Apple Cranberry Sticky Buns

Talk about heart-warming fall food! YUM!

I got the idea for apple sticky-buns from the Pioneer Woman, who made a caramel apple version. Her version, however, is a little more time-intensive than I was up for this weekend. So, I found a bread-machine version of sticky buns, and added my apples and cranberries to the topping! The recipe I used is here. Instead of the pecans and raisins, I used 1 apple, finely chopped, and a sprinkling of dried cranberries (sorry, I don't measure things). Everything else I followed as written! Here's how they turned out:

YUMMMM!!! The sauce turned out quite a bit thinner than a typical "sticky bun" but it was really yummy that way! The dough also didn't rise as much as I would have liked, but I don't know if that's because of the dough or user error :-) Overall, really delicious, and I will definitely make these again!

Glacier National Park: Backcountry

...and here we are at the most exciting part of our trip! We spent only 2 nights backcountry, but you could easily spend a month and still have so much more to see. My overall thoughts and experiences: the trails are very well-kept, and very well marked. You know where you are at every intersection, there is a map of each campsite, and always somewhere to hang or store your food (you do still need your own rope!). There were little log bridges over every creek (if the creek was too big to jump over), and while we didn't see a bear, we saw a moose, lots of marmots, jackrabbits, and more! The campsites were all full, which made for a unique backcountry experience: one where you share conversation around the "dinner table" and share your experiences with other campers. I very highly recommend a backcountry experience in Glacier National Park, and I especially recommend the route we took. We were told time and time again that we got the best 2-day trip possible in the park!

This was our basic itinerary:
Day 1: Many Glacier to Poia Lake
Day 2: Poia Lake to Elizabeth Lake Foot (via Red Gap Pass)
Day 3: Elizabeth Lake to Many Glacier (via the Ptarmigan Tunnel)

Day 1: Many Glacier to Poia Lake

Brian and I were all packed up and ready to go after lunch. We left from the Poia Lake trailhead, near the trail to Apikuni Falls.

Day one was a full half-day, 6.4 miles from the trailhead to Poia Lake. The trail is beautiful, but unlike I expected. Lots of flowers and mountain meadows, as well as wooded areas.

Here is an example of what you see when you get to a backcountry campsite:

Clockwise from top left: Actual campsite (there are multiple of these at each larger campsite), the map that shows you where everything is, campers' food hanging on the pre-strung line, the food prep/eating area.

Poia Lake was beautiful, though it was a windy day! We spent the evening enjoying the view before having dinner. While eating, we met some other campers who were headed the same direction we were. We decided to travel the next day as a group.

Day 2: Poia Lake to Elizabeth Lake (Foot) via Red Gap Pass

Luckily for us, the wind had died down some for day 2. It was a beautiful day, and our new friends set quite the pace! This day was a total of 10.2 miles with a GREAT elevation change - up and down! I was completely worn out, but boy was this worth it. A few tips for this stretch of trail:

• There is no water in the middle of this day, so make sure you have enough for the day before you leave, or fill up before you get too close to the top of the pass.
• The top of the pass is very windy and quite chilly! Make sure you have enough warm layers, and a wind-blocking layer.
• There is a peak off to the side of the pass if you want to take a side-trip in the middle of this long day, but it is farther up than it looks! There are multiple false-peaks before you reach the real one.

And the view from the top of the pass? SPECTACULAR! Worth every step!

There is seriously no beating this view! After all the hard work to get there, your jaw just drops at the beauty and vastness of it! We had the perfect day with the high puffy clouds and sun shining!

We finished our day around 1pm, thanks to our friends' crazy pace, had a late lunch, and lounged around the rest of the day at Elizabeth Lake. We played cards (I always bring a deck backcountry), enjoyed the rocks on the beach, and Brian even tried making a fishing pole. One of my favorite parts of being able to eat with other campers was hearing their recommendations for other places to camp (both at Glacier and other parks), and their tips on gear, food, etc. We stayed up past dark (which really isn't that late) playing cards, which we scored with rocks.

