first harvest

We cut our first harvest of rhubarb and of course the first thing we did with it was make strawberry rhubarb jam.  It's one of our favorites to have on hand.  Mason and Emma are great strawberry mashers.  Making jam has turned in to a family affair...a fun way to spend a morning.  We ended up with 21 jars.  Success.

Our rhubarb is nice and healthy this year thanks to all the rain we've gotten.  I think the next batch will probably be turned into a nice pie.  Hopefully the hail will stay away this year and we'll get a few more cuttings.

little orchard

It's been a long week.  Two funerals in one week is pretty overwhelming.  One for a good friend and school employee and another for a student.  It felt really good to get outside in the sunshine on Friday and hang with the kids.  I mostly just want to hug them and never let go.  Here are a couple pictures of them waiting to plant our 8 apple trees.  While daddy was augering the holes they "planted" some wood trees and measured the logs.  

These are the only pictures I took before the battery died.  They loved helping to water the trees, play in the mud and shovel dirt into the holes.  We're learning the ins and outs of trying to maintain fruit trees in our zone 3 climate.  Sort of a learn-as-you-go kind of thing. 

Now it's snowing.  Gotta love Colorado.  

apple challah

Craving something full of apples and cinnamon?  I came across this recipe in my bread machine cookbook and since we have an abundance of apples around I decided to try it out. 

 

There are three sections of dough braided together.  Each section of dough is like a apple cinnamon roll...the apple filling is rolled up inside. 

 

 

The result is a pretty braid full with apples, cinnamon, and honey in every bite.  



Apple Challah
adapted from The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook

Dough:
3/4 c. water
2 eggs
3 Tbsp. oil
3 c. bread flour
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. yeast

Combine the ingredients in a bread machine and select the dough cycle.  Or, make the dough with any other method you prefer. 

Filling:
3 medium appkes, peeled cored and sliced
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. cinnamon

Combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl.  Divide the dough into three equal sections.  Roll each portion into a 12 by 3 inch rectangle.  Brush with melted butter and place 1/3 of the filling down one side.  Roll up jelly-roll style and pinch the seam.  Place the 3 ropes on a greased baking sheet and braid together.  Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk (about 45 minutes).

Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.

wordless wednesday

in the kitchen

We've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately.  Which is nothing new.  It's one of our favorite places to be.

 

Last Friday it was english muffins.

 

Then Wednesday it was letter crackers with Grammie. Mason loved spelling (and eating) his name.

And Wednesday night it was apples.  Oh the apples!  We ended up with way more apples than we were planning on.  We bought the winter banana (weird name, but they are sooo good) apples on the back counter from an older couple in a nearby town.  The three huge boxes on the table were given to us for free a few days later from another family with extra apples from their trees.  So, that means many evenings will be spent putting them up.  Applesauce, apple pie filling, and apple chips will soon be filling our pantry. 

This morning it was pumpkin bread.

 

 

I love my little helpers!

wordless wednesday

breakfast + family

So, these photos are a little old. It's not so green around here anymore. But, I finally found my other camera and these are some of my favorites from when my mom and sister came to visit.
We love cousin Karly!

Nana with the kiddos at the football game.

Bobcat fans!

And this is my new favorite recipe to serve up for breakfast when we have company. It's a cream cheese fruit braid. I made it for brunch with a friend a couple months back. Then I made it again for my family. Both times I used some of our peach jam and it was delicious.

But now I can't stop thinking about making it with some of our blueberry jam. Anybody want to come over for breakfast?

mango blueberry muffins

I had some mangoes sitting on the counter and decided to make some muffins over the weekend. I found a recipe for mango blueberry muffins and I thought they sounded delicious. I gave them a little makeover so they would be a little healthier (the original recipe had 1 1/4 cup of sugar!)

Mango Blueberry Muffins with Toasted Coconut
adapted from this recipe

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. ground flaxseed
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 c. blueberries
1/4 c. flour
1 c. mango, chopped

Coconut Topping:
1 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3 Tbsp. shredded coconut
pinch salt

Beat butter, brown sugar, sugar and salt. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Combine dry ingredients and mix into wet ingredients. Toss blueberries with flour. Fold in mangoes and blueberries. Combine coconut topping ingredients. Pour batter into greased muffin tins and top with coconut. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes.

I have one more mango sitting on the counter which very well could end up in a smoothie today!

oranges

We've really been into oranges around here lately. They just taste so good on a cold, windy day. They feel a little bit like spring.

I recently made orange yogurt muffins which were delicious. The glaze is the perfect touch.

Orange Yogurt Muffins

From Light & Tasty

1/2 c. sugar, divided

2 Tbsp. grated orange peel

2 Tbsp. water

5 Tbsp. butter, cubed

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

3/4 c. plain yogurt (we used greek yogurt)

3/4 c. milk

Glaze:

1 c. powdered sugar

2 Tbsp. orange juice

1 tsp. grated orange peel

In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 c. sugar, orange peel and water. Cook and stir over low heat for 3-5 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Add butter; stir until melted. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and remaining sugar. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, yogurt, milk, and reserved butter mixture. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Coat muffin cups with cooking spray; fill each with about 1/4 c. batter. Bake at 375 for 13-18 minutes. Combine glaze ingredients and spoon over warm muffins. Yum!

