Strawberry Shortcake - From Muffin Mix!

We love strawberries and were excited to get some delicious strawberries at a produce stand while in North Carolina last week. In the typical year, we don't have strawberries until June. Imagine our surprise to come home to find our strawberries were ready for picking!

Our strawberries are doing wonderfully this year. The robins were enjoying the fruit as much as we were but we pulled out our bird netting which put a stop to the bird buffet. We picked 22 quart this week and it looks like they are only beginning!
I grew up with eating lots of strawberry shortcake. My mom made a biscuit type shortcake and with whole wheat flour, berries and milk - it made a simple delicious breakfast, lunch, supper or dessert!

One morning this week, I was wishing for shortcake when I thought of the master muffin mix. The ingredients are very similar to my mom's shortcake. It only took minutes to mix up a batch using the muffin mix, pour into a pan, and bake for about 20 minutes. While waiting for it to bake, Ed and I picked the berries. I've made two more pans since then. It couldn't get easier or more delicious!

Vactation Meals - The Results

After encouragement from you all, I made a menu for our vacation meals and began meal prep. To be honest, by the time we were ready to leave, I was wondering if it was worth it. The week before we left seemed VERY busy! I know it was my own fault. My perfectionist tendencies kicked in on full gear. Not only did I want to make all our vacation food, but I wanted it to be all our favorite foods, and all made from scratch! I also wanted to leave the house perfectly clean and catch up with the garden work. It was a recipe for one tired crabby Mama who needed a vacation!

I would definitely prepare meals for vacation again but I would aim for a more balanced approach. We could have eaten boxed cereal, or survived with hot dogs and baked beans one night. Or possibly if I would have gotten some help for a day so that I wasn't trying to do extra cooking and care for children. Anyway, we all survived, and maybe the extra work made the results sweeter.

Because we really did enjoy our vacation meals! We took a tremendous amount of food. I wish I would have thought to take a picture. We had a huge ice chest with the cold/frozen items and two boxes with dry and baked goods. Somehow we managed to eat nearly all the food in the week. With lots of exercise and fresh air, we needed three hearty meals and some snacks every day.

The only cooking I did all week, besides putting something in the oven, was scrambling eggs, cooking pasta and rice, grilling, frying french toast and some fresh fish. It was very enjoyable to have a week off from any major cooking or baking. Most days we headed out early (our children were so excited that they woke up early EVERY morning. Only two mornings did they sleep in until 7:00!) and were back to our house for lunch and naps in the heat of the day. For our children, this schedule worked well but a couple days, we did take a little lunch with us. Nearly all our meals were eaten on the wonderful balcony with the fresh ocean breezes stirring the appetite! The only food purchases we made were for ice cream, fresh fish, fresh strawberries, and a cake mix which my husband baked for my birthday!
Here is a run down of our week's menu.

Breakfast:
Hard boiled eggs, sliced apples, granola bars (on the road meal)
Biscuits and sausage gravy
Breakfast burritos
Bagels and cream cheese, scrambled eggs
Waffles with peanut butter
French toast
Scrambled eggs with leftover steak
Clean-out-the-fridge morning with a yummy fried rice/egg conglomeration
Lunch:
Turkey wraps, carrots, cookies (on the road meal)
Hamburgers, rolls, cheese ball
Chicken-broccoli-alfredo calzones
Hard boiled eggs, carrots, pretzels, cookies (on the road)
Leftovers
Meatballs and spaghetti, fresh strawberries
Chicken salad wraps
Balona, cheese, crackers (on the road)

Supper: (that is what we call it!)
Poppy seed chicken and salad
Stromboli and salad
Japanese chicken and rice
Grilled steak, cheesy potatoes, green beans
Enchiladas and salad
Fish fry and baked corn
Leftovers from the week
Maybe this will give you some ideas for your vacation meals - just don't do as I did and try to do it all!

Vacation Destination

When I asked if any of you knew where we went, I thought maybe someone would have a good chance at guessing from the lighthouse photos. On purpose, I didn't show the top of the Hattaras Lighthouse (shown above) thinking it would be a dead giveaway for those who are familiar with the area. But some of you guessed it right even without the added help!

We went to Outer Banks, North Carolina. I now know why this is such a popular vacation spot! We stayed at a rental house near Rodanthe, south of Nags Head on Hattaras Island. We thought this was the perfect spot as the village is small with very few people in the middle of May. We were within driving distance of the Wright Brother's Memorial and Jockey Ridge (huge sand dunes) in the north and Cape Hattaras Lighthouse in the south with miles of the Cape Hattaras National Seashore in between. One day we took the ferry over to Ocracoke Island which was the highlight for our children. On the way home, we visited Ed's sister and her family in northern North Carolina and had a great weekend renewing family ties.

