Wordless Wednesday - Captain Oregon goes Off Roading

Friday Food

To add some peace to our house and get rid of the constant "What are we eating for breakfast/lunch/dinner", we use a little dry erase sign to announce each meal.  This morning was Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal.  While the big pot of oatmeal was simmering on the stove top, Fearless Flyer took his time to write it out so carefully for the world to see.  I'm loving the combination of random capitals and lower case.  Oh, and that backwards P.  I'm definitely go to miss these days.

Wordless Wednesday - The Mysterious Diver

.

Wordless Wednesday - Easter Egg Hunt

Menu Plan Monday

Whew...I finally got the week planned.  I love cooking, baking and just being in the kitchen which also means I love hunting down some new recipes to try.  That always comes at great risk to the family since some of the recipes sound much better on paper than they do in physical form.  At least I have learned that even though they don't like something I've made, they still love the fact that I'm in there trying some new things. 

This week, we've got several new recipes to try.  Here's hoping for a good week with no flops. 

Monday: B: Oatmeal
                L:  Leftovers
                D:  Pasta & Sauce something quick and easy for a busy night
Tuesday: B:  Pancakes
                L:  Rolled Tacos  We're going to be making these ourselves, we'll see how they turn out
                D:  Bento Box  Edamame, Gyozo with Dipping Sauce, Teriyaki Beef, Rice
Wednesday:  B:  Swedish Oatmeal Crackers with Apricot Cream Cheese
                       L:  Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
                       D:  Pide with Meat Filling Pide is a Turkish Flatbread
Thursday:  B:  Applesauce Muffins
                   L:  Tamales We found a wonderful local friend who just so happens to make tamales. Yum!
                   D:  Cheese Borek, Salad
Friday:  B:  French Toast
              L:  Make Your Own Sammie
              D:  Joseph He was supposed to plan last week, but Good Friday services prevented that
Saturday:  B:  Breakfast roll-ups
                  L:  Tuna Melt
                  D:  Corn & Cheese Casserole, Quesadillas
Sunday:  B:  Muffins
                L:  Sunday Dinner Roast, Veggies, Salad, Rolls, Yummy Dessert
                D:  Leftovers

And a few recipes in case you want to cook along:
Pide Recipe from Bob's Red Mill
2 T.  Warm Water        
1/2 tsp Sugar
1/2 C Warm Milk
2 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast
2 1/2 C Hard Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Salt
3 eggs
2 1/2 Tbsp butter, softened
1/4 feta cheese
1/3 c pine nuts

Lightly oil 2 baking sheets and set aside. 
Combine water, sugar, and milk in small bowl.  Sprinkle the years over the mixture, stir and let stand until the yeast begins to foam. 
Combine 2 1/4 C of flour with the salt.  Beat 2 eggs in a small bowl.  Make a well in the center of flour mixture.  Add yeast mixture and the eggs to make a stiff dough.  Add flour if needed.
On a lightly floured surface, knead the butter into the dough until smooth, about 10 minutes.  Lightly oil a large bowl, place dough inside, turning it over in the oil and cover with a clean dish towel.  Let dough rise until doubles in size, about 90 minutes.
Punch dough down and divide into 6 pieces.  Shape each piece into a circle, about 6 inches around, then press down the center and crimp up the edges.  Place on prepared baking sheet and let rest for 20 minutes.  Preheat oven to 400.
Stir together remaining egg with the cheeses, pine nuts and a pinch of pepper flakes.  Spread some topping on each circle, leaving a small margin on the edge. 
Bake for 20 minutes, cool on a wire rack. 

Cheese Borek From Moosewood Restaurant
1 lb 8 oz. Cream Cheese
1 1/2 c Feta
3 C Cottage Cheese
6 Eggs, beaten
3 C Parsley, chopped
1/3 C Chopped Fresh Dill
1/4 Pound Melted butter
1/2 Pound Phyllo Dough

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Preheat oven to 375.

Melt butter.  Use pastry brush to butter baking sheet.  Unwrap phyllo dough.  Count out 6 - 8 leaves of phyllo.  Lift up and lay flat on baking sheet.  Spread the filling over the middle, leaving 3 inches all around.  Brush edges with butter.  For the top, lay down two leaves at a time, buttering the top leaf each time.  After 4 or 5 pairs, fold the corners of all the phyllo leaves up over the filling, butter, then neatly fold each side up over the filling and butter.  Lay down two more pairs of leaves, butter the top of each pair.  Tuck new edges under the strudel, corners first, then sides.  I know, clear as mud, I'm hoping it will make much more sense as I actually attempt it.
Sprinkle top with fennel if desired.  Bake for 45 minutes or until top layer is puffed and golden.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes after removing from oven.

Slice and enjoy.

 

Letterboxing 101

 Lately, the boys have been having a good time with Letterboxing.   If you aren't familiar with it, it's basically the low tech version of geocaching. 


We get most of our clues from Atlas Quest.  It's great because you can run a search based on your location and you'll be able to see how much walking is involved, if there's a cost to it, etc.  You can also see when the box was last found. 

Basically, we print up the clues to the box we want to find.  Fill our backpack with our stamp, stamp pad, notebook, water bottle and some snacks.  Off we go.  Once we find the box, we use the stamp included in it to stamp our notebook and leave our stamp in the box with the date.  Once back home, we report back on Atlas Quest about whether we found the box or if there was any issue with it. 

The Computer is responsible for leading us.  He always gives us a quick rundown on what we are in for before we head out. 

Our first find of the day!  We spent over an hour trying to find the first of the three boxes, but since part of the trail was flooded out and another part had a tree down, a very large tree at that, we had to find the third clue and work our way back.

The Librarian has no fear and loves to climb inside the tree to retrieve the box.  After I've checked for spiders and other creepy crawlies.

 Taking care of all the stamping business.  We actually forgot our stamp on this day so we ended up drawing a picture in the letterbox's notebook.  You do whatever works.

Victory was ours! 

Well, we found two of the three letterboxes for the day after several back tracks and turn arounds.  The clues were excellent, but because of trail conditions it was a bit on the difficult side to find the right spots.  No the boys are hoping the weather will clear up soon so we can head out again.