What Does Labor Day Mean to You?

Labor Day for our family usually means there will be some sort of family get together or two spanning over the entire weekend.  As dairy farmers, Dominic and my father-in-law, George, work seven days a week and through every holiday. So we must plan our holiday schedule accordingly. 

Some of our family members had decided to go camping this weekend at a camp that is only 20 minutes away from our home....Olema Family Campground.  Since the camp is so close to our home, we met the family crew there for dinner on Saturday night.

George & Jim barbecuing.  Nothing says Labor Day like a good barbecue!

And especially when there's Rib Eye steaks involved from our natural beef .

It was Paige's Bday a week or so ago and she got to open a present from her cousins.  Don't you just love when birthday celebrations are extended for a few weeks?

The plan:  feed the kiddos first.

So the adults can have a nice, relaxed dinner afterwards.

Take One:

Just to explain, every time I take a photo of a group....any group, Bryce darts into the frame so he can be included.  Do you remember the series of books titled "Where's Waldo?" where you have to find Waldo on every busy page of the book?  Well, I have a group of photos that I should make into a book and title it "Where's Bryce?".

Ahh...that's better.

Here's my plate: salad, steak, fruit salad and zucchini.

Make sure to save room for dessert.

I don't know about you, but our Labor Day always includes some really dirty feet.

Labor Day is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Did you know that the first Labor Day was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union?

To read more about the Labor Day holiday, you can check it out at The History of Labor Day.

Labor Day, for me, includes a tribute to all of the farmers across the nation that work hard every day to put the food I eat, on my plate and help to feed the world.  From the bottom of my heart, I thank you!

P.S. The Pioneer Woman has some great photos to go with a Cowboys' Prayer on her site today....you should check it out.

Happy Sunday!

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Dessert Before Dinner

I made the mistake of reading the Pioneer Woman's post on Raspberry Crisps this morning before breakfast.  I was actually trying to convince myself that a raspberry crisp is somehow appropriate for breakfast.  It does contain fruit and oats after all!  Okay, so I didn't bake a crisp for breakfast.  Instead I went to the pantry and pulled this out.

But it wasn't quite the same. I thought this cherry pie Larabar would be an adequate substitute for the raspberry crisp on my mind but it was a bit too tart for me and we all know what a sweet tooth I have. I love Larabars but this one wasn't doin' it for me. Oh well!  I only ate half.

Finished my coffee.  And at around 10:30, was hungry for a snack so I polished off the rest of the Greek Inspired Orzo Salad I made yesterday.  So good:)

Paige had a birthday party to attend today for one of her little friends from preschool who turned four.  And you know, all I could think about during the party was that darn Raspberry Crisp recipe.  I knew what I would be doing this afternoon.

I thought I had enough peaches at home to make a peach cobbler but I didn't.  Luckily I had a bag of frozen blackberries in the freezer that would do just fine.  I got busy making a Blackberry Cobbler right away.
Here's what you need {plus granulated sugar, not pictured here}.

Mix all the dry ingredients.  {full recipe below}

Add butter to the dry mix.

Mix it in with two knives or a pastry blender until it's coarse & crumbly.

Mix the granulated sugar with the blackberries in a bowl.

I thought it would be fun to make individual cobblers for everyone so I used ramekins.  Place the berry mixture in the bottom 3/4's of the ramekins.

Cover with the dry mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Top with whip cream or vanilla ice cream.

OH MY!

Bryce liked it too.

So in the midst of my cobbler making frenzy, I forgot to pop dinner in the oven.  And all I had to do was literally put it in the oven for 45 minutes.  We have two ovens so this should have been done before starting on dessert, one would think.

I had Trader Joe's Zesty Southwestern Style Chicken Breast in the fridge for an easy dinner.  Which is really good by the way.  So dessert was done before dinner.  I did sneak one bite and saved the rest for after dinner. {well, I couldn't very well let my kids see me eating dessert before dinner now could I?....a big no no in our house}

I hope you try the cobbler.  You can substitute with any fruit.  And I hope you don't forget about dinner in the process.  Here's the recipe:

Blackberry Cobbler

1/2 cup Bisquick

1/4 cup regular oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup chilled butter

3 cups frozen blackberries

1/4 cup granulated sugar

whip cream or vanilla ice cream for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine Bisquick, oats, brown sugar & cinnamon.  Cut in the butter using a pastry blender {or two knives} until crumbly.  Set aside.  Combine fruit and granulated sugar in a bowl.  Place the fruit into individual ramekins {or you can double the recipe and bake in a 8x8 Pyrex}.  Crumble oat mixture on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until bubbly.  Top with whip cream or ice cream and serve warm.

Happy Thursday!

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