"Come what may...and love it!": January 2009

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

So, I've been meaning to post about Shelby for the past couple of days. I think she's finally out of her funk from having a new baby around and back to her cute adorable self.
*Shelby and I have been practicing saying prayers and having Shelby take over and say part of it too. She's getting pretty good at it. This prayer, however, made me laugh and I could barely finish the prayer with any reverence.

Mom: Heavenly Father
Shelby: Heavenly Father
Mom: We're thankful for
Shelby: for...Jesus
Mom: and for our family
Shelby: for family
Mom: and (hoping she would fill in the blank)
Shelby: the end.

*We took a break from potty training with Shelby right before Erin was born and haven't really thought about it again until about 3 days ago. Shelby started asking to go pee pee on the potty again so off went the diapers and on went the dora and tinker bell panties Shelby got for Christmas. Shelby did really well and never complained when it was time to sit on the potty. Yesterday I was feeding Erin while Shelby was watching a movie and the next thing I know she ran by the room into the bathroom with nothing on from the waist below. I thought she was already wet and just finishing off and the next thing I hear is a big "plop" as Shelby is dumping her POOP from her little toilet into the big toilet to be flushed! I couldn't believe she did that without any prompting! She pooped one more time all by herself later that day and I was trying to make such a big deal out of it and show her how happy I was. We even went to the store to pick out a new toy. I keep telling her how proud I am of her so now after every time she uses the potty she'll say "mama so prouded!"

Monday, January 19, 2009

Italian Wedding Soup

OK, so I know this isn't a "food blog" per se, but life is kind of stressful right now and cooking is my only outlet, when I have time. Ben and I made this Italian Wedding Soup from Annie's Eats blog the other night and it was so tasty. It was really very simple too and not expensive to make. I love soups because they can be really cheap, low fat and a good way to get your vegetables in (we struggle with that). Two days later, we ate the last of it for leftovers and it was just as, if not more tastier than the first night we made it. I made some bread sticks to go with it but they weren't my favorite, so if any of you have a favorite bread stick recipe, please share! You should really try this soup, it'll be your new favorite. Also, Annie makes some really great food, I've tried lots of the recipes on her blog. I don't have a picture but check out hers.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Got the blues

Last week our local farmers market had blueberries on sale for very inexpensive so we went down and bought a bunch since we don't get the chance to eat blueberries very much. I also had a bunch of lemons in my fridge my parents picked in Arizona. So, deciding what to do with all our blueberries and lemons I, of course, consulted my beloved Cooking Light cookbook for some ideas. Here's what we came up with-delish!

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

Get the recipe here

Blueberry Pound Cake with Lemon Curd
(Sorry you only get to see the top of the cake in the pan, it didn't come out very pretty but boy was it so good. You can make a trifle with this actually, the cake, some lemon curd and just add some cool whip.)

Get the recipes here and here.

Try and enjoy!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Oh deer!

The other morning I woke up and came into the kitchen with Shelby to make pancakes for breakfast. Since the sun was actually shining, I decided it open the shade in front of the sink and, to my surprise, there were several deer in our yard. I hurried and grabbed Shelby and sat her practically in the sink so she could watch. Then I took a closer look and realized that there were about 20 deer either in our yard or coming into our yard from the adjacent field. It was really cool to watch. Some of them came very close to the windows. They started out on the side of the house, then moved to the front and then ended up in the back and finally jumped the fence to where the raspberry bushes were and all congregated there for a while. I kept moving from window to window watching them all file through and counting them. So fun to watch!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Fun in the snow

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Egg Nog

My dad brought this comic home from work over the holidays and I laughed so hard, I couldn't help sharing. We are die hard for egg nog in our family, the thicker the better, in the smallest glass possible (Stephen) or right out of the jug!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Shelby's 2!!

Shelby helped me make these strawberry cupcakes for her Tinkerbell birthday party. We had lots of fun. Shelby's wearing the new apron grandma made her for Christmas-so cute!

The cupcakes also turned out incredible. I got the recipe from one of my favorite food blogs, Annie's Eats. Check out her strawberry cupcakes. Hers look a lot better than mine but they still tasted great!

Party at grandma and grandpa's.

Here's some more pics of Erin.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Success in the kitchen!

I can make bread!! I'm so happy, I have finally been successful in my bread making endeavors. Months ago I decided that I would start grinding my own wheat and making my own bread but didn't have much success after several attempts. Well, to make a long story short, my parents got us a wheat grinder for Christmas and I made my latest batch of homemade bread on Saturday and it finally worked!! I don't know whether I had luck because of a new toy or just because I have been practicing for a few months. Now I'm hooked.

My mom and I went to a bread making class a few months ago given by this amazing lady in our stake who has her own business and everything. I learned so much. Here is the recipe I used from her class. It works great if you have a Bosch or a Kitchen Aid but I'm sure it'll work otherwise as well.

Homemade Bread Recipe
10 1/2 cups white bread flour or wheat flour (not all-purpose) (grind 6 1/2-7 cups of wheat and it will equal about 10 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 rounded tablespoons SAF instant yeast
3 tablespoons liquid lecithin*
4 cups hot tap water

Mix dry ingredients. Add lecithin and water. Mix for 1 minute and check consistency. If dough is too dry, add more water. If dough is too moist, add more flour. Mix for 5 minutes. Do not add water or flour to the dough after it has finished mixing. Spray counter and pans with cooking spray. Take dough out of bowl immediately and shape into loaves (give them a good spanking to get the air bubbles out). Put them into 4 loaf pans (4x8 size) and cover lightly with a towel. Let raise for 25 minutes. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

*Squeeze or pour approximately 3 tablespoons (about the size of a quarter) of lecithin directly into the bowl. Don't measure, it's too sticky. You can get a bottle of lecithin at Kitchen Kneads.