Breakfast Pizza

The other night I was reading a food blog and it linked to a website I had never heard of. Since it mentioned that it was a website that was specifically devoted to food photos and they had a certain criteria that needed to be met, I hopped on over there and was awed at all the wonderful photos. In fact, I planned my week's menu from the photos I saw. One of the first photos that caught my eye was for Breakfast Pizza. I had never thought of putting raw eggs on a pizza crust and then baking it, but it was amazing!! Dan even said I could make it once a week if I wanted. Of course it helps that I've finally figured out how to make a crust that has the right balance of crunch and chew.



My picture doesn't do it justice. But then, I'm not a food blogger. Nor do I aspire to be. So just click on the link to the recipe and you'll have the recipe, directions and some great photos!!

Ellie's horse camp

If you've been reading my blog for awhile you may remember when I posted about Ellie earning money to pay for horse camp at a local camp. Well, she followed through on most of it (her laundry job got taken away from her) and was able to pay for her camp. She went a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. She and two of her friends went to the camp together. The pics I took aren't of that great of quality since it was rather dark inside the horse arena so you'll have to excuse the graininess of the photos. On the last day of the camp the kids were scheduled to swim in the pool, but because of the very cool temps that day (maybe a high of 62), they were able to help out in the arena with some clean-up duties and they designed the course that each rider would go through during the demonstration for the parents. I'm pretty sure they had more fun doing that than if they would have gone swimming.

Here she is waiting her turn to take her horse around the arena through the obstacle course.

July 4th

Yes, I realize that it is now almost August and I am just posting pics from our activities on the 4th. But hey, better late than never, right? Right?

We left for Dan's parents' house on Thursday evening since Dan had off on Friday. On Friday, we went in to Willmar where Ellie and I went to the fabric warehouse to get fabric to make me a few skirts. Then we went to Dunn Brothers for coffee. Well, I got coffee and Ellie got hot chocolate (she's a little young for coffee). Dan and his dad "had" to make a trip to Best Buy (Dan loves to spend other people's money) while Beth and the other kids went to the laundromat and the park (?--see, I shouldn't wait so long to post--my memory gets a little fuzzy). Afterwards we all met at Pizza Ranch for lunch. After lunch we went back to Prinsburg and Darin learned how to ride his bike without his training wheels. He was literally giggling with glee once he was biking without help. Unfortunately he hasn't had much of a chance to ride here.



On Friday evening friends of ours arrived to spend the weekend with us. Friday night the town had fireworks and on Saturday they have lots of activities starting off with an adult and a kids run.

Natalie ran her heart out.



Here is Kara with her friend O. O comes from a family of runners.



Look at these long legs. Pretty soon she is going to be taller than me.





In the afternoon they had a tractor pull and an area with several blow-up toys.











Darin desperately wanted to go on this activity but was having a hard time finding someone close to his size to agree to go on it with him. Finally, Ellie agreed to go on it with him even though she's much larger than he is. It was hilarious to watch. Darin couldn't stand up for more than a few seconds. All Ellie had to do was tap him and he'd fall over, giggling.





Here he is standing up!



Not any more!!



After all of the festivities of the day, they had a parade. The kids got to ride on the float that the street that Dan's parents live on designed. They had fun, but who thought it would be a good idea to have winter in July!?!? At least they didn't have to wear parkas and snowpants.

Homespun Pot Pie

Here is the recipe that I mentioned earlier that we made while on vacation in Vermont. The original recipe says that it feeds six, but good grief, they must be six really hungry people. I'd say it would feed probably twelve adults. We got 2 1/2 meals out of one recipe.

