Continue to bake until center of pie is set but still slightly jiggly, about 18 minutes. 

Step 3 Transfer pie plate to a wire rack and let cool 1 hour. Place in refrigerator and chill until cold, about 2 hours. 

Whipped Cream Topping And Assembly

Step 1 Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed or a whisk, in a medium bowl, beat cream and brown sugar until stiff peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes. Using a piping bag or spatula, top cooled pie with whipped cream.

Step 2 Sprinkle with lemon zest and lime zest and a pinch of sea salt.

Step 3 Make Ahead: Pie can be made 4 days ahead. Cover pie plate with plastic and chill.

Fully Irish Bread

I've made Irish soda bread often, usually using the recipe given to me by Aunt May, a woman fully Irish and a great baker. The version of soda bread that I made recently is fully Irish because it's made with King Arthur Baking's Irish wholemeal flour which has flecks of bran and wheatgerm in it. It adds texture, flavor, and makes it just a bit crumbly, which I love.

As long as you have buttermilk (which not everyone does) and that specialty flour, most of the rest of the ingredients are pantry and fridge staples. I did tweak the recipe a bit by adding a 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans. This addition is particularly noticeable when the bread is warm. I've yet to try toasting a slice, but I bet that would be even better...warm and toasty. Yum! If you don't have the wholemeal flour, substitute whole wheat flour, or even just another cup of all-purpose. Lack of whole grain flour should not stop you from making this wonderful quick bread.

As with other quick breads where you want the bread to be tender, the less you handle this dough the better. Because you're also going for a rustic, craggy look, just pat the dough into roughly a round, cut that deep cross in the center and call it good. As the bread bakes it will become a bit more solid with a wonderful golden brown crust. Butter, jam, lemon curd and fruit are all great toppings for a slice. Just let it cool 10 or 15 minutes before slicing. Too warm soda bread will just fall apart if you slice it too soon!

Irish Soda Bread with Wholemeal Flour and Pecans

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup King Arthur Baking Irish Wholemeal flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons sugar

8 oz. (1 stick) cold butter, in thin slices

½ cup finely chopped pecans

2 cups  plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl sift the dry ingredients over the butter and cut in well with a fork or pastry blender. Add the pecans ; mix well. Add the buttermilk and mix just until moist - don’t over-handle. Some dry stuff is OK but the dough should be sticky. Pat into a round on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Cut a cross on top. Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. Cool a bit before slicing.

Strawberries and Rhubarb

It's been a while since I last posted, so you get a two-fer. We have a recipe for a galette and one for hand pies with a tender, buttery dough.

  Strawberries and rhubarb go really well together. Rhubarb, a kind of produce that I always think of as a spring treat,  is pretty expensive in the market, so I was thrilled when a friend who grows rhubarb gifted me with a few stalks. The dessert I decided to make first was a galette, so simple if you have pie dough already. The strawberries are from the farm stand on Hwy 12 that has the BEST strawberries. They are always sweet and juicy, never woody or tasteless. They do become overripe quickly, so we are always on the lookout for ways to use them. The second gift of rhubarb inspired me to make handpies. The pie dough is a butter-rich one that you make in a food processor. It's a little more difficult to handle than the ready made pie dough from the market, but it is really worth the effort.

For the galette, I started with a round of pie dough from the market, rolled it out a bit to make it a little larger because you fold dough towards the center with a galette.

The hulled and sliced strawberries were combined with the sliced rhubarb and some cornstarch, plus some sugar that had been rubbed together with a tablespoon of lemon zest freshly zested from a Myer lemon from our garden. 

It made a delicious and fairly easy dessert. Do try it yourself if you can get good strawberries and some rhubarb.

Another similar dessert with the same filling are little hand pies. They look a bit like toaster pop tarts, but are worlds better. I used a butter rich food processor pie dough and a filling that was a bit heavier on the rhubarb. A little sanding sugar on top and you have a wonderful treat. It had a great level of tartness, the buttery and tender crust and a bit of juice from the fruit. Turned out to be too delicate to eat out of your hand, but this is the time when a fork and plate are worth washing up.

