HOME - Here's what's happening in the backyard

Butternut invaders! We planted 4 butternut squash plants as an afterthought - they decided to take over the garden and surprise us with an overwhelming number of squash!

Here is one of the plants that went through the garden gate. We can no longer close it! There is one squash hanging from the fence inside the Russian Sage (purple flowers to the right). 

Some dogs love carrots. Rob asked why I was feeding our bounty of carrots to the dogs. I said, because they appreciate them more than any human ever could - and I really enjoy watching them munch on veggies. They are very serious about the importance of night vision. 

Hippity-hip-HOP! Our first hop. Granted it is really 1 of maybe 4 hops from our plant - but at least we got a handful. Maybe next year we'll water more and add a little nutrients to the soil. 

One of our wedding trees. Yes, this is a 4-year-old tree - bonsai wedding tree! It is finally living in the soil after being dragged around Idaho and Utah in a pot. I hope it enjoys it's outdoor location and grows tall and healthy in the great outdoors.  

KITCHEN - Real food for the trail

I run to be outside, to enjoy nature and good company - or no company at all. Why is it then that the foods I bring along on trail runs are, well, not real food. On my recent trail marathon  I consumed a half package of stinger blocks, cliff blocks, a honey stinger gel, and a bite of snickers. Hmmm - that sort of negates the healthy benefits of running doesn't it? Not to mention that by mile 22, I was starving. I have never been a good eater on the trail. I despise gels. Thankfully I came across this post on 'marathon chunks.' I went to work making these as soon as I got home the other day b/c fortunately, I had all the necessary ingredients. I made some minor changes to Ashley's recipe and they turned out great!

This is all you need (plus a little maple syrup and vanilla).

Trail bars / chunks
1 c raw cashews (could use any other nut)
1 c dried cranberries (could use any other dried fruit)
1/2 c peanut butter (you guessed it - could use any other nut butter)
1/3 c pepitas (pumpkin seeds) - roughly chopped (or sesame seeds)
2-3 T maple syrup (maybe honey would work too)
1 t vanilla

To Do
1. In the food processor, combine nuts, dried fruit, butter, maple syrup, and vanilla.

2. Turn mixture into a medium bowl and combine seeds.

3. Remove from bowl and press (FIRMLY) into a foil lined 8 x 8 baking pan. As you can see - I used a 6 x 8 or so pan so my chunks were a little thicker.

4. Place in fridge overnight and cut into 1.5-2 inch squares. Mine were a little crumbly so be sure to use some muscle when pressing them into the pan. 

Enjoy. 

HOME - Bathroom upheaval - almost there

We have put some serious energy into our bathroom. I am SO very happy with the results. Just a little reminder about what we started with. I had a hard time finding any before shots - I think we didn't want to admit this was our bathroom. 

We removed more than 1/2 of all the plaster walls (b/c they were crumbling) and replaced them with drywall; replaced the window, toilet, sink, light fixtures; installed a ceiling fan and light; put in a new sub-floor and tiles; removed the plastic shower insert and tiles the surround...  It's almost done here! Really we are just wrapping up the laundry chute closet area behind the shower (notice, there is no photo - hopefully it'll be done very soon). 

shower view - don't mind the unfinished wall

Close up of the honed river rocks - this was my favorite part to do. I posted a couple photos (bathroom work in progress post) of this task - it was harder than it looks! 

I fought for this dual flush toilet. Also notice the bathroom print above the toilet. It's from the Liberty Park Comfort Station (down the block from us) in 1913 (the year our house was built). We ordered the digital image from the Utah Historical Society - they have an amazing archive of photos.

Air vent and floor tiles. I wanted to create a vintage bathroom and Rob wanted an earthy one - so we met in the middle and came up with this design. We are both very happy with it.

