First Day

Sorry there's not any pictures with this post, but I thought I'd report on how the first day of early morning seminary teaching went.

It was great. I'll hopefully have 10 students. There were 7 the first day and 9 today, and we have one new convert we're trying to convince to come. And we will figure out how to be a successful class together. Right now we're working on asking the right questions and getting discussions going. They are a naturally quiet group and the early morning part doesn't help. Plus they're a bit awkward as you might expect from a small co-ed group of teenagers.

However, when I look at them I see all their potential and it motivates me to keep doing better. I keep praying that my learning curve will be short and steep so we can get to the good stuff early on.

I can keep using all the prayers I can get. And I'm not above bribing them with food . . . maybe next week.

Week 7: Italian Week

Recipes to Go: 507 445

Weeks to Go: 52 45

Recipes Made This Week:

Creamy Baked Macaroni

Microwave Lasagna

Meatball Calzones

Chocolate-Hazelnut Brownie Bites

Sugared Peanuts

Pull-Apart Bacon Bread

Salmon with Spinach Sauce

This was the first week that Johnny has lamented that he won't be able to eat something again for a whole year. And it was this, the Creamy Baked Macaroni.

This is what mac 'n' cheese should always be. It was so easy. The recipe said 20 mins. to put together and 25 to cook, but we were eating a little over 35 mins from when I started. And I almost didn't have leftovers for Johnny's lunch, but I managed to control myself. Apparently, lunch time the next day was when Johnny realize that he might not enjoy the deliciousness again for awhile. So this is ending up on my go-to meal list.

I was a bit worried about cooking everything in the microwave, but the recipe was right, you would never know. This lasagna was wonderful. And I was lucky that my microwave can fit a 11x13" pan and still rotate since I didn't have the slightly smaller pan the recipe called for. This is a great recipe for those ridiculously hot summer days where the thought of turning on the stove sends you into heat stroke. My kitchen stayed cool, but my dinner was hot. And delicious. Sorry, no picture, but if you've seen a lasagna before, than you know what this looked like.

The meatball calzones were yummy because I used the leftover meat from the Cabbage Rolls, our favorite recipe thus far, to make meatballs that I used in this. I think it might have been easier to put the whole thing together if I had stuck my pie crust in the refrigerator for awhile

first, but it still tasted great, even if it looks odd.

That's why you get two pictures. Cause it looks more tasty here:

There was a deal at one of our grocery stores last week where you got a free jar of peanuts if you bought two coke products that were on sale. So we thought we could use some carbonation to help us get rid of our excess of ice cream using the float method. While this helped a little, it didn't help that they were out of peanuts at the store. So being my mother's child, I asked for a rain check. I went this week to get my free peanuts and it's a good thing I got my rain check from the person I did because they put up a little stink about it as I was checking out. Don't worry, I got my peanuts and used them for this:

I'm not a fan of peanuts, so I did actually taste this, but I was told they were tasty. People at Game Night seemed to like them.

I also made Chocolate-Hazelnut Brownie Bites, only I had to use walnuts instead of hazelnuts. The Nutella as the frosting covered that up pretty well, I think.

These were a little too nutty for my taste, but they were good. And now I might make them without the nuts and just use the Nutella as frosting, cause that's a genius idea.

Saturday morning we made Pull-Apart Bacon Bread. I don't have a sufficient sized pan, so I baked two batches. Which worked well as breakfast on Sunday.

Man, how does bacon just make everything better? And I never would have put mozzarella with bacon, but this was a great combination and very filling. It was breakfast and lunch for two days.

Our last experience with salmon was very fishy, so I was hesitant to use the rest of the fillets, but I won't any more with this recipe. It was supposed to be cooked in a pressure cooker, but I just baked it in a tent and it was so moist and tender. And the spinach sauce was like a relish and a nice complement to the lemon of the fish.

I think all my future fishes might be cooked this way. Lemon pepper, lemon slices, and go. Yum.

Motherhood

The last few weeks have been rough. But at the end of the day, this is my job:












And this is why it's hard to not think of him as my little baby, look at those chubby little legs.

