Autumn Delights

Autumn kinda snuck up on me this year. 

It seemed we went from the warm summer days to suddenly it's Fall...oh so quickly. Maybe it is because there were travel days that took us to other areas with different climates. Hmm... YES Colorado, Phoenix, then Long Beach and San Jose then back to the mountains of Alpine, thats what it was. 

Well now I find myself trying to savor the last bits of color, SIGH.

Part of the enjoyment of Fall for me is the last bits of the garden, recounting what I have put aside, seeing the beauty of the changing colors, homemade soups, fall recipes of every kind and pumpkin everything. 

The end of last month we  were able to take several days to enjoy the beautiful Alpine Loop, Sundance and Park City since we had family (Tom's brother Lee and his wife Kay) who came for several days. We crammed in a lot of site seeing in those few days and made some great memories. The first day and evening we spent around our house. We hiked to Lambert Park is a foothill area on the edge of the national forest.

In the evening we kicked back and had some really delicious Butternut Squash Soup and Spinach Pear Salad with wine and  cheeses.  The recipe for the soup was shared by my friend and pastor Greta Novotne. It turned out as yummy as I remembered it. 

There is a "law" when quoting someone that the first time you give them credit, the second time it is a random association then finally it becomes yours. Well apparently that's what happened with the soup, hence the name on the cute recipe card. 

 If you try the soup let me know what you think. 

Roasted Squash & Pear Soup

Ingredients:

4 cups butternut squash, peeled and seeds removed, roughly chopped

3 tbsp. olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 leeks, halved and washed, chopped

4 tbsp. sage, chopped

2 pears, cored, peeled and diced

1 tsp. grated nutmeg

4 cups chicken stock

1 tsp. chili pepper flakes (optional) 

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

3 slices of bacon, chopped

Prep:

1.                Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.

2.                Add the squash, pears, 2 tablespoons of sage, nutmeg and 1 tablespoon of oil in a large bowl and mix to combine. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and empty the bowl out into a single layer. Roast for 25 minutes. 

3.                Using a saute pan, add one tablespoon of oil over medium heat and add the bacon, cooking for five minutes or until slightly crispy. Remove from pan and place on a paper towels.

4.                Using the same pan, add the final tablespoon of oil over medium heat and add the leeks and garlic, cooking for 3 minutes or until softened.

5.                Working in batches, transfer the leeks, onion and squash mixture to a food processor and puree until smooth.

6.                Pour into a large pot with the stock and simmer for 25-30 minutes.

7.                Meanwhile, toast the breadcrumbs and remaining sage in a small fry pan over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add in the bacon and stir to combine. Set aside.

8.                To serve, ladle soup into bowls and top with bacon &  breadcrumb mixture. Finish with chili pepper flakes.

9.                Serves 6.

Baby Spinach with Pears, Pecans, Goat Cheese and Bacon
(hoping to a picture in the near future.) 

Yields: 4

The Goods:

…for the dressing:
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/3 cup olive oil
Kosher salt and cracked fresh pepper

…for the salad:
4 cups baby spinach
2 medium ripe pears
3/4 cup pecans, toasted
pinch cayenne pepper
2 tbsp. honey
pinch salt
4 bacon slices, cut in thirds
3/4 cup crumbled goat cheese

Prep:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine honey, salt and cayenne and toss in the pecans until coated. Spread on a lined baking sheet in a single layer and bake until toasted, about 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

2. In a small bowl combine the cider vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, lemon juice and sugar and whisk. Slowly add in the olive oil and whisk until emulsified. Season and set aside.

3. Pan fry the bacon for a few minutes per side until golden brown. Drain and reserve.

4. Toss the baby spinach with most of the dressing in a bowl, reserving about a quarter. Plate the spinach. Halve and core and cut the pears into thin strips and toss the pear slices with the toasted pecans in the same bowl the spinach was tossed in.

5. Add the pears and pecans to the spinach and place bacon strips on top. Drizzle with the remaining dressing and place crumbled goat cheese over top.

6. Serve.

The Spinach Pear salad was an adaptation from one the one above. I'll definitely be making it again! 

(FYI, what I really did was  toss in the spinach, pears and pecans dressed with a bit of olive oil and a Lime Pear Balsamic vinegar and cracked pepper and sea salt.)

