Peach Pie

Peach Pie

1 prepared pie crushed (your favorite homemade or store bought works)

6 peaches, peeled and sliced
1/4 teaspoons almond extract

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt
couple pats of butter (to be placed on top of filling)

Slice peaches directly into pie crust. Pour almond extract on peaches and stir to evenly coat the peaches. In a separate bowl mix the remaining ingredients together and pour over peaches. Slice small pats of the butter to lay on top of the pie filling and cover with the top layer of pie crust. Pinch edges together to seal the sides.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then turn oven to 325 for the remaining 45 minutes. A trick to keep the edges from browning is wrap small strips of tin foil around them.

Pies don't have to be boring.......I used a cookie cutter to decorate the top of my peach pie with cute little stars!

Enjoy!

Peaches...peaches....peaches....

Peaches...peaches....peaches....

It's that time of year again...fresh juicy peaches. We normally can peaches but this year I wanted to try to freezing them. So far it has been a success. The benefit to freezing vs. canning is enjoying the texture of having fresh peach pie and peaches 'n cream this winter!

 This is how I did it. Dip the peaches into boiling water for about 45 seconds. Then transferred them to a sink full of ice water. Once they cool, peel and sliced them in half and disposed of the pit. I let the halves soak in a very lite syrup to avoid them turning brown. The syrup mixture was a 3:1 mixture of water and sugar....(i.e. 3 cups boiling water + 1 cup sugar) plus a splash of lemon juice!

Divided the peaches into freezer ziplock bags. Be sure the syrup covers the peaches to prevent freezer burnt peaches and get all the air out of the bags like so:...

I filled each of my bags with about 5-6 cups of peaches. This is the perfect amount for my cobbler, kuchen, and pie recipe.

I hope you have enjoyed my first time freezing peaches adventure!!

Grape Salad

 It's simple, and simply awesome!

Grape Salad

Grapes

8 oz cream cheese - softened

8 oz sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

crushed pecans - optional

Beat cream cheese, sugars, and vanilla together. Add grapes (washed) and pecans. Stir until evenly coated. I used a whole bag of grapes and it seemed as though I could have used more. We fell in love with this salad last night. What a treat.

Enjoy!