Breckenridge

We haven't taken a little sightseeing trip for awhile so thought you would enjoy going to Breckenridge. It is a ski town so in the winter it is packed with skiers but in the summer it's fun to go strolling around town, visiting all the little shops and having a nice lunch in one of the unique restaurants. The picture above is of Dillon Reservoir through my car window. That's me driving. These silly pictures are completely out of order so bear with me.

This is one of three houses that were for sale. The other two are further down. I tried to keep them together but.....

We thought it would be fun to take a ride in the gondola but it wasn't open. I think they may have been making sure it was ready for the ski rush so we just watched it for awhile wishing we could go for that ride. It would have been a beautiful day for it. So sunny with a pretty blue sky.

There is a lovely stream running through town.

See the snow on the mountain top? After this past week, I'm sure there is more now. We had snow over 6000' but down here we escaped the early stuff.

Dillion Reservoir is on the way to Breckenridge. It is man made and I remember when they flooded the area many years ago. There is a lot of boating and fishing there.

These are the other two houses for sale. They were all three in a nice little row. I would have loved to venture inside and dream. Mountain property is so expensive. We saw one two bedroom two bath for almost 500,000!!

It was a beautiful day and we stopped and had lunch in a lovely Bistro after trying on fur coats in a boutique. Of course I didn't buy one but it was loads of fun.

Has anyone ever matchrf up or tried to match up a b-dazzle? They sure scramble your brain. I was trying to match this one and I guess Anna decided I should just give up, so she jumped up, messed up the pieces and then just lay down on them. Geez, thanks Anna, I just may have gotten all the pieces in the right places this time. Thanks to Cheryl, I've had lots of entertainment this weekend. I am determined to match them all up. I'll keep you posted. I may not have any hair left though.

My New Love Kale

When I receive my monthly Bon Appetit magazine the first article I look for is Molly's of the Orangette blog. I love her writing and recipes. She always takes you on a wonderful experience while reading her articles. Well when I saw her article titles How I Learned to Love Kale I didn't get too excited but since I love reading her I figured what the heck. Well by the time I finished, I didn't remember why I didn't eat Kale. I couldn't remember the last time I tried it or even cooked it. So decided I had to try it. I told you she was good!Her recipe for the article was Spaghetti with Braised Kale (which I'm sure is on Bon Apetite website, and I'm trying soon) but she mentioned how a friend of hers had sauteed it similar to spinach so decided to try that first. OMG I fell in love too! All you do is saute the washed, chopped, dried kale in olive oil and butter. After the Kale is wilted sprinkle with salt and squeeze a little lemon juice over the top. The first time I didn't quite wilt it long enough but the second time it was perfect. Molly described how it cracked and popped like popcorn and it really does. If this doesn't convince you, read the article. I know you'll be a Kale lover too!

I also bought the Cooking Light 101 Chicken Recipes recently which is wonderful. So many good recipes in it. To go with the Kale I decided on Chicken with Lemon Sauce which was very easy and had the lemon to go with the Kale. I also cooked Spaghetti for the sauce which I made extra of. I think I doubled it.

Chicken with Lemon-Caper Sauce (adapted from Cooking Light)
4 skinless boneless chick breast halves
salt/pepper
olive oil
Cooking Spray
1/3 cup extra dry vermouth or white wine
3 T fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 T capers
1 T chopped fresh parsley
Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray. (I used my regular saute pan and no cooking spray). Add chicken and cook until done. Remove from pan and keep warm.
Add vermouth, lemon juice and capers to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook until reduced about 2 minutes. Stir in chopped parsley. Add chicken back in pan to reheat a little and enjoy.
I made extra sauce to serve over the spaghetti. Bon Appetit!

I hope you are all having a great weekend. It is supposed to be a cool 60 degrees this week so I changed my bed and added a blanket. I'm also making a big pot of Chicken Tortilla soup.

Indonesia Ginger Chicken

This recipe is from Ina's first book. I love her books as you all know and use them often. I had forgotten about this recipe and have not made it for a long time. Someone at work wanted her corn chowder recipe so I took the book to work to copy. She was looking at other recipes and copying them. She came across this one and asked me if I had ever made it. I made it the next weekend. I'm so glad she reminded me.


I made brown rice with parsley and scallions and roasted carrots and parsnips to go with it. The wing looks a little brown but it wasn't, just the nice brown color from the marinade. I love this recipe because it is so easy and quick. All the work is done the night before.

Indonesian Ginger Chicken (adapted from the Barefoot Contessa)

1 cup honey

3/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup minced garlic 8-12 cloves

1/2 cup peeled and grated fresh ginger root

2 chickens (3 1/2 lb each) quartered with backs removed

Cook the honey, soy sauce, garlic and ginger in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey is melted. Arrange the chicken in a large shallow baking pan, skin side down and pour on the sauce. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 350.
Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 1/2 hour. Uncover the pan, turn the chicken skin side up and raise the temperature to 375. Continue baking for 30 minutes or until the chicken is done.

Bon Apetit!