Deep Creek Weekend

A few years ago some friends and I went to Deep Creek Lake for the weekend.  It was May, but it was still cold.  We had a good time.

We finally did it again this year.  Except we did it in Fall.  Such a better idea.  the colors were beautiful.

We got there Friday, bought much more food than eight people need for a weekend, got our fishing licenses (and I got a pink fishing rod!), played cards.  Had a grand old time.  JT and Eric put together a definite fall type meal of meatloaf and mac and cheese.  JT also brought three homemade pies.  I was warned many times that samples of all three had better be left in the evening when some other friends arrived.  I somehow held off and we had samplings of homemade apple cheddar pie, apple caremel pie and blueberry pear pie for dessert.

Saturday was a really fun day, but a really full day.  We started with scrambled eggs and bacon thanks to Eric after early morning fishing off the dock.  We went on a freezing cold boat ride and got stranded in the middle of the lake when the engine died.  Went fishing in the boat and had sandwhiches we brought along.  I read (of course).  We went to the Haunted Mansion at Wisp where I basically lost my voice due to screaming.  We came back to the cabin to a Top Chef Quick Challenge dinner of pasta, sausage and salad started by Eric and finished by Rachel and Marti.  Eric and Bryan built a campfire.  I taught everyone the essentials of S'mores making.  We made S'mores.  Whew!  I'm exhausted just typing what we did.

More pie for breakfast Sunday morning.  We were sad to go but we decided to make the Deep Creek Lake weekend yet another yearly event.

View from the cabins wrap around porch.

 

 Kota wishing she was playing in the leaves.

 We put glow sticks on the dogs so we could see them when they went outside at night.

 Dexter.  Always sweet and charming.

 At the table.

Dahlia playing cards.

Fishing off our dock. 

JT has crazy fishing zen.  He is the fishing master. 

 Rach taking pictures.

 Me breaking in my pretty pink fishing rod.

 As much of an action shot as you can get in fishing.

 Our sweet ride....that broke down in the middle of the lake.

 Boatin' crew

 Dahlia rode with me.

 Dex rode with Eric.

 Our fearless captain.

Our crew says goodbye to Deep Creek.  For this year.

Warrior Dash

Earlier this month Eric, some friends and I did a little race called the Warrior Dash, essentially an 3.5 mile obstacle course/mud run. 

A few days before, Meaghan and I came up with some awesome outfits.  We were the only ones who wore our all black outfits complete with awesomely cut up t-shirts.

We did show our team spirit by wearing matching turquoise bandannas.

We left at 7:00 for a long drive out to Nowheresville, PA.  On our drive we saw a bunch of what I can only assume to be Mennonites since we saw them on scooters (not motorized) and rollerblades.

I don't have any pictures of the race because none of us wanted to sacrifice our cameras to the race.  I'll tell you we had some pretty fun obstacles to go through as we ran through the fields and the woods.  I think it's worth mentioning that as we were running through the field, yet another Mennonite was plowing it (with a horse drawn plow) and looking at us like we were insane.  We scaled old train cars, ran over big dirt mounds, darted through rope "spiderwebs," climbed a cargo net, crawled through tunnels, waded chest deep through a freezing cold pond where we had to go over floating logs...that rolled, crawl through mud and jump over fire.

My knee started bothering me about halfway through.  The dip through the freezing pond certainly helped.  Even though my knee was hurting I was disappointed when it was over. 

After the race we were covered in mud.  We had to take the after pictures and Meaghan and I had to do handstand pictures, which wowed the people waiting in line.  Some people asked us if we were CrossFitters and many totally copped our handstand style.  It's fine though because I was moving on to a turkey leg in my near future.

It was so much fun.  I can't wait to do it again next year.

The backs of our awesomely cut up t-shirts.

Team doo-doo brown.

Post race muddiness:

Post-race turkey legs.

Giant and Midget.

Muddy Kisses.

Our "shower"

How we got mud free for the long drive home.

Unfried Chicken with Cabbage and Apple Slaw

I somehow ended up on a listserv for Self Magazine's recipes a while ago.  Every now and then I open an email and even send one to Eric for dinner ideas.  As I'm not responsible for dinner once a week I search the web weekly for something new to try, not even thinking to look at these weekly emails.  Well, I did look a few weeks ago and this recipe caught my eye.  Probably because of the slaw.  Some of the directions and ingredients weren't overly clear to me so I'll let you know what I did and how I would change it.  Here you go!

Unfried Chicken

Ingredients
Cooking Spray
1 Cup Breadcrumbs (I used panko)
1 Tbs Dijon Mustard (I was low on Gray Poupon (pardon me!), so I mixed it with German Mustard)
1 tsp fresh Parsley, chopped
1 tsp fresh Sage, chopped
1 tsp fresh Thyme, chopped
1 Tbs Old Bay Seasoning (I would probably use a little less next time)
1 Tbs Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper (I would definitely use a less next time)
1/2 Cup Buttermilk
2 Chicken Breasts

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 400.  Place a roasting or cookie rack on a baking sheet and coat with cooking spray.

