Current Happenings

Post idea inspired by Emily's 'Five Things' posts, at Cupcakes & Cashmere.

(a great way to stay active behind the camera, to document the little things)

Eating grilled cheese & homemade tomato soup (made by my mother-in-law) like it's going out of style.

Still enjoying all the zinnias from our garden.

A cute brown-eyed puppy, through the screen door.

Obsessing over these adorable new mugs (that match our coffee & tea containers perfectly)!

Nothing beats kettle corn from the farmer's market.

Travel: The Hoover Dam

It occurred to me the other day, that I never posted about our trip to the Hoover Dam while we were in Las Vegas this spring.

The dam is quite impressive, and one of the those things that you need to see in person to truly appreciate & understand the sheer volume of this massive structure.

We did the dam tour, and it was neat & very informative.  Not the most exciting thing in the whole world, but a good experience none-the-less.  I think we spent about 3 hours total at the dam, and we made sure to get there right away in the morning when it opened to avoid large crowds & the daytime heat.

Damn... that's a long ways down! ;)

Arizona side...

Nevada side...

Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge

I'm not sure how much you remember learning about the Hoover Dam in school, but what's fascinating to me is the engineering feat that went into constructing the dam, and how they were able to divert the flow of the Colorado River while it was being built.  I mean, this was back in 1931 -- before computers and all the fancy gadgets we have today.

The dam was built to control the flow of the Colorado River, provide irrigation water to farmlands, and provide a dependable water supply for southern California.  It's self-supporting, too; the operation & maintenance is solely supported with the revenue from it's power sales.  To this day, the Hoover Dam is a world-renowned structure.

A look inside the dam:

If you're claustrophobic, avoid this part of the tour...

Here's the view at the end of that long narrow tunnel

Lake Mead -- America's largest man-made reservoir that can store 9.2 trillion gallons of water.  It also serves as a means of recreation. And, it's beautiful!

Zac pointing out some fish...

The view from the Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge (it was sooo windy on top the bridge!)

 

If you're in the area or passing through, make sure to stop by the Hoover Dam... even just to snap a pic.  You'll be amazed at it's sheer volume!  Plus, you can literally be in two places at once... Nevada & Arizona!

P.S.  You'll drive through Boulder City to get to the Hoover Dam.  On our way back to Vegas, we ate a super classy lunch at the local Taco Bell, and across the street was this fun mural.  Had we not stopped for a cheap lunch, I would have never gotten this photo :)

Make: Homemade Banana-sicles

Happy Labor Day friends!

Is there any better feeling than waking up on a Monday morning and realizing that you don't have to work today?
Nope, I'm not sure there is.

I hope everyone was able to savor this "last" unofficial weekend of summer.  To keep the summer vibes going, we're enjoying homemade banana popsicles, a.k.a. Banana-sicles, because what screams summer louder than popsicles?

These are super easy to make (only 3 ingredients!), and they are a great way to use up overripe bananas.  I got the recipe idea when pursuing through the September 2016 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine.  Their version is called Banana Pudding Pops, but I wanted something a bit simpler & a touch healthier, so along came Banana-sicles.  Plus, I'm always looking for reasons to use my popsicle molds.


To make this recipe, you'll need the following:

- Blender (we have the Ninja & love it)

- Popsicle molds (this is the one we have)

- Two ripe bananas

- 3/4 c. of butter pecan ice cream (our favorite is Cedar Crest, yum!)

- Nilla wafers 

Blend together the bananas & ice cream until pureed.  Pour the mixture into 6 popsicle molds and freeze until solid.  Remove from freezer and sprinkle with crushed vanilla wafers.  Enjoy!

Where are all da Honey Bees at?

Zac has been telling me for a few years about this 'Honey Bee Crisis', and how he thinks we should "do our part to help."  He basically wants us to become backyard beekeepers.

What?

I do what I usually do when he tells me random, crazy ideas...  I say things like "uh huh." "oh, really?" "mmmhm, ok"  "But seriously, no. You don't need another hobby.  You're nuts, and where did you come up with this?"

However, if you know my husband, you know he loves to try new things.  And when he gets an idea in his head, he's gonna roll with it... i.e. Maple syrup harvesting. Trapping. Anything apple tree related.  The list goes on and on.

Don't get me wrong, I love that he's a "go-getter", but seriously... now he wants a backyard full of bees?  I haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet,  however I did Google "Honey Bee Crisis" and it's a real thing...

Beekeepers have been losing colonies left and right, from a variety of reasons.  But why should we care?  Well, for starters, honey bee pollination is in some ways responsible for most of the foods we eat.  And we all need to eat... so long live the bees!

But... I still don't want bee hives in my backyard.  And apparently we didn't need hives for the bees to find us... we have flowers!

To be fair, I'm not sure that these are actual Honey Bees, but they are doin' their thing & helping our flowers & garden flourish!

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Make: Freezer Pasta Sauce

Our garden is in full harvest mode.  Our tomatoes, specifically, are all coming ripe at the same time, so we've been busy processing.  A large batch of them went to my mother-in-law, who makes & cans the BEST roasted tomato soup.  With our second batch this year, we made freezer pasta sauce.  We always use this recipe, from a Turtle's Life for Me, with a few variations that I will share below.

We've been making this recipe since 2011 & we will never go back to store bought sauce ever again... it's that good!  Making the sauce is a bit time consuming, but very easy... and so worth it.  The flavor of this sauce is hard to beat -- it's our favorite!

Recipe:

5 diced onions (this seems like a lot, but they cook down)

8 cloves of minced garlic

*4 tbsp. olive oil

*16 c. peeled & chopped tomatoes

30 oz. tomato paste

4 tbsp. dried oregano

2 tbsp. dried basil

3 tbsp. dried parsley

1/4 c. white sugar

2 tbsp. salt

*1 tbsp. black pepper 

*In a large stockpot, saute the onions & garlic in the oil until the onion is transparent.

Then, mix in the rest of the ingredients, stirring well after each item is added to make sure everything is incorporated nicely. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce heat, and let simmer on the stovetop for about 4 to 5 hours, stirring occasionally.

*Our variations:

*We use extra virgin olive oil in lieu of vegetable oil.
*For the peeled & chopped tomatoes, we actually use this Sauce Master that I got for Christmas last year. IT IS AMAZING.  The "good stuff" comes out more like soup than chopped tomatoes, but that's just fine to use in this sauce.

*We add more pepper, because we like pepper.

*Natalie uses a crockpot for her sauce, but we always make a double batch, so we use our big Paula Dean stockpot.

The Tupperware Quick Chef Pro System is a LIFESAVOR when dicing onions.

Minced garlic

This is what the consistency/texture looks like after the tomatoes were added, that we ran through the Sauce Master, instead of peeling & dicing them.  It looks very runny, but the sauce will thicken!

Tomate paste

Oregano

Basil

Parsley

Sugar

Salt

Pepper

^Look at how dangerously high the sauce got -- be careful when stirring!

Once the sauce is cooled, we store in freezer bags -- about 2 cups/bag.  This lasts us all year!

Let me know if you try this recipe & what you think!

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