Chocolate Strawberry Leibniz S'mores

S'mores are one of those great outdoors requirements and seemingly universal loves.  I don't like them.  For some reason, I spent a lot of my life hiding this fact....do you have any idea what stigma disliking s'mores can cast upon a child? I hid it for a long time.  Sure, I'd accept s'mores but when no one was looking, I'd throw them in the fire.  

As an adult I finally came to accept that it was okay to not like Hershey's milk chocolate or graham crackers.  I would willingly forgo all chocolate before eating milk chocolate.   You can throw Nutella in that category too to understand the pressure I feel with my apparently weird dislikes.  I however, learned to embrace my uniqueness and stood my ground when s'mores pushers tried to get me to cave.  Nope, just ooey, gooey roasted marshmallows for me. 

Recently the bazillion different s'mores ideas on Pinterest alone made me realize that there could be more to s'mores than graham crackers and Hershey's chocolate.  Interesting. 

 I think after a bit of experimenting, I now like s'mores.  Of course anything probably tastes pretty good after a long morning of this...

I really do love snowshoeing, I just forgot how much I disliked walking uphill.  A couple celebrating their 50th anniversary passed me going up the trail.  True enough.  As I gasped for air and cursed altitude, this sweet little couple breezed past me with smiles on their face.  Smiling while hiking uphill at altitude...funny right?  There is a special Colorado type that has evolved to live without requiring oxygen but I am not one them.

The views were all worth it though and there was still a good bit of snow up at 10,000 feet. 

 After all that uphill walking torture, s'mores in front of a roaring fire were actually quite awesome.

When I realized you could mix up the s'more's layers (duh right?), I grabbed my favorite Leibniz cookies.  Have you had these?  The Dark Choco Leibniz are absolutely my favorite cookie in the whole big wide world.  The chocolate is dark without being bitter and paired with the biscuit makes the perfectly not-too-sweet cookie.  Heaven will be full of Choco Leibniz.   The plain Leibniz cookies made a great graham cracker replacement.

See how perfect Choco Leibniz are? I think it's all about the chocolate to cookie ratio.

  They don't even need marshmallows.  

But I did give them a try with marshmallows...I think they need two marshmallows because that's a lot of chocolate.  

Since the chocolate seemed a bit much for s'mores, I  moved on to the plain Leibniz cookies, added just one square of dark chocolate, marshmallows and sliced strawberries.  I'm not sure if it qualifies as a s'more but dark chocolate and strawberries can never be wrong.  And when s'mores pushers come at me next time, I'll feel prepared with my new knowledge that Leibniz make great s'mores.  

I would never throw this s'more in the fire.  

Pie Iron Croque Madame

I didn't really go camping, but I believe that anytime there's a fire and the great outdoors involved, a pie iron is justified.  There's just something about cooking dinner over hot coals and a open flame that's just so very Laura Ingalls Wilder and we never get enough Laura. 

Our weekend in the mountains was a fantastic little getaway.  It started off with a bit of a freak gasoline fight accident (Zoolander anyone?).  While filling up the tank during a little Denver spring snowstorm extraordinaire, I heard the gas pump click signaling the tank was full, and then watched the gas come flying out of the tank.  It took me a good bit of time and many gallons of flying gas while I was flinging the pump around (Zoolander, seriously) to figure out how to manually force it to stop.  Needless to say, the drive up was a smelly nightmare but it only got better after that.  

This isn't the cabin I stayed at but every time I drive by I kind of want to stop and go inside. That's the sometimes elusive Longs Peak behind the cloud.

Someone at work asked if I was snowshoeing into a cabin.  Ha, ha.  HA. I knew I wasn't traveling light but even I was a little surprised at my ability to fill up my cargo area.  Yes, I love my Lands End monogrammed canvas totes and storage totes.  Life feels more organized when there's a specific tote for everything...no packing and unpacking...just grab the tote you need.  They also make crazy sturdy market bags for those of us who would choose to load up one extra-almost-impossible-to-carry-heavy large bag over making multiple trips from the car to the house with the groceries.  I like the Lands End one a bit more than the LL Bean version because there are pockets galore inside of the LE totes.  

