t o m a t o e s & t e q u i l a

There is truly nothing as lovely as being in the Rocky Mountains during summer. The afternoon showers, something I didn't get growing up in the foothills of the Sierra's in California, ensure that the mountains will be lush, green, and bursting with grasses and wildflowers all summer long.

The town of Crested Butte was the cherry on top of our weekend camping. Crested Butte just might be my new favorite Colorado mountain town. Telluride is stunning, but rather small. Aspen is a good size for wandering the afternoon away, but way too expensive. Crested Butte is far enough away and stunning enough to feel like you are on vacation, but close enough for a long weekend.


After a hike (Disclaimer: Anything I say about hiking should be discredited immediately as hiking is a highly a-typical activity for me. Most of the time, I just wander along the path thinking, "I'm bored, I don't understand this 'hiking' thing. I wonder if there is a good restaurant near by. I should remember to bring some booze next time we do this 'hiking' thing.") and very long but beautiful drive, we headed into Crested Butte to take a stroll and have a drink. It was such a lovely little town, with great little boutiques, perfect for browsing.


For dinner, I decided to go super simple - White Bean and Sausage Saute. This dish is perfect for camping since it can be prepared in just a few minutes beforehand. I modified the recipe to use smoked sausage instead of raw so that I could simply toss everything together in a tupperware and then just heat through when it was time for dinner at the campsite. And, it was really good. To accompany our sausage we toasted up some french bread.


WHITE BEAN AND SAUSAGE SAUTE RECIPE
(Adapted from Sunset) 
 
2 cans (15.5 oz. size) white beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 c. olive oil
1 tbl. chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, sliced 
4 medium garlic cloves, chopped
1 polska kielbasa or other smoked sausage, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tsp. dried oregano


Prepare all ingredients and place in a plastic bag or Tupperware for easy transport to your campsite. Heat a dutch oven over medium heat (campfire or cook-stove will both work just fine). Dump saute mixture into pan and heat through, about 5-10 minutes. Serve with french bread.

So....WOW. Telluride. WOW. Amazing. Gorgeous.

I have never seen anything like Telluride, CO in my life. The hubby and I took Friday off and headed down to camp for the weekend and I spent the entire time with my mouth gaping open at the beauty of it all. The hubby said it looks like the Alps. Having never been to the Alps, I had to take his word for it, but I suspect he is correct.



We spent Friday evening setting up our campsite, cooking, and enjoying the views. For dinner we had pizza. Yes, pizza while camping (recipe below). It was really, really easy and delicious. It would also undoubtedly be great kid food since we didn't cut it, we just ripped off chunks of melty goodness.



Saturday we headed in to town, did some window shopping and strolled by the river for a couple miles. For lunch, we plopped ourselves down by the river and had our packed lunch of turkey sandwiches.

Then we rode the free gondola up to the top of one of the mountains to take a gander at the view. Afterwards we headed back into town for an appetizer of baked brie with apples and a drink before heading back to camp to rest and make dinner.







And then it came....the rain. It rained...and rained....and rained. After hours of rain I am very disappointed to report that we packed up and headed to Montrose for a cheap hotel. So depressing. I had up until then been in a pure state of bliss from the astounding beauty of Telluride. We tried to make the best of it and keep each others spirits up - but it sucked. There is no way to deny it.

However, the hubby's grandma came to mind when we were getting really depressed on the way to Montrose. When something hadn't gone well while on a trip she always told him as a kid, "It's not too important, it really doesn't matter, and we're on vacation," along with, "We have to save something to see next time."

And with those wise words we had already decided that fate hadn't led us astray on our adventure in Telluride, it just wanted us to come back next summer and still have plenty to see.

CAMPING PIZZA RECIPE
(Adapted from Sunset Magazine)

1 package pre-made, thin crust, pizza dough
1 c. grape tomatoes, halved
1 packaged pre-shredded mozzarella cheese (I used part-skim)
3 tbl. chiffonade basil

Prepare your fire, grill, etc. - whatever you are using. (If using fire, the dough may take much longer to brown, we used a camping stove.)

Spray a 10 inch pan, (we used a dutch oven - pretty much any size pan would work, the smaller the pan, the thicker the pizza will be.) with cooking spray or coat with oil. Place the pizza dough in the pan so it is evenly spread out - it doesn't have to be pretty - we sort of just tossed it in there.

Let the dough cook until the underside is browned, then flip the dough. Sprinkle the dough with the tomatoes and cheese. Let cook until browned and cheese is melted. Sprinkle basil on top.

You could cut it up but we just ripped off chunks.