An Abundance of Plums

Before we get into it I have a few life updates since the last time I posted:

1) I have slowly been decorating my balcony. My Aunt and Uncle gave me a gorgeous teal bistro set a few weeks ago and it inspired me to decorate with bright colors. I found a sunflower plant that, in the week since I got it, hasn't died yet so I'll put that in the win column. On Friday I went to a hardware store to get some ceiling fans and noticed the perfect purple planters to add. on my way home I stopped by a nursery and filled them up! One has purple, pink, and white flowers, one has herbs (oregano, basil, thyme, sage, and curry), and the last one has tomato plants. Ideally I would have loved to have a vegetable garden but I am limited when it comes to space and for now this will have to do. I do have a reputation for killing plants, but I will not give up!

and more importantly:

2) I ADOPTED A PUPPY!

His name is Chance and he's perfect. I adopted him about two months ago and while having a puppy is certainly not easy I am so happy that he's in my life! I've wanted to adopt a dog for a while but decided to wait until I was living without room mates to get one.

When I got back from my brother's wedding in California I started looking. Chance (known then as Ace) popped up on an adoption group's Facebook page and that was it! I went to meet him in Tel Aviv where he was staying with a foster mom and the next day I signed the adoption papers.

He was around four months old when I got him. Oh, he also has only three legs. He was born missing his front right leg but that doesn't stop him from anything! It's been so inspiring to see how he doesn't let anything get in his way.

Hey girl, hey!

He runs, jumps, and plays just like any other dog. He may take a few more spills than other dogs, but he always gets right back up and keeps going.

Chilling while I work

He's very special and even though I've only had him for about two months, I couldn't imagine life without him.

Licking his favorite toy in his sleep

Okay, now on to the baked goods.

Yes friends, summer has arrived and how! It has been SWELTERING here. Summer brings some of my favorite fruits, stone fruit! I had a VERY busy Friday, but running around actually provided me with an opportunity I haven't had before, going to a fruit and vegetable shop on Friday afternoon when they slash their prices! That is how I ended up with a box full of plums for under twenty shekels.

While I love to eat plums by themselves there is no way I can go through an entire box before they go bad, and so I turned to the internet. My friend Chana suggested plum bars and after a quick search on Pinterest I found a great recipe that I already had all the ingredients for. If you have all the tools these are very easy to make. One thing that I did not enjoy was cutting up the plums.

With peaches and nectarines it's easy to make all the slices while the fruit is still whole and then pull off the pieces. This is not the case for plums and I found out the hard way. The first two plums did end up a bit of a sticky messy but that doesn't matter because they are being baked. I did get the hang of it and the rest of the plums ended up a bit prettier.

While they are called breakfast bars these are too sweet for me for breakfast so I'll be taking them in to work to share.

Plum Breakfast Bars (taken from Clever Housewife)

Crust and Topping
¾ cup melted butter
½ cup chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts or pecans)
1¼ cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1¼ cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda

Plum Filling
2 cups diced plums
1/2 cup sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
2 Tbs flour
2 Tbs butter, melted and cooled
1 Tbs lemon juice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. In food processor, whirl all the crust dry ingredients, including nuts til fine crumbs, then add melted butter and whirl until crumbly and clings together.
3. Reserve about 1 1/2 cups of the crumb mixture and set aside.
4. Press remaining crumb mixture in to 9 x 13 baking dish.
5. Bake for 12 - 15 min until edges just begin to brown. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes.
6. Prepare plums while crust is baking, then toss with sugar, cinnamon, flour, lemon juice and melted butter.
7. Spread over crust, and then crumble reserved crumb mixture evenly over the top.
8. Bake at 350 for 35 - 40 min, until brown. Let cool, then cut into bars or squares.