Thankful

Today I am thankful for "Fast Eddie" who we are doggy sitting. His "Dad" is traveling to the east coast so he is driving my cats crazy for the next week and a half. Eddie was a stray in L.A. and one of our Best Friend dog trainers rescued him from a kill shelter as she was passing through California. Turns out he is pretty good with cats and he doesn't care at all about our chickens. Whew! Best of all Eddie likes to cuddle and shed and cuddle. I do not like the shedding but when those chocolate eyes look up at you longing for a lap who can resist? Ugh I am such a sucker.

The weather was so fantastic last week. Addyson and I walked to the park and it was probably 60 degrees out. Look at that lovely sky! Addyson loves swinging at the park.

Flexitarian - Challenges

Well last year I did pretty well eating only Buffalo once a week but this year all I want is tuna fish, steak and as much as I hate to admit it fried chicken! I have done well avoiding pork.  Just the thought of those intelligent, amazing pigs in factory farms kills me.  As much as it killed me I did however buy a few cans of tuna fish.  I haven't finished reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.  I need to start reading it again and get re-inspired.  I must admit it can get darn depressing. I find myself walking around in a circle in the grocery store.  I know except for the buffalo meat that there is no meat or fish in the store that is humanely raised.  I know much of the fruit and veggies are filled with pesticides, the packaged things have weird chemicals I cannot pronounce. In fact, Gatorade just removed an ingredient called brominated vegetable oil (or BVO.) BVO is a chemical used as a flame retardant and is used in drinks to help keep the ingredients for separating.  Yuck. 

I am still making the easiest bread in the world - no kneading required.  It has Yeast, Flour, Salt and Water.  That is it!  Here is the book link.  You mix up the ingredients, let it sit for two hours and  use it or store it in the fridge and use it within a week or maybe two!  It is awesome!

I have been making a lot of soup too.  Trying to increase the carrots, celery, onions and garlic intake for the family.  Unfortunately, I cannot get my four year old to eat the veggies.  I can however get her to eat the dumplings I drop in.  Which don't have a lot of nutritional value but I know that they don't have BVO!  Ha.  I told my husband it was chicken and dumpling soup but that it didn't have chicken in it and that I would buy a rotisserie chicken so he could shred it and put it in his soup.  Well. I went to both markets in town and NO more Rotisserie Chicken.  They did however have fried chicken.  I bought it and watched my husband slowly eat a piece at the kitchen counter.  He was in heaven.  I had to have a taste.  The taste ended up being two pieces. I felt awful but it was so good.  I guess the moral of this story is we are not perfect.

Visiting Best Friends? Already Returned Home?

If you are missing the red rocks and rescued animals here in Southern Utah visit my new Etsy shop!  Click here to purchase a reminder of your time at Best Friends or order a last minute gift for someone!

Lucas - the Vicktory Dog pendant

Order a tiny bottle filled with moqui marbles, Angel Canyon sand or more.

Animal Pendants make a special gift.

Cleaning Green

This is the best shower cleaner especially the faucets and knobs in the shower.  I found it here
For those of you who are looking to stay with us I bet you are thinking "Whew she cleans!"


Daily Shower Cleaner
1 cup of White Vinegar
2 cups of Water 2 teaspoons of Dawn dish soap

Floor Cleaner
1 cup of vinegar
2 tablespoons of Castile soap
2 liters of warm water

Visiting Kanab? Check this out.

We live in one of the coolest areas in the United States.  During your visit to Best Friends it would be worth it to take an afternoon to one of the national parks.  Click here to get great information about things to see and do in and around Kanab, Utah.  There were many movies filmed here in Kanab and you can visit the old Gunsmoke movie set. If you are flying into Las Vegas you can take a shuttle to St. George, rent a car and drive the hour and a half to Kanab or just rent a car in Las Vegas and drive the 3.5 hours to Kanab.  I've taken the shuttle many times but I have not rented a car in St. George.  I have also flown from Houston, Texas to Page, Arizona and had someone pick me up in Page.  It is only an hour and fifteen minutes from Kanab and there is a car rental right at the airport.  The code for Page airport is PGA.  There is no bus service or taxi service in Kanab but there is a car rental.  If you are coming for a workshop at Best Friends it might be possible to car pool to Kanab and rent additional cars when you arrive.

If you are like me and need to workout every day to be...nice...we have a great fitness center called Adobe Fitness.

Zion National Park is one of my favorite parks and it is 30 miles from Kanab.  It is beautiful and has many hikes.

Toroweap/Grand Canyon

Bryce Canyon is about 79 miles from Kanab. It is amazing and has crazy rock formations.  It is usually a bit cooler than Kanab so it is a nice summer day trip.

Hiking in Kanab at Best Friends.

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is also 79 miles from Kanab.  It is spectacular and has a nice lodge to eat at.  Toroweap is also a great way to see the Grand Canyon.

The Coral Pink Sand Dunes are really close to Best Friends and are worth a visit. There is also the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument as well as the following nearby. 

• Pipe Spring NM
• Cedar Breaks NM
• Dixie National Forest
• Kaibab National Forest

Lake Powell is in Page Arizona which is 75 miles from Kanab and it is beautiful.  The blue water against the red rocks is stunning.  You can swim at Lone Rock or take a half or full day river ride.  Antelope Point is also a really neat slot canyon tour.

Hiking the Narrows at Zion National Park.

Kannaraville hike

Kannaraville Falls is a bit off the beaten path but is AMAZING!

Me with Georgia a Vicktory Dog

Bryce Canyon

Zion

Fried Zucchini & Squash Blossoms

Can I just say that fried squash flowers filled with goat cheese are so incredibly good that I crave them all the time!  Next year we are planting a ton of squash and zucchini just so I can harvest the flowers.  You can see that one of the flowers is getting the zucchini starting to grow.  Now don't kid yourself - fried squash flowers do not have the same nutritional value as raw squash.  However you might find yourself running out to the garden every morning  to pick the blossoms when they first begin to open.  That running should account for something right? 

Preparing the flower for frying was a bit more labor intensive than I expected.  I watch many videos on pulling out the stamen after confirming which part was the stamen.  This was particularly embarrassing because I taught tenth grade biology.  Luckily, I was right in that the part that I thought was the stamen was the stamen! Whoo hooo. Just recently I read that a zucchini plant produces both male and female flowers. The female flowers will eventually grow into a zucchini, while the male flowers will die off. I don't know if the squash plants are the same.  So if you are growing plants for the zucchinis, make sure to pick only the male flowers to make this recipe. Now I have to Google how to tell the difference between a male and female flower.  I bet my four year old daughter could tell me...

Making Mozzarella or Ricotta...

Addy finishing up her mozzarella

My first attempt to make mozzarella turned out a bit more like a mozzarella ricotta hybrid. My second attempt I threw out.  My third attempt was AWESOME.  The key for me was using distilled water. Here are the directions if you would like to give it a try. It is not difficult to do you just have to watch the temperature and make sure you use distilled water!  The other ingredients include whole milk (the less pasteurized the better), rennet and citric acid.  I have used the mozzarella I made on sandwiches, homemade pizza's and lasagna.  Here in Kanab a small ball of mozzarella cheese is a little over six dollars.  I can make double that for the cost of a gallon of milk (about four bucks).  Two years ago a friend was milking one of the local doctors cows and I am thinking that milk would have been perfect for making cheese.  If only I had started making cheese two years ago!

My first attempt