I never got a chance to post the peach cobbler recipe that I did on the blog and pictures- (I ended up in the hospital the next day, kinda slipped my mind).

I couldn’t eat this due to the complications I was having, so Ray took it to work– his coworkers kept asking if it was iced or what made the topping so delicious…. I told him to tell them “Magic”.

So, sorry for the delay, but here it is!

6-8 peaches, peeled, sliced
1C water, 1C sugar

Boil peach slices, 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar to soften them up. Once they’re to a softer consistency, drain the peaches but RESERVE 1/4 Cup of the juice

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

Pour butter into a 8×8 baking dish; set aside.

Remaining Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cinnamon to flavor

In a mixing bowl, combine 1 cup sugar, flour, milk, baking powder and salt; mix well. Pour over butter in baking dish. Spoon hot peaches over batter. (Don’t worry, the batter is self-rising, it’ll bake right!)

Sprinkle with remaining sugar and then sprinkle the top of sugar with cinnamon (to your liking, but don’t overdo it)

Bake at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes or until cake tests done. Serve warm.

All righty, so here’s what I did with the peaches I picked from the farm the other day! Sorry, my camera isn’t the best, the lighting stinks, and using the flash makes it so you can’t see anything… sorry for dark yellow pictures.

Do not miss the last step in this recipe, it is the most important part.

Peach Preserves Recipe:

12 peaches, 4 1/2 cups sugar, 1 package of pectin.

• Dice up peaches into manageable cubes
• Heat up 1 cup of peaches in large pot, once heated, mash to a pulp with a masher.   Pour in rest of peaches.
  As they heat up, they’ll get softer and softer. Mash as you go. I would let them cook for 10 minutes or so, mash some more, walk away for another 10, mash some more. You want some bits and pieces left.
• Remove from stove, place peaches bowl and measure 6 cups back into pot. Don’t worry if you’re a little shy or over, only worry if you’re majorly shy like a full cup or something.
• Slowly stir in 4 1/2 cups sugar and mix thoroughly. Bring back to a medium boil and allow it to boil for 10 minutes, stir occasionally.  If you have too many chunks, just mash it some more.
• Add in pectin and boil for 1 minute.
• Grab sterilized jars/lids/bands- This recipe made just shy of 4 PINT jars.
• Using a canning jar lifter (NOT YOUR BARE HANDS), and a wide-mouth funnel, pour in preserves one ladle full at a time.  Please do not touch the jar sides unless you want serious burns and the chance of dropping a jar of boiling fruit all over your legs and arms. I know this from experience!!!! It HURTS!
• put on lids and screw down tight.
• Wash pot (or grab a second one), fill with water and bring to hard boil.
• Add sealed jars to boiling water for 10 minutes.
  
• Remove when done with lifters. The lids will be popped out for awhile, but after a bit you’ll check on them and find they’ve sealed down. Sometimes you even hear the lids pop.

• Now, this is THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP–
  Crack open a jar, make some toast, spread warm preserves on toast.
  Do NOT eat it. Give it to your spouse. When he/she goes nuts over your hard work, tell them “Great, glad you love it, you’ve got dishes tonight!”

This is time consuming, but it’s always enjoyable.  You’ll love the work you put into it, knowing there’s nothing processed or nasty added to it for preservatives.

I got up early this morning and made my way to Schnepf Farms for their U-pick peach festival. I meant to go last month but missed their opening event, then I saw their announcement on FB that they were opening the last orchard today. EEEP!

They opened up at 7:30am, it wasn’t too packed but there were families there with young kids (some running barefoot with nice muddy feet, lol! Others with peach juice dripping down their little chins, so cute).

I heard one couple says they were going to make a peach pie that they’d gotten a recipe for. I said “You’re gonna share that recipe, right?”  She laughed, thought I was joking… I wasn’t but that’s okay, I can find one online.  Still would have been nice to actually get the recipe and a general chit-chat in an orchard but I digress.

So I made my way down the orchard. I got a bunch of peaches, mainly to make peach preserves for the family, and a few to eat. (Which I did have one on the way home, couldn’t resist! NOM!)

(Yes, that’s my hand, it was the very first one I picked)

I was looking for slightly under-ripe peaches (that’s what my recipe calls for) and found plenty. I found a few that were really ripe but the majority did have slightly green tops which is what I needed anyway.

Once I had everything I wanted, I headed up to the cash-out area. They had everyone use boxes that they pre-tared out for weighing but I didn’t want to take the box home so I pulled everything out once I paid and moved them over to my awesome ChickyPoo bag that my sister-in-law, Heather, made for me. Heather’s awesome, she makes soy-candles, incense, bath salts and crafts (go like her FB page (Flames and Wicks) and like her page for me!!!)

I really need to get a peach tree on the ranch.. and plum, and orange. We have apple trees trying to start up right now. We’ll have to wait till summers over to plant any more though.

When I go to make the preserves, I’ll take plenty of pictures of what I’m doing, it’s really easy, just peaches, sugar and pectin. I should have those done within a week and have a post up for that.