Time

Where does it go? And who do I talk to to get some more of it?

My life is crazy lately - in a really really great way. So many wonderful things have been happening since I last blogged. To name a few highlights:

-finally purchasing a road bike!

-spending a week in California with the family

-road tripping to Washington for a century bike race and subsequently falling in love (withwhat you ask? both cycling and the WA pugete sound of course. not too shabby for a weekend's work if i do say so myself.)

- initiating summer outdoor rock climbing season with 2 sessions in less than one week: with nicki on a wednesday; and then with beth and her darling boyfriend kerlyn on saturday morning

- experimenting with fun new healthy recipes and figuring out what to do with torso-sized giant broccoli leaves that we get in our weekly box of farm fresh produce (don't believe me? just wait for the pictures...)

-spending a lovely saturday afternoon exploring some of the hidden gems of salt lake with my bro dave

- overnight camping adventures to payson lakes in the uinta mountains: who knew so much beauty could be found in less than an hours drive from home?

- and, oh yeah, starting a real full time job - yikes

pictures and details of each of these to follow soon. i promise.

Tales of Tacos and Temples

I don't think I've ever really celebrated Cinco de Mayo - although maybe I should. I'm slightly embarasssed to admit that I don't know why Cinco de Mayo is even a holiday, (someone, please fill me in quick before people find out!), but I can think of 2 great reasons to celebrate the 5th of May:

(1) its a great excuse to eat tacos. and let's be honest. who doesn't love a good taco?

(2) and definitely more importantly - May 5th marks the anniversary of the day I went to the temple for the first time - 4 years ago. (I might have intentionally chosen this day so that I would always remember. Sentimental much? You know it.)

So today I spent the day doing two things: remembering how much I love the temple and what a blessing it has been in my life, and really really wanting to eat tacos for dinner all day (thank you guys who work next door at SBR for initiating the craving by eating tacos in my presence).

To make a long (and frankly not very interesting) story short, at 10pm this evening I started making tacos. Not just any tacos, mind you. Lentil Tacos. I came across this recipe and have been wanting to try it for awhile. So despite the long day and late hour, I decided the tacos had to be made. Let me tell you, it was worth it. They were delicious. And nutritious. (I couldn't resist...) You should probably eat them soon. Sorry for no picture, I ate them too fast.

Courage: to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart

This TED talk was sent my way this week and I have been resonating with some of its messages this morning:

I love what she says about courage:

Have the courage to be imperfect

When we recognize and accept and are okay our own imperfections, and are kind to ourselves, it opens us up to be kind and compassionate to others and to have connection. The only way to truly have connection is to believe that we are worthy of that kind of love and connection and to accept vulnerability as a beautiful part of life. Man oh man. Her ending thoughts are slowly becoming my new mantra on living.

• let ourselves be seen - deeply seen, vulnerably seen.
• love with our whole hearts even through there is no guarantee
• practice gratitude and joy - to be vulnerable means i’m alive
• believe that i am enough

Doesn't this just seem like such a healthy and happy way to live?

Bucket List

I have been doing a little life coaching as of late - being coached that is, rather than doing the coaching. So far it has been an interesting process. One of my first 'homework' assignments was to watch the movie The Bucket List and then write my own bucket list. Hokey? Maybe a little. But it was actually quite a fun little exercise in putting pen to paper and formulating some ideas about what life may look like if it were entirely up to me. I thought it would be fun to share what's on my list. (Its kinda long, apparently I'm a bit ambitious):

In No Particular Order....

Active Type Buckets:

• purchase a road bike
• do a triathlon
• ride in a century bike race (100 miler)
• climb american fork and little cottonwood canyons
• canyoneer - somewhere awesome
• learn to sail, and sail the Mediterranean
• travel to australia and dive the great barrier reef
• ski dive somewhere really really beautiful
• visit olympus national park
• visit all the national parks in the united states
• hike half dome
• lead a multi pitch climb - sleep in a bivvy on the wall
• get good at slack-lining
• see the northern lights (I might have stolen this one from Nicki)
• visit the fjords (okay truth be told, this one too...)

