Life at a "Swell's" pace

Super simple chocolate-covered Strawberries

This quick and easy recipe is above and beyond the simplest thing you do this summer. These are great for quick, prompt to get-together or even just a night of movies at your own house. They take all of 15 minutes from start to finish and can be done anytime.

You want to start out with some pretty good sized strawberries. The bigger the better!

Now, I like to remove the stem on some and leave the stem on others. For this I like to use the small end of my melon ball'er and it takes away less of the meaty part of the strawberry.

Or you can use the straw method I have seen throughout the "pins" on Pinterest and Twitter. I still feel that this approach takes too much of the strawberry away, but it's your call.

Line a plate or serving platter with parchment or wax paper. I like to place the plate or serving platter upside down on the paper and draw the outline then cut it out so that it's uniform with the platter.

I use rich/pure chocolate candy bars with semi-sweet chocolate chips for a taste that is more pleasing to the taste buds than just straight chocolate. I've found that it pairs nicely with the sweet taste of the strawberries too.

The reason the method is so quick and easy is because of the mixing of the chocolate. Make sure your strawberries are at room temperature, that is key here.

Tip: Placing your spatula upside down in a glass help keep the mess and splatters on your counter under control too.

Melt your chocolate, little bits at a time. I like to use the microwave at 30 second intervals so that I don't "burn" the chocolate. You house is going to small like Willy Wonka during the phase and it almost makes you want to eat the air. Ha!

Keep heating and stirring and mixing the chocolate for an even consistency and to combine the chocolate candy bar with the chips.

Now comes the fun part!

DIPPING THE BERRIES!

And make sure you don't have little thieves! :)

Once you get all your strawberries coated, let them sit in room temperature to harden. Placing them in the refrigerator only allows moisture to cover the chocolate and the berries and your chocolate won't harden correctly. Once they are hardened you can place them in the refrigerator in a covered container so that moisture can't touch them. Or serve them immediately!

Enjoy!

Yard Sale Finds: Ceramic Tea Kettle and Saké Cups (Treasure Hunt Thursday)

My yard sale adventures take me to random locations between here (Lebanon, Oregon), Corvallis, Eugene, Albany and ever some over in Salem, Oregon. I find random things from old 45s to broken chairs that just need a bit of love, but nothing compared to what I found yesterday. Fridays are normally the best day to find some of the goods that most people don't want, don't care for, or discard because they don't know their worth. This beauty was one for the books.

How amazing is this? It's a tea set by the company of Bombay® and the cups and tea kettle are in perfect condition. I paid $5, but after doing some internet homework I found a few being sold anywhere from $25 (without the cups) to $1,220 for the full set. Score!

I thought about making some tea in it and having a moment with it, but I think I would rather just let it sit on my table so I can admire it a lot longer before using it.

To see other great treasures take a few minutes to check out the other links that were shared over at From My Front Porch To Yours.

Our Garden Currently: Dirt delivered and planting begins!

Here comes the dirt for our raised beds from Central Bark Sales in Lebanon, Oregon!

It was delivered by a very chipper driver, as you can see!

We went with a steer manure, garden soil, composed dirt, and saw dust mix.

It smelled awesome! And we couldn't wait to add it to our raised beds!

Look how amazing it looks!

We were so amped about the soil coming we started planting the same night!

We picked out our favorites and began giving them a dirt nap.

Later that night though we had to cover up some of the little sprouts because it got down to freezing temperatures. The following day though we uncovered and planted a few more and were good to go!

Can't wait to plant more seeds and starters soon! I really can't wait to take advantage of the goodies that will be produced from these fantastic little sprouts either!

Our Garden Currently: Our raised beds are coming along nicely....

The raised beds are starting to have progress made to them and I am beyond super excited to give this method a go this year. We cut all the grass inside the boxes and then covered the area with newspaper. Newspaper is a natural weed deterrent, so it works best with a method such as this. As you already know, we had the boxes made and ready to go for a few days now. And, Skylar is a great little helper too!