berries / blueberry bushes / pie / recipe / strawberries

Traditional 4th of July Pie

I’ve been making this pie almost every 4th of July now for several years. I think I missed last year so it better be extra good this year to make up for it. Start with enough dough for a two crust pie. Roll out half of the dough and place it in a 9 inch pie pan. Roll the other half out in to a circle around 10 inches across. Cut 6 strips from that, about 3/4″ wide each. You’ll also need to cut out 6 stars from the dough that is left. I used a paring knife to cut my stars but you could use a small cookie cutter if you want them to be perfect. Next, go ahead and get the filling ready. I normally use cherry and blueberry but this year I used strawberries instead of cherries. The strawberries are some that I froze last weekend, the blueberries I picked and Foodsavered a long time ago. If you’re using frozen berries be sure to drain them well. Large berries should be sliced or cut in chunks. Here’s what you’ll need. Red Portion:2 – 3 cups red berries (cherries or strawberries)2 tablespoons lemon juice3/4 cup sugar1/4 cup cornstarch

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beach / fitness friday

Fitness Friday: New Bathing Suit

In other words, I hope all this working out is working! I bought myself a new bathing suit since we’re heading to the beach for the weekend. Eying myself up in the mirror I want to say that I can see a difference from 3 weeks ago. My abs have a hint of an indentation on each side of my belly button now (until I sit down). I think my thighs might be a little smaller too. Now I really wish I would have taken my measurements before starting so I would know if this is wishful thinking or not. Oh well, the important part is that I feel good and working out is good for my body any way. I held at 132.4# at my weigh-in on Tuesday. Isn’t week 2 usually the toughest on biggest loser? I think that is when they typically lose the least amount of pounds. Level 2 is getting much easier. I am amazed at how well I can handle the strength moves now after just 1 week of trying. The cardio still gets me, it is really hard and I “feel like I’m going to die” like Jillian says. My muscles are not

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farming / tractors

Brian’s Project: A Tractor Post

“So… since you’re always looking for interesting pictures for your blog, you should come outside and bring your camera” says my husband when I arrived home last night. “Is everything alright!?” I said, a little worried. I went out to see what he was talking about. Turns out his project for the day involved tearing apart our main tractor, a JD 4010. We put a lot of money in to this tractor last year and had joked that it was not allowed to break down ever again. The only thing left to break was the hydraulic pump and it really needed to be replaced awhile ago. It died out in the hay field the other day so Brian hauled it home. He had to take off the entire front axle to get the pump out. The pump itself costs $1200 so any money we can save on labor is great. I’m so glad Brian can do stuff like this! Here is the tractor where it sits until the pump is replaced. That red thing in the picture is The Bone Creeper. Brian asked for the creeper as a Christmas present last year and he uses it a lot. Here is

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Menu Plan Monday

Menu Plan Monday

BreakfastsToast or cereal with fruit for me, eggs for Brian. Lunch Mostly PB&Js + pretzels and/or lettuce & peas from the garden + string cheese (same as last week unless I get creative) SupperMonday: Walleye Parmesan with Homemade Garlic Shells Tuesday: Lil Smokies with Homestyle Mac & Cheese Wednesday: Hot Dogs & Hamburgers with Baked Potatoes on the grill Thursday: Chicken Tenders (from a bag :P) and Hashbrowns Friday: Homemade Pizza & Breadsticks DessertSour Cream Raisin Cookies (may go in our lunches) and Easy Apple Crisp with Ice Cream Check out what everyone else is eating over at Menu Plan Monday. What are you eating lately? I’d love some new make ahead recipes and have some to share as well.

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canning / strawberries

A Year’s Worth of Strawberries

Old bath towels are great for covering the countertops when canning. No worries about making a mess! This is where we were crushing the berries and that is all of the foam we scraped off after boiling. Our filling station and some of the finished product. This is called working double time. I’m spending the day with my Mom and sister today. We met at our favorite berry farm just after 8 AM and started picking. 30 pounds of strawberries later we headed for home. My Mom hulled all those berries while my sister and I went to Meijer for more pectin. Of course we also stopped by the bathing suit section, etc., etc. but we finally made it back home. That’s when the fun began. We had a pretty good assembly line going. One would crush, one would stir 2 batches at a time, and the third would manage the canner and jars. We pumped out 2 batches before breaking to attend my cousin’s graduation party. It was nice to see some family that I don’t get to visit with very often. Back at home the jam making continued. We also sliced some berries to freeze and left the

