The Feeling of Fall

The weather has been cool, cloudy, and a bit rainy the past couple of days.  It's quite a change from the hot, humid days we've had so far this summer.  Days that have brought us to the beach more times than I can count...

days that have taken us to the Sleeping Bear Dunes on numerous occasions...

days that have brought so many visitors into our home.  We have been so blessed this summer season to have 11 (so far!) family members or friends spend some of their vacation with us.  And since we've had so many visitors and so many adventures together, I can't quite talk about them all in one post.  Beginning in the next week or two I will begin sharing our summertime adventures with the people who chose to travel and spend some time in our beautiful part of the country.  Now, if they would travel up here in January, then we'd really know how much they loved us!  just kidding

But, back to the fall-like weather.  I love all of the seasons.  That's why Texas and I didn't get along so well.  Yes, it was kind of nice having the sunny, blue skies, and 65 degree temperatures on Christmas day.  But, that's not right.  I should be wearing a sweater, sitting by the fire sipping hot chocolate, watching the big snowflakes fall gently to the ground while listening to Barry Mannilow singing in the background.  I just couldn't get used to that crazy Texas weather.  Although, spring in February sure was nice!

But we've had such a fun summer!  I know fall is coming, maybe my most favorite of the seasons, and I wasn't ready.  Until this weekend.  The cool air, the smell of the pine trees wafting through the house, I was starting to long for soup and baked potatoes fresh from the oven.  Not to mention back to school time.  I love my children to no end, but I also love school and the endless office supplies that we must go look at and purchase (for the oldest boy anyway).  Have I mentioned my addition to office supplies?  Too bad I don't have an office.  I guess you could call my kitchen my office.  But, I digress...  I love office supplies:  pencils, pens, erasers, notebooks, calculators.  My oldest needs a protractor this year!  Yipee!!

I am looking forward to getting back into the routine of school.  Did I just say that?  Yes, I did.  I'm all for routines.  And this summer was probably the one time, since having our first child over 9 years ago, that I've been very lenient on our daily routine.  Which, has lead to many a cranky child (mostly the 2 year old variety) and mommy (not that often, but on occasion).  But, oh the fun we've had!

In a mere three weeks I'll be sending two of my boys back to school.  Both of them will be going full time which will leave me home with my youngest, for one more year.  Can I cry now?  Because I seriously could.  I love my boys, and I know that in an instant the years will fly by and they will be off to college, and then married with children of their own.  And, where does that leave me?  I'm not so sure yet, I'm still working on that one.  Baby steps...

Getting back to the topic at hand, this change in weather has given me more to think about than just a change in wardrobe, or a change in routines.  It has me thinking of the constant change in our lives.  Change is a good thing, change is the only constant in life.  And, change is good.

See you soon, autumn.

Busy summertime

It's been a month now since the boys have been off for summer vacation.  And boy have we been busy!  This is our first summer in our new house and we're loving it up here.

We're exploring all over Northern Michigan and for me, it's like re-discovering these hidden gems.

We took our first trip to the Sleeping Bear Dunes.  It was a shortened visit having just done the Pierce Stocking drive, picnic and only stopping at a few of the lookouts.  We didn't have time to do the super fun dune stop as we were getting close to naptime.  Don't worry, we've made 2 more trips to Sleeping Bear and we've done the super fun dune stop both of those times.

We saw some trillium growing in the woods.

And enjoyed the covered bridge.

Then, stopped for our picnic.  Yes, someone looks grumpy, I just happened to catch everyone with their mouths full.

Some of the dunes...

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As a side note...we got some new barstools for our counter area.  And, the boys are frequent eaters at the counter now.  Breakfast and lunch is now served here.  We did have one casualty, as I expected.  But, there was no blood or scratches and he (the littlest one) hasn't fallen off since (knock on wood).  The downside to everyone enjoying eating here now, is that there are only 3 stools, so mama has to stand.  But the brightside is I can empty the dishwasher while eating, cause I can multitask like there's no tomorrow.

The weather soon warmed up and we got out our pool which we bought at the end of the season last year (on clearance...my dear hubby is good at finding great pools on clearance) and cooled off those hot boys.

If you are my friend on facebook, you may remember that my oldest went away to camp...for 3 days!  It was the longest 3 days in my life.  He had a great time, experiencing the fun aspects of camp.  But, mama's happy when everyone's home.

This is where my heart skipped a beat. 

And shortly after this, his teacher came to my car window and asked how I was doing.  I put on a brave face and mentally knew I would be okay.  But my heart wanted my boy to stay with me.   And, he came home...almost unscathed.  He learned the hard way about dune grass.  I felt better knowing he was having fun and I would have gotten a call if he needed anything.

So, that's all for today.  I'll be posting more pictures of our trips to the Dunes (we did the huge dune climb!) and some of our visitors that have come.  We're expecting friends from back in Wisconsin tomorrow.

Our busy summer continues!

