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.

The timing was terrible. I’d hope to have the mess cleaned up and the evidence destroyed before anyone knew what I’d done. I was in the kitchen, getting a bucket and a rag when I heard a voice, “What happened here?”

It was my brother. He was dropping off ice for the party I hosted here last night. In November, my parents will mark 50 years of marriage, but we celebrated it last night.

I’d baked two pies Friday. I wanted to share the recipe with you and I thought it would be nice to have them for dessert when we all gathered for dinner at my mom’s house on Friday evening.

I was rushing out the door, a pie in each hand, when a daughter called to me. Sadly, when I stopped to change directions and head back inside, one of the pies failed to make the turn. It ended up face down on the concrete and that was the mess my brother found.

I took the remaining pie to my mom’s house anyway. My Great-Grandmother’s Fresh Strawberry pie is as much of a family heirloom as the antique dresser that stands in my closet. There wasn’t really enough to go around and the competition for a piece of the pie was fierce.

This has become a quintessential summer dessert in our family, right up there with homemade vanilla ice cream.  Give it a try. You won’t be disappointed!

Perfect Pie Crust

Makes 1 double-crust 9 inch pie

(Recipe from The Martha Stewart Cookbook)

Many years ago, while embarking on a quest for the perfect pie crust, I found this recipe in a Martha Stewart cookbook. It is hands down the best pie crust recipe I have ever tasted.

The original recipe described both a hand mix method and a food processor method. I’ve developed my own method using my Kitchen Aid. It calls for unsalted butter, but I’ve used salted interchangeably with equal success.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) chilled butter

3 tablespoons chilled shortening

1/4 cup ice water

Kitchen Aid Method:

Cut the butter into 1/2” pieces. Place it in the bowl of a Kitchen Aid mixer. Add the shortening then the flour and salt and pulse to mix. Gradually, a drop or two at a time, add the ice water. Mix only until all the flour is incorporated.

Do not over-mix. There should be chunks of butter visible.

Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.

Hand Method:

If you don’t have a heavy duty stand mixer, this can easily be mixed by hand.

Place the butter pieces, shortening, flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Use a pastry knife to cut the butter and shortening into the flour until it resembles very course meal and small chunks of butter are still visible. Add the water drop by drop until, pressing the dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.

Remove the crust from the refrigerator. If it’s chilled for a very long time, allow it to rest for 10 minutes before handling.

Lightly flour a work surface. Divide the pastry into two balls. Pat each piece into a flat round then roll the dough until it’s 1/8” thick and slightly larger than a pie plate.

Fold dough in half and lift into the pie plate. Crimp the edges. Using a fork, pierce the dough around the edges and across the bottom.

Line the pie plate with heavy duty aluminum, so the dough does not shrink when baking.

Bake at 415 degrees until the pie is slightly golden, approximately 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until golden brown.

Cool.

Granny’s Fresh Strawberry Pie

Make the Puree

2 cups fresh strawberry puree. An immersion blender or food processor work well to make the puree

1 cup of granulated sugar

1/3 cup of corn starch

1 1/2 cup of warm water

Place the berries and sugar in a pan.

Mix the corn starch with warm water and stir until smooth.

Add to the berries and whisk until well incorporated. The mixture will be cloudy.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly and cook until thick and slightly more clear.

Set aside and allow to cool. The pan can be placed in a cold water bath to speed the cooling.

Make the Cream Cheese Mix

Mix 2 packages of cream cheese with 1 cup of powered sugar and blend until smooth.

Place half of the mix into each of the cooled pie crusts and smooth evenly.

Final Steps

Clean fresh strawberries and remove the stems. If the berries are small, leave them whole. If they are large, cut them in half from top to bottom.

Place fresh strawberries evenly around the cream cheese mixture.

Top with the cooled puree and refrigerate for several hours.

Serve with whipped cream.

Tip: When strawberries are in season and more affordable, puree the strawberries. Place 2 cups in a freezer bag and freeze. When ready to use, thaw, add the other ingredients and proceed with the recipe.

Printable version can be found here.

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It’s a beautiful day in southern Colorado. The sun is shining. The sky is blue. The warm weather beckoned us outside reminding us why we choose this little piece of God’s good earth to call home.

Today, I look at my dining room table, laden with fresh fruits and vegetables and it reminds me of another place I once called home. Because I live in a remote community, it can be a challenge to keep my fridge stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables. But, in that other place, half way around the world, it wasn’t so. I had 4 grocery stores within a two minute walk of my house.

On Saturday mornings, I’d hop on my bike and head to the local outdoor market. I’d buy no less than twenty-five  pounds of fresh fruit each week and by week’s end, my five little ones would have eaten through all of it! When you limit snacks to fruits and vegetables, kids tend to eat more of these nutritious foods.

