Millions of Peaches, Fresh Peach Trifle

There really isn't anything better than a perfectly ripe, juicy peach.  The juices dripping down you arm as you reach up to take a succulent bite, then dripping down your chin making a sticky mess of everything.  Mmmmm, how I love late summer and using the glorious, fresh produce that is just everywhere!

I was in charge of making a dessert this last week for our Theatre Group.  Yes, it is as tony as it sounds.  I have a theatre group.  If you can call theatre, the local musical theater here that does comedy spoofs, theatre.  

I was thinking I needed something fairly easy as I was going to be having an extremely busy day, the day of the show.  Trifle!!  As I was strolling through the produce section of my grocery store and examining the strawberries (as that is usually what I would put in a trifle), I realized that it is in fact peach season right now, and I was fairly confident I could substitute peaches for strawberries to great effect...affect...urrggghhh!!! Got it, it's totally effect.  It was a good choice because I was able to save some time by doing some of the prep work the night before: Diced the pound cake and made the pudding.  

You know what, this trifle worked out better than I could have imagined.  The Mister is not normally what I would call a peach person, well, I mean, if you put it that way, he is, but that's a different kind of peaches....anyway, back to my trifle.  He doesn't really like fresh peaches.  Does that stop me from basing an entire dessert around them?  Nawww.  After taking one bite, he proclaimed this his FAVORITE DESSERT EVER!!!  I mean, hell ya!  I am no longer going to avoid the fresh peaches in whatever I want to make, ever again.

One of the menfolk there, had on his plate, a few ribs and a giant pile of peach trifle and nothing else.  I'll call that a win.

So, if you're looking for an easy and impressive dessert, two of my favorite criteria in a dessert, this is the one for you.  Plus, it's got layers, and as we all know, everybody loves layers.

Fresh Peach Trifle

2 Pound Cakes, I used Sara Lee's in the freezer section, diced into 1 inch cubes

Nilla Wafers

A large Vanilla pudding, prepared (you could be extremely fancy and make homemade pudding, I didn't and it was still amazing)

1/2 to 1 Cup Orange Juice (this is to add a little bit of sog to your trifle.  You do NOT want a dry trifle, eww, also, I think trifle is quite often made with booze instead of O.J., but this is Utah, people)

Peach butter (it's basically cooked peach jam) My recipe for peach butter

8 or so large, very ripe peaches, sliced

1 Pint Whipped cream, whipped with vanilla and sugar (just make it like you normally would)

Take a large, glass bowl.  You want it to be clear so that you can show off how fancy you are and begin to layer the ingredients.

Begin with a layer of pound cake.  Over the pound cake you are going to pour some of the O.J.

2: The pudding.  Spread it over the pound cake (remember to only use a portion of the pudding as you are going to need more as you go up the bowl.  Pay attention to your bowl's shape, mine was narrow at the bottom and wide at the top so I had to adjust my ingredients accordingly and didn't do such a great job portioning it out)

3: A layer of freshly sliced peaches.  I actually sliced the peaches right over the bowl so all the peachy juices would be included.

4: Now a drizzle of peach butter

5: Next comes the Nilla Wafers.  This gives the trifle a little texture.

6: A layer of whipped cream (See the above note about the pudding, you are going to need a bunch of this for the top).

Repeat the layers, end on whipped cream.

If you are wise, you'll save more of the whipped cream for the top.  As I was a little short on whipped cream, I just dolloped it in the middle and left the outer edges showing the peaches.  Turned out very pretty. I had also hoped to make a gorgeous peachy design at the very top, in the middle of the whipped cream, but had no peaches left.  Oh well, no peachy design needed cause it was that good.

And, awesome mom I am, I made my girls and their babysitter individual peach trifles.  I'm cool like that.

Aren't they precious?  Anything in a mason jar is simply precious. I just dolloped ingredients in one at a time. I only got one layer of each component in, but it was just fine, I heard no complaints.

To be honest, my kids getting their own version of this peach trifle is really the reason I didn't have enough whipped cream and pudding for the other layers.  I planned perfectly and if I wasn't such a good mom then my dessert would have been a true show-stopper.  I blame them...I mean, I love my kids and am glad I could make them a tasty treat.  :)

When you dish this dessert out, make sure you dig deep with your spoon so everybody can enjoy all the layer-y goodness.

Thanks for reading!

Heather

Stupid Easy French Dips....and Let's party, cause it's my Birthday!

