It was well worth the wait. I'm glad they decided to wait until we were well enough to eat and help prepare it. We started with a cheese plate of manchego, jarlsberg and fig jam. Then, we had caprese salad and pesto oil while my dad and I finished grilling the asparagus and salmon. For dessert, I made lemon blueberry cheescake cupcakes - and boy were they a hit!
It was a really good meal to eat after such a busy day. My mom and I started off the morning with a long talk over coffee and blueberry pancakes (aka my favorite kind of morning) before we headed off to church and met our new pastor (though hesitant at first, we're now big fans). We came back home and had lunch before running up to the grocery store to get a few things. Then, we came back and my dad and I started pickling! We're making pickles.
My mom isn't pleased, but we're excited. I'll tell you more about it later but we're making regular and spicy dill pickles and sweet bread and butter pickles in the fridge. We got some pickling cucumbers in our CSAt two weeks and, well, it seemed like the perfect time to try it. It's also really fun that E's fiancee loves spicy dill pickles and we had no idea. Talk about perfect timing. Our pickles are ready to eat now and for the next few weeks, so I'll be sure to tell you all how they are.
We got more pickling cucumbers this week, so I think we're going to try preserving some pickles, because my mom will freak if we put any more jars of pickles in the fridge for now. I'm proposing a taste test to check the difference between the two. Then, I whipped up the lemon blueberry cheesecake bars while my dad started the bread dough. After sorting through boxes of kitchen equipment from my apartment in college, I put on a bathing suit and went outside where my dad started teaching me to roll a kayak!
I was so nervous at first that I was actually shaking. There's something so scary and vulnerable about being trapped in a kayak and suspended underneath the water from it (thanks, spray skirt). I thought I would panic as soon as the kayak flipped and be completely helpless. I kind of thought I would drown. but, I also think so much about life is about facing fears. It's so easy to go through life avoiding what makes you scared, but I think facing your fears makes you feel stronger. I'm certainly going to feel stronger, though sore, as I head in to work tomorrow. If nothing else, for facing my fear and staying calm underwater. It was a great bonding exercise with my dad who was trying to teach me how to do it. We made some great progress and I can almost right the boat completely by myself. I hope we'll be jumping into the pool to do it again this weekend also.
So, let's talk lemon blueberry cheesecake bars.
Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction & my Great Nana's Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients:
8 whole graham crackers, crushed
2 Tbsp. melted butter
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp sugar + 1/3 cup sugar
2 packages softened cream cheese
1 egg
2 Tbsp. vanilla
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 pints fresh blueberries (or frozen)
1 cup sour cream
3-4 rounded tablespoons powdered sugar
Directions:
- Mix crushed graham crackers, melted butter a pinch of salt and 2 Tbsp. sugar in a bowl. Press into lined muffin tins to form the crust (mine made 17 nice and full cupcakes)
- Preheat oven to 350. Beat cream cheese for 1 minute until light. Add 1/3 c. sugar, 1 Tbsp. vanilla, egg, lemon juice and lemon zest (I spilled about half the lemon juice because I'm clumsy and they still came out great. I also forgot the vanilla. I was a little bit distracted). Beat 3 full minutes. Fold in blueberries and fill muffin tin.
- Bake 20 minutes or until set. Cool on counter and then move to fridge for at least 2 hours.
- At some point after the cupcakes have cooled on the counter, mix the sour cream, powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp vanilla. Frost the cupcakes and return to the fridge. This frosting won't harden too much in the fridge. Top with fresh blueberries and a mint garnish if desired before serving.
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