Souteastern Utah

Last week, Dwight and I took a trip to Southeastern Utah. Neither of us had been to some of the National Parks there, so we decided to take advantage of the warm weather and head out to see some beautiful places.

Our first day we visited Arches National park. It's on our must-see-again list.

Arches National Park

On day 2, we went to Canyonlands National Park an Dead Horse Point State Park

Dead Horse Point

Canyonlands National Park

Day 3 was spent at 4-Coners and driving through Monument Valley and Capitol Reef.

4-Corners (the only place in the US common to 4 State Corners)

We got to be in Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico at the same time. Where else can you be in 4 places at once? Now I can add New Mexico to the list of states I have visited.

Monument Valley

We drove through Capitol Reef in the dark. It was the perfect time to see it for the first time. We stopped in one of the pull-outs and could see the silhouettes of the towering cliffs and the incredible starlit sky. It was breathtaking. We could see satellites moving through the sky and had a clear view of the Milky Way.

On our last day, we hiked around Capitol Reef.

Capitol Reef National State Park

Yummy Cornmeal Biscuits

We have a very generous neighbor that let us come over to his garden and get some fresh potatoes, right from the ground. I had never had a potato that fresh before. They were delicious.

He also gave us some beautiful Indian corn. As he was pulling the husks away from one of them, it came completely off. Since he knew that it was no good for decorating, he was going to throw it away. I took it anyway and decided to try making cornmeal with it. I usually make my cornmeal with popcorn, so I figured the hard Indian corn would work just as well. I did some internet searches to make sure it wasn't poisonous and then ground the beautiful multicolored kernels in my wheat grinder.

I found a yummy recipe on Martha Stewart's website and made cornmeal biscuits. They turned out wonderfully. I think I will try growing Indian corn in our garden next year. I like how beautiful it is and now I know that I can store and use it too.

Here's the recipe for Cornmeal Biscuits:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup fine yellow cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few larger clumps remaining.
2. Pour in milk; using a rubber spatula, fold milk into dough, working in all directions and incorporating crumbs at the bottom of the bowl, until dough just comes together. The dough will be slightly sticky; do not overmix.
3. With two large spoons, drop mounds of dough (about 1/3 cup each) about 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until biscuits are golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Slide parchment and biscuits onto a wire rack to cool.