Month: August 2018

The Best Peach Pie Recipe Ever!

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I’ve never given much thought to August. It’s just that awkward month, sometime between summer and fall without much to distinguish it. After decades of marginalizing August, I had somewhat of an epiphany this week. August is amazing, at least here in Southern Colorado. 

So, what sparked this change of heart, removed my blinders and allowed me to see August for all her amazing beauty? In a word … peaches! 

The western slope of Colorado grows some of the most amazing peaches in the world and August is the month they become widely available. It’s my personal opinion that no finer fruit exists anywhere! 

Some years I can as many as 200 pounds of ripe, yellow-orange peaches to be enjoyed by my family throughout the year. These home canned peaches are essential to an important family tradition dating back to my childhood. 

When I was a small girl, my Gramps, breakfast cook extraordinaire, introduced a new recipe to our family. He called them Swedish Pancakes, otherwise know as crepes. He would fill them with fruit, butter, powdered sugar and whipped cream. Though we sometime use fresh strawberries, through the years, we’ve dialed in on peaches as the fruit of choice. If you’ve ever had home canned peaches, you know the store bought varieties can’t begin to compare. 

With fewer people at home, I no longer have to can as many, but the canning tradition continues, none-the-less. This week I’ll start with the two boxes I bought from our high school wrestling team. Being able to help the boys while getting something I use and would buy anyway makes it one of my favorite annual fund-raisers! 

If the thought of freshly canned peaches isn’t enough to get your mouth watering, you need to try my Fresh Peach Pie recipe!

It was inspired by the Fresh Peach Pie recipe in my Grandma’s old Fannie Farmer Cookbook. I’ve tweaked it and adjusted it until I finally ended up with the recipe I now use. 

Fresh Peach Pie

  • Favorite Pie Crust recipe (click here for the printable recipe and here for a detailed post with instructions.)
    TIP: I make 3 double crusts every time and I freeze the extra. If I want to make a pie, it’s easy to pull the frozen crust of the freezer, thaw and use it. 
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 8 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches
  • 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Submerge peaches in boiling water for a minute or two, depending on how ripe the peaches are, then move them to an ice water bath. This will allow the skins to peel right off. Peel and slice peaches.

Mix the sugar and flour in a  large bowl. Add the peaches and lemon juice and carefully mix.

Line a pie pan with pie crust. Pile the fruit into the pie plate. Place another crust on top, draping in over the fruit. If desired, you can trim the crust then crimp or flute. I like crust, so I roll the extra, tuck it under and then flute the edges to seal the two crusts together. 

Using a sharp knife, create vent holes in the top crust. 

Fruit pies can tend to bubble over and leak, especially if you fill them full like I do. So, create a little “pan” out of aluminum foil and place it on the rack below your pie in your oven. This will catch any drips and avoid making a smoking mess of your oven. 

If desired, lightly brush the top of the crust with a egg whipped with a little water and sprinkle with sugar. This helps create a beautiful golden brown top. I was rushing out the door to pick up my daughter when I made this pie, so I skipped this step. The pie would have been prettier if I’d done it! 

Bake the pie for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 40-50 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack.

If you cut it before it cools sufficiently, the fruit and juice will still be wet and runny. It’s now an exercise in patience! 

Serve with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

(Click here for a printable version of this recipe)

BONUS TIP!

If you love it as much as I do, you might find yourself craving it in the middle of February. Trust me, when snow is piled up outside, fresh peaches can be hard to come by. Even if you could find them, and even if the quality was decent, you’d probably have to auction a kidney to afford them. That leaves you two choices. Either suffer through the cravings while counting down the days until August and the next peach harvest or plan ahead … and that’s easier than you think. 

Simply prepare the peaches according to the recipe. Add the lemon juice, sugar, and flour. Place them in a pie plate and immediately place them in the freezer. In a day or so, when they are frozen solid, or when you remember, remove them from the freezer. Place the pie plate in a shallow sink with hot water. The water really should be shallow here. You don’t want water coming over the edge of the pie plate and it should not touch the peaches. If it does, it will be fine and no one will ever know. It will just be one of those cook’s secrets! 

Allow the pie plate to rest in the hot water until the peaches are released from the pan. Wrap the frozen bundle in the aluminum foil, taking care to remove all the air. Wrap again in plastic wrap. This double wrapping will help prevent freezer burn. I then put the whole thing in a large zip lock bag. That way, if one of the kids fails to get the freezer door closed tightly and things start to thaw, I won’t have a sticky, peachy mess all over the freezer. This is, of course, hypothetical. My kids have never done anything like that! 

