erica danielle

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes, and I had to go back and look into my archives to see if I've already posted it. According to my calculations, I haven't, but please stop reading if I've already shared this. In College I had the best small group leader named Angie. She is a gem of a person, stunning, compassionate, giving, lover of beautiful things, cooking, and people. She would often feed us poor college girls and this recipe comes from her. She found it in a REAL SIMPLE magazine when they were still doing "fake it, don't make it" articles (why don't they do those anymore?). I have made it countless times, for countless amounts of people. My sister and I are seriously addicted. When I looked up the recipe on REAL SIMPLE's website today, I realized I've been making it wrong all these years, so technically this is an Erica Carlson original. Any way, this is PERFECT for meatless Mondays, tasty Tuesday, wild Wednesday, thirsty Thursday (...

With this last surge of Chicago warmth, you would almost be tricked into thinking that summer is still here, but this weekend the high is 42 and in less than 2 weeks we have to turn our clocks back. My summer tan is gone, as are the days of waking up to the sun shining and going to bed way too late because all you want to do is be outside on a summer eve drinking a crisp white wine and talking about your vacations. I haven't really had much time to reflect on my summer, but I was looking through some recent pictures tonight and remembering all the fun we had when Sten wasn't busy at CPE and I wasn't at work. Here are the highlights of my summer: camping with my man. building a fire. sleeping in a tent and relaxing.  cheers-ing to Kate and Peter's new house in the 'burbs. its cozy and the company is perfect. spending summer nights downtown...  house sitting in Evanston  trying out new restaurants with Sten.  Celebrating Ashley's we...

I feel like October is going too fast. 31 days in this much anticipated month doesn't seem like enough. There's so much food to taste, leaves to crunch and fall gatherings to attend- and I don't want it to end. It's strange, but a little bit of me feels like my life came to a halt after my marathon was over. The days seem to be passing by with less meaning. Suddenly I don't have a big looming event on my calendar. I feel like over the last 2 weeks I've almost let myself go. I'm someone who needs a calendar with lots of things to look forward to, lots of events, goals, deadlines to get from here to there.... I don't know if this is a good quality, or a bad one, but it's what gets me through my days. I feel like health is usually on the fore-front of my brain, but sometimes, when I'm not thinking, it gets pushed to the back and I have to put myself in check. I think I had one of those moments tonight. so.... I unrolled my yoga mat. It was stiff a...

It's Friday! At this time last week I hadn't had a good night sleep in about 6 days and I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that I was flying to MN to run my Marathon... and now, marathon is done and we're almost half way through October. It was such a fun, short weekend. And I loved running through Minneapolis and St. Paul.  To things about Amos: #1. He makes you feel like a million bucks because he smiles at EVERYTHING you do. #2. He ALWAYS has his hands in his mouth!  Blueberry Pancakes on Saturday morning.  My official time. My goal was under 4hours, so I beat my goal! I have been out. of. commission. !! I couldn't walk Monday and Tuesday- and up until yesterday was having lots of difficulty going down stairs. I am feeling in tip top shape this morning and can't wait to get out and move. North Park Homecoming is this weekend! Go Vikings! xo. erica

I wish I could bottle up the smell wafting in our apartment right now. All day long the crockpot has been on working its magic. I've always loved the apple orchard. It just feels so Minnesota. It feels like the fall activity that no one should ever miss. While in MI last weekend , we stopped off the side of the road at a little Fruit Stand and I bought a bag of baking apples. After peeling, chopping, and spicing. I let the apples sit in the crockpot for 10 hours and out came applebutter! It reminds me of mornings at home in the fall. My mom's homemade toast smeared high with applebutter... Nothing better.  the finished product. I can't wait for breakfast tomorrow!  I forgot to take a picture while IN the crockpot, but those really never turn out anyway.... RECIPE: adapted from about 50 different websites. 14 apples peeled and cored. cinnamon cardamom apple pie spice grated lemon peel 1 T lemon juice 1/4 C sugar 1/3 C brown sugar cut u...

I can't believe it's October 2012.   I feel a rush of emotions when I think about the future. Pure excitement. Doubt. Calmness. Terror. Happiness. Hopefulness. Peace. Unrest. All in the same 60 seconds. It seems like up until now, I have been able to not have a plan of where we will be when Sten graduates in 8 months. But now the time is coming, and we still don't have a plan. I know God has a plan for us. A big one. A grand one. Full of adventures, new friends, a new church family and new territory to explore. I've done lots of pondering (while I peeled, and chopped 14 apples for applesauce)- can you tell? I want to be the best wife for Sten. The most supportive person, his number one fan. I want to be the one he bounces all of his thoughts off of. The one who sits and listens to all his ideas. The one who is present every day. I am feeling especially thankful for him tonight. My October goals are: - enjoy the now - do not stress about the future - show Ste...