My View

As I left yoga this week.

Healthy Homemade Popcorn

I have a confession.

I'm pretty lazy when it comes to food. 

By the time I get home from a full day of teaching, I just want to curl up on the couch until Jesse comes home from work and feeds me.

I can't do that every day though. Sometimes he works until ten or later. I'd die!

So when I say this popcorn method is fast and easy, understand where I'm coming from.

It's not only simple to make, it's also better tasting and better for you than bagged popcorn (Fake butter? Ew).

It's really an all around win.

Healthy Homemade Popcorn

1. Melt 1-2 tablespoons of bacon grease (or olive oil if you're not into that) in a THICK bottomed pan over medium heat. The thick pan will prevent burning.
2. Add 1/4 cup popcorn kernels. Give the pan a swirl to disperse everything evenly.
3. Cover pan for about 3 minutes. 
4. When you hear it start to pop, give it a little shake every 45 seconds or so. This will keep the popped corn from burning and help move the kernels around.
5. Once the popping slows down (you'll know) turn off the heat immediately. Let stand for another minute with the lid on to prevent rogue pops from throwing popcorn all over the stove. Not that that's ever happened or anything.
6. Transfer into a large bowl and sprinkle with salt. Done!

You can also try some fun flavor variations!

• Pop the corn in olive oil with a sprig of rosemary.
• Add chocolate chips for a salty-sweet treat.
• Serve with a dash of BBQ rub for a hot and smoky snack.
• Bacon: it makes everything better.

Do you have any favorite add-ins for your popcorn?

Link List: September Daydreaming

The first week of September was like July here in New Jersey. My friend Linda called it "soupy" and that is spot on.

Hot weather is all well and good when you dunk yourself in a creek, but once school starts back up my thoughts turn to autumn,

The heat has finally broken and I'm already thinking about pumpkins and hot cider. That might also be the wedding planning, though (<6 weeks!).

Here are some things that have caught my attention as we head towards the end of summer.

• Autumn Floral Wreath - I could totally see this hanging from my door all fall.
• Espresso Creme Brûlée - The more confident I get in the kitchen (I'm looking at you, scones), the more adventurous I feel. Custard? Bring it on. FIRE? I got this.
• Pumpkin Donuts - I made these a few years ago and they continue to call to me. Soon, my sweets!
• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Several of my campers this summer were reading this and it looks just spooky enough to get me read for Halloween.
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Several of my students have noticed that my celebrity doppelganger is Jennifer Lawrence. I devoured this book series several years ago but have not yet seen the second installment.
• Twin Peaks - I'm about halfway through the second and final season. It's like a darker Stars Hollow, without Lorelai and Rory.
• Isla Wrap - This is what is currently on my needles. It should be done just in time for the cool weather.

What do you have planned this fall?


PS - Or I'll just ignore everything above and watch Gilmore Girls all fall. It's a dream come true!

Bacon and Blue Cheese Buttermilk Scones

Oh bacon, my love.

Bacon is a staple of my diet.

When I'm cranky, Jesse makes me bacon/

These past few weeks we've been eating a lot of BLT's thanks to Jesse's father's tomato plants and Jesse's excellent homemade mayonnaise. Yum!

Bacon grease is my go-to fat/oil of choice. I love using it to make stove-top popcorn (so easy!).

So, it's not surprising that bacon would make its way into my scone adventures.

I usually make Orange and Dark Chocolate Buttermilk Scones. I've been working on this recipe all year, getting comfortable in the kitchen.

Today, though, I was ready to make my own scones.

When we visited Cannon Beach last month, that excellent little coffee shop also served Bacon and Blue Cheese Scones. How could I resist? It was, as one would expect, fabulous.

Today, I made my own.



Bacon and Blue Cheese Buttermilk Scones

• 3 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoon (1.5 sticks) cold butter
• 2 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 lb blue cheese (or to taste), chopped/crumbled
• 3 strips cooked bacon (or to taste), chopped into 1/4" pieces
• 1 tablespoon cold bacon fat (optional)

1. Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Whisk or sift to distribute evenly.
2. Cut in butter until large lumps (pea to grape size) are evenly distributed. Do not overdo this step!
3. Whisk egg yolks into buttermilk and add to dry ingredient. Combine until there are no more puddles.
4. Add bacon, cheese, and fat. Combine until dough starts to come together (I use a hard plastic spatula for this).
5. Turn dough out onto cool surface. Knead just until dough is uniformly moist and add-ins are evenly distributed.
6. Press or roll flat until about 1/2" thick.
7. Cut into squares approximately 1.5" by 1.5" (you may choose to make larger scones).
8. Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees.

Have you tried this recipe? What did you think?

Oregon: Government Camp

On our way back down Mt. Hood we made a short pitstop at a place I hadn't been to since 2007.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

When I was 17, I flew alone across the country to spend one week in July at High Cascade Snowboard Camp. I remember it as a kind of snowboard Neverland. I was riding in tank tops, hanging out with snowboarders who had graced the pages of Transworld Snowboarding magazine, and riding in a lime green "Bustache" along the Oregon Trail. I also slept a lot because I didn't know I had mono. Although I didn't develop any lifelong friendships, HCSC has still held a small but special place in my heart.

I had hoped to get a Cobra Dog and Volcano Cone.

Unfortunately, they were closed.

So we used the bathroom in the visitor's center (which I don't recall being there seven years ago...) and took some pictures.

Camp was over, so we were able to avoid being creepers. But that also meant the skate park was disassembled.

Maybe I'll return for one of their adult camps.

Next up: Bend

Oregon: Mt. Hood

In Oregon, you can spend one day at the beach, and the next hiking the Pacific Crest Trail just below a glacier. Is this real life?!

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

We once again used our East Coast sleep schedules to our advantage, setting out early to drive up Mt. Hood. On our way up, we stopped for coffee. Twice. Jesse got one of the best coffees of the trip from a small coffee shop in a strip mall near Rhododendron on route 26.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Route 26 takes you over the lowest slopes of Mt. Hood. The Timberline Highway takes you up the mountain. Just before we reached the parking lot, we caught a glimpse of the peak through the trees. The view was so breathtaking that it cut Jesse off, mid-sentence.

During the winter, the glacier extends down the hill and meets up with new snowfall. This puts the Timberline Lodge at about midway up the skiable slopes.

Timberline Lodge, you may notice from this unflattering selfie, resembles a certain haunted hotel. It was both the inspiration for and the exterior model for The Shining.

An extremely short walk behind the lodge brings you to the Pacific Crest Trail.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Besides being a longer trail then the Appalachian Trail, the PCT is also far more isolated and thus more challenging. 

We were only out for the day, though.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

This bird was about two feet away from Jesse when he took this picture. It lingered near us for several minutes, which was both wonderful and terrifying (birds and I have a long, tumultuous history stemming back to when a seagull stole my hotdog from my hand at the Lincoln Memorial when I was 4).

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

There was a remarkable variety of terrain and weather along the PCT here.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

We hiked about 6 miles round trip. Originally we had hoped to hike to Paradise Park, a large meadow full of wildflowers. However, my worn out hiking boots were making each step increasingly painful. We turned around at Zigzag Canyon. 

On the way back, I took the opportunity to cool my feet in a glacial stream.

 Although it was a shorter hike than we had planned, we had a fantastic time.

Next up: A pitstop on our way back down the mountain