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The Dunes

We have made 3 trips to Great Sand Dunes in the past 5 years and man … it NEVER disappoints. The awe of a giant pile of sand in the middle of the Colorado mountains? Always breathtaking. Always incredible and always SO SO fun! This go-around we went with some great friends for our first camping trip together and had a wonderful time.

We left Thursday after work. We got going late. Our progress was slow. VERY slow. Stops, delays, whining. And then we got there finally at 2 AM and the loop we were expecting to be open, expecting to be able to camp in was CLOSED. Seriously??? So we went to another loop which was for groups only and had no pop ups or RVs allowed and it was clear that we weren’t the only ones flummoxed by the turn of events. Tons of people were camping here there and everywhere, so we joined the fun, parked the 4 Runner and the popup across a few parking spots and half-popped the camper. We didn’t unhitch it and just got it up enough to pop out one bed and stuck everyone in that one bed and passed out. Really it wasn’t half bad. The next morning we found out that it was all a mistake and our loop was supposed to be opened. Continue reading “The Dunes”

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5 Spot Pancakes

Since we’re camping this weekend I thought I’d FINALLY share my favorite pancake recipe with you. This came up in a search last year when I was looking for camping recipes. We made it on our first camping trip in our pop-up and it was an instant hit. And we’ve been making it ever since. We’ve made it times other than camping as well, but I cannot imagine a camping trip without it and I’m pretty sure it will make an appearance each time we go.

When we go camping, I take the dry ingredients and measure them out and mix them up (and store them in a plastic container. I pre-measure the buttermilk into a jar and keep that in the cooler or camper fridge until ready to use. An egg and a little butter and some bananas is all that’s left – and of course some syrup. These come out super light and fluffy and amazingly tasty!

One recipe should do well for a family of four if two of the four are light eaters or small children, but any more than that and you’ll probably want a double recipe. Worst case scenario you can feed your fellow campers. I have also found it unnecessary to oil the griddle when I make these (presumably because of the butter in the batter) but if you find them sticking, obviously Pam it up.

5 Spot Pancakes (with Bananas)

adapted from Sunset Magazine

Ingredients

  • 3/4 C all-purpose flour
  • 6 T whole-wheat flour
  • 1 1/4 t baking powder
  • 3/4 t baking soda
  • 1 1/2 t sugar
  • 1/4 t salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/2 C buttermilk
  • About 3 T melted butter or margarine
  • 2 ripe bananas, peeled and thinly sliced or other toppings of your choice (blueberries!)

In a bowl, mix all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. In another bowl, whisk to blend eggs, buttermilk, and 3 tablespoons butter. Add to dry ingredients and stir just until batter is evenly moistened.

Ladle batter, 1/4 cup at a time, onto a medium-hot (350°) griddle or 10- to 12-inch nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Put 3 to 5 banana slices onto each pancake and cook until edges of the cake look dry, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn with a wide spatula and cook until browned on the bottom, 3 or 4 minutes longer. Serve pancakes immediately!

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Gone Camping

Before I say anything else, I just want to point out the amazing image on the right. I bought it from a very talented artist on Etsy and it now hangs in my powder room along with the print my mom got me on my last b’day – there’s a theme, in case you were wondering.

Anyhoo, we are heading off on our first camping trip of the year so I have been going all manic on my packing list and Matt’s been getting our pop-up ready. Our water pump is busted and we (Matt) have to replace it. The first camping trip is all about getting things ready and the last is all about putting them away. The ones in the middle are the easiest, but I will consider us lucky if we get four (five?) trips in this year so it’s a kind of labor-intensive proposition. Totally worth it though!!

Tonight we are doing the final packing (a bag per person, all the food, etc.) and then tomorrow after ballet, we are heading out. SQUEE!! We are going back to the Sand Dunes with some good friends and I cannot wait. We are hoping the little river in front of the dunes will be running. It turns the dunes into a fun beachy sort of experience. And we’re also hoping some of the back-country 4×4 trails will be open. They had a big forest fire last year and were filled with impassable ashes. But they are supposed to be amazing and scenic and I’d love to check them out.

Best of all, we found out last year that Loki is welcome at the park, so he will be joining us. That is going to be one happy dog.

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Chicken Stirfry Lettuce Wraps

Well April is almost done and so is my fourth cookbook, Great Food Fast. I have nothing but praise for this cookbook. I loved the full-color photos of EVERY recipe. I love the organization (by season!) and I loved the food. I actually tried EIGHT recipes from this (yay, made it!) book.

and for the finale … Chicken Stirfry Lettuce Wraps. Continue reading “Chicken Stirfry Lettuce Wraps”

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Title Unknown

Last week just about kicked my butt. Work. Kids. Work. Outside-of-work commitments. I could barely drag myself to bed within a few hours of bedtime, let alone write anything coherent.

