Meal Planner Monday: No-Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

6 Tbsp cocoa

1/2 cup butter

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Mix in saucepan and bring to a roiling boil. Remove from heat and add:

1 cup peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups rolled oats

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Mix well. Drop by small spoonfuls on wax paper. Let set until hardened. Makes 2 1/2 dozen. Store in air-tight container. I think they taste best after a day or two. I guess I think of these as a summertime recipe because you don't have to use the oven on those hot summer days.

Meal Planner Monday: Three Bean Salad

This is a classic summer picnic salad...and a rather healthy one...and it's easy to make which makes it one of my favorites to take to a reunion or summer picnic/potluck...

1 can green beans

1 can yellow wax beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can garbanzo beans (optional)

1 onion, chopped

1/2 cup celery, chopped

Dressing:

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup vinegar

1/3 cup salad oil or extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Drain beans. Stir all ingredients together. Let set at least overnight to mix flavors.

Softball and Other Stuff

Mike was very excited to be able to play church softball again this year. He hasn't played since we lived in Pittsburgh. He is doing great...the best player on the team if you ask me. It has kept us busy but will soon be over with play offs next weekend. Last game, they were short players so I actually played. I didn't do too bad considering that I hadn't even attempted softball since high school. Mike said that qualifies me for the play offs, so who knows...maybe I'll even sign up for the team next year. Also, Mike has had magic shows on 3 Saturdays this past month (July). Last weekend, we had a graduation party for his niece, and this coming weekend we have a family wedding to attend. Things have been busy...but, good.

Fourth of July Family Fun

I'm finally getting to posting these pictures. We had a wonderful time with my family at Heritage days and celebrating the 4th of July... On Saturday, we went to the Heritage Days in the park. There were lots of activities and demonstrations...spinning wool, grinding corn, heritage wooden toys, panning for gold, alpacas, wood craver, weaving, and a native American teaching the kids games and making bead necklaces. Then as part of Heritage Days we rode on a school bus to visit the train (which the kids enjoyed since they had never been on one). What a full day of fun activites (all for free)! On Sunday afternoon, we had a picnic and the kids played in the sprinkler - of course, our family always dresses in red, white, blue attire which I think makes it more fun. Later in the week, on the way home my sister and her family stopped at our house. We spent an afternoon at the beach, which at one point we had to ourselves because it had started to rain. We do enjoy having the beach walking distance from our house. It was a fun time...even playing in the rain!

Meal Planner Monday: Strawberry Shortcake

Look at these yummy berries Mom brought me last week... ...of course I made "Strawberry Shortcake" !

This is the classic biscuit recipe that I make:

6 Tbsp. margarine

2 cups flour

1 Tbsp sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk

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Cut shortening into flour, sugar, baking powder and salt using a pastry blender or fork until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in milk (dough will be soft and sticky). Place and pat down in 9 x 9 ungreased pan. Bake 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve with sliced berries and sweetened whipped cream (or milk or vanilla ice cream).

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Sweetened Whipped Cream

Beat 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream and 1 Tbsp granulated or powdered sugar in a chilled bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff.

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I'd also like to try this recipe sometime for Whole Wheat Strawberry Shortcake ...

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And, for old times sake...Harpst clan you have to see this video! Good times!!

A Gorgeous Summer Day

It was a beautiful summer day yesterday. I searched the internet and found a nearby orchard and decided to go pick sour cherries. This is where I went - only about 20 minutes away from campus toward Harrisburg. Pick your own sour cherries were $.95/lb which I thought was a good price. I also bought some peas and new potatoes which I hulled and cooked for dinner, and some transparent apples for applesauce, which was good but not as good as our apple tree back home. I absolutely loved that I could get out and enjoy the summer day and some fresh produce and still be at home in the evening during "work" time.

Our Fourth of July

We didn't have any students on Saturday evening, so we decided to go to Lititz for the Fourth of July celebration. We had a wonderful evening with Uncle Jim, Aunt Mary Ann, Kristi and Kimberly. We enjoyed some good music, food, fireworks and conversation. The park was beautiful with the candles all lit but it was too hard to get a picture to come out. It only took us about 30 minutes to get out of our parking spot...I think next time we'll park further away and walk...but, that's our fault because we were warned...

What To Do On a Summer Day in Hershey...

The campus is back to the regular summer schedule this week. We have 4 boys (4th graders) this week for summer camps and we have been doing some fun things with them in the evenings. We (as well as the students) get free admission to Hershey Park with our IDs so Mike and I decided to head there on our off duty time during the day to "get acquainted" with the Park. We have been there 4 times now in the last week and we have decided that it is pretty neat to be able to go over for as long or short as we want and not have to pay admission. (My philosophy is that all of the walking around is good exercise too) The first day Mike and I just walked around for a little while to check things out (I've never been to Hershey Park before), and one day we went over for a couple hours and just relaxed in the new wave pool and lazy river. On Tuesday, we enjoyed the kiddie rides with our "out-of-town guests"... I love this one. It looks like Caleb is bored but really he is taking his ride seriously and he loved every minute of it... And then, last evening we took the MHS boys since they hadn't been to the new water rides yet (Mike has a video and more pictures on his blog).