This dish gets an 11

Today is going to be a terrible day, I can already tell and it's only 10:30 in the morning. It is cloudy and gloomy outside and I have a LONG day of studying ahead of me. At least the day started off well, 100% on TL, hip hip hooray. Before I dive into this bottomless pit, I thought I would write a little bit about dessert last night.

The boys spent a whole day climbing outside while I was a prisoner in the house with my head in my book. As my mini-break, I decided to whip up a pie. I had some leftover buttermilk from the fried green tomatoes, and one of my favorite things to do with buttermilk is make pie (oh and red velvet cupcakes). Buttermilk pie is so easy and it's really delicious. It reminds me more of a custard than a pie because it doesn't have a crust. Once you bake it, the top gets a nice crust and is so yummy. Joey and I have a silly ritual of rating our dishes after we make them. It's a 1-10 scale and really doesn't have any strict criteria. 1 means it's absolutely horrible (luckily, nothing has ever been given this rating) and a 10 means it's one of the best dishes you've ever had. Most things get a 7 or 8, occasionally we have a 4. Joey's rating for this buttermilk pie is an 11, it's officially one of his favorite things in the entire world. Yeah, it's that good.

I recently acquired a mass amount of peaches from a good friend (thanks A!). I thought it would be nice to make some kind of peach syrup over the buttermilk pie. I found a great recipe for peach lavender syrup that I thought would compliment the pie wonderfully. The original recipe called for use of vanilla beans, but those little guys are so expensive, so I just substituted a little vanilla extract. I am hesitant with lavender because sometimes it can give off an overly floral taste. I wish that this dish actually had more lavender flavor. You could definitely smell the aroma, but I think the overly sweet taste of the sugary syrup overwhelmed the delicate lavender. I would probably decrease the sugar a bit and let the lavender seep longer. Also, I would just spoon the peaches soaked in syrup over the pie and not drizzle extra syrup on top. It makes the pie too sweet. Just a bite of pie with a bite of peach, divine. Another option would be to reserve some of the syrup and mix it in with some whipped cream to serve over the pie. Delish.

Okay, enough distraction from studying. Here's the recipe. Off to JAK STAT, phosphatidylinositol, Ratkhe's pouch, Hashimoto's and other things I don't completely understand yet...

JC's Buttermilk Pie with Lavender Peaches
adapted from Olivia's Buttermilk Pie and First Look, Then Cook

For the Buttermilk Pie

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup biscuit mix (recommended: Bisquick)
• 1/3 cup (5 1/3 tablespoons) butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch pie pan. Put all ingredients in a bowl and blend for 1 minute with a handheld electric mixer. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes.

For the Lavender Peaches

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons dried lavender blossoms
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 medium firm but ripe peaches, pitted, cut into 3/4-inch wedges, skins removed*
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Combine 2 1/4 cups water, sugar, lavender and vanilla extract in a saucepan. Boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; cover and let steep 10 minutes. Strain syrup into medium bowl; discard lavender. Return remaining syrup to same saucepan; add peaches and lemon juice and bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer about 5 minutes. Transfer peaches to bowl. Boil syrup in pan until reduced to 1 cup, 12 to 14 minutes. Pour over peaches. Chill uncovered 2 hours.

*Here's a trick to easily remove the skins from peaches: Place the peaches in boiling water for 2-3 minutes and then immediately remove them and place them in an ice bath for a few minutes.The skins should peel right off.