My salad of the moment

I'm not that creative in general, especially in the kitchen.  My sister is the opposite, she creates all sorts of wonderfully yummy recipes on her own, but I prefer to follow a recipe...to a T.  Now, I don't know what came over me one afternoon.  I was having a feeling that I really wanted a salad that had some warm, sauteed veggies on it.  And, that's when my idea was born. 

I started out with some tempeh, sauteing it in olive oil after seasoning it with salt and pepper, cumin, and garlic powder. Then, I added asparagus and snow peas, seasoning them with a little salt.  I browned the tempeh nicely before flipping it over to do the same on the other side, while continuing to stir the veggies.  Towards the end of cooking the tempeh and veggies, I added some chopped green onion and cherry tomatoes in addition to some balsamic vinegar.  I served this over some romaine with a little bit of raspberry vinaigrette.  Can I just tell you how delicious this was?  Oh my, the crunchy, seared tempeh was just so yummy.  And, the veggies were bright green, while the tomatoes were warmed just enough.  It was really just what I envisioned.  Imagine that!

After I ran out of asparagus, I decided to buy brussel sprouts because I love them so!  And, I think I may like this version better.  Why?  Because the brussel sprouts get nice and charred and are just so delicious!  This picture is of a salad I am making this week.

 

 

I've also been making a yummy wrap that is quickly coming in at a close second place to this salad.  I'll be writing about that later, after I take a picture of the deliciousness.  

 

Happy creative cooking!

Vegan macaroni and cheese??

Sounds crazy, huh?  It's an oxymoron even.  I love that word, oxymoron.  Anyway, one might think that you can't make macaroni and cheese vegan.  One also might wonder, why would a vegan want to eat macaroni and cheese?  Well yes, it can be made vegan and yes again, we vegans love us some mac and cheese!  Only, the vegan recipes I've seen don't call it macaroni and cheese.  Usually they make it a play on words.  For example the recipe I made tonight by my favorite vegan chef, Dreena Burton, is called Mac-Oh, geez!  Cute, eh?  And, it was just as delicious as the name is cute.

So, why would a vegan want something creamy?  Doesn't cream remind us of...milk...cows?  Mmmm, not really.  Maybe I might think of cows and think of how happy I am that none of them were uncomfortable, at the least, for me to enjoy some creamy pasta.  But, I digress, I'm getting a little off track here.

As a vegan, I still enjoy creamy, warm, hearty dishes that may remind me a bit of the original version.  But, after eating the vegan version, instead of feeling heavy, bogged down, and down right gross, I feel full, satisfied, light, and happy.  All is good.

Where does the creaminess come from?  In this recipe, and some others that I've seen, it comes from nuts.  Dreena used cashews and brazil nuts, along with some spices and almond milk.  I used whole wheat chiocciole which held onto the sauce beautifully.  It was divine.

I failed to take pictures, although Dreena has a gorgeous photo of it on her recipe page.  Isn't she generous?  She has published 3 cookbooks, she's finalizing her fourth, and she puts recipes online for us to try?

So, if you're curious you should give it a try. It's creamy, it's delicious, and no cows were harmed in the making of your mac and cheese. 

Happy cooking!

Cinnamon rolls!

I used to make cinnamon rolls for the boys a lot when we lived in Wisconsin.  Not the homemade kind, the dairy case, pop out of the can kind.  The boys liked them, and I always insisted they have yogurt or a yogurt based with fruit smoothie to counteract the sugar and preservatives in those cinnamon rolls. 

A couple of weeks ago I bought another package of cinnamon rolls, and again the boys loved them.  But, I was thinking that I wasn't so happy giving them those with all that junk in there.  So, I wanted to look at making some homemade cinnamon rolls...and make them vegan too.  Why not?

How did they turn out?  FABULOUS!!!  I used the recipe out of my Tassajara Bread Book.  The dough was very similar to my basic bread dough I make, just smaller proportions, the addition of an egg and more sugar.  I made them vegan by using Earth Balance instead of butter and a flax egg in place of the regular egg.  The icing was just powdered sugar and water.  The brown sugar and cinnamon mix in the center browned up nicely, forming a delicious caramel that got a little crispy as they cooled.  Heaven!

I probably won't be making them again this weekend, since we ate them for 3 days.  The batch made a lot!  But, this will definitely will be a repeat recipe.

Sunday walk in the woods

My husband thought he was going to take the boys for a walk in the woods by himself.  I entertained the idea of getting a head start on my Sunday baking, but when given the option of walking in the woods, I'll take the woods every time.

The boys love to pick dandelions.

Daniel and the boy across the street are building a teepee.

Even the littlest boy needs a stick for a walk in the woods.

 
There's lots to see...

The "stick fort".

The "step fort".

The baby likes to climb trees.

It was worth putting off my baking until the afternoon.  The older boys enjoy playing with the kids in the neighborhood and sometimes I don't see much of them on the weekends.  This weekend was different, we had lots of family time.  And I loved our family walk in the woods.

Spring colors

I think I can safely stow away the winter coats and snow pants now.  It looks like spring is here to stay!