Caprese Salad

With the basil still abundant, we needed a few more recipes that included this favorite herb of mine.  I ran across this traditional simple salad from here and it very quickly became a favorite.  I hope you will enjoy it too, while the tomatoes are still ripening and the basil is tasty!

Recipe for caprese salad: 

A Country Farmhouse

fresh picked tomatoes (we used store-bought)

fresh picked basil

fresh mozzarella (in a pinch, I use cheese sticks cut-up)

 olive oil and balsamic vinegar 

salt and pepper to taste

barefoot in the garden

I dreaded dismantling the garden this fall.  When it failed to thrive this summer, I knew we needed to dismantle it and start over next spring.  As I tore away the tall sides and dug the dirt away, the kids flocked to me like I was Santa.  The little wheel-barrow made an appearance and the gardening tools came out too.  Shoes were flung into the lawn and little toes squirmed deep into the rich dirt.  They dug, and dug, and dug for the entire morning.  I contemplated leaving the mess because they had such fun playing.  Instead, they helped me move the dirt to another part of the yard that needed a soil boost.  They took turns trying to push and balance the wheel-barrow full of dirt.  

I would have never thought that this long-dreaded task would become such a wonderful morning with my children--well, with the exception of the little one eating the dirt...of course!

BOO!

via

We have begun the "booing" tradition on our street a bit early this year.  After seeing this adorable "BOO" sign and directions at The TomKat Studio, we decided it might be fun to start the "booing" ourselves.

My kids think it is so much fun to look around at the neighbors' doors to see if anyone else has been booed!  By starting early, we are hopeful that our whole street will be "BOOED" by the time Halloween rolls around in a few weeks.  

Enjoy some "booing" of your own!  The free printable sign and directions were found here.  

Happy Halloween Month!

Warm and Cozy: Perfect Banana Bread

via

I love banana bread but finding a recipe without dairy for my dairy-sensitive kids can sometimes present quite a challenge.  When I ran across this recipe for banana bread without a trace of butter or heavy cream, I was overjoyed.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/3 cup vanilla yogurt

½ cup vegetable oil

1 cup ripe mashed bananas

1 ½ cups white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 ¾  cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

½  tsp salt

*we add walnuts {approx. 1/3 cup chopped walnuts} to ours and enjoy the texture and taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare chosen pan.

Blend together the eggs, yogurt, oil, extract and bananas in mixer with low speed.

Add in sugars and fully incorporate.  Then add flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until just combined.

Pour into prepared pan and bake 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

(Be sure to start checking your banana bread at 45 minutes.  I have had it be done in 50 minutes or heard that it can take as much as 75 minutes.  It just depends on the accuracy of your oven.)

Enjoy this warm and cozy recipe on a cool Fall day!

paint project gone awry

When the weather turned cooler, I thought it might be fun to stamp some apples with my little one.  

{yes, those are my scissors jabbed into the apple...it was an attempt to make the stamping a bit easier}

I had grand ideas to create some apple print goodies with her stamps, or so I thought...

 

She had other plans...

She thought it might be fun to eat the apples with paint on them, smear paint on herself faster than I could blink, take paint and smear it on every surface she could find, snatch the bottle of paint and open the top with her teeth {not sure where she found out how to do this?} and pour paint all over the painted and eaten apples, and finally, she wanted nothing to do with cleaning the paint off.  If she had it her way, she would have slept with the dry crackled paint all over her skin.  I am sure you all are thinking, where was Momma during all this commotion?  As I was cleaning up one mess, she was making another--it was a vicious cycle that didn't end until everything was put away.  

I am not so sure we are ready for any more painting projects for a while. Whew!

I think this little one is in the paint exploration phase of life, not the "paint something and make a nice product" phase.  I will remember this the next time I decide to whip out the paints and make cute apple print goodies!

view

There is nothing like that great expanse, that glorious view.  It pleases us all and never tires.  Somehow, even though the lake is low, the people still gather to see the beautiful view.  The opening in the earth that allows for reflective sunset viewing and gorgeous blue waters that change with the day, is magic for the soul.  

October

"Listen!  the wind is rising,

and the air is wild with leaves, 
We have had our summer evenings, 
now for October eves!"-  Humbert Wolfe 

The wind did kick up today and the temperatures were cooler.  We are so ready for some cooler October eves!  Happy October!