Friday, July 30, 2010

Green Follow Friday



It is that time again!  It is Green Follow Friday!  So join the follow and find new wonderful green blogs to follow!  I got this link from EcoFriendlyandFrugal .

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Mt. Evans

My parents visited us this past weekend.  One day while they were here we went to Eldorado Canyon State Park and walked around.  The next day we decided to drive up Mt. Evans, which happens to be the highest highway in US.  It was awesome.  If you ever have the chance to drive up Mt. Evans you should.  At the top you can walk up a little ways to the actual peak.  One the way up there were many mountain goats.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Polenta and CSA

Today we got another share from our CSA and it included, lettuce, hot peppers, bell peppers, beets with tops, spring onions, basil, tomatoes, summer squash, turnips, kohlrabi, carrots and radishes. 

So for dinner tonight I decided on my starch (polenta) and went to work.  I ended up making a goat cheese polenta with sauteed veggies. 
I cooked the polenta (corn grits) as directed and then once it was cooked, stirred in some local garlic goat cheese.  It made the polenta very creamy and super tasty. 

For the veggies, I chopped up the summer squash, hot peppers, bell peppers, spring onions, garlic and tomatoes.  Added some salt, pepper, and Italian seasonings to taste and it was complete.  It was a very quick and simple meal but was filling and delicious.  And the great thing about it is you could use whatever vegetables/cheese you have on hand. 

I still need to do something with all this cabbage we have.  Any ideas?

Friday, July 23, 2010

CSA and Pesto

I have been behind on updating our CSA share every week and what we do with the vegetables we receive.  Really we have been receiving a lot of veggies and sometimes we don't know what to do with it all.  Like lettuce, how many salads can one person eat?  Or cabbage, we have two heads of cabbage in the fridge right now.  I need to make some sauerkraut before it gets old. 

We have also been receiving tons of peas, dill, cilantro, carrots, lettuce, spinach, garlic scapes, basil, green onions, turnips, fennel, peppers, squash, and it goes on and on.  I broke down and gave away a lot of dill and cilantro.  I can only do so much with dill and cilantro is repulsive to me anymore. 

With a lot of our veggies we have been making stir frys. 
This one had rice noodles, garlic scapes, green onions, peas and bok choy, along with our normal seasonings. 

The other night Jeff was nice enough to make a wonderful dinner, the best in a while.  He made pesto with all of our basil we have received, plus some pine nuts and jalapenos.  He also sauteed some peppers and zucchini to add to the pesto and pasta.  He also made a wonderful balsamic reduction and made bruschetta with it.  It was amazing.

Sorry I don't have recipes for these, we just kind of made these dishes from our heads and knowing the basics of these dishes. 

Green Follow Friday



Another blog hop!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Fry Day

Since we have inherited a very large turkey fryer from my dad, we decided to put it to use and fry everything.  Seriously, and it was awesome.

We fried : jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese, mozzarella cheese, zucchini, pickles, potatoes, sweet potatoes, kabocha squash, beets, mushrooms, green tomatoes, olives, corn fritters, macaroni and cheese, shrimp, chicken , bacon wrapped figs, bacon wrapped chicken, a meatball man, apricot fritters, pineapple, red banana, and oreos.

We also had many batters invovled and lots of beer.  There was also homemade ketchup, ranch and icing to dip items in.   It was a lot of fun, the food, company and beer were all great.  But the best was the fried oreos, if you ever have a chance to eat one, do it!  Seriously they were amazing, we dipped ours in cake batter.

The whole day was entirely unhealthy but it was worth it.  I won't be eating fried food for a while that is for sure.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Green Blog Hop



To find other blogs that deal with green topics, click on the icon above.  If you yourself has a blog that deals with green topics go to the link above and be apart of the Green Blog Hop. 

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Mt. Falcon

It seems that life has taken over this summer, because it feels like summer is already over and we have done NOTHING!  Somehow it is already the middle of July and forget summer, where has this year gone?  Time has been going too fast lately.  It doesn't help that we both work full time and but the time our weekend comes we just want to relax, forget all of those ambitious plans we had back in April. 

So originally this past weekend we were going to go camping, but then we decided that was a bit too ambitious.  Instead we decided a hike would be good enough, since somehow we haven't even gone on a hike in a month and a half.  Our destination was Mt. Falcon, we have been to this area several times and really enjoy it.  Usually we just go to the east side, and this time we decided to venture on the west side.  It was a beautiful day and there was, of course, tons of beautiful scenery. 


It is still unbelievable that all of this is only an hour drive from our house.  I don't think I will ever get over the fact that I live in Colorado. 