Day 3: Elizabeth Lake Foot to Many Glacier via the Ptarmigan Tunnel

Day 3 was another doozy! 10.1 miles with similar elevation change as the day before. I wasn't sure I was going to make it another day, but the trails are so well-graded, and the views amazing as always! The Ptarmigan tunnel is a tunnel through the mountain that is about 250 ft. long. It had just been opened the day before we left on our trip, so we were some of the first visitors of the season! Here is the tunnel, and the view from either side:

The foot of the lake on the left is where we camped the night before.

The way down from the tunnel to Many Glacier gets busier and busier the closer you get. There are many other things to see along this trail, so it is a popular one for day hikes! The trail is a piece of cake the rest of the day, but started to feel long once I knew how close we were! Arriving at Many Glacier, we celebrated with some beer (for Brian) and huckleberry ice cream (for me)! If you need a place to hang out at Many Glacier while waiting for a shuttle or ride, the picnic area is a great place. We set up our tent to air out, washed up a little in the bathrooms, and even took a nap!

Cheers to another great adventure!

Trailer for Sale!

Well, we spent the last 24 hours deep-cleaning our trailer in preparation for vet-school interviews this week. We knew there would be interviewees who would want to come take a look at some potential living spaces, and we had 4 people planning to come over the weekend. We cleared out some space by taking some large tubs out to the shed last weekend, and finally taking a trip to Goodwill to drop off a few large bags of clothes. I inhaled way too many cleaning fumes, and the cats were getting worried about what was going on, but we made it "shine like the top of the Chrysler building!"

... and it paid off!

We showed the trailer to 2 different people today, and already sold it this afternoon!

It is crazy to be taking these first steps toward moving in May, but it has been a long time coming! Brian has multiple interviews set up and has been talking with a variety of places about jobs, but it is a process. I will be a lot more ready to take the next step when we know where we're going! It's just one more adventure in life!

Glacier National Park: Day 3

Day 3 will be a short post! While we spent our morning day-hiking, we left for our backcountry adventure right after lunch. Since our backcountry trek will be covered in another post, there's not a lot to write about day 3! We headed up to the Many Glacier area today. There are beautiful lodges, some great campgrounds, and lots to explore in this area.

Swiftcurrent Nature Trail

Swiftcurrent Lake is a beautiful sight! One of the lodges is right on the lake, and there is also a trail that goes around the edge of the lake. This is the 2.5-mile Swiftcurrent Nature Trail. It is basically flat, and it's short, but it was a beautiful walk! If you're looking for something easy to take a load off for part of a day, it's a good choice. Here are some of the sights:

There is also a picnic area just off of the Swiftcurrent Nature Trail, which is a great place to stop for lunch. This is where we stopped to eat before heading off on our amazing backcountry experience!

Happy Halloween!

While my actual Halloween will not consist of much excitement this year, I was still able to celebrate in a few different ways over the past couple of weeks!

1) The studio where I take aerial classes had a Halloween masquerade party! I got to dress up (one of my favorites) and perform (another of my favorites), as well as enjoying a great night with some wonderful people! I was a spider (which went with my performance) and my wonderful husband enjoyed wearing a mustache (a little too much). Here are couple of photos from the evening:

2) I got to have Halloween themed music classes! Part of my job is teaching early childhood music classes at daycare centers, and I love when I get to break out the Halloween songs! If you are looking for some Halloween songs for groups of any age, here are some of my favorites:

Purple People Eater – Sheb Wooley
The Monster Mash – Bobby "Boris" Picket
I Put a Spell on You (Jazz Song)
Love Potion No. 9 – The Searchers
Ghostbusters Theme
Grim Grinning Ghosts – From Disney’s Haunted Mansion 
The Addam’s Family Theme
Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon
Thriller - Michael Jackson

3) Pumpkin carving!! This is definitely one of my favorite parts of Halloween! My husband and I have so much fun deciding what our pumpkin will be, and creating our masterpieces. We usually make a yummy fall meal (soup or something in the slow cooker), then roast pumpkin seeds while we're carving, too! This year, Brian created an Angry Birds pumpkin:

 And I created an aerial masterpiece:

Lastly, Brian created a fun pumpkin for our front steps:

Happy Halloween!!!

