Last But Not Least

Believe it or not, I still had peaches left over after making freezer jam, two cobblers, and several smoothies!  With only a small window of life left in them, they needed to be used fast.  I didn't quite have enough to make more jam or cobbler, so I bread it was!  Just imagine peach muffins in bread form with just a touch of cinnamon.   

Peach Bread

1/2 cup butter softened 

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 

2 cups sliced fresh peaches 

3 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed 

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream butter; gradually add sugar, mixing well.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Mix together dry ingredients in separate bowl; add to creamed mixture alternately with the peaches, beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Stir in orange juice concentrate and vanilla.  Pour batter into two greased and floured 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 pans.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan 10 minutes.  

Remove from loafpan and cool completely.  Or eat warm.  :-) 

A Lot of Peaches

Every time I think about peaches, the song Peaches by Presidents of the United States of America gets stuck in my head.  And as of late, it seems to have taken permanent residence up there with all the peaches I've been using!  Just in case you aren't sick of peaches yet, I found the perfect recipe for strawberry peach freezer jam at Taste of Home that I have to share (with a little tweaking of my own).  I love strawberries and I love peaches, and I love the two of them together even more! 

Strawberry Peach Freezer Jam

 

2 cups chopped fresh strawberries 

1 1/2 cups chopped peeled peaches 

1 tsp lemon juice

1 package (1-3/4 ounces) powdered fruit pectin

5 cups sugar

In a large saucepan, combine the strawberries, peaches, lemon juice, and pectin. Cook and stir on medium high until mixture comes to a full rolling boil. 

 Stir in sugar; return to a full rolling boil. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from the heat.  Pour into jars or freezer containers. Cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. 

Cover and let stand overnight or until set, but not longer than 24 hours. 

Refrigerate for up to 3 weeks or freeze for up to 1 year.  Makes about 6 cups.

My Kind of Sale

I live for sales.  It's the only way to shop.  And this sale is a sale worth talking about.  For any of you Forever XXI lovers out there, they're having a huge Labor Day sale this weekend.  All of their clearance markdowns are buy one get one free.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Buy one get one free.  Most of their clearance items are already marked around $3.99 to $9.99, so when combined with the promotion going on, you can get items for as little as $1.99!   Little Miss M is getting to where she can fit into junior sized clothing, so we always check out the sales racks for her.  We were able to grab up two dresses and two tanks for less than $10!  Now that's a steal of a deal if you ask me!  If you weren't able to get all of your school shopping done, now is the time.  I know several other stores have amazing sales going on right now for the holiday (Gap is taking an extra 25% off baby and kids clearance items), but this is the best I've seen yet.   

Dresses that would be hoochie moma short on me, are the perfect length for the Little Miss!

 

Southern Style

Besides all the jars of beautiful canned peaches I got sent home with from Auntie C's last night, I got a whole basket full of fresh peaches!  What better way to use fresh peaches than to make a good ole' Southern cobbler?!  I think it's funny how people out here make cobbler.  They put the fruit on the bottom and plop some batter on top.  Cobbler isn't cobbler without a buttery crust around the edges and you don't get that by plopping batter on the fruit.  Moma taught me that to make a good cobbler, you melt the butter in the pan and pour the batter over the top.  Then you put the fruit on top and the batter envelopes the fruit as it cooks.  That is how it's done folks.

Southern Peach Cobbler

1/2 cup unsalted butter 

1 cup all-purpose flour 

2 cups sugar, divided 

1 tablespoon baking powder 

Pinch of salt 

1/2 cup milk 

1/2 cup buttermilk

4 cups fresh peach slices 

1 tablespoon lemon juice

  

Preheat oven to 375.  Melt butter in a 13- x 9-inch baking dish in oven as it preheats.  Combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add milk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter over butter (Do not stir!!!).  The melted butter heats the batter enough that it spreads out on its own. 

Bring remaining 1 cup sugar, peach slices, and lemon juice to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly.

Pour over batter (Do not stir!!!) 

 Bake at 375° for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. 

Best served warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Peaches

Ever wish you'd paid closer attention to something when you were younger?  For me it was my Moma when she was canning.  I was too busy whining and complaining about having to peel and cut the fruits and vegetables to pay a lick of attention to what she did with them.  Oh do I regret it now. 

While the Mister is away with his boyfriends buddies on their Fantasy Football Draft trip, I'm being domestic.  Last night I was introduced to the art of canning peaches thanks to the Mister's Auntie C.  Canning is so much better as an adult than I remember it being as a kid!  Now I want to go out and buy a bazillion jars and start canning everything under the sun!  I feel so accomplished!  I hope Auntie C doesn't mind my sharing her mom's recipe for canned peaches.  Pay attention to her dad's notes at the bottom.  You'll need them.  And enjoy the pear and grape juice recipes while you're at it!

 

We used a steam canning system but I'm curious to try it using a water bath and/or a pressure cooker now!

                                           

They're almost too pretty to eat.  Almost.  :-)