When you’re craving pie, simply prepare your crust, remove the frozen peaches from their packaging (placing the zip lock in a hot water bath briefly helps with this), place them in the crust in one solid, frozen lump and continue with the recipe. Because you froze them in the pan, they will fit perfectly!

You will need to bake the pie a little longer. Just add about 20 minutes to your time, allow the crust to turn golden and check to make sure the juices are bubbly. You’ll be able to tell because they will be on the aluminum foil pan you made to catch them.

When Silence Speaks

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The house is quiet today. A lazy dog dozes in the corner. A cat stretches and yawns, content her in little patch of sunlight falling across the floor. Sitting alone in the silence, I take this in. I notice the dog hair on the floor in the next room and think I should get the vacuum. I don’t. Instead, I sit and listen for I know that often, silence speaks loudest. 

On Monday morning she called good-by, the door slamming behind her. For the first time, she drove herself to school. Only one more first day of school before this last child too will leave childhood behind, much like the forgotten doll, shoved into the corner of her closet. 

In the silence I remember.  

A box of books arriving from Sonlight Curriculum. Excited kids gathered around while we unpacked the boxes, examining the books and science and art supplies. 

Other days of school. 

Together. Five children and me. Little bodies cuddled up to me on the couch or sprawled across the floor as I read. Reaching the end of that day’s reading and kids begging for just one more chapter. The daughter who, I later learned, would sneak the read-aloud books and read ahead because she just had to know what happened. 

Fresh baked bread in the oven and it’s tantalizing aroma. Science experiments spread over the dining room table. Protests over Latin and why do we really need to learn Latin anyway. Tripping over shoes left in the middle of the hallway. 

Constant talking, laughter and siblings bickering; the music that filled our home in those days. Gone now. Only silence but for the soft snore of the little Border Collie across the room. 

Some days the silence hangs heavy, oppressive. But today, it’s soft and gentle, inviting me to remember. The memories come like a flood. Setting countless tables, braiding hair yet again, folding laundry, peeling another potato. One more bath. Exhaustion at the end of the day. The holy things of life masquerading as the mundane. 

The silence grows loud and insistent. “Remember!” it demands.

 

 

Picking apples together in the fall. Soccer games as the leaves turn gold and red and dance in the autumn sunlight. Sunday afternoons playing the Farm Game. Kids enamored with the soft, yellow baby chicks or a new litter of kittens. Teaching the little ones to pray.  Answering a plethora of questions. Saturday afternoons at Grandma’s pond.

“Alright. I heard you.” I speak into the silence and lose myself in the memories. “But why? Why this insistence on remembering?” 

The answer now soft, barely a whisper, but instinctively I know. 

As the memories flood my mind and fill the room around me, almost tangible in their clarity, thankfulness threatens to overwhelm me and with it a keen awareness of the miraculous that is our lives. 

Thankfulness for the children I’ve been privileged enough to mother, and awe at the miracle that is their very existence. Eternal souls, known and loved before the creation of the earth, entrusted to me. 

Gratefulness for time, for the time we’ve shared, and for those miraculous moments when time stood still. 

Thankfulness for grace, prodigious and vast, covering my multitude of mistakes. Failures that would stand in accusation only to be silenced by the overwhelming miracle that is the essence of grace.

Gratefulness for family and friends and for those experiences that have filled me with hope and joy.  Gratefulness even for those times that have threatened to overwhelm me, that have shaken the very foundations of my faith and finding there a miracle of hope, and life and redemption. 

Remember. Give thanks. Love. Appreciate. Choose joy. Look ahead. Grow. Change. Live! Find the Holy in the Mundane. Search for it if you must. Cherish it! Know that as life changes, and evolves and transitions, the Holy remains. Waiting. Calling. These were the words shouted in the silence.  

15 Minutes to Create This Stunning Pillow!

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(Please note this contains an affiliate link by which This Place I Belong can profit. However, I never recommend a product I don’t believe in.)

His movements were nearly imperceptible. With one hand he reached into the bucket and ever so slowly removed a handful of sunflower seeds, his young, great-niece, eyes wide, watching in raptured amazement. Cautiously, he extended his hand to little buck. Unsure, the buck hesitated before reaching for the seeds. 

