Some new favorite recipes

Pesto grilled cheese

2 pieces Favorite bread (English toasting bread or white gluten free)

Favorite cheese ( I like Gouda or Havarti)

Pesto sauce

Butter or cooking spray

Himalayan salt

Tomatoes

Roast tomatoes in oven or toaster oven for 3-5 minutes with salt and olive oil. Spread pesto on bread, cover with cheese and roasted tomatoes. Cook on griddle like grilled cheese until cheese is melted .

Emblama (stuffed Zucchini)

4 Zucchini, cored and cut lengthwise

1 lb ground beef or lamb (I use beef)

1 medium onion finely chopped (I used leek)

I small garlic, chopped

8 oz can fire roasted tomatoes

2 tsp roasted pine nuts

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped mint

1/4 cup chopped parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Olive Oil

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Add olive oil to a sauté pan on medium heat.  Sauté onion and garlic for 5 mins then add ground meat and spices.  Cook until browned.  Add can of tomatoes, pine nuts mint and parsley, combine.  Remove from heat and set aside.  Spray baking dish with cooking spray, place cored and halved squash in baking dish, add meat mixture and bake at 325 for 20 mins or until squash is fork tender.

Energy Bites (the kids love these in place of granola Bars after school/sports)

1cup oats

1 cup shredded, dried,  unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup Peanut butter

1/4 cup flaxseed meal

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup honey

add ins: chia seeds/walnuts/tiny dark chocolate chips/protein granola cereal/coconut oil

Roll into balls and put on cookie sheet for in freezer for about 15 minutes.  Transfer to container and store in fridge.

10 April

What do you know.....I like brussel sprouts......love them.  Kind of funny that I always gave them away year after year when that big stalk was available at our local CSA.   I roasted them in the oven then cooked with some Asian sauce (a bottled Asian marinade) in the frying pan.   Yum.  Probably going to make them twice this week......now getting my family to lose their fear of not liking this vegetable (or any vegetable), well, that's another story.

26 March

Yesterday.....we tried out making these snack bars......seriously good.  Even the pickiest eaters approve.  I didn't add much dried fruit b/c the kids don't like it.... I also substituted some of that yummy maple syrup for the honey.  .I think you can adapt them to whatever you have in the pantry....

The annual making of the jam....

After several years.....I've gotten pretty good at making this freezer jam.....all kinds, raspberry, strawberry and blueberry.  I think I still have some in the freezer from last year.... It's so easy....no boiling!

Step 1 : Wash all the strawberries in a strainer and Let the kids do the cutting (YIKES!) .....hopefully there are no stems in the jam...
Step 2:  Help each kid figure out where to stand so no one is squished and there is no fighting or crying.  Pull two chairs up to the counter.   sharing a chair is apparently not an option.
Step 3:  Start mashing the strawberries with a meat tenderizer (Oh, I forgot I do have a potato masher!) in a LARGE bowl.  Manage the kids arguing over whose turn it is to mash by setting the timer for three minutes each. Clean up spilled juice from all over everything....clothes, the floor, the wall and the counters.
Step 4: add 2/3 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of the instant freezer jam pectin to a clean bowl.  Add 1 2/3 cups of the strawberry mixture.  Stir for three minutes.  Manage whose turn it is to stir (see #3)
Step 5:  Funnel into jars....manage whose turn it is to hold the funnel and whose turn it is to ladle.  Repeatthe clean up part of step 3, then Keep scouring the kitchen to look for more containers and clean them.....there are ALOT of strawberries.
Step 6:  Place the jars on the counter to settle.  Have the kids make the labels that say "Strawberry Jam 2013"  Because one of my favorite things ever is little Kids Handwriting.  I want to remember it forever.  Manage fighting over who get to make the most labels.
Step 7: Repeat like 20 times.  It comes out much better when made in small batches (and everyone gets a turn to do everything)
Step 8:  Get the kids ready for bed.....tell them that the next morning first thing they are going to have to each write an essay on how to get along better before they touch an electronic device.  Collapse and realize that this should have been started earlier in the day when there was more time for clean up.
Step 9:  Clean up the kitchen, sweep and wash the floor.  Put the jars in the freezer.
Step 10: Give jars away to friends and family :)

12 September

My favorite Fall sweet treat.....Pumpkin Whoopie pies!

