And Suddenly (a thrifted giveaway)

Somehow and with out proper warning it's fall. I remember feeling somewhere in August, yeah I'm ready for summer to be done. And well, that was a lie. I LIED. I'm just not ready to be done. Even though fall is perhaps my favorite season I kind of want another month of warm weather.

As summers go it wasn't half bad. The weather was not grand but like I kept saying, it made it easier to be inside working on the school if it wasn't pretty and sunny outside. The school took a lot of my time but I am perfectly happy to admit that it was worth it.

The days were long and the nights short as usual here. This is the first year where I fell exhausted in to bed while the sun was still shining. I usually fight it. Not this year I was so tired!

We had birds, about 30 this year. 20 some chickens, turkeys and geese. The geese worked the garden over pretty good but they have been harvested now. I'll just put it this way: they ate just about everything the slugs didn't but they sure will be tasty for Christmas.

The only hale and hearty crops I grew this year were-

• Sugar Snap Peas-successive planting and an expanded growing area
• Carrots-planted early and successively we were munching carrots by early July and still have lots to go
• Greens-mustard hit early on and we still have kale going strong
• Potatoes-wah always a nice haul
• Basil-grown in the house we have pesto put away for winter and more still to make
• Green Beans-grown in the house and green house we've enjoy this rare summer crop a LOT this summer-one in three years is a green bean year up here
• slugs, snails and aphids-protein for birdies

My boys, oh my boys! One moved out, one somehow has grown up and the third is breaking my heart with his utter angelic self. I have thoroughly enjoyed my boys this summer. Except Hero, I wish things were different but he is and I am and that's good.

We lost our lovely yellow dog, Kami. I miss her. And that could pass along with summer, I'd like to miss her less.

But with fall comes hot days and cold crispy nights. The stars and moon are a fresh joy to us because the nights are dark again. Crops are being hauled in. Preserved. Gardens composted. Birds harvested. A tucking in if you will. Schedules are resumed and the rhythm is set. That I look forward to. A certain sense of calm as the days settle in. So perhaps I'm ready after all, for harvests, dark nights and a dependable rhythm.
How about you? Are you ready, when you truly get to the essence of what change will entail, are you ready to move along and embrace what's next? Or are you fighting it? I'd like to hear about it.

To help make the transition to fall a happy and fun time I decided to host a giveaway, brought to you by ME! And also because I hit 200 followers! I'm giving away a 'treasure', which is my way of saying, thrifted. In my opinion these are the best to give and get anyway. So the prize package is a surprise, fun! I've picked a few of my favorite treasures to bestow upon ONE lucky follower! It will run from the time this goes live to the end of Just Another Meatless Monday on Labor Day.

The details:

• you must be a follower to enter this contest-plain and simple if you don't appear under the followers button you can't enter-feed burner doesn't count this time folks
• leave a comment on changes in your life this fall
• if you blog roll me leave an extra comment
• if you share this post via facebook (hit share) or twitter @whats4dinnermom leave a comment
• and finally I WANT Just Another Meatless Monday to be huge next week! So for EVERY post new or old you share on THIS coming Just Another Meatless Monday, September 6th leave a separate comment

So what do you think it is? 

a puppy?

a 3 year old chocolate santa 

circa 1980 Battleship game?

sweet vintage kitsch?

Peace and Love--

Crock Pot Refried Beans

It's been an interesting week here in our farm house, without a stove, no microwave and um even the toaster oven went away when our oldest boy moved out. So we were down to a crock pot, gas grill and then a two burner hot plate my mom brought over. We found a few things out:

• we CAN live without an oven for a week
• you can bake bread on a gas grill--does anybody need directions for this?? I'll share
• but we eventually realized that in the next month I will be making 200 pounds of apples in to sauce, jelly and butter--I have cauliflower to pickle--strawberries and raspberry jam to make--green tomato relish-beet zucchini relish-tomato sauce-and what ever else I can glean from others to put up for winter--hopefully we'll get some moose meat too(HINT HINT)
• it's roasting season and I want to make a BIG beef roast soon
• it takes a LONG time to pop corn in crank handle popper on the gas grill...especially if you run out of gas and don't notice
• as soon as you replace the stove the washer will die-no joke! 
• you can cook beans in a crock pot-no soaking, no pre boil-in as little as 6 hours

