How Food has Brought Happiness

Every year in November, we get out our griddles, rolling pins, flipping sticks, and flour.  We’ve all done our prep work, boiling the right number of Russet and Red potatoes, ricing them, mixing in the cream, flour, salt, and other ingredients.  Yes, it is that special day of the year:  Lefse Making Day.

Remembering my Grandma Ruth, my sisters, mom, and I dutifully carry out this labor of love.  I always get a little teary as I remember the day Grandma gave me her lefse griddle and lefse flipping stick, carefully made for her by my Grandpa Wallace many years before.  Although I use the griddle throughout the year for pancakes and crepes, the day it’s used for lefse is a special day.  Some years cousins join in the fun, and some years it’s just a few of us.  We work together to make the huge batches of lefse—we need enough to last us through the upcoming holidays.

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Great Grilling Ideas

Salmon Burger

Summer meals are all about the grill! If you’re tired of the traditional fare of hot dogs and hamburgers, change up your dinner plans for the rest of the season. Fire up the grill and test these new ideas!

Who says the only main dishes you can make on a grill are the ones topped with ketchup and mustard? Prepare something new tonight that your whole family will love, like eggplant parmigiana, salmon burgers, or even pizza! For side dishes, toss up a grilled salad, mix up grilled polenta, or bake some potato skins.

Grilled Skillet Peach Pie

When it comes to dessert, the grill can be your friend there, too! Try a pineapple berry “hobo pack” or even bake up an entire grilled skillet peach pie! Be creative and try your hand at grilling bananas, apples, and pears in any combination or by itself with spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.

Tonight, when the kids ask, “What’s for dinner?” you can surprise them with something new and exciting, fresh off the grill!

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Celebrating the last month of summer!

Hard to believe that August has arrived…which means there is only one month of summer left!  With entertaining, traveling, adventures and fun abounding, it will be hard to see it go.  But it’s not too late to make the most of these weeks.  Here are a few ways to pay homage to what’s left of the precious days:

Take a mystery day trip: Packing a cooler full of picnic food and drinks and heading out to wherever the road leads is a great way to take advantage of the time off school and the freedom summer brings.  Pull out the map, find a cool road and begin to explore with the kids – just be sure you remember it is about the journey, not the destination.  Don’t rush to get somewhere – treasure the places you find, and savor your picnic along the way in a newfound location.

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Cabin Corner – Part 2

One of the most exciting things about cabin life is discovering new things about a different locale or property.  As for us, we stumbled upon a goldmine as we embarked on our first summer at the cabin.  Nestled behind the grand pine trees, between the woods and our driveway, was an abundant, thriving raspberry patch.

Imagine our joy at discovering that plump, ripe fruit right outside our door – having done nothing to deserve its rewards.  From picking parties with grandma and early morning dashes for cereal topping, to the rain and mosquito filled harvests for exquisite company worthy desserts, those bushes have delivered!

My favorite dessert of the summer is a Raspberry Tart found online at Epicurious.com from the August, 1995 Gourmet magazine.  It has quickly become highly requested by all of its privileged tasters.

No raspberries of your own – no problem.  CobornsDelivers prides themselves on their daily produce rating, and rapsberries are considered “BEST” right now.  So skip the mosquitoes, order up and try the tart today!

Blogger, Sarah, and her family

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Creative Potluck Recipes

Special Sesame Chicken Salad Recipe

Summer is the time for get-togethers. Family reunions, high school reunions, cookouts with neighbors, and company picnics go non-stop from June to September. I’m not complaining! I love spending time with my family and friends, many of whom I don’t get the chance to see very often with our differing schedules.

I also like the opportunity that I get to try my hand at a variety of recipes to accompany me to the picnic table. Hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, and veggie plates are wonderful, but I’m looking for something new and exciting this season – What do you think about these creative concoctions?

Special Sesame Chicken Salad Recipe

Jalapeño Potato Salad

Mini Fish Burgers

Crock Pot Spanish Rice

PB&J Cookies

Or how about these Petite BLT’s from CobornsDelivers.com (Easy Eats under “Picnic Food”)

Petite BLTs

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How to Make Your Own Popsicles

My kids love popsicles in all of their melting, dripping, sweet-tasting glory.  I usually buy the all-fruit varieties so that my children get some vitamins while slurping their “‘cicles.”  Now and again we decide to make our own.  It’s a fun, creative, kid-friendly activity; we get to explore different flavor combinations; and I know first-hand how nutritious the ingredients are.

