A Campin' we will go!

Last weekend some friends & I headed up to Winter Park to do some good ol' fashioned camping.

Well, if you consider waterproof jackets, lighters, grill, tents, air mattresses, and cooking skewers ol' fashioned. :)

We actually didn't do all that much - just kinda hung around, played cards, read books, played cornhole.... and ate a LOT of food. And drank a lot of booze. But that's what camping's all about, right? Enjoying the outdoors? And drinking a bunch?


Our humble little campsite!

We are such explorers.... not really. I think our hike took us about a 1 mile radius around our campsite - possibly less! Ah, well - this weekend was more about relaxing than anything.


Cornhole time! Ryan actually made this set entirely himself. Ambitious, isn't he?

Kim has the greatest cornhole-toss form that I've ever seen. I had to attempt to replicate, although I'm still not sure how her leg gets up that high!

I thought this photo series was hilarious, so I had to make a triptych out of it. Yeah, I'm a huge dork (click to see the full-size photo).


Dinnertime / fire-making time! This was prior to Ryan knocking over the grate.... 3 times. He's just a big animal, folks.

And now for fireside photos - everyone has quite a lovely glow to them!


Ryan ripped his jeans - right down the middle! Hilarious. The next morning he tried to burn them on the fire, but we didn't let him. Silly guy!



It's hard to see, but this is a S'more made with a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup instead of regular chocolate. Man, they were filling, but OH so delicious!!




Beth's Campfire Burritos
These are best made at home beforehand, wrapped in heavy-duty aluminum foil, tossed in a ziplock bag & brought along in your cooler. You will thank me later I promise! I kid you not - I ate like 5 of them on this trip...

Ingredients
2 eggs*
1/4 red pepper (diced)
1/4 green or poblano pepper (diced)
1/4 yellow onion (diced)
1 clove garlic (chopped)
1/2 cup beans (pinto or black)
1 avocado (sliced)
1/2 cup frozen corn
2-3 red potatoes (chopped, boiled until tender & drained) OR frozen hash browns / home fries
1 small tomato (chopped)
shredded cheddar cheese*
mayonnaise
green chili OR salsa
salt / cayenne pepper / cumin

Directions
Saute peppers, onion, & garlic in a large pan until tender. Add 2 eggs (best if you scramble 'em good beforehand), along with desired amount of salt, cayenne, and cumin. When eggs are almost fully cooked, turn off heat & set aside.

In a separate pan (or the same pan - cleaned), spray with non-stick cooking oil and over medium high heat fry the potatoes until they are brown.

Separate the warm ingredients along with everything else on the list to each tortilla in even amounts. I like to mix everything with a spoon before rolling up the tortilla to be sure everything is well mixed.

Wrap each burrito in heavy-duty foil. When you're ready to cook 'em - bury them in the embers of the campfire (this is the best way to do it, I swear), and cook each side for about 15 minutes. They will be all gooey & warm & delicious!

Makes about 3 large burritos (on 13" tortillas), or 5 small burritos (on 8" tortillas).

Add or remove any ingredients you like - you can make it your own way!

*To all the vegans out there - either omit the cheese or use vegan cheese (same with mayo) and substitute extra firm tofu for the eggs!

Veganism... again?

After my ridiculous amount of gorging on breakfast burritos while camping this weekend (photos will be up soon of that trip!) I have decided to try & give Veganism another go. It'll probably be a casual attempt - mostly just eating that way at home, and avoiding it as much as possible when out. It'll be more of a "healthy change" that I really need than anything!

Not only did I eat about 5 delicious homemade breakfast burritos on a 2-day camping trip (ummm yeah... they were REALLY good though), but when I got back into town and didn't feel like making dinner, I ordered a ginormous cheesy pizza.... ugh. Yes, it was wonderful, and I haven't had pizza in ages! But I've been over indulging quite a bit lately, and I need to get myself back under control.

It's kind of funny - I thought making the roller derby team would whip me into shape, and I'd drop pounds like crazy! Although I've been gaining strength, I haven't really lost any poundage - and I think I've actually been eating more since I'm so friggin' hungry after practices.

SO long story short, after this week - I'm cleanin' out the fridge, stockin' up on healthy goodies, and giving my body the stuff it needs to be a well-oiled-derby-playing machine... and not a big ol' slug! :)

UPDATE - I've been finding motivation today on the "Oh She Glows" blog. This girlie comes up with some awesome looking vegan recipes, and her weight loss is really inspirational. Check it out!

Film on the Rocks - "SPEED"

Earlier this week a small group of us hit up Red Rocks to watch the 90's action-movie classic "SPEED" (with Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Daniels, and Dennis Hopper).

Every year the Denver Film Society seems to come up with a pretty rockin' line up of classic and most-likely-to-soon-be classic films to show, and this time was no exception. I have great memories of Speed - especially since it was the first R-rated movie my parents let me watch when I was a kid (at least that they know of). To quote my mom: "They just curse a lot, so it's not that bad. Just don't say the F-word yourself, okay?"

She's funny.

We got to the parking lot nice & early for a bit of pre-partying - drank some beers, ate our picnic dinners, talked, and threw the ol' pig skin around...




