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DIY Floating Deck & Fire Pit

October 17, 2022 By Joshua Rief 6 Comments

We're sharing our experience building a floating deck & fire pit, a quite simple project if you've got a little extra space in your backyard!

As I write this, I'm reflecting back on the summer and trying to remember how I had time to complete this project. Right now, it feels like I spend roughly 99.9% of each day trying to keep a certain three-month-old happy. Of course, that's not even remotely true. The reality is that little Cadáin sleeps great at night, which is a huge blessing, and is generally a delightful chap in the mornings. It's the evenings that are brutal right now. As with all of our children, colic sets in around 2-3 months, and for that brief time period (which is now), the day is pretty much shot from 3 PM onwards.

Having done this four times before, I know this is a very temporary phase. The little man is a delight, and we already cannot imagine our family without him in it! But any parent who deals with colicky babies is lying if they don't admit that you begin to lose your mind just a little bit every afternoon as your tiny master descends into his or her daily bout with temporary insanity.

At any rate, back in May, Chels was seven months pregnant, we were still a family of six, and even though I work a demanding full time job...I apparently had time for DIY projects. I have faith that this time will come again.

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Chai Apple Pie

October 6, 2022 By Chelsia Rief 2 Comments

This recipe for chai apple pie is an easy way to dive into autumn baking season! You can use a store-bought pie crust, or make your own!

It's officially pumpkin and apple season in the cooking world (and pretty much everywhere else, I guess) and I'm kicking the season off with an apple recipe. An apple dessert! An apple pie. Not just any ordinary apple pie though, an apple pie with chai in it! You should know that chai is one of mine and Grace's favorite cooler season drinks. In fact, if you love chai, too, I highly recommend the Chai Tea Latte mix from Trader Joe's. It's under $4 and lasts a decent amount of time.

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One Pan Chicken with Grapes

September 22, 2022 By Chelsia Rief Leave a Comment

This simple, tasty recipe for one pan chicken with grapes elevates its basic ingredients and pantry spices to a delightfully rustic elegance!

I've always been a fan of one pan meals - hello, easy! But now that I've got five kids, the youngest not quite three months old, I'm even more of a fan because I have to use my time wisely! Every second counts, and when you've got a screaming child who wants to be held, you just need to get dinner in the oven.

My friends Mike and Laura from Mt. Hope Farms gave us some beautiful grapes to make some recipes with, and Josh made this yummy French Grape Clafoutis dessert. Mike and Laura run their local family farm just a couple miles south of our home here in Molalla, and when Laura and I met on Instagram, we instantly got along because, well, obviously food and farming go together! (Editor's Note: Apparently social media is actually good for something once in awhile...!) I had the opportunity to tour their farm last fall and was so impressed with not only their gorgeous property, but their enthusiasm for their work and the way it's truly integrated with their lifestyle. Willamette Valley farming goes back generations in their family, and it's inspiring to see them live out their passion, cultivating the fields filled with berries and grapes, creating scrumptious fruit spreads, and managing the business along the way. A lot of hard work, no question, but with beautiful results!

Ruby driving combine — Ruby's going to harvest...something...at Mt Hope Farms

I first discovered their fruit spreads on the shelves of one of our favorite local shops, which we've mentioned before (The Rustic Shed, if you're local - we've mentioned Darci's shop before in our post on painting our kitchen cabinets with milk paint). So I've been buying their fruit spreads for a few years now (you might remember that I use their fruit spread in my Thumbprint cookie post), but I hadn't tried their grapes until last year when they gave me a little crate with a beautiful selection of three different varieties: Jupiter, Thomchord, and Reliance. I used the Reliance grapes in this post if you're interested in the exact grape variety, but most any grape variety will work.

One Pan Chicken with Grapes on sheet pan

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Cast Iron Vanilla Bourbon Grape Clafoutis

September 15, 2022 By Joshua Rief Leave a Comment

This recipe for grape clafoutis is a delightful, and incredibly simple, rustic French dessert. Part flan, part pie, part custard…all good!

I feel like we have to deal with the obvious question first - the elephant in the room, if you will. If you're a connoisseur of traditional French desserts, then perhaps this is no mystery to you, but otherwise, I'm going to assume you had the same reaction I did when I stumbled across this recipe...what's a clafoutis, precious?

Cast Iron Vanilla Bourbon Grape Clafoutis

Sorry (not sorry) for the LOTR nerdery there. Let's start with how to pronounce it. It's a French word, of course, but surprisingly only one of the letters is silent (it's the "s"), so the pronunciation is more like "klah-foo-tee". According to the internet, clafoutis is originally from the Limousin region of France, and made with their local sweet, black cherries, but can be made with a wide variety of fruits. For Americans who are familiar with the rustic French dish, I would guess that much of that familiarity comes from the fact that Julia Child has a published clafoutis recipe using berries (which actually sounds amazing).

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Dutch Baby with Sweet Cream

September 10, 2022 By Joshua Rief 6 Comments

This easy recipe for a Dutch Baby with Sweet Cream is a simple, homey way to get a tasty, flexible breakfast on the table in no time!

