What a great day for a hike!

Cheryl, Cody & I went for a hike on the Ripple Rock Trail today! 16 km, and 4 hours later, we were all pleasantly exhausted
For more information on the trail:
http://www.britishcolumbia.com/trails/?id=26

We were shocked to be the only car in the parking lot when we started the trek.  The above picture was taken at around 10 am.  We had a hot day today – it was 15 deg. Celsius when we started! We went well equipped ~ sound horn, bear spray and bear bells, in addition to water for us and Cody.

The trail is really well maintained. The first part of the trail had stairs and bridges where necessary. Even though we were hiking under the forest cover, the heat was there!

There was a suspension bridge over Menzies Creek … Cody was so good going over it!

Our first rest stop was at a beach. Across the way was a log sort area.
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Our next stop was on a viewpoint, a bluff facing the same way as the beach.


Below is a picture of Cody, wet after chasing a seagull at the next beach rest-stop.

The last big climb to the end of the trail.  There were stairs!

The view from the end. Straight ahead is Maude Island… to the right is Race Point.
We watched the boat traffic for about 20 minutes before starting to head back to the car.  It was an amazing view, and well worth the 2 hour walk.



Now I can hardly wait to figure out what other adventure to go on… after my nap! (Gosh, we were all so tired after our trek!)

Vacation Time!

Seems like I waited forever for the vacation time we are enjoying now!  All is not so rosy though, the first week of my vacation, my husband had to go to the eye surgeon for a check up for his last surgery, and ended up having two office procedures - laser surgery to remove the cloudiness of his lens, and another gas bubble put into his eyeball because the pressure was not strong enough to stop any problems (his problem was a hemorrhage that happened in his eye, and did not allow the surgeons to check on the condition of his retina).  So, after all of that, we had to go back to Vancouver for another checkup this week.  The one way trip travelling from where we live to Vancouver is approximately five to seven hours when you include the ferry travel. Traveling like that just doesn't appeal to us anymore :-( -  especially in the summertime when you have to wait at least 2 hours in the parking lot to catch the ferry....  The best news about the last visit though, was that his eye is OK, and we won't have to go back for another three weeks (yippee --- sarcastically speaking) There has been a good side of my vacation.... we have been able to enjoy 4 nights camping so far. Two nights at friends, and another two nights at Gray Lake.  Tomorrow we head out for Twin Lake, and plan to stay three nights! Bringing our fishing gear to hopefully catch some dinner as well!
Other news....My computer is at the "shop" getting repaired (hard drive crashed), so until I get it back, I won't be able to post much. I'm hoping I will be able to salvage some pictures from the old hard drive, but fear that all is lost on that drive. Serves me right for not committing to do regular back ups Grrrrrrr.
So, please look forward to some posts with vacation pictures in the near future!

South-western Black Bean and Rice Burgers

I’ve been having problems sleeping the past few nights, so I ended up taking a sleeping pill last night. Had a restful nights sleep, but still woke up way to early. Problem solved! I decided to make some vege burgers for my lunch, and extra’s for the freezer for a quick lunch to take to work.  I got the original recipe off of the internet (Allrecipes.com) but this is my version of it.

South-western Black Bean and Brown Rice Veggie Burger Patties Recipe

makes 4 patties (hamburger size)

• 1 - 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 egg
• 1 cup brown rice, cooked
• 1 1/2 Tbsp instant minced onion flakes
• 1 heaping Tbsp dehydrated sweet pepper, finely ground (you don’t want chunks of it in the mix)
• 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
• 1/2 tsp each of:
• cumin powder
• paprika
• chili powder
• salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

With a food processor, pulse the drained black beans until they are minced but not smooth (you want some chunkiness) Transfer them to a bowl, and mix an egg with a spoon. Fold in cooked and cool rice.

Mix all the remaining ingredients together in a small bowl, then mix them into the bean/rice/egg mixture.

