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May 18, 2010, a Tuesday
near Canyonlands National Park Needles District, Utah, USA
— Photographed in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park
[You may view a map of Canyonlands National Park in PDF format.]

The wind was blowing like crazy when we awoke, so we decided to stay in this morning. J made a big breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, whole-wheat toast, and watermelon. I had my usual LavAzza Gran Filtro Dark Roast coffee and J had her usual Lucile's tea. After I did the dishes, I processed an image for the blog then worked up a blog entry. Then I did some computer work.

I had lunch around 12:25 while reading the remainder of the May Outdoor Photographer. I did more computer work and the wind really picked up around 3:30. It started raining hard around 3:55. The rain was over before ...

Chicken Breasts with Creamy Mushroom Gravy

  • 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (4 oz each)
  • 1/2 cup Bisquick HeartSmart
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 egg
  • 3 tbs vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
  • 3 tbs Bisquick HeartSmart
  • 2 medium green onions, sliced (or 2 tbs dried minced onions)
  • 1 cup cream
  • 1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
Place each chicken breast smooth side down between two pieces of plastic wrap or waxed paper, then gently pound with flat side of meat mallet or rolling pin until about 1/4 inch thick. In a shallow dish, stir 1/2 cup Bisquick HeartSmart and garlic powder. In another shallow dish, beat egg. Dip chicken in egg, then coat with Bisquick mixture.

In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat 2 tbs of oil over medium heat. Add chicken then cook about 3 minutes or until golden brown. Turn chicken, cover and cook 4 to 6 minutes longer or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Remove to serving dish and cover to keep warm.

In same skillet, heat 1 tbs oil over medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until browned. Add 3 tbs Bisquick HeartSmart and the onions, then cook and stir until mixed. Stir in milk and soy sauce. Cook until mixture is thick and bubbly. Serve over chicken. For high altitude (3500-6500 ft): Add an additional 2 tbs of cream to the gravy and cook 3 to 4 minutes.
Recipe adapted from BettyCrocker.com.
We had dinner at 6:15 of Chicken Breasts with Creamy Mushroom Gravy, pasta Stroganoff, and green beans — all very tasty.

We left in the Jeep at 7:10.

We went into the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park and headed to the Wooden Shoe overlook. The clouds behind the rock formation showed promise, so we stopped and scouted for compositions. I found a nice clump of Stemless Woollybase to use as a foreground element and used the tilt motion of my 90 Tilt/Shift lens to to get the foreground and background in sharp focus. The image (left) was created from two RAW captures. The first (1/20 sec) captured a little bit of light on the foreground and the second (0.3 sec) captured the wonderful light on the formations. The clouds weren't spectacular, but they were still better than a plain blue sky. After the sun had set far enough to stop illuminating the Wooden Shoe, I turned my attention to the nearby rock formation with some nice clouds above it (below).


We returned to the RV around 8:45 just as it started raining. I downloaded the images I took this evening and downselected them.