In my defense here, some of this is food, firewood and snow clothes.  Snow clothes, boots and snowshoes take up a lot of room.  

And oh yeah, there might be a pie iron somewhere in here.  I have the sturdy cast iron ones and the lightweight Coleman aluminum ones.  While the cast iron ones feel better and are higher quality, I often grab the Coleman ones.  You need lightweight when you take a 4 day weekend with as much stuff as I packed up. 

The Coleman pie irons are a perfect weight for sandwiches or something that cooks up pretty quickly.  

I probably don't need to really explain how to make these little Croque Madames, but you just butter the bread, lay it buttered side out, top with gruyere (the absolute best cheese in the world), sliced ham, another slice of gruyere and then another slice of buttered bread, butter side out. Close and clamp the pie iron and cut all around to remove overhanging bread. I like to use bigger bread here so there is overhang to crimp together and cut off. 

When the sandwich is all toasty brown and the cheese melted through, you just top it with a fried egg.  Or if you prefer your croques to be monsieur's instead of madames, and you camp with béchamel sauce, well Mazel Tov.  Top that sandwich with some béchamel.

If you've never had a Croque Madame, it's not dissimilar to some Eggs Benedict minus the hollandaise.  And poached egg.  And with the addition of cheese.  So really the same at all, but yummy nonetheless.   While it's not as schmance as a Croque Madame served in Paris cafe by a fantastically chic waiter, it's not so bad served up with a cappuccino and eaten in the clean cool mountain air.

This was one of my favorite spots of the trip.  Why are adirondack chairs on cabin decks so darned comfortable?  It was the perfect spot for a little quiet time in the morning, and to unwind with a book after a day of hiking and snowshoeing.

And with this view?  Seriously, PERFECT. 

This one didn't find it as relaxing as she was on full lookout for her nemesis.  

They were all around us.  The elk were indeed terrified of my little 18 lb terror. 

No Knead Potato Bread and a Life Off-Grid

Anyone who knows me knows I love hyperbole.  The more ridiculous I can make something sound, the more I appreciate it.  Like me saying I'm going off-grid.

Off-grid usually means self-sustaining, hunting types who don't have electricity running to their homes...i.e off the power grid.   That sounds pretty cool, but in my case, off-grid means a long weekend in the mtns in a cabin without wifi or TV but full electricity and amenities. It means a car full of groceries I hunted at the grocery store and firewood that someone that is not me chopped.

Bread doesn't fit into the above at all but I'm all about lean efficiency.  One post, two topics.  This second topic is pretty spectacular if you're not on the wheat belly or wheat brain or wheat whatever diet.  

I am not.  I love bread.

And of course, I love no knead bread baked up in the cast iron pan.  This one is yet another variation of the recipe I've posted many times except that the star of this loaf is mashed potatoes.  Bread and mashed potatoes--happy post indeed. 

The core no knead recipe calls for a wet dough and letting it sit overnight.  This one looks a bit wetter than the other doughs, but that's what makes it so perfectly moist on the inside while still maintaing that thick, chewy artisan crust.

I still can't believe that 5 minutes of measuring and stirring results in a loaf like this. 

The potato really just adds moistness so you could even serve this up with jam.  The inside texture and crumb was so fantastic that this version definitely climbs up the ladder of favorites in the no knead category.

No Knead Sourdough Bread

Ingredients
1.5 cup ultra mashed potatoes (no lumps)
3 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 cup water
2.5 tsps yeast

Instructions

1. Spoon mashed potatoes into a bowl with flour, salt, yeast and water. Mix with wooden spoon until combined. 
2. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12-16 hours or overnight. 
3. Heat oven to 450 degrees. When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 25 minutes. 
4. While the oven and pan is preheating, dump dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball. The dough will be sticky--keep flouring your hands and rolling dough in flour while forming ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest until pan is ready. 
5. Remove hot pan from the oven and carefully drop dough into ungreased pan. 
6. Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes. 
7. After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. 
8. Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack. Let cool before slicing