A Fall Day

It doesn't get much better than this. What a beautiful Alaskan fall day we had. The sun graced us with it's presents and decided to spend the whole day with us. It was beauty as it's best and I was lucky enough to see it.

More Alaska Facts

Alaska was purchased by the U.S. from Russia in 1867. It became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. Alaska is the largest state in area (twice the size of Texas), but ranks 49th in population.
Alaska has 17 of the 20 highest mountains in the United States including the highest peak in North America - Mount Denali.

Top 10 Must Sees

Glaciers, Inside Passage, Native Arts & Culture, Wildlife Viewing, Historic Mining Towns & Areas, Museums, Sportfishing, Trans Alaska Pipeline, Russian Heritage, National Parks & Monuments

Rhubarb Snack Bars

I just picked the last of the summer rhubarb and this is what I made. Hope you enjoy making and eating these bars.....yum!!!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Servings 24

Ingredients:
CRUST;
1 1/2 cups oatmeal, regular (uncooked)
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 cup butter or margarine
FILLING;
6 cups rhubarb, chopped fine
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp. lemon peel or juice
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup water
3 or 4 tbsp. cornstarch
3 oz. package of cherry or strawberry jello
1/4 cup of sliced almonds (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or spray bottom and sides of 9x13 baking dish.
Crust: in a large bowl mix oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon & nutmeg. Cut in the butter until mixture is crumbly. Press 3 cups of crust mixture into the bottom of the pan to form a crust.

Filling: in a large cooking pan, combine rhubarb, sugar, lemon peel and vanilla. Boil for approximately 4 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently. Meanwhile in a small bowl, mix cornstarch, jello and water together. Stir until smooth. Add to the cooking rhubarb mixture. Continue cooking until thickened, approximately 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Pour cooked rhubarb mixture over crust. Sprinkle remaining crust mixture on top. If desired sprinkle with almonds.
Bake 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting bars....

I found this recipe at recipetips.com.....and I tested it....and it's easy and good....................

Alaska Facts:

Approx. Population: 650,000..................... State Flower: Forget-me-not
Captiol City: Juneau ...................... Tree: Sitka Spruce
Largest City: Anchorage ...................... Bird: Willow Ptarmigan
Area: 587,878 square miles ...................... Motto: North to Alaska
Coastline: 33,904 miles
Highest Point: Mt. Denali
Lowest Point: Pacific Ocean - Sea level

Surprise of Red

While taking a walk in the woods, on the island with our dogs, we came across this beautiful surprise of red.

And The Fog Rolls In

At this moment I'm living in my own little world.

The fog has rolled in & I can't see past the dock.

There's no crossing the lake til it lifts.

So I'm confined to this fog of a life.

What'a Sauce!

This is so easy and may be used over broiled fish and chicken or tossed with pasta. Dress it up with green onions, garlic, bell peppers or a dash of red pepper if you want. It just depends how you're using it.

3 tsp. of cornstarch
12 oz. of clear chicken broth
3 tsp. of lemon juice.... to taste

Combine all 3 ingredients until smooth. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly til it boils and thickens....

If you're adding minced garlic or chopped bell pepper add them to the cooking sauce to heat thoroughly..

That's it....very easy....Serves 2-3

Alaskan Saturday

There's something to say for rainy, lazy Saturdays in Alaska. They give you the time to create wonderful things in your kitchen.

Today, it was wild Alaskan blueberry muffins. The kind with the crumble tops.

You never know what the weather holds so I always take advantage of my rainy, lazy Saturdays.

Alaskan Fall

It doesn't get much better than this. What a beautiful and sunny unexpected day. Mother nature does surprise us at times and today was one of those times. We had a leisurely ride across the lake with our labs, Allie and Diver with the warm sun shining on our faces.

Our pups sat on the bow of the boat taking it all in. They love to watch the ducks that are starting to gather into flocks in anticipation of their journey south for the winter. I'm surprised one of them hasn't fallen or jumped off the boat trying to caught one of those birds but so far it hasn't happened.

I'm sure hoping for a few more days like today but I know that these kind of days are numbered. Our days are getting shorter and the nights are getting darker so I'll just have to enjoy each day as it comes to me and hope for the sun to shine. Maybe, mother nature will have a few more surprises before the snow flys.

a little Alaskan Flavor

Broiled Dill Butter Halibut: Serves 4



4 Halibut steaks or fillets about 1 1/2 inches thick

1/4 cup of melted butter

1 tbsp. of dried dill

Optional: add minced garlic if you like. I don't if I'm serving

garlic linguine as a side dish.



Preheat oven to High Broil

Place halibut on a shallow broiling rack that has been coated with cooking spray. Combine the dill and butter. Drizzle butter mixture over the halibut.



Place halibut on oven rack closest to the broiler. Set timer for 8 minutes. Depending on the thickness it may take up to 10 minutes to completely cook.



If you don't have halibut you can substitute cod fillets.



This is a wonderful main dish and you won't have that stuffed feeling afterwards. You can serve it with tarter sauce and a nice pasta dish.

Fall is here

The Alaska State Fair came to an end on Monday and with that, Fall has arrived. Yesterday, Greg and I took a ride to Wasilla and all along the way you notice the leaves on the trees beginning to turn. Just wish that we had the beautiful fall colors that you have down in the states. Ours run from yellow to kinda orange. This is the time of year I miss living back in my home state of Missouri but there is a crispness in the air that I love. I call it, "sweater weather."
I'm usually cold so, I'll look pretty normal with my layered look of clothing.
If the sun decides to make an appearance, I'm hoping to get some yard work done. There's plenty to do before the first snow flys. My poor tulips need to be cut back and buried in about 2 feet of leaves. I also need to cut the last of my rhubarb and make a couple of pies. I've got a couple of great recipes I'll have to share. Hope everyone has a wonderful day....

Well, it's going to be an overcast day but I didn't plan on getting a suntan anyway. We'll be heading to Wasilla in a couple of hours to run a few errands. It's going to be a cold ride across the lake but starting today, I'll wear something around my face. Otherwise, I'll end up with a sore throat. That's been a hard lesson to learn.

Good morning from Alaska

Good morning lower 48. It's still dark up here but I can't sleep so I've decided to start a blog. My facebook friend from Florida thought people might be interested in what I have to say about Alaska. Thanks, Ann....let's see where this goes.
The lake is glass calm. The lights from the boat launch across the lake are reflecting on the water and it's beautiful out even though it's dark. It hasn't started to get light yet and I heard a phrase I liked a couple of days ago about how we lose daylight. "In chunks"....I'll start seeing some daylight in about an hour but I don't know how much sun I'll be seeing since they're calling for rain. It's 48 outside right now and we should hit 59 for our high.
59 is cold to me. My husband gives me crap about being cold all the time but if it's not in the 90s I'm going to be cold. Most Alaskans are climatized and feel that the summers are warm up here. Not me....give me heat!! So you'll always see me in a jacket. I go for the layered look. I can always take it off if I get hot, which isn't too often unless of course, I'm having a hot flash but that's a whole other topic. Hope all my friends have a good morning and have a extra cup of coffee for me...