LOWER DIKE HIKE

It is still a bit crisp in the morning, but by 10 a.m., or so, the temperature warms enough to go walking … so we do ;-)

We wanted to see if the turtle has come out yet, so we revisited the lower end of the dike. We weren’t able to get this far last year because there was so much going on, so we were curious to see if he was still around. We didn’t see him, but we did see a few new things – fences were going up everywhere we looked as well as 2 other new items:

A chubby Goat! This is something new this year.

A 'hidden' fish net for dipping; maybe the absent turtle ended up in someone's soup pot; but there are some pretty large carp in this slough too.

And we also some a flock of geese in someone’s back yard. The entire length of the dike we only saw 3 ducks, which is unusual as this place is usually full of ducks …

Geese in a back yard.

It was a fun hike. And we need to get out more.

TORTILLA CASSEROLE

This casserole takes some time to prepare, but it is worth it!

There are several recipes for south-of-the-border-style casseroles that use the bagged chips high in salt and cholesterol; this recipe uses regular unsalted corn tortillas that is lower in fat and sodium. The tofu provides low-fat protein and texture without overshadowing the far south flavor.

This also freezes well if you want to half the recipe and serve one later.

TORTILLA CASSEROLE ~ 8 servings

1 TBSP vegetable Oil * 2 medium Onions, chopped (about 1-1/3 cups) * 4 large cloves of Garlic, minced (4 teaspoons) * 1 28-ounce can Tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with juice * 2 TBSP. Chili Powder * 1 ½ teaspoons Oregano * ½ teaspoon Caraway Seeds (optional) * ½ teaspoon Cumin * 1/8 teaspoon Cayenne, or ¼ teaspoon ground Black pepper * 4 cups cooked small Red Beans or Pinto Beans, rinsed and drained, partially mashed * 1 4-ounce can Green Chilies, finely chopped * 1 pound firm-style Tofu, crumbled * 12 Corn Tortillas, toasted in oven for 10 minutes @ 350 until crisp * 1 1/3 cups coarsely shredded Monterey Jack or mild Cheddar Cheese (about 5 ounces)

In a deep skillet or medium saucepan, heat the oil and cook onions and garlic for 3 minutes – stirring often.

Add the tomatoes and their juice, chili powder, oregano, caraway, cumin, and cayenne or black pepper; bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes – stirring often. Remove pan from heat.

Add the beans, chilies, tofu, and stir the ingredients well.

Bean and Tofu mixture.

Crisping Tortillas.

To assemble the casserole, spread a thin layer of a third of the bean sauce over the bottom of baking dish. Spread a layer of half of the broken tortillas over the sauce: repeat these two layers again. Use the last third of sauce to cover the second layer of broken tortillas and sprinkle the cheese over entire top of casserole.

Broken crispy Tortillas.

Cover baking dish with foil and bake in a 375-degree oven for about 20 minutes. If the casserole has been frozen, bake it for 30 – 40 minutes.

DIKE HIKE

It was a wondrous 60 degree day today! It felt and smelled a welcome Spring day (of course it is still officially Winter), so we went for a walk along the dike on 48^th; we hadn’t done that one for a while, so today seemed like a good day to revisit and hoped to see some ducks lazily swimming or pairing off to raise families ;-)

What a nice surprise awaited us! OTTERS :-D We have not been able to watch otters dart and dive and chase each other through the water since we sold our home in Cathlamet 24 years ago: we lived near the Columbia River and a creek passed through our back yard where courting ducks, frisky otters, and great blue herons were frequent visitors … and we even had a seal swim up the creek on day! The otters we saw today were a special treat to our eyes.

We did see a couple dozen ducks too - swimming, pairing off, looking for companionship, and nesting couples lining the riverbank …

We even saw 2 live curled up fuzzy-wuzzies, and a crushed one that wasn’t fast enough to avoid a heavy footfall of one of the dike hikers before us. The one shown is just curled up tight hoping we'd go away so it could crawl away. LOL:

And some geese on the opposite side in a field …

The sunshine felt sooooo good! And we weren’t the only ones enjoying it today ;-)

THURSDAY BIBLE STUDY ~ Matthew 16

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW ~ Chapter 16

The Pharisees and Sadducees came around and, to try Him out, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. Yeshua answered them, “In the evening you say, ‘the weather tomorrow will be fine, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning you say, ‘we shall have a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Yes, you know how to read the signs in the heavens, but can’t you read the signs of the times? A wicked and immoral generation demands a sign, but you will get no other sign than that of the prophet Jonah.” Then He left them and went His way.