Educational Buckets:

• learn the 10 sessions
• become a yoga instructor
• get a masters degree
• become proficient in cranial sacral massage
• learn lymphatic drainage massage
• learn thai massage in thailand
• proficiency in essential oils
• learn a second language

Family/Service Oriented Buckets:

• get married
• have a bunch of kids
• have a house with a wrap around porch, sustainable garden (compost, rotate crops, organic fertilizer etc.), fruit trees, barn, and horses near a lake
• perform some kind of humanitarian aid in africa and/or south america
• be a temple worker
• go on a mission with my husband
• leave a legacy of service and love
• become proficient in the scriptures
• learn a second instrument along with one of my children
• earn my young women's medallion with my first daughter
• peace core
• live abroad for a year
• live close to family - be close so that our kids can be friends

Other Kinds of Buckets:

• purchase a SLR camera - and get really really good at taking pictures
• play in a band
• teach piano lessons
• write a book - massage? health/nutrition? family history?
• dissect a cadaver
• own a jeep wrangler or land rover
• coach a volleyball team
• sew a quilt - a really good looking one
• live abroad for a year

Go on now, write you're own bucket list. You know you want to...

Idaho Idaho

Idaho feels strangely like home to me lately. Who would have thought that the day would come that I would know my way entirely around not only Rexburg (not really a difficult task given its eentsy size) but also a good portion of Idaho Falls.

A few weeks ago, Melissa was on spring break from school and instead of spending the week in Portlandia alone(ish), she ventured out to Rexburg for the week to spend it with Marilyn and ME for the weekend that I was able to make it up there. At first I was sad that Dad ended up having to work that weekend (and sadly was stuck somewhere in the middle of no-man's-land Arizona for most of the weekend), but it ended up being way way fun to have a girls weekend: We told stories, we watched the news and the movie Leap Year, we talked about healthy eating and raw foods, we went to the bead store and as always spent more than intended, I taught Melissa how to make earrings, we went to the Bodies exhibit in Idaho Falls, tried some new recipes for Raw food that I had been wanting to try, and altogether just had a really relaxing, enjoyable time together.


One thing you need to know about me, if you didn't already know it, is that I absolutely love Anatomy. Its sickening really. It fascinates me. So when I saw a billboard for the bodies exhibit in Idaho Falls on my drive up to Rexburg, I. Was. Pumped. And I knew Melissa would be too, so I called her up and quick as that it was on our must-do list. We spent 2-3 hours in that museum gazing in awe at all there was to learn and relearn and discover about our beautiful bodies. We probably would have stayed longer, had hunger not been setting in and making us tired and cranky. Some people think its weird to look at a body that has been preserved in this way (or a cadaver), but I just always come away from such experiences with even more respect and reverence for the amazing intricacies and wonder of these bodies that our Heavenly Father created for us and gave us stewardship over.

Here are the beautifully delicious raw recipes we tried. Both came from this recipebook a friend sent me (everything I have tried from it since has been equally delightful):

The first is called Good Heart Sundried Tomato Sauce over zucchini and cucumber "pasta". (which is really just thinly sliced, raw zucchini and cucumbers). We were a bit leery of whether this would actually be tasty without cooking - but we thought we would try it. It was seriously so good! I was eating the sauce by the spoonful long before it even had a chance to go on the plate. It was more of a salad type dish, than a pasta dish, but tasty nonetheless.

The real gem of the evening was the Apple Pie. Dates are my new friends. They are like this secret little weapon in making delicious desserts without adding refined sugar. This crust was made from pecans, dates, and coconut. The filling was mostly apples, some more dates and a cinnamon etc. The best part about this pie? You could eat an entire HUGE slice and not go into instant sugar coma after or develop a case of food guilt because of eating something bad for you. (You don't get food guilt? That must be nice...)

Inspiration

I had multiple opportunities to be annoyed at having to wait on other people who had messed up my schedule. Instead of getting annoyed (okay, truth be told fighting and barely winning the urge to get annoyed would be more accurate), I took the opportunity to read and watch a few things that I have been meaning to. I was inspired by these 2 things today and felt to share them:

The first is a clip that a friend of mine share with me a couple days ago and I had yet to watch. It is Will Smith talking about positivity and focus and being successful. I love it. I totally needed to hear this today. I watched it twice, and will probably watch it again and take notes. Enjoy:

Secondly, I was listening to the Avett Brothers "Head Full of Doubt" while driving home from climbing this afternoon with Nicki. I have listened to this song dozens of times, but today this line especially struck me:

Decide what to be, and go be it.

