fruit – Papas Cutting Board

Peach Cake

This book has delicious recipes based on orchard goodies. I have made a variety of recipes from this book, and each one has been delicious and prepared many times over the years. Today, my husband brought home peaches from a local produce stand that smelled amazing as soon as he brought them in to the house.

This recipe called for adding the peaches to the top of the cake, but I mixed them into the recipe and baked them inside the cake. I made up the glaze by adding a couple of Tbsp of melted butter to confectioners’ sugar, 1/4 tsp of maple extract, 1/4 tsp of caramel extract, and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. I toasted 1/4 cup of pecans, chopped them, and added them to the top of the cake after glazing it, along with chopped peaches.

This cake is delicious without a glaze. My husband was curious what it would taste like with glaze. He loves it. I prefer the cake in the morning with my coffee without glaze, as I try to stay away from sugar as much as possible.

Banana Rum Caramel Coconut Pie and Salted Rum Caramel Sauce equals Yummy!

Salted Rum Caramel Sauce is in the jar at top right of photo

This is a beautiful book with tempting photos. The recipes tempt you. My husband was craving banana pie, so I checked this book out of the library. After making and tasting the Salted Rum Caramel Sauce, and the Rum Pastry Cream, I had a feeling it was a keeper. My husband drooled over this, and couldn’t stop eating it. Normally, he does not care for coconut, but he did not mention it while he inhaled this pie. I ordered the book online to have on my shelf as there are a few apple and berry pie recipes I want to try, along with the crust. I give this book 4 stars for now, because the pastry cream was more of pudding rather than pie. That could be my fault, so I’m going to make it again, if I get a better pie filling result, I will change this rating to 5 stars. Of course, if the apple recipes turn out well, then that will change the stars to 5 as well. My husband said he did not mind the pudding part as it was delicious. The Salted Rum Caramel sauce will be used on apple slices today because it is delicious.

from the book: Art of the Pie: A Practical Guide to Homemade Crusts, Fillings, and Life

𝙄𝙛 𝙎𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧…

“𝙄𝙛 𝙎𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧, 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙤𝙚𝙨”
Ataulfo mangoes – while eating mangoes this morning, Jim said, “If Sunshine had a flavor, it would be a lot like these mangoes”

mulling holiday scents

This is on my stove right now for the rest of the week, because I love the smells this adds to the home. Cranberries and then you toss in whatever fruit and cinnamon sticks you have; add water as it goes down. During Christmas I do this with wine and add wine, as we drink it down. I keep this on warm on the stove or in a crock pot. The greenery comes from my trees; we are surrounded by firs out here in the country. I don’t add the greenery when I’m making this with wine.

Pineapple Plant

2 year old pineapple plant – we bring it in in the winter and put back outside in the spring – I’m in Indiana

𝙒𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙣 𝘾𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙥𝙚 𝙄𝙘𝙚 𝙋𝙤𝙥

𝙒𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙣 𝘾𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙥𝙚 𝙄𝙘𝙚 𝙋𝙤𝙥𝙨:

Blend 1 1/2 cups cubed seedless watermelon; 1/2 cup chopped strawberries and 2 tablespoons each superfine sugar (I did not use sugar as the fruit is sweet enough for me) and lime juice in a blender. Divide among ice pop molds (each 3/4 full) ; freeze 1 hour. Puree 1 cup cubed cantaloupe or honeydew melon with 2 tablespoons each superfine sugar (I did not use sugar as the fruit is sweet enough for me) and lime juice. Divide among the ice pop molds, insert sticks, and freeze until firm.

Honeydew melon would be tasty with this but I only had a cantaloupe.

Jim enjoys a Popsicle after working outside in this heat, so I wanted to try my hand at making some using real fruit. I just had one and these are delicious – no preservatives, no artificial colors and no artificial flavors. I’m delighted with the cantaloupe flavor – now I want to try honeydew

White Chocolate Berry Muffins

The muffin top is crunchy, the inside is soft. The taste is fantastic.

This recipe works wonderfully with blueberries! The house smells delicious. I cannot wait to share these delicious muffins with my family.

I found this recipe in my Taste of Home’s Best Holiday Recipes 2008 edition. The recipe is on page 49, and it calls for raspberries, which I do not have, but I have plenty of blueberries and they work perfectly in this recipe. The recipes in this thick, beautiful magazine have photos that tempt you.

I will make these berry muffins again.

White Chocolate Berry Muffins recipe

Easy Banana Bread and Strawberry Banana Bread

I had several bananas which I allowed to turn brown. I used 3 in this recipe, and followed it precisely. I had the oven light on and I watched this raise to a beautiful golden brown. I followed the bloggers tips, I checked it at 50 minutes, and although it looked done, the top was still doughy, so I tent foiled for another 5 minutes. This was so good, I decided to make a second loaf, and instead of a full tsp of vanilla, I stopped about 3/4 of a tsp and topped the tsp off with banana extract. The smell is amazing; the flavor over the top. The commenters are correct on one loaf not being enough, a 4×8 pan is smaller than the loaf pans I usually use, and it works perfectly for this loaf.

Here is the link for the Easy Banana Bread

The Strawberry Banana Bread recipe came from the Taste of Home website. It is titled Raspberry Banana Bread. I froze one of the loaves. I did not have raspberries, so I used strawberries. The smell reminded me of a banana split. I first found this in my TOH’s Bread bonanza cookbook Volume 6, 2003 issue, on page 7. I baked for 60 minutes, here in Indiana.

Here is a link to the recipe: Raspberry Banana Bread

I’ll share a photo of how the banana bread rose above the pan

Rand Marnier or Jamaica Rum Baked Grapefruit

Grand Marnier Or Jamaica Rum Baked Grapefruit

Cut large grapefruit in half. With a fruit knife, loosen the sections, but do not remove core in center. Sprinkle with granulated sugar and let stand for 30 minutes; sprinkle again with sugar and let stand another 30 minutes. Place grapefruit in pan, sprinkle with sugar and add 1 tablespoon of Jamaica rum to each grapefruit half.

I put Grand Marnier on one half and Jamaica Rum on the other half. Bake in a hot oven (450 F) for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and serve with the juice in pan, to which add 4 tablespoons of rum. Allow ½ per person – I ate them both. Jim does not care for grapefruit, but he said the house smelled amazing – I was thinking it would make a great air freshener – Baked Rum or Baked Grand Marnier I eat grapefruit by itself without sugar, but with this recipe since it was baked, I could see this not turning out if I hadn’t used the sugar – You can also use brown sugar