Happy New Years Eve Everyone!

So I hope you all had a chance to do everything you wanted in 2009, beacause it's almost over! I thought I would just put up a quick recap in photos of our 2009..... hope you enjoy! And oh yeah, my New years Resoloution this year,  to update this blog more and upload more recipes :-)

We'll start with summers bounty.... mmmm.

the epic sign!

Oh My Holly Hocks!

Even Roosters can't resist Kettle Corn....

the top of Aspen Without Snow!

The infamouse Leaning Wedding Cake!

Thanks for all your help Karen!

it's was delicous!

And Thank You for the lovely Welcome Home!

Geraniums.

Beets!

The Fall Drive to Denver.

We're not in Denver anymore!

Atiu Island, Cook Islands

MEXICO!

And Finally Snow!

 (which we need more of, but oh well :-)

Well that's it, a quick recap- but it's amazing how fast a year goes!

Can't give you my Love enough, So enjoy your New Years Eve, and make 2010 a memorable one!

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone! God Jul! Just wanted to send you all some christmas cheer! hope you all have a wonderful day, and know that we are thinking of you in Aspen!, (where it's a balmy 4 degrees :-)

Enjoy Santa! (aka Jim)....

Note

Just wanted to update you that the spicy ginger broth soup is Spicy!

I know I mentioned earlier that the heat was subtle- well the day
after, it's hot! Just wanted to give you all a heads up- feel free to
make the soup without so much spice uf you prefer :-)

But it is a great soup for colds!

Sent from my iPod

Chilly Weather, Warm Recipes....

Good Morning every one! Now that winter is here, I find it harder to update this blog (well actually that's just an excuse, I have trouble updating the blog even when it's perfect weather outside :-) But I wanted to share some more recipes with you, to hopefully keep you warm an cosy....

Cranberry Maple Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup walnuts, chopped
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup dried dates
½ cup (1 stick) vegan butter, softened
1 tsp egg replacer
1tsp ground flax seed
2 Tbs water
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup soy milk
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs maple syrup



Preheat oven to 350’ grease muffin cups. In large bowl, mix flour, walnuts, baking powders and salt. Stir in Cranberries and dates. In separate bowl, mix egg replacer, and flax seed with water. add butter, flax seed mixture, sugar, soymilk, vinegar and maple syrup and beat together. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Fill muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until slightly browned on top.

* just a quick note, nearly all of my muffin recipes are just adapted from non-vegan recipes- if you want the non-vegan ones, just let me know.  Also If you don't have egg replacer, or ground flax seed, just substitute, 1/4 cup applesauce, or one medium ripe banana- mashed*

So there's one recipe, now let m try an remember what I put into this really good lentil soup I made earlier this week.....

 Hearty Lentil Soup

(sorry no picture- it was gobbled up too fast)

1 medium Onion diced
2 medium carrots peeled and chopped
1 cup shopped celery
1 Tbs grapeseed oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 piece of ginger, minced
mixed herbs- sage, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper-
pinch of italian herb blend
2 mudium poatoes, washed and diced
1 cup green lentils
2 cups vegetable broth
3 cups water


cook onions, celery, and carrots in grapeseed oil until softened- add in the garlic, ginger and spices and cook a few minutes longer. Add the potatoes and lentils and cover with the broth and water.  adjust seasonings, and let simmer, covered for 30 minutes- or until the potatoes and lentils are tender. serve with hearty bean bread-

 * as with all my recipes, feel free to add anything else you have on hand, That's usuallly how I cook- so forgive me if a I forget an ingredient or two :-)

Spicy Ginger Broth Soup (shown with hearty bean bread)

1 medium onion sliced thinly
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cup celery diced
1 Tbs grape seed oil
1 inch piece of ginger minced
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 small head of cauliflower chopped
1 medium Serrano pepper minced
1 jalapeño pepper seeded and diced
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
1 pinch of hot curry powder
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups of vegetable broth
2 1/2 cups of water



Sauté onions, carrots and celery in grape seed oil until softened. Add garlic and ginger and sauté a few minutes more. Add cauliflower and peppers- then add the rest of the spices. Finally add the broth and water, and simmer covered for twenty minutes- or until cauliflower is tender. Serve plain or with hearty bean bread.

