It's my pleasure to be over at Not Merely Living where the endearing Mere is away at Alt San Francisco and showing Pars Caeli a little bit of love. I always enjoy these kind of interviews about blogging because going through the Q & A process helps me think about new angles, and I always discover new ideas for posts and features.

Hop on over to see what kind of questions Mere threw my way. One that I wasn't expecting was my go to meal. Images of bundt cakes, fudgy brownies, and 3 different varieties of cookies sprung to mind. I started to type up a recipe before I realized - wait, these aren't actually meals (oops) (even though I might consume them as such).

Nevertheless I realized that I hadn't yet shared with you dears one of my favorite cookie recipes. This concoction was passed along to me from a friend's friend's mother. I had to give her proper credit. Thank you, Mrs. Herman. It's the perfect for friends and family wanting or needing to stay away from flour. Warning: these are incredibly peanut buttery, be prepared with a large beverage!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends. We have a lot of fresh blueberries that we picked that now need to be made into blueberry crisp and blueberry cobbler so I'll be baking this weekend and enjoying the heat poolside.

Wishing you a particularly bright weekend. Tag those celebrations of the ordinary with #celebratethenormal and we'll see you here next Tuesday!!

xoxo, MJ

Hello Friday. Hello friends. Today we're celebrating National Pumpkin Day. What's your favorite color pumpkin? I'm loving the green ones this year. Tomorrow will bring in National Potato Day. And I have a great way to live this fabulous holiday with a treat below. My hubby is honoring Mother-in-law day on Sunday with his stacks of blueberry pancakes (and a visit from my parents). What are you up to?

                                

1. MAKE A SPUD SPECTACULAR

My friend, Sheri, over at Donuts, Dresses, and Dirt (great blog name, eh?) posted an easy way to enjoy for all of us to embrace National Potato Day. These yummies come out crispy and are cooked in the microwave!! My hubby and I love sweet potatoes, but our kids are not so keen. Maybe this will win them over? It's all in the name of holiday, you know. Check out the super simple recipe.

2. WIN OVER ANYONE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

My pal Joy from Frock Files is over at You Are My Fave this week sharing a recipe for healthy corn chowder. I am a big fan of corn + soup. Joy made this sweet recipe as a dinner for a neighbor, and you have to check out how she packaged it all up. Do you have someone in your life who could use a surprise dinner? I know I do.

3. CHANGE YOUR FACE

Get ready to pin this one. My gal, Caroline, from Salsa Pie created this fun Face Mat for kids. It's 2D Mr. Potato Head but so much more chic. My kiddos would love this, if they'd be able to get it away from me. I love how she captured so many different expressions in these photos!! Caroline is creating the most amazing crafts these days so if you're not tuning into to Salsa Pie, you are missing out.

That's it from here, friends. We're hosting my parents for the weekend and taking in some fall sites... this just might be our last weekend to do so. What do you have going on?

XOXO, MJ

What's up Tuesday! We're heading back into Grown-Up Goodness (to find more of this great stuff we adults can love all summer long, check out that word link over there ------>).

This week: grilling. When I was compiling my summer list, I thought of all the delectable tastes of summer. Last week I shared one of my new summer baking faves. And this week, I want to offer two super simple recipes that we've served to happy customers!

Grilling offers our family of five easy prep, splendid flavor mixes, and delightfully quick clean-up. My husband is our main grill master, which also means I get to take the night off when he mans the machine. Hoo-ray.

One mainstay on our grill: sweet corn. I'm a Midwesterner. And I love my corn. If you have not grilled the lovely ears yet, you must try it...the sugary, warm sweetness of it all.

Prep your corn by gently peeling back the outer layers of the husk. **Be sure that all of the husk remains attached at the base as you carefully dive into the corn silk.

Remove all the silk. Little hands are great helps here.

Wrap up your ears with the husks, turn upside down, and immerse in a large pot of water (with a dash of salt). This soaking helps prevent grill burn. We usually soak ours overnight, but in a pinch a lunch to dinner soak (4-5 hours) does the trick.

Grilling time is 10-15 minutes total. Make sure to turn the corn as you see a side of the husk drying or blackening. When the kernels turn from dull to shiny (and juicy!) then remove those golden ears.

From here you can just peel back the husks and chomp away. Or, you can grab a trash bag while you're out by the grill and keep the mess contained. Remove the charred husks outside and bring just the gorgeous kernels to the table.

I'm someone who could eat just corn for any dinner (my fave summer dinner = 2 ears of corn, salt, and a ripe tomato). The kiddos love lots of butter and a touch of salt on theirs. We've tried some great spices and parmesan cheese for other satisfying meals.

Another grill goody from this week: Feta Portabellas

First off, remove the stems from these jumbo treats. We grilled three for our meal. Wash the caps and set them aside to dry. In a bowl, mix 4T balsamic vinegar, and 4T olive oil. Add in 3t of minced garlic. Mix, mix, mix.