I suppose the question now is, what do I want to be?

Loving this weather

Tonight it was dumping rain and all I wanted to do was put on my galoshes and rain jacket and go walking in it.... but I got lazy and decided blogging about wanting to walk in the rain was an acceptable alternative (that decision may also have been swayed by the fact that it stopped raining by the time Nicki and I were ready to go out in it.)

Where have all the recipes gone?

Remember how I use to post recipes that I've been making? I remember that. Well, I haven't been 'cooking' as much lately. At least not in the way that most of you would be interested in. I've been doing a cleanse sort of diet for the past 3 weeks - now don't get all freaked out thinking I'm crazy (I might be, but this is not the reason). The cleanse was not super extreme, I cut out red meat, dairy, wheat, and sugar. And ate the rest of my food in as close to raw form as possible so as to get the most nutrients and enzymes available from them... I guess that sounds extreme. Anyhow as crazy as it all sounds - I've felt amazing! So much more energy, less sluggish feeling, mental clarity, happy - how can you argue with that?

The cleanse was supposed to last 21 days and be strictly juices in the mornings and at night and then normal meals and snacks during the day, but I cheated a bit and sometimes ate normal food at night too. (And let's be honest, my social life revolves around food and I may have cheated an intsy bit every now and then, but whenever I was making food for myself, I stuck to the 'rules').

Now, the truth is in the aftermath. This last week I have been eating more 'normal' foods - as in breads and a bit of dairy and sugar (still less than before). And I've felt gross. Sluggish. Tired. Bloated... Sick (as in gross, not as in literally sick). Proof enough for me. I'm going back to my old (new) ways. I'd trade a few slices of bread and cheese for feeling this great anyday.

Another interesting side effect of eating really healthy, is that you start to understand and feel what your body actually needs - instead of what convenience or circumstance or social norms 'tell' you that it needs. I find that the healthier I eat, the more aware I am of when I am full and when I am actually hungry and what I am actually hungry for. No more wandering the fridge/pantry trying to figure out what I'm feeling like eating. Cravings are nearly gone. I use to crave chocolate and sugar all the time. No joke, all the time. And now I almost never crave those things. Or bread for that matter. Or cheese. This new way of living is quite liberating really when you think about it in that sense.

I think being aware of our bodies is essential, and its something that I would wager to guess the majority of the population is not very aware of. You would be surprised how many times I ask people for feedback about how a muscle in their body is feeling and they say something to the effect of "I don't know. You're the expert, you tell me." Really? Now how am I supposed to know what your body feels like? After all, perception is in the mind of the receiver, not the giver. I can tell you what the muscles feel like, but I have no idea whether that translates into pain or discomfort in the body of the receiver. Beware of forthcoming shameless business plug: this is one of the many benefits of getting massage regularly - you become more in tune and aware of your body.

Whoa, tangential sidenote flew in out of nowhere... The point is, I'm back to eating healthy again. I got lazy for a while there and started feeling the effects, but I'm glad to be back to the unprocessed, mostly meatless, full of fruits and vegetables and whole grains way of life that I've lived by before and that is just happy. Maybe one of these days I'll post some recipes of things I've been eating on the regular lately. The end.

Kamas Cabin Adventuring

President's Day Weekend I had the pleasure of heading out into the beauty of Kamas to stay in the Evan's Cabin for a few days with an entirely wonderful group of friends. (Unfortunately Nicki woke up sick the morning of and decided to opt out of coming - smart, but extremely sad and she was missed by all).

Friday night I carpooled up to the cabin with my new friend Dusty (who introduced me to the mildly funny podcast on the way initiating the following podcast post). We arrived at the parking lot just as Sven was about to take off with the snowmobile back to the cabin. Perfect timing. I hopped on the back while Dusty grabbed a tow rope and snowboarded behind - wakeboard style. I may or may not have been really sad to have not brought my snowboard at this point... Along the 5 mile trek to the cabin, we came across friends who were snowshoeing or cross country skiing into the cabin. By the time we reached the cabin we had 3 of us on the snowmobile and 2 on tow ropes behind. Awesome? Duh. I only wish we had photographically captured the moment.