Mason has been surviving on oranges the past few days. He eats them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And Mr. Independent will only eat them if he gets to peel them himself. Then he says "pull apart" as he pulls apart each little segment. He sure is a cutie enjoying his Cuties:)

wordless wednesday

breakfast

I love breakfast. I love to make breakfast. I love to try new recipes for breakfast. Ryan and I almost always cook breakfast on the weekends and eat together. Sometimes I make it (usually on Saturday) and sometimes he makes it (usually on Sunday). A few weeks ago, my best friend Mindy reminded me of the importance of slowing down and enjoying the morning. This is easy for us to do on the weekends, but not so much during the week. During the week we get up at different times and Ryan is usually heading out the door while I am just starting to make my breakfast. So, we don't get to eat together. And usually when I am eating breakfast I have the laptop in my face taking a moment to catch up on things. But, I've been trying to take a little time for me in the morning and enjoy our view out the window, pray over my day, and just have some quiet time. It's been wonderful. Of course, I still love our weekend breakfasts together.

Last weekend we tried a few new things. On the menu:

mushroom and onion tartlets

fruit salad (with grapefruit, oranges, figs, and kumquats)

orange cranberry bread (sooo good, a little gift from mindy).

We had never tried fresh figs or kumquats before. They were a fun addition. The figs were slightly out of season (who knew they were a summer fruit?) but still sweet and delicious. I can't wait to try some when they are in season. And the kumquats were a burst of sweet and tartly sour at the same time. Fun! Take some time to enjoy your breakfasts this week, friends.

counter space...

...or lack thereof:) You see, I've been sort of busy these days. I haven't been able to do much in the kitchen because every flat surface is covered with either fruit, canning supplies, veggies, cutting boards, dehydrator trays, or dishes drying waiting to start all over again. Even the kitchen table was looking a little overwhelming, which is a bit of an inconvience since the kitchen table also serves as my craft table (since my old one was replaced with a changing table and is waiting patiently in the garage while we finish the addition), our paying bills station, laundry folding/sorting station, oh, and every once in a while I actually shove everything to the side clean off the table so we can sit and eat.

Thanks to my mother-in-law for helping me get started and snapping a few pictures of the process!

It all started when I got 100 lbs of pears and 15 pounds of cheeries. What was I thinking? Oh, right, I was thinking I was ordering 25 lb boxes, not 50 lb boxes.

Then it continued with the first frost (and a week of snow!) in the forecast. That meant we had to pull a bunch of stuff out of the garden.



All this led to:

~quarts and quarts of canned pears

~canned cheeries

~canned pearsauce (think applesauce with pears instead:)

~cinnamon pear jam

~cranberry pear jam

~dehydrated pear chips

~dehydrated veggie chips

~lots of new recipes with fresh pears (I'll share later)

Mason was a big help!

And my counters now? Well, Ryan built me an awesome shelf out of scrap wood to hold all those jars. The kitcken is starting to get back to normal...just in time to get that box of apples:)

good morning, blueberries

I wish there was a place nearby to pick fresh blueberries. I've seen wild strawberries and raspberries, but no blueberries. This morning I decided to make a blueberry coffee cake (with frozen blueberries). It was delicious.

Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. wheat flour

3/4 c. sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 c. reduced-fat sour cream

1 egg

1/4 c. applesauce

3 Tbsp. canola oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries

Topping

1/4 c. quick-cooking oats

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 Tbsp. cold butter

Combine all the dry ingredients. In another bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients, except the blueberries. Stir wet mixture into dry ingredients until moistened. Fold in blueberries. Pour into a 9 in. square pan coated with cooking spray. Combine the oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over the top. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Ever have one of those mornings where nothing really falls into place? It seemed like every ingredient I reached for was empty. The flour canister, the wheat flour canister, and the sugar canister all needed to be filled. Then when I went to make the topping, the brown sugar canister only had a little bit in the bottom. Well, at least now all my canisters are full and ready for the next baking adventure. Too bad the dishes aren't done...

apple harvest!

This is one of the reasons I am a little behind on making cards! I have been working on putting up my apples. Let me tell you...a bushel of apples is A LOT of apples! I have been making apple sauce, apple pie filling, apple butter, apple cinnamon bread, apple dumplings, apple cheddar bread, and dehydrated apple chips for the last two weeks. I have never gotten apples before (last year I only did pears and peaches...which I also did this year...yummy peach pie filling, peach jam, and pear butter), so I am learning! It's been fun though and feels so rewarding to look in the freezer and on the pantry shelves and see the results of all my hard work. These pictures are what I have made from about 1/3 of the box:

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a happy day.