Lilacs

I love this time of year where one season of blooming flowers flows into the next (I think this is a great reminder of what's in bloom).  As always, our lilac season felt very short but I think we made the most of it with arrangements, cocktails and syrups!

I made a lilac simple syrup that we've used in a few cocktails and spritzers.  I've also used it in my coffee!  I didn't love the margarita, it was too citrusy, but it was pretty!

I also made a batch of lilac sugar which can also be used in any number of different dishes.

 

Dinner and a Movie- The Hobbit

Both the children and Bryce* have read, and enjoyed, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.  When the first movie came out over a year ago, Bryce had every intention to take Grace to see the movie but it just never happened.  At the time, I didn't think that Harris was old enough to see the movie and when Bryce broached the subject this past weekend of watching the movie together as a family, I was still unsure if Harris was old enough.  However, Bryce felt that by watching it together, having had read the book and taking into account Harris' personality that it would be ok for Harris.  And honestly, it was!

I thought it would be fun to make a few "themed" items for our dinner before watching the movie.  These items are a bit of a stretch but the children don't seem to care and as they get older they think it's funny to have a "One (chicken, broccoli and cheese) Ring" main course.  We also had hobbit door cookies and Seed Cakes that Bilbo Baggins would have served himself.

*I'm reading it now, I couldn't stand being the only one who hadn't read it!

Apples

Weeks ago we went on a trip to the apple orchards and the children picked a ton of apples!  I spent weeks trying to use up all of those apples.  

Harris was my official apple peeler and he was delighted to do it.

I made apple pie pockets, which I left as a little treat for the children when Bryce and I went on a date night.

 

Of course, I made apple pie which I served with Susan Branch's cinnamon ice cream (I use whole milk instead of half and half and it is still awesome).  Have you ever had cinnamon ice cream?  It's really, truly amazingly delicious and the perfect fall/winter ice cream treat.

I also canned a few batches of spiced applesauce!  I'm so excited to have them tho break open during the holidays!

 

Canning

I have a new love and it (of course) involves food.  A week ago, Gretchen and I took a canning class from Marisa McClellan, the author of the lovely book and blog, Food in Jars.  During the class Marisa gave basic instruction for canning whole tomatoes, but more importantly for me was her ability to make canning not so intimidating.  I've wanted to try my hand at canning for some time but there is this little fear of mine called killing someone with botulism that has been a deterrent to trying it.  

This past week Gretchen and I set aside an entire day to can diced tomatoes.  We started off with an amazingly large amount of tomatoes but between the two of us we were able to get a fairly streamlined system for coring, blanching and chopping.

Our canning of the tomatoes went so well that we decided to go ahead and can peaches.  We used Marisa's recipe from the book for boozy peaches .  Our only setback here was that the peaches would not peel!  That was a bit frustrating but we persevered and the result was definitely worth it!

I've found that canning is immensely satisfying and I really can't stop myself from gazing at the beautiful jars on the shelf!  In fact, I've already canned marinara sauce and am plotting on trying a jam next!

Back to School Celebration

I can hardly believe that it's already September, and I really can't believe that it's already time for the children to head back to school.  Tomorrow is the children's first day back in school, and we celebrated tonight with our annual "back to school celebration."

Harris loved helping put the alphabet vase together and running around the house in search of letters to spell our names for the place settings!  The zinnias are from the children's garden.  

 We had our usual alphabet soup and letter breadsticks for our meal.  For dessert I made chalkboard cupcakes that turned out adorable and could not have been any easier!

At the end of the evening we gave the children their school cones.  Of course, they were delighted with them!

I can't believe that we have a first grader and a fourth grader!  How is this possible?  

Egg Decoration and Carrot Dinner

Our Easter egg decoration and carrot dinner is one of my favorite traditions because it is easy and fun (past years are here and here).  This years menu consisted of carrot soup, carrot burgers and bunny ear salad.  For dessert I made bunny sugar cookies. In an effort to keep it simple I chose not to ice the cookies but rather I used cotton candy to create a tail and used a candy eye- I think they turned out darling!  Sometimes simple really is better.

For place cards I used a printable that was meant for cupcakes but it worked out perfectly for our purposes.

Our eggs aren't strung and hanging on our Easter tree quite yet, but we did get some really pretty ones this year.  I'll share them soon.