Posts filed under Madison Life

Hiking Cherokee Marsh Conservation Park in Wisconin

Adventure Tuesday

    Time flies, and today I am posting the 6th Adventure Tuesday post. It's fun to share some of my every day adventures. An adventure doesn't have to involve a risk for your life rafting down the Grand Canyon, or climbing the tallest mountain in the world. You decide what your adventure is, your pace and how far you are willing to go. 

Cherokee Marsh

    This past weekend W and I decided to go to a park that is about 10-15 minutes by car from our house, so basically in the near vicinity of Madison. We had something else planned originally but had to switch those plans and ended up doing this instead. 

    Arriving at the park I immediately spotted all the water droplets on the spiderwebs even before we stopped the car. The morning started off as a foggy surprise and it definitely continued to surprise us, well at least to me. 

    We started off by walking up the trail from the south side of the marsh and immediately got some views of the Yahara river which flows into lake Mendota. 

    As I mentioned earlier the weather was foggy and a bit cloudy. This walk varied between open fields with views of the river and beautiful stretches through oak forests.

    We kept seeing more spiderwebs of different shapes along the hike, mixed in with the vegetation.

    Again, as many of the other hikes we do, this one was not that far. But I am mostly interested in getting outside and also to take some pictures of all the cool plants and insects I see.

    I try to identify time as time goes by, so if some of them are unnamed check back later on to see if I managed to identify them, or better yet, if you know the name of the plant let me know!

    It's incredible how many different types of flowers there are here. Ok, there are a lot of flowers and such around fairbanks too, but not like this. Or maybe I am just biased because a lot of these flowers are new to me. 

    We did run into the giant wasp here too, but now I know they are harmless and it did make me feel as if they were less intimidating, but man, look at that size. Also I managed to snap a few pics of two different butterflies. 

Hiking Magnolia Bluff County Park in Wisconsin

Adventure Tuesday

Magnolia Bluff

    As I have mentioned earlier there are two different types of parks, State Parks where you pay an entrance fee, and then the County Parks that are completely free!!

    There aren't any real mountains in Wisconsin, but there are some cliffs, bluffs and hills. This hike is literally just up a hill/bluff where you can see some views, and then the trail continues into the forest.

    But what a forest. It's a beautiful oak forest, mixed with other deciduous species.

    As many other trails we have ventured out on, these trails are used both by hikers and and cross country skiers during the wintertime. Here, you can also run into a horse or two, as there is excellent horseback riding too, and who wouldn't want to ride along into a deep oak forest?

    More trees, as we continued our walk, and more plants, fungi and insects! Here in Wisconsin there are lots of different types of vines, growing up the tree trunks, they are so pretty. You can see their attachment to the tree trunks, it's pretty fascinating.

    Of course I couldn't help myself and took a lot of pictures of all the tiny little details I could see.

    Eventually at the end of the trail we got into this interesting pine forest, which must have been planted, but we aren't sure. After that, we arrived at the same place where we started, at the bluff. One thing is for sure though, it was a very pretty walk through the forest!

    Do you have a favorite forest to walk through? I am excited about the fall colors in all of these deciduous forests!

RECIPE: Gluten Free Blueberry Meringue Pie

I have not done a lot of gluten free baking, but I thought I should share some baked goods I made recently, gluten free. I have already posted the recipe for cinnamon buns HERE. My mom had been talking about a blueberry pie she had been making lately, and said it was really tasty. Now, unfortunately I don't have the same blueberries here as in Alaska. I know, bummer, like big BUMMER! I went to the store and bought blueberries (breaks my heart). I have to say though that I was positively surprised, they actually were pretty tasty, however, not even close to the wild ones, the arctic/boreal ones. For this recipe I just exchanged the regular flour with the Namaste Perfect Flour Blend and almond flour.

When I make a piecrust I usually take out the butter and let it sit for a little bit on the counter so it's easier to mix it with the flour. 

This recipe only has 7 ingredients, including two different types of flours, I know, AMAZING! 

Gluten Free Blueberry Meringue Pie

Pie Crust

  • 150 g butter  
  • 2 ½ dl Namaste Perfect Flour Blend (more if the dough feels to loose)
  • 2 dl Almond Flour (more if the dough feels to loose)
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 egg yolks (SAVE the whites for the meringue)

Meringue filling

  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 dl sugar
  • 1 L blueberries

Set the oven temperature to 430-440 ℉ (220-225 ℃).

Mix the two different flour mixes and a pinch of salt. Add the butter in pieces and the egg yolks and either mix it by hand or with a food processor. Take the dough and press it out in a springform or pie pan. Try to make it equally thin all over and make sure you have about 3-5 cm of crust up the sides. 

Bake the pie crust in the oven (430-440 ℉ (220-225 ℃)) for about 10 minutes. While you are baking the pie crust, whisk the egg whites hard. You should be able to turn the bowl upside down without loosing any of your egg whites. Add the sugar and whisk for a couple more minutes. Add the blueberries to the mix and transfer it into the piecrust. Bake for about 10-15 minutes until the meringue has gotten some color. Turn off the oven and let the pie sit in the oven for a few more minutes. 

Pretty easy eh, and the crust is completely gluten free!