Saturday consisted of the following activities:

• doing early morning yoga with K-pax and Annie whilst everyone else slept in
• eating tasty food
• playing heaps of speed scrabble
• snowshoeing to the nearby waterfall with the girls (and Ian) while the guys went backcountry skiing

Katie, Me, Annie, Ian, Stucki, Ali, Brenna, Rachel, and Lauren

on the bridge at the waterfall

• building igloos

Brenna and the Igloo that survived

• becoming trapped in a freak igloo collapse accident*
• going inside to warm up after getting soaked to the bone under 5 feet of snow
• becoming sad at missing out on the fun while everyone else created a sweet tunnel to sled through down the hill (making the most of the igloo collapse)
  

• returning outside to join the sledding adventure (meanwhile bashing my head on the side of the tunnel - sans beanie because it had frozen in the igloo - and cutting my eyebrow... it was a rough, but really fun, afternoon).
  

• trying the sledding tunnel one more time in hopes of a better outcome:

Good thing this video is sideways....

• eating more delicious food
• taking 2nd place in my first game of squints (this game involves small objects - in this case a jenga piece - that you hold between your bum-cheeks whilst navigating through an obstacle course created by the other players. intense? awkward? hilarious? yes, yes, and yes!), and unfortunately relinquishing the twister champion title to josh. (fair is fair).
• spending oodles of quality time with people that I adore

*Igloo Collapse Story: You know how they say that snow is heavy? Really really heavy? Well they weren't lying - or even kidding. Not even a little bit. Its really heavy. So there we were, making an igloo to win the competition. We were digging a tunnel into our igloo from the hill on the side of the yard and meanwhile also digging out the inside of the tunnel. We had piled up snow about 8 feet high and about 9 feet across and packed it down as we went (obviously not well enough though). Lauren and I were inside the igloo digging away, in a down dog (yoga) sort of position throwing snow out between our legs, when suddenly the igloo collapsed, trapping us under 4-5 feet of snow. It instantly went dark and I found myself forced onto my hands and knees with a small pocket of air underneath me (luckily - Lauren ended up flat on her stomach with little air). I pushed back against the snow to absolutely no avail. I knew my friends were on the outside and would get us out, but it. was. scary. I don't know that I could have gotten myself out of that by my own strength. I had nothing against that snow - and it was only a few feet deep. (Possibly had I known no one was outside to dig me out, I maybe could have gotten out... maybe). No more than 45 seconds after the igloo collapsed, I felt someone grab my back and yank me out of the snow. Hallelujah. I hate to imagine what could have happened had either of us been laying on our backs or any other strange position when it happened. It could have been really bad. Fortunately, we were both fine no harm was done. Lesson learned though - snow is heavy and dangerous. No more casually building igloos for me, thank you.

*This post has been entirely too long in the writing... This past month has been kinda crazy in many beautiful and heinous and wonderful and unexpected ways. I'll be doing some more catching up over the coming days. Stay tuned!

What if...

I cut my hair like this?

Mildly Funny Podcast

So the other day I was the guest speaker on a podcast. How you ask? Well let me tell you how it all went down...

I was driving up to Kamas a few weeks ago with my new friend Dusty who was telling me about two of his friends who started a podcast. In the (then) latest episode, one of the guys on the podcast tells a story about getting a massage for the first time. And it was hilarious. So as I am cracking up listening to this, Dusty gets the idea that it would be funny if I were a guest on their podcast. So he calls his friends Andrew and Jason and next thing I know, I get a phone call from these guys and am on a podcast.

You should probably listen first to the episode Like me. Massage me. Love me? for the story to understand what we are talking about when I debut in I just can't hold it in.

*Note: The massage story starts about 13minutes in.

Tea + Oatmeal = Toatmeal

I love oatmeal. But I don't love how bland it is without the addition of sugar. One day I was making oatmeal and was trying to figure out how to make it tasty without adding heaps of sugar, and on a whim threw in a bag of blackberry tea - best decision I made that day, hands down.

Goodbye bland oatmeal, hello tasty healthy tea infused oatmeal (affectionately termed toatmeal hereafter).