MMMMmmmmm......Beeer.....
One of my favorite parts of this experience - the fact that they show a cartoon before the movie! Love it.

Oh, Keanu - you were so damn cute in the 90's!

BEST Vegan Shells & Cheese!

Man, I've been all about food lately, haven't I?
Ah, well - I do love food, that ain't no secret!

After I finished reading The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone, I was inspired to try out a few of her recipes - one of which I made for Father's Day. It was her version of Vegan Shells & Cheese, and it was a HUGE hit. Honestly I didn't miss the cheese at all!

You must give this baby a try - I enjoyed it immensely, as did the rest of my family. Every one of us went back for seconds!

Vegan Shells & "Cheese"
(Serves about 4)

INGREDIENTS
1 package of shell pasta
1 jar of tomato sauce (I only used about 1/2 of this, so if you already have that much in your fridge, you're all set)
1 package of extra firm tofu
Nutritional yeast (I used about a 1/2 a cup - available in the bulk section of Whole Foods)
Fresh basil, chopped
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Lemon juice (I used 1/2 of a fresh-squeezed lemon)
Vegan mozzarella cheese - shredded, about 1 cup (the original recipe did NOT call for this. I added it myself, and think the additional texture was worth it. You can find this at Whole Foods - try Almond Cheese, or Rice Cheese - although beware hard-core vegans, as Rice cheese isn't always 100% vegan since sometimes it still contains Casein, a hormone found in cow's milk. Read your labels, kiddos!)

STEPS
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Boil the shell pasta according to package directions.

Mash up the tofu with a fork until it resembles a firm ricotta cheese texture. Add nutritional yeast, basil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, fake cheese (if you're using it) and lemon juice.

In a casserole dish, spread out some tomato sauce.
Fill the shells with a couple spoon-fulls of the tofu filling.

Top with the remaining tomato sauce, and bake for 15-20 minutes.

How can something so simple be so easy AND delicious?? I have no idea. I'm gonna be making this meal a lot, that's for darn sure!

Another amazing food website...

As many of you know I'm in LOVE with the Smitten Kitchen blog, and everything on it!

Well, somehow I magically came across another site called Tartelette - which has some of the most beautiful food photos I've ever seen!! Really, she makes an art out of food photography - she could make Kraft Macaroni & Cheese look like a gourmet meal.

Here is just a small sample of her amazing photographs:


All photos from: http://www.mytartelette.com/

Although her recipes are a little too high-end for my abilities, I still adore her photos & food ideas - and would be happy to taste test her creations if she happens to come across my blog...

Westword Music Showcase & Pride Parade

UPDATE:
OK - since I'm lazy and don't feel like scooting all of these pictures around, scroll down to read the start of my post! I had to add these pictures though, as somebody (not myself) was smart enough to bring a camera to the Pride Fest Parade! So luckily we got some hilarious pictures along the way.... enjoy!

Team Photo - aren't we cute!! I'm all the way in the back on the right - just my lil' head is popping out....

Circle dance!!

....and me falling down! (I love how everyone is turned towards me in this one - so funny.)
Those roads were so darn bumpy in areas - it was really hard to skate! I should've had a talk with the mayor when I had the chance... (scroll to bottom of post for that)...



I was having SO much fun here.... this was towards the end of the parade - I could not get the smile off my face!! :)

And here we are - back at the beginning of the post again! :)

This weekend was another one of those "so-much-fun-crap-going-on-how-do-i-fit-it-all-in" ones. You know how those are, right? :)

Friday night we hit up the Highlands cruiser ride (that was an entire night of debauchery that I got no photo evidence of at all - kind of a shame really), then Saturday we attended the Westword Music Showcase. A full day of music & good times! The photo above was actually snapped by a Westword employee, and ended up in their photo slideshow online - pretty rad!

This band we stopped in to see randomly just because Kim (pictured below) thought they sounded nice when we were walking by. Turns out, they're actually AMAZING, and I'm so glad we checked them out! They're called Churchill, and they're a local Denver band. Really beautiful music / vocals / lyrics, and a sound you could get your toes tappin' to. Their next gig in Denver is on July 2nd, so check out their Facebook page for more info!


Having fun with the camera!

Cute lil' Shauna - so excited about the next show!

Speaking of the next band - they were CRAZY good!! They're a hip-hop band called Pirate Signal, and their energy was off the charts. They really got the crowd into it, and we definitely went NUTS for them!



HAAYYYY Kim!!


It was definitely a gorgeous day to be outside.... we all got some sun that's for sure.

The main stage... and the Dirty Projectors!

Brian to Kim (once she starts dancing in front of him): "I want no part of this".
He's so funny. She was dancin' with him - with or without him! Wait....


So that was Saturday....
...Sunday, me and the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls skated in the Gay Pride Parade!! It was SO much fun, and I swear it took a good 30 minutes to wipe the smile off my face. But of course, I FORGOT MY CAMERA! Yes, me - the girl who brings her freakin' camera with her EVERYWHERE left it in her bag at the RMRG merchandise booth. Luckily some other girls were more camera-memory-savvy, and got some great pictures. This one below is of us with the mayor of Denver, John Hickenlooper! We ran into him right at the end of the parade route, and couldn't resist the perfect picture moment.