A day of first

It was a day of firsts around here today...

My first attempt at baking gluten-free bread.  Recipe makes a small loaf but it looks good.  Haven't tried it yet.  It's mostly for my morning toast.

I love anything coconut !!! so it's no surprise that I find this skinny pina colada delicious.  And since we are on the coconut subject - I also made almond butter this morning for the first time and I made it with coconut oil.  Yes, it is perfect.  So easy - only two ingredients; almonds and coconut oil.  I haven't made de calculations but I think it comes to about half the price of the store bought stuff.

Spring is coming !!! yes please.

So is Easter...

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.  We have perfect snowman making snow out there.

A chinese-japanese meal

Last night's supper at our son and his wife's home. First let me tell you that up to about a month ago I DID NOT like sushi. Than, as everyone kept telling me, it happened... this same daughter-in-law invited me over when she and a friend of her's made sushi and I loved it. That same evening I even craved for more. Prior to this I had tried it about five times and I just could'nt get over the gagging that occured. But I wanted to ''love'' (or at least like it) it as much as my friends did so I kept on trying.

I'm not at the raw-fish stage yet. Veggies and smoked salmon are yummy.

The boys had take-away chinese.

Thank you Liette... it's because of you that I love sushi. I'm eager to try it in a restaurant to see if I love it as much as yours.

Muffin thief

Saturday while ''the girls'' and I were outside pruning the raspberries...

... this was going on inside !

He (or she) spent two hours of home alone time bringing two coconut flour muffins in his stash upstairs (in Ginette's old bedroom). I love these little creatures of nature but enough is enough. We had to trap him in the humane trap on Sunday and brought him at the lake (a 10 minute drive from our home). So yes, he could be back.

Still here

It's been a while my friends. Truth is, I did'nt really have anything to blog about. We are all fine, enjoying life every single day as much as we can. You know, each day is a gift... but you knew that right.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of enjoying a Spring-like day !

I had help pruning the raspberries. These happy girls are still giving us 6 eggs a day.

Ahhhhh, the fresh scent of line dried clothes.

Neighbours on a morning walk with their horses.

Lovely wooden bird given to me by my daughter from a recent visit to Cuba.

Made muffins. Used coconut flour instead of wheat flour. And yes, they were delicious. Next blog post I will show you who else thought they were good.

Russets

Our property stretches out back 3 acres. There are ''very'' old apple trees over there. Like everything else around here... nothing gets sprayed or treated so sometimes the best pick looks a little distressed but that's how organic is - lumpy and spotted. One kind of apple way back there is Russet. Those are Dave's favorites. So today was our annual walk across our property to fetch a basket of Russet apples (and a few other kinds too).

I think I've mentioned before how much I LOVE fall but here I am saying it again.

We are still busy bringing in our winter firewood and Dave was working away at a storage unit in the laundry room. Divided in two - one side as a closet for our coats, shoes and such and the other half to store our canned goods. Pictures to follow when everything is painted.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

Thankful

I have so much to be thankful for (actually when I stop and think about it, I'm thankful for everything). As I often mention, the number one thing to be thankful for is the health of my family. Everything else is secondary.

No turkey this year. It was a busy weekend with our son's wedding so we put the big turkey supper off until next year.

Firewood is arriving daily.

Dusted off the old scarecrow.

Even though we did'nt have turkey we still had delicious pumpkin pie.

Roasted tomato soup

I've been following this wonderful blog for a few months now and I enjoy seeing all the wonderful things Renee and her family are up to. Last week Renee blogged about her family's favorite soup. Actually I think she said it was her family's favorite ''meal''. Just reading about it I immediately knew it would be my favorite also. So first thing Saturday morning I set out in the garden to pick all the ripen tomatoes and I made half a batch to see if I would like this soup. By the time I went to bed Saturday night I had eaten the entire batch by myself. Sunday I made a full pot. This time my husband got to see for himself what the rave was about the previous day. I managed to freeze two jars to be consumed later this Fall.

In our household, Fall and Winter means soup. We hardly eat soup the two other seasons. Now, go ahead and make Renee's Roasted Tomato Soup. Seeing that I'm a cheese addict, I added crumbled feta cheese on top of the soup after it's been scooped in the bowls.

All the signs are there

All the signs of Fall are out there. I love the transition from Summer to Fall and of course Fall being my favorite season.

Our cultivated scarlet runner beans. They are a heritage seed from the 1600's.

This little guy is all smiles... I think Fall might be his favorite season also.

We are still eating chard from the garden. It's amazing how much we ended up harvesting this year.

That beautiful golden color of Fall.

Eggplants still growing in the cold frame.

As well as peppers.

This picture was taken a few weeks ago... these are the scarlet runner beans drying in the sun.

Mmmmm, pumpkin pie here I come.

Next post I will share an amazing roasted tomato soup recipe from a blogger that I follow. Stay tuned and get your tomatoes ready. You will want to cook up a pot of this soup.

Feeding ourselves and yarn

This year I made pesto with my garlic scapes and ''it is delicious''. We ate some and I froze a few containers for next winter when I start dreaming of spring and my gardens. I can't believe I did'nt do pesto with my scapes before this year...

Drying garlic
Some yummy yarn I bought on my recent trip to Moncton when Dave and I visited our daughter and SIL

Right now...

... we are loving the explosion of colors in our flower gardens, Mr. Puss visiting for still one more week, the soothing scent of lavender everytime I go by, many four-wheeling adventures, homemade whole wheat english muffins, eating fresh from the garden meals every day and enjoying this beautiful summer as it zooms by a wee bit too fast for this girl. Two weeks vacation coming up and yes, I will be spending those two weeks doing much of the same as listed above.

Hope everyone is well.

Canada Day weekend

And the weekend isn't over yet. Yesterday was Canada's Birthday. We had two fabulous days so far - weather wise and fun wise. We went to a beautiful lake, drank cold refreshing drinks, made a campfire, had a clambake on said fire, found a cache and went on a two hour all-terrain drive on the trail and much more. We'll see what's in store for tomorrow... maybe we should rest to go back to work on Monday.