Pour the mixture into the caps. Pop it on the grill for about 15 minutes until the 'shrooms feel tender. For the last minute on the grill, add chunks of feta into the caps. Let those warm up and then remove.

So meaty, good, and flavorful.

My friend, Amy, has a great board with all kinds of grilling ideas for summer. Check it out!

Are you firing up the grill this summer for some grown-up goodness? Do tell!

XOXO,
MJ

Do you pick? I mean, do you pick your own fruits and veggies fresh from the farm? We live just a mile from an incredible organic blueberry farm that offers nine different varieties of blueberries, and we make 2-3 journeys every summer to pick, and pick, and pick (and eat and eat and eat).

Our kids love the experience of the multitude and expanse of bushes for as far as the eye can see. So many rows and rows of blueberry bushes are just the right amount of overwhelming goodness. As the girls have gotten older, they've grown to love the blueberry overall, also known as the strapped-on bucket to catch the motherload!

We picked for about an hour and a half and brought home a great beginning with eight pounds of fresh Spartan blueberries.

Now what to do with all of these?

C has eaten blueberries for every meal and snack since we returned so we're already two pounds done with our first batch! Thankfully we're just steps away from our next pick. My hubby makes blueberry pancakes for us every Sunday after Church. That's another two pounds that will go by quickly.

With a few of the remaining cups, I decided to try out a cobbler recipe I found from the great Pioneer Woman. Have you seen her stuff? Of course you have, she's so good. Well, about a month ago she posted her favorite summer desserts. I bookmarked and starred the post so that I could come back and enjoy when the time was right. I reimagined her blackberry cobbler for blueberries. Here is what you need.

Preheat that oven to 350. Melt a stick of butter in the microwave. In another bowl, pour out a cup of sugar and then add a cup of the self-rising floor. Whisk together to get rid of the lumps. Add 1 cup of milk (I love all the one cup measurements...super simple!!) Now pour in the melted butter and stir again.

Coat a baking pan with butter - top, bottom, and sides. Pour in the batter. Place an even distribution of berries into the batter layer. Sprinkle on a nice, even layer of 1/4 cup of sugar (or more if you'd like).

Pop it in the oven and go read your favorite blogs for a whole hour. The smells will delight you, I promise.

And this is the beauty that awaits you. Scoop out a heaping helpful and top with vanilla ice cream. Yum, yum, yum.Do you find summer a great time to bake? Or to pick fresh from the farm?

Thanks for hopping over, friends.

XOXO, MJ

Happy Tuesday, friends! I missed you all. Did you have a restful holiday weekend?

We had a fabulous three days of no alarm clocks, sprinklers and s'mores, vegetable garden planting, and good old-fashioned hanging-out-with-friends time. It was just what we all needed.

And now, to get back in to the last round of activities before the school year ends.

I had a little extra time in the kitchen this weekend, and I wanted to share with you some yumminess we put together for a sweet little BBQ/water play date with friends. I was able to shop my own herb garden to make this salsamole (it's got too many tomatoes for a traditional guacamole and too many avacados for a traditional salsa so I've named it salsamole). It's super fresh and pairs nicely with a lime salted tortilla chip.

I became acutely aware of how much I am not a food blogger as I was making this and trying to shoot attractive photos. So I'll offer the throw away line that this tastes so much better than it looks (although it looked better than it photographed, too). And I'll tell you that food photographers are geniuses.

I got this lovely recipe from a friend and adapted a few things here and there to make it just to my liking! So, here you goes...You'll need:

7 medium tomatoes (romas are awesome here, but if you can't get them, or only have big or small tomatoes, think the equivalent of seven medium tomatoes. I am a no stress ingredient kind of chef so make some good guesses, it'll still taste great.) Cut these guys up to about a 1/4 inch.

3 large ripe (Haas) avacados, diced about the same size as the tomatoes

1 1/2 c of thawed frozen corn kernels

1 T of corn oil

3 T of chopped green onions (we took our scissors out to the garden!)

1/4 c fresh cilantro (again, hooray for a short trip to the herb store for us)

1 t pickled jalapeno

1 t minced garlic

1 1/2 t salt

3 T lime juice

1/2 t cumin

1 t apple cider vinegar

 

(this photo is taken from inside the bowl. Be the ingredient.)

Preheat your oven to 450. Put the corn on a baking sheet and toss it with the oil. Roast, tossing once, for 7-8 minutes until golden good. Let corn cool.

Fold tomatoes, avacados, cilantro, green onion, jalapeno, and garlic. Stir in the vinegar, lime juice, vinegar, salt, cumin. Add in the cooled corn.

Cover and refrigerate. Can be made up to 24 hours ahead. Pair with a great chip and eat quickly...your family will try to gobble it up before you can get your helping. Oh wait, maybe that's just in my home. :) Happy eating.

And if tomatoes and all those vegetable aren't your thing. Well then here's to many happy s'mores.

It's beginning to look a lot like summer around here. And I love it!

Hoping you found a little bit of Heaven peeking out from around the corner this weekend...and that you keep it with you as we head back into the usual.

XOXO,
MJ