Peach Cake

It's a perfect time of the year to enjoy such a nice cake!  Of course, whenever I find a recipe that I think will be lovely I have to adapt it so, sorry Barefoot Contessa, this recipe is now GLUTEN-FREE!


picture from www.foodnetwork.com

Fresh Peach Cake

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 scant cups 'Better Than Wheat' Gluten-Free Flour Blend
1/2 teaspoon Guar Gum
1/2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large, ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced
3/4 cup chopped pecans.

Water Wise Tips

Dear Gardening Friends, Here’s some tips to help you garden smarter, save water, and reduce your water bill!

During dry spells, a heavier soaking 2-3 times a week is more effective than a light daily watering. Hand watering allows you to inspect each plant and quickly spot any concerns. Inspect all hoses for leaks and make sure all connections fit tightly. Improve your soil with lots of organic matter. This slows down the transpiration of water, giving plants longer to take in what they need. Before you plant, mix in extra compost, shredded leaves, compost manure, or peat moss. Install a drip irrigation system. Drip irrigation minimizes evaporation loss and easily saves up to 60% of the water used by a sprinkler system. Plan for different beds to be on separate water timing schedules depending on their particular water needs. A soaker hose also applies water slowly and evenly to the root zone, minimizing water loss. Mulch well. Mulch reduces evaporation, helping to retain water and can greatly reduce weeds. For best results, cover your beds with 4-6 inches of organic matter such as compost, bark, shredded leaves or newspaper, grass clippings or straw. Add one more inch of mulch each year. Water early in the morning or late in the evening. This maximizes water penetration and minimizes evaporation. Water beds and lawn infrequently, but slowly and deeply. This encourages roots to grow deeper and is more effective than frequent, shallow watering. Control Weeds. Weeds compete with other plants for water. Conserve on water by weeding diligently. Design for your plants watering needs. Choose plants that are native to your area and drought tolerant. Group plants together with similar watering needs. Reduce the size of your lawn. Turf grass is extremely water and labor intensive. Mow high and often, leaving the clippings. Consider letting your lawn go brown during the warmest season, but still water at least once a month. Prune. Pruning strengthens plants and makes them less water-dependent. Harvest as soon as veggies and fruits are ripe. Discard spent or diseased plants ASAP. Collect Free water. Use a water barrel to capture and store chemical free water for gardening.   From:  Charley's Greenhouse and Garden [newsletters@charleysgreenhouse.com]

Common Mullein - Weed or Medicinal Herb?

Today’s featured plant is Common Mullein, Verbascum thapsus.

Common Mullein is also known as Great Mullein, Aaron’s Rod, candlewick plant, flannel plant, flannel leaf, lungwort, feltwort, cowboy toilet paper, shepherd’s staff, velvet dock, woolly mullein, torch plant, torches, miner’s candle, big taper, blanket mullein, “Hig candlewick”, “Bullicks lungwort”, “Hare’s-beard”, “Ice-leaf”.”Beggar’s blanket”, “Moses’ blanket”, “Poor Man’s blanket”, “Our Lady’s blanket” or “Old Man’s Blanket”.

(There are more names, but this list is getting pretty long already.  Do you get the impression this thing is pretty widespread?)

Range and Identification of Common Mullein

Common mullein is native to Europe, but it is now found on every continent except Antarctica.  (As I said, it gets around…)   The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service provides a range map, but it’s really found pretty much everywhere in the U.S..

The plant is known as a colonizer of open disturbed soils.  The Wisconsin DNR lists it as an invasive, but they have an awful lot of plants listed as invasive. Okay – non-native – still, it’s been around so long, does it really matter at this point?  They do say it can be invasive in the plant detail page, but I haven’t found that to be the case in my area.  It prefers dry, sandy soils, but can grow (really HUGE) in rich garden soil, and even grow in marginal soils such as chalk and limestone.  It can be found in neglected meadows, forest openings, pastures, fence rows, roadsides, and industrial areas. (WI DNR)

Plant height is 2-6′ (60-180 cm) (the happy monsters in my garden last year were pushing seven feet).  The leaves are large, oval and fuzzy.  As you can see in the photo below, a large happy specimen in my garden has leaves larger than my shoe, which is a size twelve.   Leaves are 12-15 inches long (or longer) and covered with velvety hairs.  When the flower stalk emerges, leaves cling directly to the stalk – there are no side branches.