This last one was especially a life saver for me! The day after the range tried to kill me I whipped out the crock pot and figured if the beans didn't get done we could always eat them the next day. But lo and behold after 6 hours in the crock pot we had hot fresh refried beans for simple burritos that blew my kids away. This was really nice because the rest of the day we were eating cold food. It was not a pleasant experience for us. I could never go raw, I need heat. I think you'll love how easy these beans are, I do.

Crock Pot Refried Beans  6-8 hours depending on your crock pot
1 pound dry pinto beans
2 quarts water
1 clove of garlic minced-use onion or chives too
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
wash and pick over your beans
add the beans and water to the crock pot
add the garlic if using
turn it on high
cover and cook for 3 hours on high, don't open the lid just let them cook
check for done-ness, if the beans are soft add the cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper
if they are not soft cook for another hour then add the above
after 2 hours taste the beans, they should be soft and delicious and tasty
adjust seasonings if needed
if they are not soft continue cooking with the lid in place for another hour
if they are soft vent the lid and let some steam escape but continue cooking
mash lightly with a potato masher
keep vented and cooking on low until ready to use


I find it's best to make a dish like this in the crock pot on the weekend, when you might have more time for dinner to be late. You never know how a your crock pot might differ from mine, so take a day when it doesn't really matter too much and try this recipe. Once you figure out your cooking time this will become a staple and you'll waltz in to the house late and dinner will be ready to go. I made them twice in a week and my kids want them again. Mama does too.

because we all KNOW what beans look like and they aren't pretty enjoy my dahlia instead

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday #27

I have fond fond memories of creamed peas and new potatoes. I love them, probably because after broccoli, potatoes and peas are two of the most reliable crops you can grow in Alaska. And after the onslaught of broccoli has run it's course, peas and potatoes are a refreshing change. I remember waiting patiently for enough peas to make creamed peas and new potatoes every year and I was never disappointed, except when they were gone.

With this seasons first new potatoes I decided to make a soup version of creamed peas and new potatoes. And of course because I am not normal I added some leftover roasted sweet corn. It was so sweet and good it mixed in quite well with the sweet fresh peas. All in all this was a great soup and even better the next day.

Creamed Peas and New Potatoes Soup
2 TBSP oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds fresh new potatoes, cut in about 1 inch pieces
8 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried sage
2 tsp dried oregano
1 TBSP good salt
2 TBSP butter
2 cups milk
1/2 cup flour
2 cups fresh sugar snap pea pods or shelled fresh peas
2 ears leftover corn **optional**

heat the oil in a large dutch oven over medium high heat
add the onion and cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally
add the garlic and potatoes, stir constantly for 1 minutes
add 1 cup of broth and scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan
add the rest of the broth, the bay leaf, herbs and salt
increase heat to high, bring to a quick boil
then reduce heat, put the lid on and simmer until the potatoes are done
meanwhile mix the milk and flour in a jar with a lid or the cool tupperware shaker jar thingy
break the peas in to 1 inch pieces
if using cut the corn off the cob also
when the potatoes are done use a potato masher and lightly mashed about 1/2 the potatoes
while the pot is still on the heat add the milk and flour mixture
stir until the soup becomes thick (resist the urge to add cheese!)
add the peas and corn if using
keep stirring over medium heat until the peas are warm
taste for salt and pepper, add as needed

I served this with crackers but I'm thinking bread would be so much better. In the interest of fall cooking I remembered one very important vegetable that's about to come in to season, squash!! I love squash, it's so fall flavored. I'm thinking curried squash soup, roasted squash and stuffed squash. So I guess I have no need to fear fall yet!