Dust your hands if necessary with cornstarch, and form the “burger” mix into 4 patties. Dust the patties with a bit of cornstarch to stop them from sticking to the plate.

  Heat about 1 tablespoon oil in a non-stick skillet.  Place one or two burger patties on the skillet. Cook for 1-2 minutes on medium-high heat on each side. Remove when a crispy golden crust forms on both sides. Add more oil to the skillet and fry up 2 more patties at a time. Repeat till all patties are cooked. I’ve put them on a cooling rack, and when they are cold, I will transfer them, individually wrapped with plastic wrap, to the freezer.  I couldn’t wait to try one for breakfast :-)  Yummy!

July 17th Gardening and Cooking Updates

Well, the weather for the weekend was overcast and raining for the most part, so camping was out. Making a mess in the kitchen was in :-)

Things I made this weekend:

Pork Loin & Sweet Potatoes (my last post)

Salad Dressing mixes from Make A Mix Cookery book

French Dressing

Ranch Dressing

Super Salad (or vegetable) Sprinkles

Black Bean Brownies (from an online recipe)

(If you are using dried beans, soak and cook 1 cup of dried beans to equal 2 cups cooked beans for the recipe)

adapted from the Whole Foods Market

• 1 19 oz (540 mL) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Place the black beans, sugar, eggs, melted butter, cocoa, vanilla and salt in the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth, pulsing and scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure all the beans are completely pureed. Remove the blade and gently stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour into an 8?x8? pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until slightly puffed and set. Cool before cutting into squares.

Next time I make these, I will up the cocoa powder and add a tsp of instant coffee and a good pinch of cayenne or chili powder to the mix… I think that it needs a bit more dark chocolate, to counteract the fact that there is less fat in the recipe.

I have 4 cups of dried mixed beans soaking right now, to make a batch of hopefully 12-14 pints of soup this evening. My stock of quick lunch soups is drastically low! Time to get cracking and do some batches of different soups up!

Gardening updates!

This morning it cleared up enough for me to take some pictures of the garden. Its neat to see how things are progressing!

The tomato garden has turned into a jungle. The picture on the right shows the clusters of tomatoes forming on the Keepsake Tomato plants.

I planted borage, calendula, sweet potatoes, parsley & basil amongst the tomatoes. My motto is, survival of the fittest! Once things get too crowded, I will do some judicious thinning of leaves and flowers, to encourage air movement around the tomatoes.

 

The crimson flowered broad beans are almost up to the window of Marcel’s shed now.  The bottom flowers are starting to form pods. It will be interesting to find out how much we get from the 20 beans planted. I will always plant celery in these pots though! They are healthy and growing much better for me in these pots, than they did for me in the ground.

The peppers are not doing as well for me this year as last. I think part of the reason is that I mixed the “earth” they are in… it is 1/2 compost and 1/2 potting mix. Last year it was all compost, and they were planted on alfalfa, which would have given them lots of umph as well.  Cody’s peas are doing well though! I think they mislabeled them…. they are turning out more like pole peas vs bush peas.

The cucumbers I started from seed for the greenhouse are doing much better than the ones I bought and planted in the containers by Marcel’s shed…. lesson learned for next year ~ save my money and plant the seed instead of purchasing plants!

The back corner (right) is starting to look a bit more respectable too !

 

The picture on the left is from the first planter bed going into the back yard. The perennial sweet peas (pink flowers) are starting to bloom.  They look good with the Maltese Cross (red flowers).  The picture on the right is a lily I had been given as a potted plant years ago (its at least 8 years old). Loads of blooms on it this year, about the size of my hand, in clusters.

 

Hopefully Marcel & I will get out camping next weekend.  With this weather, I think it is a case of do it or not.  Its hard to believe that we haven’t camped at all this season yet!

