WANTED

by my man clan for their bullfrog hunting expeditions - a light canoe or small boat.
I'm swooning over this Sassafras Fyne canoe.

And how cool is this transparent canoe?

Realistically, they need something light and inexpensive. Do you have a recommendation?

VEGAN - FRIED BANANA PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE RAVIOLI

These little morsels don't look like much, but wow, are they ever good and they were a huge hit with the man clan.
2 bananas, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup almonds, finely chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar
peanut butter
semi-sweet chocolate chips
wonton wrappers
a little bowl of water
oil for frying

Mix together bananas, almonds and brown sugar.

Wet the wonton wrappers around the edges, with your finger, with water and let the fun begin with a 'little bit of this, a little bit of that' routine.

Use the back of a spoon to smear a small dollop of peanut butter on the wonton. Top the peanut butter with 4 semi-sweet chocolate chips and top that with some of the banana mixture. Fold over into a triangle or a square and seal well.

You will learn very quickly what amounts will work well for you. If you have too much it won't seal well and the ingredients are busting out. If you don't add enough you will have too much 'wrapper'. After making 2 or 3 ravioli, you will have the proportions down; easy peasy.

We heated our oil to 375 and had them frying until golden, approximately 1-2 minutes.

Before you start, a few tips we learned:
1. Make sure none of the ingredients get on the wet edges or it will interfere with the sealing of the wonton.
2. As you are layering your ingredients in the wrapper, keep them off centered vs smack dab in the middle.
3. If you have any air pockets in your finished product, they don't turn over well in the oil. They keep flipping back over to the first side, so the golden isn't even. Make sure when you are sealing them you don't have air pockets.
4. Cool for a few minutes before eating. We may have burned a few taste buds, tongues and fingers.

SLEEPING UNDER THE STARS

in a fluffy soft bed, on a floating dock, on a perfectly crisp, bug free evening. Now that is what I call an amazing nights sleep camping.

via anthology magazine

I think I'd love it.

RED LENTIL ARTICHOKE STEW

2 medium yellow onions, diced
3 garlic cloves, pressed
2 teaspoons cumin
1 tsp coriander
32 ounces vegetable broth
1 cup red lentils, rinsed
1 bay leaf
2 TBSP lemon juice
1 (24 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 cups artichoke hearts
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Rice, quinoa or pasta.

Saute onions until clear. Add garlic, cumin and coriander; cook for 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes or until red lentils are cooked.

It's delicious serve by itself, over brown rice, quinoa or pasta. Salt and pepper to taste.

The original recipe is on page 70 of The Vegan Table. This is my slightly modified version.

I HUMILIATED MYSELF AT WINCO

My son wanted an sub sandwich from the grocery store. I found the one he wanted but I thought the ham didn't look good. It wasn't nice and pink.

I put it back and grabbed another. The ham didn't look good on that sandwich either. I did this 5 times and all of them had the same problem.

So, I began to wonder. Does ham have light and dark meat like chicken?

I asked the lady next to me, "Is ham supposed to look like this?"

She replied, "That is roast beef."
Mortified!! How do you explain your way out of that?!

"I don't eat meat and this sandwich is for my son,"was all I could think of.

She replied, "Men love roast beef, so you're doing a good job."

True story.

I WANT CHEESE

photo via a taste of cheese

Larry and I saw a show this weekend where a girl, who had severe food allergies, saw a doctor who practiced chiropractic applied kinesiology and he was able to help her.

Anyone out there have personal experience with this?

PS - I miss turkey bacon too.

HAVE A FUN WEEKEND

JUMP BOARD OF DOOM

Blow up swimming pool - $15.00

Ramp rescued from our very own give away pile - $0.00

Hours of jumping on the Jump Board of Doom - PRICELESS

PICNIC TABLE TRANSFORMATION

Our neighbor gave us his old picnic table that has seen better days. Purple isn't our color, so I painted it Krylon Red Pepper.

The picnic table still shows it's 'better days' scars, but the $15.00 transformation is incredible and will look great under the dogwood tree I have yet to purchase.

