Kefir Blueberry Coconut Cake & Picking Too

The blueberries are out! After a really BAD season last year due to a late spring frost, this years wild blueberry crop is amazing!! Check out these clumps of berries, they almost look like high bush.

Not a great photo because it was taken with my phone but after only 2 hours of picking we came away with over 25 cups of berries! You can see the amount of berries still left on the bushes in the blurry background.

What to do with so many blues?

Eat them of-coarse!

Kefir Coconut Blueberry Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cup shredded coconut
  
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup milk kefir
  
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 2 cups fresh (or frozen) blueberries

Lemon Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2-4 tablespoons lemon juice (or enough to make a smooth glaze)
  

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and 1/2 cup coconut. In another bowl beat the eggs, kefir and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in blueberries.
2. Spread in a greased and floured 13x9 baking dish. Sprinkle with the rest of the coconut. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until done. Cool on a wire rack.
3. In a small bowl combine powdered sugar and lemon juice. When cooled slightly drizzle the glaze over the cake and serve!

Citrus Rhu-berry Jam and Roadside Foraging

The kids and I set out to walk "the loop" the other day and ended up with 2 cups of wild berries! We just happened to come upon this small patch of blueberries on the side of the road and so we stopped for some spur of the moment picking!

Then to our surprise, we also came upon a nice patch of wild raspberries!! What a treat! With the cost of berries so high we picked all we could. This patch popped up in the past year or two in a new development down the road from us. A great place to look for berries because they are usually found in areas that have recently been cut or cleared.

The kids we so HOT but helped mama pic anyway! I think James is eating one in this pic instead of plopping them into our empty water bottles!! Caught!!!
We did have to improvise to come up with berry picking containers since we did not think to bring one along. We guzzled these two waters down to make room for the berries.

I had made plans to make rhubarb jam with a friend later that week. After searching for just the right recipe and realizing I did not have the right ingredients for any of them I came up with this recipe. It came out sooooooooo good that I am planning on making another batch very soon!

Citrus Rhu-berry Jam

6 c. fresh or frozen rhubarb, chopped
4 c. sugar
1 clementine (or a small orange), juiced and rind chopped into very thin small slices
1 c. fresh raspberries
1 c. fresh blueberries
3 oz. pkg. strawberry gelatin

In large kettle combine rhubarb, sugar, juice, and rind. Let stand 15 to 20 minutes or till sugar is moistened. Bring to a boil and continue to boil uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add raspberries and blueberries; return to boiling. Boil hard 5 to 6 minutes or till thick, stirring often. Remove from heat. Add gelatin; stir till dissolved. Ladle into hot, clean jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Wipe jar rims; adjust lids. Process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. (Start timing when water boils.) Or if you're brave like me tip the jars over for 5 minutes then return them to the upright position instead of a water bath. Makes 5 to 6 half pints.

Back to the Ocean

We have decided that after school starts is a great time to go to the ocean!! Don't get me wrong, there were still people around here and there but not nearly as many as there are during the "summer" busyness!! It was great! We enjoyed the day with our friends the Thornes and their generous hospitality! Here are a few pics of the beautiful lighthouse at Ft. Williams State Park.

I caught this one just as a tugboat was pushing a large ship past! It was a neat sight for all of us!!

The boys enjoyed playing military games at the old forts, I convinced James to stop for a quick pic before heading back to "war".
Mollie and Chandler were so cute in the stroller together!
After walking around the park and exploring the old forts we made our way to the playground.
Emmy and Eliza were making some sort of something to eat???

Mollie and Chandler wanted to hang from the monkey bars over and over! I caught Mollie just as her arms gave way!

Chandlers turn!

Here's the gang on the slide with the ocean in the back! It was so cool to play at a playground with an ocean view!!

Later we headed off to a small beach down the road to explore the tide pools! Mrs. Thorne was great at finding sea creatures!! What do you suppose is under this rock...

...two little crabs!

It was a chilly evening but that didn't stop everyone from striping their socks and shoes to feel the cool sand on their toes.

James actually decided to wear his sandals into the tide pools so that none of those cute little crabs could pinch his toes!

This pic was captured as the sun was setting and was hitting the kids just right so that they glowed just a little!

This tide pool was full of fun creatures! Mostly hermit crabs!! They were everywhere and the kids had a blast catching them all and moving them into a little pool until the big "race"! Yup, you guessed it, the hermits had to race before being released back to their peaceful home!!!

The sunset was beautiful! It was around 7pm or so, such a peaceful and quiet time to be at the beach!

Emmy found a nice little orange rock that she really wanted me snap a photo of.

The boy's were also eagerly looking for sea glass... none found though!

