Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Fall nature walk


Here are some shots from our nature walk this past Sunday at Teatown Lake Reservation. Amazing how a forty-five minute amble through the woods with your kids can be the highlight of an entire week. Is the Hudson River School of artists still accepting applications?

Up the path

From the middle of a mostly dried-up brook
A little bushwhacking is good for the soul ... and the appetite!

The meadow - full of grasshoppers and crickets

Our walk spills out into a wide open meadow, full of grasshoppers and crickets. You can't tell from the picture, but they were zigging and zagging every which way - some even seemed to have propellers! Where do they go in the winter? Any ideas?

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

New camping recipe: Rice and Eggs



Our kids like rice, so we often put on a pot when we're camping, and we never throw out the leftovers. (Or any leftovers, truth be told.) And though I'm sometimes teased about how often I use bacon in my recipes, in my defense I would point out that bacon is a great salesman of new foods to kids. So while this food has a grownup attitude, kids may be drawn to it's bacon-y goodness.

Serves: 4

Ingredients:
4 eggs
4 strips of bacon
½ medium onion, chopped
¼ green pepper, chopped
3 c. leftover cooked rice (white or brown)
1 handful of cilantro, well washed and chopped (wash it at home)
butter or olive oil
salt & pepper and hot sauce

Preparation:
1. Chop the bacon and fry it in a skillet. Remove the bacon and drain it on a paper towel, leaving the bacon fat in the pan.
2. Wipe out all but 2 t. of the bacon fat with a paper towel. Add a little butter or olive oil and sauté the chopped onion and green pepper until soft.
3. Add the rice and bacon and heat through.
4. Move the rice to the sides of the pan and fry the eggs one by one in the center of the pan.
5. As each egg is fried, scoop up a spoonful of rice and put it on the plate, then add the egg on top.
6. Add a sprinkle of cilantro and serve with hot sauce, salt & pepper.
7. Ah, cilantro.

“Same old slippers, same old rice, same old glimpse of paradise.” - William James Lampton


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Thursday, October 18, 2012

New camping recipe: Banana Tacos



Kids love food wrapped in tortillas! Banana tacos make a yummy grab-and-go breakfast for early morning hikers or kayakers, or for campers who don't use a camp stove and would rather not start a fire first thing in the morning. More fun than granola!

Banana Tacos

Serves: 1

Ingredients:
1 soft flour tortilla
1 banana
peanut butter
chocolate chips (optional, but extremely desirable)

Preparation:
1. Spread the tortilla with peanut butter.
2. Peel the banana and place it on top of the peanut butter in the tortilla.
3. Roll it up.
4. Buen Provecho!

Variation:
• This is also yummy with Nutella. But what isn't?

“Never interrupt me when I'm eating a banana.” - Ryan Stiles

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