Snow-Go Mission with the Joplin boys

Over the boys' spring break we decided to have them up so we could take them out in the snow.  We went out two full days and about 2 and a half weeks later my hand is still paying for it!

Day 1:  We tried to tow everybody up at once but that was too difficult!  Blake and I had to start hiking up while he took Christian up.  It always ends up I hike up about 2/3 of the way!  HAHA  oh well, exercise won't kill me. :)  We got to a flat section and called that home while Matt took all of us out on the snowmobile.  The boys had a blast, Callie too!

After awhile Matt and Christian found a hill that looked like a good hill for some sledding action.  So we packed all of our lunch stuff and headed up the hill some more. 

The hill was a perfect hill to sled!  We got a good sled track going until Blake crashed and unintentionally made a jump.  I was the next one to go down and of course hit the jump!  I flew about 3 feet in the air and landed about 8 feet from where I launched!  I thought I was going to break something! 

So what do I do next?  I help the boys build a bigger jump! Then proceed to go off of it again!  We got some sweet video of all of us going off and half killing ourselves, but hey we had a great time!

Day 2:  The second day of snow play was out Highway 20 south of Mt. Baker.  We went and found a road that had fresh snow and took it.  We had to take turns going up so, it left Grant and I hiking up a lot of the way. It was a nice day again.  We got to the top and then we were able to hang out have some snow cones and then make a snow cave.  It took a long time to get to the top but we had fun! 

The highlight of my day was driving the snowmobile down towing Christian and Blake, while Matt and Grant skied down.  They cracked me up the whole time!  Swerving, crashing, hitting rocks, and crashing more!

Cheese Blintzes & Brown Sugar Bacon!

Growing up my family didn't do breakfast much and if we did it was good old scrambled eggs, toast, and sausage/bacon.  Nothing too fancy.  However, Matt's family loves breakfast!  Since I've known Matt and his family I've been introduced to lots of delicious breakfast meals.  This brown sugar bacon and cheese blintzes take one of the top places of breakfast foods!

I tried looking up where Cheese Blintzes originated, but I found that there are many different places where they claim to have started these super tasty morsels!!  I also found the way I was taught how to make these little guys is much different from various recipe websites.  The difference?  I put my sour cream and cottage cheese in the batter not as a filling.  Matt wouldn't eat them if those two things were a filling!  :)

This recipe is super easy and just takes one bowl to make it in.  I would highly suggest making these on a griddle.  You can make a lot at the same time and its also a bit more consistent in the heat department.

 Takes about 20 min to make
Feeds about 4 people

Cheese Blintz Ingredients:

1 Cup of sifted flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Cup cottage cheese
1 Cup of sour cream
4 Eggs
2 Teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Sift one cup of flour into the bowl you want to mix it in.  I usually mix it in my 4 cup pyrex measuring cup.  However, if you want to make more you would probably want to make it in a big bowl.

Put 1 tablespoon sugar in along with 1 teaspoon of salt in with flour. 

Measure 1 cup of cottage cheese put in along with 1 cup of sour cream in to flour mixture.  Begin stirring together.  It will be very thick, so begin adding 1 egg at a time until you have all 4 in.  Mix well with wooden spoon.  Sometimes I add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to give it more flavor! :)

Once all mixed together pour onto griddle.  Let cook until the edges look cooked. You also can check underneath to see how they look. Flip and let cook until nice golden brown.

Matt's family has always rolled their blintzes up with their choice of filling in the middle.  I usually just put the filling on and eat it like a pancake.  Either way would work. Rolling it up makes it look pretty though. :)

Filling:

The filling is the best part of these bad boys!  Here is a list of yummy fillings you can put on yours
Strawberries
Rasberries
Blueberries
Nutella
Bananas
Whipped Cream



Brown Sugar Bacon!!!

If you like bacon and brown sugar, you will definitely love these bad boys! I usually get my bacon from the meat department.  I have found that it is good quality bacon and it costs less or about the same as the stuff you get pre-packaged.  I take the bacon put it on a cookie cooling pan on top of a cookie pan.  This is so the bacon grease can drip off, so you don't have to eat it!

Once when you have your bacon on your cookie cooling sheet and pan begin putting brown sugar on top.  Its easy to use a spoon to spread the brown sugar around.  Turn your oven on to Broil and put your bacon on the top rack.  *** Make sure you watch it closely!!***  or it will burn!  Matt likes bacon on the chewier side... so its up to you how long you want to keep it baking. 

When you find the baked level you want for your bacon take it out and flip them over, cover this side with brown sugar and put it back in the oven.  Bake them until you feel that they are done.  Just make sure you don't forget about them... I am notorious for doing this... and having burnt food!

Chili Fit for a King!