Thursday night we had the parent info night for Kindergarten (!!) for Tabby. I’m still reeling from the fact that my baby’s headed to Kinder. But I was hugely impressed by our local elementary and I can say with confidence that whichever teacher she gets (2 of the 3 teach all-day Kinder) we’re very lucky. They are both great and exude enthusiasm for Kindergarten. Their classrooms are full of happy and fun and I can totally picture her there.

Friday we had checkups for the kids. Things went just fine except for the four shots Tabby had to get. It didn’t go well. There was much screaming and I had to help the nurse hold her down. I was super glad they sent in the large male nurse. We needed the extra muscles. Her legs hurt through yesterday. There was much whining. I felt terrible for her. Thank goodness for Tylenol.

Saturday we went to the Yves St Laurent exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. Well Tabby and I went. Matt bravely took Ben to see Chipwrecked and reports that it will soon be an approved method for torture. I’m not much into fashion, per se, but I really enjoyed the YSL exhibit and so did Tabby. She was GLUED to the audio program throughout and had such opinions and observations on the whole deal. The exhibit is only in Paris, Madrid and DENVER. There’s a whole story behind how it wound up in Denver (basically, we asked and agreed to do whatever they wanted). It was a great day and I loved hanging with my little (big) girl.

I am still plugging away at this month’s cookbook. We made Indian Spiced Chicken Burgers and Pan Fried Shrimp with Green Curry Cashew Sauce, except it was Green Curry Peanut Sauce because I can’t have cashews unless I want to spend the night at the ER in anaphylactic shock. The chicken burgers were great in theory and smelled good, but ultimately kinda tasteless. The kids ate them however because they had yogurt all over them. So at least that worked.

The shrimp sauce was really good and Ben had an awesome time making it, but the whole thing just didn’t come together. I blame it on the shrimp. We have a real hard time for some reason getting good fresh shrimp here. I don’t remember having issues years back, but maybe I didn’t know any better? Not sure. At any rate, it just didn’t work out.

But tonight we made the awesome Jerk Chicken and I think our bad streak of recipes is over.

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Chicken Caesar Salad

I debated even posting this recipe because we strayed so far from the original in Great Food Fast that it was really more of an inspiration than a recipe we followed. The original recipe called for making your own caesar dressing. I’m all for that, but we ended up making these for lunch and somehow homemade caesar is less appealing after hanging out in the breakroom fridge for a while, so I grabbed some stuff we had in the fridge and used that instead. I also try not to keep mayo (an ingredient in the dressing) in the house. It’s an ethical thing seeing as I hate mayo. But in the end, this is a really tasty and darn quick meal and I wanted to share it because it’s something that I love but never think about making. Maybe now you’ll think to make it too.

Chicken Caesar Salad

  • 4 oz Italian or French bread cut into 3/4 inch cubes (about 4 cups)
  • 3 T olive oil
  • coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 18 – 20 oz romaine hearts
  • caesar dressing (either from a bottle or scratch – I’ll add that below)

Heat oven to 375. Place bread on a rimmed cookie sheet and drizzle with 2 T olive oil and season with S&P. Toss to coat. Bake, tossing now and then until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat remaining tablespoon of oil over high heat in a skillet. Throw in your chicken and season with S&P as desired. Cook until a bit browned on the sides, stirring now and again with a spatula, about 3-4 minutes in all. Set aside.

Prep the romaine by slicing crosswise in 1-inch ribbons. Wash and dry (spin cycle). Toss with croutons, chicken and dressing. Enjoy!

If you want to make the dressing from scratch, Great Food Fast does it this way: put 1/4 C fresh lemon juice, 1/4 C reduced fat mayo, 1/4 C grated parm, 2 anchovy fillets and 1 small garlic clove in your blender and blend until smooth. Honestly, it sounds great, even with that evil mayo and I would love to try it next time.

This was also a great way to use up the extra bread left over from making the kids Berry French Toast this weekend. I already had the oven on from making the sugar cookies (they were the base of the fruit pizzas) and so I finished up the french toast and tossed in the croutons then stored them in an airtight container until we needed them. Just remembering to do little things like that makes putting together dinner (or lunch for the next day) so much easier!

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Ben is Three

I want to know who the heck swooped in while I wasn’t looking and swapped that teeny tiny little baby for this big boy. *sigh*

The bad news? He’s just not so little anymore. The good news? He’s awesome. So let’s focus on that. I’m madly in love with that little boy. He’s funny and cute and smart and sassy and so very sweet. I don’t think in his three years he’s ever refused me a kiss and a hug. He loves snuggles more than almost anything. Even Buzz.

