really healthy meals

We have had a plethora of produce around here lately -- between strawberry-picking, a trip to the Farmer's Market, and Dan's brother sharing half of his CSA for the week with us, the fridge has been at capacity with fresh fruits and veggies!

Result? Some really healthy meals.


A strawberry-mango-blueberry-banana-orange smoothie.


Sliced tomatoes sprinkled with salt, a couple of slices of baguette smeared with herbed goat cheese, and steamed beets and greens tossed with balsamic vinaigrette.


Beans and rice and steamed broccoli!

I've also had cinnamon-peach oatmeal for breakfast the last two days in a row, which has been yummy and filling. Hooray for healthy food!

Daring Bakers' Challenge -- Bakewell Tart

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Slice of pie, er tart, er pudding, er, whatever:


I must confess, I just wan't "into" this month's challenge -- June sort of got away from me fairly quickly, and I ended up looking up and completing this challenge under the wire -- I literally took the tart out of the oven a couple of hours ago! I found the pastry and frangipane easy enough to work with, and enjoyed putting to use some of the delicious strawberry jam I made yesterday, but I was not wowwed with my results. I pulled the tart out of the oven six minutes earlier than the recipe suggested, since my crust was WAY overbrown, and the frangipane was also puffed and very dark golden brown. Little did I know . . . the middle was still undercooked, as you can see in my picture. Also, this treat is just too rich and sweet for me -- I'll probably take the rest to work tomorrow, and let my food snob coworkers polish it off. :)

Can't win 'em all, I guess!

a lot can happen in a week.

Dan and I went to a wedding reception on a boat,










I made Tofu Mom's Middle Eastern Rice Pilaf for dinner one night, which was rich and satisfying,


Dan and I went strawberry-picking,

We picked roughly ten pounds of berries, and paid about two bucks a pound! Sweet, drippy-juicy, and pesticide-free! Woo!

I made about 4 cups of jam, (some of which I used in my Daring Baker's challenge for this month -- more about that in a bit,) froze about a gallon of whole berries for smoothies and future use, made Lavender Strawberry Lemonade, courtesy of Cafe Cyan, (which is frickin' amazing, by the way,) and of course . . .

(We still have plenty of fresh berries in the fridge; I see another strawberry-rhubarb pie in our future soon.)

Courtney and I went to the Farmer's Market,

Clockwise from bottom-left: the most gorgeous mini-heirloom tomatoes known to man, kale, salsa, beets w/their greens, lettuce, red potatoes, and rhubarb!

And, we went to the opening weekend festivities at the brand-new and largest Hindu temple in Minnesota,

(I would have taken more pictures, but was not allowed to do so inside the temple.) We learned a lot about hinduism and ate amazing vegetarian Indian food!

This may go without saying, but it's been a busy week. What have you been up to?

Day 1: Lake Itasca State Park

We had been carefully planning our vacation for weeks, and when the day finally arrived, we got a later start than we had originally planned -- Dan was convinced the cold he had been nursing was strep throat. So, after a trip to urgent care, a negative strep result, and pizza out for lunch, we finally loaded up the car and headed northwest to Lake Itasca State Park.

On our way, I saw the strangest sight from the highway:

A wind turbine in the middle of suburbia? Heck, I'm thrilled it's there, it just seems so strange. I think of wind turbines in the middle of the country, I guess!

We had estimated it would take us about four hours to drive to Itasca; between mysterious mid-afternoon traffic as we were leaving the city and some highway detours on our way there, the drive took more like five hours. No worries though, since we had plenty of daylight left to set up the tent, eat dinner, and go for a short hike.

The sun was setting as we headed towards the headwaters of the Mississippi river:

By the time we arrived at the headwaters, there wasn't enough light left to take photos -- and we needed our flashlights for the hike back to our campsite. It was a nice, short hike, and good to stretch our legs after such a long time in the car. We had to be especially careful on our hike back, since the path seemed to be covered with frogs! We used our flashlights to scare them off the path as best we could, and tread carefully.

Best thing about Minnesota state parks? HOT SHOWERS!

Day 2: Lake Itasca State Park

Saturday morning, we woke to RAIN -- not thunderstorms or a downpour, but steady, drippy rain. We decided to gear up anyway and head out on Itasca's 10-mile wilderness drive, which had many opportunities to stop and take short hikes, see some sights, and explore a little bit.