My bike was equipped with saddlebags that straddled the back tires. These I’d load with fruit and vegetables. French bread, maybe some pastries, as a treat for the kids, and fresh flowers would fill the basket that hung from my handlebars. Flowers. Three dozen roses. Every. Single. Week. For less than I pay now for a latte! Yes, fresh flowers are a wonderful benefit of living in Holland!

A slamming door abruptly interrupts my thoughts and brings me back to the present. I look out the window to see a couple of my girls, unable to resist this beautiful day, head outside to ride their horses.

I turn my attention once again to the bounty before me. In Holland, it was easy to have a constant supply of fresh produce. And while there are a multitude of things to love about my home here in Colorado, having fresh produce has proven to be a little bit challenging.

One thing that has helped was discovering Bountiful Baskets.

Bountiful Baskets is a food co-op for purchasing fresh produce. It’s available in communities all over the country and offered either weekly or bi-weekly. Participants reserve their basket on Monday or Tuesday and pick it up the following weekend at a designated time and place.

I like Bountiful Baskets for a couple of reasons. I love that it’s a community event. Members of the community work together to receive and distribute the baskets, and it’s fun to bump into friends and acquaintances during the pick-up time.

Another benefit to the Baskets is the variety. I never know what the basket will contain and occasionally I get vegetables I normally wouldn’t buy. Because I’m frugal and hate waste, this encourages me to try new things and find new recipes.

In addition to their regular produce baskets, and organic alternative is available and they sometimes offer bread, and local honey as well.

Finally, Bountiful Baskets are affordable. This week I made an itemized list of the things in my basket and priced them at King Soopers (Krogers) in the nearest town. I paid $18.00 for my basket. Had I purchased these items at Kings, I would have paid in excess of $23.00, even with their current sale prices. That’s a savings of 22%.

For a family on a budget, that can make a huge difference over the course of the year. The best part for me though, is that I didn’t have to go to the store! Maybe, with the time I saved, I’ll head outside and enjoy some Colorado sunshine!

Check out Bountiful Baskets here. If you try it, let me know what you think.

Do you ever get the end of the day and suddenly you’re faced with the question … “Mom, what’s for dinner.” Too often my response is, “I have no earthly idea. I haven’t even started to think about it.” Sometimes, if there’s a selection of leftovers in the fridge I might say, “Tonight is fend for yourself.” Usually this is met with groans and complaints. The exception is if I was considering something they didn’t particularly like, then the response is rather enthusiastic.

If we don’t have leftovers, my mind races through the possibilities and quickly discards several ideas that would have been great if only I’d considered this earlier and taken something out of the freezer. But I didn’t. And now it’s dinner time and I need to come up with something fast.

In Northern Europe, north of Belgium and nestled between Germany and the North Sea lies the kingdom of The Netherlands, commonly referred to as Holland. It’s a tiny country, roughly the size of Maryland. It’s known for windmills, wooden shoes, tulips, cheese, Blue delft, canals and bicycles. Once upon a lifetime I had the privilege of living there for a few years. It’s a beautiful country, wet, green and picturesque.

While the Dutch are not known for their cuisine, that does not mean there isn’t delicious dutch food. One of our favorites is Pannenkoeken, or dutch pancakes.

While Americans enjoy pancakes for breakfast, in Holland they are found on the dinner table. More like a crepe than an American pancake but thicker than French Crepes they are often savory rather than sweet and topped with things like cheese, onions, peppers, mushrooms and ham or bacon. It’s much like choosing toppings for a pizza.

Traditionally, the Pannenkoeken is drizzled with hot molasses. If you try this at home, please don’t skip this! Molasses with ham, cheese, and vegetables might sound unappetizing. It did to me when I was first tried it, but its delicious! Leaving out the molasses would be like skipping the whipped cream on the pumpkin pie. You can do it and it would still taste good, but it would fall somewhere short of awesome!

Because my pallet still hasn’t matured beyond the point where vegetables can be enjoyed rather than merely tolerated, and then only on rare occasions, I eat my Pannenkoeken with ham and cheese, but bacon and cheese are exquisite as well.

It’s a perfect meal for those nights when the day managed to get away from you and you find yourself scrambling to put a meal on the table in a hurry. It’s also great when your little, (or not little) eaters have varying likes and dislikes. Each family member can customize their Pannenkoeken to suit his or her own tastes.

Pannenkoeken – Dutch Pancakes

Because Holland is a European country and uses the metric system, some of the measurements provided are in metric. An electric scale is both easy to use and accurate. If you don’t have one, I’ve provided Imperial conversions. 