I could write a long rambling post, but Ben isn’t the kind of kid for long rambles.

What he loves: BUZZ! and blocks and tea parties and David Shannon’s books. Playing with other kids, his people. Trains, cars, anything that goes.

What he says: “It’s not my fault!” and “Just five more minutes!” and “No! I not talking to you. I talking to [whoever I think will do what I want]!” and “Aww Mama, don’t cry!” (if I give him a pouty look when he’s being ornery).

What he eats: loves fruit and most carbs … meat is kind of secondary but well received. Defaults to his favorites as chicken fingers and hot dogs but eats most of what the rest of the family eats.

What he does: he loves to play with other kids, be outside, sing with Tabby (loudly), snuggle, RUN

What he has accomplished recently: he is ALMOST potty trained (after such a rocky start I’m immensely relieved), he is also getting pretty good and quick about picking up (at least when it suits him), can buckle his own car seat (we check, tighten) and get the mail from the mailbox

What he’s looking forward to: camping, summer camp at Tabby’s preschool, big boy school in the fall

He is such a joy to have in our family. Never a day goes by that he doesn’t make me smile. He has a great sense of humor and is at his core a kind little guy. We all enjoy him so much it’s hard to miss him being little and we’re incredibly lucky to count him as part of our family. Happy third b’day, my Benji.

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Ben’s Birthday

Ben’s birthday falls on a Tuesday this year … a really busy Tuesday as it happens. So we wanted to do it up right on Saturday while we could. Ben  is big into trains right now so we made a visit to the Colorado Railroad Museum. I’d asked my parents to get Ben a membership for his b’day which they were game to do. The membership there is extra nice because it includes 7 people and either my folks or Matt and I can take the kids. My parents, sister, grandma, Matt’s mom (in town for the weekend) joined us as well as our good friends and their boys. Continue reading “Ben’s Birthday”

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Meat ‘n’ Potatoes

Well things got kinda crazy last week with the hospital thing and all. But the week wound down nicely into another busy weekend. On Thursday our resident grill master’s new grill was delivered. And it was pretty. And he was happy. Since we had a bbq planned for Saturday, we thought we best test it out. And how better to do that than cook a couple of recipes from Great Food Fast. So we did.

Flank Steak with Lime Marinade

 

  • 1/3 C fresh lime juice (about 4 limes)
  • 2 T soy sauce
  • 2 scallions thinly sliced
  • 2 T minced peeled ginger
  • 1/2 t red pepper flakes
  • 1.5 lbs flank steak
  • vegetable oil for grates
  • coarse salt and pepper

In a resealable plastic bag, combine the lime juice, soy sauce, scallions, ginger and red pepper. Add the steak and seal the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator, turning occasionally for 30 minutes.

Heat the grill to high. Lightly oil the grates. Remove the steak fro the marinade, letting excess drip off. Season with S&P. Place on the grill and cover. Cook turning once until the meat has reached desired doneness, 6-8 minutes for medium rare. Let the steak rest for 10 minutes before slicing thin.

 

Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Scallions

  • 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick slices
  • 3 T olive oil
  • 1 t dried thyme
  • 1/4 t cayenne pepper
  • coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 2 T butter (optional)
  • 2 scallions thinly sliced

Heat grill to medium. Toss the sweet potatoes in a large bowl with the olive oil, thyme, and cayenne pepper. Season with S&P.

Grill the potatoes, turning frequently until tender when pierced with the tip of a paring knife, 20-30 minutes.

Return the grilled potatoes to the bowl and add the butter. Break potatoes into large pieces with the side of a spoon. Toss in the scallions and serve.

These two meat and potatoes dishes were incredibly easy, very very tasty, quite healthy and a huge hit with everyone. We added a bit of fruit and dinner was served.

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Tabby’s Tummy

Those of you who I’m friendly with on FB already know that we had quite the eventful Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday morning Tabby complained of a mild tummy ache. It wasn’t bad enough apparently to induce her to stay home and Matt sent her off. She was, it seems, perfectly fine throughout the morning but after nap, her tummy started to really hurt her. By the time Matt arrived to pick her up she was on the verge of tears.

I got home about 30 minutes after them (I was at the doctor and long story short, I probably have asthma) and by that time, she was crying out in pain pretty regularly. Matt and Ben then departed for tumbling and I started making dinner. Before long, Tabby was full on crying continuously and I went over to check her out. I barely glanced her tummy with my hand and she screamed out as though I’d pulled  a tooth without Novocaine. I asked her to point to where it hurt on her tummy and she pointed without hesitation to the region just below her belly button. Continue reading “Tabby’s Tummy”