Just Peachy

Things are very peachy around here, which is not code for any type of emotional state or one of my plucky little metaphors.  I'm literally up to my eyeballs in Jersey peaches.  This is a happy thing, of course, especially because 1. we love peaches and 

2. the box of 45 surplus peaches delivered by my neighbors from the 4H Peach Festival were 

free of charge.  

Of course, peaches that have been ripening in the sun for a few days are soft and full of sugar and perfect for baking, but it must be done quickly.  No time to spare or else they'll be a box of rotting fruit. 

So I got to work immediately.

The girls and I made several peach cobblers, cut and froze a whole slew for smoothies, made homemade ice cream, and pureed some peaches with a little agave nectar and poured into popsicle molds for 'whole fruit' ice pops.

{see recipes below}

You know, part of me wants to be like those perfect blog photos where I display my homemade creations in a very Martha Stewarty, "Pinworthy" way with my provincially chic pottery, the light coming in just so, the effortlessness of my Oh So Beautiful home life that makes you both want to be me and puke on me.

I'll talk about my smoothies with agave, greek yogurt, and flax seed and share my ice cream recipe and maybe show my children lightly dusted with flour and funky $40 aprons and about how I saw this butterfly waiting for me as I stepped outside ...

{true story}

and how my dad saw a rainbow as he was driving to visit me today {another true story} so I DO live in the land of rainbows and butterflies!!  

If I shut my pie hole right now, I could allow your eyes to rest on those perfect images, however I have to let you in behind the curtain.  

I really, really really don't like to cook, plus I'm not very good at it and lots of things always go wrong and I make a huge mess and generally I find nothing relaxing about cooking, mostly because of the 4 kids buzzing around but even without them it's honestly not my favorite past time.  Yet, I do it because that's part of my vision of being a mom and a wife.

So, it was "pretend joy" for the sake of my children when I made an afternoon of baking with them... as I washed and cut a bazillion peaches.  My kids were half naked and wearing cat ears and pouting over who got to do what first half the time.  My kitchen looked like a tornado of brown sugar and flour touched down and 24 hours later is still sticky as fly paper from all the fruit juice literally coating every surface.  This marathon baking session took over 5 hours if you include set up and clean up and frequent breaks for everyone to go potty, making CB's blessed hot dogs, and breaking up squabbles and cooking our actual dinner.  

But if I [ insert pretty picture here ], perhaps all will be lulled into the illusion that I, Susie Homemaker, have everything under control.  

{Sigh}

It felt really awesome to spend so much time and effort only to have all the kids hate the peach cobbler, plus my husband refused to eat it because he's working out again and so we're back to the "good eating" thing.  The girls didn't like the homemade ice cream because I guess it didn't have any Xanthan Gum in there (or gobs of chocolate or candy).  At least 2 of them enjoyed the fruit pops the next day (see recipe below).  Rella's discerning palate distinguished that there was not any high fructose corn syrup in there and was clearly disappointed that the fruit popsicles tasted too much like fruit and

 "I no yike WOOT!"  (translation:  I don't like fruit!)

So, as you can see, trying to be an awesomely domestic Mom has worked out really well for me.  At least I have a few nice pictures to show for it and if you just focus on the eye candy and not read the confessional, I can almost pass my life off as magazine perfect.


Here is Southern Living's Recipe for the Peach Cobbler which turned out very yummy.

{Peach Cobbler}

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup all -purpose flour

2 cups sugar, divided

1 TBSP baking powder

Pinch salt

4 cups fresh peaches, sliced

1 TBSP lemon juice

Ground cinnamon 

Melt butter in a 13"x9 " baking dish.  Combine flour, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder, and salt; then add milk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Pour batter over butter (do not stir).

1. Bring remaining 1 cup sugar, peach slices, and lemon juice to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly; pour over batter (do not stir). Sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired.
2. Bake at 375° for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Serve cobbler warm or cool.

~~~~~~~

I made up the ice pop recipe by throwing peaches, strawberries and a splash of OJ into the food processor with some agave nectar to taste.  Make a puree, spoon it into ice pop BPA-free molds (mine are from Crayola) and have an awesome fresh fruit ice pop that your kids may or may not eat.