*Although it may seem like a ton of spicy things went into this broth, it still had just a wonderful subtle heat to it. This soup is especially good for getting over a cold :-) *



Hearty Bean Bread

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 Tbs sugar

1 cup plain soy yogurt ( or 1 cup veganaise)

2 Tbs olive oil

1/4 cup soy or rice milk, more as needed

1 cup canned pink or pinto beans, drained and rinsed

3 scallions, thinly sliced

preheat oven to 375'. combine first seven (dry) ingredients in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the yogurt, oil, and soy milk. Stir until well combined, adding more soy milk as needed to make a smooth slightly stiff batter. Gently stir in the beans and scallions. Pour mixture into an oiled 9 inch square baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the top is golden and a knife insterted into the center comes out clean. let cool slightly and cut into squares- serve warm

*this recipe was adapted from Nava Atlas' vegetarian soups for all seasons*
I also made lemon bars, rasberry bars and chocolate coconut cookies this week (if you want the recipes, just let me know!) - Starting tomorrow I will be teaching again, so I may not be so good at the posting thing in the next couple weeks :-) I hope everyone has a wonderful week and please stay warm! it was -10 when I woke up this morning!
 
 
I'll leave you with some more pictures from this week..... enjoy!
 

Here is the top I made from Twinkle's big knits, Size 19 needles! it worked up super fast!

Ragnar being awesome :-) it's great to have him so close now!

Well that's it for now- Ciao everyone ~

The best yodeler in the world... Need I say more

Franzl Lang - Einen Jodler hör i gern

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67rc96joOz8&feature=youtube_gdata

Sent from my iPod

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! May you all have a wonderful day, and know that I am giving thanks for having everyone of you in my life! cheers !

Recipes!

Ok following through with my promise- here are some recipes from the past few weeks- I hope you enjoy them:

Whole Wheat Carrot Muffins

¼ cup wheat germ

½ cup wheat bran

1 ½ cup all purpose flour

1 ¼ tsp baking soda

4 Tbs Brown Sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

1 cup shredded carrots

¼ cup golden raisins

¼ cup apple sauce

2 Tbs maple syrup

1 Tbs apple cider vinegar

1 cup almond milk

2 tsp ground flax seed

¼ cup warm water
½ cup chopped walnuts

Preheat over to 375. Sift dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl mix sugar, spices, carrots, raisins, apple sauce, syrup, vinegar and milk. Mix flax seed and water together and add to carrot mixture. Stir in the dry ingredients- careful not to over mix, then fold in walnuts. Bake for 20 min, or until golden brown. Makes 12 Muffins

 

 

 

Coffee Cake Muffins

½ Cup margarine or butter

2 ¼ cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 Tbs ground flax seed mixed with ¼ cup of water

1 cup Almond or Soy milk

1 Tbs white or apple cider vinegar

2 tsp baking soda

½ cup nuts

½ cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 375* grease muffin cups. Combine flour and sugar. Melt butter and pour over flour mixture, mixing until crumbly. Set aside 1 cup of flour mixture for topping. To the remainder of flour mixture, add the rest of the ingredients, stirring just until moistened. (batter will be thin and lumpy.) Fill muffin cups ¾ full and top with remaining crumble mixture. Bake fore 15-20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins

 

Roasted Vegetable Gallette

(sorry about the photo, we dug in before I could get a picture!)

1 pie crust (my mom made this one- I have to get the recipe, it's amazing!)

