remember last year when grant made his michael jack-o-lantern?


and i made the great pumpkin chocolate chip cookies?


well, this year i'm bringing the great pumpkin cookies back, because i really should have a little something to keep me away from the trick-or-treating candy. (recipe here. you've got to try them!) we are also planning on doing our own version of this idea in our front window!! i can't wait. and, of course, we will be having the annual viewing of the thriller music video. and i will get goosebumps because that dance is so genius. (did you know the full version is like 15 minutes?) and new on the agenda this year: a twilight marathon. yay.

happy halloween to you!!

i am so ready for halloween. as you know, we moved last year. to the best trick-or-treating street in town! seriously, it's famous for it. i can't wait to see how many treaters we get this year. only a few more days! our candy has been bought. our entryway will be done (hopefully). and our pumpkins will be carved. will yours?

today you can see my step-by-step pumpkin carving tutorial (and best tips) on the smithfield blog!

hello all, sorry my posting has been somewhat off and sporadic lately. life is full! this week i'll be full-time at preschool, also putting together a halloween house project, and fulfilling my monthly quota of visits to the gym! but i'll still be popping in with tidbits of news and things to show you, of course.

speaking of which. i just had to show you...



this awesome little quilt i found for $2.00. doesn't it remind you of anthro? if you could see it in real life, it really would. it's the perfect size for draping over your lap while getting cozy on the couch. which i did this weekend, while we watched a movie and lit up my pre-halloween jack-o-lantern.

and this...



grant tore up, sanded, and painted our entryway on saturday! it's looking so different already.. i love it! the color is called 'dinosaur grey', how cool is that? we copied it from our brother and sister in law. grant has plans to put up new trim and design me a new shelf, and i have plans to hang a chalkboard in there somewhere. yay!

but i put a few things on my christmas list this weekend. whoa. we don't even have our halloween candy yet! i'm so weird. you would laugh if you knew what i wrote down.


...ok, i'll just tell you.


it was a pilates dvd, and mat, and ball. and a gift certificate for trader joe's or whole foods. and good socks and slippers. (i like to wish for practical things.) these slippers are pretty cute. but moccasins might be nice, too.


so what do you guys know/think about pilates? i'm super interested. i've heard it's an amazing workout, and i just found out that it was developed by a gymnast during world war I as a way to rehab soldiers. sounds intense. and awesome!! i could use some more strength in my body. have you tried it? i really want to, but there aren't any classes offered in my town.. hence the dvd on my list. i'd love to hear your thoughts.. and hopefully some raves.


well, i've got some granola bars to make for my guy. and white t-shirts to fold. and other fun things. happy monday to you!

1. this super natural recipe search is really cool.


2. you guys buying our postcards is cool. (thanks!!)


3. this news is cool.




7. this song is super cool. when i first heard it on tv, i asked grant to rewind it. (does ''rewind'' still work even though nothing is truly ''winding''?)


8. people trying my recipes is really cool. (i get so excited when you tell me!)


9. making a sourdough starter is cool. well, at least i think so. i get to feed it on sunday! (since i didn't get that puppy at the farmers' market, i guess this will have to do for a pet.)


10. grooveshark is wicked cool. it's my new favorite thing. think pandora, with even more possibilities.


11. parents calling to tell you that they'd like to take you to disneyworld this winter is the coolest. (yes! this happened to us this week! my love for disneyworld is serious.)  


the word "cool" is probably not that cool anymore. especially now since i've said it 11x in one post.

lately i'm discovering more and more reasons to love you..


you keep my stainless steel pots looking.... stainless.
you clean my bathroom counter, without putting fumes in my face. 
you help my bug bites stop itching. (yes, i have bug bites in october.)
you keep my fridge from reeking.
you make my pancakes light and fluffy.
you fight the hard water stains in the kitchen sink.
you exfoliate. (really, you are the perfect facial scrub.)
you scrape my cast iron skillet clean.
you polish the faucets until they shine.
you make my flowers last longer.
you help the sourdough not be too sour.
you can clean anything. toilets, tubs, sinks, shoes, the fridge, my retainer.. 
you can be used as my deodorant? i need to try this. 
and you are super cheap. 


thanks for everything. 
you are my favorite product in the whole house. 
.. summer

hooray! a brand new product goes on sale today. now stocked in the shop: the harvest collection



the pumpkin-y autumn postcards sold out so quickly (2 days!), that marta and i decided we'd like to offer you a new collection, just in time for harvest! (so you can still get your pumpkins if you missed out before.) and wow, i am super excited to show you these prints. they are quite possibly my favorite photos ever! am loving the elegant white background and stripey gourds.