Eliza made a fun discovery that when you lift a piece of seaweed from the sand it leaves a "tree" shape in the sand! It was so neat, she tried it several times forming more and more "sand trees"!

We are so thankful for a wonderful day with our friends and a chance to enjoy Gods beautiful creation! We are hoping to go back again very soon!!

Summer Fun...catching up!

I know I've been a major slacker this summer with keeping our blog updated so here is a jammed packed post full of some fun stuff we did over the summer.

We joined the library summer reading program for one of their weekly activities. This one was on butterflies, dragonflies and other flying insects. After the presentation we were able to make t-shirts on the lawn out back. Here Emmy and Carrie pose with their t's with Mollie and Wally in the background.

Ethan chose bat's for his t-shirt! Black with bat's... such a boy!!

James and his dragonfly shirt.

Mollie and her shirt...created with a little help from Mom:-)

They even gave out popsicles at the end!!

Here the "big kids" were having fun posing for James' camera! I stumbled on them while looking through pics on his camera. I thought they were too fun not to include!

We were able to join the Everitts at Muria's sisters house to see her horses (and other animals too)! It was sooooo hot that day but it didn't stop the kids from having a great time learning about these animals. First it was time for a good brush down.

This was as far as Mollie got! She didn't want anything to to with riding!!

Muria demonstrating how to clean the hooves.

Emmy is looking a little unsure in this pic but she did have fun!

Ethan couldn't wait to get on! He loves being up there!

James' turn!

We took a fun field trip with the homeschoolers to Dole's Orchard in Maine. They must have every kind of fruit you can grow here in New England! We were able to pick raspberries, blueberries and peaches! Yum!!

Here are the kids with our bounty! Mimi and Auntie Sarah (oh and little Benji too) were able to join us and share the delicious tastes of summer!

Also check out pics from our camping trip in Vermont with the Everitts on their blog:
Camping
Shelburne Farm

A Cool Idea for a Hot Summer Dinner!

Searching for something new to have for dinner the other night I came across an idea for meatloaf on the grill! I read trough it and thought it was such a great way to have a home cooked, "comfort food" supper without heating up the kitchen!

Everyone has their own meatloaf recipe... but this is ours, all the kids and Daddy eat it! So it gets 5 stars!!!!!

"Grilled" Turkey Meatloaf

• 1 pound ground turkey (or beef, we switch back and forth depending on what we have)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 grated cheese (we use parm or cheddar or both)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 cup ketchup (any tomato sauce will work but we like the little bit of sweetness the ketchup adds)
• 2-4 Tablespoons BBQ sauce (for the top)

Pre-heat your grill to medium heat. Mix all ingredients (except BBQ sauce) in a large bowl, I use my hands for this because it seems to be faster and easier to feel for any lumps. Once everything is combined press it into a glass pie plate and top with BBQ sauce. When your grill is ready set the pie plate on a cookie sheet in the grill and close the lid. It will take about 30 minutes for the meatloaf to cook. Watch the heat so it doesn't get too high, I found that I had to turn off all but one burner to maintain medium heat.

The kids were not sure about this at first, I think because it looked different from the usual. I told Emmy that it was just a giant burger and she said "Oh! I love burger" and ended up having seconds! We all really enjoyed it and the way our kitchen was still cool! We will definitely make it this way again!!

We also have discovered how much we like ground turkey in our meatloaf (and lots of other things) instead of ground beef. It gives it a really nice flavor! You must try it if you haven't yet!


Enjoy more great recipes at the Grocery Cart Challenge recipe swap and Foodie Friday!

Maine Wildlife Park

Sunday afternoon after camping with Nana and Bumpa we headed to Gray, Maine to the Maine Wildlife Park. There we met my mom, which was a surprise to the kids! Here are some pics from our afternoon!

Mimi with Emmy, James and Ethan.

Daddy and Mollie!

The first stop was an educational building with all sorts of activities involving the animals in Maine. Here James is enjoying the furs of different small mammals:

Here Ethan is testing his knowledge with a sorting game:

There were more than 25 species of Maine wildlife! Here is one of the Bobcats: A fisher cat:This one is a little blurry but he is a very LARGE mountain lion!
Posing in the gazebo: We got to feed this bear by tossing food over the top of his pen!
And here are couple of very strange looking bears:
We also took a break and enjoyed some ice cream sandwiches, Mollie had one all to herself which was a special treat because we usually share with her!
There was a big deer yard with lots of does, fawns and a couple of bucks! We even got to feed this one some corn!
Emmy posing in front of the flowers on our way out! Mimi then treated us to Texas Roadhouse in Portland! The ribs there are the best!!!! Thanks Mimi!!!!!!!!!!