1 medium head of broccoli, chopped into florets

1 large handful on plum tomatoes

3 garlic cloves, peels left on

2 handfuls of Brussels sprouts, trimmed

1 handful of fingerling potatoes, quartered

2 medium carrots, chopped

*feel free to add any vegetable you like*

3 Tbs Grape seed oil

3 Tbs olive tampenade (for pie base)

2 medium onions, thinly sliced

Salt and Pepper

Preheat over to 375* and arrange veggies on a baking sheet- toss with 2 Tbs of oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. roast veggies for 15-20 min, tossing regularly. In a saucepan, add the remaining Tbs of oil and sauté onions until they are soft and begin to caramelize (15-20 min). when the veggies and onions are done, you can begin assembling the gallette- rolls out the pie crust - top with olive tampenade, then caramelized onions, then add the roasted vegetables. sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper. Then begin to fold up the sides of the pie, careful not to tear the crust- (work clockwise, folding up the sides as you go) Bake at 375* for 15-20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

Gingerbread

( From James Beard's American Cookery Cookbook, this is delicious served with chutney! )

1 cup light or dark molasses

(2 Tbs ginger spread- the ginger people* I added this, it was not in te original recipe)

1/2 cup boiling water

5 Tbs butter (Smart Balance)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 to 2 tsp of ginger

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups all purpose flour

Put Molasses (and ginger spread) in a mixing bowl and add the boiling water and butter. stir until well mixed. Add the salt, ginger, and soda, and stir lightly. Stir in the flour just enough to moisten and mix. Turn into a loaf pan and bake at 375* for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the top springs back when pressed lightly and the mixture is pulling away from the sides of the pan.

So there you go, some recipes for you! I hope you enjoy them, and I will try my best to put up some more. Here are just a few random pictures of some knitting projects I've recently completed- if you want any of the patterns, just ask!

Sorry if it's a bit blury, whoops! I did all the little block seperatly awhile ago- they have been sitting in a bag since last spring! I finally just crocheted them all together today!

Here's a nine stitch braid beenie- pretty quick and easy to make

Well everyone- that's all I can do for today- hope you enjoyed it- now go home and bake something!

I wish I looked this good....

Overview of patterns ~ DROPS Design S
So I lied about the recipes being put up this week, but it wasn't my fault- sick computer! but now it seems to be better, so I will post some new recipes later-

But first, check out the link above. This is where I get some awesome knitting patterns from Norway- But the page that I posted for you, is there very first patterns from the 80's they are awesome. It's photos like these that truly make you wonder how people thought they looked good! anywho enjoy them, and I will post some other recipes later!

Long time no blog....

Hey everyone! Sorry I keep spacing blogging- but Jim's computer is
sick so I'll have to just write this time- pictures soon, I
promise :-) I will also post some new muffin recipes tomorrow!!
Mmmm..... I have been busy baking since we got back from mexico- so
get ready for a bunch of new recipes ( Roasted Vegetable
Gallette anyone?)

In other news, I have officially changed my name, I am now an
Anderson :-) (still getting used to it!) very exciting! Something else
exciting that just happened, the first meeting of the Aspen Craft
Collective was tonight. (thanks JoAnn for setting it all up :-)
it was great just hearing and seeing the other crafts people are doing
in the valley. Can't wait for more meetings- I as usual forgot to
bring samples of my very eclectic and random craft projects! (next
time :-)

Other than that guys, I hope everyone is staying warm and laughing
everyday! Skal!

Sent from my iPod

Halloween thoughts

> Hola from mexico everyone! It's hotter than you can imagine, yet
> people still dressed up for halloween! Except myself - first time in
> years, forgot a costume- plus it's flipping hot! But we did have two
> adorable trick or treaters! Riley (2.4 as a princess) and her little
> brother kieran (1 on the fifth of this month, dressed as batman-
> both are our friends kids) and I can safetly say it was awesome
> hanging out with them and their kids for halloween :-)
>
> hope everyone else had a safe and great all hallows eve and I can't
> wait to get to cold weather! ( I say that now!) but 90 degrees and
> humid is not for me :-)
>
> Take care everyone , lots of love and i'll talk to ya soon
>
>

Happy Thursday!

So Happy Thursday everyone! I am so awful at keeping up with this little blog- oh well, I'm sure your all used to it by now :-) I thought I would show you some random pictures from the week, since that always seems to be fun, the top photo of course is this years pumpkin I carved. I think I am still in tropical mode, hence the palm trees and waves.... Plus we are heading south of the border on saturday to catch some more sun before the very long winter :-) I tried to cook a lot this week, but I was so sore from Ski Conditioning ( way too many squat jumps!), that what mostly ended up happening was just Jim and I watching the first season of LOST for like 10 hours! oh well, here are some pics for you, ENJOY!!

