Friends, Family, Fun!

I had a great fun-filled weekend with family and friends. Of course, like all great weekends, they all come to a close way too quickly. On Saturday, Nehe and I hit up the farmers market and of course left with amazing goodies! The best thing I found was huge fresh bulbs of garlic like I have never tasted before – fresh, spicy and flavorful! I’m so excited to use them up this week and hopefully find some more next. I also purchased a bundle of grass-fed beef by Coyote Run Farm. They have just started selling grass-fed beef and I would definitely contact them if you’re interested.

After our trip to the market, I had my friend Mare Beard and her family from Costa Rica over for a bbq.

They are back in town visiting family and friends while making new connections for their ministry Rancho Oasis for Youth. All my Foodbuzz friends know Mare as noisyfoodie or her blog, Just Making Noise. We had such a fun time catching up and doing what we do best, cooking and talking!

We made fabulously grilled hamburgers topped with avocado, sauteed garlic swiss chard, and locally made Manchego style goat cheese from Northern Prairie Chevre. The cheese was sooo yumm! We were also pretty excited as we made our own homemade buns that were soft, chewy, and delicious. Mare finished up our meal with a homemade cobbler filled with local rhubarb, apples, and strawberries. All that was missing was some homemade ice cream! We’ll save that for next time! To round up a fun-filled Saturday we all hit the baseball diamonds to watch the men in our lives play some softball.

On Sunday we spent time visiting a friends acreage in Pleasantville.

We’re definitely looking forward to moving to the countryside one day. I just can’t explain how relaxing it is to sit back and overlook gardens, pastures, and fields. Absolutely beautiful!

Sunday was rounded off by some more time spent in my gardens weeding, thinking, praying and thanking God for all of my needs being met. My garden, my place of retreat 🙂