Homespun Pot Pie

Vegetables

1 T olive oil

1 cup chopped onions

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 t salt

1 t dried thyme leaves

1 t dried marjoram

4 cups sliced mushrooms

1 T Dijon mustard

2 cups peeled and chopped sweet potatoes

2 cups chopped potatoes

2 cups peeled and chopped parsnips (optional)

1/2 t ground black pepper

3 cups chicken broth or stock

3 T cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup cold water

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen peas

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn

1 T soy sauce

1/2 t salt

1 1/2 pound chicken, chopped

Biscuit topping

2 c white flour

1/2 t salt

1 T baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

6 T melted butter

1 c buttermilk or plain yogurt (I used buttermilk)

1 t dill weed

Warm the oil in a soup pot. Add the onions and garlic, cover and cook on medium heat for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the salt, thyme, marjoram, mushrooms and the mustard. Cook until the mushrooms start to release their juices, about 5 minutes.

Add the sweet potatoes, white potatoes, parsnips, black pepper, chicken and the broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the veggies are just tender and the chicken is cooked through. Stir the dissolved cornstarch mixture into the vegetables stirring constantly. When the liquid starts to thicken, mix in the peas, corn, soy sauce and the salt. Pour the vegetables into a greased 9x13 pan. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, dill and baking soda. In a separate bowl, mix together the melted butter and buttermilk or yogurt. combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Drop the biscuit batter over the vegetables.

Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of the biscuit topping comes out clean.

Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics.

Swimming

Friends of ours recently got a pool and we got to come over and use it! The weather was hot and perfect for swimming. Unfortunately Kara got a bit burned. But the kids all had fun and had no problems falling asleep that night since they were completely tuckered out.

Niagara Falls

On the last Friday of our vacation we woke up early and drove to Niagara Falls. We arrived about 2:30 and had just planned on looking at the falls for awhile and going on the Maid of the Mist. Instead we decided to have a tour bus take us around to several of the different attractions. They were only going to charge us for two adults and one child. Since we saved a bunch of money on our hotel for the night by getting one on Priceline, we decided to go for it. Plus it saved us from driving and walking all over, and we didn't even know about the whirlpool and the Daredevil museum (more on those later).

We first started by taking a little driving tour of some of the islands around the falls. We learned that Canada and the US share 18 gates that take water from the Niagara River and convert it to power. They don't use all 18 gates at once, but during the day they take about 50% of the water. At night (after midnight), they take closer to 75%. So imagine what the falls would look like if 100% of the water was going over it!

After the little driving tour we went to the Cave of the Winds. There they give you disposable raincoats and sandals. The Cave of the Winds isn't actually a cave. It is just a boardwalk that takes you to the bottom of the Bridal Veil Falls. Every winter they take down the boardwalk.

Here they are towards the beginning of the walk. Natalie is being a pill at this point and isn't interested in having her picture taken. Plus she wasn't too keen on having the water sprayed in her face.


We continued on the boardwalk and got much closer to the falls (hence, no pictures). Ellie, Kara, and Dan even went up to the hurricane deck where you are almost under the Bridal Veil Falls. There's a reason they call it the hurricane deck. They were all soaked, but Ellie and Kara thought it was great.

After this we went over to see the Horseshoe Falls. The best view of these falls is from Canada, but we didn't have passports so we didn't go over there.

Dan and the kids in front of the Horseshoe Falls:






When we were done here we went to the Maid of the Mist for a boat ride. They also give you disposable raincoats--they call them souvenir raincoats.




The American Falls:

In the early morning and late afternoon/early evening the sun is just right and will produce a rainbow in the mist.

Here we are at the end--soaked from the Horseshoe Falls!! They really get you right up into the Falls. They can't get you as close to the American Falls because there are just huge rocks at the bottom of those falls. The Horseshoe Falls is a 180 feet drop but at the bottom the water is 200 feet deep.

The American and Bridal Veil Falls:

After we were done at the falls the tour guide took us to the whirlpool. After the water travels over the falls it travels down the river through the gorge until it reaches the whirlpool. There it swirls counter-clockwise, dips under itself and travels out the other side to Lake Ontario. The kids were thinking that the whirlpool would be more of a tornado action, but the whirlpool motion isn't that fast.

Again, Natalie being a screwball.

