Veggie Tales -- Swiss Chard

 I am not a huge vegetable fan especially leafy green ones. I stick to the basic veggies: Carrots, green beans, corn, peas, cucumber, radishes, and shredded lettuce. I hate tomatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower -- the later two I can tolerate if they are raw. If put in front of me and challenged, I will at least try most things. However, I am not going out of my way to eat my veggies.

When I went to the cooking club at the library, we were nearly forced to take some vegetables from the community garden. I snipped some parsley and a little kale. I stayed far from the Swiss chard.. it looked too much like Rhubarb. However, the librarian pretty much insisted that I take swiss chard. I figured I'd mix it with the kale for a salad. I was told it was better cooked. Cooked?? Um.. not so much.

When I got home, I started looking for Swiss Chard recipes on Pinterest. I found a lot of recipes for cooked swiss chard. I found a recipe for pasta, sausage, and swiss chard. Since I had to fend for myself this week and had some kielbasa in the freezer, I figured I would make this instead of sauerkraut casserole.

Fast forward to Thursday. I went to make dinner. First I chopped the swiss chard The stem into bite size pieces and rolled the leaves and then sliced them into pieces.

Then I read the recipe and ran into an issue. I had no tomato paste. Okay no problem, I will just skip it. As I kept reading, I thought the broth won't work without the tomato paste. Time to improvise.

After cooking the sausage and swiss chard, I decided to add some lemon juice since I heard that lemon and swiss chard went well together. I was slightly worried about the lemon and kielbasa but I figured I'd worry about that later. I also added the red pepper flakes and garlic from the original recipe along with lemon pepper seasoning.

Once the pasta and sausage was done, I mixed the sausage and swiss chard mixture into the pasta.

Then I sprinkled it with the parmesan cheese and dug in.

It was amazing. Because I diced the swiss chard small, it was not really noticeable. I only used 1 swiss chard leaf so that might be part of why I didn't really taste it. 

 I will definitely make it again. Maybe I will even make the real recipe. I just have to get some swiss chard.

313. Go to a carnival

Menasha Parks and Rec was having a city carnival in Smith Park I wanted to go because I've never been to a carnival and it sounded like fun. Danielle agreed to come along. However she said we've been to a carnival when we went to Chicken Fest in Darboy the other year. I was like that is a festival not a carnival. Stacy agreed with Danielle and apparently festivals and carnivals are interchangeable. Who know?

The Menasha City Carnival was not a whole of fun. They claimed games and fun for all ages but apparently they really meant kids. Tickets were $5 for 20 tickets but there wasn't enough activities that I would spend my $20 tickets on. There were a lot of games, some inflatables, and even the library. The only game that looked half way fun was the mini golf and of course it had a line. So much for playing games at the carnival. Party on the Plaza in Little Chute had better games.

We saw there was going to be Jeff McMullen, entertainer, at 6 pm. We grabbed a seat at the picnic table in the shade and waited for the show to begin. Jeff McMullen is a magician. He is very personable and great with the kids. However for two adults, he was very annoying. We stayed about 5 minutes into the show and decided we had enough. 

The highlight of the night was the walk back to the car where I walked the balance beam. I managed not to fall off or kill myself. It was quite fun.

Now that I've "been to a carnival", I really should find a better one to go to. There is nothing wrong with the Menasha City Carnival if you are between the ages of 2 and 10. After that, find a bigger carnival to attend. 

6816. Make homemade granola

 For the cookie exchange, Janis made homemade granola. That stuff was addictive as heck. She gave us the recipe and I was meaning to make some. Finally I was sick of yogurt and decided to make her granola. 

The recipe is fairly straight forward. I just didn't have nuts or dried fruit in the house.

First you mix all the ingredients besides the nuts and fruit together.

Spread it on a baking sheet and bake. 

Stir periodically while baking.

Tip: Make sure you get put it in a bowl or something after you take it out of the oven so it doesn't dry on the foil and make it harder to get it off.

Mix in your fruit and nuts or my case chocolate chips and coconut.

Enjoy.

It is super easy and super tasty. I will definitely make it again and maybe will remember to get walnuts or almonds for a nutty crunch. I should also get dried cherries or cranberries for a fruity mix in. We'll see about that. I liked the chocolate and peanut butter chips to give it sweetness.

Checking out the Udderly Euro Car Show

 Heading to DQ we saw that Wisconsin Ave in Neenah was going to be closed for a car show. The hubby likes car shows and I have learned to enjoy them. Since the hubby didn't think he would get home in time to go, I decided to check it out myself.

The Udderly Euro Car Show is a car show that features European cars. It is located in and around Shattuck Park in downtown Neenah. It is free to go check out the cars and the cars are on display from 3-7.

