Fresh Lemon Abund-mint Tea

Yep, that's our trash can. And that is our mint patch. All of it. Our most abundant crop by far this summer has been loads and loads of mint that we didn't even plant ourselves. It was planted by the previous tenant, and it has lived up to its prolific reputation in this bed on the back side of our apartment.

Personally I'm not the biggest mint-lover. I mean, I find it refreshing in my toothpaste, delicious n my ice cream, and soothing in my hot teas. Generally, however, it's not my go-to flavor. But this summer our mint patch looks us in the eye and laughs at us, dares us to let all that freshness go to waste. And apparently we've been up to the challenge.

Luke has the dehydrator running about once a week, drying lots and lots of mint leaves for future use. And I've managed to throw some mint into a summer salad or two as a deviation from fresh basil (which is one of my go-to flavors). But my favorite way to make use of our bumper crop is to brew fresh iced tea. It has become a staple around here for the two of us and also for friends who come to call. So much so that I find myself brewing a new gallon about every other day. When I visited my family this weekend I took along a half gallon since my mom is often on the lookout for tasty caffeine-free drinks. I assume they liked it because yesterday she asked me for the recipe I use, but the truth is that I kind of just mix and taste and add things to any of my iced teas as I go along.

Dutiful daughter that I am, today whilst restocking our supply I attempted to keep track of the ingredients and measurements I was using, and I thought I might as well share them with anyone else who's interested.

Fresh Lemon Abund-mint Tea
You'll need:
-1 gallon of water
-3 cups of fresh mint leaves (I like to chop mine with a pair of kitchen shears to get the most flavor out of the leaves)
-1/2 cup honey
-juice of one lemon (about 3 tbsp)

1. Chop up the mint leaves and throw them in a pot on the stove with a gallon of water. Bring the leaves and water to a boil, allowing them to boil about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the leaves/water sit for about 10 minutes. 2. Strain the tea into a container where you can mix it with the honey while it's still hot (Sadly I don't have a funnel in my kitchen, so I pour it into a bowl with a spout so it's easier to transfer into the jug later). I like to line my strainer with some cheese cloth to make sure none of those little green leaves find their way into the finished product.

3. Add the 1/2 cup of honey and mix well. Transfer the sweetened tea into the jug.

4. Add the lemon juice (3 tbsp may be a bit lemony for some tastes, so I suggest putting in a bit less than that, sample it to see if it's a dream come true and add more as necessary). 5. Let it cool on the counter for a bit then throw it in the fridge for a fresh and tasty summer treat (the perfect complement to the wine berries and black berries your husband may or not bring back to the house after a run in the woods)!

baked oatmeal and the shore

We are recently returned from a shore weekend with my family in New Jersey. Aside from one older brother, one sister-in-law and one cuddly nephew (who were all dearly missed), the whole family was in attendance.

This was my first chance to experience the shore in the fall and I sincerely hope it becomes a family tradition. The entire beach was ours, save for a few fishermen. The boardwalk wasn't too crowded and all the shops were running off-season sales (on fudge!!). Score. Score. Score.

Overall it was a relaxing time with good jokes, some time in the sand, shopping in Cape May, a victorious NFL experience, and obviously some delicious food. In the interest of cost my parents assigned each nuclear family a meal to prepare during the weekend. So Luke and I decided to prepare Sunday brunch with an autumnal pumpkin take on baked oatmeal. Happy baking!

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal
(adapted from My Kitchen Addiction who adapted it from Two Peas and Their Pod).

• 4 cups old fashioned oats
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
  
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups apple sauce
• 1 peeled, cored, chopped apple
  

Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Combine the liquid ingredients in a separate bowl and mix well. Combine all ingredients and pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish. Bake 30-40 minutes, until browned on top. Best served with dried cranberries, brown sugar and milk!

ps- The "cuddly nephew" embedded link will take you to a picture that I copied into my photo album. However, I'd like to give credit where it is due. That photo is taken by a good friend from my youth, Megan, who is an incredibly gifted photographer. You can attest that that yourself by visiting her site: http://momentsremembered.shutterfly.com

pie!