Week 6: In which the eating continues

Recipes to Go: 507 451
Weeks to Go: 52 46

Recipes Made This Week:
Sparkling Ginger Lemonade
Two-Tone Yeast Bread
Orange Chicken with Sweet Potatoes
Fancy Bean Salad
Chocolate Glazed Almond Bars
Stromboli Sandwiches
Salsa for a Crowd
Pepperoni Spinach Quiche
Tossed Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Monday night we had dinner with some friends, so I didn't have to make anything. So I made some lemonade and baked some bread. What can I say, it's not a chore unless you have to do it. Plus, nothing smells as good as baking bread. Not even cookies, and I can't believe I'm saying that. I do love me some cookies . . . But the house smelled awesome. Plus, both were really yummy. And this bread is really easy to slice through. And we ate almost two loaves in a week.

Tuesday the missionaries came over for dinner and I made the Orange Chicken in the slow cooker and we ate it with the Fancy Bean Salad, which might become the new Tim Salad. It was tasty.
And I made dessert. Even though the almond bars were chocolate covered, they weren't my favorite. I guess bars without chocolate in them don't really count for me. I am a cookie girl and a chocoholic. But maybe by the year's end I'll have converted, well, expanded my dessert horizons at any rate.

Last week was a really tough one, but this one certainly started out better. Tuesday also brought my sweet old neighbor, the gardener of the street, with this. Nothing is as bad with roses as it would be without.

I didn't cook again until Friday when I made Stromboli Sandwiches. I think fresh Italian bread is something I will be picking up more often.
You get two pictures so you can see the yummyness inside. And also to make up for the fact that I don't have a picture of the salsa. But it was good, a little spicy, and it helped me learn that I don't really like coriander. So now I know I don't like rosemary, or coriander. Still like cilantro though, and they come from the same plant. Interesting. I got to use tomatoes from my very own garden for the salsa. I cannot express in words how totally awesome it is that I, Miss Brown Thumb, am actually eating things planted in soil that I actually touched. Cool.

Well, Saturday morning's breakfast was this beautiful quiche. It might be the best smelling thing I've cooked. The Captain really loved it. But he likes pepperoni.

And to go with all the leftovers we ate for dinner Saturday night, this beautiful salad that ended up being too salty.
It's fine I'll just cut down on the salt next time. At least I know how to fix that problem.

And on a happy note, I think my food photography is improving. This week's pictures look great, even if it is me saying it.

May's Dress

May was another crazy month because we closed on our new house and I was busy unpacking the rest of the month. I didn't even have time to think about sewing until Memorial Day weekend when I realized the month would end if I wasn't careful. So, time crunch being what it was, I dug in a few boxes in my sewing room, which at the time was also G's room since his was being painted, so consequently it was also one of the last rooms we unpacked . . . sometime in June . . . so finding supplies was more than half the battle on this one.

I wanted to make a dress I had already done. An easy pattern that I knew I could do in a few hours. After tracking down some fabric, I made this dress:

And because I cut and pinned some the night before, it only took me a few hours on Memorial Day to get it done. So I squeaked by on that one.

Things I Learned Making This Dress:

• I have an extremely supportive husband. He must like me in dresses cause he took G for as long as I needed, essentially giving up his day off to help me reach my goal. Love.
• I really love having a sewing room. Two months in a row of guerrilla sewing has made me appreciate have space devoted to me and my hobbies.
• Practice really does help. The pointed V neckline of this dress was so much easier and better looking than any other I've made.

Things I Had Never Done Before:

• Well, even though I'd made this pattern before, I had never put pockets in it before. I did have to do some fudging again with the layout, which I was also better at this time around.
• I think this was the first time I put in a zipper successfully without unpicking anything, ever.
• Also, this was the first time I got to sew in my new house, which was exciting and motivating to get my sewing room put together.

