They lied!!!

The "They" being the weather people. It was supposed to get up to a balmy 14 degrees today. Instead it peaked at about 6 degrees and the wind blew all day. The wind chill for most of the day was between -20 and -50 degrees. Contrast that with the 60 degree day we had yesterday. Lends credence to the old adage about the weather in the Colorado plains - if you don't like the weather now, just wait a minute and it'll be different. Right now the thermometer is falling past -3 degrees. (Since Google analytics says that about 50% of the readers of this blog are from metric based areas of the world - all the numbers are good old degrees Fahrenheit, not Celsius. [ -25 degrees F is ~ -32 degrees C ])

I finally decided that the wind was as calm as it was going to get about noon and went out to shovel the walk and driveway. Then I ventured over to the mother in laws and did hers as well. You could sure tell the difference in doing the two driveways. My house faces south, so shoveling the drive put me in the lee of the house out of the north wind so it was cold but not biting. MIL's house faces west, so shoveling her drive put me squarely in the north wind and it was definitely biting. You could feel your checks stiffening in minutes. One of the rewards was a plate of fresh from the oven cookies from MIL. Yum!  My mother and I were planning to attend the Master Chorale's Christmas sing this evening, but the cold, wind, and ice deterred us. All in all not a fit day out for man nor beast.

I see on the news that the temperature has already set a new low record for the date in Denver and will probably set a new one for tomorrow if it just stays as cold as it is now until midnight. (Denver International Airport is currently reporting -15 degrees) The silver lining out of all this is that the mountains are getting some great ski snow. Vail got 22 inches yesterday and is forecast to get another 22 inches tomorrow as the next front hits. Almost makes me wish I skied. Of course my wife is up in the mountains and is not quite as overjoyed as the tourists. I think she is conflicted - snow means good business for the mountain businesses, but it also means the ice and cold can get old if you are not skiing.

So what did I do to while away the cold afternoon and evening? Well, I made a casserole and baked a cake. Nothing like cold weather to make one appreciate the warmth of the oven and baking. I approach cooking as a form of experiment. Mix this and that and the other thing and see what happens. Sometimes it tastes good and sometimes it is a lesson learned (and a garbage can filled). The casserole turned out to be good. If any one is adventurous, here it is.

Squash Casserole

• 2 cups grated zucchini
  
• 2 cups grated star squash
  
• 1 cup chopped green pepper
  
• 1 cup chopped onion
  
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese (mozzarella)
  
• 1/4 cup oil
  
• 1 cup Bisquick mix
  
• 4 eggs
  
• salt and pepper to taste (about 1 tsp of each in my case)
  

Turn oven on to 375.
Mix everything together well in a large mixing bowl.
Stir well with a large spoon.
Pour mixture into a greased 9x9 baking pan (at least 2 inches deep)
Cook until the top is medium to dark brown, about 35-40 minutes
Makes enough to serve 6-8

The cook time depends on how much moisture is in the zucchini and squash. I used  frozen shredded zucchini and it was pretty wet after defrosting. It took an extra ten minutes or so to cook. Fresh Zucchini shouldn't take as long, but this isn't summertime!

Next time I may try using cheddar or jalapeno jack instead of mozzarella. Be interesting to see how the taste changes.

Time to get ready for the meetings tomorrow morning. It promises to be a long day with meetings starting at 9am and ending with an energy conference from 6-8pm. If it's as cold tomorrow as it was today, I don't think Molly will be anxious to go for a walk tomorrow night. We'll see. Today she romped in the snow while I shoveled the walks and driveways. She isn't a lot of help as she likes to shovel snow with her nose and throw it back where you've already shoveled. She doesn't get that snow removal is not a game!