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Chess Pie
Peaches are my favorite summer fruit. I have memories of picking the white peaches off my uncle’s tree and the sticky juice running down to my elbow.
Peaches are best, I think, just peeled and sliced. But, sometimes a cobbler or pie is called for!
Peach Pie
8-10 ripe peaches
1/2 cup sugar
2 T flour
2 Pillsbury pie crusts
Combine peach chunks, flour and sugar in a saucepan. Cook until the mixture becomes thick.
Pour into one unbaked pie crust. Top with the second crust. Prick holes in the crust and top with a little butter and sugar.
Bake at 350 degrees until crust browns, approx. 20-30 minutes.
| The zucchini are now coming in from our garden. I have sautéed and fried them, but by far our favorite way to eat them is in bread. This bread is so sweet, moist and delicious. I doubled the recipe and froze four loaves. |
| I just used an old fashioned grater for grating the zucchini. Watch your fingers and knuckles, though! |
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| The batter is very thick. |
 Zucchini Bread 2 2/3 cups sugar 2/3 cups shortening 3 cups shredded zucchini (about 2 medium) 2/3 cup water 4 eggs 3 1/3 cups all purpose flour 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 2/3 cup coarsely chopped nuts 2/3 cup raisins (I omitted the nuts and raisins) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans. Mix sugar and shortening. Stir in zucchini, water and eggs. Mix in flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and baking powder: stir in nuts and raisins. Pour into pans. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 60-70 minutes; cool 5 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans. Cool completely before slicing. |
Recipe from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook
Today is a good day for chicken and dumplings. It’s cold and rainy….and it’s Monday. Comfort food is on the horizon for tonight.
There are just a few little tricks for making chicken and dumplings from scratch:
* Use a big, fat hen. This will give more flavor to the dish. I boil the whole hen on medium/low for a couple of hours and then let it sit in the broth. It will fall off the bone at that point.
* Let the dumplings cook in the broth until they have a slick look and feel. This is one of the things that frustrated me until I realized what I was doing wrong. If they’re not cooked long enough, they will be fat, doughy and chewy.
* Use plain flour and water for the dumplings. That’s it!
Step 1
Cook the hen in boiling, salted water. When it has finished cooking, remove from pot and place in a large dish. Let cool and start on the dumplings.
Step 2
I really don’t measure the flour, but approximately 4 cups for our family. Make a well in the center of the flour. This is where you will pour your water to start making the dough.
Step 3
I add one cup of water at a time. Turn the bowl slowly as you incorporate the flour into the water. Add more water as needed.
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| Boil a whole chicken in salted water. I like to put the lid on it and simmer it for a couple of hours. That makes it really tender and keeps it moist. |
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| Add onions, celery and about 3 chicken bouillon cubes while the chicken is cooking….
After the chicken has cooked, remove it from the pan and let it cool. Now, it’s time to start adding the vegetables. I add frozen corn, frozen green peas, potatoes, savoy cabbage (1/2 head) and a jar of home canned tomatoes. If you don’t have home canned, a couple of cans of whole tomatoes will work fine. |
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| Veggies ready to be chopped |
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| I add 1/2 head of Savoy cabbage. It cooks down and you can’t even tell it’s in the soup, but it adds a nice flavor. |
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| Add a jar of home-canned tomatoes (or whole canned tomatoes from the store) |
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| Fresh carrots – about 3 |
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| A couple of potatoes |
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| Frozen peas |
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| Frozen limas |
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| Frozen corn |
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| Chop up the cabbageAfter the chicken has cooked, I turn off the heat and let it sit for about an hour with the lid on. This makes it nice and tender. Then, I remove the chicken from the broth and add the vegetables. After the vegetables have cooked, I add the deboned chicken back to the broth. Salt and pepper to taste. |
Yesterday was a banana bread kind of day. It was sleeting and cold and the bread baking made the house smell wonderful. We’re not big banana eaters. When I buy a bunch, they just sit on the platter. Waiting to be made into bread, I guess.
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| From our garden (2011) |
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| Submerge tomatoes a few at a time into boiling water. 30 seconds should be plenty of time. There is no need to put them in ice water. Just let them cool a few minutes before removing the peeling. |
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| As you can see, these skins are ready to slide right off. Core them, peel and then put into a saucepan. |
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| Wash jars, bands and lids in hot, soapy water. |
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| Sterilize jars and bands (only wash the rubberized lids). |
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* Cook the tomatoes until they are bubbly.
* Using a wide mouth funnel, ladle the tomatoes into the jars.
* Using a plastic knife, run down the inside of the jars to remove any air pockets.
* Add a teaspoon each of sugar, salt and lemon juice to the jars after you have ladled in the tomatoes.
* Wipe the rim clean with a paper towel or cloth. Put on a hot lid and a sterilized band.
* Put jars into a hot water bath for 10-15 minutes, or follow the instructions on your recipe.
* Remove jars and put on the counter to cool.
*You will hear a ‘pop’ and that means that the jars have sealed. If the jar doesn’t seal within a few hours, go ahead and refrigerate and use within a few days.
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| Finished for the day! I will use these for soups, spaghetti sauces, chili – the possibilities are endless.
Happy Canning! |
Freezing peas or any vegetable, for that matter (except potatoes) is such an easy process. The only real time consuming part is the shelling.
By the time I got around to making a picture, I had already shelled these. But, this gives you an idea of what to look for if you make a trip to the Farmer’s Market. Purple Hull really means what it says. 
Beware, though! Your fingers will turn purple! It will wear off in a couple of days.
Aren’t they beautiful? These are just shelled and ready for the freezing process.
Put the peas into a pot of boiling water. Let them boil for a couple of minutes.
Have a large bowl of ice water ready. The ice water will cool the peas and stop the cooking process.
Drain the peas in a colendar and then pur them immediately into the ice water. It won’t take long for them to cool. Remove the ice with a slotted spoon and drain the peas once more in the colendar.
I have always frozen produce in plastic freezer bags, but this year I found these freezer containers in the canning section. Leave a little room at the top, because they will expand when they freeze. Â
Zuzu and Papa 
