Despite No Sunshine......

Everyone looked like they were having fun, despite the damp air and lack of sunshine. Our neighbors next door throw an outdoor party on the lake at least once during the winter season, and today was that day. Lots of people, snowmobiles, a couple dogs and happy young people just having fun. That's what it's all about.....friends, fun & beer!

Bike man and I stopped by to talk to the party goer's and then headed out on our snowshoes. Our mission was to head south under the bridge to the BIG part of the lake, where the ice fishing contest was taking place. Yup, those are shorts........

The ice fishing contest didn't seem to have as many fisher-people as in the past. They were catching fish this afternoon, but the fish were not any great size. We stopped by to see the fish hanging up on the "freshly caught" board, but we weren't really impressed. I'm kinda glad we didn't partake in the contest this year. We headed for home on our snowshoes.....walked a little shy of 2 miles. The wind seem to increase as we were approaching home, plus my hands and feet were damp and chilled. Not sure if dry colder air is better than damp warmer air, with a slight breeze. Once you get chilled, it pretty much ruins your day. Guess I'm turning the heat back up in the house!!!!

PS. Made another "Double Delicious" recipe today. Check out all the recipes under the Turtle Recipe Menu.

It's a Marathon

My Favorite Birch Trees

Oh it's movie marathon night....what can I say! No time for blogging. Just finished watching "Killer" with Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, pretty good movie! Last night we watched "Dinner with Schmucks" with Steve Carell, and now we are watching " The Burning Plain" with Charlize Theron & Kim Basinger.....excellent movie. We'll watch more movies tomorrow night, followed by Sunday as well. Any other time of the year I'm not interested in movies at all, but the winter months are perfect for catching up.

Don't worry, it's just a winter thing.....and I'm just being a little lazy!!!

One Hour

Cobban Bridge, historical maker 1908 - Jim Falls Wisconsin (photo by BM)

One hour out on the lake tonight snowshoeing with Bike man. Perfect night with little wind and a reasonable temperature. Very quiet and peaceful.........

This Feeling About.......

As I trudged across the lake on my snowshoes, it kinda of hit me....this feeling about living for today and don't worry about tomorrow. We don't know what tomorrow will bring. That thought kept running through my head as I tried to get into the flow of breaking snow with my snowshoes and feeling the cool damp air against my face. All I wanted to do was concentrate on the present moment and not think about what tomorrow will bring. That's hard however, because our minds are wired for what lays ahead.....tomorrow....the future. Sometimes you just have to learn to shut down the thoughts and put everything on pause. Being outside today allowed me to do just that.

Hey, look who just happened to be out on the lake enjoying a little ice fishing! With a temperature around 20 degrees this afternoon, it felt like a heatwave....really.

Continued my cooking adventure tonight with the "Double Delicious" cookbook and experimented with a broccoli stir fry, accented with fresh orange and ginger. I decided to top off the stir fry with green onions and cashews. So what was the sneaky ingredient? I added pureed carrots to the citrus soy sauce.....excellent. Too bad the recipe didn't call for pineapple because that would have been an awesome combination. Cooked up red thai rice to serve with the stir fry. No worries, it was a low-fat meal!!!

Sneaky Fun

Even when I was in college studying foods and nutrition, meal planning, quantity cooking etc., I was always fascinated with making recipes more nutritious, flavorful and cost effective for a family budget. Well, I have finally found a new cookbook that is sparking my interest in wholesome foods and sneaky ingredients.

I am having so much fun with "Double Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld. The whole idea of this book is to incorporate vegetable purees into everyday recipes. After all, we all need to eat more fruits and vegetables right?

Last night, I posted a photo of whoopie pies.....see upper right on my blog page. The whoopie pies came out moist and tasty, with a fluffy goopy filling. So what's the secret ingredient in the whoopie pies? One half cup of spinach puree in the chocolate batter. I easily prepared the spinach puree myself. So simple, anyone can do this. They really are delicious.

I also made a pot of chicken soup using a half cup of carrot and cauliflower puree as well. The soup is actually a creamy chicken soup with lots of shredded chicken, rice, onions, celery and additional diced carrots. Adding a little cream cheese makes the soup a nice creamy texture. I hope to post the recipe later tonight under my turtle recipes.

I just finished making a pan of "Three Berry Cobbler", using some carrot puree in with the berries. Can you see why I'm having so much fun? The winter months are long, so I'm passing the time with trying these new recipes. Don't worry, I'm not pigging out on all this food. I'm having fun bringing these treats to work and having my coworkers taste-test. Of course they don't know my secret ingredients....HA! I'll tell them next week!!!!

PS. Well, Auntie Krissy is in on the secret and fun. Hey, the Police Chief asked for a second whoopie pie this afternoon. If only he knew he was eating spinach.......I'm so wicked.

Winter Sky

The only time I feel tall is when I see my shadow. Yup, that's me out snowshoeing this afternoon. I had the choice of watching the Packers/Bears game, or the chance to head out on the lake with my snowshoes......I think you know what I choose to do! Not all was lost however, I was able to watch the 3rd & 4th quarter and see the Packers win. Good job Green Bay!

The sky and clouds were amazing today and you only see these type of cloud formations during the winter months. I couldn't stop starring at the sky, it was just beautiful.

I walked my usual one hour around the two islands and one bay area west of our house. Hit alittle wind coming from the south, but I just pulled my fleece turtle higher above my chin to stay warm.

I was just happy to be outside taking in the cold sunshine. The animal tracks were plentiful out on the lake, and it's always fun to stop and identify the tracks. Saw lots of deer tracks, which doesn't surprise me. I also saw tracks that looked to be like a coyote.....kind of like large cat paw prints that were out in the middle of the lake. That was very unusual to see those types of larger animal tracks way out on the frozen lake. It makes me wonder if these animals are out wondering on the lake ice during the night hours or early morning hours. How come I never see these animals? Guess I still have that biology background still lurking in me from childhood....thanks dad.