Dave and I just got back from camping in the Willamette National Forest. It was great to finally have a day when we both had time to get out of town, sleep in a tent, and hike in our beautiful state. I love Oregon!
Something about campfires makes me unable to resist kid food like hot dogs and marshmallows. (Anyone else share my problem?) The summer camp I worked at last year introduced me to an amazing campfire dessert: banana boats. They’re full of chocolate and marshmallows, less messy than s’mores, and oh so delicious.
Campfire Banana Boats
Ingredients:
Bananas
Mini marshmallows
Chocolate chips
Peanut butter (optional)
Other sweets you love and have on hand?
Directions:
Slice banana lengthwise, being careful to not cut through bottom peel.
Stuff banana with sweets. (My husband likes a slightly higher sweets:banana ratio! haha! Can you guess which one is his?)
Wrap up tightly in foil.
Place in campfire for ~10 minutes.
Remove from fire, unwrap foil, and eat straight out of the banana.
Yum!! I hope everyone gets a lot of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors and delicious campfire treats this this summer!
I decided to split the inspiration posts into two – recipes and craft/sewing tutorials. Here are all of the inspiring recipes sent in reply to the prompt “your favorite springtime recipe.” Spring is surely the season for salads, as evidenced by how many salad recipes were submitted. I have to make my shopping list for the week today, and can’t wait to try some of these out!
I grew up in the Midwest, went to school on the East Coast, and then moved out to the West Coast. I have loved every place that I have lived, and have loved the people that I lived there with even more. It has been incredibly hard for me to move from people that I love so deeply, even though I know that I’ve always made the right decisions to move.
Luckily we live in a digital world, and I haven’t had to completely lose my close friends. I know there is a lot of talk about how the internet divides us and takes away from real relationships, but I have not found this to be true. The internet has allowed me to maintain extremely close friendships with my very dearest friends even though I can only see them in person once/year.
Even with my full support of the internet and social networking, I will admit that I laughed out loud when my best friend’s parents invited their daughter and son-in law and my husband and I to a virtual dinner a few weeks ago. I accepted, not really sure what I was getting into. My best friend proceeded to email us a menu, complete with recipes and a wine selection so that we could all eat the same meal.
So last Sunday we signed onto iChat at 5 pm Pacific time. Sara and Chris signed on at 7 pm Central time. Sara’s parents, Christie and Mark, signed on at 8 pm Eastern time. We all pulled our Chicken or Eggplant Parmesan out of the oven, served it over organic pasta, and toasted with Cabernet Sauvignon. It was awesome. The three-way video chat worked even better than I could have hoped for. We got to try new recipes and discuss them. We got to joke and talk just like if we were all eating in the same room.
Because of the success of the first virtual dinner, Sara and I planned a girls dinner with another close friend for this evening before the Oscars. The menu: Soup, Salad, optional Sandwich, and Cake. See below the cut at the end of the post for the recipes.
I foresee many virtual dinners in my future. Thank you to the amazing people who made the internet possible!
To plan your own virtual dinner:
Email out invitations well in advance with a full menu so that all participants have time to get the ingredients.
Choose interesting and new recipes that you can try out together.
Do a trial run on iChat in advance to be sure everyone knows how to use their camera and join the chat.
Don’t try more than 3 locations. We added a 4th one for a few minutes, and everyone’s video turned into Monet paintings.
Have headphones handy in case there is too much feedback/echo happening.
Have any of you had virtual dinners before? What have you found to work well? What doesn’t work at all?
Nothing warms up a gray and rainy day like the smell of applesauce simmering on the stovetop. And nothing brightens up a cold February day like opening up a jar full of preserved fruit. Here is a quick and easy tutorial on how to can your own homemade applesauce.
Peel, core and slice your apples. (I love my Apple Peeler Corer Slicer!) You need 15 apples to get 2 quarts (or 4 pints or 8 cups) of applesauce.
Combine ~1 inch of water, apples, a cinnamon stick, and 1/4 cup sugar. (This is not an exact recipe – you may not need any sugar if you have really sweet apples.)
Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove cinnamon stick and mash apples with a potato masher or whisk. You could also run it through a food-mill or a blender, but I like chunky applesauce.
Fill clean, hot jars with hot applesauce, leaving 1/4″ head space. Wipe off rim of jar.
Cap with lid and place in a hot water bath for 20 minutes.
Remove from hot water bath and let sit on counter overnight. Check to see that the lids have popped down. (The popping noise of the lids after canning something is one of my all-time favorite sounds!)
Set jars aside to enjoy once apple season is over. Or attach pretty labels and give as host/hostess gifts. Eat the leftover sauce in the bottom of the pan. Take a big breath of cinnamon apple air.
