Amazing Banana Ice Cream

I just have to write a quick post about this delicious, delightful, delectable thing I just made. I've been doing a lot of reading and research on raw food living, and in turn that leads to quite a bit of vegan reading and recipes. I've heard of this before, and have been reintroduced to the idea through a variety of raw and vegan blogs. It's banana ice cream. Not just banana flavored ice cream, but ice cream made from nothing but bananas. It's divine and it really made me pause in my thinking. THIS is something I could make and have around ALL the time and get my cold, sweet fix and not feel guilty. I LOVE this idea.

Yesterday was a last day of school for the week, since we had parent/teacher conferences today and on the way home from school, Sophia asked if we could please make a batch of the infamous black bean brownies. I said yes, but not until tomorrow, which is now today. We whipped up a batch of brownies, but in the back of my mind, I couldn't shake the idea of the banana ice cream. So, I whipped out the food processor and took 4 of my freezer stashed bananas and made up a batch of peanut butter banana ice cream. For me, doing this frequently is never going to be a problem, since bananas tend to start to go brown fast around here, and I just toss them in the freezer, skin and all. I ALWAYS have frozen banana on hand, and that is a good thing.

So, by now you're sitting there thinking "give me the damn recipe already" and, now I will tell you there is no recipe other than frozen, chunked banana, a food processor and patience. I added a huge blob of peanut butter to mine and I highly recommend this addition. I use the natural, oil in, creamy (still has good texture) peanut butter and I had 4 bananas to put in the processor. You toss smallish chunks of banana in, and turn the machine on. You have to stop it often to mash the sides down and wait for it to get really whipped into a smooth, creamy, airy consistency. Then, when it's smooth and looks like soft serve ice cream, get a spoon and taste this amazing, natural, easy treat. Chocolate syrup never hurt anything either.

Spirals

We're well into the harvest season, my favorite time of year. The leaves crunch under foot, the air is rich with the scent of a season coming to it's close. Typically the garden is ripe with abundance. (Not true for me this year, as I had the worst growing season to date) I find myself reflecting more during this time, often inspired to spend more time getting creative in the kitchen. Even though I've been digging deep to find a spark of visionary enthusiasm, this particular "harvest" seems as barren as my actual garden's this year.

Instead of finding myself immersed in a creative stew, as had been my intention as I began the school year, I have found myself in service to others. It's been satisfying to be of use and much needed help to those I love, and in doing so, I have also picked up a neat little gadget that has been a delight to use, and will continue to reveal new and creative ways to prepare vegetables. What is this gadget, you ask? Why, it's the spiral slicer!! It allows you to make vegetable noodles, to prepare thin, crisp oven chips and so much more. (I haven't explored the "so much more" aspect, but I find the possibilities exciting.)

Here are some lovely zucchini "noodles" that we made

Fun for the whole family. Here's my lovely girl helping to crank the noodles out. I sure wish that adage that kids are going to eat what they make was true. She loves to make the noodles, but gives me a "no thanks" when I ask her to try them.

Here we have a lovely Asian inspired meal using the zucchini noodles, grilled beef kabobs and spicy sauce. It was pretty dang delicious if I don't say so myself.

The reason I came across the spiral slicer was researching raw living, or in other words how to begin a raw food diet, for a friend. I was so intrigued by the healthful possibilities of this gadget, that I just had to have one. One of my absolute favorite things to make with this is zucchini noodles (I DO love zucchini and it's so abundant right now) with home made basil pesto. Mmm, so good, and you can eat til you're absolutely satiated and feel none of that starchy bloat and guilt. It's lovely.

There are a three blade attachments that come with my particular model, which allow you to make wide, chip type spirals out of apples, potatoes, basically anything that will fit. It makes delightfully crisp hash brown type potatoes in the oven. My daughter LOVES for me to make her apple chips with it. I haven't even touched on all the possibilities. I think that a spiral slicer is a great addition to any cook's kitchen. It is available for purchase here: Spiral Slicer

Popcorn!

I LOVE popcorn. I eat a lot of popcorn throughout year, and my daughter loves it too. I used to be firmly committed to making popcorn on the stove in my popcorn pan, but eventually I was unable to look at that pan. It became unusable after years and years of baked on oil and constant use and I was struggling to either throw it away, or start up a new pan that would be dedicated to popcorn. Then I read a blurb in Cooking Light about how to make your own microwave popcorn!!! Woot! Now this is the only way I make popcorn and it's wonderful. The thing that I love most about it is how it eliminates unnecessary fat, allowing me to use butter or margarine on the corn without feeling doubly guilty about having added the fat to the cooking oil that I popped the corn in.

