Zucchini Quiche

Zucchini was finally on sale!  AND, I was able to talk Nate into eating a quiche.  Well, he was willing to try it as long as I added meat to it.  One new thing I learned is that at 8,000 feet, eggs are not meat.  I never knew.

So,  found the Pillsbury recipe here.

To add meat to it I used  1/2 of a Hillshire Farm beef polska kielbasa and diced it up.  The other change I generally do when I make zucchini quiche is to use half zucchini and half yellow squash.  I love when I can combine the two.

Before I put the zucchini and yellow squash in the fry pan I put the meat in for a few minutes.  Other than that I followed the Pillsbury recipe so I’m not posting the entire recipe here.

Other ideas would be to add bacon (bacon makes everything better), ham, Italian marinated elk steak, chicken, or whatever sounds good to you!

Enjoy!!

How Do You Workout?

People love to post pictures of themselves working out on Facebook all the time.  Unless there is something crazy about my workout, you’ll never know I do.  I’m not supermodel skinny but I am in good shape.  I have had a few people ask me what I do to workout. I love to say I don’t workout.

I just love to be active.

Walking with Yancy & Doc

It wasn’t but a few years ago that I could barely walk (more on that some other time).  Now that I can climb mountains, literally, I’m so happy to be out and about.

Snow Shoeing – Even in the winter we get out!

So instead of telling you how I diet and say no to ice cream or chocolate (which would be a lie, I eat chocolate daily – my fav… 90% dark… yummy!) I’ll tell you I eat in moderation, whenever I am hungry and I get myself out to be active.

Taking Yancy for one of our many walks.

Instead of working out I do whatever activity I feel like doing that day.

• Some days I want to feel stronger so I’ll do a workout video with weights so that I can carry a backpack during hunting season.
• Other days I just feel like I have to go fast, so I’ll run around the ranch I live on.
• I love to walk and take pictures of the mountains or flowers so I’ll hike on one of the many, many trails just outside my house.  If you don’t think walking is active enough, most of my walks up here take me at least 2 miles and a change of eleveation between 500 and 1,000 feet.
• Other times I just gotta dance so I’ll do a Zumba workout I put together from YouTube videos.
• Then there are those times things have to be done around here… cleaning the house, digging out a path, putting in a flower garden, or whatever… so I’ll dig in and do as much as I can.
• When the dog has crazy eyes I take him on a long walk to the lake or close to where Nate is shoeing horses that day.
• When I am sore I do some yoga for stretching.
• Other days I come up with a creative idea of something else to do and then go do it…

Dancing with Nate

 

 

And when I don’t want to do anything at all, like today, I play on my computer.

 

Riding with Zana – If you don’t think you get a good workout horseback, you haven’t been up Raspberry!

The summer is too short and too nice to be stuck inside doing a workout I don’t want to do.  But then again, my goal isn’t to be skinny.  Its to be healthy and to have fun doing it.

Up here you better be carrying.

 

And, one thing to remember up here at 8,000 feet is to bring your gun.  You can never be sure what kinda wildlife you’re going to run into.  I forgot mine one day and a coyote really made me regret it!

Roasted Pork Chops and Peaches

I’ve made this recipe before (the picture is from my first time making it) but its my first time posting it to this blog. I did change up some things about the recipe to what I have on hand at home.  Living 30 minutes from the closest grocery store either we have it at home or I have to improvise.  Nate and I both thought I rocked it so I’m going to share it with you.

2 tablespoon olive oil
2 large pork chops
salt and black pepper
paprika
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 peaches, cut into wedges
1/4 sweet onion, cut into thin wedges
1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves

I used a cast iron skillet with a cast iron lid.

1. Heat oven to 400º F.
2. Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Season the pork with salt, pepper, paprika and dried basil and cook until browned, 3 to 5 minutes per side.  Our pork chops were so large that I used the lid to help keep the juices in and to cook the pork chops a little bit more.  Transfer to a plate.
3. Nate hates onions so I cooked them in a separate skillet.  If everyone in your family loves them cook them in the same skillet.
4. Add the peaches, vinegar, salt and pepper to the skillet and cook, tossing, for 1 minute. Return the pork (and any accumulated juices) to the skillet.
5. Transfer the skillet to oven, cover with the lid, and roast until the pork is cooked through and the peaches are tender, for me it was about 15 minutes.
6. Sprinkle with the basil.

Leather Coupon Holder

I’m so lucky to be married to a saddle maker.  And I’m quite lucky to have access to his shop (i.e. its in the house).  Sometimes I get to do fun things like take some of his leather for my own projects!

As you already know, I’m a major bargain shopper.  I generally keep my coupons in a plain white envelope however I’m having to replace the envelope often because of how beaten up it gets.  That’s when Nate suggested that I make a coupon holder out of leather.

He really is a genius.

I tore apart the envelope to create my pattern.  Found some ‘scrap’ leather from around the shop.  Added on a small pouch to the front for my supermarket cards.  And then used Nate’s industrial sewing machines to sew it up.  To finish it, we added a snap and I oiled the leather.

I can’t wait to go shopping!

I made a shower curtain!!!

I don’t have a pattern but I had to share the shower curtain cause I am so proud of it!

 

I love it more in person than in the picture, but sometimes that happens I guess!

Basically, all I did was take the left over fabric from when I made the curtains for our house.  I had way more blue then the other fabric however not enough to make it to the bottom.  So I sewed the second fabric on top and then again on bottom to make it long enough.  After that I spaced out the grommets along the top.

Knit Baby Booties and Bib

First off, nope… not pregnant.

Now that we have that out of the way, I do know a couple that is about to have a baby boy and I wanted to make them a little something for their new bundle of joy.

 

 

I got the bib pattern from Ravelry and the booties pattern from Small + Friendly.  I think they are adorable!

Knit Pot Holder

At our house we pretty much only use cast iron skillets. They really are the best to cook in.  But, have you ever tried to move a cast iron skillet after its hot???  OUCH!  I am really tired of forgetting to grab a hot pad before we grab the skillet so Nate’s solution… we needed something to put around our skillet handles.  After a quick search I found one to knit.

 

 

 

This was the first time I ever used double pointed needles so it took a few tries to get started but once I figured it out it was really easy to knit.   So easy, I made 2 for our house!  Just an FYI, the instructions I had said to have 25 stitches however that was way too many.  I cut it down to 14 stitches and it fit perfectly.

Bedside Book Holder

 

I was reading Better Homes & Gardens and they had a link to some of their favorite blogs so I was checking them out when I found Mandi at Vintage Revivals. At the very top of her blog was a leather magazine rack and I loved it.  There is almost no space in our bedroom and I’ve been wanting something to keep books in by my side of the bed so that very day I created my own.

Even though we have  a ton of leather sitting around our house I didn’t want to use something that Nate could use for his business, so instead I found some old fabric that I have and made that into my own magazine rack.

I followed a lot of Mandi’s instructions so please check out her site if you would like full instructions.  Where I did change it up was to sew 2 fabrics together, inside out, of course.  When I turned it right side out it was super wrinkled so I ironed it before I put the grommets on it.  I did use scrap leather for the handles and Nate helped me make the knot, its one he uses often on saddles.

Its holding my books beautifully!