Letterboxing: A Fun & Free Outing For the Whole Family

  

 

Several years ago, my wonderful sister-in-law introduced us to the hidden world of letterboxing.  Letterboxes are little secret boxes tucked away all over the world, found only with clues.  Over the years, we have found dozens of letterboxes.  It has been such a fun activity for our entire family and has become a tradition on every trip we take.  Letterboxing is great for all ages, it gets you outdoors, and it's FREE. 

 

  

 

 

So exactly what is letterboxing?  Think of it like a treasure hunt with the treasure being the letterbox.  The boxes are hidden by people, who then log their boxes and clues by location on various letterboxing websites such as letterboxing.org and Atlas Quest.  Then people like us search the websites to find letterboxes in their area.  Print out the clues and the hunt begins!   Boxes are usually hidden in state and metro parks, so hiking is usually required.  But we have found them right in the middle of town before, too. 

 

 

 

 

When you finally do find the letterbox, here's what you can expect.  Almost always, they are slightly hidden in stumps or under leaves, so you really have to look.  Boxes also need to withstand the elements, so they are also almost always in a plastic food container of some sort.  Inside usually contains a log book and a stamp.  The log book is like a guest book so the people who planted them can see who has found them.  We always write the date, our names and where we are from.  The stamp is for you to use in your own log book, if you have one.  That part is optional, but it is fun to keep a log book of all the letterboxes you've found.  And don't forget to hide the box when you're done.

 

 

 

 

The pictures are from our hike last week where we found the letterbox we planted last fall.  Even though we have yet to log the clues online, our little book was filled up with people signing in to say they found it.  Someone was even generous enough to add a lighter to our little box!  Letterboxing has been such a rewarding experience for our family and something I hope our girls do with their own families someday.

 

 

 

 

P.S.  There is also something called geocaching that is very similar and requires a GPS.  I have family members that geocache and love it, but we have never tried it.  I'm sure it's just as fun though.

 

To learn more, here is a great article:  http://www.oregonlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2010/07/letterboxing_its_like_geocachi.html

 

 

 

 This post has been shared at:  Homestead Blog Hop, Country Fair Blog Hop, HomeAcre Hop

 

 

 

 

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How to Make Flour Tortillas - Only 5 Ingredients, So Easy!

 

 

When I found out how easy it was to make homemade flour tortillas, it revolutionized our taco life.  I told you before how much the SSL Family Dad loves tacos.  Well he loves them even more on homemade tortillas.  They're softer, they taste better and they only have five ingredients.  We've said goodbye to the remaining 15 chemicals that are in our store-bought tortillas forever and that makes me one happy cooking mama.

 

Ingredients

 

2 cups all-purpose organic flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons coconut oil

3/4 cup milk, room temperature

 

1.  Combine dry ingredients and coconut oil in a mixing bowl and stir.

2.  Add milk and stir.  Dough will form into a ball.

3.  Sprinkle flour on your surface and knead dough for two minutes.

4.  Place dough back in mixing bowl and cover with a damp towel.  Let sit for 30 minutes.

5.  Divide dough in half by twisting apart.  Divide each half into five equal balls of dough for a total of 10 balls of dough.

6.  Place balls of dough on a plate and cover with damp towel.  Let sit for 10 minutes.

7.  Heat skillet on medium.

8.  Lightly flour your surface and rolling pin.  Roll each ball into 8" discs.

9.  Cook tortillas approximately 30 seconds on each side.  Bubbles will form, you can pop them if you'd like to make the tortillas cook more evenly.

 

That's it!  So easy and they taste great.  We use them for sandwich wraps, too.  I usually make a double-batch at a time for our family of five.  They last 5-7 days in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.  I usually pop them in the microwave before making sandwiches if they've been stored in the refrigerator.

 

Blessings!

Lisa

 

 

 

 

 

 This post has been shared at:  Country Fair Blog Hop

 

 

 

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Homemade Taco Seasoning

My husband's favorite meal is tacos.  Chicken tacos, beef tacos, taco salads, walking tacos, quesadillas, burritos, you name something Mexican and I'm sure we've made it before.  So when I stumbled upon this recipe for homemade taco seasoning, I ran right to the store to buy the ingredients in bulk. 

Taco seasoning isn't too expensive but I am always trying to find ways to cut down on our grocery bill, and when you eat as much of it as we do, making our own is definitely cheaper.  Plus, the littlest SSL Family Kids are not into spicy food, so making my own seasoning means I can control the heat for them.

My good friend also reminded me that this seasoning is gluten-free, whereas, store-bought is not.  There are hidden fillers, preservatives and MSG in the store-bought packaged seasoning as well.  To me, these are all great reasons why making our own is the better choice, and we're taking another step towards being chemical-free.

Homemade Taco Seasoning Recipe

1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

This recipe makes about 3 tablespoons of seasoning.  I usually double or triple the recipe each time I make it.  I also leave out the crushed red pepper flakes most of the time to keep it milder for the kids.  I have found that two tablespoons of seasoning is usually plenty for one pound of ground beef or chicken. 

We store our seasoning in an old garlic salt container.

We love it and do not notice any difference from the store-bought seasoning packets.  This recipe also makes it easy to play around with and modify according to your taste. 

Go ahead and give it a try!  And if you mess up, there's no problem that a bunch of salsa and sour cream can't solve..........

This post has been shared at:  Homestead Barn Hop, Country Fair Blog Hop, HomeAcre Hop

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