Pork Loin and Sweet Potatoes

I received the following recipe from Allison. We both look at recipes for inspiration, and while this recipe looked good, I had to tweak it for my families preferences. I did it with my stovetop pressure cooker.
The original recipe, snipped from a magazine:

I followed the recipe amounts, but increased the amount of sweet potato, and accidently left out the onion and garlic! I’m still happy with the way it turned out though.
I had two nice pieces of pork loin that I browned in some oil in the pressure cooker. I let them rest while I prepared the rest of the ingredients.
   
I peeled and sliced 2 large sweet potatoes in 1/4 inch slices. 
Seasonings pictured: 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp sliced and chopped candied ginger, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 tsp black pepper, dash of cayenne pepper and ground allspice.
I sliced the cooled, browned pork loin into approximately 1 1/2 inch chunks, and put them back into the pressure cooker.
Put the sliced sweet potatoes on top, and poured the seasonings mixed with 1/2 cup water over it all.
Closed the pressure cooker and brought it up to pressure for 5 minutes, and did a quick release.
If I do this again, I will definitely cube the pork and slice the sweet potatoes in 1/2 inch slices.  I’m not sure that the onion would add much to this dish, but will add the garlic and some more cayenne pepper to the mixed spices.
I served the pork and sweet potatoes with a mixed bean and quinoa salad. Not a bad meal to have in under 30 minutes!

Tomatoes

I forgot to mention tomatoes in my last post! Egads!

Well, scarlet runner beans are between the tomato plants and Marcel’s shed. Asparagus plants are between the fence and the tomatoes. In amongst the tomatoes are calendula, parsley, borage, basil, and sweet potato. Yep, another jungle.  Today’s job is tie the tomato plants up to the frame.  There are 5 varieties, 2 of each.  Keepsake, Mortgage Lifter, Bonny Best, Cold Set and Sasha’s Pride.

Oh! I almost forgot, I have some perpetual spinach underneath the wooden saw horses.

Now, just to make sure I get enough of a crop to preserve some of the bounty!

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Garden Pictures, June 18th, 2011

Its been a while since I posted. Busy in the yard and work… So, I thought I’d better take some pictures to show everyone how the yard is coming along!

Here is the front garden bed. The Catmint and Poppy has really overtaken the left corner, and I’ll have to break them up this fall and spread them across both sides of the front garden.  Right below our window is Joe Pie Weed. Its wonderful, even though it will reseed itself quite readily, it is easy to pull out to control its spread.  I have to keep on top of deadheading it so it will bloom consistently throughout the summer.








Here is a tomato basket outside my back door. The variety is 100’s of 1000’s from Sutton Seeds.  I planted sweet alyssum and nasturtium with them.














View of the garden heading towards the back yard. Its really become a jungle.















View of the clematis trellis. Out of the 6 plants, 5 have started to come along quite nicely.  The nectarine tree suffered terribly with peach leaf curl this year. I will have to be on top of getting the dormant oil and lime sulphur spray on it promptly this year.










Views from and around the new deck.  Marcel says no more planters on the deck!


I planted some blue star creeper between the cement foot rest (slabs) in front of the bench. It is so pretty, I hope it takes over that area!


This sweep panoramic picture of the back garden area only looks good when you zoom in on it and scroll to the right. Let me know if it works for you! I’m growing peppers on the straw bales, and lettuce, peas, beans, potatoes, raspberries sprinkled with a healthy amount of calendula a violas in the garden bed.



Pictures of the plants on the west side of Marcel’s shed.

My new favourite vegetable, crimson coloured broad beans – Thanks Allison!



Cody enjoys the yard, and checking out all the planters too! Behind him are some english cucumbers which will hopefully take over that corner of Marcel’s shed.

And finally, the back corner which is a “work in progress”. I’m showing the picture now, as I really hope it will look so much better in a month or two!  If the weeds come back, grass is going back in, along with a fruit tree! The corner has been warned! LOL


That’s all for now. Hope everyone has a great day!
Shelley