Toatmeal is now one of my favorite breakfast foods. The possibilities are endless, really. My current favorite new creation I just made and am enjoying this very minute is dubbed Lemon Berry Toatmeal: it includes lemon tea with frozen mixed berries, a bit of honey, and flax seed. Seriously though, how can you go wrong?

Also favorites:

• Bengal Spice Toatmeal with honey or agave and walnuts. Think all the wonderfulness of Christmas in oatmeal form. Its that good.
  
• Peaches and Cream Toatmeal - peach tea, a small spoonful of brown sugar, rice milk (or regular milk), and fresh peaches cut on top (when they're in season). This one is SO MUCH BETTER than the instant peaches and cream and WAY healthier. This one came to pass one lovely summers day... I can't wait for fresh peach season again!
• Pumpkin Spice Toatmeal - bengal spice toatmeal again with the addition of a few spoonfuls of canned pumpkin, honey, and walnuts or pecans. Yum!
  

So how does one make this tasty toatmeal you ask? Easy. (So long as you can make oatmeal from scratch on the stove, you are good to go).

• Place tea bag in water while boiling to steep - cover and let simmer for a few minutes to get the full flavor out of the tea bag.
• Remove tea bag and add oatmeal and rice milk or milk to consistency. (When using frozen berries I add them here).
  
• Simmer until cooked through.
• Add other ingredients as desired (walnuts, honey, agave, flaxseed, etc...)
• Enjoy!!!

Go on now, get out there and make some toatmeal. You won't regret it....

Valentine's Day Shout Out

I may or may not have worked ALL DAY LONG on Valentine's Day. And then stayed up all night (quite literally - I saw productive hours I hadn't seen since undergrad finals weeks) prepping to sub a pathology class the next day. All I can say is its a good thing I love what I do, or it would have been a sad day.

The highlight of the day was Nicki surprising me with these lovely flowers:

Who loves Tulips? I love Tulips. What a babe. I have the best friend ever. Seriously.

Irrational Fear Conquered

I had a feeling that I was going to get tired of naming my posts "new recipe #___", I just didn't realize it would happen so soon...

I have never made popcorn on the stove before. Yes, never. And for good reason. I seem to have (had) a completely irrational fear of making popcorn on the stove. Now, I consider myself a fairly able cook (with the embarrassing exception of more grilled cheese burnings than I can count), and capable of most things I set my mind to, and also realize that popcorn shouldn't be a scary thing to make. Yet, there was something keeping me from attempting the stove-top variety for years. Yup, years. I'm not sure whether I was afraid of burning it, or afraid it just wouldn't work, or what exactly the source of the concern was, but it was there. And it was time to stop being ridiculous and get over the irrationality once and for all. So when it came time to decide what treat to bring to Anna's Mardi Gras Party, I knew it had to include popcorn popped on the stove.

Here's the recipe for some pretty tasty Cajun Popcorn:

2.5 quarts popped popcorn
.25 cup butter, melted
1 tsp each: paprika, lemon pepper
.5 tsp each: onion powder, garlic powder
.25 tsp cayenne pepper

Pour butter over warm popcorn. Combine remaining seasonings and sprinkle over popcorn; toss to mix. Bake in 300° oven for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring once.

Success! Every last kernel popped in my first batch. Turns out stove-top popcorn is pretty simple. Irrational fear finally conquered.

Why yes I did craft those cute little paper cones to put the popcorn in. Thanks for noticing.

New Recipe #4: Baklava

I may have cheated a bit on this one, since it wasn't entirely a new recipe. My dear friend Anna spent some time in Turkey and Bulgaria awhile back and when she returned had a dinner party with traditional foods from those countries. I had dessert duty. I asked Anna for recommendations and she mentioned eating a chocolate pistachio baklava that was to die for. Now, I'm not a fan of baklava. At least I wasn't. Chocolate is my vice. And since any baklava I'd ever seen was sans chocolate, I figured, what's the point? Well, chocolate pistachio baklava may have made me a believer. It was delicious. I totally messed up the recipe and it was still delicious. (I accidentally omitted half the necessary phyllo dough...)