I had never made French Dip Sandwiches.  The husband really enjoys them and I quite like them, but the very idea of making roast beef and slicing it thin and then making the au jus?!?  Was beyond me.  I mean, what exactly is jus? Well, that all changed last week when I had a little birthday celebration with the family. And by little, I mean my whole crew was there.  Grandparents, siblings, nieces the whole works!  I had a lot of people to feed and this was the perfect thing to make.

These sandwiches were a hit!  Unless you ask my kids, and they don't count because they hate everything they've never had before.

What is this?

We're supposed to dip it in WHAT?!?!

I don't like melted cheese.

Where's the mustard?

Why is it French?

I hate onions.

Uggggh!  Children!  They really are tasty and I'm sure after I've forced these on my kids another couple of times, they'll come to like them also.  I think.

For everybody else who likes anything tasty, these are so good and so, so easy.  Also, if you shop at Costco, I bought everything there except for the soup mix.  These are perfect if you're cooking for a crowd or it's just another busy school night because prep work is almost nil.  I mean, even the cheese is pre-sliced!!!

French Dip Sandwiches  Courtesy of my...maybe 2nd cousin twice removed?  Annette
Servings: 6

1.25 lbs Deli Roast Beef
Sandwich Rolls
Provolone cheese, sliced
Caramelized onions
Lipton Beefy Onion soup mix
Butter

Simply throw the soup mix into a pot, add the required amount of water and bring to a simmer.  Toss in the roast beef and let it simmer until the rolls are toasted and meltsy.

Slice rolls in half, butter them.  Toast until gold brown.  Throw on a slice of provolone cheese and put back under broiler unto they are nice and gooey.

Top toasted roll with a couple slices of roast beef.

Optional: Caramelized onions.  These are so good, they really add something to the sandwiches.  Simply slice onions thin, cook in butter, a touch of olive oil and some salt and pepper to taste over med-low heat for about 20 minutes until they are golden and caramelized.

Dish the broth into individual bowls and commence the dipping and devouring.

Also, as it was my birthday, I got this.  Yup.  That's my favorite cake, also from Costco.  So chocolately.  So delicious.  This post is not sponsored by Costco...but dang it, it should be!

Well, this is what happens when you tell your eight year old she can take the birthday pictures.  hehe I'm not sure even one was in focus.  We have a tradition in my house where the kids have to use what we already have and either make me something or find something they think I really, really love and wrap it up so I can unwrap it. They did a great job this year.  I got a beard hat.  Some paper to make telescopes out of.  Pin Cushion.  A game invented by my daughter using Easter eggs, some random toy and a bead.  And a thimble.

Sure love these kids!

Thanks for reading!

Heather

How the Hearth does Camping....actual camping

I am going to start this post with the most vital piece of our camping puzzle.

 

The outhouse.  And when I say outhouse....I mean OUTHOUSE.  This thing is legit.  For real.  No foolin'.  I mean, I am actually afraid of falling in this puppy never to return.  Well, not really, I'm pretty sure if I fell in, sooner or later somebody would have to use the facilities and would find me. 

Rustic.

Old timey.

Torn up pieces of an old Sears Roebuck catalog for T.P.  I'm wondering if I can still order one of those permanent machines from them...

I actually spent a good portion of my nights (1 am....5 am...finally 7 am, phew, you can go on your own) hiking up here as My Oldest has a bladder the size of a dime and I don't want to restrict her from staying hydrated at 10,000 feet above SEA LEVEL!  Oh yeah.  If you need to practice breathing techniques to get to Everest, this is where you go.  I would whistle as we walked.  No sense running into a bear or coyote as we're going to the facilities.

And I'm just saying, if these fellas are up here, you KNOW there are other things that I just can't see.  Shhh, don't tell the kids.  I assured them there were no bears.  Then I made sure to clear the tent free of any candy or food of any sort...just in case.  About the deers, yes, deers.  We saw these two fellas several times and at one point I was probably 20 feet away from one of them.  If only I had my camera out.  Face smack. 

How we cooked.  To be fair we also had our gas stove up there and used it once or twice.  Ummmm...a thing about lighting charcoal.  Bring a chimney.  My buddy and I were sent up to cook while the menfolk fished...and we had to light these ourselves...without the intuitive knowledge that men have regarding fire and food.   They weren't the briquettes that already have lighter fluid in them, either.  Nope.  I am pretty sure we went through an entire newspaper and several paper towels trying to get the dang things to light.  Then on top of that we used about 4 times more briquettes than we needed, JUST TO MAKE SURE!  And then on top of that, we tried to chop wood ourselves to make kindling to help get the fire going to help get the charcoal going....with an ax. An ACTUAL ax.  

