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so this last weekend proved to be quite productive, both inside and out. and by productive, i mean, we played outside in the yard and garden all weekend and ate good food. that's my kind of weekend.
mmmmmm ... strawberry huckleberry jam ...
i'd been receiving complaints the last couple weeks from the peanut gallery that there wasn't any strawberry freezer jam left and that the store stuff doesn't taste as good. so, i mustered up the strength this weekend to make a batch. if you've never made freezer jam, it's about the easiest thing to make ... other than the pb & j sandwich you put it on (or in my case, the spoon i shovel it onto).
i like to put it in glass jelly jars because they're cute and fun to give away, but plastic ones work, too. all in all, it takes about an hour to make enough jam to last your family the whole year. sure-jell pectin recipe is the best—the one right off the box. i added huckleberries to this years' and then couldn't find my food processor blade (i put it somewhere i WOULDN'T lose it) to puree them in, so it's chunkier than normal, but still good! i highly recommend it (they have no sugar added recipes too)!
the highlight of my weekend, however, was my mashed potato pancakes. they sure don't look like much, but there's not much that tops em'. my dad makes em' best, but i did my best to compete! remember when i said they don't look like much? they really don't. it's hard to take a decent picture of a flat pancake ... i did my darndest and it just didn't quite work. but still, you get the idea.
homemade mashed tater pancakes.
ingredients.
10-12 yukon gold potatoes
1/2 C sour cream with ranch dressing packet mixed in
butter—as much or as little as you'd like
salt & pepper to taste
1 egg
2-3 tbs flour
how-to for mashed tater pancakes ...
- Boil a big ol' pot of water with some salt thrown in (you can add garlic cloves to the water, too, if you like). Toss the potatoes in the boiling water and let them boil until tender enough to mash—check with a fork after 10-15 minutes.
- Drain water, leaving just the taters, and mash. Add sour cream, butter, salt & pepper, and mix with electric mixer.
- taste. adjust flavors as needed, and then refrigerate overnight (or make a double batch, eat some for dinner and save the rest for the next day for pancakes!)
- add egg and flour and mix well.
- xcoop small pancake-size dollops onto a hot oiled griddle or skillet. let cook for 1-2 minutes (until brown) and flip to the other side.
- once flipped, add a slice of cheese to melt.
- if you're not hungry yet, you shouldn't be reading this blog. this is the epitome of comfort food!
mashed potatoes take on a whole new meaning ...
i've spent the last two days thinking about this book, and i finished the last page almost a week ago. i, like much of the population, hear and read about the middle east on almost a daily basis—and have, for much of my life. but this book, although fiction, turned on a switch that didn't exist for me before. the switch that truly opened my eyes to listening and paying attention.
it's so easy for us to sit here in our comfy lives, watching war after war unfold on the television screen; skimming the headlines day after day; another bombing, another city taken, shooting, killing ... the list goes on. i think desensitization is an understatement. the problem i found with my own opinion and my own outlook on what's happened and is happening is not recognizing that each time one of these atrocities occurs, someone loses a family member. all too often i don't think, what if it were my family? what if something like this happened to me?
the civilians in many of these cities and countries are just as afraid of what's going on as we are, and it's so easy to group them together. but they're the ones living it EVERY single day. they're the ones waking up to the noise. we wake up to headlines. war is such an ugly thing—but some of these people have been rooted in war for hundreds of years. i can't even imagine. i'm no expert, and don't know nearly enough to even feel like i'm able to give an educated opinion ... but i think that's part of the problem—most of us are that way, and many of us still form the opinion—without the knowledge behind it.
the kite runner isn't about war. well, it is, but it's not a history lesson. it's a story ... and SUCH a well-told story. one that i know i won't ever forget, and wouldn't want to. a story of two boys, a specifically horrible incident, and how it shaped them into who they are, haunted them, and eventually, a quarter of a century later, lands right in the face of one of them.
this book is a bestseller for a reason. read it. you won't regret it, or forget it.
what started as a three-day project, quickly spiraled into being put on hold for our vacation, avoided, not in the budget, and so on. but, after several loooong weeks of waiting, taylor's room is finally 90% done. here's a sneak peek.