Finding The Poppies

A number of weeks ago my dear neighbor stopped by out of the blue to see if I had an interest in walking with her on her daily walk. Funny how things work out...I had been thinking it would be so much easier to add activity (ie exercise) to my schedule if I just had someone who wanted to join me.
Her timing  was impeccable!
We began walking a route down to  our local grade school, a 40 minute walk round trip; then every few days we would deviate from the normal route adding a block or more. Well as we walk we share little bits of life, fun stories of other exploits and we often come back to favorite local sites since my walking partner has lived in Alpine, Utah all her life. She is a wealth of information about local fun spots, and such. One place she mentioned was a spot where poppies grow in a field by the remains of an old home...It sounded like a fine adventure to me!
The last week of May on the beginning of one of our walks my friend says, "Should we walk to the Poppies today?" You didn't have to ask me twice, I was excited to "find" this hidden spot!
We headed toward the mountains following Alpine Boulevard until we ran out of road, then continued up the gravel road, all the while my friend kept saying, "I think it's this way". We saw a person up a ways on a mountain bike but missed getting thier attention. A while later we saw a jogger and inquired of her if she knew of the poppies and thier location. Based on her conviction that it was straight up from the church steeple we kept climbing higher. My friend suggested we veer off the gravel road onto a trail and before long again we veered off onto a single file walking trail. By then my companion was seriously doubting the directions we had been given and she called her husband to get better information. Sure enough we had been led astray! Getting re-directed we found ourselves running out of path, and running into rivuets of wetland and now barbwire fencing! Ok, take a deep breath...all is good, at least we know now what direction <sheepish grin>. Ah....finally we see a marker for Poppy Trail...it must be close...and not at all too soon, we were both very hot and tired, The scene before us made the adventure so-ooo worth it! Beautiful!!!

 

Lambert Homestead & History

It was such a beautiful site I had to bring my sweetheart to see them so about 1 1/2 hours later Tom and I came back together.

In Real Life

Real life happens to us all. It usually sneaks up on us as we are going about our everyday activities, and sometimes it clobbers us over the head with reality. The date of my last post was such a day...ordinary enough at the onset.

Mid-day we got a call from a friend asking us if we saw the fire that looked to be just up the street from us. We had just a few moments before seen the cloud of smoke and were trying to see where exactly it was. Not to long after, our friend was at our door. Her employer who lived a short distance away had just been evacuated along with his neighborhood.


We watched as the fire trucks raced up to the end of our street then more cars,various vehicles, news vans etc. Originally it looked as if the fire was going to be contained quickly...we had our hopes high...as high as the forest service has rated this fire season. As the cloud of smoke became larger, helicoptors began circling in the air and we could now hear the roar of the fire and see the flames shooting up high into the air...it was dubbed the Quail Fire and our attentive ears were on the local news. Later that evening as neighbors gathered up and down the street a police woman pulled up and knocked at my neighbor on the corners door...I remember saying uh-oh that can't be good. She backed down thier drive and next it was us...this was a warning of possible evacuation...a standby. We went inside and began identifying those things we could not replace...boxes of family pictures, important documents, personal items, and as we did we began making calls to family. An automated call came, notice to evacuate and we began loading our cars.  About 1/2 hour later another call came and we continued the process of loading what possibly would be all that was left of our personal belongings. It was dark as we headed down the street, the fire glowing on the mountain.

There were many vehicles and people up and down the street heading out of the subdivision, some taking pictures, some asking questions. My nephew had left with his sister a bit before us...he aproached our car to give us news. At this point we were not on a mandatory evacuation and so we had the option to go back home until a more serious threat might emerge.

It was hard going to bed that night...our clothes, shoes and car keys were in a pile close by our bedroom door which remained open that night. The home phone was in our room and volume was turned up too. In the morning the fire was clearly visible flames...smoke billowing everywhere.

July 4th 2012 6:50AM

One neighbor that was evacuated shared his story o the local news...it was amazing to see what the fire damage was and where the fire stopped.

The days have gone on and with the passing of several we finally took the boxes out of the vehicles, clothes, food and key daily items are back in thier normal places. The many family pictures are still in boxes close to the door but I am getting closer to unpacking them. My heart falls every time I look out over the mountain but I am so grateful to God for the rain that has helped get the fire under control as well as the amazing firefighters who have fought tirelessly to protect us, our homes, and as much of the land as possible.
 Even now I hear the helicoptors circling, the firefighters are working toward containment and we are following the news in hopes that it is put out soon.


The brown you see on the mountain is the the Quail Fire damage visible from my front window.Check out more pics on my Instagram channel, myartistry.