Princess Peach Cobbler

Ok... ok. The Princess Peach Cobbler was actually a Princess making a Peach Cobbler. Not Princess Peach mending shoes. Sorry Mario fans. But you'll see what I mean at the end.

I wanted to make a Peach Cobbler because Chris' mom gave us a bunch of canned goods including peaches! I love peaches, but it is not quite yet peach season so some tasty canned peaches sounded so delicious!

Here is the stuff to make the yummy filling. I used the whole can of peaches, although the recipe I used called for 8 sliced and poached peaches. This was just as tasty and much easier.

Here it is all blended together and delicious looking...

Here's the stuff for the cobbler

I forgot to take a picture of the pre-blended ingredients in the bowl, but i figured that you all have seen a bowl of flour before. When you blend the butter make sure that it has softened enough or it will be much more difficult.

The buttermilk and egg whisked together.

Add the liquid and work the dough

Peaches in the bowl (I drained off most of the juice to use for Peach Lemonade later)

Drop the dough in

Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake!

And here is my new Sleeping Beauty apron!

Peach Cobbler

Filling:

1/4 c sugar

8 ripe peaches; peeled, stoned and quartered

1tsp cornstarch

lemon juice to taste

Cobbler:

1 1/2 c flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

cinnamon to taste

5 tbsp unsalted butter

1/3 c sugar

1 large egg

1/2 c buttermilk

1tbsp light brown sugar

1 - Preheat oven to 375 F. Heat the sugar and 3-4 tbsp water together in a large, heavy-based saucepan. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the peaches and cook over medium heat, covered, for 2-3 minutes. Mix the cornstarch with the lemon juice to make a paste, then add it to the peaches. Continue to cook, uncovered, over low heat until the liquid thickens around the peaches. Put the peaches in the dish.

2 - Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon into a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar. Whisk together the egg and the buttermilk. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and bring it together to form a soft, stick dough. 

3 - Drop heaped tablespoonfuls of the dough over the surface of the fruit, leaving a little space between them. Sprinkle with the brown sugar. Bake at the top of the over for 25-30 minutes, or until golden and bubbling. The cobbler is ready when a skewer inserted into the center of the topping comes out clean. Leave to cool for at least 5 minutes before serving with ice cream, custard, or cream. 

Birthday Festivities!

The big 21! It was a blast.
The day before my birthday, Chris and I went out to eat (Delicious Red Lobster!) and shop and then I came home to a surprise!

Chris and my cousin and her husband had been scheming behind my back! Before we left for dinner Chris sneakily left the door unlocked so they could rampage about decorating and leaving treats, including:

Awesome coloring books and a mix CD of a Korean Pop band called 2NE1,

A flippin' sweet reusable grocery bag with flamingos,

Some adorable Tootsie Pop dishware,

Bath time fun supplies,

And all my dishes cleaned!!! What a nice thing to magically come home to. Because no one should have to do dishes on their birthday :D

There were lots of balloons and party blowers and even a pin the frosting on the cupcake game! So we invited them and some friends for birthday cupcakes and yummy pizza and Kool-Aid.

Here is my present from Mr. Christopher. It gets to go on my shelf next to my other princess things. I love it!

On my actual birthday I went to Lagoon with my some of my family and Chris. We had lots of fun! Hit all the roller coasters and some old favorites. All in all it was a great birthday and one I'll always remember.

Indiana Jones and the Delicious Buttermilk Syrup

Asps... very dangerous. You go first.


Tonight Chris and I had an Indiana Jones marathon. It was way fun. They are up at the top of my very very favorite movies list. 


Then I made a batch of this syrup to take with me on our camping trip. Chris brought home a whole lot of pancake mix from work when we were very first married. We have just dented the surface in using it. I have bags and bags of the stuff. So I offered to make pancakes for everybody. Well I thought it would be fun to make this syrup to share too. And there was a little bit of extra syrup to put on ice cream and peaches while we watched the movies.