Chili is always a great food for when you want something hearty, full of flavor, yet simple to make.  Chili is one of Matt's favorite meals I make.  I must put a disclaimer out there... none of my batches of chili that I have made have been the same.  I am one of those cooks that measures things by taste and how I want it to taste that day.  There are times where my chili is sweet, spicy or both!  We enjoy eating our chili in sourdough bread bowls or with the traditional cornbread.

Here is my best recipe for my Chili!  Lets just say this recipe feeds an army!  So if you want less chili cut the meat, veggies, and beans in half. :)

Time: About 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil (any oil will do)
1 Pound of your choice of meat (I usually use ground Turkey)

3 Cloves of garlic
2 Tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce
About 1 Tablespoon of Taco Seasoning (you may want more or less depending of taste)
3 Teaspoons of Chili Powder (more of less depending of taste)
1 Medium Onion
1/4 Red Pepper
1/4 Yellow Pepper
1/4 Green Pepper
1/4 Can of Olives
1 Can of Diced Tomatoes
1 Can of Tomato Paste
1 Can of Kidney Beans
1 Can of Chili Beans
1 Can of Black or White beans
If you want it on the sweeter side add about 2 teaspoons of brown sugar add more if needed to taste.
If you want it really spicy add Red Pepper flakes or Sriracha Sauce

Directions:

Put Oil in big pot.  Let heat up.  Add choice of meat let it brown for about 7-9 minutes stirring frequently. 

Add onion, peppers and olives.  Let them carmalize with meat for about 5-8 minutes stirring frequently.

Add tomato chunks and tomato paste.

Drain and add the beans.

Let is simmer on low for about 10-20 minutes.  Test it to see if you need salt, more taco seasoning, brown sugar or more spice.  If you find it too salty, add some brown sugar.  It helps fend off the salty taste.

Some great toppings are:
Sour Cream, Avacado, Raw onion, Peppers, Tortilla chips, cilantro  and Cheese!


Hope you like it as much as Matt and I!!

Frisbee Golf to the Max!

For those of you who haven't played Frisbee Golf you should seriously consider trying it!  It is fun, you get a work out and best of all you get to go outside and play. :)  There are a few Frisbee Golf courses around our area... but this time we chose the one that was closest to our house. 

This course is located at an old campground site.  It still has all of its picnic tables, BBQs, and electric & water hook-ups.  It seems a little eerie at first but its actually kind of nice to take a rest at a table while waiting for your turn.  This course is in the middle of the woods, so naturally there are trees everywhere!  We discovered that these flying disks we use are quite the evil weapon to trees!  They chip the crap out of bark and at times get stuck in trees! Haha!

London Fog!

Last weekend Matt Oram came up while his wife, Lindsey, thew a baby shower for a friend down in Bothell. We had a campfire in our back yard and we played some frisbee golf (I will post this later).  After frisbee golf we headed into town to get some coffee.  We went to a tiny place in Fairhaven called The Rustic Coffee bar.  They have pretty good coffee. However, that day I wanted something different.  Matt helped me choose and he told me to try the drink called London Fog.  It was seriously one of the greatest drinks I've had in a long time! 

Essentially the drink is made from Earl Grey Tea, Steamed milk and vanilla syrup.  Man-o-man is it good though.  Its like coffee minus the coffee aftertaste and bad breath!  Matt really liked it too!  The two of us liked it so much that last night we got all of the makings for it and drank some with dinner!

However, users must be warned the following information!!  If you are at all sensitive to caffiene like I am, please do not drink this during or after dinner!  I couldn't fall asleep and my mind was racing a hundred miles per hour!  That is always super annoying!  I plan to make it a breakfast or midday treat!  You should try it some time! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

I wore green today so I wouldn't get pinched by any 1st and 2nd graders!! Tonight, I am making some Traditional Irish foodies!  One of Matt's favorites!  Corned Beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes! :)

Camano Island Adventure

Sunday Matt and I decided to check out a new park around us.  We went to Camano Island State Park.  This park was about 45 minutes south of us and we liked the drive.  Sunday was cloudy and kinda chilly, but we made the best out of it and we had fun out on the beach with Callie! 

The drive there you could see the Cascades and Mt. Baker and when you got to the park you could see the Olympics and in the far distance you could get a glimpse of Mt. Rainier!  I could imagine how beautiful it would be on a clear sunny day!  It was nice even with it being as overcast as it was. 

A few weeks ago we went to my friend Sarah's farewell party and Matt saw that they had some hand carved wooden spoons made from burl wood.  Matt really liked that and decided that he would like to try that some time.  Well, when we went out we saw tons of really awesome pieces of wood, so Matt found one that he is going to try to carve a serving spoon out for me! 