the new collection includes 5 prints that feature the bounty and beauty of this season. including pumpkin pie. the series is ultra simplistic and sophisticated; perfectly suited for thanksgiving invites, place cards at the harvest table, a hostess gift for whoever is cooking your turkey, or cheery holiday greetings.


pack of five postcard prints: $10.00
sold exclusively at the mini mart. 

even though it's been an insanely nice week here, it's still totally soup season. i'm making it so!


check out my guest post today for a new spin on an old classic: grilled cheese and tomato soup. my version includes a bowl of grant's favorite creamy tomato and a mozzarella, ham, and basil panini... we loved this meal when we had it the other night! (even if it was 77 degrees outside.) 

some of you have been asking, and waiting really patiently, for a little word from me on photography. i'm honored about this. really, thank you! i am still very much a learner in this department, but i do love it. over the past couple years my camera handling has changed dramatically. here's how i've grown/my advice if you want to have more fun with your camera.


1. read your camera manual. i know everybody says this, but really, read it! until you actually get it. it can help you know your way around your camera and empower you to try new things.. like making the switch to manual. this is how it all began for me. it's what made me pick up my camera, realize its potential, and motivated me to learn how to do (hopefully) pretty things with it.
2. read other photography literature. if you love something, you'll find you're willing to spend time on it. do some research, even! i read photography 101 by nicole hill gerulat and would happily recommend it to anyone and everyone. such a clearly-written, handy little book. i loved it.
3. switch to manual. yes, it takes guts to give up the auto setting, but it's sooooo worth it. once you do it, a whole new world opens up. start playing around with the aperture and shutter speed. if you've done any reading on these subjects, and please do look them up at least a little bit, that will help you feel more comfortable and in the know. focus on familiarizing yourself with how your photo changes as you spin dials on your camera.
4. look at other photography. keep your eyes open for inspiration on how to compose and style a photo. for example, you don't have to center the subject of your photo! try something new. always look from a couple different angles. find a background or table that you love to photograph on. find some new find a few photography blogs that you love and make sure you pay attention while you flip through magazines. eye-catching photos are everywhere! try to figure out what makes them that way and what types of photos you love most. (happily for me, i love food photography.. and i love to make food! it works out pretty nice.)
5. natural light!! from my experience, this is probably the biggest and best thing you can do for your photos. i strongly recommend not using your flash. as much as possible! i would also recommend not depending on photoshop to make your photos presentable. try very hard to make them as lovely as possible straight through your lens, with the best light you can find. i love using window light for my food photos. in fact, it is pretty much all i use. if you can find a good window or two in your house (mine are south-facing), that is a perfect place to set up shop for a good photo shoot.


i don't have a super professional camera (i use a canon rebel xsi), but i've learned how to make it work for me by doing a little reading and fieldwork, using the manual setting, learning good times of day to shoot, and playing around with different angles and props. over time, you'll find your comfort zone and find yourself coming back to the same photo characteristics.. and then, hooray! you've found your own style.




1. open up photo in photoshop and size accordingly. 



2. sharpen it up a tad. (under the filter tab, find "sharpen")
3. then, because i don't want anything to look too made up, i always fade my sharpening. (under the edit tab, go to "fade sharpen" and adjust to your liking.
4. next, if your photo has any spots that you don't like... like stray crumbs or a distracting chip in the paint.. use the spot healing brush tool (on the far left tool bar) to fix tiny imperfections. i try to avoid these things before i even take the picture, but sometimes they can add to the character of the photo, so don't feel pressured to erase them. we don't want an air-brushed look! 



5. next, we go to the image tab and find "adjustments." this is where i mess around with a curves layer, or the saturation, or whatever the photo might need just a little touch of. occasionally i will play with the contrast or gradient map, or even a photo filter once in awhile, but i mostly keep it very very simple. curves is my favorite tool, and i usually stick to that. 