Strawberry Rhubarb Rustic Galette
Serves 6-8

1 round rolled out pie dough - I use Pillsbury Ready Crust
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1-2 stalks fresh rhubarb, washed and sliced into 1/2 inch slices (you want about the same amount of fruit as the strawberries, or a bit less) 
zest of 1 small lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

sanding sugar or granulated sugar (optional)

Roll the pie dough into a 12-inch round. Place it on a large piece of parchment paper and place that on a baking sheet (I used a 12-inch pizza pan).

In a medium bowl mix together the two fruits. In a small bowl place the zest and the sugar and, using clean fingers, rub the sugar and zest together until mixture resembles damp sand. Add the cornstarch and salt and mix well. Pour this mixture over the fruit mixture, then gently stir to combine. (I used my clean hands to combine, but a large spoon or a flexible spatula would probably work just fine.)

Mound the fruit mixture in the middle of the rolled our dough

You may have used your hands to do the mounding. I did! Then wash your hands, but leave them wet, or wet them if not already wet. The wet hands means that as you handle and pleat the dough the wetness will help the pleats hold together.

Use wet hands to pleat the dough up and over the fruit. Usually there is a small to medium opening in the top where you can see the fruit. This is a rustic pie, so don't worry if some pleats are closer together than others.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. If desired, put a baking stone on the lowest rack.

Use a pastry brush to lightly brush water over the dough and sprinkle lightly with granulated or sanding sugar. This step is optional.

When oven has finished preheating, bake the galette, with the parchment still on the baking sheet. If you are using a baking stone, place the baking sheet directly on the stone. This pie often releases a bit of juice. The parchment and baking sheet will capture that for easy cleanup. Placing the parchment on the stone or the pie on the stone will mean cleaning the stone and probably the bottom of your oven.

Bake until the pie dough is deep golden brown and the fruit is bubbling. Remove to a cooling rack and cool at least 1/2 hour. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Rhubarb-Strawberry Hand Pies
Makes 8

1 recipe butter-based food processor pie dough
1 1/2 pints strawberries, hilled and cut into dice
1-2 stalks fresh rhubarb, rinsed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (you want a bit more rhubarb than strawberries for the hand pies, so be generous if you can).
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Granulated or sanding sugar (optional)

Make the food process or pie dough and let it chill. When shaping the discs prior to chilling, you may want the shape to be more square than circular.

While the dough is chilling, make the filling. Combine the strawberries and rhubarb in a medium bowl, then add the sugar and cornstarch and mix to combine. Set aside.

Once the dough is chilled, roll out one half the dough into a rectangle...or as close as you can to a rectangle about 10 x 12 inches. Use a ruler and sharp knife to cut the dough into a 9-inch x 11-inch rectangle with parallel sides and with corners at 45 degree angles. Then cut the dough in half one way and in half the other way.

You will end up with 4 rectangles, each 4.5 x 5.5 inches.

At the bottom of each rectangle mound about 3 tablespoons filling. One by one, wet the dough around where the filling is, then fold the dough over the filling, pushing down on the edges of the dough to seal. Use the tines of a fork to seal around the three sides. Place each one on a parchment-lined baking sheet. (I fit 4 on a parchment-lined pizza pan.) Repeat all the above steps with the second half of the dough.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

While the oven is heating, if desired, use a pastry brush to brush 1/2 & 1/2 or cream over the top and sealed edges of the hand pies, then sprinkle with sanding sugar.

Once the oven is up to temperature Bake the hand pies, switching the baking sheets front to back and upper rack to lower rack and vice versa to ensure even browning and baking. Bake until  hand pies are browned and the filling is bubbly...or even leaking a bit from the pie. Cool on a cooling rack until room temperature. Served warmed or at room temperature. These are somewhat delicate, so not the best for shipping.

                                                            Ready to bake

For both of the above recipes, leftovers should be stored, tightly covered, in the fridge.

Playing around: A great addition for the filling for either of these would be adding about a 1/2 teaspoon freshly minced fresh ginger to the filling, well combined with the other ingredients.

Warm Buttermilk Cake with Strawberries

We have gotten to berry and stone fruit time. A great thing to have on hand to go with those fruits is a single layer, moist, easy cake. Add some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and fruit and it's impressive, too.

