Once again in our family, fresh peaches mark a time of celebrating

In our family peaches always have seemed to be synonymous with a celebration; the events of a few days ago were no exception.

In this blog and in my new cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden, I write about the Quick Peach Cobbler that once was served when my cousin, Lynda, and her fiance, George, visited our house to discuss their upcoming wedding ceremony. The peaches in that cobbler represented the renewal of our peach orchard, since floods had wiped out our first prolific peach trees some years back.

Earlier this week I stirred up Fresh Peach Muffins on the occasion of another great event. Family and friends from all over gathered here for a baby shower for our daughter, Katie, who's on the verge of giving birth to a baby boy.

I served the muffins to houseguests--our brother- and sister-in-law--who traveled down from Oklahoma to help honor Katie. Biting into these sweet muffins and tasting a peach morsel that hailed from our now-prolific orchard always has been pure delight.

These loved ones' visit produced another reason for celebrating. On Monday we journeyed back across the Red River for the grand opening of the brand-new, $145 million, state-of-the-art Chickasaw Nation Hospital in Ada, OK. Because my hubby and his sister (and all their Moore blood kin) are Chickasaw Nation citizens, the health care that they will be able to obtain from this beautiful medical center will be provided for them at no charge to them. No wonder they wasted no time in taking the grand-opening tour and seeing what this marvelous new facility had to offer them.

In my way of thinking these terrific blessings couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch. My hubby and his two siblings were left without a father when their dad, who actually was born on the old Chickasaw reservation just months before Oklahoma became a state , died an untimely death as the three Moore children were teen-agers. Their widowed mom struggled for years to support, on her own, her children. All three ultimately were college graduates; two obtained advanced degrees. But their early lot was not an easy one. Deprived of a father's love and nurture and provision during their crucial teen-age years, they did not have a family's financial security to undergird them as they were launched into the adult world.

Now, as these three Baby Boomers enter their senior years, the benefits that are theirs through their father's bloodline of his Chickasaw heritage are absolutely astounding. The once-poor tribe today flourishes because of outstanding modern leadership that practices the best of financial stewardship and management. Medical care is but one of the incredible, mind-bogging perks that recently have arrived at their doorsteps as a result of their father's kinship to Chickasaw ancestors (my new cookbook details this in the chapter, "One Smart Indian".) These youngsters who spent anxious years of heartache without a dad's paycheck to give them life's necessities now at long-last are having that made up to them as they become seniors. I can think of no more worthy group of people; I'm thankful that the Lord enabled them to live long enough to see their Chickasaw connection (of which many people once were ashamed because of discriminatory attitudes against Native Americans) bring great blessings to their lives.

Sparkling new hospital wings that offer dental, hearing, and eye care as well as clinics for routine physical exams and testing were proudly toured by our family group. Naturally an emergency room, operating rooms, and critical care areas were a part of the new structure as well. Certainly one can hope that good health will prevail and that the occasions to visit such a place will be few, but the Chickasaw Nation can be proud of having this fine facility for its people in time of need.

Hooray, Fresh Peach Muffins! Once again, you crowned a day well-worth celebrating.

Fresh Peach Muffins

1 egg (we use egg substitute)

1 cup milk (we use skim)

1/4 cup melted shortening

2/3 cup sugar (we use sugar substitute)

1/2 teaspoon salt (we use salt substitute)

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup peeled, chopped, fresh peaches

Beat egg. Stir in milk, shortening, sugar, salt, cinnamon, lemon juice, and vanilla. Sift together flour and baking powder. Stir into milk mixture until all is blended. Do not overmix. Fold in peaches. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes or until brown. Serve warm.

Summer days turn perfectly peachy, but what to make with that first delightful crop?

For several days I've seen them peeking their perky little fuzzy heads among the lush branches.