Her eyes danced with excitement. Barely able to contain herself she whispered, “I want to try.” She’d been tossing apple pieces to the deer all afternoon. Some, like the little buck, were bold. Others remained cautious. Two young fawns had inched their way closer and closer, drawn by their desire for seeds and apples. 

For a young girl growing up in the expansive metropolis of the Phoenix area, the experience was captivating. The next day she would return home to her family. Life would resume it’s normal cadence with family, school, and extracurricular activities, but just maybe, every now and then, as she goes through her daily activities she will stop and remember the serenity of a mountain cabin and the magic of deer that eat out of a hand. 

As I watched my dad and my cousin’s daughter, I was thankful again for the beauty around me, for the wonder of God’s creation, and for the rain that finally came. Time and time again it speaks to my soul, never failing to stir feelings of wonder and awe. 

That was the scene playing through my mind yesterday as I created a throw pillow for my dad’s bed. My mom had ordered a deer stencil from A Maker’s Studio. If you missed the introduction to A Maker’s Studio, you can read about it and it’s amazing vision here.

We will be using the deer stencil as part of my parent’s kitchen update, but I couldn’t wait to give it a try. 

Blank, canvas pillow covers can be purchased from A Maker’s Studio for only $10.99, but I didn’t have one on hand and I’m impatient. So, I pulled out my old Viking sewing machine, rummaged through my fabric stash until I found a scrap piece of muslin. After a little measuring, a little cutting and a  little sewing, I had a very plain, very simple pillow cover. 

Then the fun began! 

I ironed the cover, making sure I had smooth surface. I placed the cover on the counter, smoothed it, then applied the deer stencil. At this point I decided it would probably be a good idea to place a piece of cardboard or something between the layers of the cover to prevent the color from bleeding through to the back. 

I reached for the closest thing I could find, the packaging for the stencil. I slipped it into the cover and positioned it directly underneath the stencil. 

Using A Maker’s Studio Gel Stain and their paint spreader, I carefully applied the stain to the stencil. I used stain rather than paint because I wanted that rich brown color. I simply dipped a corner of the spreader into the stain and pulled it across the stencil until I’d covered the entire image. 

When I lifted the stencil, a beautifully detailed deer image remained. The entire painting process took less than 15 minutes!! 15 minutes and the results were amazing! I love this pillow! 

Cleaning the stencil proved to be as easy as using it. I simply placed it in the kitchen sink and gently sprayed it with the faucet sprayer. The stain came right off. I then laid it on a dish drying mat, adhesive side up and left it to dry. 

That was it! It took longer to take photos that it did to paint the pillow. 

Now my mind is full of all kinds of possibilities! 

The Absolute Best Primer for Pet Odors, Stains and Glossy Surfaces

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Years ago, when I started buying investment real estate, a more experienced friend said that a smelly house was the smell of money. This is especially true when the odors are pet urine. It’s an immediate turn off for would be buyers, and understandably so.

No one wants to live with foul odors in their homes, and for many buyers, addressing the cause can seem overwhelming or impossible.  It creates an opportunity to buy a house at a discount and increase profits. Thus, “the smell of money”. 

Currently, I have two renovation projects under way. You already know about the rental house damaged by the tenants.  I call it the Adams house because it’s located on Adams Avenue. (If you missed that post, you can find it here.)  The other is an extensive renovation/remodel for a client. I’ll share more about that soon. The two houses are as different as can be, but they have one thing in common. Both reek with the smell of pet urine. 

The first step in addressing this problem was to remove fouled carpet. In my client’s home, we removed all the carpet and the odor still persisted. I could not identify any clearly stained areas in the subfloor. I have a nose like a bloodhound so I started going through the house room by room in an attempt to find the source of the odor. 

Client’s family room.

After eliminating two bedrooms as suspects, I sniffed parts of the living room floor on hands and knees. Nothing. 

If you’re imagining me crawling around a dirty floor and stopping to smell it from time to time, your imagination is spot on. Yes, I know it’s gross! This is the unromantic part of the job. When I talk about renovation, people tend to imagine the fun stuff. You know, Joanna Gaines staging a now beautiful home. Yes, that’s part of it, but there’s a lot of dirty (and smelly) work between now and then! 

I made my way to the family room. Under the carpet was old 12” flooring tiles likely to contain asbestos. As a result, the new floating floor will be laid right over the top of the old. A careful visual inspection showed an area, right in front of the fireplace that could have been the source of the odor. 

