Inspiration

Happy Birthday Tim!

                   

                                           
                                                                I love my beloved hero... 

I love him in any type of camo 

In uniform 

With our princesses!  

Happy Birthday Tim!!! 

Prince William Sound 2013

'

 

Summer in Alaska means fishing season in our family. My husband and I go fishing every weekend. This past weekend my husband went to Prince William sound to catch shrimp, rock fish and halibut.

 My husband brings his jet boil to cook while fishing. Catching fresh shrimp and minutes later cooking. YUM! 

                                          Did I mention these shrimp are HUGE!

                                             Halibut. They are UGLY but taste very good! 

 

 Instead of sleeping on the boat they camp. My husband goes with the hammock instead of a tent.

                                               Dinner!!

     Rock fish.

                         
               My husband is from Florida. Anyone recognize the   seasoning? 

                          

Once the fishing trip is over. Next comes the work. Cleaning the boat and storing the fish.

 

For me it means laundry! 

                                                            
                                                That is ALOT of shrimp!EXCITED!! 

                                         
                      Next step get out the vacuum sealer

               
           Now you place them in small bags. Than you can take small portions out of the freezer.

 

Salmon.  

 Sucks the air out! Than its ready to go in the freezer! 

Our stock pile from this trip. The guys separated them so they all had a share .

 

                                                                      
                                                 Shrimp

                                               Salmon

 

                                              Rock Fish

This is one of many trips that are going to happen this summer! Excited to stock pile our freezer.

Living with Bears

          In Alaska humans are not the highest on the food chain. Lets just say when I was growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio I didn't worry about leaving my trash can outside or looking around for wild life when out with my children. In Alaska this is a normal day to day event. On post (post=military installation at which a body of troops is stationed) I have found that the bears are the ones we are having issues with. Online each neighborhood on post has a group or page. On these groups or pages you are able to communicate with your neighbors. At least once a week one of these neighborhoods post photos or warnings about bears are in the area. Its comes in handy when you making plans about taking your children to the park or when to put your trash can out.

       I refuse to open a dumpster. Bears are very smart. They are able to open the sliding side of a trash can and climb in or open the top. With that being said who knows when you go to the dumpster if a bear is in it or not.That is the reality of living in Alaska. 





What you don't believe me ? Okay okay!! Here are some photos!! These are from last week.

              Photo by Paula Watkins. A momma and her baby.

 

         Photo by: Paula Watkins 

Is it just me or does it look like momma bear is yelling at the baby bear? 

 

                         Photo by:Jonraquelcodyevan Miller

 

    Photo by:Jonraquelcodyevan Miller

 

 

Photo by:Jolene May

Photo by: Ericka Chavez

Imagine looking out your window to see THAT! I am happy to report, I have only seen bears from my car.

 

 This was taken at Cottonwood park. Right down the street from me. There have been at least a dozen stories of people walking or running into this bear. Lets just say I don't plan on taking my girls to this park anytime soon. Yes, there is a park for children located near this bears den. 

This would be a bear on the side of the highway.Yes,its was by our exit... notice how I was missing it!

Tim on the other hand has been VERY close to bears. In fact,we are about to have a bear rug in our house.

When you are fishing for salmon it's VERY likely you will see a bear. When you fish it's very important to have a gun. Remember we are NOT! the highest on the food chain.Notice in the water the red...those are salmon. Pretty cool right? 
*The momma bear was no harmed in this photo*In case you thought the bear below was the same one. 

                                        Tim first bear. 
     


I stumbled across this VERY cool live camera at Brooke falls. The salmon are running(meaning coming in from the ocean to spawn). It shows the bears chasing and feasting on the salmon. This is an event people travel from all over the world to witness. With technology we get to watch it at any time. 

http://explore.org/#!/live-cams/player/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls

Zucchini Bread Recipe

                                        
         

       In an effort to change my families diet I spent time this Sunday at the farmers market. In Palmer there is a very small farmers market that I love. Every time I am in the area I stop by it. This particular time I picked up local honey, local milk,local homemade bread, organic purple potatoes and Zucchini. In the back of the market if you look through the sliding doors you can see the garden. I love looking to see what they will be harvesting next. I secretly wish they had a facebook page I could check daily for an excuse to drive out there more often. Its a cash only place run by an older couple. I love everything about it. 

      In Alaska everything seems to be bigger! Including the local crops. They have HUGE zucchinis. I decided I am going to make a lasagna with them. I will use the smaller ones I had at home already from the commissary (military grocery store on post) to make Zucchini Bread. 

The difference between this recipe and others is I don't add nuts. Its a texture thing for me. I have yet to have anyone complain. 

                         ~Preheat the oven to 350 degrees~


                                         The Ingredients !

          

The recipe called for 2 cups of grated zucchini. Just so happened I had this handy dandy tool that measured 2 cups for me. Perfect prep tool! 

I started with the dry ingredients. Sugar + nutmeg= AMAZING! I love nutmeg. It makes me think of the holidays. Which is my favorite time of the year. 

This was Daisy favorite part. I loved hearing Daisy excited that she was cooking. I hope to build memories with my children that involve cooking. When they smell certain smells it makes them think of home. 

Add the grated zucchini into the liquids. YUM! 

Add the liquids to the dry ingredients.

                       This recipe makes two loafs. Next time I would make them into four smaller loafs. This is a good thing to make and than freeze. 
                                                   
                                     An hour later.................

Divine!!!

I wish I could reach through the computer and give you a slice. It's just that good! 

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup water

2 cups grated zucchini

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda,

 cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. 

Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed

 with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 

mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.