No Peach for the Wicked.....A Wicked Simple Peach Pie

First you need in season peaches. There is no comparison to grocery store peaches or frozen grocery store peaches. In my world those are not really peaches. Pretend such things do not exist and the world will be a better place.

I can fresh Missouri peaches in July and August at the peak of their peachy juicy yumminess. These peaches, canned in sparkling jars will do. Sigh, in a pinch glass jar peaches from the grocery store will work but only the glass jar ones. Think I am being snobby? These are peaches we are talking about.

Once upon a time I did not understand the glory of peaches. I just thought they were.... meh. One sunny morning Chad and I set off in newly wedded bliss to the farmer's market. It was a hot July morning in Iowa, crowds send me in a panic, but Chad was on a mission. I said peaches were no big deal. He had to prove me wrong. 

Oh. He handed me the most perfect round globe of deliciousness, bite already out of one side because he had to taste test it to make sure it was perfectly ripe. The sweet-sour juices ran down my cheeks as I gobbled it. It was like eating sunshine. I wanted more. We ordered peach trees for our city garden. Not the 36 peach trees I wanted as I calculated exactly how many trees would fit in our urban lot. I no longer wanted spinach or tomatoes.....just peaches. Forever peaches.

I do now have my 36 peach trees and room for more. Mmmmmm...peaches.

Peach pie, however, eluded my grasp. It never turned out just right! How unfair!

Then I realised that most peach pie recipes work with inferior peaches. Just like with everything in my kitchen, scaling back was going to be the key, working with the best ingredients and highlighting the pure flavours instead of hiding them in spices. 

So you need peaches. About 4 for a typical pie. More if they are small. This equals 1 quart of canned peaches at my house.

RECIPE FOR FILLING:

4 large ripe and sliced peaches
1/4 cup of raw sugar.
Lemon juice (one lemon's worth or 1.5 T)
a pinch of sea salt
a teaspoon of almond extract
4 T of cornstarch

Pie dough recipe at the end of this post.

Put filling in pie tin lined with crust dough. Top with dough in whatever design you choose, just not a solid sheet. The peach filling needs lots of venting. That's a pro tip. Brush with milk or melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

350 degrees, middle rack. Bake until browned (about 45 minutes).

Sometimes I get fancy and add vanilla bean salt to the top with the sugar, but just because.

That is the filling. You could add some cinnamon, ginger, or allspice, but it isn't needed. The bright flavour of the peaches stand on their own.

This is the pie crust recipe here.

2 cups of flour
1 stick of butter, frozen
4 T of fresh farm rendered lard, frozen
1 T of raw sugar
1 T of salt

Cut by hand or food processor and then add 1/4 of ice water or buttermilk until doughy. Then roll out and work fast.

That's it. Really.

Ticket To Ride

So, for this upcoming trip, I will be taking the bus. The Megabus, to be exact. I have never traveled by bus and certainly never for 36 hours. There are restrictions on luggage too, no checking a large suitcase allowed.

That got me thinking about travel and necessities. I'll be gone 10 days. The island does not have laundry

Lucky for me, I am very no fuss about my hair and don't wear makeup. I'll bring ballet flats that fit into a pocket and wear my boots and jeans and sweater and coat. Those are the bulkiest of things needing to be packed. The weather where I am going will be warmer than here. I managed to pack 7 outfits into one backpack with room for my computer and chargers and cords and a book.

Travel light.

I got some great tips from friends on how to do this. The best one was to use gallon ziplock bags. All my clothes fit into four, then I sat on them to vaccum seal. I could not fit an extra sweater, so I wore two. I have mixed feelings about how that is working out!

This is my knee room. Ouch.

Deconstructed and Sacred Space

When we deconstructed the holiday tree, Lily took the ornaments and lights upstairs to storage, only the lights did not make it.....

She already had a strand of LED lights under her bunk bed, she thought three more would be that much better!

Truly, it is magical. She has a bean bag, her art supplies, her nature displays with bones and shells. It is a lovely and calming place to be. Somehow she found my Good Will Hunting soundtrack and chose Elliot Smith as her background music. So so soft and cooing.

I will look for more things to help her create this sacred space for herself. Having a special, calming space is so very important. One of the reasons we made the office into her own bedroom was to give her some of this for herself, a place she could have her not baby safe things, a place to be the big kid.

She still finds her way to the little kids' room in the night, so not to be alone. That doesn't mean she doesn't need this other place though.

Post a Day Fail

I have been breaking a record here, cleaning and laundry and spending time with the kids to not just get caught up but get ahead. It isn't actually working. Things are still chaos and still unkempt. Bah.

I leave in 6 days. 2 of those are ballet/girlscout/playgroup/freezer swap days. 1 is actual day of departure. 1 is church. So, really I have two days left to get all my classroom grading, announcements done, clean the house 30 more times, and get the laundry wrangled.

I am falling into bed early and that means no blogging. That's not what I need. I need to stay true to my own promise, not self sabotage.

So, here are the things I am worried about:
Holly's first loose tooth. If she looses it while I am gone, my heart is going to break a little.
Lily. She's jealous of my trip. She has said this very clearly. She wants to go too and does not understand why she can't.
Isaac. Never been away from me except for one time when he spent one night at Grampa and Nana's house.

I'm not worried about Chad. I'll hide all the duct tape before I go. Why? The kids might use it on him. He'll put up a good fight and eventually they will let him loose. Right?

That's all. Chad is capable and a wonderful dad. That doesn't mean it will be easy or that they won't miss me or that they will keep the house clean, but they will all be fine.

Still, I am going to miss them like crazy..... while I am having a great time.

So, onward!