Cheese Blintzes with Blueberry Sauce

     Every once in a while I'm particularly excited about a new recipe, so excited in fact that I must post it.  At the beginning of this year Corey and I escaped to the Grande America Hotel for an anniversary getaway.  At the buffet breakfast I discovered blintzes...yum.  I searched for a recipe and just recently tried it myself.  It's a bit involved, but worth it on a cold, slow Saturday morning.  Enjoy!

Cheese Blintzes with Blueberry Sauce (original recipe from food.com)

Blueberry Sauce

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Blintzes

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
5 eggs
2/3 cup milk
shortening
1 lb small curd cottage cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
sour cream

Directions:

Make sauce: Wash and crush berries.
Mix in sugar thru salt and 1¼ cups water and put in saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil 1 minute.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Chill.
Make blintzes: Combine flour and salt, add 1 cup water and mix until smooth.
Add 4 eggs and beat well.
Add milk and mix to a thin batter.
Heat a small amount of shortening in a 6" skillet.
Pour in ¼ cup batter and cook slowly until pancake is lightly browned on bottom and set on top.  
Turn out with browned side up.
Repeat, making about 18 pancakes.
Using a hand mixer, blend cheese through vanilla with remaining egg.  
Put a spoonful of cheese mixture in center of each pancake, fold in ends and roll up.
Brown in a small amount of hot shortening.  
Serve topped with a dollop of sour cream with cold blueberry sauce over the top.

Goofy-ness

     Yeah, we know how to have fun at our house.

Ode to Our Beloved Tree

      How could you not love a tree with a heart-shaped hole in it??  Why I get attached to trees is beyond me, actually it's my Mom's fault...she does it too.  Anyways, this is our great maple tree in our yard.  It was a big, beautiful tree when we moved in.  It's full branches dropped their bright yellow leaves and we loved playing in them and taking pictures of my little boys in them.   Last year a woodpecker made her home in our tree and laid eggs there.  We loved checking up on the eggs and then the baby woodpeckers. Then the tree slowly died branch by branch until they all became brown. 
     Corey and the boys did the job and did a good job at it too.  We're now in the market for a new tree to become attached to, to be planted next spring. If you have any suggestions for awesome shade trees let us know!!

The Value of a "BIG CHECK"

      Okay, brag alert here.  As y'all know I'm very proud of this man that I'm married to and he's pretty much had the biking season of his life so if you mind me gushing over him skip this post and wait a few days and I'll gush over my kids.
     Haven't you always wanted to win a big check??  Wouldn't that just be the coolest?  Well this summer Corey won three big checks.  Now the funny thing is that the "big checks" weren't even worth a whole ton of money, alright one was greater than one-hundred, but the other two were for sixty-dollars.  About what it cost to register for the race, but none of that mattered to Corey, he got a big check.  As you can see right here he's very happy about this.  After this picture he took his big check inside and placed it on top of my refrigerator for about two weeks.  It was lovely.   But I was okay with it because who wouldn't have been excited? 
     Congrats on your big check wins this year babe!! 

Here is our friend Kevin winning his first "big check."  Way to go Kev!!












      Corey's last big check win of the season.   And if you'd like to view Corey's collection of big checks you can find them secretly moved from my fridge to his biking shed....yeah, he really does have a biking shed. 

Back to School!!!

     We had a great, fun summer, but it was time... These boys are getting so big  I can't believe it!  This year Mac's in 6th grade (whoa!), Keat's in 4th and Tater's in 1st.  It's just me and the twins at home now.  Everyone has great teachers and I'm excited for a good year.  Please note McKay's new glasses as he was very excited about them.  I think he looks handsome....and old. 

                               Tater bug started a day later than the boys...here he is ready to go!

The BIG race

Kevin and his brother Cody, pre-race.

 Corey's big race of the year is the Park City Point to Point.  It's an 80 mile mountain bike race with huge amounts of climbing and technical trails.  It's what he trains all year for.  The night before the race we woke to huge rolling thunder and wild rain.  The week before there was talk of the trails being dusty and miserable, now there was talk of postponing  the race because of lightning and mud.
     Thankfully after about an hour of deliberating they decided to go ahead with the race.  I was really glad since we'd gotten my parents to come over at 5 am to spend the day with the kids and I simply didn't want to arrange the day all over again.

     Corey's had a great year biking this year so there was a lot of pressure for him on this race.  It's crazy how nervous and excited I get for him.  This year he asked me and his Dad to "crew" him.  This means we meet him at the aide stations and re-fill his bottles, give him the food he needs and help with anything he wants.  He stops at two aide stations for less than 2 minutes and it's an 8 hour race so there is a lot of waiting, expecting, crazy rushing and then cheering him as he speeds away.

Drew, Corey & Nick

     Stan and I went to a spot where we could see Corey before he got to the first aide station.  It's funny how I've come to know Corey's biking friends and know how they compare to Corey, their different riding styles and strengths.  At this first spot Drew, a Pro rider, was way in the front, then came Nick, very strong and then, quite a bit later,  Corey.   It made me a bit nervous, but Corey is an endurance guy and gets more strength as he goes so I knew it'd be okay.  They all were splattered with mud and wet.  We were cold ourselves, but they were all moving so Corey says he wasn't cold.  At the first aide station Drew came in looking good and was gone.  Then a bit later Corey came in followed closely by Nick.  He looked strong and didn't want much, especially to loose time.

The Podium

     We had much more time at the second aide station.  It was fun visiting with the other "bike wives."  We all get this whole obsession with mountain bike riding and it was nice to visit with everyone.  I knew a lot of riders this year and it made it fun to have so many people to cheer for and help.  Corey's Dad became the expert chain luber of that aide station since everyone's chains were in need of cleaning after riding the crazy muddy trials. 

Russ and Corey at the finish

     The finish was awesome.  Corey rides a singlespeed bike which means he chooses (obsesses over) one gear and that's what he rides the whole race, no gears to switch to make it easier, he just stands up and pushes through it.  It's an amazing and challenging way to go and Corey's really good at it.  This year his goal was to finish under 8 hours.  They cut about an hour off the course so it's hard to compare, but he finished in 6 hrs and 38 min. He finished 11th overall and won his division.  Amazing.  I'm so proud of him for working so hard and balancing his riding with a big family that takes a lot of time and attention.  Way to go Babe!!
     Thank you Mom and Dad for taking the kids for the day.  It's fun to have a day to think only of Corey and to support him.   The kids had a great time with my parents going to the Aviary, out to eat and spending time together. 
   

End of Summer Bash!

      The last weekend before school started we headed up to the cabin to celebrate.  I know I always say this, but there's something about that place...so relaxing and fun.  On Saturday we went hiking up above Smith-Moorehouse.  It was fun and the kids loved being goofballs for the camera. 

      Here are our goofballs-in-training...this girl needs a whole slideshow because she comes by this talent naturally.

      Back-in-the-day we were into kayaking.  We got both of our kayaks while Corey was fighting cancer.  One from college friends who pinched and saved to get us this awesome boat and the other from a pro kayaker who ran a camp for kids with cancer that Corey spoke at.  We haven't kayaked much since we had our third kid but wanted to keep the boats in use so we took them to the cabin.  Now anyone up there can take 'em to the lake and paddle around.  Our kids had a blast and I hopped in to see if I could still roll a boat. Another great weekend at the cabin!