Fresh Fruit Popsicles
You could take your favorite fruit juice, add lemon juice, and toss in whatever fresh fruit you happen to have on hand.  Here’s the combination I tried:

1 cup apple juice
¼ cup lemon juice
1 cup bite-sized pieces of fresh strawberries, peaches, and grapes
Mix ingredients together and freeze in popsicle molds.

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Family Reunion Lessons

My dad’s side of the family just had a reunion.  Most of those who came were my dad’s cousins and their kids, some whom I vaguely remember from when I was young, and some whom I’ve never even met.  It was interesting—all of these near-strangers, all somehow related to one another, gathering to meet or get reacquainted.

I chuckled to hear my 11-year-old nephew look around at the crowd and ask, “Am I actually related to all of these people?”  He had the critical duty of helping carry in the crock pots, platters, trays, and bowls of food from the cars pulling in the driveway.  He gleefully said to me, “Look at all of this food!  And half of it’s dessert!”

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Staying Cool with Easy Eats

I don’t know about you, but just watching the news is making me sweat! Record-breaking temperatures along the East Coast last week reached dangerous levels. One hundred-plus scorching degrees in cities like New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia kept cooling shelters open and community pools filled to capacity. Luckily, weather throughout Minnesota has been a little more bearable!

To take advantage of our great conditions, why not try these two recipes from the “Easy Eats” section of CobornsDelivers.com? These cold treats are sure to keep your family refreshed during these dog days of summer! What’s more, these recipes do not involve heating or baking, so keep that oven off and your home cool!

Chocolate Ice Cream Fondue

Chocolate ice cream fondue

Watermelon Granita

Watermelon Granita

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Fight off lazy summer with these foods!

The only thing worse than being hot and sweaty in the summer is letting that heat make you a lazy bones! Don’t let summer weather get the best of you. Here are some tips that will help you stay cool and energized the rest of the season:

• Drinks lots of water. As a rule of thumb, divide your weight by two to get the number of ounces of water you should take in daily. Bonus: Squeeze in a bit of lemon or lime juice for extra flavor!
• Eat fruits with a high water content. Think watermelon, cherries, grapes, apples, peaches, and oranges. (For added refreshment, try them frozen!)
• Consume colorful veggies. Leafy greens, squash, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, and celery are easily digested and their vitamin and mineral contents help protect your skin from the sun.
• Try adding herbs and spices to your drinks and recipes. Mint or chamomile iced teas are invigorating, while ginger and cayenne boost your body’s natural ability to cool itself.
• Keep your potassium levels up. Bananas, cantaloupe, and potatoes ward off heatstroke. Carbohydrates also prevent exhaustion caused by heat.
• Avoid fried foods, meat, alcohol, coffee, and yes…ice cream! These foods are more difficult for your body to digest, which increases your internal body temperature and makes you feel sluggish.

Summer is so fleeting, especially in Minnesota! If you’re smart about what goes into your body as the temperature rises, though, you’ll definitely get the most out of this great weather!

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No Mess Snacks for the Pool

With summer here in full swing, it’s time to start thinking of great snacks to serve poolside – that won’t wind up floating in the water!

Gogurt can be frozen and served individually as a healthy choice with little mess.

String cheese is easy to eat in between cannonballs – and will lend nutritional value to the mix.  You can also purchase pre-cubed cheese chunks, or make them yourself with any variety of firmer cheese.  Serve with chunks of summer sausage and skip the crackers to avoid the crumbs.

Also, anything bite size that can be downed in one gulp will lead to success on the less mess front!  Prepare in advance some celery “boats” – spreading anything from peanut butter, cream cheese, herbed cheese or cheddar spread in a stalk of celery, and then cut them into small chunks.

Fruit is an easy solution too.  Serve frozen grapes, seedless watermelon cut into easy to eat wedges or chilled bananas skewered and dipped in chocolate for something fun and different.  Or kabob a variety of fruits on a skewer for an easy to hold and serve access to the summer’s freshest varieties.

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