Peach and Blueberry Pie

What do you do when you have like 5 peaches that are very ripe? You make peach pie. But that would be too boring for me, so we threw some blueberries in the mix.

Christian and I love to make pies together [it's kinda one of our things], so it offers some quality time together, which is nice since we haven't had many days off together in the past couple of months. So, here is our very own recipe:

Blueberry Peach Pie

2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

5 peaches, peeled and sliced

1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp baking spice [or some cinnamon]

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 pie crusts

~ Preheat oven to 375°. Peel and slice peaches.

~ In a large bowl mix cornstarch, flour, baking spice, salt and both sugars together. Add peaches and blueberries and mix together to coat with the dry mixture [I do this with my hands].

~ Fit first pie crust into pie pan. Fill with pie mixture. Cut second crust into strips and weave the strips over the pie to create a lattice top.

~ Cover outer edges of crust with foil or pice crust shield, if you have one. Bake for 35 minutes, remove foil. Bake for about 10-15 additional minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Cool for a couple of hours before cutting.

~ Serve with vanilla ice cream and enjoy! Yum!

Raspberries!!!

Check out what we discovered on our side yard!

Yay! We are going to have a ton of berries for the next couple of weeks.

I am so excited to search for some raspberry recipes!

Food Porn?!

Yep, I struggle with it. I visit ThisIsWhyYoureHuge and My Food Looks Funny far too often. A lot of what is on these sites is just food that looks like it has a face or something goofy like that, but some of it is what I like to call "train wreck food."

Have you ever thought that something looked so gross, that you actually wanted to try it? Yeah, thats what I mean by train wreck food. I looks so disgusting that you must get into your kitchen and try to recreate it - immediately. I have done this [more than once]. I guess my food porn addiction is getting worse. Here is the evidence of one attempt:

That is a recreation of a pancake cake [layers of peanut butter, nutella, marshmallow fluff, and frosting sprinkled with crushed oreos, bananas and sixlets between pancakes], to be fair this was at the request of my sister, but still.

These websites are supremely addicting. The things that people come up with are genuinely interesting. Pizza tacos, spam popsicles, bacon everything... It's just so much fun to browse through all the photos.

Oh, well. We all have our vices. Let the creations continue!

Are You Freecycleing?

Freecycle is this really awesome online community that aims to keep good, reusable items out of landfills. In order to achieve this goal, they have set up thousands of online groups across the globe based on geographical location where individuals can offer and request various items that would otherwise be thrown away.

Freecycle is so awesome because it reduces waste and helps build a community of sharing. I have seen everything from egg cartons to a computer offered, and requests are equally as diverse. Everything is completely free, usually it just requires pick up.

Joining your town's group is easy and free. Visit The Freecycle Network, search by your city, select your city and click "join this group." You will receive an email and be asked to answer a few questions and within a few days the group moderator will [probably] approve you. Once you are approved, you have a couple of options as to how you would like to receive offer and request emails. You can receive each one individually, or you can have it all sent as one email per day. I chose to receive each email individually and while it is usually like 8 emails a day, I don't mind because I can easily delete anything that does not interest me. However, I know many people do not want to sift through that many emails, so receiving it as one email per day may be prefferable for those of you. As soon as you have made your choice, you will start receiving emails. So, start having fun. Clear out that closet of stuff you don't need or use, or maybe ask if someone has some extra jars for the jam you want to make.

Even if you don't end up contributing to your freecycle group much, it is good to be part of the network. You never know when you will be able to help someone out, or when you will be in need yourself. Being a part of a positive community is never a bad thing. And remember, one person's trash is another person's treasure :)

Certainty? Not in this life.

First of all, I have to brag about Christian a little [ok, possibly a lot]. He really is the best partner anyone could ask for.

[Allow me this somewhat long-winded side note: The reason I call Christian my "partner" is intentional and three-fold. One, the term "husband" carries some conventional and personal negative connotations that I do not agree with and that I feel Christian does not fit in to. "Husbands" are supposed to be the head of the household, inattentive and obnoxiously immature. Second, I do not feel the term "husband" completely describes our positive egalitarian relationship nearly as well as "partner" does. Thirdly, who doesn't want a partner in life? Does that not sound just wonderful? And finally, why do the gays get the best term? I am borrowing it from them because I like it. Ok, that was four. Whatevs.]

