What do you call an Eight-Foot Snowman...

The "Blizzard of 2006" has came and gone leaving behind about 8-10 inches of snow. Don’t even get me started on what these yahoos here in D.C. call a “Blizzard”. They need to spend a few years in the Northern Mid-West… like Utah!

East Coast snow is great because it is very dense (wet). This makes for great packing snow for things like forts, snowballs, and SNOWMEN!

Kayla and I had a great time all day Sunday. In fact, being a weekend, the whole neighborhood was out having a great time. Snowball fights were everywhere. A neighbor of ours and myself built a couple of snow-forts… only to have all the children tackle and destroy them with glee.

My next project was the Snowman. The bottom ball of the beast is between 500-800 lb.; the intermediate ball is around 300 lb.; and the head is about 80 lb. I had to use a stepladder to get the head placed upon the body. Kayla helped where she could and gave our snowman its final touchs with a carrot nose and scarf.

You can see more pictures at our snowman gallery.

Sparky

Recipe: Hashbrown Casserole

I have nearly perfected Cracker Barrel’s Hashbrown Casserole. I hope everyone enjoys this dish as much as we do!

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. bag of frozen shredded hashbrowns


• 10.75 oz. can condensed Cream of Chicken soup


• 8-12 oz. extra sharp Cheddar cheese- grated


• ½ cup butter


• 1 small onion


• 1 tsp. salt


• ½ tsp. black pepper


• 1 lb. Chicken (optional)

First thing you need to do is thaw and dry out those hashbrowns. The frozen hashbrowns develop a tremendous amount of water in the form of ice. If you don’t remove this water your hashbrown casserole will be hashbrown stew.

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- Place your frozen hashbrowns on a greased or non-stick cookie sheet and thaw in oven for 20-30 minutes while the oven is pre-heating. It’s O.K. if the top ones get a little dried out, you’ll rehydrate them in a few steps.

- Remove the hashbrowns from the oven and set aside until cool.

- Coarsely chop the onion and pan sauté over high heat.

- Set the onions aside and let them cool slightly.

- Put butter in 9x13 pan and place in oven until butter has melted.

- Once the butter has melted, combine soup, butter, cheese, onions, salt, and pepper in large bowl.

- Gently fold in the hashbrowns until just mixed.

- Rub any remaining butter around the sides of the pan to prevent sticking.

- “Pour” the mix into the 9x13 pan and spread evenly.

- Bake for 35-40 minutes. I usually broil mine for the last couple of minutes to give the top a nice brown “crust”.

- To make this a meal I like to add a pound of chicken. Grill or pan brown the chicken and then pull into small bite size pieces. Add the pieces to the mix at the same time you add the hashbrowns.

If you’re lucky enough to have a large cast iron baking pan, the cast iron really gives this dish a nice crispy bottom. You can also divide up the mixture and pour into two 10” cast iron skillets.

Happy Eating,

Sparky

Happy Groundhog Day?!?!

Phil the Groundhog has seen his shadow… Traditionally, this has meant six more week of winter weather. Seeing how winter has not started yet, at least in Northern Virginia, does this mean winter will now begin and last six weeks, or is my ski season completely ruined for this year.

I knew moving from Utah back to the east coast was going to put a serious kink in my skiing, but I didn’t realize that meant no skiing, at least locally. The ski conditions in Northern Virginia have been unbearable. If for some reason I did go to one of the local resorts I would have to rent skies; I wouldn’t dream of scraping up my Salomons or my Atomics on the mud mixed slush that currently litters the hills near D.C.

Maybe Phil, with the observance of his own displacement of light, will indeed grant all of us skiers on the east coast one great ski day before the foliage begins to bloom.

Sparky