So, in an attempt to get back to writing, get back to sharing what I think is helpful or interesting, here is the technique to make your own microwave popcorn bags...As well as being far healthier, you'll be saving a lot of money if you're accustomed to purchasing microwave popcorn bags.

Home Made Microwave Popcorn

What you will need:
1 brown paper lunch sack
clear (Scotch) tape
1/2 cup un-popped popcorn kernels

Directions:
Place 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels in paper bag (be sure to keep it folded), then fold the opening of the bag once about 1/4-1/2 inch and then fold again. Seal the fold with the clear tape. Put the bag in the microwave with the folded bottom side up. Set the time to about 2 minutes 40 seconds on high. Do NOT walk away from the microwave; stand by and listen as the popcorn popping slows. As it slows down to a pop or two every couple seconds, stop the microwave and remove bag. Carefully removed the tape as steam will immediately be released. You can either eat it plain straight from the bag, or pour into a bowl and melt some butter, margarine or other spritz topping, etc...that you prefer. Enjoy!!!

Time Warps and Rebirths

Aaahh, I have been in a strange, strange place of late. I haven't written a word, I haven't popped on the computer, I haven't been my usual self. That's not to say that things have been going badly. My life is very full and rich, and enjoyable.

I've been on late summer adventures, just generally caught up in the very act of living. I am working toward staying astride the big things such as school and after school commitments, and adjusting in general to the New Year. I honestly do consider the start of the school year, and the beginning of fall to be the New Year, much more so than January 1. Things start to get serious in fall, the seasons transition and we wear sombre colors and the air gets sharp and crisp. New schedules, new goals, new foods, renewal comes in the fall.

All summer I've jotted down my blog ideas, and filled my camera with pictures of my failing garden, and food, family, and oddities. (I'll HAVE to get around to Sophia's secret world of plastic animal slavery eventually) I should not be at a loss for entertaining words once I get my work schedule back into it's groove.

My daily routine has been enhanced by adding a new family member, Clancy the cat. He's a cutie to be sure, but it was a huge, huge step for us. We love animals and pets in general, but they do limit or at the very least make traveling a little trickier than when we were able to just pack up and go, or arrange for Sophia to stay with a Grandparent and take off.....but, with the help of my Mother, and her compassion for rescuing cats, we adopted Clancy. He was left on the streets, de-clawed and neutered, with no resources and he was on the verge of starving to death. He was skin and bones, but he's doing really, really well now. Happy Clancy:

Here is Clancy that first week he was here. Pretty thin and lean in the face....too bony.

Again, this was that first week or so....

And here he is today. Not the Greatest photo I see, but he looks a lot healthier and fuller.

At the same time my Mom was asking me if we'd be interested in this stray cat that showed up at her house, my Dad informed me that it was really, finally and actually time to come and collect my "things". My things that had been stored and stashed away in a very large Quonset hut for 30 years. That's right, thirty years, in cardboard fruit boxes, lovingly wrapped in paper and fabric and I haven't seen these things since they were packed up for our move when I was about 10.5/11 years old. Oye....the memories. OYE, the mice!!! I have no words...the experience was harrowing and quite emotional. Shared a lot of laughs with my Dad, who had been dealing with many other boxes of his own, finding the same horrors and laughs and tears. Here is a sampling of one of my long lost, much anticipated boxes of memories:

Frankenbarbie...the orgy is over.

What can be said?

All part of the grand mouse scheme: Shock and Awe

Ooohhhh, the horror. The outright horror.....Honestly. Unbelievable.

So, while a very few, loyal readers may have been wondering where I've been, this is where; a trip to the far, dark side. It's been a few weeks of helping my Dad move a lot of his office stuff, which translates into just a lot of memories. It's a lifetime of work that is his life, that has been my life and a piece of my history in boxes and shelves and nooks and crannies. I've been in a time warp, touching the past and integrating it with my present.

There will be more from me, as I yearn to hunker down, and get it out, and get to work, and find my footing here in the rebirth that fall brings.

