A Taste of Summer :: Peach Crumb Bars

It is Peach season and our young little tree produced some big beautiful peaches this summer.

Not quite enough for canning but plenty to just slice up in a bowl with maybe a drizzle of cream on top or even as a topping for ice~cream and then of course some reserved for baking. 

After eating one, because of course who can resist eating a fresh warm peach picked right off the tree, it was hard to decide what to make first so crumb bars it was since those are always so quick and simple.

They are also easy to serve which is another good reason for choosing to make crumb bars. You will need some little napkins though because they are, well, a bit crumbly.

In addition, these peachy little treats are quick and easy to make which is especially nice if you are short on time.

I went a bit conservative on the filling for this batch as I have so many peach recipes I want to make and a limited amount of fresh peaches from our tree. The bars were still plenty Peachy though, however, once our tree has its first bumper crop it will be temping to increase the amount of filling, at least a little bit. 

A taste of summer in each little square. It doesn’t get better than that!

Happy last day of August!

fresh from the garden: Oven Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

Our tomatoes took a little longer to ripen this summer for some reason but they are finally ready and there are a lot of them.

Mr. Wonderful likes to make big batches of fresh tomato sauce each summer and then freeze it for later use. We are still doing that however he decided last week to try making some fresh Oven Roasted Tomato Basil Soup as well since we had so many ripe tomatoes all at once. 

We also have plenty of fresh basil too so he picked a handful to put in the soup.

Most of our tomatoes this year are Roma which are great for cooking and perfect for sauce and soup. He sliced a bunch in half and spread them out, skin side down, on a large baking pan along with some cloves of garlic. The first time he tried lining the pan with parchment paper but decided not to use it on the second batch and did not notice a difference in taste, texture or clean up. 

The tomatoes were baked at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes or until the tomatoes and cloves were beginning to brown. 

In the meantime, he sliced up a couple onions.

Then he cooked them in a little olive oil until they began to brown.

Once the onions were ready he added the roasted tomatoes, garlic and all the juice from the baking pan and then blended it all together. It was absolutely wonderful. In fact, he made another batch the following day but this time he removed all the tomato skins after baking which we both liked a little better. 

Either way it turned out great and I am sure he will be making it again and freezing some just in time for fall. My hope is that he will write it down so that I can make a batch now and then however it is really nice when he does the cooking.

Happy Wednesday!

DIY flip flop card

There has been little flip flopping about the weather this summer. It has just been plain hot so we are in our Flip Flops most of the time or at least I am, if I am not barefoot that is. 

The so called lazy days of summer are upon us so I thought, why not make a cute summer themed card. A great project for a warm day. 

It is fun to decorate the inside of the card too so I used a punch to make the itty bitty tag and I happened to have a tiny flip flop rubber stamp which was perfect! The small flower I cut out of the background paper to embellish the tag and a piece of orange bakers twine for the string.

This little note card was quick and easy. To start with I drew some flip flops the size I wanted and then cut them out of craft foam and punched 3 holes in each. Next I cut two pieces of ribbon, folded each piece of ribbon in half and inserted the fold in the top hole and the ends in the other two holes for each flip flop. My mom gave me a fabulous bag of buttons and some great lace recently ❤ which I used to put a little bling on the flip flops and to decorate the card. The blue mounting paper is special as well as it was some that I picked up at cute paper craft shop in Maui. And that's it. Easy Peasy. 

Happy Monday!

Cupcakes & Cobbler

This week I needed a dessert to take to a lunch with one of my best friends who I had not seen in person for over a year. It was hard to choose what to make since I needed something for home as well. After taking into consideration everyone’s favorites and preferences we still ended up with two choices since I could not make up my mind. 

My friend likes German Chocolate Cake however Mr. Wonderful usually prefers something fruity. Since the blackberries are now getting ripe and very plentiful near our house I walked down and picked more than enough for a cobbler which I knew everyone would like.

While I was preparing the cobbler I thought it would be fun to reduce the size of baking dish so that I could put the extra batter into two small Mason jars. That way I would have two individual servings that I could cover with a lid and take to lunch.

So, I went for it and baked them all at the same time and they came out perfectly.

Then it was time to make the German Chocolate cake. Instead of making an entire cake though I made a small batch of six chocolate cupcakes which was a much more reasonable amount. While they were cooling I made the frosting and the coconut topping.

The desserts were finished and ready in time to pack up to take for lunch and enough left over for sweet treats at home. I love when a plan comes together. 

Happy Friday!

Berry Tasty Food Ideas

Blueberry season is on and our bushes were full which is always great.

Some days we are out picking berries multiple times a day because they make such a great snack, especially when they are picked warm, right of the bush. However, we do like to freeze as many as possible to enjoy in the off season so we try not to eat them all but that is easier said than done.

Last weekend I made a batch of Blueberry Lemon mini Bundt Cakes with some of our freshly picked blueberries. It was a big batch so I gave away half and kept the rest for the hubs and me.    

The blueberries are also good for breakfast. We were away on vacation recently and our kids made our entire family [ twelve of us ] Belgian Waffles, to order. One of the choices was to have the blueberries added to the waffle batter and cooked in the waffle which was so good. 

We also had some that liked their waffles plain with butter and syrup on top. Traditional is always a good choice too. 

And then there were those of us who wanted the works or tried them all three ways! It was fun and the blueberries were a perfect addition for those that wanted them.

It won't be long now until the rest of the blueberries are picked and in the freezer however I have a few more recipes to make before that happens. 

Happy Tuesday!