Well it's time to link up:

• grab the turkey button
• link your recipe up
• check out the other recipe links and make sure to leave a comment

Peace and Love--

Thrifted Sunday

Another busy week but I did squeeze in one day of thrifting alone. I was not even expecting it which makes it seem all the more a bonus. I got a late afternoon reminder phone call for a dentist appointment in the city for the next day. So I set off alone the next morning and spent about 3 hours thrifting blissfully alone. I love to go with my kids but being able to dig deep in to thrift stores alone is hard with a jumpy 4 year old boy, he has his limits. I was definitely refreshed after coming home from my day out and my boys were happy to see me too.

What I forgot to take pictures of are four vintage 100% Virgin Wool Pendleton Mens Shirts. They are beautiful and will be up on Ebay soon.
I found another tray, to feed my addiction to both vintage Christmas kitsch and trays, wahoo!

4 bags of vintage embroidery floss. Each one a quarter, each one had 10 skeins of floss. 40 skeins for 1.00! Perfect for embellishing felted wool goodies.

A final swoop through one store's kitchen department garnered me this:

X2

Yes real original Anchor Hocking plates. They were marked 3.50 each and honestly I didn't mind paying that much. They are quite rare and hard to find in Alaska so they were indeed worth it to me. I love the swirls in the plates, they're so beautiful. When I went to check out the girl at the register was kind of swamped and also being bothered by an intoxicated woman demanding to try on jewelry. I was patient because my kids were not with me and standing quietly by myself is not something I mind. When it was my turn the girl apologized profusely and I told her not to worry. She looked at my obviously old plates, snorted "3.50??" and charged me a dollar for both of them. When I raised my eyebrow in question she waved me away and finished checking me out. I felt weird but I'm also sure it was her way of saying thank you for not being drunk and rude to me. Should I have paid full price? Probably, but was it worth causing her grief? No, think not.

Did you thrift this week? Tell me about it! Or better yet link up to Southern Hospitality and Apron Thrift Girl and check out their finds. I love their thrifting link ups, full of great ways to use thrifted goods or a to get a bit of an education too.
If you are coming from Apron Thrift Girl or Southern Hospitality why not check out my link party starting Monday, Just Another Meatless Monday. It's a great way to find meatless meal ideas and new to you blogs. If you have a blog and want to share a recipe post please do! The more the merrier is my opinion. Thanks for stopping by!
And if you don't already know, I'll be speaking at BlogHer Food 10, so if you're going make sure you track me down and say hi! I'll be the nervous out of place farmer hippie girl from Alaska slumped in the corner, ha!

Peace and Love--

Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Pate

Again with a no cook recipe because we are still deciding on a course of action as far as a new range goes. This was our lunch today, along with bread baked on our gas grill. I could have grilled out but this pate with fresh bread and veggies just sounded better than anything I could have whipped up on the grill. It's easy and delicious to make and it gets better with a day to 'marinate' in the fridge.

Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Pate
1/2 cup of walnuts
1/4 cup roasted red peppers-I used store bought
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/2 cup green olives
2 TBSP juice from green olives

toast walnuts over medium high heat in a small frying pan until dark brown-or black if you are absent minded(whoops)
when browned cool to room temperature
add everything except the olive juice to the bowl of food processor
pulse to combine
scrape down the sides of the bowl
then process until mixed well
with the processor running drizzle in as much of the olive juice as needed to get it to a preferred consistency-I like the flavor so I add more and you can leave it out

Like I said I served this with fresh bread made on the gas grill and fresh peas and carrots from the garden. I can also see this on bagels (!!!) and sandwiches in place of mayonnaise or on a spoon like a certain someone in this house. If you are in doubt, I usually mean me when I say someone in italics on my blog. My poor husband thought I meant him when I posted about the power bars and someone eating them. And for the record that someone nibbled on the power bars again today. Boy she is a pain in the rear!

Peace and Love--

look how nice the carrots are coming in!

Homemade Power Bars

Again my friend Kelly is responsible for this chocolaty peanut butter delight. Remember the homemade reese's peanut butter cups, she gave me that recipe too. I had to improvise on the fly the other night after the blue flame o' death shot out of our range. I HAD been planning to make muffins for school lunches but then that was just not happening. Our school has a rule that kids lunches shouldn't include processed foods so I needed something quasi healthy and whole food-ish for a 6 year old's lunch.

