Mountain Green Moonlight Snowshoe Dates!

Here are the 2011 moonlight snowshoes dates. Men and women of all ages and abilities are welcome. Come no matter what shape you are in! This is a chance to socialize and experience the great outdoors by moonlight.

If you are not familiar with snowshoeing, here are a few tips. For those of you who are experienced, please comment with any more ideas/tips.

First, if you don’t have snowshoes, don’t let that stop you. Call me and I’ll help find you a pair. Rentals are very inexpensive (around $6.) You will need warm snow boots or possibly hiking boot.

Second, if you would like to purchase snowshoes, keep in mind the terrain where you will use them. If you come with us we will be mostly traveling on packed trails. If you come sometime with my husband and me, we venture off the beaten path into powder. Powder snowshoes are quite uncomfortable on packed trails. $80-100 would be a reasonable price for a good shoe. We have Tubbs, Redfeather, and LLBean and like all of the brands.

Lastly, BRING A FRIEND. The more the merrier. Send this info to anyone who might be interested in joining us.

So here are the dates… I will try to post/email a reminder a few days in advance.

Friday, February 18 

(Full Moon – this will be late due to moonrise time)

Friday, March 18 

(The day before the Full Moon – this will be late due to moonrise time)

Finally, if you are interested, comment/email me and I’ll send you a meeting time and place.

Vegetarian Cooking

I've just finished digesting The China Study so around here we are reducing our meat and dairy product intake. Vegetarian may be possible for our family (if my Crown Burger-loving husband would agree,) but vegan probably won't work. First off, we LOVE cheese and chocolate milk and ice cream, etc.... and secondly, the baby is allergic to soy and nuts (plant-based protein.) I highly recommend the book, which is not so different, but more extreme than Michael Pollan's books (which I also recommend.)

I also recommend this soup. It's a combo between a Creamy Tomato Basil and Chicken and Wild Rice minus the chicken. My kids don't think that they like artichokes (I'm guessing they really do) so I just add them to the adult bowls as a garnish.

Creamy Tomato Artichoke Wild Rice Soup

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup carrots, diced
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1-12 oz package white mushrooms, sliced
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 1-28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups water
• 8-10 fresh basil leaves or 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 can quartered artichoke hearts, chopped
• 1 cup wild rice blend, uncooked
• 1 cup whipping cream
•  Salt and pepper, to taste
• Fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

1. Cook rice according to directions.

2. In the meantime, melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, carrots, mushrooms, and celery and cook stirring until onions are translucent about 3 minutes.

3. Add wine, tomatoes, salt, and pepper.

4. Cook until veggies are tender.

5. Add cooked wild rice blend.

6. Stir in basil and cream, adjust consistency with water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper.

Note: I often use whole tomatoes in place of crushed and water. I puree the onion, garlic, tomato, wine mixture before adding the chopped veggies. I haven't done a "must have" for awhile. So here you go. I love my immersion blender. It rocks.

Winter Sunshine

Memories of summer are making us happy today. There's nothing like a thunderstorm at Lake Powell. Just last weekend, we were loving sixty degree temperatures in Southern Utah. Today, in our mountain home, the sun is shining, but it is definitely NOT sixty. So, I'm off to enjoy some of that sunshine (bundled up of course!)

This made me smile today.

This is worth a few minutes of your time. Thanks Nat.

Island Upset

2 hours following Operation Island Cleanup.

Island of Happiness

This may not be tropical, but when my kitchen island is completely decluttered and cleaned, I feel just a little bit happy. In about an hour, it will be scattered with homework and snacks and will most likely stay like that until Monday morning. Happy Weekend!

Happy New Year, Happy Me

Remember back a few month ago when I was trying to be a more patient mom? (BTW, I’m still working on that.) Anyway, I learned from these podcasts that happiness is what really matters. I know, NEWSFLASH! Well, my resolution is happiness (not that I'm particularly unhappy, but I could be even happier.) It’s going to take baby steps and probably a lifetime to fully conquer, but I think the journey will be worthwhile.

Here are some things that make me happy…

            Happy kids

            Happy husband

            FOOD!

            Well, that pretty much sums it up…

Anyway, at risk at sounding a little too blessed like my friend TAMN over here, I’m going to try and post about things that make me happy; Mostly trival things, probably not makeup or headbands or jeans. But, you might hear about healthy recipes and vinegar and quinoa and The China Study. It’s obvious by my topics that I won’t have many followers, but I’ll try to make you as interested in those things as I am!

So what makes you happy?...

P.S. Sledding makes this kid happy