Sara spaghetti sauce

 

 

Sara made her special spaghetti sauce with me the other night – and it tasted so good!  Yummmo!  She helped me stir (a lot) and put in all the ingredients.  We had to taste, add some salt, then taste again.  We all gobbled it up!

 

 

 

Strawberry jam

 

 

 

 

 

You wouldn’t know it by the weather right now (raining and probably in the low 60’s, where is summer, or spring for that matter, this year?) – but it is supposedly summer.  And summer means strawberry jam!  We picked up some fresh local organic strawberries at the farmer’s market and I decided to make strawberry jam with Alex while Sara was napping (she’s settled into a nice toddler routine of sleeping after lunch for about 2-3 hours most days, sometimes less, sometimes more.  Glorious!). 

 

It would be a fun project with all the right things for a 4 year old.  I think Alex’s favorite part was cutting the tops off of the strawberries (gasp!).  He did an amazing job and was very good with a knife.  All it took was a little leap of faith on my part, some close undivided attention, the right maturity level, and a boy who WANTED so badly to do it he was willing to listen and learn. 

 

We had so much fun and ended up making some really kickin’ strawberry jam.  Yum!

 

First we cleaned and cut off the tops of the strawberries, then pulsed them a bit in the Cuisinart to chop them up a bit.  Of course, you have to try them – just to make sure they are good.   

 

 

I follow the MCP Pectin recipe – but, I have learned you have to follow the recipe exactly or else it doesn’t gel.  You would think that A+B+C+D = ABCD jam, but if you go in this order A+C+B+D = strawberry syrup (not jam).  So, if you try it – follow the instructions…

Strawberries, lemon juice, plus MCP pectin, wait 30 minutes, then corn syrup (to prevent crystallization) and sugar, stir and you have jam. 

 

 

 

 

And stir it all up – stir it good. 

 

 

And, of course, the best part – make sure it’s not “poisonous”.  You have to try it!  And it’s delish!  Fresh strawberry freezer jam is one of the best things on earth.  It is the taste of summer – directly in your mouth.

 

 

And, of course, give Mama a taste too!

 

Enjoy!

New garden raised beds

 

 

The Torgesen plants are going to have it so good this year!  Raised beds with lots of room to grow, nice soil and we will be eating good this summer!

 

We are planning peas, green beans, beets, carrots, radishes, kale, spinach, salad greens, chard, herbs, zucchini, and of course tomatoes!  I might have forgot some plants, they’ll be a surprise I guess! 

 

 

Right now there are just some little baby plants all sprouting up in the moist cool spring air (and I do mean cool!).  After last Spring’s cool and drenchingly wet season, I just couldn’t imagine a cool Spring again.  But, that is what we seem to have with us this year.  We can have clear plastic over the white pipe to make some mini-green houses. 

 

 

 

And the happiest place for the peas is right up against the wall with some netting to climb their tendrils up.  I can just taste the sweet crunch of a sugar snap pea right now.  Chomp! 

 

 

It will be fun to see how these gardens grow this year – another few months and these will be full of big plants!

Pumpkin bread

We made pumpkin bread this past weekend and Alex was such a helper.  He cracked the eggs, poured the flour, spooned in the pumpkin, grated some fresh nutmeg, added walnuts, stirred the whole thing up and helped me put in in the pans.  Sara was such a helper, too.  She was having so much fun with a spoon!

We waited and waited (seemed like forever) for it to be done cooking in the oven, and tasted it when it was done.  It was delicious!

Making Norwegian hotcakes with Daddy

Lance learned how to make Norwegian hotcakes (kind of like a crepe) from his Grandpa Torgesen so many years ago. And if I have my facts straight, he was 100% Norwegian. It's a mixture of flour, eggs, milk, butter and sugar that is cooked in a frying pan (like a crepe), thin and delicious. The above picture is when Alex was first introduced to making these wonderful breakfast hotcakes, when he was only a couple months old. Below, is a picture from last weekend where Alex helped Daddy make the batter, stir the batter and cook the hotcakes. Lance has modified the recipe a bit, by eliminating/reducing the butter in the batter and eliminating/reducing the sugar in the batter. If Lance had it his way, he would use a spray (like Pam) to cook the hotcakes which is "healthier" than using butter. But, I always request mine to be cooked in butter which has such a richer flavor.

Lance enjoys his hotcakes with a little maple syrup and sugar. His Grandpa would use butter and sugar. I use jam and cottage cheese.