We love our brunch and breakfast recipes around here, and for a few years, a dutch baby has been a favorite quick and easy way to get food on the breakfast table. The ingredients are simple, the process is easy, there are minimal dishes involved, and everyone loves the resulting "giant pancake".

Apparently what we call a "dutch baby" is also known by a variety of other names, including a Bismarck, a German pancake, or, my favorite, a Hootenanny! We definitely need to call this breakfast a Hootenanny from now on. Technically, it's a giant popover - and, according to the internet, is somewhat similar to a traditional English Yorkshire pudding, though I sadly would not know anything about that...someday we'll get over to London! (A sad note - as a I write this post, a news alert just came in that Queen Elizabeth II has passed away - the end of era, we can say, with no hyperbole whatsoever.)

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Tropical Chicken Kabobs

August 25, 2022 By Joshua Rief Leave a Comment

This tropical chicken kabobs recipe with a pineapple honey dipping sauce is a perfect way to enjoy gathering around your grill this summer!

Our family loves an easy summer skewer / kebab / kabob recipe! Call them what you like, but they're easy to love - generally a simple marinade and some combination of protein and vegetables, or even fruit! Thread the ingredients on a skewer, throw that skewer on the grill, and a few minutes later you've got dinner. Our kids think they're fun to eat, Chels and I think you can develop some terrific flavors as the ingredients get a little smoky and caramelized, and food on kabobs has a tendency to be easy on the eyes to boot!

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Magnolia Table Peach and Almond Tart

August 18, 2022 By Chelsia Rief Leave a Comment

This delightful Magnolia Table Peach and Almond Tart recipe (from vol. 1) is easy to whip up and a perfect not-too-sweet summer dessert!

It's peach season! In fact, it's apparently national peach month! So here's a peach recipe idea you should definitely try out...there is something so fun about a tart. I think it's because a tart doesn't have the same kind of pressure that a pie can have. Beautifully crimped edges. Even lattice work. Flakey and buttery crust...

See, with a tart, you don't need to mess with all of that. For this recipe, we use a pre-made pie crust, and with a tart pan, you only need to set the dough inside the pan and...voila - crust is done.

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Caprese Orzo Salad

August 4, 2022 By Chelsia Rief 1 Comment

This recipe for caprese orzo salad is a fresh, summery, low-cal take on a simple pasta salad. Serve it alongside your favorite summer dishes!

Last summer, I had so many plans. SO MANY! I had a list of recipes I was going to make and share with you and then I broke BOTH of my wrists. Yes, I'm still a bit salty about it, haha! This Caprese Orzo Salad happens to be one of the many recipes I had already tested multiple times and then never got around to sharing because then it was fall and then I was pregnant and then it just made sense to wait until after the baby was born to share with you this summer. I'll be honest - those last ten weeks of my pregnancy, I wasn't in the kitchen much, so not a lot of cooking got done (by me).

I realize it is now August (where did the last month go?!), but there is still plenty of beautiful summer cooking to be done and this simple pasta salad just needs to be made. You will absolutely love how simple it is and even more, how good the leftovers (if there are any) are too.

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Our Favorite Non-Alcoholic Beers & Wines this Pregnancy

July 30, 2022 By Joshua Rief Leave a Comment

This pregnancy, we tried a variety of the new non-alcoholic beers & wines that have hit the market recently - here are our thoughts!

We're planning to share a variety of baby-related product reviews and recommendations with you over the coming months, interspersed with our normal feed of recipes and DIY projects, of course. This post, though, looks back on the pregnancy Chels just completed with the birth of our little guy here about three weeks ago. Nothing in this post is sponsored, and this post is not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned in any way. This is just us sharing the non-alcoholic beers & wines we enjoyed, in hopes that it might help you find something you enjoy if and when you need it!

Our Favorite Non-Alcoholic Beers & Wines this Pregnancy

Naturally, Chels avoids alcohol during pregnancy, an abstention in which I generally joined her. Why? Well, for one thing, taking a long break from alcohol never hurt anyone! But, mostly out of a spirit of solidarity - Chels and I would normally have a glass of wine with dinner a couple of times a week, maybe a beer with pizza on Friday night, and perhaps a celebratory martini on the weekends. I just didn't enjoy my beverage of choice as much if she couldn't join me.

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Greek Chicken Bowls

July 29, 2022 By Chelsia Rief Leave a Comment

This "build your own" recipe for Greek Chicken Bowls is simple, healthy, and flexible - use it for lunches, dinners, or even meal ministry!

One of the things I craved constantly throughout my pregnancy was Greek food, or at least things that seem like Greek food to me! I wanted artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, capers, and tzatziki sauce. I think I put some sort of Greek meal on the list at least once every 2-3 weeks. I mean, I would have put it on the menu each week, but I thought the family might revolt if I went that far. Although, because I was pregnant, I may have been able to get away with it. Also, this type of food is fantastic, so they really probably would have been pleased! One of the downsides to being on the postpartum side is you can't use the "because I'm pregnant" excuse anymore...or can you...?

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