KITCHEN - salsa BATCH # 3

I just love this time of year - fresh produce for all! I haven't had any trouble getting my hands on lots of local fresh produce - from our garden, friends, and the farmer's market. I have been striving to make a very HOT salsa. Sadly, the flavor tends to mellow with time leaving me with a delicious, albeit mild, salsa. Last night I made the hottest salsa I could handle by adding +/- 0.25 c pureed, roasted habanero peppers. 

onions and pre-roasted peppers in jars (plus a load of summer squash from my boss)

happily simmering away

Salsa Batch # 3 
~10 c (or more) tomatoes - diced small
1 huge onion - diced (about 3 c)
1 bulb of garlic - diced fine
1.5 c pasilla peppers - roasted and diced (I did this ahead of time and stored them in the fridge)
0.25 c hananero peppers - roasted and pureed (same here)
1 T kosher salt
2 T vinegar


To Do
1. Place diced tomatoes plus 2 t salt in a colander in the sink. Let drain for 30-60 minutes. 
2. Combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, pasilla peppers, , half of the habanero puree, remaining salt, and vinegar in a large pot over medium heat. 
3. Gradually bring mixture to a boil - remember to taste the salsa as you mix and spice accordingly - now is when you decide how much roasted habanero puree to add!
4. Turn off heat and pour into hot, sterile jars. 
5. Seal jars and place in boiling water for 20 minutes (15 at sea level plus 1 for every thousand feet of elevation). 
6. Remove jars and wait for that lovely lid popping sounds. Music to my ears!


The next batch will be even hotter! This recipe made me 3 pints and 5 half-pints plus a few spoonfuls to eat with dinner. I've already shared a pint with my boss (he provided the tomatoes) because that is why I CAN- to share the season. 

After salsa-fest we went for an evening 'run' with the pups. Penny was loving the race around the park - but Wiley - he was another story. We got about a mile into the run and he needed to roll around in the cool grass at the park. I let Rob and Penny go on without us so Wiley and I could take a leisurely stroll/roll through he park. He rolled about 4 more times on our short-cut to meet up around the other side of the park. People playing tennis actually stopped to watch our 80 lb dog flip and roll all over the grass - he looks like he's trying to itch but he's really trying to get cool. I was eager to make it home because I did something I've never done before - left the oven on and dinner cooking while out for a run. Yikes - everything was fine and dinner was just about ready when we returned. 

Travels - Sayulita

Our vacation to Sayulita, Mexico in March 2010. I sure hope we get to go somewhere warm again this spring! What an amazing trip - it was fun to look through the photos again - here are some of my favorites that epitomize this trip! We spent a full week in a rental home with our friends from Victor, Idaho. We were all ready for some fun in the sun after a long, cold winter. Unfortunately, the Victorites had to return to a couple more months of winter - here is Salt Lake, spring wasn't too far away.

Playing around with photo display

I really enjoy looking at the way people display photos on their blogs. It's making me think about learning to become a better photographer. It's just so much easier to express things in photos rather than words. Speaking of which. Here is a summary of our pal's bachelorette backpacking trip in Capitol Reef NP. 

KITCHEN - I CAN do it - pickles, raspberries, and salsa

I've been travelling a lot lately in the past couple months - for work (Reno, Ely, Richfield) and pleasure (Victor, Wisconsin, Penticton) - but I've still managed to squeeze in some much needed spurts of frenzied canning.

Onions + cucumbers + vinegar/mustard seed/tumeric =

Pippi's Pickles!!! Special thanks to Rob's grandma for this delicious no-fail recipe.

Okay - onto some raspberries I jammed up into a fantastic raspberry plum jam. I'll have to take some after shots I suppose.

And batch #1 of salsa. I roasted 10 anaheim and 10 jalepeno peppers and this salsa still WAS NOT HOT. I'll have to go hunting around for the really hot peppers.

It wouldn't be the start of apple season without baking my award winning apple pie.

Special thanks to my fearless kitchen helper!

This is one of my very favorite times of year. I just LOVE all of the fresh, local produce available - not to mention my garden is brimming with goodies. Tomatoes, peppers, basil, butternut squash, and carrots have all done very well in our little plot. We have had to sacrifice the kohlrabi to the snails...