As were exploring around the State Park we found the craziest gate ever!  It was part spaceship/dragon/solar system!!! Haha!  We had to turn around to take a few pictures of it!

This late spring or summer I want to have a BBQ here and spend a day playing at the beach, anyone else interested??  I felt artsy when we went on this adventure, so I took quite a few pictures, but here are my favorites!

Matt Squared

Over the weekend Matt went hiking with Matt Oram.  They decided to go climb Mt. Saint Helens.  They couldn't have picked a better weekend to go play in the snow!  Saturday, as you all know was absolutely warm and beautiful out!  You can definately tell spring is quickly approaching.  (Minus the fact it snowed at my house this morning!)

We got to the Oram's house around 8:00 Friday night and the boys went to bed around 10:30 to turn around and wake up at 2:00 AM to start their journey down to St. Helens.  They wanted an early start so they had more time to play around and have fun.  I thought they were crazy! haha.

Their hike couldn't have been more beautiful!  I know that pictures don't do justice but, OOh-da-lollie those were some pretty pictures.

There are a few pictures of Mt. Rainier and some of Mt. Adams.  Both Lindsey and I asked them to not fall in to the crater!  They were good boys and stayed far away from the Cornices...  I am glad he did!  It looked steep.

 

Destination Packwood!

Last weekend we went to Packwood where Matt's family have their cabin. I don't know if it's like this for you, but when we go anywhere for the weekend we pack like we are leaving for a month! We seriously need to work on that! I really am scared to see what it would be like when we have kids and Callie!

Matt promised the boys that he would bring the Cougar aka Matt's snowmobile! HAHA this thing is so hilarious...it's straight up 80's and one of my goals is to get Matt an awesome neon colored onesie snowsuit! HAHA Wouldn't that be a sight!

To get to Packwood is about a 4 or so hour drive. We always leave from Matt's work and so we always get down there around 10:00 at night and are exhausted! We got there and we ate some pizza and went to bed.

The next morning we got ourselves all packed up and we went out toward Walupt Lake. All of us were a little nervous that we would not find snow, however at around 4,000 feet we finally founds some of that snow stuff we have seen so little of this winter. Because we only had 1 snowmobile and 6 people we had to take turns getting rides up. We had our sled that we towed behind the snowmobile too!







It was a really fun day. I hung out in the sun snapping pictures while Christian, Blake and Matt took the sled off of some sweet slopes!

On Sunday we went up to White Pass and checked out the Winter Festival they had going on! It was really sunny and there was an awesome castle that you could slide down! I convinced Matt to bring Callie down with him! :)

Asparagus Cashew Stir-Fry

This dish was pretty scrumptious! It is a nice meal that you can make vegetarian with tofu or with any type of tasty meat you wish. It is very flavorful and depending your taste... you may want to substitute more garlic for the ginger. I don't mind ginger but its kinda strong. It's bright and colorful and the cashews make the meal a tasty treat.

Serves 4 

Time: Varies between 30-45 minutes

Ingredients:

Soy-Ginger Sauce
2 tablespoons cold water
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 ½ cups vegetable or chicken stock
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger or replace it for garlic
1 teaspoon sesame oil or wok oil (any other oil will work too but its not as tasty)
¼ red pepper flakes, or to taste dash of ground pepper

To Complete Recipe:
2 tablespoons oil
3 cups asparagus cut into 2-inch lengths
4 medium scallions (green onion) coarsely cut
1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (if you want less garlic that works too)
1 cup raw cashews

Directions:
Cook rice (rice takes about 20-45 min. depending of type of rice) or you can start boiling your water for noodles

Sauce: Stir together the water and cornstarch in a medium bow until smooth. Whisk in the vegetable stock, soy sauce, ginger-garlic, oil, and pepper flakes; set aside.

Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil in a large nonstick skillet or a wok over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and brown for about 1 minute. This is the time to add any meat you want let it cook until almost done. Add asparagus, scallions, bell pepper. Cook stirring constantly for about 5 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.

Reduce head to medium. Stir the sauce mixture; pour it over the vegetables and stir gently for about 1 minute or until it is thickened and bubbly. The last 5 minutes or so you can add the tofu (if added before it will crumble apart). Lastly, fold in the cashews.

Serve stir-fry mixture over rice or noodles.

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Discovery Park—Seattle Adventure!

 
This weekend we decided to take advantage of our nice weather.  We were going to Seattle for a birthday party later in the evening and so we decided to go and check out a new park beforehand.  We looked on Google and saw Discovery Park.  We noticed it had a beach, and some neat looking hiking trails.