Enter Kelly and her facebook blip about homemade power bars. I looked them up again, ascertained I had enough of the ingredients to make them and set to work. Kelly's original recipe had flax meal in it which I tried in one of the 3 batches I have made since the blue flame 'o death. 3 batches in 3 days, everybody likes these and some people a little too much perhaps? Ultimately I decided I didn't care for them with flax meal in them because I just don't care for the texture when mixed with water. If you like it add some in. This is definitely a recipe you can play with and in fact I didn't actually measure ingredients until tonight, I just kept adding and mixing.

Homemade Power Bars
1 1/2 cups oatmeal or other rolled grains
1/2 cup peanut butter or almond butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4-1/2 cup organic sugar or other sweetener in appropriate amounts
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2-3 TBSP water
mix oatmeal and nut butters together
add salt, sugar and cocoa powder, stir well
add small amounts of water until the mixture holds together well
I usually make small truffles size pieces for lunches

you can also flatten and cut in to bars

These are gluten free and vegan as prepared above. Feel free to add seeds, dried fruits or other nut butters as desired. These, as you can see, are a spring board for your own creations and designs. I cut, wrapped and froze the latest batch to have for lunches next week. As long as someone doesn't get into them!
So excited I finally got to share my awesome cool news about speaking at BlogHer Food '10. Thanks for all your encouraging words!

Peace and Love--

Shiny Happy Announcement

A couple months ago I shared with you guys that I had something really exciting to tell you about, but I couldn't tell you just yet. So you waited patiently while plans were made and details nailed down. Then you waited some more and I did too. Until now, because now I can share my big news!

So my big shiny non-secret news is that I am going be speaking on a panel at BlogHer Food '10!! AWESOME. I have been so excited for months and wanting to share this huge news with everyone and I finally can. Whew. OK the details, it's a values panel titled Our Food Future: Kids, Cooking and Health on Friday October 8th, 1:30-2:45. This basically a conversation between Diana Johnson (aka DianasaurDishes), Mrs. Q from Fed Up With School Lunch and myself about changing the way we feed our children and ourselves! Let's hope I can coherently link a couple words together and NOT come off as a stuttering fool. That would be nice, yes? Here is a link to the actual page on BlogHer with my actual name listed as someone who actually has something relevant to say.

And just because this is how my life rolls, I now do not have a range. Lets just say the time bake on/off knobs, pliers, a large blue hot flash and I had a run in. It was not pretty, well the blue flame was, but my husband decided after the flame and my leaping around that the 30 year old range had to go. SO out it went. I swear I was only trying to fix it not kill it, I would never want to kill my 30 year old range especially since I AM A FOOD BLOGGER. So the plan now is wait and decide what the plan is going to be. I can tell this is going to be good because the last time we decided to wait and make a 'good plan' was when we ripped the ceiling out of our kitchen. We still don't have a ceiling in the kitchen, 4 years later. FOUR. YEARS. no ceiling, 2 bare bulbs and some spider webs.

FOUR.


YEARS.

Peace and Love-



I'm linked up!

Tuesday

I love you Tuesday, because you are normal. No running willy nilly, no trips to see Walking with Dinosaurs, Costco runs or extended school volunteering. Just a day, to grocery shop a little, hang with my youngest little boy, dig in the garden, enjoy the sunshine and live.

I'm looking for our rhythm too. This whole school everyday thing is a huge adjustment for our family. How we set our rhythm determines how well our life flows. With the school opening eating my life, then this new schedule what worked well before just doesn't anymore. We are a construction zone I guess.

Luckily the beauty of this ripe season is not lost on us. One thing that is terribly important to our family is being able to see how wonderfully beautiful the world around us is. And sharing it.

Ohh! Last day to enter to win granola bars. And make sure you come back tomorrow for a really big shiny awesome announcement! 

