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clothes lines make great props for lunchtime picnic tents
chairs work great when you're inside
some things just taste better in a fort
smoothies :)
Sure you can have fruit salad any time of year. But summertime is the only time you can make one with with fresh blueberries (we were out the afternoon I made this particular giant bowl of chopped fruit), peaches, plums and pluots ... mmmmm
It is no secret that I love cooking and baking and the eating and sharing that results.
And I know very recently I mentioned not having every post be about food. Then I found this blog, What Katie Ate. It's delicious.
I have no idea who Katie is, apart from what she's shared on her blog. But I love her taste in food and the yummy photographs she takes of her endeavors.
seriously - look at this:
photo taken after 10 week ultrasound
I know the posts have been few and far between the last couple of months but I've been a little preoccupied with the newest member of our family - who will be arriving this holiday season :)
I'm finally coming out of the first trimester fog and have started tackling fall inventory for the shop. Pictures of those to come...I'm also on a mission to find a killer peach cobbler recipe - so if you know of any, send them my way.
I know I've done several food-focused posts in a row and this will be the last one for a little while - honest. Probably.
On the wonderful advice of a friend, we went cherry picking and this great U-pick orchard only an hour away. There were plenty of branches low enough for Little Mr. to reach all by himself - which made him very happy.
We'd read some reviews on the place on yelp before going, so we came armed with our own buckets - which meant we didn't have to wait for another family to come back from their cherry picking madness before starting our own.
So off we went. Rows and rows of cherries - Rainier, Bing, Van...mmmmm
Then, of course, there was the eating of cherries. In general they're pretty great just as they are but who can resist....
or this...
yea... me neither
apparently I also can't seem to resist adding almonds to yummy baked cherry desserts.
If you'll excuse me, I need to get a scoop of ice cream :)
I mentioned in an earlier post how Little Mr. is all about helping these days - especially when it comes to cooking. One kitchen project that was fun from beginning to end were the homemade bagels.
Why have I not done this before? I am a big fan of the boiled carbs but usually have a difficult time committing to an entire store bought bagel - Do I really want to consume 4 servings worth of bread in one sitting? That said - "mini" bagels are usually too small, get lost during a proper toasting, and rarely seem to have the right texture.
When you make your own, you have the ultimate portion control. And you get to pick the toppings :)
(clockwise from top left corner: parmesan cheese, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, cinnamon sugar, sun dried tomatoes)
sprinkle sprinkle
Smitten Kitchen has a wonderfully involved bagel recipe that I'm sure makes delicious bagels, but there were just too many words for me.
In the oven - The sun dried tomato didn't really workout as a topping...they just got charred.
I did happen upon this bagel recipe that I could do in a day. And here are the results:
time to eat :)
...eats together :)
Little Mr. is all about helping these days. While I'm cooking he'll inevitably come up to me and say "Mommy help you?" So at not quite 2-years old, he's pretty great and flipping eggs and general stirring, pouring, and sprinkling.
This weekend we made two things that had lots of sprinkling involved. First up - chicken enchiladas:
shredded rotisserie chicken from the store since we didn't have any leftover chicken to use.
Queso Fresco and mozzarella
corn tortillas
"helping" can be tricky to define sometimes...
hard at work putting everything together
ready for the oven.
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the finished dish. It was pounced upon almost immediately after it came out of the oven. And I LOVE enchiladas so every time I put one on a plate for myself photography is a serious afterthought :)
