A few photos

Pretty sunset on the lake last night... here are a few photos. Wish I had a fantabulous camera, but you'll have to make do with my attempts with the current camera. Actually, these were taken with L's camera, as my own is kinda packed away. I need to dig it out and start using it (more). I think it is a bit better than his.

The deer population is still growing. As I was turning into L's driveway yesterday (about 5:30 or so), an adult deer casually strolled near his neighbor's driveway, made its way past the mailbox, and sauntered into the woods. And this morning, we came upon a mama doe and her little fawn, who were moving off the left side of the gravel road and into the woods. Mama was moving a bit more quickly than the lone adult deer we came across on Sunday.


Saw a blue heron on the beach (the temporary one that we have while the lake's levels are so far down) on Sunday, walking beween L's house and headed towards the dock in front of his neighbor's. And we were entertained by one of the loons, who dive completely underwater in search of food (fish), only to emerge from the lake, some distance from their original submersion spot.


I have tried another new recipe (from those freely distributed at the cardiac rehab place). This time it was chili -- and it turned out quite well. L and I both like things a bit spicier, so this was right up our alley. It called for 3 Tbsp of chili powder as well as a pinch of red (or cayenne) pepper. It was ALL very lean ground beef (93% lean!), lots of onion and I added more garlic than the recipe called for, too. The tomato puree was salt-free, except for the naturally-occurring sodium content of the tomatoes themselves. In fact, the over-all taste was a bit sweeter than you would expect out of chili -- but then the after-effect in your mouth grew a bit warm as the chili powder and cayenne did their magic.


And another "miracle" -- L actually suggested that we bring the chili with us, to have for lunch at work today! So we did that, and it was (1) healthy, (2) easy, (3) economical (read: much cheaper than lunch out!) and time-effective. What's not to like, eh? I must say that I violated my own principles and even added a can of black beans (I do NOT like kidney beans) as called for by the recipe. Well, confession here: it called for TWO cans of the beans, and I added one. But I think I will go ahead and add the second can when I make this recipe again. It was a lower-sodium can of beans, plus you actually rinse and drain the beans before adding them. The whole thing is YUM!

Sorry... don't want to turn this blog into a copycat of anyone who actually does a wonderful job of blogging about food. But it is SO nice for me to actually cook at home again AND do it in a healthy fashion.

That's it from the Crispy NorthCountry!