Glacier National Park: Day 2

We started day 2 much more rested than the day before, having actually slept in beds! For this day, we drove up to the East end of Going to the Sun Road and drove from there. Our adventures started with a beautiful rainbow over the mountains before we even reached Going to the Sun Road! We had another full day with lots of great stops, and plenty of photo ops! In addition to the trails listed below, we stopped at many other places along the road to take pictures and enjoy the view. From waterfalls to lookouts, and wildlife sitings, every single stop is worth it - take your time and enjoy the drive!

Hidden Lake Overlook

Our first stop of the day was the Logan Pass visitor's center. From here we hiked up to the Hidden Lake Overlook. Even in July, with the warm temperatures we were experiencing, this trail was covered in snow! I was amazed how many people were hiking it despite this fact - it was VERY busy!

This picture really doesn't capture the vast number of people who were on this trail, but it sure shows the snow!

These were some park workers who were digging out the real trail from under the snow.

Despite the snow and the people, this trail was well worth it! We saw lots of wildlife:

And not only was the view of the lake spectacular, but there were amazing views all along the way, as well.

One of the mountains we hiked around on the way there

The view from the hidden lake overlook

St. Mary Falls

This wasn't in our original plan, but we heard someone talking about it (actually, they were saying there had been bears sighted there in the morning), and we decided to give it a shot! It's an easy hike (1.6 mi round trip), and the falls are beautiful. Definitely a good trail for just about everyone!

Sunrift Gorge

This gorge is right off the road, but completely worth the stop. The photos are some of my favorite from the trip. There is a trail headed up from the gorge that is supposed to be great for wildlife and wildflowers, but it is pretty much straight up.  It is not an easy hike. We went up the first quarter to half mile and saw some great views from there, but after a full day, we weren't willing to go any farther. 

New Bases for Delicious Meals!

This month I got really gutsy and decided to try a few new bases for meals that I had read about (and maybe eaten at a restaurant), but never made. These are new to us! My other favorite bases: pasta, of course; couscous; rice; and even mashed potatoes. We love making a simple onion/pepper mix, or a meat with a thick sauce, or even just opening a can of Chunky stew, and serving it over one of these bases. The possibilities are endless - use what you have and like! The slow cooker is a great way to make your topping, too! Now, without further ado, our newest delicious bases:

Polenta: Pan Fried

Polenta is basically just cooked corn meal, but you can buy it already cooked,in a tube, like this:

I did have some trouble finding polenta in a tube, but finally found it at HyVee. I'm sure any specialty or health food store would have it. To pan fry, just slice up the polenta from the tube, coat in cooking spray (Pam), and toss on a skillet on the stove. They did take longer to brown up than I expected them to, but that was good because I knew they were really heated and cooked through. We tried both plain and flavored, and both were delicious.

Our topping for pan fried polenta:
Italian sausage (removed from the casing), onion, red pepper, garlic and tomatoes

Polenta: Creamy

So, since polenta is just cooked corn meal, the other way to make it is by cooking corn meal! I used a recipe and instructions from thekitchn.com and it was great! Super easy to follow and doesn't make you stir for 40 minutes straight. I will note that I don't think I stirred quite long enough at the beginning, because I got some of the polenta stuck to the bottom of the pan, and it was very hard to clean off. So stir a little longer than you think you need to, and if you do get it stuck to the bottom of the pan, make sure to get it in water to soak when you're done cooking! I tried the cooked polenta before adding the butter and cheese at the end, and I would say it's nothing to write home about, but with the mix-ins and the topping, it was wonderful!

Our topping for creamy polenta:

Pulled pork (we made a big batch awhile back and had some frozen, but use whatever meat you have), sweet peppers (green, red, etc), onion, garlic, and fajita seasoning (cumin, chili powder, paprika)

Risotto

Last, but certainly not least - one of my new favorite foods of all time - Risotto! Risotto is a creamy rice, and while it is a little time consuming, it was not difficult, and totally worth the time! I again used a recipe and instructions from thekitchn.com, which were wonderfully easy to follow. You do need a special kind of rice for risotto - I got Arborio. I found it in the specialty food section of my local HyVee. It wasn't on the shelf - I had to get it from the dispenser things. Also, to me, the parmesan is a must for this recipe - it's the perfect finishing touch!

Instead of a topping for our risotto, we mixed in cubed acorn squash from the farmer's market during the first step with the onions. It was perfect with the parmesan and creaminess of the rice.

Now go!! Make something new tonight!!