Homemade Applesauce

On Sunday after church, my parents and sister came over to watch the Vikings game, make applesauce, bake apple crisp and eat chili and cornbread. 

We peeled, cored and sliced 3 pecks of local MacIntosh, Cortland and Jonathan apples to make two big batches of applesauce and 2 pans of apple crisp.

One batch of applesauce was just apples for the apple of my eye to enjoy some day soon.

The other was spiked with apple juice concentrate and cinnamon sticks.

Do you mash up your applesauce once it has cooked or do you enjoy it chunky? We love chunky cinnamony applesauce around here.

Purple Pride Smoothie

In honor of the official start to the Vikings regular season, Matt and I made the following super simple smoothie, which I quickly gobbled up. Can you gobble up a smoothie? Anyways, I sure did. :) Even if you are not a Vikings fan, you will certainly enjoy this beautifully filling smoothie.

Purple Pride Smoothie

1/2 c cottage cheese

1/2 c milk

dash cinnamon

dash vanilla extract

1 tsp maca powder

1/4 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp guar gum

1 banana

1 c frozen blueberries

Place all ingredients in your VitaMix or other high speed blender and blend on high until smooth, about 30 seconds. Pour into a tall glass, preferably one donning a snazzy Vikings logo, and enjoy!

Do you sip your smoothies through a straw or straight up? I know that I personally love to use a straw with cold drinks.

Kingfield Farmer's Market

Compared to other areas of the country, Minnesota has a relatively short growing season with most crops being available between the months of July and September. During the summer months, we enjoy shopping at local farmer's markets as a family. Fortunately there is an abundance of nearby markets to visit.

This past weekend we felt like visiting a small farmer's market that offers a bunch of organic produce, live music and yummy sustainable eats from a food truck. The Kingfield Farmer's Market is my favorite farmer's market. This week we picked up tomatoes, sweet corn, spaghetti squash, plums and pears.

We also shared watermelon tomato gazpacho and a greek salad from Chef Shack.

Minnesota State Fair

This past Sunday was my 27th birthday. Matthew, Allan and I spent it at the Great Minnesota Get Together. The Minnesota State Fair is all about the food, animals and people watching.



Here are some pics of the food that we enjoyed, the animals that we met and the crowds of people that joined us...

Lots of people

Pulled Turkey Sandwich

Roast Corn on the Cob

Enjoying my first beer since last year

Mister Matt in the Ergo

Pulled Pork Tenderloin Sandwich with Organic BBQ

First time seeing a horse

In the Horticulture Building

Checking out veggies and giant pumpkins

Enjoying local honey ice cream: sunflower and chocolate flavors

It was a long day for all of us, but we had a lot of fun!