We wandered around and found a nice sandy patch to relax and people watch.  It’s amazing how different Seattle parks are from Bellingham parks.  In Seattle there are people EVERYWHERE!!!  It can be fun for a while, but Matt and I prefer quiet solitude compared to annoying college students using drift wood as drumsticks!! HAHA

  I found some pretty beach glass to add to my collection.  Some day I am going to learn how to do something cool with the 3,948,239,847 pieces I have!!! Haha!  I really want to learn how to make earrings with all the cool pieces I have.  We also saw pretty sail boats with their bright colored Spinnakers.  The Olympics were out and the sun felt SOOOOOOO good!

Samoa Girl Scout Cookies

I Love, LOVE,  LOVE! Samoa Girl Scout cookies!!!! Every spring when the girl scouts come out and sell their delectable cookies I always cave in and end up buying the ridiculously expensive box of Samoa cookies! I was browsing through some recipes online and found this cookie recipe and couldn’t pass it up! I ended up making them into bars, which is much speedier than the cookie version! The coconut caramel mixture is good and the melted chocolate is also pretty tasty!

Oven Temp: 300 @ first to brown coconut then 350 to bake cookies

Bake time 10-12 minutes

Ingredients:

Cookie Base:

• 1 cup of butter

• ½ cup sugar

• 2 cups flour

• ¼ tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp salt

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

• About 2 tbsp of milk

Cookie Topping:

• 3 cups of shredded coconut (sweetened)

• 12 ounces of good chewy caramel (I used Werther’s soft caramels but most any will do)

• ¼ tsp of salt

• 3 tbsp milk

• 8 oz of chocolate chips ( semi or milk work just fine)

• 2 tsp of milk to help keep chocolate from getting to hard

Cookie Base

1. In a bowl cream together butter and sugar. Slowly mix in flour, baking powder and salt.

2. Next stir in vanilla and milk, adding the milk in as needed to make the dough come together without being sticky. The dough should come together into a soft not really sticky ball. You can add extra flour if your dough is too sticky.

3. Roll your dough out in batches (2-3 batches). You can roll between pieces of wax paper to make it about ¼ inch thick. Use a 1 ½ inch round cookie cutter to make your rounds. Place it on wax paper. You can use a knife or something smaller to make the center hole.

4. Bake cookies 10-12 minutes until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are set. Let cool

Cookie topping:

1. While making cookies Preheat oven to 300 and put coconut in a pan to brown. Toast for about 15-20 minutes and stirring it about every 3-5 minutes, until coconut is golden brown. Set aside and let cool in baking sheet

2. Unwrap caramels and place in large microwave safe bowl. Add milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes and stopping it to stir it up a few times to help the caramel melt and mix in the milk evenly. When it is smooth fold in toasted coconut with spatula. You will want to wait for this until you know most of your cookies are cooled off. If you need to you can reheat caramel mixture in the microwave.

3. Once when caramel is soft take about 2-3 teaspoons of caramel to put on the cookies.

4. While letting the topping on the cookie cool off melt chocolate in a small bowl. I added about 2 teaspoons of milk to the chocolate so when it cools it won’t be hard as rock!

5. Transfer remaining chocolate into a Ziploc bag. Snip the corner off and drizzle chocolate on the finished cookies.

If you want to make these into bars, all you do is roll out the dough onto a cookie sheet with wax paper. Let it bake until golden brown. Take the caramel topping and use a spatula to spread across. Cut with a pizza cutter to sizes you want. After it cools top with chocolate and if you want dip the bottom in chocolate!

Enjoy!!! These are highly addicting and yummy!

(pictures courtesy of bakingbites.com)

Winter Hike to Sauk Mountain

Over President’s Day weekend we decided to take an adventure to Sauk Mountain. I was super excited test out my snowshoes I got from Matt’s family for Christmas! We were hoping for somewhat decent weather; however, when it was time to get up we woke up to a torrential downpour of rain! Ugh! I don’t like being wet.

Thanks to our lovely presence of our “Dear Friend” El Nino, we have had one of the worst winters for snow! Last year we had snow coming out of our ears at this time! Unlike last year, we were able to drive up to 3,500 feet (about 1.25 miles from the trail head)!!! If were going there at this time last year you wouldn’t have even been able to get off the main highway onto the forest road! That is 7 miles from the trail head!

Our friends Matt and Crystal joined us and then at the trail Grant and his roommates met up with us. Matt and Matt skinned up and Crystal and I snowshoed up. Once when we started hiking up the weather tried to clear up. We were hoping for some view at the trail head. Sauk Mountain is pretty steep so Crystal and I on our snowshoes were not able to go very far because of the steep avalanche fields. We found a cozy spot to sit and enjoy the fading view of the Skagit River and watched the boys ski down the hill. Grant and his roommates made a jump and it was entertaining to watch them jump off it. I must say it looked like it hurt! You wouldn’t catch me jumping of sketchy a stump, that’s for sure!