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Monday, April 8, 2013

DESERT WINDS HAND US A DETOUR

No hike for us today.  Nope, nada…. not in this wind!  Surely you did not read in my last post that Blair Valley has less wind….Surely not.  Did I really say that?  I must have since Leigh chided me for it this morning.  

Of course I had to fuss at her for not posting a recipe on her blog as she usually does.  Because I love it when Leigh posts a recipe, I have decided to add an occasional recipe here.  Today's takes more time than I like to spend when prepping, but it was worth the time and effort of cutting, slicing and dicing. 

 BACK TO THE WIND....
Fast forward 18 hours. This morning Winds were whipping.  Tumble Weed was tumbling.  Sand was soaring through the air, much to my chagrin.  Last night, I used The Solution to clean the car and part of the motorhome had them all nice and shiny – again.  The soaring sand driven by the whipping winds left their dirty dust deposits right where I had been working.  I must add a few rain drops fell to create little mud drops all over said car and motorhome.  Not cool.  Not cool one bit!

Oliver and Olivia had no desire to go out into the wind.  I insisted and they wasted no time taking care of their business and were standing on the steps waiting for me to get there and let them in.  Another time, Oliver would just stand and look at me asking why were outside.  And Olivia, with her nose to the ground as usual was a bit distracted. 

BV north clouds surroundThe winds created a strange cloud effect today.  It looked as if the clouds were  surrounding us just on the far sides of the  mountains all around us.  It was as if the mountains would not let the clouds in. I felt as if we were sitting the hole in a donut and looking outward.  

Sooo, what do you do on  the day you had planned a mountain hike?  Of course! You cook.  Even RV Sue indulged in a day of cooking on her rainy, windy day.  So what was cooking in our motorhome?  I made green lentil stew.  John mixed up Jalapeno Corn Bread and I made all natural, fat free granola bars for our hikes…..if we ever get to go. 

We did run into a bit of a problem when John went to use the oven to bake his cornbread.  Overnight, a critter, we suspect a mouse moved in, got a paper towel, shredded it and had begun to make a nest.  Okay, so I am naive,  I had no clue that mice roamed the desert.  We have seen ground squirrels, lizards and other creepy crawly things that go bump in the night out there in the sandy desert, but a mouse?  Good grief. 

            Green Lentil Stew
Green Lentil Stew

Ingredients:
3 cups French green lentils

1 large, chopped white onion
2 large garlic cloves
1/4 cup good Extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon Kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon ground cumin

6 red potatoes, cut like French fries
2 tablespoons mild curry powder

1 tablespoon ground mustard
3 stalks medium-diced celery
4 carrots cut into rounds
2 quarts vegetable broth
2 large Roma tomatoes
2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

1 handful of chopped parsley
2 handfuls of cilantro

Directions:
In a large bowl, cover the lentils with boiling water and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Drain and rinse.


In a large pot on medium-low heat, saute the onions, and garlic with the olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, and cumin for 20 minutes, until the vegetables are translucent and very tender.


Add the celery and carrots and saute for 10 more minutes.

Add the vegetable broth and lentils.
Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 1 hour, until the lentils are cooked through.

Add curry powder, ground mustard, balsamic vinegar, diced Roma tomatoes, fresh parsley and fresh cilantro  and simmer 5 to 10 minutes. 

Check the seasonings and adjust to taste
Serve

Jalapeno Pepper Cornbread:
Japalino Corn Bread

Go to market and purchase box of cornbread mix
Add one finely diced Japalino Pepper (seeds and membrane removed!) to the mix
Follow directions on box. 

Serve hot!  

As I finish this, the winds are beginning to abate.  There is still dust and dirt in the air …… so much that the mountains look black! 

IMG_20130405_191117_100.jpg       
   

 THE END.....S


Until next time….

God Bless you and keep you under his mighty wing!

11 comments:

  1. I hate mice in my house. We had a family in our stix and bricks and they about drove Scooter crazy until we got an exterminator to get rid of them. I hate mice - did I say that? We left Benson at 6:00 this morning so we were back in AJ by 9:30 before the winds really got here. But we've been rockin' and rollin' since. A little rain and more wind. Sure glad we didn't put all that energy into cleaning the car and rig. LOL I figure it's all your fault we've got this mess going.

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    1. Somehow I knew it would be all my fault! This is the baddest wind we have ever had....It is gone now, thank goodness. John has the traps ready to set tonight with peanut butter. Now I wish we had that Rattlesnake to take care of the mouse or mice...whichever!

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  2. Those high winds can be VERY scary. We were in the "Q" when we got winds up to 70 MPH. Once it stopped, every one ran out to see if everyone else was OK.

    Those mice can be so destructive. Hope you catch it real soon!

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    1. Two mice down and none seem present at this time. We are leaving B.V. tomorrow. Tired of the wind. As we were packing up to leave three blasts of sand hit us. Terrible...have not seen what we came to see, but there will be another time.

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  3. WOW! So glad I stopped here today. I am trying to get us on a healthier diet and bought a bag of lentils three days ago. I had no clue what to do with them. I have every ingredient on the list but cilantro. Will try it without it. (Perhaps add some other spice)

    Thanks and watch out for those winds and mice.

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    1. I am glad you stoppped here too. I have tons of recipes on my pinterest boards that you might like. You could use parsley instead of cilantro, but I soooo love cilantro. Let me know how it turned out, PLEASE.

      We have relocated 2 mice so far....

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  4. Oooh sounds delicious. What about the granola bar recipe?

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    1. Hopefully, I will post it soon. Leaving B.V. in a.m. wind was murder this evening as we were packing up to leave.

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  5. High winds are so scary. Thank you so much for the green lentil stew recipe!

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