6. for this photo, all i'm going to do is a bit of curves. i shot this one in the morning, so it looked a bit dark. the curves layer will help brighten it, and the white background will look closer to white than gray. then you're ready to upload to flickr!
7. basically, i just keep it basic! size + a bit of sharpening + a bit of brightness. i like things very light, crisp, and natural. keep your adjusting minimal and you'll avoid anything fakey. the best thing you can do is start with a good photo, so focus on getting everything right (as much as you can) while you're looking through the lens. 


hmmm... anything else? i hope this has helped in some small way. please leave me questions in the comment section! i'm sure i missed things and could be more clear on others. i'd be so happy to help! 


ps. i can't believe it.. last year on this very day i was revealing my big secret. a whole year! how?!

peanut butter toasts with honey, while watching the leaves fall. 


the peanut butter is this kind. the raw honey is from a place just a few miles down the road. (yay for local. i wish i had my allergies right now. i bet the honey would heal me. instead i have a sore throat. but i bet the honey will heal that too!) and the toast is from a loaf of bread i made last night, which kind of reminds me of ciabatta. or maybe an english muffin. either way, i'm liking it. (recipe below!!)


my favorite part of the weekend was..


sitting outside saturday afternoon. i read a book while grant caulked our new front door.
or maybe it was the seminar i went to on biblical nutrition. i ate up every word.
or maybe it was slicing tomato while grant cooked our burgers.
or maybe it was sweating. i'm really happy when i'm not cold.
or maybe it was watching community with grant.
or maybe it was picking out this dehydrator, after reading lots of great reviews.
or maybe it was making roasted red pepper sauce with julie & julia in the background.
or maybe it was scooping out soft butternut and buttercup squash flesh for soup later on.
or maybe it was baking this bread. and then eating 3 slices of it immediately.




soaked whole wheat ciabatta-like bread 
loosely adapted from sheena 


1 1/2 cups warm water
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed


1/2 cup warm water
1 package active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/3 cup honey
heaping 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted (or butter)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt


1. the day before baking: thoroughly combine flours, flax, and water. make sure flour is completely moistened. add another tablespoon or two (or more!) of water if there are still dry spots. when you're done combining, it should look like a dough. cover tightly with a lid or plastic wrap, and let sit on the counter for 24 hours or so.
2. when you're ready to bake: mix yeast with 1/2 cup warm water and 1/3 cup honey in your mixer bowl. let sit for 20 minutes to bloom. scrape soaked flour mixture into mixer bowl and add coconut oil and salt. using the dough hook, mix all together for 5 minutes or so. while it's mixing, sprinkle 1/2 cup or so more flour down the sides of the bowl to help a dough form. dough will still be very, very wet- don't worry. 
3. scrape/pour dough into a greased bowl and let rise for 1 hour. preheat oven to 375 degrees. pour dough (it will still be wet! almost like a batter. weird, i know.) into greased loaf pans and let rise another 45 minutes. bake for 40 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches about 190.(if you take your bread's temp like i do). let cool in pans for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. crust will be chewy and crumb will be open and airy. eat immediately with butter!


this bread is perfect for toasting and making a panini. seriously. 


ps. i poured my bread 'batter' into two loaf pans, one large and one small. but the small one came out very short. not that i mind. i like mini toasts. but next time i might pour it all into my large loaf pan and just have one big one. you can do whatever you like!


happy monday! the leaves are sinking past my window in a constant stream today. looks like a movie scene. what kind of breakfast did you have to go with the falling leaves?

this happened.
an october heat wave. 
i am blissed out. 


today i will be ditching the slippers for my flip flops.
and wearing shorts and an old high school t-shirt.
and watering my flowers.
and picking out a food dehydrator. yay! 
and i won't be making that soup after all.
maybe guacamole instead. and watermelon. 
yes, there's still fresh watermelon at our farmers market. crazy.


today i smell like the perfume my sisters left at my house. 
it's a good one. 
i'm sad the bottle only has a few drops left in it.
wish i could split the cost of a new one with my mom like i used to.


today i feel like reading the newspaper. 
and watching grant play frisbee golf. 


today i remembered those old bugs bunny cartoons we have on dvd.
i hope we pull them out some saturday mornings for our kids. 
i was close to watching them myself this morning. 


today i am thankful that God made sunshine feel so good. 


today feels like yard work and college football on the radio. 
do you know those saturdays?


today (tonight) i hope to pull the bunkbed mattresses into the living room and have a movie night. 




happy sat. 

bean porridge hot.
bean porridge cold.
bean porridge in the pot... only 2 days old.

so, this is why i was soaking that pot of beans earlier this week! and i really do like them hot or cold, or old. i just plain love baked beans.
hop over here to get my favorite favorite recipe!

hi guys! so... at this point you might be thinking something like this:

this afternoon i found myself putting in dan in real life and typing up recipes. that's what happens when you've come to the very end of your free netflix trial and have to quick watch and return the movie before you must start paying. and you just have too many recipes on your hands.