BLOWDOWN INTERPRETIVE TRAIL
Our first stop along the 10-mile drive, and by the end of this overgrown, sloppy hike, I was soaked to the waist. (It took my shoes two days to dry out!) It was worth it, though -- here are a few photos:

I have a weird thing for birch trees:


A pile of debris from the storm in 2001:


Large-Flowered Trillium:

(Yes, I bought a field guide to MN wildflowers. Expect many more in the next few posts!)

Columbine:


Busy beavers:


Canada Anemone:


More beaver evidence:


LANDMARK INTERPRETIVE TRAIL:
After soaking ourselves while enjoying the Blowdown Interpretive Trail, we literally walked across the road and took the Landmark loop. We were surprised by how much old growth forest Itasca contains -- but the park is well over 100 years old, so I guess it shouldn't be that surprising!?

The rain finally let up and the sun tried to peek out:


Great big trees:


We saw tons of evidence of past forest fires:


AND, our first of many Yellow Lady's Slipper:


Quite a "burn scar:"


Creepy forest fire leftovers:


We thought this one looked like a witch in the middle of the woods:


BOHALL WILDERNESS TRAIL:
Next along the drive was the Bohall Wilderness Trail, which ran through a large section of Itasca dedicated to wilderness research. (The University of Minnesota has a sattelite program there, and does quite a bit of research.)

More gigantic pines:


Old trees naturally fall down or are blown down during storms -- what a way to go!


Another downed tree:

(I love it when trees get "caught" in strange positions on their way down, and just sort of rot away where they are stuck!)

More old-growth forest:


Wetland:


And a goofy little island:


More burn evidence:


Budding American Lotus:


ITASCA'S LARGEST WHITE PINE

Next was a quick walk down a path to view Itasca's largest white pine.

On the way, we noticed this large remains:

I think this photo gives great perspective on how LARGE these old-growth trees are!

And here's the big white pine, at 112 feet tall and over 300 years old:


The pine gets a little frame, since it's so special:

(For perspective, you can barely make out Dan in this shot. He's wearing an olive-colored t-shirt, so unfortunately, he kind of blends in. Accidental camo!)

MINNESOTA'S RECORD RED PINE:

Next down the road was Minnesota's Record Red Pine, competing with a pine in Michigan for the tallest in the states, I think. At 126 feet tall and over 300 years old, it didn't look to us like it was doing so well:

Maybe it's the wrong tree? We couldn't find another one that looked like the picture in the sign. Oh well -- everything has its time, right?

NICOLLET CREEK:
Called the "Infant Mississippi" by some, since it flows into Lake Itasca, I believe it's not actually a part of the river since it dries up occasionally.


ELK LAKE:

Otherwise known as "the picnic that wasn't." As we continued along the 10-mile drive, we selected a bench on this lake for our picnic lunch. We grabbed some sandwiches, fruit, and sodas, sat down, I snapped a couple of photos, and then it began to POUR! Rats. We ate in the car. Here are the photos, at least!



PREACHER'S GROVE:

We had passed "Preacher's Grove" on our way into the park the day before, and were excited to return and explore this small area overlooking Lake Itasca that was covered with old-growth pines. There was something somewhat mystical about this location -- I can't quite explain it, except that I felt drawn to it. A few pictures:





PEACE PIPE VISTA:
Our last stop along the 10-mile wilderness drive, we descended many steps for a gorgeous view of Lake Itasca:



By the time we returned to our campsite, the rain had quit for good (thank goodness!) and we were both due for dry clothes and a rest. However, we don't sit still for long, and headed out again later in the afternoon.

HIKING THE AITON HEIGHTS TRAIL TO THE FIRE TOWER:

Sunshine!


Frogs!


Kasey Lake:


Allen Lake:
a startled muskrat, swimming away:


a large, white bird -- maybe a pelican? maybe a swan? we couldn't tell.


The fire tower:


The view from 3/4 the way to the top (I chickened out. The tower was swaying a LOT.)


Dan made it all the way to the top:


And on our hike back, we found a TON of Yellow Lady's Slippers:


And more big, white birds:


PICNIC DINNER AND HIKE TO THE HEADWATERS:

We hopped back in the car and drove over to the headwaters for a picnic dinner and photo op with the river. It was strange to see lilacs in bloom in June!


We had this gorgeous view while we were eating our dinner:


And FINALLY, the Headwaters of the Mississippi River!


Dan tried to walk across, but the rocks were kind of slippery, so he turned back.


What a day! We crammed in just about everything we could, and still felt we had barely scratched Itasca's surface. This is one huge state park with TONS to do -- we could have easily stayed there a week, but had plans to move on first thing the next morning. A good night's sleep was deserved!