Where and What I've Been Up To

This has been a summer to remember for myself and Sophia. We have spent the bulk of the summer traveling to the family cottage, enjoying long days of floating on the water, fishing, swimming, and bumming around local shops. The flea market in St. Germain every Monday has been a real favorite where we can browse antiques, handmade crafts, home made treats from the local ladies, munch on a bratwurst, or play on the jungle gym when we're through shopping. We've been privileged to enjoy a long, luxurious summer of travel to Devil's Lake, and we just returned from the Wisconsin Dells this past Friday.

Speaking of our trip to the Dells, I have to mention the resort we stayed at. I am not a fan of the trashy tourism of the Dells. It's not even so much that it's touristy, it's the TYPE of tourism that it seems to be. There is very little of quality on the old strip of shops, and it's set against some of our state's most dramatic and beautiful nature-scapes. At any rate, we had wanted to have a family vacation that was more oriented toward things Sophia was find exciting and among those things is the water park. The Wisconsin Dells is known as the country's water park mecca, and included in the nightly rate of our resort was "free" water park passes.

If you ever find yourself itching to see some sites in the Dells, take a Duck Tour, eat some colored popcorn, walk the Wisconsin River, then I'd highly recommend staying at http://www.birchcliff.com/ . They rent modest, clean cabins, some are duplex style others are one family, larger cabins, sleeping up to 6 adults. The place has the feel of what I began to call the "family camp". It was reminiscent of Girl Scout camps I've attended. The resort has been around for a while, and yet is very comfortable, homey and fun. They offer a tennis court, basketball, volleyball, three separate ping pong tables (one of which is a lovely concrete slab and stone table, set among the trees outside), shuffle board, a heated, in ground pool, community fire pit, recreation room with air hockey, foos ball, carpet ball, as well as a hiking trail to the river where you could picnic and swim if you were so inclined. We really enjoyed the resort and plan to go next year as a part of our annual Devil's Lake vacation. It is a short drive from Devil's Lake and we could alternate between the State Park and the water parks, avoiding the bulk of the trashier side of the Dells. If you have a family vacation in the works, or a reunion, this would be an ideal place in a park like setting that is quiet and relaxed. Each time I went into the office, The Grateful Dead was quietly playing in the lobby and a friendly, smiling face greeted me from behind the desk. I'd give Birchcliff Resort 4 stars for family camp style vacation.

Summer Reading, Reflection

I have been MIA this summer. Lost in a flurry of summer vacationing and activity with my family, just trying to fit it all in. The past couple weeks have been slow, lazy, home bound days in which I've taken up a beloved past time: reading. I've been spending days holed up in my cool, humming, electric guzzling air conditioned house just reading. Some times reading in the solitude of our yard, looking up occasionally at my gardens, and seeing Sophia playing. It's been a languorous summer dotted with travel around Wisconsin, as well as time apart from Sophia, while she spent a week with her Grandmother in Chicago, IL. All the while, I'm reading novels I pick up at the library. I find myself feeling as though my time spent reading is a guilty pleasure; that I should be "DOING" something. I suppose if I spent all my time whiling the day away, and ignoring my responsibilities, I'd have a very sheltered, sad life, but I temper it with trips to the zoo, time at the pool and when possible, time with good friends. I feel very blessed to have the flexibility of time, to plan my days around things that are enriching, and productive. It's allowed me to create a very memorable summer for Sophia and the family.

While I've been enjoying my summer immensely, I have not been entirely inspired to write and I am struggling to get back into the habit of writing the blog. The gardens are struggling, some of it is unruly, and the weeds are winning. I can't be bothered to care too much. I take care of what I can, as I can, and don't feel badly about it. I have enjoyed a bumper crop of lettuce, and feel it's going to be a grand year for carrots and potatoes, but in other news, it's yet to be seen. Our erratic weather (today it's dipping down to a cool 90 degrees. Yesterday it reached 100) and being gone for a 5 day block, reeked havoc on some of the plants. I am using this year as yet another year of learning, and, another year of getting some awesome compost to mix in and I have higher hopes for next year. If I can get the tree pruned back significantly enough to open up some more light, I might actually stand a chance next year.

Sophia is 6 this summer, and it is a delightful, wonderful age. She's making this a summer to remember for me, as much as I am able to do so for her. She is witty, and bright, inquisitive, and always informing me of little bits of information I would have missed without her insights. Each day is a new adventure, even the long, lazy days we spent together at home.

