what a week!

Last weekend started off well. On Sunday, we went to the twin cities to see our twins that turned 10 on the 17th of July and celebrate! We had a wonderful day and the weather cooperated for the day!! We brought the twins home with us for the week!! We ate chicken, BLT's, pancakes, corn dogs( not me), spaghetti and a few smoothies!! We met Kurt on Thursday night so they could go home!! We had fun, I took a day off from work and we went shopping! Another day we painted ceramics at The Potter's Shed!

cookbook

Last night I went to a cookbook dinner. The author is a very nice lady and she has written about 5 cookbooks. Teresa Marrone is her name. She is grew up in Aurora, Il. and now resides in Minneapolis area. She was very entertaining and visited every table to discuss her books.

She has written mostly books on eating what you find in a  forest, more like scavenger eating. I sat with people I didn't know and had fun meeting new people. I also bought 2 of her cookbooks. Last night was about food that is seasoned with maple syrup. WE had a 10 course meal, really small portions so you didn't feel so full!! It was really fun and I hope they offer something like it again! So, I bought the maple syrup book and one on slow cookers!

BBQ sauce

I have a new favorite website that I check daily called "onehundreddollarsamonth.com." The author is a gal named Mavis and she tries to feed her family for one hundred dollars a month. She has a huge garden and lots of tips for gardening, lives in the northwest and is a smart shopper! Her grocer gives her produce he would throw out, ours won't as it was abused when he did! But anyway, to get to the BBQ sauce recipe. Mavis made strawberry/chiptole jam. I thought, YUM!!! So, I bought a pail of berries and had the chiptole in the freezer. So, I made it, found it to be way too spicy for me. I realized quickly( smart of me) that no one would eat this stuff, so I can't throw it out, thinking about the cost I had into so far. What to do with this stuff??? God, what to do?? Help me figure out something. He did, I love BBQ sauce and thought why not, so I added some apple cider vinegar, more sugar,some salt, and water. I cooked this for 2 days so it would get very syrupy. It's still a little hot, but when added to chicken, it was mild. So, I got 4 pint jars and so, starts the canning season for me!! Blessings! So recipe for this is: 6 cups of strawberries, cut up and washed, 5 cups of sugar, 3 Chiptole peppers diced, 1 cup of brown sugar, 2 cups of apple cider vinegar and 1 cup of water. Of course, mine had 2 packets of pectin in it to make the jam, so I am not sure if that helped it get more syrupy quicker or not.

This and that

I have not been cooking very much with the heat, but I have been making soup! Go figure, as hot as it has been, I'm hungry for soup. Saturday I went to the Farmer's market (local in Spooner), and bought 3 pounds of peas. So, I made soup with leftover hamburger patty, carrots, peas, and orzo. It was good, weird eating it on a hot day, but so good. That lasted for 2 meals, last night I made soup again. It is a prepackage mix by Giada ( from the food network). It's an Italian soup and very good. Called Pasta Fagioli. I found it at Target, last time I was there. Giada has a line of food there, plus cookware. Well, that's all from here today. Blessings!

Happy 4th of July!!!

I was going to make this a very short post, but decided not too.  4th of July is a very special day for celebrating, but I think we as a country have forgotten what it really means! So here's my list, it's short! 

1. Freedom is a privilege, many men and women died for this privilege!

2. Freedom should not be taken for granted! Be grateful!

3. Freedom to come and go as we please. Freedom to worship where you want, go to school where you want, shop where you want, blog what you want, watch what you want on TV. and many more!

4. Freedom to enjoy your life! Pursue life, liberty and happiness!

This is a extremely short list, but you get the drift! Blessings, enjoy the rest of the day and the fireworks!