Sweet as a Georgia Peach

As the summer is winding down, so is our garden and the selection of wonderful cheap produce in the grocery store. But, have no fear; canning is here!!

Canning is an art that is almost all but lost, but thanks to hipsters and hippies it is starting to make a come back!

So last night, I decided to put on my most ironic t-shirt and over sized glasses and give canning peaches a try.

It is actually pretty simple, but a little time consuming.

The secret ingredient to any type of canning is to have a very large pot. I am talking huge lobster pot. (You know what I mean, the type that is either black or blue with white specks all over it.) Fill the pot almost completely with water and bring to a simmer.

Once you are simmering, very gently drop your peaches down into the water. Let them get all nice and toasty and when you can easily peel the skin off with either your fingers or a fork, then plunge them into an ice bath.

When they are cool to the touch start peeling. I found it was easy to use a fork to start the peel and then you can just pull it off. Once peeled, cut them in half with a knife.

After you are finished halving the peaches, start making your simple syrup. If you have never made a simple syrup it is actually, well, pretty simple. We decided to make a lighter calorie version where we combined 1 cup of sugar with 3 cups of water. (If you want a more sugary syrup then do a 1-to-1 ratio). You stir until the sugar is dissolved, bring to a boil and then turn down the heat.

Before you add your syrup you need to put the peach halves into jars. Then, cover to the fill line with the syrup. Make sure to wipe all of the syrup and peach stuff off of the rim, put the lid on and tighten the collar.

Next step is to plunk the jars into the boiling water. For where we live in Pennsylvania, we set them in the water for 35 minutes. When your time is done, bring them out of the water and let them cool. If you press on the lid and it doesn't making the popping sound, then you are good. If it does make the popping sound, don't worry. You can still eat the peaches, you just have to use them soon and refrigerate.

As you can see the process is pretty easy, but it does require some time.

I hope you give this forgotten art a shot. In the end it will help you save money and will give you a sweet reminder of warm summer days in the dead of winter.

Happy Wordless Wednesday!!

Edition 01: Sunday Supperclub

Let's pretend that I haven't been a horrible blogger and haven't posted since the ice age. (The reason for not posting is because I had just started two part-time jobs and was continuing to write for our local paper.)

But, in the form of a peace offering, I want to introduce a new feature here on The Daring Domesticate called "Sunday Supperclub."

I want to try to focus on yummy homemade meals that take a little extra time and TLC to prepare.

So, in this first edition, I want to share with you one of my favorite comfort food meals: tomato soup and grilled cheese. But, because it is Sunday Supperclub, we have to make things a little more fancy than just slapping some American Cheese on some Wonderbread and opening up a can of Campbell's tomato soup.

As some of you know, I am a complete Disney nut! My husband and I have been going to Disney for five years now and are addicted. One of my favorite things to do is to try and bring a little Disney pixie dust home. A simple way to do this, has to been to recreate delicious Disney dinners at home.

This recipe is for Tomato Bisque from Sunshine Seasons restaurant at The Land pavilion located in Epcot. I found the recipe from All Ears , a great resource for anything Disney!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 cans of diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried basil or 1 tablespoon fresh basil
1/4 cup chicken broth
8 cups of water
cornstarch
pepper to taste
salt to taste
1/4 cup heavy cream

Method:

1. In a large soup pot, Melt butter.
2. Saute onion, tomatoes, garlic, sugar and basil and blend until smooth. (A stick blender works really well for this. Just watch out for splatters!)
3. Add chicken broth and water.
4. If needed, make a corn starch and water slurry to thicken soup. (We had to do this step.)
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Add heavy cream.

What is tomato soup with out it's partner in crime; grilled cheese?

Grown-up Grilled Cheese

1 loaf of a nice and crusty artisan style bread (we used simple neo-Tuscan boule)

4 slices of provolone cheese

1 smallish wedges of brie cheese

Some EVOO to brush on the bread to toast it

1. Heat up your pan/skillet/panini press and spray with cooking spray.

2. Grab your bread and cut into slices.

3. Spread on EVOO both sides of each slice of bread.

4. Law down two pieces of provolone cheese on two pieces of bread.

5. Cut off two hunks of brie for each sandwich. (Yes, a hunk is a form of scientific measurement.)

6. Put the last piece of bread on top, and toss the baby into the pan or press. (We used the press which made this whole process really easy. If, you are using a pan don't forget to flip your bread over.)

7. Keep cooking until the cheese starts to ooze out of the sides of the sandwich.

8. Enjoy!

It doesn't matter if you are a "dunker", or a "separatist" with your tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich, it will still be a wonder supper for any Sunday!

As soon as the ball drops in New York City, every one's New Year's resolutions start to kick in. A lot of people resolve to quit smoking, be nicer to people or to even stop swearing. But, the number one promise for the new year, is to lose weight. (This is how places like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers stay in business.)

