Peach Marmalade with Walnuts

Day 2 of peaches. That means more jam. Two weeks ago I stumbled across an old recipe of my grandmother's for peach marmalade. I have never had peach marmalade. By the time I'd come along, my grandmother no longer canned anything. She had settled into her 7 meal rotation. The only variation came on holidays or special occasions. Then she served the traditional dishes associated with that holiday.

My grandmother passed away when I was in high school. Since then I have spent hours exploring her old recipes, looking for little gems she'd tucked away, forgotten to time. Some are little clipping from magazines. Others are hand written on recipe cards. This was one of the hand written ones.

The problem with her handwritten recipes are that she included limited instructions and rarely wrote down how much the recipe should produce. Her recipes from the 1940's were often written to accommodate a family of 5. Her recipes from the 1970's and 1980's were meant to accommodate 4 families. She felt a need to not only supply herself and my grandfather, but also her children's families.

This must have been one of those later recipes. It started with 2 dozen peaches. I chopped up 6 heaping cups and stopped. I ended up with  almost 14 half-print jars of marmalade. I would still be in the kitchen had a followed the recipe exactly.

I must say that this is DELICIOUS and nothing like the traditional marmalade that is mass produced. I was lucky to stumble across this recipe and it is something that I will be making every year.

Exploding Coffee, Pancakes, & Water for Elephants

It's been one of those mornings. You know the type, you want to go back to bed and try starting all over.

Life is kicking my ass. Couldn't sleep. At 4am Kit (my HIGHLY spoiled kitty) decided to have a one cat race through the house.

She ran. And she ran. And she ran over me. Then she attacked her toys. She picked out the only one that has a bell in it. She played with it for a good hour. I HATE that bell.

When I finally admitted defeat and realized I wasn't going to get any more sleep, I headed towards my favorite kitchen gadget. My Keurig coffee maker. A wonderful device that makes perfect coffee every time. Well almost every time. Today it kind of exploded.

Instead of coffee dripping out the hole at the bottom, it kind of sprayed out of the top. It takes talent to do that. A talent that only I possess.

At least the pancakes were a success. The perfect breakfast for a lousy, rainy day.

Today's pancakes came from Joy the Baker's Vegan Jam Swirled Pancakes. Absolutely delicious! However, mine aren't vegan.

Jam Pancakes
1 C All-Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
Dash Salt
1 Egg
3/4 C Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Tbs Unsalted Butter, melted
2 heaping spoonfuls of your favorite jelly or jam

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center and add the egg, part of the milk, vanilla extract, and the melted butter. Mix it together, adding remaining milk to help eliminate the lumps and bring the batter to the right consistency.

Add in 2 heaping spoonfuls of your favorite jam or jelly. I used FROG jam that is from a local fruit market by my parents house in Ohio.

I prefer a jam that has lumps of fruit in it to add more texture to the pancakes. However if it is a thicker jam, warm it slightly first so that it mixes into the batter easier.

Make sure your skillet is lightly greased, the melting jam in these pancakes will cause them to stick. Cook over low heat and flip the pancakes when the surface is dotted with bubbles.

Brown evenly on both sides.

Top with additional jam and/or syrup and enjoy!

Serves 3. It made 18 silver dollar sized pancakes for me.

I ate 15 of the pancakes. I blame the book. I was reading Water for Elephants (which I finished!) and just kept eating and eating. I lose track of things when I'm reading a good book.

For those who haven't read the book, I highly recommend it. Something about a masturbating midget is just hilarious and makes you keep reading the book to find out what other "surprise" scenes are going to pop up!