Garlic from our harvest this summer. These are the largest cloves of the bunch, so we planted these in the garden this week, so we can have yummy garlic next summer!

No this is not a trick shot, the photo is actually supposed to be rotated counter-clockwise- but I digress, this is the MEAD we have been paitiently brewing for the past 8 months! It's delicious.

Some Cranberry Walnut Muffins from earlier this week, We also just finshed eating the Maple Blueberry muffins too ( they wen't so fast, I forgot to take a picture!) I attempted to make granola this week :-) It's yummy, by a little too toasted, if you know what I mean! I also tried to come up with a recipe for a veggie burger to submit to Better Homes and Gardens (don't ask me why, I never win anything :-) anyway, here is the recipe I submitted- (minus the picture, I wrapped them all up before I remembered too- this is becoming a trend.)

Quick Quinoa Burgers

2 Cups Cooked Red Quinoa (¾ cup quinoa ,1 ½ cups water) 1 Tbs grape seed oil 1 Small carrot- diced 2 ribs of celery- diced ½ med white onion- diced 1 clove garlic- minced ½ yellow bell pepper- diced 1 can kidney beans- smashed 1 Tbs Veganaise ½ cut of rolled oats ¼ cup barley flour Salt Pepper 1 tsp Italian seasoning (you can add any fresh herbs you have on hand as well)

Cook quinoa, set aside to cool. Sauté carrots, celery, onion and bell pepper until softened. Add garlic and stir- turn off heat and let cool. In a medium bowl, smash the kidney beans and mix in the veganaise. Add the cooled quinoa and sautéed veggies. Add the oats and flour and season with salt, pepper and seasoning. Form into eight patties, and place them on a parchment covered cookie sheet. Chill patties in fridge for at least 30 min. Pan fry the patties in grape seed oil on medium heat, flipping sides after five minutes. Serve on buns with all the fixings.

And last but not least, a single photo from our honeymoon picks, just to entice you- I am setting up a photo gallery online so you can just check them all out, it's easier than loading six pictures at a time to blogger :-) the link to the photo gallery will be e-mailed to you. we stayed just to the right of the chairs, on a private island with no one around. It was awesome. Well thats it I think. I know I cooked a lot more this week than I can remember.... All those episodes of LOST are messing with my brain! Well have a wonderful weekend- and If I don't get around to writing before we head of to mexico.... Adios Amigos!

We're Back!

Thought I forgot about you eh? well no, I didn't, It was just REALLY remote where we were, REALLY remote. Which was wonderful, Nothing to do but relax :-) I thought I would just teaste you with a few photos of the trip, (I believe these were all taken within the first few days) we were gone for so long, i'm not sure which day was which! We did manage to write a journal while we were there though, just to try and remember all that we did. I'm a bit tired from the traveling, so bear with me ok? -----So here we go, you ready? let's see some photos!

The First Sunset, Taken right from the little place we were staying.

This was just outside the first place we stayed, probably twenty steps at the most. I know it doesn't look like much, but I was trying to show you how clear the water was by showing you my feet through it- I'm standing in the water, not on the beach- the water was so clear it was like glass.

Etu Moana- or blue starfish - taken in the clearest water imaginable

Muri Beach, The second week we stayed close by here-

They held the Pacific Mini Games outrigger canoe races here. Tahitii won everything, but The cook island Women came in second in both the 1500 meter and the 800! More Muri beach- The Lagoon water was amazing- The bluest blues I have ever seen! So there you go- like a said, just a tease of photos- sorry, but if I were to upload them all it would take me days :-) we probabley have over 600! so i'll just keep posting a few at a time! (Ha!I think I'm still on island time) - So hope everyone had a wonderful fall, we missed you!

We are so glad to be home :-) I LOVE the Smell of fall!

Lots of Love to you all! and remember, Always take time to Relax and Enjoy Life :-)

~Kia Orana~