Summer Has Arrived

The weather this spring and summer has been erratic at best. We've had days and days of rain and clouds, and cool temperatures, punctuated by a random 90 degree day, only to plummet back to the high 60's with another lovely cloud cover.

My garden, it started out beautifully and has now succumbed to a variety of ailments and looks rather pathetic. I admit, I am working against the grain, with a yard that's a smidge too shady, but this is turning into a worst year for my veggies, and in some plants, I just can't figure why, in other's I know. They all took a turn this past week, while we were on vacation, and it DIDN'T rain, after it raining too much for too long. Now there's a bunch of yellowing. I will fertilize this week, but it's been very hot, and sunny, and I don't want to cook them.

So, the minute Sophia was released from school for summer vacation, we started "doing". We ran up north to the cottage for a week, and just got into the swing of summer life together, came home to some crummy weather, and a week of soccer camp; every night for an hour and a half....in the cold, and gloom and rain. It was so fun. (NOT, but she loved it) Directly on the heels of that, we had our annual family vacation to Devil's Lake State Park. My very favorite place. I LOVE it there. I have a few days of rest, and then Sophia will get back into her playground program, which is a 2.5 hour play program to keep the kids occupied and give parents a couple hours to themselves. I can't wait to get back to some kind of routine where I get some time to myself. This Mom needs a vacation from the vacation. There are many other plans for trips back up north to the cottage, another family vacation to the Wisconsin Dells, and the regular summer fun days fit in, like trips to the zoo, swimming in the new pool at Hoyt Park, and another family favorite, the Bristol Renaissance Faire!!! Sophia and I look forward to it every year.

Man,  I'm tired just reading it. 

So, the next big event is the 4th of July celebrations here in our little town. It's one of Sophia's favorite, most anticipated things on the planet: The FIREWORKS!!!! The parade at 9am is always fun, but the fireworks is really her big event. She talks about fireworks all year long. She has an entire series of paintings titled "fireworks" and the collection spans over years. This year is the first year that I will be armed with sparklers, AND glow sticks. I admit, the 4th of July was always a favorite day for me as a kid, filled with picnicking, the decorated bike contest, ice cream and just a lot of good kid and family fun. I remember it as a family day, and always having a really great time. I too am looking forward to seeing the parade and fireworks through her eyes.

I admit, with all this running around, and craziness, I have not felt inspired to write the blog. This morning, making my coffee, and looking out the window, I felt inspired as I looked out at my clematis, strawberries, and herbs on the patio. A lovely view with my freshly picked lavender in a window vase. It was a great way to wake up.

 Another thing happened this summer. A pretty BIG thing. My baby girl turned 6 years old on June 26. I don't even have words. For me to be at a loss of words is no small thing. It's a true testament to time having no meaning. I turned around, and suddenly, this tiny baby is this big, smart, funny, charismatic, amazing girl. She's a kid! She's grown so much, and is becoming more and more independent every day. I am humbled by her every single day.

So, I want to take a moment to talk about our vacation, because I think it's a fantastic trip for a family to take, and a great vacation. Being that the area is so close to Milwaukee, and Madison, it makes it easy to do as a day trip or a more extended stay. There are a great variety of things to do in the Devil's Lake State Park area. You are a stone's throw from Merrimac, WI where the free ferry runs people across the Wisconsin River all day long. It's a neat ride. The ferry has been in operation since 1848. We took the ferry across to eat on the Lake Wisconsin and I have to say it was a great dinner, with fabulous views.

The Ferry Ride

Restaurant View

While you're at the park itself, there are over 41 miles of hiking trails, a beautiful lake for swimming, you can rent canoes, peddle boats, kayaks, row boats. There's plenty of fishing. Camping in the park is very, very nice as well. We stayed at a cabin only a couple miles outside the park this year, and it was a fantastic trip.



View from bluff as we hiked the trail. Below is the "chateau" where you can get coffee, beer, soda, food, shop in the gift shop. Every third Saturday in the summer they have a big band play and people dance. Fish fry every Friday night. It's a wonderful place.

More of the vista from the bluff

Lower hiking trail at the bottom of the bluff. The lake is off to the right.

If ever you have the opportunity to explore around Baraboo, WI, please, make it a point to drive into the park and take a look around. It's filled with history, and you surely won't be disappointed with the view of the lake, and it's geology. This year marks it's centennial. 100 years of visitors enjoying the park, it's history, and the lake. We'll be going back again next year. I can't wait!