Laundry Room Before and After

The first owners of the home that lived in it for 30+ years built a dark room in the garage. As much as I would love to have a dark room for my future photography dreams we need a laundry room! Our washer and dryer were in the garage right next to wear the car was parked. So we hired a Plumber to plumb the room for a washer and dryer, Peter painted the room and put up wainscoting.

Camping in our Backyard

We were all set to go camping with our friends Chris and Meghan for Peter's birthday. The car was packed our destination was Lake Kachess and then there was an accident in Issaquah and we were stuck in traffic and weren't moving. After and hour and half of sitting in the car we hadn't even gotten out of Issaquah. With no sign of traffic clearing up in sight, we were all hungry and sick of sitting in the car so we decided to eat dinner at Jak's Grill and camp in our backyard. So that's what we did. We slept in tents, cooked on the camp stove, went on a hike, kayaked and swam. We made the most of our situation and had a great time!

Baby Isaac is as big as a.........

Eggplant this week! As much as I love this analogy to help me visualize, fruits and vegetables vary so much in size it is hard to get a good idea. But in more specific terms about 9 inches and 1.7 lbs.

Blueberries

Well we were super excited about our 6 large blueberry bushes at our new house. We hardly have any blueberries :(. We aren't sure if it was a bad season or if they just aren't getting enough sunlight. I think it is a little bit of both. We plan on moving them to the front of our house to our future garden spot that gets more sun.

Gnome

My sister sonja sent me an email saying "Baby Isaac needs one of these" I think that might be a little much but funny :)

Quinoa

Peter always says we need to eat more Quinoa. With good reason, quinoa is a superfood. It has tons of protein, fiber, antioxidants, and can balance your blood sugars, and best of all it is CHEAP! I usually respond with, "I can't find a good quinoa recipe." Well after over a year and half the search is over. This salad is amazing and really easy to make.

Recipe:

a splash of extra-virgin olive oil
a pinch of fine grain sea salt
1 shallot, minced
3 cups cooked quinoa* (or brown rice, or other grain)
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen
1 1/2 cups kale, spinach or other hearty green, finely chopped
2 cups extra-firm nigari tofu, browned in a skillet a bit
1/3 cup pesto
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds or pine nuts, toasted
1/4 cup roasted cherry tomatoes** (or chopped sun-dried tomatoes)

In a big skillet or pot heat the olive oil and salt over medium-high heat. Stir in the shallot and cook for a minute or two. Stir in the quinoa and corn and cook until hot and sizzling. Stir in the kale and then the tofu, cooking until tofu is heated through. Remove the skillet from heat and stir in the pesto and pumpkin seeds. Mix well so the pesto is spread throughout. Turn everything out onto a platter and top with the cherry tomatoes.

Serves 4 - 6.

*Rinse about 2 cups quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer. In a medium saucepan heat the quinoa and 4 cups water until boiling. Reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa fluffs up, about 15 minutes. Quinoa is done when you can see the curlique in each grain, and it is tender with a bit of pop to each bite. Drain any extra water and set aside.

** To roast cherry tomatoes: Heat oven to 350F degrees. Cut each tomato in half and arrange in a large oven-proof baking dish. Mix together a big splash of olive oil, a spoonful of brown sugar, and a few pinches of salt - pour this over the tomatoes. Gently toss them a bit, making sure they all get coated, finishing with each tomato facing cut-side up. Place in the oven and bake for 45 mintutes or so, until the tomatoes are shrunken and sweet.

The Before and After

Its been a long summer of hard work, mainly on peter's part. Peter tore out 5 Rhododendrons in front of our house and hauled in dirt, as well as tons of pruning. I arranged the rocks and planted plants. I painted the shutters, changed the house number, and Peter changed the light fixture by the front door. Its just the beginning of the work we are going to do but its fun to compare the progress. Up next is to build our raised garden beds, tear out ivy, and thatch and re-seed our grass.

Peter's Backpacking Trip

Peter backpacked to Spider Meadow outside of Wenatchee with my Dad, my Uncle Kent, my couisin Eric, and a good family friend Bob. They hiked for 3 days, they had the time of their lives, and the pictures look beautiful!

Best Weekend Getaway Ever

We stayed at the Sleeping Lady Resort in Leavenworth for my friend's wedding. We fell in love with the place due to its spread out acreage, natural setting, organic food that they grow a lot of on grounds in their garden. It is a splurge but we highly recommend it to anyone summer or winter, we can't wait to go back. www.sleepinglady.com

I did it!

Peter and I hiked up Haystack Mountain with some members of my family during our family reunion. Peter did push me up the hill occasionally but I was still proud of my accomplishment.

First baby project

This was the rocking chair that I had when I was a little girl. It matches our Jenny Lind crib perfectly except the crib is white so I painted it to match. Don't worry I used low VOC paint and I painted it outside.

Strawberry Jam

Some friends and I went to a u-pick strawberry farm and got strawberries for 1$ a lb. I got 5lbs. and made half sugar/half pectin/freezer jam. It is runny but that is the way I prefer it, then it is good on ice cream or in smoothies.

Baby Isaac

On July 25th we found out we are having a boy! We were both elated! We were also told that he is big and is in the 69th percentile for size. I tried to upload our ultrasound pictures but it won't work for some reason. I got these shoes as a gift from my friend Carmen who is a graphic designer for Keen and gets hooked up with Keen shoes. 

Maple Huckleberry Coffee Cake

We have tons of huckleberries in our backyard so I wanted to use them somehow. I found this recipe online and it is healthy and absolutely amazing. Not only did I get a great recipe but it made me stumble upon my new favorite natural cooking website (http://www.101cookbooks.com) If you are into natural cooking check it out!

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or spelt flour)
3 tablespoons rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1/4 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup maple syrup, room temperature
1 large egg, room temperature
zest of one lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/3 cups fresh wild huckleberries (or other berries), well picked over

Topping:
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut 1/4-inch cubes
1/3 cup maple sugar (or brown sugar)
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees, rack in the middle. Butter a 1-pound loaf pan, and line with parchment paper. Alternately, you could just butter and flour the pan, but I've found that lining the pan with parchment makes removing the cake from the pan after baking no problem.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, thyme, and rosemary. Set aside. In a separate large bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer or by hand - until light and fluffy. Drizzle in the maple syrup and beat until well incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple times along the way. Beat in the egg, lemon zest, and vanilla extract, scraping the sides again. Add half of the flour, stir just a bit, now add a splash of the buttermilk, stir again, but not too much. Add the rest of the flour and stir a bit, and now the rest of the buttermilk. Stir until everything barely comes together and then very gently fold in one cup of the huckleberries. Scrape the batter evenly into the prepared pan and set aside.

To make the streusel topping, place the flour, butter, maple sugar, thyme and pecans in a food processor and pulse 20-30 times or until the topping is a bit beyond sandy/crumbly. It should be moist-looking - on its way to being slightly doughy. Crumble 2/3 of it over the cake batter, sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup huckleberries on top of that, and then add the last of the crumble. Barely pat in place with your fingertips.

Place the coffee cake in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool for five minutes and then remove it from the pan to cool on a rack (this way the cake won't steam in the pan as it's cooling.