Great Dinner

Tonight we had a great dinner of pizza.  My sister-in-law Danielle sent this recipe to me and we tried it.  Normally I would just put the recipe on my recipe blog but since I want everyone to have a chance to try it.  I thought I would post it here.

Butternut Squash Pizza

2 lb. butternut squash

1 yellow onion

3 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

pizza dough

thyme

1/2 c. ricotta cheese

Heat the oven to 400F.  Peel the squash and slice into 1/2 inch rings, then into 1 inch cubes.  Chop onion into cubes also.  Toss squash and onion with oil, salt and pepper.  Place on a baking sheet and roast until tender, about 20 minutes.  Roll dough out onto a pizza pan and top with squash and onion mixture.  Sprinkle with thyme leaves.  Dot with dollops of ricotta cheese.  Bake in a 450F oven for 15-20 minutes.

**Note:  If you want an easy time peeling your squash, warm it in the microwave for a couple of minutes (1-3) depending on how hot your microwave gets.

As Promised

I know you have been wondering how my pumpkin came out.  I had lots of fun carving my pumpkin this year, I think my pattern was a little more difficult than I probably should have started with but that is okay.  I have learned that a pumpkin carved the way I did it should be carved just before it is displayed.  The design seemed to wilt pretty quickly and the pumpkin got moldy within a couple of days.  Here are pictures of our pumpkins that we carved.

**P.S.  I know I still have some prizes to send out, I'll get to it, we had to go out of town for a couple of days.  I have the perfect thing to send to you too.

Fall...Again

Wednesday we went up to Fort Collins to take care of some condo we needed to get done.  It was funny going up there because it was like going back in time.  Down here the leaves have all changed and the trees are pretty bare.  The further north we went the greener and leafier the trees got.  We were able to spend some time with our great friends.  

We had dinner and games with the Padilla's on Wednesday night, we played Zombies, very appropriate for the season!  

Thursday morning I went to breakfast with Chantel, David came too, and Dustin went to lunch with Allen.  In the afternoon Dustin and I worked on Chantel's backyard.  I racked the leaves, David jumped in the leaves and Dustin mowed the grass, he even has the blister to prove it!  David and Arden had a great time in the leaves.  Thursday night we went to the Corn Maze in LaSalle with our friends the Sunvisons.  David and Atticus had a great time running through the maze, there are no pictures because it was dark, but believe me they had fun!  

Friday morning before we left we were able to see our friends the Crawfords.  David enjoyed playing withJessica and I think Jessica tolerated him.  We found out that David really likes candy corn.  Anyway that is our exciting trip to Fort Collins.  Enjoy the pictures.

A Walk Along the River

Every Monday we have a play date with one of David's friends. Yesterday we decided to head on over to the Alamosa Natural Wildlife Refuge. If you remember we went there back in April or May. David and Ava had a great time running, exploring, sticking fingers and faces down holes. Once they started whining about be hungry and thirsty we headed back to toward the car to go home. We got some great pictures of the kids. It was a beautiful day to be out there, we certainly couldn't have done it today! Yes, those last couple of pictures is David and Ava holding hands or getting ready to hold hands, too cute.

Fall....Winter

Just yesterday I posted about FALL...you know the "fall in pictures" post.  This morning we woke up to SNOW!!!  That's right, I said snow!  I couldn't believe it.  Well I could a little bit because when I checked the temperature yesterday it showed that today's high would only get up to 36F with snow showers.  When I watched the news last night Ed Greene on channel 4 my trusty, reliable weatherman said that it would be 56F.  Dear Ed didn't show any precipitation over the valley.  I am very disappointed that Ed let me down.  Although, I can't believe that the temperature our computer showed for today was correct.  Crazy!  Snow!  Crazy!  Snow!

**I'd show a picture too but blogger won't load it, sorry**

Rough Creek Falls Attempted

As with all our waterfall hikes...this was a first attempt.

