Baking Up Some Winter Comfort
pan⋅dow⋅dy (noun) – sliced fruit baked with sugar and spices in a deep dish, with a thick top crust.
A couple weeks ago I got Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More from the library. It’s such a great little book, all the recipes sound wonderful! I’m a big fan of desserts that contain fruit, so this cookbook is right up my alley.
Since my freezer is filled with blueberries, blackberries and wild black raspberries, we really enjoy baking them into lovely cobblers in the winter for light dinners or afternoon snacks. A cup of coffee and a serving of gingered apple and cranberry pandowdy* is all you need on a cold winter evening. I’ll definitely be baking more wonderful things from this cookbook! I have some black raspberries that are begging to be baked into something wonderful.
What’s your favorite kind of dessert: tangy fruit, rich chocolate, sugary sweet…?
*The actual recipe in the cookbook is for gingered pear and raspberry pandowdy, but I had some apples and cranberries that were begging to be used up.
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Brushing Up my Sugaring Skills
Sugaring season will be here soon. I decided to get a book from the library to read a little more about it before the season starts.
We’re going to buy a few more spiles/spouts this week to be ready. I can’t wait to spend my days gathering sap and boiling it into delicious syrup. We’re hoping sugaring season coincides with the Winter Olympics since we’re planning on taking time off during those two weeks. That way we’ll be able to empty the sap buckets and boil down the sap while in between our favorite events.
If you’d like to tap a couple of your maples trees you’d better start looking for some supplies. If you don’t need tons of supplies Tap My Trees is a great place. I go my local Lehman’s store to purchase what I need.
Do you or have you considered tapping your maple trees?
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Tax Season is Upon Us
I spent a few hours this weekend filling out my on-line tax notebook for our accountant. Since we own a small business, our taxes are a bit complicated. I used to do them myself, but when it comes to depreciation schedules, home office deductions and all the extra forms, I’d rather pay a professional to do it for me. I’m pretty certain he saves us at least as much as I pay him, and I don’t have to spend the hours filling out all the forms so it’s a win-win situation.
I’m pretty organized when it comes to taxes, which takes the stress out of tax season. All I have to do is print off my ledger from my accounting software and fill out the on-line forms. We meet with our tax guy so he can double check numbers and give us any advice on ways to reduce our tax liability. He also collects any necessary forms and receipts. All-in-all I spend a couple hours on my taxes each year, and I’m happy to have them finished as early as I can, which this year is today!
Do you do your own taxes or do you pay someone else to take care of them?
