Harry Potter at Camp!

Why, hello there! I've missed y'all. As always happens, things have gotten a little crazy in my neck of the woods {erm, there aren't really woods here. I digress}. It's been pouring down rain for the last week {seems like forever!}, there's been homesickness, mosquitos, trips to the doctor and everything else that comes with working at camp.

I'll be back to book reviews, camp posts and general ranting soon. Promise!

In the mean time, you can find me over at Kristan's blog, My Life as a Teacup talking about one of my all-time favorite camp sessions: Harriet Potter.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, lovelies!

Guest Post: Gnocchi and Cheese from Earl-Leigh

Hey everyone! Up today is Earl-Leigh. She's sharing a DELICIOUS looking gnocchi recipe {I die!}. Have fun, y'all:

Hey y'all {Lauren's note: love being friends with other southern bloggers}! I was psyched when Lauren invited me over for a guest post! My name is Earl and I blog over at Earl-Leigh Designs. 

I'm a southern wife, puppy mama and Etsy shop owner. My blog is about my life and likes. You'll find some sewing tutorials, random excerpts from my day to day, recipes and more. Today, I came armed with a recipe. A few weeks ago, I was scouring my favorite website (Pinterest) and came upon a recipe for gnocchi mac and cheese. Let me tell ya...I have never met a carb that I didn't like so I knew that I needed to give this recipe a shot. 

Gnocchi Mac and Cheese

from The Cutting Edge of Ordinary

1 pound of gnocchi ( I used sweet potato gnocchi)

2 tablespoons of butter

2 teaspoons of minced garlic

1 tablespoons of all-purpose (or wheat) flour

3/4 cup of milk

1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese

1/4 shredded fontina cheese

salt and white pepper to taste

1/3 Parmigiano-Reggaino

Basil leaves for garnish (optional) 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare gnocchi according to package directions. Drain the gnocchi and place in a single layer in a 1 1/2 quart shallow baking dish. Be sure to spray the dish with nonstick cooking spray before. 

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Stir in the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.  Whisk in flour until the mixture thickens and bubbles, then whisk in the milk and mustard. Continue to whisk and cook until it thickens, about 3-5 minutes.

Combine Gruyere and fontina, add them to the mixture by the handful, stirring until the cheese melts before adding the next handful. Once all of the cheese is melted, add salt and pepper.

Pour sauce over the gnocchi and top with Parmigiano-Reggaino. Bake the gnocchi until they puff and the cheese is golden and bubbly (about 25 minutes). Let the gnocchi rest for five minutes before serving. Eat. 

The husband and I both really enjoyed this gourmet take on mac and cheese. It was really flavorful and done in less than one hour. What did we not like about this recipe? The price tag as it calls for THREE specialty cheeses and it didn't yield many portions. I would suggest this recipe for couples having a date night in or for someone who is entertaining. 

Thank you all for having me! It's been delightful. 

(Psst...Lauren. Will you please find out what type of conditioner Rapunzel uses while you're there? Ha!)

Well, I can *try* to find that out. But, I do know from past experience that those types of details tend to be TOP SECRET! But, I can promise a postcard and many pictures!

Guest Post: Adventures on the Ice

Good morning, y'all! I'm away on my own adventure at the moment {I may, or may not, be visiting some old friends have two big ears and answer to 'Mouse'}, so I asked Diana from dianapantz to come share one of her {awesome-sounding!} adventures with you! Here she is:

hey everybody!
dianapantz here.
i thought i would stop in while lauren was on vacation [totally jealous!] and share a fun little post.

i live in minneapolis, minnesota.
minnesota, huh?
youre thinking 'pretty cold there, right?'

well, yes. yes it is. this year its been unseasonably warm, but the people here are pretty use to 'ice box' temperatures.
a couple weeks ago, i wrote this post about how to dress when its -30*

so, now you are thinking
'what in the world do minnesotans do in the winter?!?'
well, thats what i wanted to share with you.

a few weeks ago, there was a free art exhibition called the 'art shanty project.'
from the website ;

Art Shanty Projects is a four-week exhibition that is part sculpture park, part artist residency and part social experiment, inspired by traditional ice fishing houses that dot the state's lakes in winter. It is an artist driven temporary community exploring the ways in which the relatively unregulated public space of the frozen lake can be used as a new and challenging artistic environment to expand notions of what art can be.

we had *such* an awesome time. so creative. really fun.
there were a bunch of 'ice houses' that were transformed into something totally awesome.
and there is something so 'midwest' about hundreds of folks in long underwear spending an afternoon on a frozen lake! ;)


below are a few of my favorite photos!

 in the 'mustache house' you were able to create your own 'stache and view hundreds of different [paper] mustaches

the 'mirror house!' the top, bottom & one side were mirrors. the side that was facing the lake was set-up like a reflective illusion. [pictured below] so cool, right?!

 the robot house!! a couple guys made this. it made noise and moved. and hello! it was a robot!

 one of the ice houses was turned into a dance house. there was a dj, a disco ball and TONS of dancing.

this [tiny!] house could hold about 10 people & was FULL of vintage that you could buy. looks super tiny, right? [it was a tight squeeze]

ice bikes!!! since blake and i bike commute, this was so silly. they had turned a bike into a giant walleye. they also had bikes with skis and ice skates in place of the front wheel!

this bucket? full of hot pink earmuffs. put them on and they are really SPEAKERS! tons of music coming through. when you walk by, you just saw tons of people with fuzzy pink headphones on, dancing like there was no tomorrow!!

thanks for reading, everybody!

what are your favorite winter activities?