Enter Baklava Take Two:
In light of the recent happenings in Egypt, my friends Clay and Jessica orchestrated an evening of great company, delicious middle eastern food, and lively discussions of world-happenings. I was again assigned dessert duty - baklava specifically. The request this time was for a more traditional baklava, i.e. not chocolate. Okay fine. I suppose 'normal' baklava can be tasty as well. I added orange zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the mix, as well as vanilla to the syrup, and couldn't resist drizzling chocolate on half of them. And I learned from my mishap and used the proper proportion of phyllo dough this time.

The nice thing about baklava is that it has the appearance of being fancy, but in reality is really really ridiculously easy to make. So the next time you're feeling simplistically fancy, give it a go. You won't regret it.

In case you were worried, they were delicious. And the chocolate one's were the first to go.

Confession...

I claim to be a really healthy eater.

But then I go and do things like eat In-N-Out burgers and Costco pizza two times each within a 7 day period.

Gross.

New Recipe of the Week #3: Cinnamon Waffles and Caramelized Apples

The other night I was seriously craving some waffles. Cinnamon waffles. Like the one's at Bruge's Waffles and Frites in SLC. But it was 11pm - much too late to be making, let alone eating, delicious waffles. So I found this recipe, and determined to wake up early in the morning to make them before work.

The alarm went off at 6:30am. Not a normal hour for me, but I jumped out of bed excited for the much-anticipated waffles. The egg whites had been beaten to soft peaks (impressed?), the batter was mixed, the apples were caramelizing and I was ready to start the waffles. Except that the waffle maker was missing. I had lent it to a friend and forgotten that they had yet to return it. An early morning text failed to alleviate the problem and I proceeded to become ridiculously sad about not getting to eat those waffles for breakfast. I consigned myself to tea while reading some scriptures on the couch when Nicki came out of her room to leave for work and I told her the fateful tale of the missing waffle maker. She too was sad to not have delicious waffles for breakfast.

Jump an hour and a half later. I am ready for work and its 15 minutes before go time - still no waffle maker. I proceed to try to figure out what to have for breakfast: out of cereal, used the last of the eggs in the waffle batter, and oatmeal sounds entirely unappetizing... I'm seriously depressed about this missing waffle maker. But then it dawns on me. Waffles and pancakes are quite similar. Enter second best idea of the day: Make cinnamon pancakes with caramelized apples. Duh.

And then as soon as I finished eating my pancakes and was running out the door to work, my phone rang and the waffle maker was promptly returned.

The End.

Tea anyone?

Earlier today I was thinking about what I might post from the week, and was coming up short on clever ideas. Don't you worry though, as fate would have it a sweet story presented itself no less than an hour ago. (Does that mean I subconsciously brought this on myself?) I swear the funniest things happen to me when I'm alone, which unfortunately means there is no one around to revel in the awesomeness. Thank you trusty new blogsite for remedying this problem:

So there I was. Sunday night. Winding down after an hour of telling random embarrassing/funny mishap stories with some friends at ward prayer. I make a huge steaming mug of peppermint tea, sit down on the couch, and place the mug on the armrest (where I always place my beverages, bytheway). I lean over to pick up the laptop off the ottoman, when next thing I know - without my even touching it - the full mug of tea mysteriously topples over and the entire boiling contents spill out all over the couch... and my left bum-cheek. For a second I sit there stunned at how this even happened, not realizing how hot the tea is. I get up to grab a towel to sop up the still steaming splotch, when the fire sets in. The tea had soaked into my jeans and become trapped. I unbuttoned my jeans and starting fanning to get some of the heat out, but it was no use. The damage had already been done. I consulted the mirror to confirm that I indeed have a 1st degree burn on my bum. Needless to say, I didn't have it in me to make a second mug.

I may or may not be sitting on a bag of frozen peas as I write this...

New Recipe of the Week #2: Butternut Squash Lasagna

I lost a bet awhile back, and as payment I had to make a boy dinner last Sunday. (I should really stop making bets because I inevitably lose them). Enter recipe of the week #2. I decided I wanted to make butternut squash lasagna and so consulted the trusty google in hopes of finding a decent recipe.

I found this recipe from Giada de Laurentiis. My good friend Terri raved to me about how amazing she is a few months ago, so when I saw Giada's name I was confident the recipe would be worthwhile.

