Snicker Salad

This is a light desert that's yummy and perfect to bring to a BBQ. I can't say it's healthy but kids and adults love it.

3-4 granny smith apples
1 container of light Cool whip
Snickers (as many as you'd like....)

Cut the apples and snickers into bite size pieces; add the cool whip. Mix together and refrigerate.

Trip

Sorry for everyone who got email invite 8 times. My gmail account was hacked and when I changed my password it made my blog private. I didn't intend for that to happen. I haven't had time to fix or cell/ Internet connection in a week, but here's a sneak peak of the trip. I will email a Flickr link with all the pics as soon as I get back to MN and upload them (Yes Dad... I promise).

These are all iphone pics, I did use an actual camera to take nice pictures which is what will get uploaded :-).  I have hundreds and hundreds of pictures.

Places visited were:

The Bandlands in SD
Mount Rushmore (SD)
Caves (SD)
Grand Tetons (Teton National Park) (WY)
Jackson Hole (Jackson, WY)
Yellowstone National Park (WY & Montana)
Glacier National Park (Montana)

Surprisingly--- I don't know if I'd ever bring a young(er) kid a long to either Yellowstone or Glacier. Yellowstone is like a big figure 8 and every major attraction (hot springs, mud pots, sulfur cauldron, geysers etc.) is a GOOD 45 minute drive in on a windy road. It was really hot, and kids just don't seem to appreciate or understand what they're seeing. The park is actually quite dangerous if you're not watching your kid either. The hot springs are boiling and some of them give off sulfuric acid. We were on a boardwalk looking at the Painters Mud pots just south of Norris, and there are signs everywhere in every language to stay on the boardwalk, to not touch the water because it's boiling, and to not step on the ground around because it's unstable and the hot springs spew acid and could burn through your shoes.  Then in bold letters it says "PEOPLE HAVE DIED FROM BURNS IN THESE HOT SPRINGS."  I saw this couple letting their 3 year old stir a hot spring with a hiking stick. Before I could say anything this lady started yelling at them (the hot spring was boiling and bright red from all the acid). I thought maybe they didn't speak English.... nope...they were just incredibly stupid and thought the colors were neat. The altitude at both Yellowstone and Glacier is high and air is thin. Even using SPF 30+ you still need to be covered up because you will sunburn.

Making the 20 hr journey home starting in 5 hrs- can't wait to be back home.

Day #4 (Yellowstone) Bison Crossing road early in the AM leaving Lake Yellowstone heading to Canyon Village. The foggy air isn't fog... it's all sulfur and gas from the sulfur hot springs in the area. Smelled lovely :)

View of the Grand Tetons (day #2) taken at 8:00 am.

Was on this highway for a LONG time

Day #6- Glacier National Park-- view of the falls at Avalanche Creek. Yes..the water really is that blue all throughout the entire national park.

Big Bison chillin on the road @ Yellowstone

Day #3-- Grand Teton's at sunrise (5:54 am) at Oxbow Bend.

Day #1-- Caves in Rapid City, SD.

Day #3 (afternoon) at Yellowstone. A huge portion of the National Park was surrounded by dead trees from all the fires that happen. I thought it was neat to see the new tree growth right below the dead trees. While at Yellowstone there were 2 fires that started. They have onsite spotting crew who's only job is to look for fires and of course fire department that help contain the natural fires and make sure they don't get out of control. Quite amazing to see in person.

Day before I left for trip---I don't know why I put this on my blog- ha. Koda was just super cute and the pic was on my phone.

Day #3 at Yellowstone-- This is a picture of Old Faithful geyser going off at 8:10 pm. The geyser goes off (faithfully) every 90 minutes or so. Pretty impressive to see. Park Rangers said without geysers going off in the park and hot springs releasing sulfur gas, the volcano that lies beneath Yellowstone would have erupted enough lava to cover the entire state of Wyoming, a portion of Idaho and a portion of Montana.  

Day #2 ---Super awesome city to visit. It's like a party town at night-- Love all the cowboys in Jackson Hole too. I thought the cowboys were just in Cheyenne, but nope they're up in Jackson Hole too.

Day #1--Mount Rushmore at Sunset

Day #2-- 9 hours in the car but had to pull over to admire the Grand Teton's at 4:00 pm.

Ever heard that Montana has "Big sky?"  Well it's true....

Day #6-- Hiking at Glacier National Park. 

Day #6-- Virginia Falls @ Glacier National Park.

Day #3-- my FAVORITE part of Yellowstone-- the Prismatic Hot Spring. This made me geek out and remember why I did my undergrad in Microbiology.  I wanted to hike up high to get an aerial view of the rainbow hot spring, but it was a 3 mile hike up (6 miles round trip) and it was already 6:00 pm. 

