grateful

It was so great to gather together as a family this past weekend,

to celebrate the many bounteous blessings the Lord has poured out upon us.

We feel truly grateful.

How was your holiday weekend?

fall fun

We're loving our gorgeous fall weather.

Perfect for gathering around a hot open fire,

roasting (ahem...torching) marshmallows on a stick.

And for climbing trees.

And wearing pretty pink puffer jackets.  With fur collars.  :)

How is your Thanksgiving week shaping up?

We're celebrating alone at home, as a family.  Which will be perfect.

I'm heading into the kitchen now to put some pumpkins to roast in the oven, and start some bread.

And then to the laundry room to wash and fold a couple more loads.

Then I need to run out and gather the rest of the spices and ingredients for my turkey brine.

And then out to dinner and Christmas shopping with the Mr.

I'd better get hoppin'!!

Hope your holiday preparations are coming along nicely,

and that you have a terrific Thanksgiving week, full of gratitude, family, and cheer!

feeding the hungry

apple season

We are loving apple season this year!  We try to purchase apples once in a while throughout the summer, when we're really missing them, but they just never taste good to us.  So, we highly anticipate the harvest of juicy, fresh fall apples from our local trees.

Unfortunately, our sad, old apple tree has only produced a total of three apples since we moved in.  So we rely on apples from neighbors' trees, and from our local apple orchard.  A generous neighbor had a surplus of apples this year, so we went and picked several buckets of them.

With this year's apples, we have:

• bottled yummy applesauce with some of our best friends.  The boys and little girls waited in line most of the day for their turn to crank the strainer, and Hannah and her friend Claire chopped almost all of the apples for steaming.  They were great helpers and we had such a fun canning day!

• made caramel apples.  Well, we haven't dipped apples as a family yet...it's on the November agenda.  But I went to a friend's kitchen to learn how to make the fancy, chocolate covered variety with some ladies in the neighborhood.  mmmmmm.  So, so yummy and pretty.

• sliced and baked them into yummy apple pies.  Best pies ever.  Fresh apples make all the difference.  (sorry...no photo of the finished pies...they were gone before they had even cooled!

• and of course, eaten lots of them raw, alongside our favorite Irish cheese.  The perfect fall snack.

Today we're going to roast some apples.  And perhaps make a few more pies.  I love the spicy, sweet fragrance that fills my home on apple-baking days.  

And this weekend, our local apple orchard is pressing again...can't wait to stock my fridge and freezer with their fresh raw cider.  We drink it hot and cold all season long.

Now it's time for a snack.  Apples and cheese on a pretty plate at the coffee table.  While the kids kneel around the table in front of the fire and eat, I'll read aloud to them, and then we'll get going on our math, science, and grammar lessons.

Have a fine fall day!  And go eat an apple!

fall harvest and real food

We pulled up the rest of the carrots, cabbages, chard, pumpkins, and squash from the garden this week.  We had such a sunny October, which lengthened our harvest a bit.  The kids and I are heading out there this afternoon to bring in the herbs, and gut out the rest of this summer's remains, which are looking rather dry and weedy and ready to retire for a long winter's rest.  We expect snow tonight, so we'd better go dig everything out before it all freezes!

I'll be roasting pumpkins today to start making yummy pumpkin treats, soups, and custard.  I love anything made of pumpkin!  I want to try some of these recipes...don't they look delicious?

We've been adding grated carrots and chopped swiss chard to some of our favorite dinner dishes.  We made this favorite gluten-free carrot cake this week.  Yum!

Our favorite way to eat cabbage is chopped and sauteed in pastured butter or good olive oil, with shredded carrots and lots of Real Salt and pepper.  It's one of our favorite comfort foods.  I'd like to try to make fermented sauerkraut with my cabbage too, but we've eaten most of it!  Maybe next year...

I love eating, preparing, and serving fresh, local, seasonal foods.  And I love eating real foods.  I read this great post about real food this morning.  Summed up so well!  Check it out.  (Oh, and don't you love the photographed chicken foot in her header?  Great photo!)

My favorite real, traditional food blog is Nourished Kitchen.  Stunning photography, well-documented research and facts, excellent writing, stunning photography, and fabulous recipes.  We've loved every recipe from Jenny that we've tried.  Go have a look.  Seriously good stuff.

And for anyone who's interested, the handout (summary) from my Healthy Eating and Happy Memories presentation at the 2011 BYU Women's Conference is up on their website.  You can view the pdf here.  I included some simple, nutritious snack and meal ideas, along with a recommended reading list.

And look through the Women's Conference transcripts for lots of inspiring talks by amazing women.  Also, if you emailed me for a copy of my entire presentation, and never received it, please leave a comment with your email address, or email me at triciacope@gmail.com, and I'll send you a copy.  Thanks!


PS...There was Christmas music blasting in the background while I wrote this, and kids making Christmas wish lists by the fire.  Yes, I know it's early, but December goes by way to quickly for me!!  So, bring it on, I say!  Andy Williams rocks.

good-bye, October!

Hope you had a wonderful Halloween!

Here's a peak at this year's simple, easy costumes:

Romney went as Napoleon Dynamite.  And he was in character most of the night.  Oh my.  Hilarious.

His borrowed wig was perfect...except for the color (Napoleon was a red-head), and the shedding (notice his hairy armpit...not part of the costume, just spare curls from the crazy wig!).  Wish you could've seen him do the dance.  So funny!  I've never seen the movie, but I don't need to, after Romney's Halloween performance.

Taylor dressed up as a BYU football fan.  

He wore a cool BYU vintage-style pilot cap, given to us by a friend, and a BYU sweatshirt.    

Sam wanted to be a superhero.  He bought a Thor mask and a dollar store ax, and together with a black cape, he made a very brave looking barbarian superhero.

The girls wanted to dress up as some kind of princess or fairy.  So, we decided to make them "snow fairies."  We sewed up quick sparkly silver skirts, made up their hair and face with glittery snowflakes,  and in their velveteen capes, they looked darling!  They even made little snowflake wands out of sticks, silver pipe cleaner, and glittery snowflake ornaments.  Cute, cute!

We made homemade caramel popcorn and watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  Then we celebrated Brandon's birthday with a yummy chili dinner.  We all went out trick-or-treating, and visited with lots of friends in the neighborhood.  We had a great holiday.

I'm sad to see October go...I love the beautifully colored leaves and crisp fall air.  We've had such perfect weather here, and we've enjoyed our last weeks of outside-all-day play.  I love fall!!  Now, dearest November, be kind and give us more of this beautiful fall sunshine!!

on keeping animals

Funny...neither of us were ever animal people.

But with this little patch of land, we've been able to spread out a bit and speckle it with life.

I love looking out the kitchen window while I wash dishes.  

(love the window, not the dishes...just clarifying.)  

I see life in many forms.  

Chickens pecking at the grass, 

goats playfully bucking at each other, 

and cats at play, wandering, lounging, wrestling, and chasing around the yard.

And of course, I see children interacting with all of the creatures, big and small, 

and having the time of their lives.

Life 

(in all its forms) 

is good.