Solo Snowshoeing

Bennet Pass Trail

Suz took Tuesday off and we went back to the Mt Hood area. She went snowboarding, but I don't do that. So I went to the Bennet Pass Trail to snowshoe. This was my first solo hike in I-can't-remember-how-long. Went about 4.5 miles total in around 2 hours. and there was hardly a soul in sight. Passed two cross-country skiers on their way out and a couple walking their dog once I was nearly back to the parking lot. The weather was very nice- at least on the Mt. Hood side of the trail. On the Badger Wilderness area it was fast moving fog with a light rain. [...]

Naked Snowshoeing

Matt, Suz, and I went snowshoeing with Naked Winery on Feb. 9th. We met at the White River West Sno Park with a bunch of winery members. Just like the winery- all the members are fun-loving and easy-going too! This was our first event with the winery outside of tastings and wine pick-up parties. Matt and I went to REI and rented the gear. It was a lot of fun and my first time snowshoeing in years.

We trekked and along the way dug up previously buried bottles of wine. They were marked with fake red roses- easy to spot, right- but apparently someone not in our group thought they should collect them. We spent some time looking for two of the bottles after the roses went missing, but we found eventually! If only they'd known there was wine underneath! We maybe went 1/2 a mile to a mile the whole round trip, stopping every 10 minutes of walking to uncover another bottle. It was a blast and I wasn't the only one who wished they'd eaten a bigger breakfast.  [...]

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

Yesterday I ventured into the meatloaf making world for the first time. I essentially combined two recipes. The original one where I got the idea from Jamie Eason here and the meatloaf recipe from our Cooking with Beer book by Paul Mercurio. Most recipes call for a cup of oats, but we don't have rolled oats in the house (just steel-cut), so I substituted short grain rice. 

Free form cooking is our general method and involves taking whatever veggies are in the fridge and spices that sound good and for the most part ignoring that part of the cookbook recipes. All of the ingredients below are approximate measurements and done to taste. Essentially this recipe is 2 pounds of ground meat, chopped veggies, and spices. Also, I suggest taking a bit of the mixture and frying it in a pan and adjusting the spices as you see fit. 

These turned out fantastic. I am glad I tested bits in the frying pan. I ended up adding more chipotle spice and some apple maple bbq sauce to balance the heat with sweet. They are pretty filling too. I had one for dinner last night and one for breakfast this morning. They heat up nicely in the microwave. [...]