Archive | August, 2013

Cookie Dough

27 Aug

Not like the raw egg has ever stopped me from eating cookie dough before but…

here is an eggless cookie dough recipe for y’all.

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Since it has been too hot to turn on the oven for the past few days (AND I NEEDED COOKIES) I decided to make some family friendly cookie dough that can’t possible give us all salmonella.  Hooray- go me.

Here is the recipe from over here–

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (Ghirardelli is my fave)

DIRECTIONS

  1. With your mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar. Add in vanilla and salt, mix.
  2. Add in flour. The mixture is going to be crumbly at this point.
  3. Add in 2 tablespoons of milk and mix. Now the dough will look like the cookie dough you’re used to seeing.
  4. Fold in 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips and 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips.
  5. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. Freeze for up to three months.

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So even if it is too hot to fire up the ol’ oven you can still enjoy a delicious cookie snack without making your family sick.

Late Summer Flowers

21 Aug

I have been a bit preoccupied this summer, compliments of the Huntsman (as Sophi calls Hudson).

My front flower garden is occupied by more weeds than actual flowers and yet some hearty flowers are hanging on.

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Wild Blueberry Picking

16 Aug

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Berry picking up north has been astounding.

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Tom was our fearless guide and picking expert.  He was the one who selflessly invited us into his wonderful world of blueberry picking, cleaning and eating.  Thanks Tom, your secret is safe with us.

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Up here everyone has their secret patch of blueberry woods passed on from generation to generation.  You will see random cars parked on the side of remote roads this time of year, and you know that they are berry picking.  They have walked who knows how long into those woods to get those little goodies and you better not go and bug them.  Things  you don’t inquire about up here:  Where you caught those monster walleye and where people go to pick their blueberries.  You just don’t do it, and if you do, you’re sure not to get a straight answer.

heading out to the special spot

heading out to the special spot

For most people around northern MN this is old news, but for those of us who have never before picked a blueberry- here is the rundown.

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Tom called his style of blueberry collecting “dirty picking.”  Rather than picking single berries, you place the long pan on the ground and then bend the branch over the pan and run your hand along the branch- making the berries fall into the pan.  The advantage of picking berries with this method is it maximizes the number of berries you can pick in a given amount of time, thus minimizing the pain of mosquitos, heat, and crawling along the forest floor.

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You can clean the berries by rolling them down a bumpy board.  The berries roll down the board and into a waiting box while the sticks, inch worms, leaves and dirt stays on the board.DSC_6403 DSC_6404

We feel so blessed to live here, to be able to pick these scrumptious berries and to have our freezer stocked until next years picking season.

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Chickens!

11 Aug

The chickens have arrived

and so

we have arrived.

Ever since my sister’s boyfriend (now husband) brought over some of his family’s farm fresh eggs to our tiny Bethel Seminary apartment, I have been hooked.

I felt like I had not eaten an egg since that spring day in 2010.  Both Jared and I were amazed by the orange gold glow the eggs gave off and their buttery taste.  After that first farm fresh fried egg we knew that one day we had to own some hens of our own.

In the afternoon of August eighth our dreams became a reality.  Well, kind of.  They are at least a month or so away from laying eggs.  They were born in April and I guess they don’t start laying until they are about 17 weeks old.  Darn.

Jared spent about three days building the chickens’ coop.  He spent Sunday (afternoon until evening)  and then Monday building.  And then right after he got done with work on Tuesday and Wednesday he set outside to building.  I usually have a problem with him being busy for that long but the chickens had a deadline and he got it finished by Thursday afternoon.

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And the girls enjoyed “helping” Jared.  One time Sophi ran in at top speed to go to the bathroom announcing that they were working REALLY hard out there.  She had her shirt off to match Jared who (of course) also had his shirt off.

We checked on them last night and they were peacefully roosting on a ladder Jared built and looked quite at home.

Each of the eight will be carefully named and very loved by the girls.  They have already mastered the art of sneaking behind the wandering hens and scooping them up.

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Welcome to our eight little hens, we can’t wait until we can taste the first eggs.

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Hudson

8 Aug

Aleah has taken her roll as big big sister very seriously.  She loves getting Hudson to talk to her and he loves her smiley face nest to his.

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He is such a precious little guy and we can’t imagine our life without him.

He is already 3 months old, can you believe it?

Garden Update

5 Aug

We were out of town last week and when we came home our garden was exploding with life.

It is so fun to be gone for a few days and then when you return you can clearly see the changes that have occurred in your absence.

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Last year we couldn’t harvest our carrots until mid fall and even then they were very small.  This year we are already snacking on deliciously sweet and good sized carrots.  They honestly taste like they have sugar sprinkled on top of them.

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For dinner tonight we had hummus and carrots.  And some chips and cheese on the side.  What a wonderful way to end a calm summer day.

Thrifty Thursday

1 Aug

Jared found this complete set of hockey goalie gear at our local thrift store for $20.00!

The hockey bag alone would cost $50 and goalie leg pads cost a couple hundred at least.

You can tell we don’t live in a hockey town because of the outrageously low price and because it was still hanging around the store at the end of the day.

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He has always wanted to try playing goalie since he was a catcher in college.  I look forward to schooling him a bit sometime this winter =)