2.  Combine breadcrumbs/panko, mustard, parsley, sage, thyme, Old Bay, salt, pepper and cayenne in a shallow bowl.  Pour buttermilk into another shallow bowl.

3.  Dip chicken in buttermilk, turning to coat.  Drain excess and dredge chicken in breadcrumbs, pressing gently to help them adhere and place chicken on rack.

4.  Spray with cooking spray and bake until crispy - about 30 - 35 minutes.

Cabbage and Apple Slaw

Ingredients
2 tsp Honey (make sure you don't use too much!)
2 tsp Whole Grain Mustard (as in mustard seed, now what you put on a sandwhich)
2 Tbs EVOO
1 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Tbs Balsalmic Vinegar
2 Apples (I used Braeburn b/c I just got them apple picking, the recipe calls for Gala or Red Delicious), cored and thinly sliced.
2 tsp Lemon Juice
6 Cups Napa Cabbage, shredded

Directions
1.  Whisk honey with mustard, oil and vinegars in a bowl.

2.  Toss apples with lemon juice in another, large bowl.

3.  Add cabbage to apples and pour dressing.  Toss to coat.

4.  Season as necessary and chill for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Notes: 

• The recipe was a little spicy for me, but I don't like spice that much.
• I prefer the flour/egg method of breading chicken and would probably replace that with the buttermilke method next time around.  I just think it makes it stick better.
• Jess made this and said that she has enough slaw to last until the apocolypse reminding me that I should note that this makes A TON of slaw.
• Napa cabbage looks like a flower when you cut it towards the end.
• 
• Yes, that's a pink cutting board.

Fall

I have a love/hate relationship with Fall.  I love the colors, I love the food, I love all the fun stuff to do.  I love pumpkins.  I LOVE pumpkin and pumpkin flavored food.  I love decorating for fall.  I love putting up corn stalks and fake birds.  I love carving pumpkins.  love apple picking and making fall type food from the apples I picked.  I love going to various "haunted" locations, forests, harbors, houses...  I love camping, I love campfires and especially S'mores made over a campfire (I'm something of a S'mores expert.  Maybe I'll share my expertise in another post).  I love watching the leaves change and the animals scurry to build their winter fat and food supplies.  I love pumpkin carving parties and Halloween parties and dressing up.  I love Thanksgiving.  I even love menu planning and some of the cooking for Thanksgiving.  I love soaking up the sun for the last time for the year.

I like the crispness that comes to the air.  I even kind of like the changing season meaning it's time to break out the jeans, leggings and boots.

Here's what I hate about Fall:  It means Winter is on it's way.  Winter means being cold.  Winter makes me want to be lazy and hibernate.  Maybe I'll try to find some things to like about winter this year.

What do you love and hate about Fall?

Pistachio Macarons

The other day I accidentally bought 4 pounds of pistachios at Costco.  Eric needs to feed me before taking me shopping.  What's a girl to do with 4 pounds of pistachios?  The obvious answer may be pistachio ice cream, but my mind went straight to pistachio macarons. 

Macarons are delicious and fun to make, however they do take a fair amount of time, preparation, planning and technique.  Your egg whites need to be at room temperature (like, left-out-overnight-room temperature), as does your butter.  The pistachios I bought were normal, salted in the shell pistachios, so Eric and I spent the better part of the "new" "Star Trek" shelling them.  I then had to rinse them off and dry them.  They still didn't dry quite right so I toasted them for about 5 minutes as the oven was preheating.  Then I had to let them cool.  That doesn't include other resting and cooling periods required for the baking process.

Pistachio Macarons

Ingredients

For the Shells:

1 1/4 Cups Confectioner's Sugar

4 oz Pistachios

1/4 Cup + 2 Tbs Egg Whites AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar

Pinch of Salt

For the Filling:
1 1/2 oz Pistachios

1 Cup Confectioner's Sugar

6 Tbs Butter, softened
1/2 tsp Vanilla

Directions

The Shells:

Process the pistachios with the powdered sugar in a food processor until you get a fine pistachio flour.  Make sure you process it in phases, mixing and breaking up the bottom layer in between.

Hand mix the egg whites, salt and granulated sugar.  If you are going to add food coloring (powdered only), do it here. 

Whip until medium to stiff peaks form.

Sieve the pistachio flour and hand fold it into the egg white mixture, being careful not to over mix.

Spoon batter into a piping bag with a large, round tip (I think it's a #806).

Pipe batter into 1" circles onto baking sheets lined with silpat.  If you don't have a silpat you can use parchment paper.

