Sand Hills State Park

The Sand Hills State Park is a hiking only park close to Hutchinson, KS.  Well, I guess you can ride horses on the trails, too.  I read up on the trails ahead of time online to decide which on to try for based on distance.  I chose the Pond Trail, since it has a pond and it wasn't too long.  I should not have been surprised to find the pond dry. 

 

 

Our hike started out beautiful.  We pick a 100 degree day to go, but we started early enough to enjoy some beautiful weather. 

 

Lots of pretty wildflowers on the trail.

 

Yes, this is Elliott picking up a dead armadillo.  The boys thought this was awesome.

 

This is my favorite pic of the boys and me ever!

 

I tried some Homemade Granola Bars.  They were a hit!

 

Yes, this is what you think it is.  Yes, it was in my bathroom.  I would say this park (bathrooms and trails) was not the most well-maintained.  There was a certain type of grass on the trail that has been allowed to flourish that sticks to your socks and pokes you.  Gabe sat down to get some out of his socks and we waited and waited for him.  When he got up, he started screaming that his leg hurt.  I think he sat in some anthills.  Poor kid.  I thought our hike was over, but he recovered and we finished.

 

Jake's new idea:  take a pic by the sign with our thumbs rating the park.  I guess we had mixed reviews.  We were very hot and tired by here.

 

Then, we drove a few miles down the road to check out Dillon Nature Center.  It was amazing!  We will go back soon.  This was the highlight of our day.  We ate our picnic lunch here and then enjoyed the air conditioning in the indoor displays, walked around the stocked pond, where we could see turtles and fish swimming all over.

Finally, we found this outdoor play area.  It was awesome.  We could have spent two or three hours out there.  There was a huge sandbox with a water pump the boys could use to put water through canals they dug.  There were musical instruments to bang on, blocks to build with made of tree stumps and other natural materials, and a small wading creek.  This place is free to visit.  We were very impressed!

 

Day 30: Cooking flop

Tried a recipe I found on pintrest.  I thought the boys would love it.  Very cute in concept.  You just put dry speghetti through some hot dogs then boil it.  The result is little ... well, we called them jellyfish.

Great idea, right?  The boys thought they were weird.

This is definitely the before pic.

The after is too gross.  Too much food coming back out of the mouth.

Ell, on the other hand, showed great skill at eating only the hot dog and spitting the rest out.

Day 25: More Food

I just love it when I make something my family loves.  We had these tonight (not my picutre):

Here is a link to the recipe.  All I changed was that I used half the cream cheese, and I used shredded pepperjack cheese instead, because that's what I had.

http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/2011/07/easy-philly-cheesesteaks.html

And then, last night, I made the following recipe.  They were delish!  And the boys ate them so well...that was the best part.

Black Bean  Enchiladas

Ingredients:

1 can black beans

1 can rotel

1 small can mexicorn

1 clove minced garlic

2 Tbsp oil

1 tsp cumin

1/2 cup chopped onion

8-8" tortillas

2 cups colby jack cheese

Sauce Ingredients:

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbsp oil

1 small onion, grated into pan

1 15oz can tomato sauce

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

Sauce:

Saute onion and garlic in oil. Add tomato sauce, chili powder and cumin. Bring to a boil and then simmer until needed.

Enchiladas:

Heat oil in a large skillet with garlic until garlic "pops".  Add onion and toss in oil to coat.  Cook 3 minutes.  Add beans, rotel, corn, and cumin and cook until heated through. 

In the center of the tortillas, place about 1/4 cup of the mixture each, and top with a bit of the cheese.  (There should be cheese left over.)  Roll tortillas up and place seam side down in a sprayed pan.

Pour sauce over tortillas.  Make sure every bit of tortilla gets wet with sauce so they don't get to crispy when you bake them.  Top with remaining cheese. 

Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese melts. 

In my opinion, this one of those recipes where the leftovers are even better than the first time.  Enjoy!

Day Nine: Summer Food!

I love cooking in the summer.  Mostly because it doesn't involve as much cooking.  I love to cook, but when I can make good food with less effort and less clean up, it's definitely a win-win. 

Zippy BLT Wraps

(4 servings)

4 Whole Wheat Tortillas (obviously I used flour)

8 strips of bacon, cooked

1 avacado, sliced

1 tomato, sliced

4 leaves romaine lettuce

garlic powder

pepper

salt

mayonaise

salsa

Spread mayo and salsa in tortilla, sprinkle with garlic, pepper and salt.  Layer lettuce, tomato slices, avadaco slices and bacon.  Roll up and enjoy!