Ben is 11 weeks old now! He was a little bit out of sorts today, but was happy to watch big sister playing outside this morning. He smiles and laughs so easily these days. He is soooo ticklish! Just taking his shirt off makes him giggle! Isn’t he a cutie?
This year we planted our first garden! It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, but always felt a little hesitant about because I don’t seem to have any natural talent for gardening (I’ve killed my fair share of plants). But anyone can learn, right? Two weeks ago we planted some seeds and seedlings, and I am happy to report that they are already growing happily! It was very exciting to see cute little lettuce plants pop out of the ground this week in their tidy row, and the tomato plants already have some yellow flowers. So far, so good… I can’t wait to make a salad with our home grown veggies.
We decided to start with some family favorites. We’ve got two types of tomatoes, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, zucchini, onions, two types of lettuce, and jalapeño peppers.
This year’s garden is kind of experimental… we will see what grows well, and what sort of problems arise. We’ve already had someone snacking on one of the tomato plants (probably a snail), and in the morning I often see the neighborhood rabbits hanging around, but at least we’ve taught Nata to stay OUT of the dirt! That will help a lot.
I’ve had a couple requests to post some of my best recipes. This is not my healthiest bread recipe, but it’s a great one for a special occasion or when you have company coming over. I’ve been challenging myself to make good use of my bread machine and never buy bread at the store, so the other night I made my favorite recipe for rolls. It’s based on a recipe from my bread cookbook, but I changed a few things so I call it my own, hehe.
Rolls:
1 egg at room temperature + enough 80 degree water to equal 1 cup
1/4 cup melted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2 cups AP flour
1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
I just throw it all in my bread machine in no particular order and use the “dough” setting, but obviously you could mix it in your mixer and then be sure to let it rise.
Topping:
3 tablespoons meted butter
grated orange peel or a spoonful of orange juice concentrate
spoonful of sugar
1. After it rises the first time or the dough cycle is done, divide bread into pieces and shape into rolls.
2. Mix topping ingredients, dip pieces in mixture.
3. Place in greased baking dish, cover, and let rise in a warm place 1 hour or till they are doubled in size (I like to put them in the oven (NOT turned on!!) with a bowl of boiled water).
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until done. If you have any topping remaining, brush it on top while they bake. Serve them warm if possible!
Do you like how I turned the dish to make it less noticeable that I devoured THREE rolls before even stopping to take a picture? That’s how yummy they are.
On Saturday we headed down to my aunt’s house to celebrate the birthdays of my brother Mike (13) and cousin Ryan (6).
There was some serious “June Gloom” going on outside, the fog was so thick it felt like it was raining. But we grilled fish tacos anyway!
Natalie had such a fun time with her cousin Kate! I love it because Kate is just enough older (she’s almost 4) that she can supervise Natalie, making sure she doesn’t go anywhere she’s not supposed to. And Natalie admires Kate so much that she does whatever Kate says without throwing a fit. They were so sweet playing together! I thought this was a cute picture of Kate guarding the door.
My contribution to the party was these rainbow cupcakes!
I had fun making them, I’m always up for making dessert. I just try to reserve my baking for special occasions when there is someone other than myself to eat the finished product. They have cream cheese frosting, with Skittles and rainbow sprinkles on top.
Little Ryan is the most grateful kid you’ll ever meet, he must have thanked me 25 times for making him cupcakes! Gotta love appreciation!
So today our dear family/friends are en route to their new home in Virginia. We sure enjoyed having them live a mile away from us for the past 8 months or so, and will miss them terribly. Here’s a few pictures of the kids hanging out for the last time before they left for their road trip. I can’t wait to see how the kids change between now and the next time we get together! (Click here to see how they’ve grown!)
And just because I happened to be looking through old pictures the other day… a blast from the past:
Three (really only three??) years and 4 kids ago on their LAST cross-country trip when they stopped and saw us in Texas.