Yeah....so I at least didn't attempt to cut my thumb and toe off like my faithful assistant....who is pregnant. gulp.  That coulda been bad, real bad. After she ummmm...did her chopping attempt, I took over and I'm pretty sure I had about the same amount of force a newborn kitten would have when striking ax to wood. Very effective.  

In case you are worried we starved this night, have no fear, somehow we got the charcoal to light and enjoyed a lovely dinner.  Many, many hours later.  All appendages still accounted for.

Where we were.  Pretty.

How we mountain manned up.   Yup, it's the machete again.  You have no idea how handy a machete is to a man.  In all things.  Constructing shelves, camping, fending off wild forest beasts...

What we did for fun.  The regular fish fishing wasn't great.  But the crayfish (crawdad?) fishing was AWESOME!!  I had no idea you could catch a crayfish on a fishing pole, turns out you can.  

We have at least 6 in there and they were sure fun to look at...but NOT touch. We had at least one pinching/throwing of the crayfish incident.  

Disclaimer....

No crayfish were killed during this camping adventure.  Flung at a mom who was trying to take a picture at the time and then dropped on the ground...maybe.  But we're catch and release kinda people.  At least this time.

Sweet child of mine, smile for the camera. 

Don't wiggle.

Smile normal.

No laughing.

With teeth.

Child!

This is no time for fun!!

TAKING PICTURES IS SERIOUS BUSINESS!!!

Phew.  Thank you.

What a fun time.  In addition to all of the above, there was BB gun shooting, bow and arrow shooting, applying of mass quantities of bug spray, frog catching, butterfly catching, playing in the swamp, more applying of bug spray, running and playing wolves, bike riding, hiking and deer spotting.

Thanks for reading!

Heather

How the Hearth does Camping...Fun in Fairview

Do you like to camp?  We do.

First of all, we go to the most remote area we can find.  Thanks to my best, good buddy who invites us every year (two years running), for our annual wilderness fun adventure at her family's plot of land in the vastness of the Manti La Sal National Forest.  This area is amazing for many reasons.  It's off the grid so no cell phones.  It has deer, deer and more deer.  Frogs.  Crayfish.  Regular fish.  Trees.  Rocks. Okay, you get the picture, it's awesome.

My kids get to spend almost a week running wild in the wilderness.  Shooting bows and arrows and BB guns.  Catching frogs, butterflies and pollywogs in their nets.  Playing wolves and fishing to their hearts' content.  The nearest town is called Fairview, it's a good hour down the canyon, but we spent a day there having some small town adventures this time.  We were there for the Pioneer Day celebration...remember, this is Utah, we love EVERYTHING pioneer.   So, come along for a little Hearth Adventuring.  This is the Fairview portion of our vacation.  All the camping stuff will come later.

Fun in Fairview

If you ever were concerned that there wasn't a shrine to love and devotion, worry no more.  Thanks Fairview.

The mammoth they found just up the canyon....pretty darn close to our campsite.  Ummm....they've been officially declared extinct....right?

Operator, hold please.  Let me connect you.  
Okay, a hands-on museum makes museum-ing so much more fun for the littles.

Mom, are you sure this is how phones used to be?  Where's the touch screen?  I stick my finger in and do WHAT?

Oh my gosh, Becky...
Side note, I feel like she could slip right into this time period with her little drop-waist dress and hair pulled back in braids. My little early 20th century girl.

Course, as I'm the mother of two, early 20th century girls, I'd set My Oldest to cooking the supper. Cornbread would be nice, dear.

 Don't forget to do the laundry.

 And get a permanent for your hair!

 All the while My Youngest is busy threshing wheat with Pa.

 Come on, put your back into it.

 Then we'll go for a buggy ride once Ma has finished eating her bonbons and doing her nails....right?  Because I'm sure that's what early 20th century mothers did while they set their young to work.

We also enjoyed the Pioneer Day parade on the 24th of July that was pretty much the best parade around if you ask my kids.  Because???  Mass quantities of candy were thrown. My Youngest used her butterfly net to capture all the goodies.

Good times.

Thanks for reading.

Heather

Summer Update

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer or winter, hi Mel hi Nat..  This is what the Hearth has been up to for the last month or so...

We 6th Birthday'd.

 Read this.  And babysat that, a bunch.  Squish.

Sister Road Tripped!  Baby brother graduated from UCLA...include a parent or two and leave the husbands home with the babies!!!  PARTY!!!

Went to any fest there was.

 Ate this.  Twice.  It's maybe the only kale I have ever enjoyed.

 IKEA'd and got this.

