Peach Cake

Two posts in one day? Huh?

Mom and I made a peach cake during lunch today (we work out of their house.) I don't know if I've posted the recipe before, but it's good enough to re-post. This recipe comes from my grandmother on my father's side, and was always a favorite in the Piper household. We only had 3 peaches so we added a few plums and some blueberries, hence the weird spots.


NOTE: About a billion times more appetizing than it looks here.

NANNY PIPER’S PEACH CAKE
ingredients

About 3 lbs. peaches, halved, then cut each 1/2 into 4 slices
Crust:
2-1/4 c. sifted, allpurpose flour
3/8 c. white sugar
2-1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/8 c. butter, softened
2 medium eggs
1/4 c. milk
1-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Topping:
3/8 c. white sugar
1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/8 cup melted butter

Glaze:
1/2 c. peach preserves
1-1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice


Directions:
Grease 10-1/2" x 15-1/2" baking pan/sheet. Preheat oven to 350.

In medium bowl, sift flour with sugar, baking powder, and salt. With fork or pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

In a small bowl, beat eggs slightly with fork, then add milk and vanilla. Blend well with fork. Add to flour mixture, beating vigorously with fork until stiff - about one minute. The batter will be quite stiff.

Drop spoonfuls of batter onto greased pan. Cover your hands with flour and work the batter into place in the bottom of the pan as you would a tart.

Arrange peaches in rows over batter to cover completely - thin sides down, slightly overlapping. Place any remaining slices between rows.

Spoon/drizzle all topping over fruit.

Bake 35 minutes, or until fruit is tender and pastry is golden.

Remove to wire rack to cool slightly. In a small skillet, over medium heat, mix peach preserves, and lemon juice. Brush over peaches. Cut between rows of fruit into 10 rectangles.

Miss Me?

Greetings from Summer 2008! I can't believe I haven't posted anything here since January. I'll have to do something about that right now!

Well, it's the end of July and we're right in the midst of harvest season in Delaware and the garden is really starting to pump out veggies. We have tomatoes the size of jelly beans (literally) and tomatoes the size of softballs. We have zucchinis that look like zucchinis, and zucchinis that are obviously not zucchinis but some other kind of squash, mis-labeled at the garden store where we bought them. These mystery squashes are the focus of today's post.


In the foreground, you can see two of these mystery squashes, nothing like the zucchini in the background. When I cut them open, moisture just started oozing out of them. I could tell by the smell that they weren't your typical summer squash - they have a faint pumpkin-y smell to them, like a butternut or acorn squash would.

I kind of made this up on the spot, but it was delicous and worth saving and re-making, so I'll try to re-create it here for you now...



Stuffed Squash

4 mystery squash, carved into bowls
1 lb loose sausage
1 medium sweet onion, chopped roughly
about 3 large cloves garlic, minced roughly
2 pouches Uncle Ben's 90-second brown rice (or 16 oz. cooked brown rice)
about 6 plum tomatoes, diced into large chunks
2 packets Goya Sazón with Tomato and Coriander (this was key) or to taste
reduced-fat cheddar cheese (about 2 T. per squash)

Preheat oven to 350. When hot, put carved squash into oven on greased baking sheet. Allow to bake while prepping the filling, at least 20-30 minutes or until soft.

In a large pan, cook sausage, adding onion, garlic, and finally squash. When squash is nearly done, drain oil from pan, then add Sazon, rice and tomatoes, and cook for another minute or two.

Remove squash from oven and sprinkle about 1 Tbsp. cheddar in the bottom. Fill squash as full as possible with sausage filling. Top with 1 Tbsp. cheddar on each squash. Return to oven and cook until cheese melts.

As prepared:
Calories: 5 million
Sodium: Through the roof
Carbs: Yes, have some.

Note: use of turkey sausage or vegetarian sausage-like product will greatly reduce calorie count.