Glenwood Springs

Aaron and I were able to get away for the day Saturday and went to Glenwood Springs.

They a lot of new things like a tram up the side of the mountain, rides, and tours of underground caves. It was a lot of fun and gorgeous.

This is how we got up the mountain...

This is how we got down - whee!!

My wonderful hubby and I

Ahh, sunset....

The Fairy of the Cave - can you find her?

Homemade Salsa Recipe

I've been getting creative with the abundance from my garden, so I thought I'd post a few recipes. First, SALSA! Here's my homemade salsa recipe. I would classify it as 'medium' heat, but some people who might be a little more sensitive to heat might classify it as 'hot.' I hope you like it - if you do, let me know! It makes quite a bit so that there is enough to can. They work great for food storage or for giving as Christmas gifts.

INGREDIENTS
· 1 large onion, diced
· 10 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped
· 2 large green bell peppers, diced
· 1 large red bell pepper, diced
· 2 Anaheim chile peppers, diced
· 2 hot Hungarian wax peppers, diced
· 6 fresh jalapeno peppers, diced
· 1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce
· 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
· 1/4 cup white vinegar
· 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
· 2 tablespoons chili powder
· 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
· 2 teaspoons salt
· 2 tablespoons cornstarch
· 1/4 cup water
DIRECTIONS
1. (Make sure to wear plastic gloves when chopping your hot peppers!) In a large pot, mix the onion, tomatoes, green bell peppers, red bell pepper, Anaheim chile peppers, banana peppers, and jalapeno peppers. Stir in the tomato sauce, tomato paste, vinegar, and diced tomatoes. Season with chili powder, Italian seasoning, and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 1 hour.
2. Mix the cornstarch and water, and stir into the salsa to thicken. Transfer salsa to sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch headroom, and seal. Process jars in a boiling water bath 15 minutes. Store unsealed jars in the refrigerator.

MySpace

Well I guess I'm joining the MySpace cult... I seriously didn't realize how many of my friends already have a MySpace page - it's crazy! I love being about to keep in contact with everyone, so check out my page at: www.myspace.com/lori_faye - still a work in progress, but it's getting there. I love to know what you guys are all up to, so drop me a note - here, on myspace, or by email!

Boy it's Hot!

Boy, it's been hot around here! (Ok, now my cousins in Vegas are probably laughing and my friends that have humidity in the 90's are probably rolling with laughter!) But still, it's hot, especially for a little girl who wants to be outside all the time. So, we play a lot with water. Sophie likes just plain playing with the hose (while it's on of course) the best, but she also likes getting in and out of the baby pool and generally getting wet.

My Secret Weapon Salad

So I have to admit... I thought about not posting the recipe for this salad just because it is SO good that it's my secret weapon. Going to a dinner party and assigned to take a salad? Taking dinner to a new mother in church? I take my secret weapon salad :) Here is the recipe so you too can have a secret weapon salad!

· 3/4 cup almonds, blanched and slivered
· 1 pound spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces
· 6 oz Craisins
· 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
· 1/4 cup white sugar or Splenda
· 2 teaspoons minced onion
· 1/4 teaspoon paprika
· 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
· 1/4 cup cider vinegar
· 1/2 cup vegetable oil, olive oil, or a mixture of both
* 1 container of blue cheese

Place the sesame seeds and almonds on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes to toast them.

Toss the spinach with the almonds and Craisins.

Mix sesame seeds, sugar/Splenda, onion, paprika, white wine vinegar, cider vinegar, and oil in a small bowl (I use tupperware with a lid so I can just shake it before I put in on the spinach). Refigerate for an hour or longer. You can actually use it right away, but if you put it in the fridge all the flavors meld together so well!

Just before you serve the salad, toss the dressing in. Then top with blue cheese. As a different option, you can also take out the blue cheese and put a can of mandrin oranges in instead.
Yum! Enjoy!!

Our Future Gardener

Our little future gardener!
Sophie loves to 'help' me water the garden. Mostly she loves to play in the water!

She's much more interested in the hose and the garden than her water table in the background.

The County Fair

We took Sophie to the county fair so that she could see all the animals that we read books and sing songs about. They had a great petting zoo with bottle raised sheep, goats, pigs, a cow, even a miniture horse and ducks. Sophie's favorite by far were the tiny little miniture pot-bellied pigs. She walked right over to one of them, squatted down and patted him on the nose! It was the cutest thing ever! In this picture, she is trying to get the pig to eat a piece of straw that she found on the ground.

Our new blog

My friend Alana convinced me to create a family blog - so here we are!

Hum... seeing as how this is the first post, maybe we'll do a quick run-down...

Sophie's first birthday was in June and I can't believe that my baby is over a year! She's been walking well since she was about 10 months old and she has quite a vocabulary for such a little girl. ;) She's saying "no-no" an awful lot now to everything... eating, putting her down, leaving grandma's house - everything! She must be our daughter with such an independent spirit as she has! Her list of words also contains: dog, doll (two of her favorites), down, cat, doe (for door), mom-mom, dad, and the other day she said diaper and plane. I must be forgetting a couple....

Aaron is working out of town a lot now that part of his job is training other people to do what he used to. He really likes his job and his boss is great, but he is gone a lot. However, we're racking up quite the frequent flyer miles :) We're hoping that next year we can actually take a real vacation (i.e. not to see family)!

Also, since he's traveling so much, his company is also paying for me and Sophie to go on some of his trips. We're going to Cebu and Manila, Philippines later this fall and are SO excited! A friend in our church is from the Philippines and still has friends and family in both cities where we'll be staying. So, she's arranged for them to show us around and whatnot! The guy in Manila that will be showing us around actually works for the Philippino president! Now isn't that the crazies 4th degree of separation! lol The hotels we're staying at (courtesy of his employer) are wonderful: http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/manila/makatishangrila and http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/cebu/mactanresort

Other than that, we're awfully boring :) My garden is doing well... now it's just trying to find good recipes for tomatoes and especially banana peppers - - remind me again why I planted 8 banana pepper plants! Let me know if you have any ideas!