Built it with this.  And yes, it is a machete...with a magnet attached.  Don't worry, I didn't go crazy with blood lust and slash The Mister's achilles.

 Tried red palm oil for cooking.  It worked fine, a touch spendy though.  We'll see.

7 AM Swim Team'd four days a week.  Mama's tired.

Salsa Garden'd.  If you don't know what a salsa garden is, well, it's a garden where all you grow are tomatoes and peppers.  To be honest, I'm not growing it to make salsa, I just eat more tomatoes and peppers than anything else.

Rasberry'd.  The rule in my house is, whoever spots the ripe raspberry first, gets to eat it.  This unfortunately also includes chickens and dogs.

4th of July'd in Park City.  Tried to get a good pre-fireworks photo.  Ummmmm....could she BE any wigglier?  Or decide to eat a Gummy Bear mid-shoot.  sigh.

Luckily the Older one was easier to photograph...AFTER I made her laugh because she was too busy worrying about how loud the fireworks were going to be.

Hopefully you're having an equally fun and adventurous summer yourselves!

Thanks for reading!

Heather

BBS...I think.

Chicken vs Toasted Marshmallow

The chicken makes it through okay.

Now, I'm just explaining this to you because you look nervous.

Because, we can stop now if you want.

:)

Let's just quickly take a moment to reflect on, how good is The Princess Bride?

The fire pit got some good use last S'more night.  The s'mores were delicious and enjoyed by all...chickens included.

I never imagined I'd Google the phrase: "How to get marshmallow out of a chicken's feathers". Want to know something, Google doesn't have an answer for that.  WHAT?!?!  It's true.  So, here's how the night went down:

Loretta:  Mmmm, you're looking fine tonight.  Let me just have a wee nibble.

Dolly:  Fine, it's really messing up my gorgeous feathers.  Hey, no biting!

Loretta:  Yum!  I never knew how much I love marshmallows!  Hey, Starlight, get the heck out of here you fowl thing (haha), my marshmallow!

Starlight:  Whatevs, Loretta, I already called dibs...and ummmm, you've got a little something on your face...no, not there, over there... no, the other side....

Starlight:  Ohhh yeah, I am all about toasted marshmallows!  Why doesn't Heather give us this for breakfast lunch and dinner instead of that crap chicken scratch, anyway?

Loretta:  Meh, it's all yours.  Hey, anybody got a mirror?  Apparently I've got a little something on my face...anyone?  Where's a parakeet when you need one?

Starlight:  Let me just....grab...get this little bit there.

Starlight:  Ohh, it's stuck just a bit let me pull harder...Soooo yummy.  You know what would really make this?  Chocolate and Graham Crackers...Hey, I just thought up a new recipe.  I'll call them...toasted marshmallows with meltsy chocolate sandwiched between two grahams.  Yeah, that's a catchy name.  HAHA I'm a genius!  Hey, Dolly, get back here...

Ginger: Hey guys, what's going on over here?  Wait a minute, wait a minute...is that toasted marshmallow all over you?!?! Come over here Dolly!  Hey, sorry about all those times I chased you around the yard trying to eat your poop, you're my favorite chicken...hey want some of my dog food?  Come on, sharing's caring you know...

Starlight:  Get the heck out of here Ginger.  Mmm hmmm...you got just a touch back here, let me just get that...Got it!

Dolly:  Well, I feel thoroughly hen pecked.  How's my hair look?

Dolly:  Boss Hen (that's me), can I get a hand here, the gals were no help.  Thanks for nothing, ladies!

And since Google was no help either, I decided to play it by ear, but unfortunately didn't get any pictures to share as I was busy taking care of business.  So I'll paint a picture for you.

Me:  Husband, help me grab her.
Husband: What?  Are you sure that's sanitary?
Me:  Sanitary?  No, but we've got to do something.  Fine, sit there, I'll grab her.  I proceed to grab chicken, making sure to hold tight to her wings so she doesn't smack me across the face with them.
Me:  Okay, now here, take her.  Hold onto her wings! I hand chicken off to husband and run inside and grab a dish towel, get it wet and put some dish soap on it.  Warm water and dish soap gets any mess out, right?  Run back outside and scrub Dolly's feathers as best I could.  Not a great job, but better than it was, I suppose.  And, the Mister only suffered a mildly bad scratch on his hand thanks to her vicious talons.  

Next Day
Feather update: Not a sticky smudge to be found.  Dolly was clean as a whistle and the other chickens in a pleasant sugar coma.   Lesson learned...don't let the chickens get anywhere near a fallen, toasted marshmallow.

Thanks for reading!

Heather