Spindles Designs by Mary and Mags
Mom taught us how ... now we create together
Our family loves chocolate cake. Agreeing with Mr. Biddle, Disney’s “Happiest Millionaire”, “Chocolate cake is the perfect food”. This Sour Cream Chocolate Cake truly is a family favorite. There is never very much left after a family party. In fact, the kids will often come back for a second or third piece and the pan is empty. Another great thing about this cake is you just stir it together in a sauce pan.
Many years ago my sister-in-law introduced Iowa Salad to our family and it quickly became a favorite. After I was married and started my own family it got forgotten. (My husband was not a big jello fan). Just a few years ago, maybe five it was rediscovered.
Every Summer for many years now, our family has had a camp out at Ponderosa State Park. We hike, ride bikes and swim in Payette Lake. This year on one of the hikes Margaret’s family found and picked wild Huckleberries. Our planned Blackberry Cobbler was reinvented. Here is our new recipe for
“Dutch Oven Blackberry Huckleberry Cobbler”.
As summer approaches I am aching to be eating summer food like BBQ anything, fresh fruit, and popsicles. We tend to eat so much better during the summer than any other time of the year. I think it is in part because I do not like to heat the house by using the oven, so our desserts tend to be fruit, pudding, or ice cream. I think the other part is that we tend to be outside more and playing more and just eat less over all.
For the most part, fruit is all that we need to satisfy our sweet tooth after spending a day outside, however, every now and then it is fun to dress it up and have fruit dip. It is a little boring to look at, but it is full of flavor and compliments all fruit. We made the kabobs for a family party, we tried to incorporate favorites from most everyone in the family and still have it look pretty. We used wooden skewers and bit sized bits of strawberries, pineapple, grapes and “big” blueberries. I filled the skewers and put them on a platter. The fruit dip was of course optional for people to eat, but we did not bring any of it home. Which makes complete sense as it has yogurt and cream cheese in it, so it is a little cheese cake like, but dip like at the same time.
My husband and I have decided it’s time to change our eating habits to be a bit healthier. This includes watching our portion sizes and making sure we eat enough fruit and vegetables. To help us with this we started a running program that included an eating plan. The meal plan is helpful, but does not include recipes for the menu items. One of the meals included steak, onion, and pepper kabobs. That was all I had to go on, I had never made kabobs before. I like a good steak, but it is not a food we eat very often. I am also not one for just cooking meat without seasoning. I feel that marinated steak is sometimes better than non-marinated steak. I set off reading about marinades and looking at marinades I already like.
We have not been the greatest on keeping up with our running plan, but we have been keeping to the meal plan. It is so nice to see us adding in more fruits and vegetables to our meals on a regular basis. Sometimes I just cannot face a vegetable, but including them in the main dish is so helpful, not only for me, but for the kids too. Then sometimes just putting it on a stick makes it better, kabobs are good for that. I have loved mixing things together and eating better on a regular basis. This meal I was worried about at first, peppers and onions are not my favorite, but this meal will be coming back in the future whether its on the meal plan or not. I may just substitute it in every now and then.
Mary Catherine