Day #3  Another View of the forest killed by fires -- and of course the new baby trees.

I was sporting hiking socks and hiking boots for a week straight. Any guesses on what my tan lines look like? :)

Day #6- Glacier National Park at 6:00 am at Logan Pass.  To get up to Logan pass it was a good hour drive before the hike started. In the parking lot this cute little guy put his nose right up to the window to say hi. Oh yeah.. 2 minutes later he tested out the jeep with his horns to see what it was. No bueno. At least it was a rental car and not mine? (Nicole you would have DIED....they were so cute and everywhere...)

Day #1-- Lightening heading back toward Rapid City, SD. 

in the future.....

I started to make these for a friend who's wedding I'm in. I'll eventually post how to make these. I've had a few people ask-- it's not hard, kids can help, and it only takes the supplies in this picture :)

Fairies in a Jar Round 2

I decided to show both the traditional way of doing fairies in a jar using glow sticks and also using glow paint. They both work, they both glow, but they do look a little different. The glow sticks glow immediately, but also only last for the night. The glow paint lasts a long time and is charged by exposing the jar to light.

The fun part for kids is being able to put fun things in the fairy jar. Here are some items you'll need:

Glow Paint Jar:
Glow Paint (found at Michaels)
Glow Puff paint
Glitter
Fake flowers or embellishments if you decide to decorate the inside of your jar
Jar (old spaghetti sauce jar, salsa jar etc)


Glow Stick Jar:
Glow Sticks (found at Michaels or party store)
Glitter
Embelllishments
Jar

Old Spaghetti Jar and Canning Jar

Glow Paint, Glow sticks, Embellishments, Paint Brush, Glitter

For the Paint Jar, add some of the glow puff paint to the bottom of the jar. Mix the glow paint and colored glow puff paint together and thinly paint the inside of the jar. Spread glitter around and add embellishments if you'd like. For this jar I super glued string to the lid of the jar and hung a butterfly.
Once the paint dries, charge it up in the light and watch it glow.
The picture I have below is right after I painted my jar-- the only light it had been in is the light over my kitchen table. I'll post another shot of it once it's dry.

For the glow stick version make sure you have a safe surface to work on....and try not to have a flashback from your raver days :)

Pick the glow stick colors you want to work with and activate the glow stick. Use scissors and snip the end of the glow stick off and drain it into your clean jar. It comes out fairly fast, so be ready with your jar. It only takes 2-3 glow sticks to coat the inside of a jar. Once your done toss in some glitter and seal up the jar. Shake it and you're ready to go. I had an extra butterfly so I added one to this jar too. As I mentioned up top- if you use the glow stick version it will only last 1-2 days. The light from glow sticks are the result of a light producing reaction and fluorescent dye. By breaking the glow stick you release the 2 compounds allowing them to mix and produce the light. The fluorescent dye is able to absorb this light and that's what produces the glow color. Heat acts as a catalyst and will make the light glow faster and brighter (ie putting it under a hot lamp). Putting the jar or glow sticks in the freezer slows down the reaction and can allow the jar to be used a 2nd day. 

Spaghetti Squash

I tried a new recipe recently and it was using Spaghetti squash in leau of pasta noodles. I remember trying Spaghetti Squash when I was in college and a friend of mine had baked it with butter and it was soggy and not very appetizing, so I was leery about trying to cook it again. The main goal for using spaghetti squash over traditional pasta was that it is much lower in calories and carbohydrates.




1 Cup of cooked spaghetti pasta has 220 calories and 40 g of carbohydrates

1 Cup of cooked spaghetti squash has 42 calories and only 4 g of carbohydrates.



Here's a picture tutorial for how to cook a Spaghetti Squash.



1. Cut the spaghetti Squash in Half.

2. Remove the seeds (similar to a pumpkin) from the center of the squash.

3. You can either bake in the oven, or cook in the microwave. To cook in the microwave place on microwave safe dish and cover with seran/cling wrap. Cook on High for 8 minutes. Be careful when you remove from the microwave, the steam trapped in the cling wrap is hot.

4. Use a fork and pull the squash away from the skin. You'll notice it looks like....spaghetti!

5. Top with your favorite pasta sauce.

I made a home made sauce and then topped with fresh basil from my herb garden. It tasted amazing, couldn't tell it wasn't pasta, and was just as filling as regular pasta.

Stay tuned for pictures from pasta made from scratch (another posting...)



Kristen

Ranch Burgers

1 lb ground beef
1 egg
1 packet of hidden valley ranch dip mix

Mix, make 4 patties and grill.
Fast~ easy~ yummy