So, back to my hands and knees. I didn’t have to get too close before I knew I’d found the source! Cleaning and sealing should solve the problem. 

Adams house steps before the carpet was removed.

In the Adams house there was very little carpet, only the staircase and one bedroom. The other floors are wood, concrete, or vinyl. 

We removed the carpet from the bedroom, and again, though the odor improved, it still persisted. I never even thought about the steps until I was sitting on them, cleaning the railings. The smell seemed stronger and sure enough, that carpet was soaked in urine as well.

Yuck! I hurried home to shower and wash those clothes. With all of the carpet removed, the odor improved immensely. 

I’ll clean, then sand and stain the steps, but the bedroom floor was cleaned and sealed. 

There are many opinions for sealing odors, but BIN primer by Zinnser is the absolute best! BIN primer is a shellac based primer with superior stain blocking, odor blocking and adherence properties. I love this stuff! 

I first discovered it twenty years ago. I was on a very tight budget, but desperate to give my dated kitchen a facelift. The cabinets were dark brown, wood grained laminate. They were hideous! I did not think paint would adhere well to that surface, but paint seemed the only affordable option for changing the look. 

That’s when BIN entered my life and it’s never been the same. 

It turns out that in addition to it’s many other benefits, BIN will stick to anything, even glass, tile and laminate. It solved my kitchen dilemma, but I would learn that it’s also exceptional at blocking odors and sealing stains. 

Shellac actually comes from female lac bugs. Crazy huh? Lac bugs live in India and Thailand. The female secretes a resin which she leaves on the trees in which they live. The resin is scraped from the tree, then heated and strained to remove bark. It’s then poured into large, thin sheets and allowed to dry. Once dry it’s broken into flakes. The flakes are ground up and dissolved in ethyl alcohol for use. Shellac primers must also have the naturally occurring wax removed. This is referred to as “de-waxed shellac.” Removing the wax allows other coatings, such as paint to stick to the primer. 

I could go on and on about shellac and probably bore you to tears.  In addition to creating an exceptional primer, before vinyl, shellac was used to make records.  It’s been used to mold trinkets and jewelry, stiffen ballet pointe shoes, and even as a coating for pills and candy. 

I guess I’m kind of a nerd, but I find it absolutely fascinating that something excreted by a bug gives us something so useful and versatile! I also realize that not everyone is as captivated by bug resins as I am. So, if you want to know more about shellac, it’s history and uses, just click this link. 

For the rest of you, just know that BIN primer is the best primer for sealing odors, blocking stains and adhering to shiny and glossy surfaces. 

Adams house bedroom floor sealed with BIN Primer. It should have been applied a little thicker. Normally one coat is sufficient, but in this case, we’ll coat it again.

There are only three downsides to BIN primer:

  1.  It has a strong odor. This is because it’s not water-based. Fortunately, as it dries the odor dissipates and it dries fast. 
  2. It’s runny. Unlike most thick odor and stain blocking primers, BIN is runny, making it a little messy if you aren’t careful.
  3. It’s relatively expensive. At around $42 a gallon, it’s roughly twice the cost of other high quality primers. Still, it’s well worth it.If you need to block odors, including pet, cigarette smoke and fire smells, nothing works better. Imagine sealing a pet odor on a floor, covering that floor with new carpet only to the find the smell returning on humid days. You’d wish you had spend the extra 20 bucks!Similarly, if you need to adhere to a glossy, smooth surface, or hide difficult stains, this is your product. 

For less challenging projects, such as painting over a dark colored wall, I like Kilz premium, or Zinsser’s Bulls Eye 123. Both are excellent primers.

Kilz Premium. An excellent primer.

Adams house entry walls. Tenants had painted chalkboard paint and burgundy, two hard to cover colors.

Adams entry walls Kilz premium primer. Excellent coverage!

(Please note this contains an affiliate link by which This Place I Belong can profit. However, I never recommend a product I don’t believe in.)

If you aren’t concerned about stains and odors, don’t want to bother with primer at all, and want a stunning finish, just reach for a jar of a Maker’s Studio Rescue and Restore paint. No priming needed, even on slick surfaces. You can learn more about it here, or purchase it here. By the way,  A Maker’s Studio is offering a free 12″ x 12″ stencil with the purchase of 3 chalk art paints for a limited time.