Wow! That pretty much makes me want to move up north {um, kind of}. Or at least visit. Anybody else have fun adventures lately?

A Motivating Story

Hi friends, how is your Wednesday? Mine is fabulous already! I made pull-apart pumpkin bread last night, its finally starting to look like fall 'round these parts, I have a whole bunch of resumes to send out, a manuscript to send back, and a pile of great books to read. Can't get much better, huh?

I'm guest-posting over at Jennifer March's blog today, sharing my thesis story and the challenges associated with that process. I hope you'll go visit! And, be sure to come back tomorrow to learn about that pumpkin bread.

Happy Hump Day!

Guest Post: Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy Tuesday, everyone. Today, I have a special treat for you: a guest post from one of my very favorite blog people, Diana from Dianapantz! She has some really great recipes, and has agreed to share on with you. And really, how can you go wrong with pumpkin and chocolate chips?

Here she is!

hey everybody!

my name is diana and i wanted to share a fun [vegan & healthy!] fall dessert recipe: healthy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

[original recipe found here; vegan modifications made by me]

what you need:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt [*i never add salt!]
3 tablespoons flax meal
1 cup of pumpkin puree
3 tablespoons vegan butter {at room temperature}[i use earth balance]
3-4 tablespoons of soy/almond milk in place of eggs {i pour enough milk in to equal the liquid of two eggs}[if you want to add eggs in place of milk ; add two eggs]
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips

how to do it :
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350.
2. Cream together the veg butter and sugar with an electric mixer until well combined [*if you dont have a mixer, just use your muscle ;)].  Add in the milk and continue to blend.  Once milk has been mixed in, mix in the pumpkin and flax meal.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Coat a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.  Drop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the baking sheet and bake for about 13 minutes.  


enjoy! these are really great heated up in the microwave for a few seconds!

if you want more vegan recipes, head over to my blog.

or stop over anyway ; i have pretty great manners!

Thanks Diana! Her recipes are really pretty awesome. I'm so excited to try the one she posted yesterday, spicy stuffed spaghetti squash! Yum! Y'all head over and show her some love!

Guest Post: Stroganoff Two Ways

Hello friends!  I hope all of you are having a fantastic day today, and I hope this recipe from Meghan at the Unintended Houswife makes your day a little bit brighter.

I first met Meghan when I countered a nasty comment someone had anonymously left her on one of her posts. (People say some mean things when they can hide behind their computers, no?), and have found her to be super sweet and down-to-earth. Her blog details her adventures living near D.C. with her husband and I just love her posts!

Today, she has agreed to share her recipe for Stroganoff Two Ways with you; enjoy!

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I went to Russia on my honeymoon; so Russian food will always have a special place in my heart. In fact, my favorite place we visited in Russia, other than the Hermitage was the Stroganov Palace. If you ever go to St. Petersburg, I highly recommend allotting several hours for the Stroganov Palace. It is spectacular. And yes, it really is where this dish was created.

Another reason I'm partial to this recipe is because it allows me to stretch a pound of beef to feed 6-8 people. Last year, my husband and I made the decision to only eat ethical, sustainably produced meat, eggs, and milk. However, grass-fed, free-range animals are much more expensive than conventionally raised meat. To help us stay within our grocery budget, I try to always get 6-8 servings from each pound of meat.

You could also make this recipe without meat. To do so, substitute the pound of beef for two more pounds of mushrooms. You'll need more mushrooms to replace an equivalent amount of meat because the mushrooms cook down so much. If I was making a vegetarian stroganoff, I would use at least two different types of mushrooms for depth of flavor, but for beef stroganoff, I only use button mushrooms because 1) they're the cheapest and 2) they're my favorite type of mushroom. Any mild flavored mushroom works though. (Shitake, for example, would not work.)

Beef Stroganoff

1 pound of beef cut into strips*

1 pound of mushrooms, sliced thinly

1 medium onion, sliced thinly

1 cup sour cream

1 Tablespoon mustard

½ cup wine

Butter

Salt & pepper

1 pound egg noodles, cooked

In a large skillet, brown the beef in butter, salting and peppering as it cooks. Remove the beef and set it aside. Add the mushrooms to the pan and brown them, using more butter if needed. Set the mushrooms aside and cook the onions in butter until they are soft and translucent.

Add the beef and mushrooms back into the pan with the onions. Deglaze with the wine. Turn down the heat on the skillet and add mustard and sour cream. Cover and cook on low for 10-15 minutes.

Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. Serve over hot egg noodles.

*A note about the beef. I typically use Hearst Ranch fajita strips for this recipe. I receive their email newsletter, which often has discounts and coupons for free shipping, so I find it to be affordable and convenient. By all means though, if you can get a roast for cheaper, you can just cut it yourself. (I’m not compensated by Hearst Ranch at all.)

I made this beef stroganoff recipe and took a picture, but then my computer crashed with the picture on the now defunct hard drive. To be honest though, it wasn't that great of a picture and if you really need to see a picture of beef stroganoff in order to make it, you can just google it. 

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Thanks, Meghan! You are making my mouth water even without a picture!  Happy Wednesday everyone.