Cajun Christmas

The Cajun bloodlines on my husband's side of the family mandate certain Christmas traditions.

Yes, those are my kids eating raw oysters.  Dad convinced them oysters might taste better if they closed their eyes.  Oyster Tally:  Anna - 3, Ehren - 1, Christian - 0.  What are your unique Christmas traditions?

Stock Up Sunday

On Sundays, I try to make a few things for the week, so I don't have to cook each night after work.  My little helper and I made this Coconut Curry Red Lentil Soup. 

Later, I also made Friendship Soup and cut up snacking vegetables for the week.  Finally, to balance out all that healthy stuff, we made the super easy Fudge recipe you find on the back of the marshmallow creme jar.  To economize, we substituted 32 large marshmallows instead of the marshmallow creme.  Yes, it has 3 cups of sugar.  Here's wishing you a sweet Christmas.

Thanksgiving Feast

Today, the kids had an all-school Thanksgiving feast that was organized, supplied and served by parents. This was my first time at the feast. It was amazing! The first graders, paraded out in their paper grocery-bag Pilgrim and Indian costumes and lined up first at the buffet. They were the only ones dressed for the occasion. Feasting together with parents, teachers, and kids was a rich experience.

My contribution:



That's 10 lbs of peeled potatoes in case you wondered.



Can't wait until next year!

Missoula Farmer's Market

My sister Jenna and I left for the Missoula Farmer's Market at 6 am with her Impala loaded with gluten-free goodies.  Her business partner, Barb, drove separately, so Jenna and I could do some errands after the market.  When we arrived at the market in Missoula, it was easy setting up because there was relatively few items compared to a produce stall.  The market was fun, but unfortunately for the Gluten-free Maniacs, the focus was more on the produce side, so they didn't sell out.  After the market, Barb, Jenna and I had lunch at the Red Robin (decidedly not gluten free, but greasily delicious).  Then Jenna and did a few shopping errands and headed back home.

Huckleberries!

Happy, happy kids. Lots of sleep. THIS is a VACATION!

Now comes my favorite part.  This is the first time I have ever been in Montana during huckleberry season!  Even though I missed blueberries in Minnesota again this year, I had my first ever huckleberry-picking experience.



Dan, Bara, all the kids and I filled the van and drove up Graves Creek road. After a quick visit to the falls, we continued up the mountain. I can't give away our exact, highly secret location, but suffice it to say we hit the mother load of huckleberries. I really thought I was in heaven with all the huckleberries and interesting woodland wildflowers. Dan let all our kids have a chance to "drive" on the forest road, which they thought was pretty fun.





In the afternoon, we returned to the river lot, and spent the hot afternoon swimming in the Clark Fork. After a delicious outdoor dinner of grilled hamburgers, the boys went fishing, while Jenna, Bara, Anna, and I went back to the shop to bake huckleberry muffins. Both ventures went well. We returned to the river lot with our muffins to find that Ethan had caught a huge rainbow trout.  A day of huckleberries and trout - how perfectly Montana.