 This is a great cake for making strawberry shortcake, too. The recipe is HERE. It's pretty easy but quite delicious.

 You can also make a chocolate version like I did HERE. I served it with cherries and cream for a quick Black Forest style cake. As you can see, Sweetie really likes whipped cream. Hard to see the cake, but I can tell you, it's great.

If you like you can also change it by adding a couple teaspoons of lemon zest (rubbed into the sugar before mixing with the eggs) for a Lemon Cake.

Yay for late spring! Summer will be here before you know it!

Landon's Wedding

Memorial Day Weekend is a great time for visiting family and for events. Sweetie and I spent some time in Phoenix at the wedding of Landon and Natalie.

Since I'm a step-grandmother, I've only know my grandson Landon since he was in high school. He's always been an extrovert, by all accounts, and he brings a lot of light and joy into people's lives at the same time. Sweetie and I have bedrooms in the farmhouse for family.  Landon and girlfriend Natalie stopped here for a night in each direction last fall when they were traveling from Phoenix to Oregon and then back. They were going there for Thanksgiving with his mother and brother and step-father. At that time Landon told us that they were almost engaged. Soon after, they announced their engagement and asked us to save the date for their wedding. They are a wonderful couple and seem to be well suited as well as very much in love.

The wedding was a few days ago, held at the church in Phoenix where Natalie's dad is pastor and Landon is in charge of Youth Ministry and at least some of the music. Dozens of their fellow church members transformed the church gym into a beautiful reception venue. The wedding itself was held in the inspiring church. Natalie's father both walked her down the aisle and conducted the ceremony. First grandson River was best man and youngest grandson Raine was a groomsman.

Because the groom's side of the family included a number of step-parents and half siblings as modern families often do, it was an interesting mix. Lots of group photos in the hot sun in the church garden, including one we were part of where we really didn't know half the people...all related to my daughter's husband's family. He was in the picture, too, plus his three sons and his wife and us. Not too happy with his oldest son because he probably spent a total of five minutes with us during the two days we were there, despite the fact that we were seated a few feet away for hours during the evening of the wedding. My guess is that he was just following the lead of the pastor.

I would love to say that the weekend was delightful, but the reality is that except for window dressing moments like the photos, we were shunned. Turns out that we were perceived to be 'unbelievers' and that, apparently, trumps manners in this conservative church. We never did meet the father of the bride/pastor.

Still, we are happy for our grandson and his bride. He was raised in a conservative religion and is immersed in this one. I doubt that he even knew that virtually no one spoke to any of us. Our son-in-law did go over and interact with his family members (also very conservative churchgoers), and when we left there were some hugs, mostly outside and away from most of the guests, but otherwise we were observers in a crowd of over 300 church goers who studiously ignored us. At one point when our son-in-law's family left because his Mom was worn out, I mentioned to one of the women standing by their table that they weren't returning, so the table and chairs were free to sit at (people were standing along the wall at this point because there weren't enough seats) and she looked startled that I had spoken to her, uncomfortable that I had, and she did thank me...but no smile and she didn't sit down right away but looked around with a bit of an anxious look on her face. I guess I broke through the shunning and she wasn't sure that it was OK to listen to me.

Highlights include a really wonderful song that Landon composed and sang to his bride, a beautiful choreographed dance the bride and groom did, followed by a dance Landon did with his mom that was lively and fun to music that included 'she's my Mom!' The Mexican food dinner was delicious. An interesting experience but one I hope to not repeat.

Early Peaches in a Pie

I've heard about the Dry Creek Peach stand for years, but it's up by Geyserville and I don't travel to that part of the county often, so I never visited. A few days ago I read that they already had peaches...about two weeks earlier than usual. I love peaches, but the ones that I get in the market are uninspiring. They tend to be hard and with little flavor. You can ripen them in a brown paper bag, but then they are ripe and still flavorless, plus they are often bruised with large dark areas from rough handling when they were hard.

So Sweetie and I found that we had the time, so we drove up the the Dry Creek Peach stand and purchased a flat of the first peaches of the season. The Dry Creek Peach folks were delightful and since they grow 30 varieties, we will likely be visiting them again and again. 