LILY'S DIARY

I'm almost bald.My family keeps telling me I'm pretty and feel like velvet, but now it's only my tails and ears that blow in the wind.

MY GO-TO LUNCH

Onion bagel
Tofutti cream cheese
thick slices of salt and peppered tomatoes

Paired with an ice cold diet coke, my taste buds have been in heaven.

The only thing that would make this lunch better, is if the tomatoes were coming from my own garden.

What's your lunch of choice?

LIKE MOTHER, LIKE SON

They have the best ARGGG in the Northwest.

LILY'S DIARY

I love the park! Ah, I could slide all day; it's my favorite and so much fun!I bring the family along and always share my slide.
And I even share the doggie water fountain with the wee-est.

LET THE SUMMER GAMES BEGIN

We are having fun in our neck of the woods and hope you are too. Happy, happy summer to you!

IT'S A WONDERFUL DAY TO

celebrate my father's birthday.My dad is super funny, adventurous and up for anything. He is loving, thoughtful, generous, the best navigator in the U.S., makes the quilting ladies swoon and is an awesome father and grandfather.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!
WE LOVE YOU!!

IT'S A WONDERFUL DAY TO

celebrate my grandfather's birthday and eat ice cream.Loving ice cream is an understatement. My grandfather LOVED ice cream and would sometimes even eat it for breakfast.
Two of his favorite ice cream treats were root beer floats and a half of a cantaloupe with vanilla ice cream in the center where the seeds were scooped out.
To remember him on his birthday, we eat one of these treats (and sometimes both.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!
WE LOVE AND MISS YOU!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Larry is an amazing daddy to our man clan. He teaches them, makes them laugh, encourages them and is a wonderful example.
Our fathers are best buds and awesome grandpas. They are great role models, thoughtful, giving, loving and quite the funny duo.

HAVE A ROMANTIC WEEKEND

BANANA BREAD

I have had a surplus of bananas, so I've been making my favorite banana bread recipe ( it's so easy and it's vegan - yay for me.)
Today I served it on a platter that belonged to my 2nd great-grandmother, Harriet Maria Vincent Smith.

Banana Bread

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup oil
2 bananas, mashed

Combine dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and bananas. Stir to combine. Put batter in an oiled loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. Cool 30 minutes then take out of loaf pan to continue cooling.

Our loafs disappear within minutes, so I have no idea how long the bread lasts if not eaten straightaway.

I'M NOT SAYING ANY NAMES OR WHAT

exactly happened to our bathroom screen.BUT, the perpetrator may or may not be male, the first initial may or may not be 'L' and a homemade flame throwing device may or may not have been tested.

Never a dull moment around here.

I HAVE A GRADUATE

No more kindergarten for this bloke.He is so excited that he gets to eat his lunch at school next year. Ahhh, the simple things....

MY AUNT AND UNCLE ARE SERVING

a mission for our church on Temple Square. They are amazing and I'm so proud of them!
Jill took us downtown to stroll the temple grounds and find them.If you're downtown in the next 6 months, stop by and see them, and tell them hello. You're going to love them.

PS - I have another aunt and uncle who are serving a second mission in Palmyra, New York. If you are in that area, look for Elder and Sister Young. They are awesome. I was lucky enough to see them in the mission field in 2007. I love that area of New York; it's absolutely beautiful.

I WAS IN PERRY THIS

weekend with my family at the Jeff Young Fun Run.We had perfect weather and a gorgeous view.
Believe it or not, I did not finish the 5K last.
We wore a t-shirt Jeff designed, there was a silent auction, bake sale, Mexican food, snow cones, face painting, raffles and a candy cannon.

Photo on bottom left taken by Ivon

We had so much fun celebrating Jeff and being with family.
One of the best parts of the day was imagining that Jeff was laughing at us because he had so many women in an elk t-shirt.

MY FATHER HAS A FEW THINGS

he has saved from his younger days.
One item he kept was a bowl he made, when he was a junior, in high school. It's made of pine, stained and has a thick coating of shellac.

My brother, Derek, still has a bread bin he made in wood shop.

Have you saved anything you made in high school?