Peach-ey Crumbles

Peach Crumbles... It all began with

my sister and niece going peach picking.

They came by with six grocery bags full!

I began sorting the too ripe ones, from the not ripe ones,

from the mushy-fell-on-the ground-must-eat-now-ones.

I was much too busy to even think about taking

pictures at that point in time, so sorry.

I did manage to blanch, peel, slice and bag up 

many to send them home with.  I think they even

gave away a few of the bags to friends afterwards.

And, of course, I was left with some of the peaches (yay!)...

Many of which ended up being blanched, peeled, sliced, and

placed in ziploc bags for my freezer and for another day and time.

I held out 2 lbs. of my sliced peaches for Peach Crumbles.

The recipe came from my copy of Barefoot Contessa At Home.

From it, I made Ina Garten's recipe for Peach and Blueberry Crumbles

but left out the blueberries.  The peaches were

combined with sugar, flour, lemon juice, and lemon zest,

then spooned into individual ramekins.

The crumble for the top was made with flour, sugar, brown

sugar, cinnamon, and cold-diced butter.  It was a much lighter

crumble than those crumbles that include oats. 

They were then baked to over-flowing deliciousness!

A little messy, but I think that gives them their

scratch-made charm!

I always take an opportunity to serve a pretty dessert.

Using pretty plates makes it all seem so special.

I found these beautiful dessert plates at either Ross Dress For Less or

Marshall's in bundles of six.  They look like fine, dainty, china but are in fact

dishwasher and microwave safe.  It doesn't get better than that - pretty AND tastey!

Now, hmmmm what will I do with the other peaches?

This week, I will be joining:


Thank you for visiting and enjoy!

Fondly,
~Karen

A Trio of Patriotic Pies

Happy Independence Day!

I ran across these patriotic pies in Martha Stewart's New Pies and Tarts book

(a gift from my sister) and thought they'd be perfect

and festive for today's celebration.  I deviated

slightly from her recipe by making three different

berry pies - not mixed berries as she suggested - and making

three, not six.  I made only one recipe of her Pate Brisee

(sweetened pie dough) the night before to have ready in the frig. 

It is always nice dividing a task between two days.

(It's even more nice to have the pie dough waiting in the freezer!)

I used my six-inch cast iron skillets which I often use for my Tamale Pie.

As you can see, it takes a lot of rolling and cutting of the

pie dough into stars and stripes stars.  Its important to keep

the cut-out shapes cold until you are ready to use them,

so they will retain their shape when baking.

Once assembled, these were actually kept in the

freezer for an hour prior to baking.

My Blueberry Pie had a top crust made of a ring of stars.

My Blackberry Pie had a top crust of stars and stripes.

My Raspberry Pie had a top crust cut out with stars.
 

 

You can find the recipe for these small patriotic pies on Martha Stewart's website.
The star cutters can be found at Michael's in the fondant cutter section.



Now to concentrate on the food for tonight's celebration...

 

Be sure to go over and check out other patriotic happenings

at Common Ground's Be Inspired! Its a Patriotic Party! which I will be joining.

 

I will also be joining   

 

Thank you for visiting and enjoy your Independence Day!

 

Fondly,

~ Karen