Luke loves pie. It is his preferred dessert, his most frequent food request and on occasion he's cleverly manipulated me to make him a pie to satisfy the balance of the universe (like the time he told me that his extremely overdue sister would not give birth until her brother's wife [that would be me] made him a pie). It was no surprise, then, that while planning our nuptials last fall his first and most concrete input was that we would forgo wedding cake and opt for wedding pie.

This week is Luke's birthday and I thought that I should volunteer to bake his traditional birthday pie. If I remember correctly his mother usually concocts a delicious strawberry and/or peanut butter dessert, but this summer we have been absolutely obsessed with fresh peaches and I wanted to follow in that vein. I also had glorious visions of a lattice top browned to perfection. So I went straight to the source for authentic, warm, delicious, home-baked recipes - the interweb. Actually I found great instructions on Allrecipes.com for a) the peach pie, b) homemade crust and c) how to weave a lattice top.


Of course as the fragrant wonder emerged from the oven a photoshoot began. Personally whenever I think of a fresh-baked pie I can't help but picture a little boy stealing it as it cools on the windowsill. Here's my best attempt at documenting a hungry, greedy (somewhat frightening) little pie thief in the act:

Could it get any better?

Today I discovered the marriage of the world's two greatest (obviously up for argument) pleasures: quilts and coffee. During my daily Design Sponge meanderings I came across these amazing pictures from Thatcher's Coffee in Vancouver. The shop's entire aesthetic is simply charming, but personally I adore the use of old coffee-bean sacks as decor and upholstery. I mean, I have seen people hang bags like these on the walls, which is also a pleasing sight. But these people took the re-purposing a step further. Suffice it to say that I dream of the day when I can craft my very own quilt out of a stack of cloth coffee-bean and/or rice sacks.

an open letter to My Body

"I see myself as still water. I reflect things as they are." -Thich Nhat Han

Dear My Body,

As you know, we spend a lot of time together. In fact we spend all of our time together. Whether or not I am mindfully aware of your functions and activities, we are inextricably joined together and affect one another. This morning I woke up and showered you and fed you and moved you around, do you remember that? I certainly do, though now looking back it was probably more of an incredible sequence of events than I ever considered at the time. And so I want to thank you for being my window to the world.

For all the things we have experienced together I would think that we would be more at peace with one another than we tend to be. Perhaps like any close relationship we take one another for granted and find fault. Often, for example, I think you should look differently than you do. I guess I expect a lot from you. And sometimes you make me feel crappy and I just don't understand why! I feel a tad nauseous or sluggish or inexplicably grumpy. Then we begin this cycle where I try to bribe you with something tasty and/or sugar-laden, but you don't want that, and then you make me feel even more irritable and terrible.

Do you see where this is going My Body? Perhaps I'm just realizing what you've known all along, but we are in a marriage relationship. We are bound to one another until death do us part. And no matter how much we try to deny it, the decisions I make will affect you, and you , in turn will affect me. Your welfare is my welfare. My good health is your good health. So let's renew our vows, shall we?

I, Joy, promise to help you, My Body, to have a vibrant, unhindered and sexy existence. I promise to give you regular times of movement and activity. And I promise to let that movement connect with mindful enjoyment and not held down by the drudgery of duty. I swear to no longer turn a blind eye to the crap I might choose to fuel you, and rather choose foods that I can trace back to their origins or even better, use you, My Body to create. And I promise to listen to you: if you're truly hungry I will eat, if you're truly full I will abstain, if you are truly tired I will rest and if you are truly energized I will move. Let my life and choices be your life and choices. Let us be one.

Thanks for not giving up on me yet, and thanks for second chances.
With love,
Joy