There’s a spot on the Upper Deschutes river that has become a favorite of Tip’s for swimming / fetching. On exiting the car he will locate a stick and lead the way down the trail. Then it’s game on!
Lemon Blueberry Scones
In our search for lower carbohydrate food we discovered almond flour. These won’t beat your scone recipe but are a really tasty alternative and with a third of the sugar. They have become a regular breakfast treat at our house.
Lemon Blueberry Scones
Servings: 9
Calories: 233kcal
Ingredients
- 315 grams almond flour about 3 cups
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- zest of 1 lemon or 1 tbsp dried lemon zest
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 3/4 cup fresh blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Add the almond flour, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest to a large bowl and combine.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the wet ingredients. Startiing in the center, stir the dough until well combined. Fold in blueberries.
- Using a large cookie or ice cream scoop, drop the scones onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Lightly wet hands and gently flatten the tops of the scones. They should be 1 inch thick.
- Bake 18-20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Cool on wire rack.
Ice a la tube
Summer is ice chest season. That means you’re loading up on bags of ice that inevitably turn to water. The hassle of soggy picnic supplies is actually an easy fix … more annoying is no ice cubes at cocktail hour.
We’ve got a solution. ice tubes. If you add these frozen PVC tubes to your cooler it will stay cold longer, there will be less mess, and you’ll have ice for your drinks.
So I headed over to Ace Hardware to pick up some 2 inch PVC pipe and end caps (2 per tube). You may find short cuts of pipe or if you ask they’ll cut one of the 8 foot lengths down. You’ll also need a can of PVC cement, hack saw, coarse grit sandpaper, a sharpie and a tape measure. These tube will soon be filled with tap water and table salt.
Start by measuring the cooler(s) to see how long the tubes need to be. The end caps will add to the overall length of the finished tube so you need to subtract this extra amount when cutting. There is also some air pressure resistance in the final capping that can add to the finish length. If you make your pipes about an inch and a half shorter than the desired length, that should work.
Measure and cut the pipe into pieces and then use some coarse grit sand paper to clean up the rough ends and rough up about an inch of the outside ends of each tube.
Using the dabber on the PVC cement spread a generous amount around the inside of the cap and fit one to the end of each of your tubes. Now let that set for a couple of hours.
You’ll need some way to stand the tubes on end … a wide mouth mason jar works. Sand all the tubes up on their capped ends and add a table spoon of salt to each tube. Fill about ¾ of the way with water. Repeat the cap sealing making sure you push the cap firmly down against the air pressure so you get a good seal. Leave them standing for a couple of hours.
Throw them in the freezer and they are ready to add to your ice chest. These ice tubes will work to keep things cold as is, but will also extend the life of any ice cubes you bring along.
Summer Salad part IV
This final installment of our Summer Salad Series is Salsa (try saying that five times fast).
Considered a sauce, we’ve chosen to elevate our salsa to it’s proper status … Tomato Salad Extraordinaire. The moment summer tomatoes begin to make their appearance, our fridge always has a deli cup full of fresh salsa. It’s importance can not be underestimated .. so we’re including it.
The ingredients need to be chopped fine and we think a mince of fresh cilantro is important, however not critical, Nan. What you don’t want to omit is the jalapeño and needless to say, the quality of your tomatoes plays a huge role in the final product.
Also not a salad … the one egg omelet has become a staple breakfast at our house and salsa must always be included on the plate. This video is an experiment in food photography style, rather than thinking you need a tutorial on cooking an omelet … but we hope you enjoy.
Super Simple Salsa
Ingredients
- 4-5 Compari vine ripened tomatoes
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped
- 1/2 cup red onion, diced
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
- 1/2 lime, freshly squeezed
Instructions
- Chop tomatoes and fresh herbs of your choice.
- Dice red onion.
- Seed jalapeno and dice.
- Squeeze 1/2 fresh lime.
- Combine ingredients and stir. Place in container and refrigerate. Use within 2-3 days.
Plotting an escape
I wonder if anyone remembers when getting lost didn’t involve losing cell coverage? The smart phone has become more than a communication link, it is also a navigation tool. How easy is it to just email the directions for Google and have turn by turn navigation to nearly anywhere?
The trouble with this method of way-finding is a matter of screen size, well, and the need for a cell connection. We are rarely on the road without at least one paper map. Free highway maps from AAA are standard, as is a USFS Forest map. And when there’s a hike or off road we also have the USGS Quad handy.
We love maps and have quite the collection. Paper maps offer big picture views that don’t exist on a phone screen, don’t require cell reception, and can hold pencil marks and sticky notes from past adventures.
Recently we added a handheld GPS to this navigation tool set and have been enjoying the planning process even more. With any GPS system you can track or set waypoints, making getting to a spot really easy. All of these resources together have made it easy to plot an escape.
If you want more info, this is a list of the apps and web sites we use regularly:
Gaia GPS – online and app to plan routes
REI’s National Parks – An iPhone app with guide info to national parks
Hiking Project – find and keep track of trails and hikes
Outlay – Nice resource for dispersal camping and you can get a free one year sub right now, this is also an iPhone app, but there is a web component
USFS Forest info – online maps and info about any national forest, we still get specific forest maps but this is a great resource for planning out of state trips
Rec Gov – Bookmark this link, it’s the place to make camp reservations
Garmin Basecamp – Specifically aimed at Garmin GPS devices, this is a cool piece of software to map out routes for uploading to or saving from your GPS.