Peace and Love-

Just Another Meatless Monday #26 Chopped Salad

I saw somewhere that the calorie count in a chopped salad was ______ calories, I don't remember
where or the exact amount of calories but I do remember thinking "how can a salad have so many calories? it's vegetables!" For heavens sake how ridiculous. My idea of a good chopped salad is every fresh vegetable you happen to have, chopped it to bite size pieces, salted, peppered and that's it. I like to make sure I have a good fresh tomato or two because their juice really make a great 'dressing' eliminating the need for any heavy dressing.

This is my version of a chopped salad. Please take the idea, make it yours, use what you have on hand or can pull from the garden or find in the farmers market. I really only make this salad this time of year because every thing tastes so great. Plus I'm always looking for ways to use what's fresh now! It's also a great way to use up the bits and pieces maybe the lone ripe tomato or an extra handful of sugar snap peas.

Chopped Salad
2 ripe juicy fresh tomatoes
1 ear of corn
2 large cucumbers
3 cups of sugar snap peas
handful of carrots from the garden
1/4 basil leaves

wash trim and chop all veggies in to bite size pieces
cut the basil in to chiffonade, strips
mix everything together lightly
allow to marinate at least 2 hours
add salt and pepper to taste

I served this as a side to roasted cabbage and cheese sauce for a delicious vegetarian lunch today. Enjoyed it OUTSIDE in the SUN before we got back to work building our cob oven. More on the cob oven later this week, I got some great shots of the kids making cob. Also don't forget to drop in on the granola bar giveaway and leave a comment to win a great gift pack from Nature Valley.

I am needing some new Autumnal ideas for vegetarian eating, can you help? I 'm not sure what I'll be doing when the plethora of fresh vegetables available out my back door is a frozen waste land. But we'll think about fall later, right now why don't you link up your favorite new or old post with a vegetarian meal to inspire all of us for the last few weeks of summer! Grab the turkey button, link up and get inspired! I know I was lax last week in visiting all my wonderful link party friends but I tell you it was crunch week for the new school. This is a whole new week and things are hopefully not as crazy as last week.


Peace and Love--

Thrifted Sunday

Well my thrifting time was very limited this week due to our school getting ready to open and spending as much time as possible with my sons. When I started to feel a little sad about Union starting school the boys would get a in tussle and suddenly I didn't feel too sad. And Hero is a senior and will graduate at semester.
I'm so proud of this boy. He was pretty much deemed a loser by the local high school and was left to fall through the cracks. I looked for another school and came up with an alternative school. In one year he made up for 2 years of failure and he's actually graduating at semester. He was not a loser, high school just didn't fit him!
Like I said my thrifting time was limited but of course I did get out. My mother gave me this beautiful little sail boat quilt she bought at the BARN SALE. I didn't see her buy it but she thought my boys might like it. Their mother certainly does!!

Then I found this beautiful vintage Baret Ware tray at my favorite haunt. I love trays! And they are hard to come by. I snatched this right up.

Then I found some great books, 2 for kids:

and a SkiJor book with a foreword by Susan Butcher, the great Alaskan Dog Musher.

And 2 beautiful sets of sterling silver cufflinks:

These are presents so don't tell!!

If you want to check out some other awesome thrifting finds be sure to check out Southern Hospitality and Apron Thrift Girl, their link ups start later. I love to peruse their link up parties for great ideas and information on collectibles and re-selling.

If you are coming from Southern Hospitality or Apron Thrift Girl, welcome! And why not check out the awesome Just Another Meatless Monday link party for lots of thrifty meatless meal ideas, that starts tonight about 10 pm Alaskan Standard Time. What could be more thrifty than meals without meat?
thanks for coming by!

Peace and Love--

Oh wait, what? I have a blog? Oh yeah!!

Thanks for sticking by me these last few days, they have been hectic to say the least. Wonderfully hectic, crazy busy, all for a new school. The school kind of ate my life this summer. I worked on the hiring committee for a month or so. Then went on to helping a bit with summer camp and organized a fundraiser carnival too. I headed up the teachers snack committee for their 3 week training session, boy they had some good eats too! I worked registration last week and on the final blitz before open house. Today I volnuteered to escort kids in to school. Oh I also worked on purchasing the kitchen supplies while thrifting, I don't really consider that 'work' but I did it.