At some point we also went to the Daredevil museum (can't quite remember the exact order). Here they have collected all sorts of things that have to do with people jumping over the falls. One guy went over the falls on a jet ski and had a parachute, but something happened with the chute and he died. They have the actual jet ski that he rode. They also had a huge barrel that two people rode in over the falls and survived.

By the time the tour was done it was around 6:30 or so. Shortly after the tour bus departed for the dispatch office, Dan realized that his cell phone must have fallen out of his pocket on the bus. So we eventually were able to contact our tour guide and she was able to drop it off after she dropped off the bus. We were very thankful that she found it and that she was willing to bring it back to us.

Now we were really hungry. We didn't want to eat in the main Niagara Falls area because it was not such great food and really overpriced. So we walked a little bit and found a place called Donatello's. It looked decent enough so we went in and ordered a pizza. They had a great patio out back and the weather was nice so we sat outside. It took a little bit to get our food since the place wasn't huge and they'd just had a softball team come in, but eventually it came. However, we had forgotten when we ordered to ask if the mushrooms they used were fresh or canned (I was going to say real or not, but I guess they are both real--just one is really gross!). Yep. They were canned. So we took them all off. The rest of the pizza was good. Then we walked back to the falls to see it lit up and to watch the fireworks. They have fireworks over the falls on Fridays and Sundays. The skyline in the background is Canada.

Camel's Hump Mountain

For our big day of hiking we decided to hike up Camel's Hump Mountain just south of Waterbury, VT. It is one of three mountains in the Green Mountains that is high enough to have alpine vegetation. We had been debating where we wanted to go hiking and had picked up a few maps of some other trails on other mountains, but then Dan happened to start talking to some guy at Green Mountain Coffee. He recommended taking the Camel's Hump trail and was pretty sure even the little kids could do it if we didn't rush them since he had taken his 5-year-old son/grandson (can't remember which) on it without any problems. He got out a couple maps and showed us how to get there and how the trail went. If he hadn't told us how to get there we never would have found it. The trailhead is basically at the end of a dirt road. The trail was 3.4 miles one way and had an elevation gain of 2400 feet.

The day we picked to go hiking turned out to be one of the best days weather-wise. Some of the previous days had been a little rainy and the day after we hiked it rained all day. This day the weather was perfect--the high was in the 70s and there were very few clouds.

Note the rocky terrain. As the guy at the Green Mountain Club said, hiking in Vermont is a lot of rocks and roots.


Natalie did a great job hiking. We weren't sure how she would do since this was really her first long hike all by herself. But she did a great job!! She got pretty tired the last hour and fell a few times so Dan or I carried her off and on for about the last mile. Darin also did really well. On the way up he kept getting way ahead of us. He would make friends with hikers that were passing us and would talk their ears off. It was pretty cute. After the hike while we were at Green Mountain Coffee (did I mention they have the best iced coffee?), one of the guys that Darin chatted with for awhile hollered at him by name and asked him if he had hiked the whole way. By that point Darin was pretty tired and was pretty much a walking zombie so I told the other guy that Darin was quite a trooper.




Sometimes the trail made us go up these huge boulders. Here you can see the blue marking on the boulder to let us know that yes, that is where we need to go.



We finally made it to the top!!! The views were amazing and we could see for miles. I had packed a lunch so we stopped to rest at the top and eat. Plus we didn't want to eat anywhere on the trail because the mosquitoes were horrible!!! They weren't so bad at the top--there were still a few and also a few bees but definitely better than on the trail.




A bit windy and definitely cooler at the top.


On the descent.


After we were done hiking we drove to Moss Glen Falls just north of Stowe. We were all pretty tired and were really hoping that the trail to the falls was very, very short. It was. Although the falls look tiny in the picture, they are actually 125 feet.


After the falls we went back to the condo and relaxed. We were all so tired. During his nightly prayers Darin prayed, "Dear God, Thank you that we went on a six-hour hike today and not a seven-hour hike because otherwise my feet would be really, really sore."