It was a beautiful day to walk around and check out cars. There were parked on Wisconsin Ave, in Shattuck Park, and in the lot in Neenah 1. There were a few food trucks as long as a couple merchandise tents. It was a very well planned and organized event.

I knew this was a European Car Show but I didn't expect so many VWs, BMWs, and Audis in one place. There were very few other European brands. It was mainly VWs and BMWs. 

There were a ton on VW bugs and campers.

Maybe it's because I am the wife of Ford guy but this crowd was not my type of car show. Yes the cars were cool but I felt weirdly out of place. Even though I owned a BMW in the past, I just was not digging this car show. I wouldn't say it was pretentious but the vibe was just different than most car shows.

I am glad I checked it out and really don't need to go back. If someone asked me to meet them down there I would. If you are into VWs, BMWs, or other European cars, I would suggest checking it out. 

2352. Conquer the Three Dune Challenge at Indian Dunes State Park

 Heather wanted to go to Pullman National Monument to get her stamp and I wanted to go to Indiana Dunes National Park. I figured the hubby would not want to hike or see the dunes because he doesn't like hiking or sand. He said he would like to check it out but I figured Heather and I would get to do some hiking instead of just whatever minimal sightseeing the hubby would insist on. Since it was only 30 minutes or so from Pullman to Indiana Dunes, Heather was game since she didn't get to see much of the park when she was there with the family.

Indiana Dunes National Park spans the northern coast of Indiana along Lake Michigan from Gary to Chesterton. The main visitor center is in Porter with a Nature Center in Gary. The hubby didn't want me to go to Indiana Dunes because we'd have to go to Gary. Then I had to educate him about the size of the park and told him we were going to Porter. 

New this year, Indiana Dunes National Park started enforcing an entrance fee -- $25/car for 7 days. Since I have the National Park pass this year, we had no fee which is another reason I wanted to go. You may your fee or show your pass at the Visitor Center. Also in the visitor center is the movie which we did not watch, the gift shop, passport stamp, and very informative rangers about what to hike.

After showing our pass and getting our stamps, Heather and I looked at the map and tried to decided where we wanted to explore. We kept coming back to the 3 Dune Challenge. The 3 Dune challenge is in Indiana Dunes State Park and would require a separate fee. I looked at it before we left and kind of wanted to do it. I said if you wanted to do it, I'll pay the fee. After getting some guidance from a ranger, we headed over to the state park.

The State Park is on the same road as the visitor center about a mile or so further. After paying our daily fee of $12, I directed us to the start of the trail which was at the nature center. 

The Three Dune Challenge is exactly that. You climb the three highest dunes in the area -- Mt Jackson, Mt Holden, and Mt Tom. It is a 1.5 mile loop. The trail is clearly marked which makes getting lost pretty hard to do.

We started out and there is a small dune that isn't even marked. I laid down. I thought it was Mt. Jackson. Oh no. It was just a small hill. 

We got to Mt. Jackson and it was a 176 foot climb in the sun on sand. I wore hiking sandals thinking I won't get sand in my shoes. Yeah but I had hot sand and sticks on the bottom of my feet. Not a wise move. The climb wasn't too bad. The hot sand made it worse than it really was. 

Then we came to Mt. Holden. O.M.G. I thought I was going to die. Mt. Holden is 184 feet in elevation at 38% grade. That's almost half a right angle. That's steep. The only saving grace was it was in the shade for the most part. There was also spots to stop and rest and catch my breath. I'll be honest, I didn't think I was making it to the top. It was that tough. Made I made it. 

Unlike Mt. Jackson, there were no benches to sit on at the top of Mt.. Holden so I found a shady spot on the sandy and rested. There was a path to the beach but what you climb down you must climb up. So we opted not to. 

We continue on way to the last dune, the tallest dune Mt. Tom. We come down the hill and Mt. Tom shows us his hand.. or more like a glorious stair case. Yup to get to the top of Mt. Tom you can climb a set of stairs. No near vertical climb for us. 

The stairs were easy compared to Mt. Holden and then you were greeted with views of Lake Michigan and the Chicago Skyline. 

To get back to the visitor center, it was more stairs, a walk through the campground and a short hike. Easy-peasy.

We did it. We conquered the Three Dune Challenge and lived to tell the tale. We also got a sticker and a bought the shirt. Now I can truly say, been there, done that, got the shirt.

If you are ever at Indiana Dunes National Park or northern Indiana in general, go do the Three Dunes Challenge. Just wear good shoes, take water (my saving grace), take your time, and go early. We did it mid afternoon and it wasn't too bad but it can be a scorcher especially climbing Mt. Jackson. 

Now maybe one day, I can go back and explore the rest of the National Park.