usually we consider an afternoon movie to be a throw away movie, so we don't do them too often. (it doesn't feel as real if it's not nighttime, right?) but i don't think that's true if you are multi-tasking, with the movie as a sort of soundtrack in the background. so today it wasn't a throw away movie. in fact, it was more like a splurge. it's only october 5th once a year, after all. and october 5th is an auspicious day. my father in law proclaims it to be the most beautiful day of the year, and it also happens to be the day grant asked me to be his wife. a sort-of anniversary of ours. and my newest baby cousin was born today! and tonight we found out that the minnesota vikings might get randy moss back- the best wide receiver ever! grant was jumping up and down about it. it's a special day in history, for sure.

watching dan reminded me that it would be really fun to do a boys vs. girls crossword puzzle tournament at our family's big deer hunting get-together in november. (heidi.. what do you think?)

speaking of a splurge, haley brought me some of this when she came to visit:

                

oooh. i do love some nice hair product now and then. a splurge for my shower.

in other news, grant is writing a paper. i'm always amazed at how quickly he gets them done. aaaand.. we paid off a chunk of his student loan yesterday! yay! we splurged. on our debt. hooray for little (big) achievements. especially ones that sound like they could be on the game of life. i'm so proud of you grant, and i think it's really fun to have a loan with you. but even more fun to pay it off.

how are you splurging this week?


ps. quick note on the apple & onion tart from earlier today. don't be shy with the cheese, please. it brings it all together!

{good morning, guys! i told you i couldn't stay away from the food too long...}

i used to insist on meat. i "needed" it. at every meal. it wasn't a real meal if it didn't have meat, and that was that, and i was proud of it. no way would i be caught being the bread and salad girl.

but now, i'm not so dependent. after i started buying my own groceries and actually looking at prices, i found out, okay, maybe i don't need meat as much as i thought. then over the past year, after learning about some of the malpractices in our meat industry, i was even more open to the idea of using less meat.  i still love it, of course. a good cheeseburger is still my favorite meal after all, but i am glad that i don't necessarily need to build my meals around it. and i'm learning lots of other good ways to get my protein. and it saves a ton of money!

happily, there have been loads of yummy non-meat recipes falling into my lap lately. maybe it's because i have my eyes open for them now, but it seems like they're running rampant. here is one of them now. rachel's brilliant apple and onion tart made a perfectly cozy fallish dinner. it's one of those meals that are even better the next day straight out of the fridge. grant wasn't sure how he'd like apples and onions together, but he trusted me (he is so awesome about letting me play with our food) and ended up really liking it. yay! please make it when it gets gray and chilly someday soon, and while you still have orchard apples. those caramelized onions are to die for.

ps. i chose an olive oil-based dough and it was super easy to make. seriously. like 5 minutes tops.



savory apple & onion tart 
adapted from heart of light


1 batch whole wheat tart dough (see below)
3 large apples
3 onions, sliced (i used 2 yellow and 1 red)
1- 2 tablespoons olive oil
salt, to taste
shredded cheese of your choice (i used a pinch of parmesan, and mostly cheddar because i love to pair it with apples.)


whole wheat tart dough
adapted from chocolate and zucchini


1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried herbs (i used sage)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup cold water


make your tart dough: grease your pan lightly. combine flour, salt, and herbs in a medium bowl. add the oil and mix it in with a fork. add the water, mix with the fork until it is absorbed, then knead lightly (i did this with just one hand, in the bowl) until the dough comes together into a ball. turn the dough onto a floured surface and roll out to fit your pan, or if you are doing a hand-formed tart on top of a baking sheet (which is what i did), just roll it out to a large circle, or a few smaller circles. do this in quick, assertive gestures to avoid overworking the dough. transfer dough to prepared pan and trim excess, if needed. place pan in the fridge for 30 minutes. 


for the filling: heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. add onion, sprinkle with salt and cook about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are a deep, golden brown. while onions are cooking, thinly slice your apples. (you can peel them, if you prefer. i left my peel on.) when onions are ready, remove from heat and toss them with the apples. 


finish: preheat oven to 375 degrees. remove tart crust from fridge and spread half of the apple and onion filling on top. sprinkle on a thin layer of cheese. spread remaining filling on top of this, and finish with a generous topping of cheese. fold crust edges over and toward center, if not using a traditional tart pan.  bake about 45 minutes, or until pastry and cheese are nicely golden brown. 


i know these instructions look long, but really, it comes together super quick and easy!