Rap each baking sheet hard on the counter a few times to get rid of air bubbles and let rest for around 45 minutes, until the macarons develop thin skin.

Bake for 10 minutes.  They are done when you can wiggle the top of one a little, and it doesn't loose it's shape. 

Cool completely before removing from the Silpat.  Getting too antsy may result in this:



On the left, a nice smooth bottom.  On the right, excess air bubbles and removing the shells before completely cooling left me with shells not fit for macarons, but fit for tasting.



For the Filling:
process the Pistachios and confectioner's sugar like you did for the macaroon batter.  Cream the softened butter with the confectioner sugar mixture.  Add vanilla and food coloring.

Make Macarons:
Pair similar sized shells and glue them together with some pistachio filling. 

I used Nutella for some because the filling was so sweet (paired with some already sweet shells).  Also because I believe there are few things Nutella can't improve.  I recommend using a piping bag again.  If you are going use a knife make sure you are VERY gentle or you will crush the bottom part of the shell.

They actually get better over the next day or so if you can wait.

For a Good Time, Call Fran: 21-15-9

We did Fran yesterday. 

Fran is a benchmark CrossFit WOD. 

21 Thrusters

21 Pullups

15 Thrusters

15 Pullups

9 Thrusters

9 Pullups

Usually written as:

21-15-9

Thrusters

Pullups

It's probably the most widely known WOD and is part of the vernacular.  You know you're part of the cult when some one asks "What's your Fran time" and you know the answer.

Oh, wait, you have no clue what I'm talking about?  Well here is a classic Fran video for your pleasure.  (I may call shenanigans on some of the form, but, hey, it's a classic.)



The thing about Fran is that the whole thing is intense and both movements take full body participation.  Thrusters are a front squat to a press.  I can't think of any muscle group you  don't use in a thruster.  In CrossFit, we generally do kipping or butterfly pullups - both of these involve using your entire body to generate upward momentum and to maintain intensity during the workout.

It was relatively brutal as usual.  Although I helped myself out a little this time.  I actually warmed up a little which limited my Fran cough to about an hour and kept me moving pretty smoothly through the first part of the WOD.  "Fran cough" is a term we gave to the burning throat and lung feeling and the accompanying cough that comes after Fran (or any short, high intensity workout).  Some blame this on a short, mild case of pulmonary edema, but I'm not a doctor and barely even know what that means.

Anyway, I did my 21 thrusters without breaking and didn't break my pullups until 11 (and I continued to do more than half in the first set every round).  I attribute this partly to much slower, more deliberate, more careful pullups since recovering from tendinitis in both shoulders.  My time was about 30 seconds off my max.  Next time I need to break through my mental barrier, take shorter breathers, push through the 15 thrusters in one set and do it on solid ground (rather than the mats we have in the gym now).  Hopefully I can go into it with less of a case of Fran tummy (another "Fran" term, this one I don't want to discuss but involves the nervousness finding out you have to do Fran invokes).  I have a plan of action!  Let's see if I can make it happen!

Chicken Roll-Up Dinner

I'm moving away from Asian this week into something that feels truly American.  How much more American can you get than mashed potatoes, broccoli, steak, chicken and cheese (we'll ignore the Panko for now).  Eating this felt pretty decedent and not very healthy at all, but since it has broccoli I'm going to go ahead and consider it a healthy meal!

Chicken Roll-Up Dinner

Ingredients
4 Large Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, pounded to an even thinness

1 1/2 Cups Mashed Potatoes (I used instant, but this would be a great way to use leftovers)
3 Cups Steamed Broccoli, finely chopped
1/2 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese (I used reduced fat.  See?  Healthy!)

1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour

1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1 Egg, beaten
1 1/2 Cups Panko (found in the Asian and/or baking aisle)
1 1/2 Tbs Ranch Dressing Seasoning Mix (found in the dressing aisle)
10 oz can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Cup Milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix flour, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl, place beaten egg in a second shallow bowl and mix panko and ranch seasoning into a third shallow bowl.  My bowls are absolutely not shallow so I had to use plates for the dry ingredients.

Pound chicken breasts relatively thin and spread a thin layer of mashed potatoes over each, then a layer of broccoli, followed by a layer of cheddar cheese.

Carefully roll each chicken breast, securing ends with a  toothpick.

Coat rolled chicken in flour, then egg, then panko mix and place on a baking sheet that's been sprayed with cooking spray or is lined with silpat.  You're going to have some spillage.  I just threw the spillage back into the ends of one of the rolled chicken (making sure it was coated in panko of course). 

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (try to actually push start on the timer, unlike I did...).  Let rest for 10 minutes before eating.

In the meantime, heat cream of chicken soup, milk and about 1 Cup of broccoli in a small saucepan until warm.  Spoon the sauce over chicken rolls and serve!

Woops!  I forgot to take a pic with the sauce, but you get the *picture*.