They were signs of the first of this summer's peach crop, which started out as blossoms, then tight, knobby outcroppings, then green mini-fruit. Slowly they began to get color about them, as a blush of yellow-orange-amber began spreading over ripening rounds.

From my vantage point at my home-office desk, which overlooks our backyard garden plot, I watched as the color deepened and the fruit swelled. Every day I could spot more of them and could see their increasing weight droop the branches more and more.

Soon, I mused excitedly. Soon.

That thought naturally skipped to a related reverie. What dish will I make with the first ones I bring in? The "peach" section of my loose-leaf album memorized, I didn't even have to remove it from the shelf and thumb through for inspiration. I knew them all by heart. Peach-Plum Crumble. Refrigerator Peach Jam. Peach Lattice Pie. My tastebuds frolicked as my mind wound around the possibilities.

Last year's first harvest was designated for Quick Peach Cobbler that I served my cousin, Lynda, as she and her fiance, George, visited our home to discuss plans for their upcoming wedding.

In my new book, Way Back in the Country Garden, I describe why this cobbler was such a cause for celebration--it marked the first peach ingathering we'd experienced since the Great Deluge of 2007, when rain fell for days on end and drowned out all the peach trees in our garden. Last year was the first time the new, fledgling peach trees, which we planted to replace the prize ones that died, gave forth a harvest.

Several weeks ago we thankfully began assessing that peaches would be abundant again this year--maybe never as prolific as before the 2007 flood but certainly respectable--enough to make my way through my cherished peach recipes plus experiment with new ones as well.

Two days ago I managed to sneak one off a branch and bring it in for my breakfast cereal. Not ripe enough to be soft and malleable, but a foretaste of things ahead.

Today finally I could tell enough were ready to pick that I'd better bring my basket. This time, from 10 to a dozen were ready for the Moment of Truth. I scurried in with them and peeled them--their tangy yet mellow fragrance as several cups of chopped peaches stewed on the stove recalled my Aunt Bonnie's house during childhood summers I stayed with her and Uncle Bill on their farm and we put up peach preserves. Nothing like that aroma . . . or those memories.

With two cups of peaches cooked and ready to land themselves in the perfect dish, what did I finally pick to showcase them? Ultimately, after filing through several more "peach" pages--spotting recipes for Individual Peach-Berry Crisps, Peach Angel-Food Cake, and Peach Crumb Pie, I knew what the hands’-down winner would be.

I quickly dumped them in a bowl to stir up . . . Aunt Sallie's Pudding, of course. (See recipe below.) Amazingly simple, with only a few basic ingredients, this "pudding" actually bakes in the oven with a layer of batter poured over a layer of chopped peaches. Top it with fat-free whipped topping (my hubby subbed fat-free vanilla yogurt) and you have a light, summer winner. It's been a favorite ever since I discovered it in the Birchman Baptist Church (Fort Worth) cookbook some years back.

What about the also-rans--Fresh Peach Muffins, Upside-Down Ginger-Pecan Peach Pie, Peach Lattice-Topped Cobbler--to name a few?

Today's only the first day of June; more languid summer days stretch out promisingly on the horizon; gratefully, this year more peaches beckon. In fact, I think I better get the ice-cream freezer down from the shelf. I think I hear some Fresh Peach Homemade Ice Cream calling my name!

Miss Sallie's Pudding

3 eggs (we use egg substitute)

1 cup sugar (we use sugar substitute)

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup chopped peaches

1 tablespoon water

1 1/4 cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon almond flavoring

2 tablespoons butter

Place chopped peaches in a microwave-safe bowl with 1 tablespoon water. Cover and cook 4 minutes on high until peaches are soft. (Can also cook these in a saucepan on the stove until peaches become tender.) Set aside. Mix eggs, sugar, and flour with evaporated milk; add vanilla and almond flavoring. Melt butter in an 8-by-8-inch pan; pour peaches over butter, then pour batter over peaches and butter. Bake at 300 degrees until firm (about 30 minutes).