Saturday Dustin had the day off of work because the art students got in trouble so....we decided to take a little day trip up to Rough Creek Falls which is in the Conejos Canyon. It was about an hour's drive there. The weather was stormy when we left Alamosa we were getting a convergence of two storm systems, one of them being a hurricane. Dustin and I made sure that we pack accordingly. We had winter gear, emergency supplies (incase we got stuck), we had food and warm clothes. We were ready to hike through drizzles, snow, wind but the weather had other plans. Blowing hail is not something I am willing to hike in so the pictures are as much of the hike and waterfall as we're gonna get for a couple of weeks. The drive was really pretty and it was nice to see all the changing leaves on the trees although most trees had already dropped their leaves. We will be attempting this hike again on October 24, wish us luck!

Tour of Antonito

Since we couldn't see the falls we stopped in Antonito to see some of the popular things there that make Antonito what it is.

First we have the castle made from trash. Second we have the oldest church in Colorado. Third we have the Indiana Jones House which was used in the Last Crusade. The mailbox even says Jones on it. Also the house is a vacation rental if you would ever like to come visit us, for more information click HERE.

Fall in Pictures

Fun Fall Treats

These are our lovely fall snacks.  The cookies is just sugar cookie dough colored orange and then dipped in the dipping chocolates, the flavors we used were chocolate and vanilla.  Then we have the ever popular caramel apple.  Green apples first dipped in homemade caramel sauce courtesy of Debra, cooled and then dipped in the remaining dipping chocolate from the candy corn cookies.  These have been fun treats to have this fall and oh so tasty!  If you want the recipe for the caramel sauce click here!

Picture Below

I must admit that I questioned most of the guesses that were submitted as to what was in my vase.  I finally had to look it up to see what the big deal was.  I looked both answers up on Wikipedia.

Rhubarb - has too much for me to copy from Wikipedia.  So here is a synopsis.  Eat the stems - it's okay, eat the leaves and it's poisonous. 

Chard (Beta vulgaris var. cicla), also known as Swiss Chard, Silverbeet, Perpetual Spinach, Crab Beet and Mangold, is a vegetable and a Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima.  While the leaves are eaten, it is in the same species as the garden beet (beetroot), which is grown primarily for its edible roots.  

The word Swiss was used to distinguish chard from French spinach varieties by nineteenth centry seed catalog publishers.  The chard is very popular among Mediterranean cooks.  The first varieties have been traced back to Sicily.

Chard can be harvested while the leaves are young and tender or after maturity when they are larger and have slightly tougher stems.  Chard is extremely perishable.

Chard has shiny green ribbed leaves, with stems that range from white to yellow and red depending on the cultivar.  It has a slightly bitter taste.  Fresh young chard can be used raw in salads.  Mature chard leaves and stalks are typically cooked or sauteed; the bitter flavor fades with cooking.  

Cultivars of chard include green forms, such as 'Lucullus' and 'Fordhook Giant', as well as red-ribbed forms such as 'Ruby Chard', 'Rainbow Chard', and 'Rhubarb Chard'.

Chard and the other beets are chenopods, a group which is either its own family Chenopodiaceae or a subfamily within the Amaranthaceae.

The plant in the vase is Chard from our garden, yeah for Valarie for guessing correctly.  We got a variety seed packet and were able to get many different colors.  This was a crop that did very well in our garden and is something that we will definitely grow again.  I hope you enjoyed your vegetable lesson for today.

Gorgeous!

Isn't this the most beautiful sight

you have ever seen?

I love these gorgeous stems!

So many colors!

These in the vase are mostly pink

a little crimson

and a few yellow.

The silver and white

were all gone by the time

of this picking.

Can anyone tell me what I have in the vase?

Winner

I would really love to do the branchy carving (below) but seeing as my pumpkin was picked out before I found this the carving I will try is the.....

LEAVES

Congratulations to Ashley Koenig and Debra Galindo.  Email me with your mailing addresses and I'll send you a nice little fall treat!  christy[underscore]hinton[at]msn[dot]com.