Bubble and Baseball Season

At last! Summer is here. The season of outdoor naps, swimming in the river and swinging on the hammock is here. It is also the season for friends and family visits. This delightful weekend we had our good friends Andrew and Jen with little Isaac come to our house. Isaac is a strong little boy with many talents! He can blow lots of bubbles, drive a backhoe and a tractor, read tons of books, swing a baseball like nobody's business, and much much more. He really likes Pa the best, but we got along pretty good too - except when I tried to catch him when I noticed a bug had flown into his hair.. or when I tried to change the way his was wearing his shoes. :) Thank you for coming to see us, friends, and hope to have more time together this summer!!

Hillbilly Barbells

Another way to get yourself in shape when you can't get to the gym.

Hillbilly Workout at The Pines

Did Rattlesnake Jane cheat???

Wild West Sisters

This last weekend we three sisters had a reunion and adventure in the Wild West. We aimed to find us some handsome cowpokes, and we had a mighty wild time lookin'. They just didn't meet our fancy. But, Yihaa! What a girl's night out! We spent our days with the cougs and the bears. Our nights we howled with the wolves and the coyotes and hooted with the owls.
We spent a day in town, but since we hadn't quite gotten used to the ways of the city folks, we got a little carried away diggin through the piles of fancy duds we found at the ladies dress shop! Poor little Dolly got hauled off to the Marshall's Den. Little Bro is showing up tonight on Pony Express, and we aim to show him a real rootin' tootin' good time huntin' down some rattlesnakes for dinner! MMmmm Doggies!!

This week I read a beautiful story to the kids at Storytime titled , Sun Bread by Elisa Kleven.

It has been one of my favorite winter books for a number of years now, and for the last three years, in the middle of some of the darkest days I have made a Sun Bread to go with the story. The book has a lovely recipe included, but this year I wanted to make a bread that all of the children would enjoy. I have one family with gluten and lactose intolerance kids. I also have an abundance of butternut squash.
I found :this recipe, but did not have all of the ingredients available. I had cornmeal and decided to use my grain grinder to make the brown rice flowr and the quinoa flour. I think you could use other flours as long as you kept the proportions the same. This is my adaptation:

Butternut Squash Sunbread
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease two Pie Pans

Wet Ingredients:
2 c. butternut squash puree (1 med. squash)
1 c. light brown sugar
4 large eggs
2/3 c. melted coconut oil (or vegetable oil)


Dry Ingredients:
1 c. cornmeal
1 c. ground brown rice flour
1 c. ground quinoa flour

1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp.cornstarch
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger


Prepare the butternut squash puree. I remove the seeds and cut the squash into manageable size chunks and bake at 375 degrees till soft. The squash can then be peeled and pureed with an immersion blender, a stand blender, or a food processor. You may also peel and cook the squash in a steamer or microwave.

In the bowl of your mixer, combine the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients except for the nuts. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix just until moistened. Stir in the nuts. Pour the batter into the loaf pans and bake at 350° for 50 – 60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.


Today, Ruth and I are meeting with a couple of other ladies to finish the baskets we started last June! We are going to have the delicious soup from Auth Ruth and Uncle Scott's cookbook. Here is that recipe.

Squash, Miso and Coconut Soup

1 Tablespoon sesame or coconut oil
1 cinnamon stick
1 Tablespoon minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3 cups cubed Butternut Squash
1 large onion diced
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons sweet light miso
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Toasted sesame seed oil to taste


Warm the oil in a 4-quart pot over medium heat. Add the cinnamon stick, ginger and turmeric and saute for 1 minute. Add the squash and onion and saute for 5 minutes or until the vegetables soften. Add the coconut milk, 2 1/2 cups water or garbanzo (or chicken or vegetable ) broth and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the squash is tender. Remove the cinnamon stick.

Place the miso and 1/4 cup of soup broth in a small bowl and puree with a fork. Add the puree to the soup and simmer for 1 minute, taking care to not let the soup boil. Season with pepper. Adjust seasonings and remove from the heat.
Puree the soup in a blender or food processor, taking care to not burn yourself. Garnish each bowl with 1 Tablespoon of chopped cilantro and a drizzle of toasted sesame oil.
Even better flavor the next day!
Bon Appetit!!

Luge Trials

Auld Lang Syne

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone has been enjoying a good beginning to the new year. Do you have any resolutions? I have just a few:

I want to begin a practice of writing down my goals. That in itself will be an accomplishment. There is something magic about things happening if you write them down. So, if you feel inclined, tell us your goals!

Occasionally, I go to the YouTube site to see some of the videos that I have made in the past. I am making a link
HERE
for you to be able to as well. I have an idea in mind for my next project, but let me know if you have a request. Also, if you have posted videos on YouTube or any other video sharing site, please share your link with us!

love,
Granny