Beautiful Fall Plum Compote

I love fall. I'm so excited it is finally here! And with it, came tons of lovely purple Italian Plums from sister-in-law's garden. My digestive track wasn't handling as many a day that I wanted to eat, so I decided I'd better come up with a plan quickly to preserve these beauties for future consumption...

First I made a quick galette yesterday. Yum! Then today I decided to make a compote  so that I can freeze it for later consumption.

I just cut up my plums, put them in a pot with 1/2 cup water and a few tbs sugar (added to taste) then let all that goodness simmer for 20 minutes or so until mushy.

I can't wait to put it on pancakes, waffles, crepes, muffins, toast, stir into oatmeal, on vanilla ice cream, etc, etc, etc.

More about Homemade Baby Food

All you avid fans out there may remember me mentioning
making baby food at home. I recall someone commented
saying that I was now becoming a "hippie" because of it.
Actually, I do it to save money, save time,
and to feed my baby healthier things than overly
processed foods. This is a shot of some
red beans, peas, and carrots. YUM!

Here is a cool video I found explaining how to make your own
baby food. My favorite part is at the end.
Lets just say: bird food....
Other than that it's a great video.
Good luck all you Hippie Moms!

Peach Bread

I've been trying to figure out what to do with all these cans of peach halves I accidentally bought and this recipe was a perfect solution. When I told Scott I was making peach bread I could tell he was not too excited about it. But once it was done baking and he'd had his first piece, he kept asking me if he could eat more (of course!). He's so polite. I made some adjustments and I list them after the directions. Click on the title to go to the recipe site and change recipe amounts, etc. Good luck!

* 3 eggs
* 2 cups white sugar
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 2 cups diced canned peaches, drained
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs lightly. Blend in the sugar, oil, and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; mix just to combine. Stir in the peaches and nuts. Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 1 hour, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.


My alterations: I halved the recipe so I'd only make 1 loaf (you can do that at the website, linked to the title of this post), but I used 2 eggs instead of the suggested 1 1/2 (how do you 1 1/2 an egg?!). I also used pecans instead of walnuts. And on another peach bread recipe at that recipe website someone listed a topping of 2TBS chopped pecans and 2TBS brown sugar. I mixed those and added a little cinnamon, then added it to the top of the bread before baking, hence the pretty topping in the photo. Also, I think a little almond extract would be great in the dough, but I forgot to add it. Let me know how it turns out if you try it. I know you'll love it!

Enchilada Casserole

The picture is not that appetizing, but it really tasted good and it was pretty easy to make. Click on the title to be taken to the recipe. Things that I changed: I doubled the tomato sauce and all spices and omited the water (I like a lot of sauce), I used maybe 10+- small corn tortillas, and I omitted the olives (just for Scott). It makes enough for a 9x13 pan. I took it to a potluck and it went over well, then made it again just for us and we ate it all (over a few days). Let me know how it goes if you decide to try it.