So, back to Christian being amazing. He is [the cursor has been blinking here for what feels like forever because putting Christian into words can be challenging] just the best friend ever. His patience is astounding. His love for me is something I never expected to experience. He supports me in anything I want to do, even if it changes every day. He makes me feel beyond secure and stable. He has the biggest heart. He has shown me that I am capable of accomplishing great things and that I am a good person. He loves without any expectations of receiving anything in return. The steadfast love that he has for his friends and family is indescribable. He sees the best in everyone. He is incredibly forgiving. He is the only person that can make me laugh even when I am really mad at him and trying my damnedest not to even smile. He has a great sense of humor; he gets my sense of humor. Plus he has the most beautiful smile.

Sappy, I know. And that is not meant to suggest that everything is hunky-dory here in Lawstown, USA. I think most of our friends and family have witnessed us bickering [at the very least]. We fight. We get on each others nerves. We snap at each other over nothing. But you know what? That's life. We have flaws and shortcomings, but we accept one another and appreciate that those qualities make each other a whole person. At the end of the day, all I want out of life is to spend it with Christian. Rich/poor, here/there, angry/happy, joyous/depressed - I just want Christian by my side.

All that being said, losing Christian would be devastating. I love him more than I could possibly put into words and I have absolutely no idea what I would do without him. Being the worrier and worst-case-scenario type person that I am, I am always worried that something is going to happen to him.

So, the other day at work we were discussing how constantly worrying is unhealthy and can be destructive [duh]. I cognitively know that worrying doesn't do anyone any good, but I cannot stop it. I have tried and tried. I have gone over and over in my head that the odds of something happening to Christian are very slim. And then it hit me.

I spend so much effort worrying and then trying to convince myself that nothing is going to happen, that I never realized the truth. Something could happen. People get into car accidents every day. People kill each other every day. People experience fatal freak accidents everyday. Life is fragile. Why would something happen to me? Why wouldn't something happen to me? If I just admit all of this to myself then it frees me from worrying.

The only thing that I am guaranteed is that I have Christian right now. I may not have him tomorrow or in a week or a year. So I have to live my life with him now. I hope that I get to be with him for another 65 years, but if I don't I want to have enjoyed my life with him. I want him to know that I love him. I want him to know that he has made my life better than I ever thought was possible.

[If this is all coming off a little morbid, I apologize. These are the thoughts that run through my head all the time and writing about it seems to help.]

Life can be beautiful and it can be heinous. Good things happen, bad things happen. Life is unpredictable. It is a harsh reality to accept, but it is inherent in what we understand as life. The fact that nothing is guaranteed is what gives us passion and excitement. If everything was safe and easy, then we would miss out on so much of what life has to offer. I am not saying that we should all go sky diving [although that would be fun]. I am saying that we should be crazy about those that we love because if not now, when? And we should not do it out of fear of losing them, but out of joy that we have them.

Fantastic Goodwill Finds

We have been Goodwilling and thrifting quite a bit here. I don't know if the thrift stores here are better or if I just never gave the ones in Roseville a chance. But we have found some pretty fun things.

Some shot glasses that I am planning on making beeswax candles in.

Here is an awesome framed mirror that we found for only $7.99!

And last, but not least, some shirts! [Yes, that is a Montana Griz shirt. I don't know what that is, but I guess I'll find out.]

I am excited to find more fun stuff and learn how to restore it or make crafts out of it.

Here's to happy hunting and being creative!

Sandwich Creation

I love grilled cheese sandwiches, so the other day I made a fancy one and it turned out really great!

I put cheese on one side and tomato on the other. I sprinkled the tomato side with Northwoods Seasoning, garlic powder and salt.

Grilled it. And voila a super grilled cheese!