When the disciples now went to the opposite shore, they forgot to take bread along. Yeshua said to them, “Look out! Beware the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!” They started to discuss the matter among themselves, saying, ‘He said this because we didn’t take bread along.’ Yeshua, observing this said, “Why are you arguing about not having bread? O you of little faith! Don’t you understand? Can you not remember the 5000 fed by the 5 loaves, and the number of baskets you took up? Have you also forgotten the 4000 fed by the 7 loaves, and how many baskets you again filled? Why can’t you see that I was not talking about bread when I warned you to be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees?” Then it dawned on them that He had not told them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

As Yeshua came into the neighborhood of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people think the Son of Man is?” They answered, ‘Some say John the Baptist, and others Elijah. Still others think He is Jeremiah or another of the prophets.’ “But as for you,” He asked, “Who do you think I am?” Simon Peter spoke up, “You are the Mashiach (the Christ) – Ben Elohim Chayim (the Son of the living God).’ “And you, Simon, son of Jonah,” Yeshua said, “you are blessed, for no human being has revealed this to you, but Elohim (My heavenly Father). And now I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I shall build My Church, and the powers of death shall not overthrow it. I shall give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; ad whatsoever you make free on earth shall be freed in heaven.” He then warned His disciples to be sure not to tell anyone that He was Mashiach.

From that time Yeshua tried to make it clear to His disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem to suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and scribes – that He had to be killed but that He would rise again on the 3^rd day. Peter, however, took Him aside and protestingly said to Him, ‘Elohei (God) forbid! This shall never happen to You, Adonai (Lord)!’ But, turning to Peter, He replied, “Get behind Me Lucifer! You are an offense to Me, for your thoughts are not Elohei's thoughts, but man’s.”

Yeshua also said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to be My disciple, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. If anyone is anxious to save his life, he will lose it; but he who gives up his life for My sake, he will find life. For what would it benefit a man if he gained the whole world but lost his soul? But the Son of man will come in the glory of the Father. He will be accompanied by His angels, and He will reward each one according to His works. Truly I say that some of those standing here will not taste of death until they shall have seen the Son of Man coming into His Kingdom.”

**Matthew 15: https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2018/02/thursday-bible-study-matthew-15.html

DAYTRIP TO CARNATION

Woke up yesterday morning, glanced out the front windows, and noticed that the little daffodils I planted in the Fall are beginning to blossom! Perhaps sunny days are ahead after all – under the continual heavy and overhanging gray clouds of the PNW … especially on the riverfront, one begins to wonder if we will ever see the sun or feel the warm sunrays again. The early-blooming daffodils add a much needed and appreciated dash of bright and cherry color to a dark and gloomy landscape:

Then after looking at the daffodils for a while, while drinking my coffee and watching the gray clouds hover and promising more rain, I thought “I gotta get away from these 4 walls and into some fresh air”. Where could we go that we haven’t already been a thousand times or better? Then the name ‘CARNATION’ popped into my head – I saw the name of that town on the map a few years ago but we never got around to getting there, so I turned to Hubs and said, “How about a little road trip to Carnation?” He asked, “What the heck is Carnation, and where is it?” I said, “A Winter bouquet flower, and a town someplace in Washington State. Up the road a little bit.” Well, he gets on google and comes back with, “It’s not ‘up the road a little bit’; it’s a long way up the road. And there would be a lot of freeway and city driving unless we went up through Morton – and that would add an extra hour or so to the drive. So I start calculating the distance in my head: 2 or 3 hours each way, to and from; we could be back home by Suppertime. And I really want to go.

So, off we go.

We drive for at least 4 hours in spotty rain showers getting there. Google was an hour off in their calculations. But that’s okay. We can still get there and back before it’s time to set the table for chow at home. 15 minutes from Carnation, we see this:

So we follow the detour route. How bad can it be? Turns out it was pretty bad; the entire town was under water … fields afloat. Huge, lapping puddles both sides of the roadway, squeezing the road down to one lane dead-center in some places. But we made it to Carnation.

