Camping

 

We did some camping with our friends last weekend.  It was wonderful to get away and enjoy the beautiful Fall weather.  We spent time sitting around the campfire, taking hikes around the park and we even got up the nerve to go on a haunted hay ride.  It was a great weekend and thanks to our friends and their camper, we all had a nice warm bed to sleep in on Saturday night.  

We were treated to the most excellent meal on Saturday night.  Chili and cornbread cooked over the campfire - yum.  For dessert - blueberry cobbler  baked in the dutch oven on the fire - double yum.  (Why does food taste so much better when your eating outside by a campfire?)





 Sunday morning it was our turn to make breakfast.  We decided to make BEAT sandwiches for everyone but we wanted to provide something for those early risers to snack on.  We set out some granola and yogurt to help keep everyone from getting too hungry while we cooked the bacon and eggs.  Everyone seemed satisfied to snack on the granola while they waited for breakfast.  

This recipe is really basic and you can add or change ingredients as you like.










 4 cups oats                  

















1 cup wheat germ              














3 cups nuts
(I used pumpkin seeds, whole almonds, walnuts and slivered almonds)













 1 cup sunflower seeds













1/2 cup brown sugar
















½ cup olive oil

          




1/3 cup honey


               













2 teaspoons vanilla












Combine oats, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, nuts and brown sugar.










 Stir together oil, honey and vanilla.













Add to nuts and stir to coat.










Spread onto cookie sheet and bake 20 minutes at 300.


Stir.  Bake 10 minutes.  Stir.  Bake 10 minutes longer.

Immediately spoon granola into Tupperware containers to cool.  Store cooled granola in refrigerator.  




Granola is a great food to take on a camping trip.  It is easy to pack and light enough to carry on hikes.  It's a great way to get some protein into your snack too. 










Just look how happy the boys were about their granola.

After breakfast we took a hike around the park.  It was a beautiful day.

 








I think the dogs enjoyed the walk most of all. 

It was a great weekend.  

So thankful to our friends for inviting us to tag along on their campout.   We had a blast. 










Bon Appetit!

Street Sweeper

The kids had a great time trick or treating in their costumes last night. 

The morph suit was a big hit.

Even I pulled together a last minute costume for myself yesterday.  I had to pick up a shirt and a hat for my daughter so I decided to get one for myself as well.  (I think she might be taller than me in this picture.  When did that happen?)

One of our neighbors invited us to their house for hamburgers and hot dogs before the trick or treating.   Everyone that came brought side dishes to go along with the meat.   My contribution to the party was homemade hummus with pita chips...

and homemade hummus and carrots.

Hummus is fairly simple to make because it doesn't have many ingredients.  It's a great way to get more protein in your diet too.

Hummus
I can chick peas
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tub tahini sauce from Trader Joe's
1 Tablespoon sugar






Drain and rinse chick peas.  Process chick peas, garlic and salt in food processor.  Add tahini sauce and sugar and process until smooth.  

I've made a lot of hummus recipes in the past and I have had a hard time getting them creamy enough.  This recipe is super easy and the Tahini sauce from Trader Joe's already has the lemon juice, oil and water included.  It makes this hummus even easier than most. 

My choice of pita chips are the cinnamon sugar from Trader Joe's and the reduced guilt multigrain Pita chips - also from Trader Joe's.

I also took a few chocolate cupcakes that I rolled in toffee bits and frosted with marshmallow meringue.  We gave away plenty of candy to some hungry trick or treaters last night and had a lot of fun in the process.

Mia and I are heading out for our usual walk around the neighborhood this morning.  Today is Mia's very favorite day of the year.  She acts like a big vacuum cleaner sucking up all of the candy that was dropped into the streets by careless trick or treaters.  She actually does a pretty good job of cleaning up - I like to think of it as her contribution to the neighborhood.

Bon Appetit!

Happy Halloween!

  Happy Halloween!

Halloween festivities started early at our house. 

The boys gave their costumes a trial run by wearing them to Friday Night's UGA soccer game. 

Last night the kids carved their pumpkins.

Can you guess whose is whose?





While the kids were busy carving, I was gathering up all the seeds out of the kids pumpkins for roasting.

First I rinsed them all really well.

Then I separated the seeds into 3 different bathes.  

I made little trays out of aluminum foil to separate them on one baking sheet so I could bake them all at once.

I baked them for 20 minutes at 300.

 Chili Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

 Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Seeds with Sea Salt

They were all really good but cinnamon sugar was by far my favorite.

I don't know what it is like on Halloween night at your house but I can assure that it gets chaotic at my house about 2 hours before the trick or treating begins.  When the kids were younger, I always planned to feed my family a healthy dinner before they headed out to the streets to collect candy.  Unfortunately, even though I had the best of intentions, the healthy dinner often took a back seat to last minute preparations.  As the kids got older, I took on the primary role of Halloween organizer.  I found myself preoccupied with costume alterations, searching for accessories or locating appropriate footwear in the hours leading up to trick or treating.  I finally realized that sitting down to a big family dinner on Halloween night is just not feasible, but I wasn't willing to sacrifice my healthy meal.  

Last Friday, I was scurrying around the kitchen working on a cake and watching The Chew on TV.  Chef Michael Smith was making a goulash that looked like something that my family would love and he did it in 5 minutes!  (They actually timed him or I wouldn't have believed it.)   I thought I would give it a try and even though it took me 10 minutes to make - it was still a really fast dinner.  This would be a great meal to serve your family before they head out for trick or treating tonight.  

 

This meal is so simple - it only has 6 ingredients.  

Ground Turkey (or Ground Beef)

1 can Diced Tomatoes

1/2 pound elbow macaroni

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic crushed

Parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water before draining.




 





Brown turkey in skillet.


 





Chop onions and garlic.









 




Add onions and garlic to turkey.

Add tomatoes to turkey mixture. Bring mixture to a boil and and allow to simmer 2 minutes.

Add pasta to mixture. You can add reserved pasta water to thin sauce if it becomes too thick.

Top with Parmesan cheese and serve.

 

My family really like this ghoul-ash.  (pun intended)  My daughter ate 2 huge helpings and my son and my husband both loved it too. This super quick meal hit the spot on a chilly night. Give it a try and stay warm out there tonight.

Bon Appetit!