A great day out on a frozen lake, and a lunch to go.
The weather held around 0 degrees, and we headed southeast about an hour to Birch Lake. I have to say, I don’t know that I would make a good Ice Road Trucker – it’s a little unnerving driving on a frozen lake…though it was beautiful!
As we arrived, the sun was coming up and the first thing we did was get into the ice hut and start a fire in the wood burning stove. That’s right, a wood burning stove – in an ice hut – on a frozen lake. Heaven!
And as the sun got brighter outside, the funniest thing happened – the ice glowed through the holes in the floor. It was pretty cool, and the water was so clear, you could see straight down to the bottom. The yellowish patch in the center is sandy silt on the lake bottom.
Doesn’t this look like an eye? Or a moon?
This was the first time I wore my “skhoop” – an insulated skirt that zips on the sides. You wear it over your clothes like snow pants. I made mine for $27 – but they sell for well over $100.
Check out the cracks in the ice.
Speaking of cracked ice – when we were inside fishing, every so often a truck would drive by. If you have ever watched “Ice Road Truckers” and heard that…
“crack-groan-crunch-pop”
…sound – that is exactly what we heard!
It was kind of dark inside the ice hut, there were no windows and the only light was from a small lantern that we brought, so I didn’t take a ton of pictures.
But with the glow in the water, we could see just fine…and even watch the fish playing with or biting our hooks.
My goofy youngest.
Around noon, I pulled out some Bacon “Mooseburger” Calzones that I made last night.
We had wrapped them in foil, and then just set them on top of the wood burning stove. They were warm and yummy in minutes!
At one point, I drove over to the shoreline (restroom, ahem) and the boys were outside as I drove back.
There was no need for a cooler to keep the fish in, just dig a hole in the snow and toss them in! But, cover them up so a bird doesn’t see a free meal!
We headed home as the sun was going back down around 3:30. This is the drive along the Richardson Highway between Fairbanks and Delta Junction.
And then we stopped for a moment so I could snap this photo of the Alaska Range to the south. In the foreground is the frozen Tanana River.
Beautiful!
About the calzones:
Now I didn’t really take the kind of photos that I normally take for a blog post, but I’ll go ahead and share the recipe sans pics anyways for those that are interested.
This is a variation of the cheeseburger roll-up that I make, only portable and in single portions.
Cheeseburger (Mooseburger) Calzones
Ingredients
- pizza dough, for one pizza
- 1 small onion, diced
- 6 slices turkey bacon, diced
- 2 Tb butter
- 1 lb ground beef, or moose, venison, etc.
- 2 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1/4 c classic mustard
- 1/4 c ketchup
Instructions
- To begin, preheat your over to 400 degrees.
- Sauté the onion, bacon and butter together in a skillet over medium heat until the bacon is crispy and the onions are golden. Scoop them out onto a paper towel-line plate to absorb any excess grease.
- Brown the beef (or whatever ground meat you have chosen) until cooked through. Again, drain off any excess grease.
- In a small bowl, stir together the mustard and ketchup
- Take your prepared pizza dough, and divide it into 5 or 6 equally sized balls. Roll one of those balls into a nice big circle, about 8 inches or so across.
- With a spoon, or a pastry brush, spread some of the condiment spread over the middle of the circle of dough, leaving an inch space from the edges.
- Place some of the ground meat (about 1/4 cup) on one half of the circle, away from the edges. Sprinkle on some of the cooked bacon & onion mixture, and then add in about 1/4 c of cheese.
- *Note: If you have other things you like in a burger (diced pickles?) feel free to add some in!
- Gently grasp the side of the dough that doesn’t have the filling, and pull it over the top, covering filling, pressing down the dough edges together, but leave some of the lower half of the dough hanging out. Fold that lower edge over the top edge and press firmly together to seal them together.
- Place the calzone on a baking sheet, and carefully pile on another 1/4 or so of shredded cheese.
- Repeat with the remaining portions.
- Bake for 20 minutes until slightly golden. The cheese on top will get crispy and delicious!
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
If nutritional values are provided for this recipe, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands of ingredients you use. The values do not include optional ingredients or when ingredients are added to taste or for serving. If nutritional values are very important to you, I suggest using your favorite nutritional calculating tool with the brands you use.
That's something I've definitely got to try this winter. I just wonder if the local lake freezes over enough to support our family RV. If not, I'll have to go in something smaller.
I love this post! Sounds like a fun day afield with some great grub! I'm glad to see your still posting these types of fantastic posts of family fun in the great outdoors and wonderful pictures at your new blog!
Thanks for sharing!
BH
The posting was great, but even though I love to fish I will not go fishing anytime my hand can get cold… I may be Alaskan but I'm also old *)_(* If you ever get up near Livengood I would love one of those Bacon “Mooseburger” Calzones. Living by myself I don't cook much and most of my food is heated Fred Meyer burgers.