I had NO IDEA the town was THE ‘Carnation’ of world renowned fame! I was thinking flower, not milk. A bit into the town I saw the Cow statue, and the Diary Farm; but it wasn’t until I saw the sign in the foliage that things began to click away in my head ;-)

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/carnation-farms-namesake-of-a-town-and-a-worldwide-milk-brand-welcomes-visitors-again/

After viewing the farm, we headed back home, but found every route out of town blocked by ‘Road Closed’ signs. We were in effect landlocked in farm country. So we backtracked and ended up in rush hour traffic in Seattle. NOT FUN. We were engaged in an hour and a half freeway crawl which canceled Supper at home because now we’d be lucky to make home before 10 p.m. bedtime. As soon as possible, we jumped the freeway and found something to eat. Then we beat feet for home. And touched down at 9:15 p.m. SCORE!

All in all it wasn’t a bad drive (even though my 6 or 7 hour estimation based on Google’s predictions ended up being an 11 hour ordeal); and we got a History Lesson too. If not for the road closures and freeway snafu, we’d have been home around 6 p.m. easy-peasy. That’s my story and I’, sticking to it …

ROSEMARY-MARINATED PORK CHOPS

ROSEMARY-MARINATED PORK CHOPS ~ 6 Servings

The Pork Chops marinate for 2 days. This is a delicious meal! These chops can also be grilled or broiled with side dishes to suit.

Marinated Pork Chops

2 ¼ cups Water * ¼ cup fresh Rosemary Leaves, chopped * 2 TBSP Sugar * 1 TBSP Salt * 1 teaspoon dried Thyme, crumbled * ½ teaspoon whole White Peppercorns * 6 whole Juniper Berries * 6 whole Coriander seeds * 2 whole Allspice Berries * 2 small Bay Leaves * 6 count 1 ¼” thick loin Pork Chops, trimmed * Small Gourmet Potatoes (fingerlings), a peeled band across each middle * Salt and Pepper

ROSEMARY needs replanting and replenishing ... I freeze my Rosemary and it tastes like it is fresh off the bush. My Thyme needs replanting too. I didn't realize I was running so low on homegrown supplies; at least one of Hub's planting boxes he built for me will be used for an Herb Bed this Spring :-)

Combine first 10 ingredients in large non-aluminum pan and stir until sugar and salt dissolve. Add pork chops, turning to coat. Cover and refrigerate 2 days, turning occasionally.

After 2 days, remove chops from marinade (discard marinade), and sear. Place in an ovenproof cooking dish and surround with potatoes. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about an hour. Super simple; and super delish!

Pork Chop Rosemary Marinade - looks tasty, smells good, and tastes delish!

Pork Chops marinating ...

Searing the marinated Pork Chops for baking.

Marinated Pork Chop ready for oven. GREAT meal!

LIVER BAKED w-ONIONS & HERBS

Being iron deficient and very anemic, I need the iron liver supplies. My husband, bless him, has little choice but it eat it occasionally as I am the chief cook and what I cook is what we eat that day ;- ) I don’t make it as often as I should because no one else in the family really likes it. However, this recipe has changed Hub’s opinion of cooked liver – the chili sauce does wonders to improve the flavor and mask the heavy musky liver odor. Hubs has even said I could repeat this recipe as often as I like, LOL, but I’m thinking more than quarterly would not be wise ;-)

I used my electric skillet to bake this liver and it turned out fine. Nice and tender.

LIVER BAKED w-ONIONS & HERBS ~ Serves 6

Fried Liver finished - the onions got a little too done because I was sidelined and sidetracked, but it tasted fine.

1 large Onion, sliced into rings * 2 TBSP melted Butter * ¼ cup HOT Water * 6 slices Liver, cut ½” thick (calf, veal, or beef) * 2 TBSP Flour * Salt and pepper to taste * 1 TBSP chopped parsley * 2 teaspoon Thyme * 2 TBSP thick Chili Sauce * 1 TBSP Brown Sugar * 2 TBSP Butter

Running low on the herbs I grew and dried years ago ... time to replant and restock.

This is all I have left of the homegrown PARSLEY too.

I am lactose intolerant and this is an excellent butter substitute that can be used in any recipe – stir-fry, melted, basted, baked, ect.

Place onions in oven pan, pour over it butter and water. Cover Bake for 30 minutes and bake in moderate 350-degree oven. Dredge liver in flour; arrange over onions, sprinkle with parsley and thyme and dot with blended chili sauce, sugar, and butter. Bake covered for 30 minutes.

Fried Liver with Chili Sauce and Onions