Family Fresh Cooking: Telluride-Unmatched Inspiration

 Visit Telluride Note: Marla Meridith of the popular family blog "Family Fresh Cooking" has been visiting and enjoying our wonderful world of Telluride for many years now. With great, informative content and beautiful photography we re-post her blog entry about skiing in Telluride in Januray 2011. To see more of her posts visit her blog site here. 

Inspiration Found
A gal needs to find inspiration somewhere, right? Here is where I find mine. Right in the heart of Colorado ski country. Perched way up high in Telluride. Away from it all.

Telluride, CO
The catch phrase for Telluride in promotions is “Unmatched in North America.” For me it is unmatched anywhere. My hubs & I have been coming here since winter ’03, I was pregnant and did not yet know it. I fell in love with it here immediately. Telluride was special then and even more now. Sharing this experience with our children is huge. This was the first year we all skied together. My little 4 year old rocked ski school & my 7 daughter scored her well coveted poles. She had to get to a certain level in ski school to be allowed her sticks.

Happy Place
For those of you who have been reading my blog for some time you know my happy place. I have posted about these magical mountains in the winter, summer & fall. I have yet to visit in the spring, but some day I will I’m sure.

Ski Country
I was a very beginner skier back in ’03. I skied green bunny trails, some intermediate, and nothing was graceful. Now I buzz all around the mountain. Finding powder makes my day. Moguls excite me in and tree skiing thrills me. The terrain here is amazing and unmatched. We have been here multiple times every year since 2003. The best part of all this ski business is passing my favorite sport down to my kids. I want this sport to be natural to them. Not only do they get to learn this great skill, they socialize with kids from around the world, breathe the fresh air & learn about coordinating their little bodies.

Amazing People
The ski instructors have become friends. In the winter they greet our kids with open arms & in the summer they put on a spectacular summer camp.
Base camp here starts at about 8,700 feet and the highest chair lift operates at just over the 12,000 ft range. The air is light, clean, clear & it fuels my soul. For those of you who have never visited here you might want to put it on your “to do” list. I hesitate to say too much because the lure of this place is how quiet & not overrun with tourists it is. Telluride sits perched way up high in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado. It takes a bit more effort to get here then most places. That adds to it’s charm. There are no chain restaurants and stores. Small restaurants & shops are family run. The people who live here take great pride in the natural beauty & local culture.

Ski Food
I love to cook for my family when we are here. In the summer I frequent the farmer’s market. In the winter I cook up hearty ski fare such as chili, pasta, power bars and of course HUGEbreakfasts. When you ski hard all day you get extra meals to burn. That is win-win for me! My two favorite things to do – be active & eat! Generally I cook a big batch meal that lasts a few nights. Since we are ravenous when we come in I like to have the meals prepared so all I need to do is re-heat.

Winter Ski Recipe Favorites
Here are some of our favorites that I make time and time again when we are in the mountains. We always need to take into account that food takes longer to cook here because of the altitude.

• Stuffed French Toast
• Pancakes
• Oatmeal
• a big pot of Applesauce
• a big pot of Tomato Sauce to ladle over everything
• Cookies and Muffins: Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Chocolate Oat Muffins
• Breakfast/anytime bars: Maple Apple Pie Oat Bars
• a big Roast Chicken for grab and go meals
• my favorite Steelhead Trout with Guaca-Salsa
• a pot of Veggie Soup – we can toss any protein in this to make a full meal

Do you have a happy place? Somewhere that inspires & fuels your soul?