The peaches! They are heavenly! Because they were picked ripe, the skins come off easily...no need to dip them in boiling water to loosen the skins. They are also wonderfully juicy and full of peach flavor.

Of course we started eating them plain. Sweetie even ate his with the peel still on. I prefer them without the peel. Then I combined them with some other fresh fruit we had on hand...raspberries, pineapple and banana. Delicious!

The next day I made a peach pie with them and it is a really great pie. It took about 6 peaches to make the filling. I used a ready made pie dough crust for the bottom, made a filling with those slices peaches, freshly ground nutmeg, some flour and cornstarch mixed and a tablespoon of lemon juice. They were sweet enough that I didn't add any sugar. On top I put a streusel of brown sugar, flour, butter and chopped pecans. I'm afraid that the streusel  burned a bit during the first part of the baking, but I covered the whole top with foil for the 350 degree F part and it didn't burn any more. Next time I'll cover it sooner.

This is an exceptional pie, especially if you use tree ripened fruit. True peach season in most of the U.S is in June and July, so see if you can find some good peaches...and have some pie!

Peach Pie with Streusel Topping

5 cups peeled, sliced peaches, pits discarded

1/4 cup all-purpose flour mixed with 1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated if possible

few grains of salt

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans

8 oz. (1/2 cup, 1 stick) soft butter

one egg white

one 9” unbaked pie shell ( put into freezer until ready to fill the pie)

Mix peach slices with flour mixture,  lemon juice, nutmeg and salt. Pile into chilled pie shell that has been brushed with slightly beaten egg white. 

Make the streusel: In a medium bowl mix together the brown sugar, flour and pecans. Add the soft butter, cut into pieces, and use clean fingers to smoosh the butter into the flour mixture until combined. The mixture will be barely crumbly.

Break apart the streusel mixture into small-ish lumps and scatter evenly over the peach filling.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree F oven for 10 minutes. Place foil over edges of pie shell if they start to become too brown or if the top becomes too brown. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake about 45 minutes, or until filling is bubbly and crust is golden brown.

Let cool at least five minutes before serving. I served mine at room temperature.

My Mom's NOTES: The filling (without the streusel topping) can be frozen: Line 9” pie pan with heavy foil and put in peach mixture. Fold over and seal the foil. Put into a zip lock bag (gallon size) and freeze. When ready to bake, continue as above, putting frozen pie filling into an unbaked pie shell brushed with egg white as above. You can do the same thing with the apple pie filling. You may have to bake either pie with frozen filling 10 minutes or so longer.

Happy Mother's Day!

This has been an interesting fortnight (fourteen nights) for the Sebastopol Lachmans. We celebrate today, Mother's Day, that I'm finally sleeping in my own bed. Two weeks ago today Charlie and I celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary. The next day I noticed that I got a couple of bug bites when I sat in the chair near the fireplace. A day or two later that happened when I sat in my easy chair and also I seemed to have bites when I got up in the morning. By the 29th my sleep was poor and on the 30th I ended up sleeping on the couch in the living room. Turns out that a friend had visited with her dog, as she often does, a week or so before and the dog was carrying fleas which decided that I was a tasty person. Since my friend, Charlie, and the dog are not tasty, they had no idea. Neither did I, apparently, until I couldn't sleep much.

Long story short (well except for the stuff above) we spent most of this week doing damage control and eliminating the pests. Finally slept in my own bed last night and it was great! I now know what to do and not do (including things I can do to prevent being the vector that spreads the fleas!) and am ready to have a great Mother's Day with Charlie.

Katherine sent beautiful flowers. She and Aaron sent an even more beautiful card, especially because of what they wrote inside. We plan on talking on the phone today. I'm hoping that I can visit virtually with my siblings and other family this afternoon.

Soon I'll have time to return to the kitchen and garden and will share that with you here.

Hope that each of you celebrate Mother's day in your own way, including those who celebrate the memories of your mothers who have passed. My Mom, Nancy is the person in the photo at the top of the post. Love 'ya Mom!