250 grams self-rising flour, or 250 grams plus 2 teaspoons of baking powder 

(2 cups of sifted flour is roughly equivalent to 250 grams of flour)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

450 ml milk (scant 2 cups)

40 gram of butter melted or oil (generous 2 tablespoons)

Place the flour and baking powder (if not using self-rising) in a bowl with the sugar and salt. Mix the egg, milk and butter or oil in a separate bowl. Gradually add 1/2 of the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Continue adding the remaining liquid ingredients slowly. 

Heat a skillet to medium heat. Lightly butter or oil a skillet or griddle then pour the batter onto the hot pan and swirl to coat.

I use this 14″, round, cast iron griddle. It’s great for pizza too! To flip, I use an icing spatula similar to this one. The narrow profile allows me to get under the Pannenkoeken and lift without tearing it. 

Cook until the underside is lightly browned. Loosen the edges then flip. 

Sprinkle the Pannenkoeken with cheese, ham and other toppings of your choice.

Alternatively, all toppings with the exception of the cheese can be added as soon as the batter is added to the pan. Cook until the other side is slightly brown, flip the Pannenkoeken and cook the second side. Flip again, add cheese and cover until the cheese is melted. If you are adding a lot of toppings, this method makes it easier to flip as the toppings cook into the batter. 

Drizzle with warmed molasses. Enjoy! 

You can find a printable version of the recipe here. Or, if you really want to keep this quick and easy, you can buy a Pannenkoeken mix here. When your family bites into this deliciousness, I promise you, no one will care if you used a boxed mix or measured the flour yourself.

Tonight when my girls ask, “What’s for dinner?” I won’t hesitate. Pannenkoeken!

The Loafer’s Loaf

It’s a funny thing, this season of my life, where kids are growing and the family structure is changing. It affects everything, from when I go to bed at night, to planning holidays and vacations, to what I cook and how I shop.

When the kids were young I often made homemade bread. Few things are as quintessentially homey as the smell of freshly baked bread. Somewhere along the line, I baked less until eventually the kids came to refer wistfully to the days when mom used to bake bread.

Recently, my daughter, Katie, texted to tell me that she had baked one of my bread recipes! I was proud of her and more than a little bit happy that she was choosing to continue that tradition. I was also challenged to make time to bake.

So I did.  Several times recently I’ve pulled out my big mixing bowl, and one of my enameled cast iron pans and baked this recipe. There are several versions of this no-knead recipe on the internet. But in case you’ve missed it, or forgotten how simple and delicious it is, here it is again.

I call it the Loafer’s Loaf. It’s for those of us who are just a little bit lazy, or maybe we just have too much on our plates. It can quite literally be mixed in less than 10 minutes. It requires another 5-10 minutes of effort after the initial rising period. And that’s it. Really! That’s all it takes to have delicious homemade, fragrant bread.

This artisan loaf is crusty on the outside, chewy on the inside and the perfect accompaniment to anything, but I especially like it with soups. Katie also reports that it makes a phenomenal pizza crust!

Serves 8  (I doubled the recipe for my large loaf)

INGREDIENTS

•3 cups all-purpose flour

•1½ teaspoons salt

•½ teaspoon instant yeast

•1½ cups room temperature water

INSTRUCTIONS

• In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and yeast together until mixed. Stir in the water until a chunky, thick dough forms. If it needs a little more water you can add a little more, but just enough to get it barely wet throughout. If it looks like a sticky, pasty mess, you’ve done it just right! Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for at least 12 hours. I typically mix it up in the evening and cook it for dinner the next day.

• When you’re ready to bake, pre-heat the oven to 450. Place an enamel coated cast iron pan in the oven for about 30 minutes to heat. (I have also used non-enameled cast iron with great success.) The dough should have risen in size, be fairly wet and sticky and have little bubbles across the surface. Gently scrape the dough out onto a well-floured surface. (Don’t forget … NO KNEAD.) Gently shape it into a ball with flour on the outside. (I usually use my pastry knife to turn in through the flour a couple of times.) Set the dough on a piece of parchment, and cover with plastic while your pan heats up.

• Remove the pre-heated pan from the oven then remove the plastic from the dough. Lift the dough and parchment together into the pan so the parchment lines the bottom of the hot pan. This pan is HOT, so be careful not to touch it’s sides. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and bake another 10-15 minutes. This will form the golden, crusty, beautiful exterior of the loaf. And THAT’S IT! You’re done! All you have to do now if gather together friends and family and enjoy!

Next week I’ll share my mom’s No-Knead Cinnamon Roll recipe. Like the Loafer’s Loaf, there’s No-kneading needed and it is the best recipe for cinnamon rolls I’ve ever had!

Click here for the printable recipe.