6 August

It's Wild Maine blueberry time!

I've always wanted to go picking (it's on my list for next year), but I've been keeping my eyes peeled and asking around at out local grocery store and farm stand as to when these babies would be available. Well today, I just happened to be in the grocery store just to pick up a few things and I overheard one of the employees talking about "bringing out some more of the local blueberries."   I asked and there they were.....I could not contain my these only come around once a year excitement thinking about the jam, the pie, the pancakes and the eating and I bought 4 quarts.  After dinner I made jam and pie (nothing relieves a stress full day of being with three overtired, bickering kids than making jam and pie) and I have 1.5 quarts left for pancakes and eating.  The pie was Martha Stewart's recipie.  Can't wait to eat it warm (I always have to have my pie warm) with melted vanilla ice cream over the top.  Once a year heaven.

3 July

Definitely putting these Strawberries and Cream muffins on my once a year freshly picked strawberry making list.:)

30 June

How to make Strawberry Jam:

Wake up REAL early and get to the field right when it opens at 7 AM (especially if the field had been closed the day before to let more berries ripen).  Tell the kids it's surprise day to get them out of bed quickly and don't tell them where we are going. Pick one quart per person.  Go out to breakfast after.  Come home, eat some and cut about 2 1/2 quarts up and mash them in a bowl with a potato masher.  Get lots of help with the mashing (but make sure you wear an apron).   Add 2/3 cups of white sugar and 2 tablespoons of instant pectin to a bowl, mix them together and sing a little song.  Add 1 2/3 cups of crushed strawberries  to the bowl and mix for three minutes (fight over who gets to mix, then set a timer for one minute each).  Use a Ladle and a funnel to put them into the freezer jars (I use the plastic Ball brand BPA free).  Fight over who gets to ladle.  Have little kids make the labels (correct spelling is optional).  Repeat in batches (each batch makes 2 jars)  until you have made the amount you want to (We made 8 Jars).  Good in the Fridge for 3 weeks or the freezer up to one year.  Enjoy:)

26 June

Summer Love #5: Salads.

Loving Right now......Tomato, Mozzarella balls, basil and creamy balsamic
                           .......Cucumber, Italian Cheese, Italian Dressing
                           .........Pasta salad (just one of those things you make like your mom does) Pasta, hard              boiled eggs, mayo, pickles and juice peppers, fresh peas and whatever else you can throw in!
                        .......Fresh and local Spinach and greens, local strawberries,cheese and creamy balsamic

13 August

visitng Flora Bliss for the very first time. Those heirloom tomatoes with a little salt make a PERFECT lunch!

8 July

There's just something about teaching them an appreciation of all food real. Food that is still warm from the sunshine that their little hands just picked hours before, and using those same hands to make it into something even more deliciously homemade. Life is good.

26 April

Making.....

My favorite spring/summer salad for dinner tonight.

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Getting to be a new family tradition, Sunday morning Goodnight Waffles. They are yummy!

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Working on our Valentine's today (For Breanna's we printed out this picture and attached it to a new pencil-easy!) and we're making pulled pork (9 hrs in the oven) and getting ready for the SUPERBOWL!

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Making Nanny's Cinnamon rolls and filling the whole house with the smell of Christmas--adding a little love and kneading by hand always makes them come our better.....

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Making some Zucchini bread.

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Beef stew in the crockpot and fresh bread baking in the bread machine, the wonderful smells are just filling the house this afternoon.....welcome fall!

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Harvested. I'm so excited about a possible Mother-daughter date to make some relish out of these.

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From the farm.

our 15 lbs of strawberries turned into my very first attempt at some jam (and it came out sooo yummy!) and some fresh carrot sticks--yummy!

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One of my favorite summer salads.