Sorry about the lack of real pictures. Only one day into blogging and already I have been reprimanded about the shamefulness of posting recipes without using my own photos. I will do better next time. In the meantime, drool over this:

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 (1 1/2 to 2-pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup water3 amaretti cookies, crumbled (I don't know what these are and therefore left them out)
  
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 cups whole milk
• Pinch nutmeg
• 3/4 cup (lightly packed) fresh basil leaves
• 12 no-boil lasagna noodles
• 2 1/2 cups shredded whole-milk mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan

Directions

Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the squash and toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour the water into the skillet and then cover and simmer over medium heat until the squash is tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly and then transfer the squash to a food processor. Add the amaretti cookies and blend until smooth. Season the squash puree, to taste, with more salt and pepper.

(I roasted the squash in the oven before pureeing instead of cooking it on the stove and it worked great).

Melt the butter in a heavy medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the nutmeg. Cool slightly. Transfer half of the sauce to a blender*. Add the basil and blend until smooth. Return the basil sauce to the sauce in the pan and stir to blend. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, to taste.

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Lightly butter a 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish. Spread 3/4 cup of the sauce over the prepared baking dish. Arrange 3 lasagna noodles on the bottom of the pan. Spread 1/3 of the squash puree over the noodles. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. Drizzle 1/2 cup of sauce over the noodles. Repeat layering 3 more times.

Tightly cover the baking dish with foil and bake the lasagna for 40 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses over the lasagna. Continue baking uncovered until the sauce bubbles and the top is golden, 15 minutes longer. Let the lasagna stand for 15 minutes before serving.

(Take picture before inhaling...)

*When blending hot liquids: Remove liquid from the heat and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Transfer liquid to a blender or food processor and fill it no more than halfway. If using a blender, release one corner of the lid. This prevents the vacuum effect that creates heat explosions. Place a towel over the top of the machine, pulse a few times then process on high speed until smooth.

New Recipe of the Week #1: Roasted Poblano and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

tasty sweet potato enchiladas
photo stolen here

My sister Melissa was in town visiting on her way from California back to Portland via Utah and Idaho last weekend. (Confusing? Yes. Must be nice to have a month off with no obligations.) It was super fun having her here and spending time together (even if I/we were both really tired and kinda lazy the whole time). But we did manage to kick off my new year's resolution of making a new recipe every week with this awesome little gem: Roasted Poblano Pepper and Sweet Potato Enchiladas. Sound weird? Trust me. You won't regret trying this.

For the sake of playing catch-up on recipes and because this one is kinda long, I'm going to spare myself the agony of transcribing the recipe. But I will give some helpful hints that will make it extra tasty.

(1) This is actually 2 recipes in 1. In order to make the enchiladas, you have to first make the roasted poblano and sweet potato salad.

(2) The enchilada recipe only makes 4 enchiladas, but the roasted poblano and sweet potato salad makes enough for a TON more (I made a 9x13 pan plus an 8x8 pan worth). So, plan accordingly with the enchilada sauce. You'll need much more than a 10oz can. In fact, I suggest you make enchilada sauce from one of those packets you mix with tomato suace that you buy in the mexican food aisle, rather than use the canned variety. It would make the recipe that much better. You'll probably need closer to 30oz of sauce for this recipe. A 28oz can sufficed, but was just a bit dry.

(3) An entire bunch of cilantro is a lot of cilantro. I used about half a bunch and it was plenty cilantro-y for me, but I'm not the hugest cilantro fan. You may or may not want all of it, is all I'm saying.

We paired this with some spanish style rice - Melissa's culinary crafting - and it was delicious.

Thanks Melissa for co-tackling the first recipe of the year. I always love an evening of cooking with wonderful people.

Here Goes Nothing...

Okay friends, loved one's, random viewers, and anyone else who happens upon this blog. Here we go. I have been saying for months that I want to start blogging. And I've had this lovely blogsite for at least 7 of those months... so, the time has come. Be excited to encounter the following in the posts to come:

*my tales of adventures and intrigue
*the recipe of the week (quite possibly my first new year's resolution that will be kept)
*crafty creations
*interesting things i discover and want to share
*anything else I deem worthy of documenting on this journey we call life

Stay Tuned!