Someone asked what camera we use. Actually, we bought a new camera on this trip. It wasn't an expected purchase. Less then 24 hours after our arrival, our camera (a little Canon Powershot A560) fell into the ocean. We were able to rescue the camera card but the salt water doomed the camera. We couldn't imagine vacation without a camera so on our only rainy day, we drove up to Kitty Hawk to Walmart and purchased a new one. Our selection was very limited but my husband picked out a Nikon Coolpix L110. It is a definite upgrade from our last camera and I'm having fun playing with the added features especially for food photography!

And, finally, could you pray for our three year old? He fell out of bed on our last night of vacation and has had a great deal of pain in his shoulder. First we thought his collar bone was broken but now we think he may have torn something in his shoulder.

Next up...the result of vacation food planning.

Enjoying God's World - May Beach Edition

Visiting a new area last week gave us ample opportunity for nature study. None of our children remembered being at the beach, so it was an exciting time of discovery. Here is a few of the things we enjoyed doing and learning.
Watching the surf.
Playing in the shallow waters of the sound.
Discovering the difference in taste, smell and feel of salt water.
Noticing low and high tide.
Looking for the ways plants adapt to ocean side life.
Finding wildlife that lives by the sea
including crabs,
turtles,
toads,
and lots of birds.
Discovering how beach life and storms affect people
by visiting a life saving station,
lighthouse,
riding a ferry,
and visiting another lighthouse.
Climbing huge sand dunes,
flying kites,
and digging in the sand.
So much fun mixed with lots of learning - an unforgettable experience!

Anyone want to guess where we went?

We are Back!

We had a wonderful vacation but it is good to be home. When we pulled in the driveway, it was getting dark but we all jumped out to run around and look at the garden and visit the chickens! I could not believe how much everything grew in only one week- including the weeds!

I hope to respond to some of your comments and share some photos from our trip, but first I have some unpacking to do!

Planting Tomatoes

If I could only grow one vegetable, it would be a difficult choice between tomatoes and lettuce. Lettuce is easy to grow, takes little space and is so prolific. But tomatoes are not difficult to grow either and the taste difference between a homegrown vine-ripened tomato and a grocery store tomato is astounding.

Thankfully, I don't have to choose only one vegetable. If you have even a tiny amount of soil, try growing a tomato plant. Even a sunny pot on a deck will be sufficient to add the taste of sunshine to your plate this summer.

While I have had numerous garden failures, tomatoes are something that grows VERY well for me. In past years, our tomato plants have grown to nearly six feet tall. Often they grow out the tops of their large cages and down the other side until I go after them with the hedge clippers just to keep them a manageable size.

I'm not sure what to give the credit of our tomato success. (And since I've bragged them up, this year our tomatoes are sure to be a dismal failure.) But I thought I'd share how I plant my tomatoes.

Tomatoes like warm soil. We can not wait for that first red tomato but don't be in a hurry. Planting tomatoes in cold soil will only shock the plants. Wait until the days and nights are consistently warm.
It is tempting to choose nice tall plants at the garden center. My plants this year (courtesy of my mother-in-law who graciously starts tomatoes for me every year) were at least a foot tall when I planted them.
The goal is to build a strong root system. I dig a shallow trench, remove all the lower leaves, and plant the tomato plants sideways in the ground. My goal is to only have three or four sets of leaves out of the ground. Roots will develop all along the stem allowing the tomato to survive dry conditions better.
I give each plant a shovel full of compost and water well.

This spring, I planted my tomatoes too early. The day I planted the tomatoes was sunny and windy and there was a chance of frost that evening - less then ideal conditions. An overcast, warm day with a warm nights in the future would have been far better. I was willing to risk it since I wanted to get the plants in. Rain was in the forecast and we were leaving for vacation. The plants had been hardened off (spending a few days outside in the shelter of the house) but still needed some protection from the wind and frost.
Old milk jugs with their bottoms removed made perfect hot caps. After a few days the weather warmed and I removed the jugs. The plants already showed signs of growth and were lush and green. Hopefully they are off to a good start.

Do you have any tomato growing tips to share?

Cheesy Enchiladas

I split this recipe into two 9x13 pans, making one meal to eat now and one to freeze.

Cheese Sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
3 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheese
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

Meat Mixture:
2 lb ground beef
1 pint kidney beans
1 onion, chopped
1-2 T. taco seasoning (depending on your family's preference of heat)
1 tsp salt

2 cup shredded cheese
12 (or more) tortillas

For cheese sauce: Melt butter, stir in flour and whisk in milk. Cook until thick. Add cheese and sour cream.
For meat mixture: Brown beef and onion. Stir in seasonings and beans.
Spoon meat mixture into tortillas. (I found about 1/2 cup is good.) Sprinkle some cheese.
Roll up and placed in greased casserole. Pour cheese sauce on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes until bubbly. Serve with salsa, lettuce and tomatoes.

Find more great freezer recipes at Life as Mom.