... and i don't know what it is about taking pictures of a room, but it never quite seems to do it justice. the walls and lighting look yellow—they're white.
drumroll ... the B-E-A-utiful newly refinished hardwood floor and lovely molding.
paper lanterns from pier 1 (thank you, auntie stephie)—i just took a bunch of the fake gerber daisies from pier 1, cut off the stems, and hot glued them to the paper lanterns in contrasting colors. easy!
bedding she already had ... i think we need to add another bright blanket and a few more pillows to offset the white, but no rush.
canvas paintings i found at burlington coat factory of all places ... for $5.99 a piece, i should have bought ten of them!
lucky for us, taylor's giant bunkbed works well in pieces—desk, dresser, bookshelf, and bed—without having to be hooked together.
what's a room without a bug?
taylor loves it ... as does her baby brother.
this might be the easiest 'fancy' recipe you'll ever meet. prepare yourself. 30 minutes and you, too, can have warm, soft, squishy, gooey, chocolate-y, rich bavarian cream-filled donuts. one of my favorite girlfriends mentioned that she makes donuts from canned biscuits (yeah, like, the $0.38 for 8 ones!) and uses cinnamon, sugar, frosting, and/or sprinkles on top for her three girls. BRILLIANT!
with that idea in mind, i went on the hunt for a custard filled, chocolate-topped recipe. i took the one i found, and took out all the non-fat, fat-free ingredients that were holding it back from being perfectly delectable—this is what came of it! try it out, they're yummy!
Easiest Donuts EVER.
ingredients.
2 cans jumbo buttermilk biscuits (no flaky biscuits or you'll just end up with oil-soaked garbage can liners!)
canola oil (enough to fill your skillet with about 1/2" worth)
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
1 1/2 C milk
8 oz. cool whip
1 can milk chocolate frosting (unless you're feeling fancy. then you can make your own frosting.)
make the filling.
- mix pudding mix and milk together in a large bowl, whisk. add cool whip and mix until combined.
- keep filling in the fridge until you're ready to use it.
get those donuts going.
- pour oil into your skillet, to about half an inch. turn the heat on medium, and let heat for about five minutes.
- put your super-fancy pants, $0.38 jumbo buttermilk biscuits into the oil and let them brown on one side (about a minute). flip the babies over, and let the other side fry to golden perfection. if the oil doesn't bubble around the biscuits when they're plunged into the hot oil ... it's not hot enough. turn up the heat!
- once they look all lovely and done, take them out (don't burn yourself!) and put them on a plate lined with paper towels ... you know, to make them healthy(er?).
fill em' up.
- two ways to do this part: use a cake decorating bag with a wide-tip on it. or, if you're like me, and don't have those nifty tools, cut the corner off of a zip-loc™ bag and fill er' up!
- poke holes in the side of each donut. for this, i have a handy-dandy tool that works perfectly ... it's called a finger (just make sure hands are clean)! If that's not sanitary enough for you, a vegetable skewer works rather well.
- put the pudding-filling tool into the donut and squeeze until each donut puffs up and you know it's cram-packed and will make a mess when you eat it.
final touch.
- a donut isn't a donut without some kind of frosting. scoop the can of frosting into a bowl and heat it in the microwave for 30 seconds.
- swirl the tops of each donut with the frosting.
now, whenever you have breakfast guests, you can show off and make fresh, warm donuts ... just don't tell em' your secret!
P.S. there are about a million ways to make biscuit donuts. make holes in them and coat them with cinnamon and sugar, frosting, powdered sugar, jelly-filled ... the possibilities are endless!
it rained all weekend. ALL. WEEKEND. but, between showers, there were bits of sun—and bits of gardening. it's officially taking off. i still have a few (closer to several) other things to plant, but i feel like it was quite productive nonetheless. and the lovely thing about rain (aside from not having to water) is the luscious green i miss so much.
the future chicken coop. a fresh coat of paint and a fence and she'll be good to go.
she might take over our entire house. not even two months ago she was not even out of the ground yet. it's ... aliiiiiiive.
grow, baby grow! this little blueberry bush was just a stick a few weeks ago, literally. now, the little guy has leaves!
and this little blackberry stick ... er, i mean, start—after weeks of no signs of life ... there's GREEN! that's a leaf bud, not a bug!
partner in crime #1 (jessi) ... don't let her sad eyes fool you. the rain is her favorite thing ever. and she spent an hour jumping into our dwarf cherry tree eating the teeny cherries. she was in heaven.
partner in crime #2 (kuma) ... he's every bit the punk he looks here. 
soon, those little flowers will be yummy tomatoes! four different varieties: christmas grape, early girl, and i can't remember the other two. and no, those are not bugs on the stems, it's dirt ... i checked.
the apples are on! and i continue to do everything possible to be bug/worm free this year! i will win the battle.
one of our two winter apple trees. don't mind the nine foot grass jungle around it.
six zucchini, three pumpkin, and six acorn squash ... movin' right along!
if i ever complain about my yard ... it's a lie. i adore it. it might be full of weeds, impossible to keep up on, and ridiculously out of control ... but it's still lovely as ever. especially after all that rain!
i know it's not thursday, so it's not food-day, but i had so much fun making this yesterday that i can't help but share! my grandma used to have two honeysuckle bushes in her backyard, and as kids we used to pull out the stems on the blossoms to get the tiniest drop of nectar—so worth it! i can't even begin to explain the amazing smell and taste of these little guys!
ingredients.
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