Personally, I have learned from past experience to not even attempt making a resolution. I never stick to them and it almost sets me up for failure. So I continue to try and eat better without setting a goal for myself.

If you have read my blog in the past, you know that I am trying to follow Weight Watchers (WW). One particular website that has been my beacon of hope against the tyrants of chocolate cake and peanut butter straight from the jar is Hungry Girl. Her recipes are simple, and more importantly delicious.

Apparently, I am not the only one who feels this way because Cooking Television (a sister station of the Food Network) has decided to give her a show.

She had her first episode last Saturday at 4 p.m. and was all about pizza. Pizza while being one of the favorite foods of dieters everywhere, is often loaded with tons of fat, calories and carbs.

One recipe I really loved involved flour tortillas.

Ingredients:

1 large flour tortilla (around 100 calories)
Pizza Sauce ( I really love the kind that comes in the squeeze bottle)
String Cheese
Turkey Peperoni (It tastes like the real thing and at only 70 calories for 17 slices it is a calorie bargain)
Any spices you like (I use fresh ground pepper, oregano and garlic powder.)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Put tortilla on a cookie sheet and place in oven for three minutes, flip, bake for another three minutes.
3. Pull the cookie sheet out and top the tortilla with your pizza sauce and other goodies.
4. Pop back into the oven for five minutes.
5. Slice and enjoy.

Like I said you can put whatever you want on top and have a delicious yummy pizza for around 200 calories. Add a side salad and you have a delicious lunch full of pizzeria flavor but not full of the fat.



This recipe is courtesy of Hungry Girl. Go to hungrygirl.com for more yummy recipes.

Wordless Wednesday

Must Be Santa

I have a secret.

I still believe in Santa Claus. Not, necessarily as the man in the big red suit with the bowl full of jelly, but I believe that there are plenty of Santa Claus out there.

Think back to one of the Christmases that you had when you were a child. How excited you were, how the days leading up to Christmas were full of anticipation and how your heart carried so much Christmas spirit it might just burst.


As I am typing this I am watching a DVD of when I was two-years-old on Christmas. I was so excited to open my presents, and I was constantly flinging my arms around my parents to give them a warm hug because I was full of the Christmas spirit.

But, as we get older, we somehow lose this spirit. Not, to sound like Linus, but we become obsessed with the over commercialization of Christmas that we forget the real meaning.

In my almost 28 years on this beautiful planet of ours, I have learned that the "Christmas Spirit" that everyone talks about is actually love.

We buy presents for people because we love them, we send out Christmas cards to let people know they are loved and God sent His son because he loves us.

Santa Claus was brought to life from this love.

This is why I still believe in Santa Claus. His spirit is all around us.

This year, I have seen him in the form of many different people.

I saw Santa in the form of a man by the name of Dan Martin, who year after year organizes our local Toys for Tots drive. If it wasn't for him and all of his "elves" then 1,500 children in our area wouldn't have toys on Christmas.

I saw Santa in Stephanie Tomasic, the director of Overly's Country Christmas, a beautiful light display and Christmas village that collects money to donate to local charities. My family and I, along with about 4,000 other people, visited the light display last night.

Santa can also be seen in the simplest of gestures, like a woman who let me go in front of her in Target, through the person who works extra hours to buy their children presents on Christmas or a stranger who gives you a smile and wishes you a Merry Christmas.

So, Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. You better believe I will be setting out cookies and milk on Christmas Eve.

Little Things Mean a Lot

There is a book titled "The 5 Love Languages" by Gary Chapman. Inside the book, the author discusses how everyone has their own "love language." It is through this love language that they often show love or feel love. For example, for some people it is through touch, so they show their love through hugging and when they are hugged the feel the love. For others it might be through words.

For me, I think my love language is "acts of kindness." I often show my love to people by doing nice things for them or helping them out and I feel the most loved when someone does something nice for me.

I just realized this last evening.

We had just returned home from a really fun and beautiful bridal shower for one our very good friends and I was pretty tired and feeling a little hungry. After making a trip to Target on the way home, I thought grilled cheese and a little tomato soup might be the best meal to be had on the chilly and snowy evening. Knowing how tired I was, my wonderful husband said he would make the soup and sandwich for me so I could change my clothes and relax on the couch. I didn't have to beg, I didn't have to barter, he just did this because he loved me and he knew how much it would mean to me.

This isn't the first example of him doing things for me. He often gets me something to drink when we watch a movie, he does the laundry and sometimes he will make dinner and insist that I just watch TV because I make him dinner all week. (Believe me ladies, I know I am one lucky woman.)

With the holiday season, and all of the craziness that seems to creep in with the impending day of December 25 coming as fast as a bullet train, take sometime to do something nice for someone that you love. It doesn't need to be a grand gesture of you writing out I love you with Christmas Lights in the snow or even trying to pull a George Bailey and lasso the moon, but maybe just clean around the house a little, or take a little extra time in the kitchen to create something special. Just keep in mind, that little things mean a lot!