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fitness friday

Fitness Friday

Fitness Friday was started last week by Amy over at Muddy Boots. I see she hasn’t done a FF post yet today so it may not be an ongoing thing. However, I’ve been working my butt off and I’m ready to talk about it!! I haven’t mentioned this sooner because I know how I am. I get all fired up about things and forget them the next week. I didn’t want to talk about working out if I was going to quit. Well, not this time!! I started Jillian Micheal’s 30 Day Shred Workout on Monday, June 15th. I’ve worked out Monday – Friday for two weeks now. I heard about the shred from several different places right in a row, even from one of my new favorite blogs Cents to Get Debt Free. For those not familiar with the workout it goes like this:There are 3 levels, progressively harder.Each level is a short warm-up, 18 minutes of hard work, and a short cool down totaling around 22 minutes.You do 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, 1 minute of abs and repeat 3 times.Each 6 minute circuit features different exercises so it is NOT BORING, which I like.

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Menu Plan Monday

I really did do a Menu Plan!

I really did, I just never posted it. Okay, I also never finished it. Better late than never. Here it is: BreakfastsMostly frosted shredded wheat. Lunch Mostly PB&Js + pretzels and/or lettuce & peas from the garden + string cheese SupperMonday: Leftover Spaghetti and Quick Cheese Bread Tuesday: Meatball Subs/Toasted Bread with Parmesan Wednesday: Hot Breaded Chicken Salad (this was great to take to the hay field) Thursday: Lil’ Smokies (for me)/Hamburgers (for Brian) w/ Cheddar Potato Strips Friday: Marinated Steak and Baked Potatoes on the grill DessertStrawberry Shortcake w/ whipped cream or ice cream What are you eating this week?

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fire / garlic / questions / recipe

Cut Off From the World

Okay, I don’t consider myself to be very high tech. I haven’t used my ipod in 6 months and I refuse to text message. However, today I felt so cut off from the world it was scary, and I was having major withdrawals. Our internet is only working off and on so if I’m missing for awhile that will be why. We can no longer pick up a good signal and there is nothing the company can do to fix it so we’re looking for a new service provider. Every time I turned around today I couldn’t continue with my plans because I couldn’t get online. Here’s what I mean: I wanted to preserve my garlic scapes but I didn’t remember how they said to do it on that website I looked at the other day. Since my Mom, Brian, and I picked a bunch of strawberries on Saturday I was dying to try Abbie’s Strawberry Shortcake recipe but couldn’t get the page to load. I was planning to browse recipes for this weeks’ menu plan and knew I wanted to make Quick Cheese Bread with dinner tonight. Luckily this thing started working. The bread is in the oven so

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garden / Git 'Er Done 2009 / herbs / planting

Herbs and Our Front Porch

I picked up some herbs from two different places lately and finally planted them today. The planter boxes are something that my Dad was getting rid of. I think he made them from old deck lumber. I painted over the brown paint so they now match our porch. There were already drain holes drilled in the bottoms. I added some hay and then a mix of peat moss, vermiculite, and perlite. From left to right we have Peppermint, Thyme, and Lavender. If the plants do well I expect the Peppermint and Lavender to fill in the box. Here from left to right is Curly Parsley, Rosemary, Basil, and more Curly Parsley. We were just talking about how much we enjoy our porch so I thought I’d share a few more pictures. A passerby during early evening might find us sipping iced tea in our Adirondack chairs. We found this table in the garage when we moved in so I painted it to match. Of course the dogs are never far away. I’m really surprised that Maci hasn’t chewed up or otherwise damaged those citronella pots yet. I picked them up on clearance years ago for 10 cents each and just

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questions

A Good Day

I’ve really been enjoying life this week. Here are some of the highlights: I fed the chickens in the rain and felt so proud and content standing in the rain watching them huddle together in the nice dry shelter that Brian and I built. They are getting big! I came in the house and appreciated how each dog stopped on the landing and let me wipe their feet one by one before they went upstairs. I’ve worked up a sweat more than once and feel sooo much better because of it. Since I’ve been working so hard I’ve started out with cold showers and then turned them to hot. This is new to me and very refreshing. The meal plan is so liberating, I want to do it every week. While dinner is cooking I arrange all the supplies for the next night’s meal. Plus, I haven’t been late for work because I’m scrambling to pack my lunch. Now I really enjoy getting good meals on the table every night. I got a letter saying there was a problem with our taxes, got a big refund, got scared that it was a mistake, and almost cried with happiness to find

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