This is so easy to make and really delicious! One thing. You really do need a large pot or it will foam over. This time I made the entire batch, but the first time I made it I halved the recipe and it was more than enough to last me a week. And I used it as much as I could in that week, I promise. This stuff is good on pancakes, waffles, ice cream; just about anything you want extra sugar on. Don't be scared of the buttermilk, either. It really is essential, because it is what makes this stuff so good.


Here's what you need:

That's 1 1/2 cups butter, 1 1/2 cups buttermilk and 3 cups of sugar. Combine it all in a large (!) saucepan (or just the biggest pot you have).

My largest pot happens to be my cutest, too! Yeah, it's really adorable, and it's from Saver's!

Here it is, all combined. Melt the butter all the way and bring it to a boil while continuing to stir.

Now it should look like this! Remove it from the heat, and brace yourself for the next bit.

Now we need 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon baking soda. I like to whisk in the vanilla first before it foams up from the baking soda. Be sure it isn't on the heat anymore. Especially because if this boils over onto a hot element it could start a kitchen fire.

See how much it foams?! Yeah. I warned ya. And it's almost instant. So whisk that baking soda in quick and then stand back. You could even put the pot in an empty sink before you whisk in the backing soda. Sinks are easier to clean than stoves are.

(In case you didn't believe the last pic, and this was after it went down a bit)

The whole batch makes a lot! Enough to fill a big and little mason jar. The foam eventually goes down. But it takes a bit of time. Look at how pretty that color is! I wish computers had smell-o-vision, because as Chris put it, "This stuff is potent." It really will smell up your house, and not everyone likes the smell of buttermilk. But everyone WILL love the taste of this syrup.

Buttermilk Syrup

ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c (340 g) Butter
• 1 1/2 c (355 ml) Buttermilk
• 3 c (575 g) Sugar
• 1 t (5 ml) Vanilla
• 1 T (15ml) Baking Soda

directions:

1. In large saucepan (make sure it is big enough to accommodate the syrup foaming when the baking soda is added), combine butter, buttermilk, and sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring regularly.
2. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and baking soda (it will foam up at this point.) It is now ready to serve.

DI Stuff

A little while back I went to the DI. We were originally going to look for tanks for our lizard, Mushu, but I just ended up finding stuff I liked and bought it. But I found some seriously cool things.

Vintage-y Quaker Oats bowl: $1.00

Sweet-action Krups waffle iron: $3.00

A lovely Good Seasons dressing/syrup pourer: $2.00

Having a delicious breakfast with the hubby: Priceless

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of our yummy breakfast, or us eating it. It was gone way too fast and without a thought of cameras.

In my lovely syrup pourer (Is that a word? I'm getting red squigglies under it so I guess not. Also. Squigglies is not a word, since it also has squigglies under it.) is my new favorite thing. Buttermilk Syrup. Man. It is delicious! It is almost gone (because it is sooo good!), so I'm going to have to make another batch soon. When I do I'll make a whole new recipe blog post about it. I think I might make a whole bunch for our upcoming camp trip this weekend and share it with the family. On the note of camping...

2012 Davis Family Campout!!!

 We're getting all ready and rearin' to go! Chris and I bought a really neat tent (at Costco, not the DI) and I'm super excited for our first camping experience as a married couple. Chris actually came down with my family last year and we had a blast, but this year is gonna be even better!

Look at how neat, with that screened porch and everything!

Who are we?

Chris and Julie. That's us.

I met Chris in January of 2010. It was the Sunday before he was about to move into his new apartment. It was during those lazy college days when I was always just hangin' out and doin' whatever. My friend Ryan and I decided to get some friends together to make some curry and chill with our peeps (shame on us for doing things on a Sunday :P). Ryan and I really wanted to hang out with Teagan (my now sister-in-law) so we went to fetch her. After losing our way a few times, we finally found her house and Ryan told me to go knock and get her. I will always be thankful to Ryan for that. Chris opened the door and I asked if his sister was home. He said she was and she'd be up soon. Chris was wearing a green (hideous) suit and I commented on it and we chatted. Within two weeks we started dating.

A year and nine-ish months later we got married.

September 1st 2011.

And we're just having a great time!