So that was my summer. Somewhere in there we had 32 consecutive days of rain and the slugs took the reins of my gardens. I'm ashamed of my neglect in the garden area but I just didn't have the energy to fight slugs. I gave most of what was left to my kids, who gallantly put up with a whole lot of running around and smelling food that wasn't for them.

first day of first grade!

The first day of school was a raging success "except for that girl who sat next me, ugggh" I had to suppress a snort at that one. Speaking of girls I was so impressed to see little girls dressed like little girls, just kids. And boys were just boys not thugs, tough guys and punks. Nary an inappropriate outfit to be seen. I saw many happy smiling faces today, kids, parents, teachers, volunteers. And really at the end of this journey that's totally worth one summer, right? In my heart I know it is but next summer the slugs are going down.

look at that beautiful classroom-this is the first grade class, see those tables? the parents made those!

Peace and Love,

Perspective

Last week my mother called to offer me a little perspective on our four weeks of rain. She offered up what she called a horror story. Seems we were getting pretty close to breaking a 59 year record for the number of consecutive rainy days. The record was from 1951 and it was for 27 days.

In 1951 my grandmother lived in a one room cabin with no electricity. With 3 kids, one being my mother. No running water. No washer/dryer. No toilet. A wood cook stove. No tv. One room with mattresses on the floor that were leaned up on the walls during the day, with 3 kids. One child in a mostly permanent cast for club foot correction. My grandfather worked a 12 hour shift on a dam an hour away. My grandmother was home alone with 3 kids in a one room cabin on gravel highway 50 miles from nowhere in Alaska. Her family was left in Iowa in 1946 as was his, when they struck out to find their future. And their grandparents? Ha, they lived in a dug out house under the prairie with their kids which probably made living in a cabin seem like a dream

And sometimes I think I have it bad because my computer runs slow. Or my oven burns bread. Or the feed store is out of chicken feed. I guess in reality I have it pretty good because I sure as heck am not running to the outhouse or dodging everyone's wet laundry in my one room cabin. So I'll take my 32+days of rain, in my heated electrified house and shut the hell up.


Peace and Love--

Granola Bar Giveaway

Combining healthy foods, quick foods and buying in bulk at Costco can be a bit tricky at times. I like to keep granola bars on hand for times when a homemade snack is just not going to happen or we need to grab something and go. Living in Alaska I also keep them in my truck as emergency food in case we hit the ditch and are stuck for a bit, but don't tell my kids! Having 3 boys, oh yes even though my teenage son has moved out he still comes over to eat, I need to keep stocked up. Combine all those factors and I come up with Nature Valley Granola bars.

My criteria again:

• healthy-made with real ingredients
• quick-ready to go when I might not be
• bulk-I have 3 boys, one 17 year old who comes with friends attached at the hip

 When MyBlogSpark asked me if I wanted to check out their granola bars, even though I knew we were already fans, I said YES! Moms of 3 boys never turn down free food. My only wish is that these granola bars were made with organic ingredients!

We got our package the other day. Getting a package at our house is a banner day. Of course companies working with MyBlogSpark never fail to put together a great package, Nature Valley provided an awesome box o' goodies. Not only granola bars but a backpack, compass, flashlight, water bottle (BPA free!) and book, A Thousand Places to See Before You Die were in the package too. Check it out:

Why, did I hear you ask why? Well to help spread the word that for every wrapper sent in Nature Valley will donate 10 cents, up to 600,000 dollars, to The National Parks Project and they will recycle the wrapper. This year the National Parks Project will be focusing on the Grand Canyon, Biscayne and Yellowstone National Parks, to help restore the parks after years of under funding.

To enter:

• leave a comment telling me if you have ever been to a National Park, need a list? Click here.
• follow me, leave a separate comment
• blog roll me, leave a separate comment

The giveaway will run through next Tuesday with a winner drawn and announced on Wednesday.
Good luck!


Peace and Love--