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Archer

In case you have not heard about the show Archer, I am going to tell you about it now. 
Archer is a new animated show on FX, but you can also watch it on OnDemand or Hulu.  It is about a secret agent that works for a company his mom runs, and all the drama that goes into the job.  It is hilarious and entertaining.  Oh and my best friend Dominic M. (also known as my big brother) is an animator for the show.  Awesome? I think so. He started doing freelance stuff for them at the beginning of the first season and then it progressed into a full time job.  It is amazing that he is doing something that so many people can see and experience.  I am super proud of him, so I have to tell everyone to watch Archer.  The second season starts in January, so look out for it.  Oh an also look out for this image.
Because it will be in the new season, and it is an image of Dominic!  He said it will be sans beard, but still, it is awesome! 
So if you don't already watch Archer, do it.  And tell all your friends about it.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Twilight Saga

Sadly I am a Twilight fan, pathetic I know.  But it just happened.  So many people kept talking about the series and I thought I heard enough, that it wasn't my thing.  So I avoided it, talked bad about it, looked down on it, etc.  But then for some reason I was like, why not?  So I got the first book and OMG I became addicted.  It doesn't help that I have a thing for series.

I wasn't one of those girls that fell in love with Edward because honestly I really liked Bella.  For some reason I related to Bella and her conflicts.  I agree with some that think Edward is a bit creepy, a bit much.  As I read the books my favorite character kept being Bella.  Edward was overbearing and Jacob was annoying.  So after I read the third book, Eclipse, I had to desperately rush to the book store to buy Breaking Dawn and find out what happened. 

And no the writing is not good, but I liked the story and I became addicted to it.  That is usually what happens with books, I become obsessed with finding out what happens, how the author writes the ending.  And if it is really good I get really caught up in the characters and story, so much that I feel like I am there.  All I can think about is the story, the characters, what is happening in their lives and what happens after the book. 

So when the third movie came out this past weekend, I wanted to go see it.  The first two I Netflixed and watched at home alone.  But I didn't want to wait a few more months to watch it, when everyone is talking about it now.  And I really didn't want to go to a movie theater by myself.  In comes Jeffy, I had to beg him.  Like really beg, and he went because he is a good husband but he hated it.  He had this annoyed look the whole time and was in a bit of a mood afterward.  I am still glad I got to see it, the acting isn't great but I love seeing what happens, not just reading.  I have all these images going on in my head while reading, that seeing them in play out is great.  So I enjoyed the movie, it wasn't a great movie but I still liked it. 

Monday, July 5, 2010

4th of July

This unfortunately was the second 4th of July in a row that no fireworks were purchased or shot off in the Stilley household.  It is pretty pathetic when I think of our 4th of Julys in Lee's Summit. 
This was the remains of a 5 gallon bucket, we would fill it with any kind of firework and set it on fire.  There are many videos involved too, I am slowly trying to upload all of my videos on my YouTube site (it is posted to the right of this post). 
I still had fun yesterday but it is just not the same as blowing stuff up all day.  We went to a neighborhood parade, which was awesome.  It was very entertaining.  Most of the parade were children and adults dressed in red, white and blue on bikes or just walking.  There were a couple of fire trucks involved and some old cars.  There was also some chanting of "USA", and old people clapping at everything.  I love just about any parade, not because they are always great but because they are entertaining at least.  Another reason I love Denver, it still has a small town feel with neighborhood activities like this. 
After the parade we went to a friends house to relax and enjoy some awesome food.  We took some cheesecake that was amazing. 

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Avatar

So we finally decided to watch Avatar and see what the craze was about. 
Side note- I love Netflix, I love not having to go to the movie theater, and being able to pause a movie as often as needed for potty breaks. 
And Avatar was great!  I wasn't looking forward to it because of how long it was but I really enjoyed it.  I liked the story and the characters.  It did kind of freak me out with all the machinery and possibilities of what humans would/could do. 
I remember when it came out in theaters and so many people were saying you have to see it in 3D or it wouldn't be good, well you people are wrong.  I really enjoyed it without all the 3D effect. 
So if you have not already seen it, you should because it really is a good movie. 

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Sprucing

We are slowly trying to spruce up this place while we are here.  Don't get me wrong I love it, but the previous tenants did not take care of the yard very well.  I am also trying not to get too crazy since we are just renting but I want it to look nice.  So we decided to plant some flowers in the front.
And look at that roof with no antenna. 
Soon we will get some mulch to fill in around the flowers.  We are also slowly going to take out most of the stuff in this front area.  There is cat mint that is running a little to wild and it smells awful.  Then later in the fall we will hopefully reseed the remaining areas of the backyard.  And maybe in the spring do the front, there are some dead patches in the front.  Luckily our property management will be willing to pay for seed, we just do the work.  So slowly it will begin to look much better.