Our Garden

I could not be more excited to have a house where we can plant lots of fruits, veggies and herbs. So far we have planted the following:

bell peppers and strawberries

here is one of our baby orange bell peppers

cherry tomatoes in a topsy turvy [we'll see how this works]

pickling cucumbers [Christian wants us to be "picklers"]

[sad] beefsteak tomatoes, grown the typical way

zucchini [I have a ton of baking recipes for zucchini that I cannot wait to try]

pink lemon tree [it probably won't produce this year, but it is so pretty]

basil, oregano, cilantro and rosemary

and finally our three potential herbs, we'll see what I find to put in these

Our strawberries and tomatoes are currently being stolen by some bad-news-birds so I need to find a way to remedy this. I cannot wait for all of our plants to produce so we can make lots of fun stuff with all of it. I'll keep you updated with our garden and fun creations.

Beyond Grocery Store Spices

Spices are crucial to almost any baking or cooking project. They can make or break a meal. That is why it is important to use the right spices, experiment a little, and find a wonderful brand of spices that suits your needs. I have found my brand in Penzeys Spices.

A few years ago my aunt Lori gifted me probably 25 Penzey's spices at my bridal shower. It was one of the best non-registry items I could have asked for. I have absolutely fallen in love with them and I try not to use anything else [I have to purchase them online to sometimes it is unavoidable].

Penzey's offers a vast selection of classic spices as well as a great collection of their own blends. Everything they have is of such high quality that you can really taste the difference between their spices and grocery store brands.

They are a little more pricey than what you can find at the store, but it is well worth the extra cost. Especially if you are someone who loves to cook and takes pride in a great tasting meal. Even Christian [who is kind of a tight wad] prefers to use Penzey's. His favorite spice of theirs is Black & Red, it is a blend of back and cayenne peppers that will make even the pepper-hater swoon [trust me, I fall in to that category]. My favorite is Baking Spice [I am not quite sure what it consists of] that you can pretty much add to any thing you bake and it give it a little extra umph. They also offer a variety of ethnic spices that are really great if you are in to ethnic cooking. We have their turkish, greek, and cajun spices.

Anyways, you should check them out if you are looking for a high-quality, fairly priced spice that will change your cooking experience for the better.

Lemon Crumb Cake with Rhubarb and Blueberries

So, I found myself with a massive amount of rhubarb and had no idea what to do with it. I mean, I have heard of rhubarb pie, but I generally like to try something more interesting than what I can buy at the grocery store. I searched and searched for an interesting rhubarb recipe and found one that I altered quite a bit and it turned out wonderfully.

Now, I have never really had much rhubarb before; so I don't know if this is usually the case, but I couldn't really taste the rhubarb much. This was really fun to make and tasted really good [if I do say so myself].

By the way, I do intend on blogging about things other than just recipes, but this is what it is so far.

Lemon Crumb Cake with Rhubarb and Blueberries

*for the cake*

1 1/2 cups rhubarb, thinly sliced

1 cup flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

6 tbsp butter, room temperature

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sugar, separated

2 egg yolks

2 tsp lemon juice

zest of one medium lemon

2/3 cup milk

1 cup blueberries

*for crumb topping*

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

5 tbsp butter, cold

~ Place the sliced rhubarb in a small bowl and add 2 tbsp sugar. Mix and set aside.

~ Butter an 8-inch cake pan. Line pan with waxed paper and butter that as well. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350°.

~ Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.

~ In a large bowl, beat butter and remaining sugar until creamy using a mixer. Add egg yolks, lemon juice and lemon zest; mix just until combined.

~ Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk until combined.

~ Pour mixture into pan. Sprinkle the blueberries and sugared rhubarb over the cake mixture.

~ Bake for 25 minutes.

~ While the cake is baking, make the crumb topping. Mix the brown sugar and flour in a small bowl. Cut the butter into small chunks and add to the brown sugar mixture. Using your hands, grind the butter into the brown sugar until it forms small clumps.

~ When the cake has baked for 30 minutes, sprinkle the crumb topping on and bake for an additional 20 minutes.

~ Do not toothpick test the cake, it will not come out clean. The cake is done when the crumb topping is browned.

~ Cool the cake for about an hour. Then invert it onto a plate and invert again onto a serving platter. Gently peel off the waxed paper.

~ Cut into pie-sized pieces and enjoy :)

Home Sweet Home

Here is a quick guided tour of where we'll be calling home out in Montana. Enjoy, and feel free to leave comments, We'd love to hear from you!