The Cosmos

Back to Memorial Day weekend......after spending the best morning EVER at the Ingalls homestead....we kept on heading West. We stopped in Mitchell and saw the corn palace....and didn't stay long. We made it to the Black Hills just in time to convince Char's mom that taking us out to eat was a better idea than ordering in pizza. I don't remember where we ate but it was pretty darn delicious! Then we spend the rest of the evening convincing Char's mom that we should go to The Cosmos instead of Mount Rushmore (everyone had been there but Shannon - apparently Luke has been upwards of 7 times!). We succeeded in the morning and headed out on the road...

Strang pic, eh? At The Cosmos there supposedly is a unique gravitational pull that messes with your mind. When you stand up straight according to gravity your eyes tell you you're off base!

I should have fallen down if it weren't for the special gravity!

Oh Trent....still a mouth breather...

He's floating!

The three guys had been moving around on the "T" thing and their heights would vary even though it was level. This pic was taken after the last rotation where they were all obviously surprised at how things had changed!

Garbanzo Bean Burger Recipe

Carla....eat this!

Garbanzo Bean Burgers

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced onions
• 1/2 cup carrots, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (or 1 (15 1/2-ounce) can, drained)
• 5 tablespoons gluten flour
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder (or just use cornstarch)
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped finely
• Oil for frying

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and saute the onions, carrots, garlic, cumin, celery seed, and salt over medium heat until the onions are transparent. In a food processor, combine the nuts, and blend until 1/2 are a coarse meal and the other are just cracked. Place in a large mixing bowl and add the Sauteed vegetable mixture. Add the garbanzo beans in the processor and process the same way as the nuts. Add flour and arrowroot. Add the beans and parsley to the mixing bowl. Mix everything together well until the mixture has enough body to form a patty. If the mixture is too dry or crumbly, add a small amount of water to help the mixture bind. Form the mixture into 4 burgers. Lightly oil the frying pan and fry the burgers over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes on each side until lightly browned

Food and Seating

First of all, look at this weird strawberry. This strawberry got it all backwards - the wide part is down below and the point is at the top... yeah... that's all I have on that... so weird...

Here is an awesome veggie burger recipe. It's a garbanzo bean burger. It was fantastic. For some reason I have no clue where that recipe went and Charlene is sleeping at the moment - if we make a post on that recipe it will require her to be awake...

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I finally finished my chair, and here it is! I learned a lot making my picnic table - and I learned WAYY more making this thing. There were a lot of mistakes and gaffes along the way, but that's the best way to learn and have it stick in your brain - mistakes. Most of my problems have stemmed from using a really hard wood: red oak. I found out that you will destroy screws, blades, and tools unless you use ones meant for really hard woods. Well, at least I know it won't break anytime soon. I was planning all along to put a clear outdoor protecting finish on it but all I had was a can that stained it as well - I wasn't patient enough to wait and buy the clear stuff...

So this is what it looks like. I think it looks fine - but it's not what I intended... and now I regret it.

Nonetheless it is still fantastically comfortable in comparison to the picnic table, bench, or any of our folding chairs. Now I can enjoy my yard like it's supposed to be enjoyed. My next project is to make a love seat version of this (hopefully with ben when he visits in August) and a drink table as they are included in the plans I have. I am also thinking of making a curved ottoman that fits the style of the chair, though that would need to be designed by myself.

Laura Ingalls Wilder - Pt. 2

They had an iron cow set out so that people could practice "roping". Trent failed...

and so did Luke.

Char and Luke sitting in an old stage coach!

One of the horses there had just had a a baby - I think he was 4 days old! The mama was calm since this was her 4th cold but the baby was quite jumpy. We all were trying to get Little Jo (the colt - catch the reference?) to come up to us but Charlene was the only one who succeeded. Little Jo came up to within an inch of her hand then she just reached out to pet it's head a little bit before it scampered back to be right next to mom.

There are wagons they've converted into little camping cabins! Awesome!

Spaghetti squash Mexicana with tropical avocado salsa

Here is yet another AMAZING vegan recipe. It's fun to eat something that's part cold and part hot! I also made up 3 cups of rice to mix in with it just because I felt like rice belonged in the meal but it's fine without!

Spaghetti Squash Mexicana with Tropical Avocado Salsa Fresca

• 1 spaghetti squash (about 3 pounds)

First, bake the squash. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Fill a baking dish with about an inch of water and place the squash cut side down in the dish. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the skin is easily pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes until you can handle the squash. Shred and scoop out the flesh with a fork or spoon into a bowl. While the squash is baking, assemble the salsa and bean mixture.

Tropical Salsa Fresca

• 1 cup chopped tomato
• 1 cup chopped pineapple, mango or papaya
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped
• ¼ cup lightly-packed fresh chopped cilantro
• Juice of 1 lime

For the salsa, in a small bowl, toss all of the ingredients together. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Bean and Corn mixture

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 medium-size yellow onion, diced
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced small
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup red cooking wine (I just used Sangria and it was delish)
  
• 1 cup fresh or frozen corn (thawed if frozen)
• 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (such as Sriracha)

Prepare the bean mixture. In a large skillet, sauté the onions and jalapeno in the oil for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, all the spices, salt and the wine. Raise the heat and boil for about 2 minutes, stirring often. Lower the heat and add the black beans, corn and hot sauce. Cook for 5 more minutes until heated through. Add the squash to the bean mixture and toss to mix.
Divide among individual plates and top with salsa.

Laura Ingalls Wilder - Pt. 1

So....for Memorial Day weekend...Charlene's Mom's side of the family decided to all get together in Loveland, Colorado. Julie wanted to stop in the Black Hills along the way and visit some stuff. Charlene came up with the excellent idea to go through De Smet, SD along the way there to visit the Ingalls homestead! The prairie is Luke's to behold!

Charlene's just really like's Laura Ingalls Wilder stuff...

There's was a baby calf in the dug out which Luke got to come over! It was sucking on his hands in the picture...

I got fields to plow!!!!

The good ol piano forte!

New Rav4! Our first car - financed by US!

So, for a while Char has been borrowing a car from her parents - but recently she has had to return it so that her brother could use it while he gets set up in life. We decided that we needed a vehicle to replace it and so we went car shopping and chose THIS! It's a 2010 Toyota Rav4 Sport. It will be mostly Charlene's to drive as it will be safer, plus the 2000 Dodge Neon has aways been considered mine.

Next vehicle we get will be mostly mine though!

We're way excited about it! I'm not sure about Char but I've never had the privilege of being able to have a brand new vehicle - but yeah, it's very affordable and it has everything we were looking for in a vehicle: It's got 4 wheel drive for the crazy North Dakota weather, a moon roof for awesome-ness, 6 disc cd player, iPod hookup, and all that good stuff.

Yes, this is the exciting thing in our lives at the moment