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY GO TO 

COMMONSENSE HOME

Roasted New Potatoes and Green Beans

I loved the recipe I posted last week and wanted to try it but there are just two of us plus one that eats tiny bites so I needed a smaller recipe.  I wanted to pare this with green beans fresh from the garden so I just added them to the mix.  This was served with my mini meat loaves that I keep in the freezer for quick meals .........YUMMMMM

8 ounces small new potatoes (cut in 1 1/5 inch pieces if they are bigger than this)
1 cup fresh green beans
1/2 small onion, sliced top to bottom
1 tomato, cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic, mashed but still in skin (keeps it from burning)
1/8 teaspoon Chili Flakes
1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pepper

Wash your hands and mix this all together until all the vegetables are coated with olive oil.  Place on a baking pan. Roast together at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and cook for 25-30 more minutes (stir after 15 minutes).  Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon chopped chives and cook another 5 minutes.  SERVES TWO (double or more for your family)

Gardening With A Baby

I have to admit there were years where I didn't garden.  Those years were when my children were under 2 years old.  It was just to busy of a time.  Now that I'm in the over 60 crowd I never in a million  years thought I'd have a baby when I planted this huge garden (size of two city lots).  Then eight weeks ago our 6 month old granddaughter, Gabriella Nicole (Gabby), joined us.

What to do?  Well we've hired a helper for the garden and need to hire another one, but Gabby does enjoy going to the garden for short periods of time.  I would hire a helper to keep Gabby occupied but since she is still in 'foster care' here that requires all kinds of background checks and the like just get get a sitter for her.

So as a way to encourage you, my readers

Food Preservation - Choosing a Method - Cabbage

Our ancestors devised many methods of preserving their harvest out of necessity.  They did not have the luxury of having fresh food shipped, sometimes thousands of miles, to the grocery nearest them.  Nor did they have freezers that would hold the food cold for months at a time (except in the coldest climates where it was kept in attics or outside).

Food Preservation includes many different methods:  Canning, Freezing, Dehydrating, Cooked and Frozen as meals, Smoking, and Fermenting to name a few.  When choosing a method or methods to use for a particular fruit or vegetable coming out of your garden or bought bulk at your local farmers market you have to decide how you are going to use this product and primarily how you prefer to eat it.  There is no sense dehydrating everything if you don't like reconstituted dried foods or canning if you hate, well canned peas for example.  Sometimes the way you use that particular food will dictate how you preserve it.

Today we are going to talk about cabbages, because cabbages happen to be something that I recently took out of my garden and need to preserve.  So, first I have to decide, how am I going to use this product?  

Why I Have a Pantry....Full

Some Food "Storage" for Thought ~ Pantry Series

photo source

Thoughts on Preparedness...

“Food security is not in the supermarket. It's not in the government. It's not at the emergency services division. True food security is the historical normalcy of packing it in during the abundant times, building that in-house larder, and resting easy knowing that our little ones are not dependent on next week's farmers' market or the electronic cashiers at the supermarket.”

~ Joel Salatin, Excerpt from

Folks, This Ain't Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens,

Healthier People, and a Better World

"And let them gather all the food of those good years that come,

and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.

And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine,

which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine."

~ Genesis 41:35-36

"There be four things which are little upon the earth,

but they are exceeding wise:

The ants are a people not strong,

yet they prepare their meat in the summer…"

~ Proverbs 30:24-25

"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

Provideth her meat in the summer,

and gathereth her food in the harvest."

~ Proverbs 6:6-8

“It is not often that a man can make opportunities for himself.

But he can put himself in such shape that when or if the opportunities come he is ready.”
~ Theodore Roosevelt

“Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past

have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.”
~ Gen. George S. Patton

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
~ Benjamin Franklin

"The prudent see danger and take refuge,

but the simple keep going and pay the penalty."

~ Proverbs 22:3

Recommended Reading: 

Should a Christian Practice Food Storage?

Ten Reasons to Prepare a Pantry