Food Week Episode 5: The Food Strikes Back

Recipes to Go: 507 460

Weeks to Go: 52 47

Recipes Made This Week:

Melon with Serrano-Mint Syrup

Foolproof Pie Shells

Rustic Roasted Vegetable Tart

Mini Chicken Salad Croissants

Calico Salad

Salmon with Polenta

Russian Cream

Mexican Casserole

Pavlova

Morning Muffins

Tasty Tossed Salad

Pepperoni Lasagna Roll-Ups

Yes, I did make 12 recipes this week. I had only planned on 10, but when fate intervenes, you cut some mint and run with it, and make this:

Melon with Serrano-Mint Syrup. Here's the story behind this one. Remember those Best Cookies Ever from last week that Johnny didn't want me to give away? Well, I did anyway. I went to our neighbor to introduce myself. We had mutually heard of each other through a friend at church, so I felt obligated, as the party with the least busy schedule to be the one to extend a hand of fellowship. So I packed up 6 cookies and walked with Captain Poops across the street. We had excellent timing as she pulled up in her car just when we arrived. We had a nice chat, and she gave me a cucumber, vidalia onion, cantaloupe and watermelon in exchange for my cookies. Well, I knew the melons wouldn't last long in the fridge, they were right on the edge of ripeness. This is one of those times when I am grateful I've flipped through the cookbook so many times. I knew there was a recipe for melon salad somewhere. It didn't take long to find, and the syrup was very easy. I happened to have been hanging onto one lemon in the fridge, and had fresh mint growing in the backyard. The ingredients were almost literally falling into my lap. So I grabbed my kitchen shears and fate and I did a little waltz right there in the kitchen.

I will admit, I have no idea what Serrano pepper is, so I just used regular freshly ground black pepper and I think it still served it's purpose. This was even tastier when I got to eat the leftovers the next day and the syrup had soaked into the cantaloupe.

It wasn't until Tuesday that the food started exerting its own power. I used the Foolproof Pie Shell to make the crust for this Veggie Tart. And I used the zucchini from our garden. The tart was delicious, however, the burn it gave poor Captain was not.

For the record, the next inevitable event I foresee for us it Captain Poops throwing stuff into the toilet.

More food anyone? Luckily for you, there is no picture of the Chicken Salad. Okay, it's not so lucky, but I was really hungry on Wednesday and they were so tasty . . .

Tthe Calico Salad was tricky. It's always difficult with the recipe yield is for 148 servings. That is the problem I've had with some of the Potluck recipes. So I just eyeballed the dressing. I'm happy to report that I've gotten smarter and I put the wet ingredients in first then added enough mayo to make a good consistency. So this whole experiment hasn't been in vein.

Strike #2 came from the Polenta part of the Salmon with Polenta on Thursday. This was my first experience with polenta and it jumped out of the pot to burn my hand. Not a little burn, either, well little in size, but not in intensity. I got a blister, so it must have been at least a 2nd degree.

It was my 1st time eating polenta, but not so for Johnny. Which was nice because it would have been very disappointing otherwise. I don't think I will be trading it for rice or cous-cous any time soon, but it does pretty well as a starchy base, especially with fish.

Speaking of fish, this salmon was very fishy. Sad, since I still have some in my freezer to use in other recipes.

The tomato sauce was yum, yummy, though. All that simmer time on the stove did its work. Oh, did I forget to mention that Thursday afternoon the Captain also stepped on something while I was hanging up laundry and got a nasty cut on the arch of his sweet, little foot. Poor kid.

For Friday's dinner, I made Mexican Casserole. There's no picture for this either, but let's be honest, Mexican food doesn't look at all appetizing in pictures. And this was pretty much like all Mexican food, not pretty to look at, but oh so tasty.

But on a prettier note, here was the Game Night treat, Pavlova. Which I learned means air. But probably not really. It was a meringue and beautiful until I tried to move it onto something equally as pretty to serve on. That was a mistake. Next time I will use the parchment paper to help. Anyway, I covered it up with Cool Whip and fruit. Not as pretty as it could be, but pretty enough.

Saturday morning I got up to make these: the first legitimate muffins I've ever seen. But still tasty enough to warrant 2 for breakfast. Plus the Captain likes them. And they are very filling. But while I was shredding the carrots to go in them, I shredded my fingernail. Almost got my finger, but by Saturday I was catching on to the insurrection.

Dinner was a Tasty Tossed Salad, very similar to ones Johnny and I grew up eating. So the nostalgia factor was pretty big for this one. Captain loved the dressing, of course, and has apparently changed his love from cauliflower to broccoli. Don't think I'll complain about that one. There wasn't any cheese in the salad because both the graters were in the dishwasher, thanks to the muffins. Still good, though.

The rest of the meal was this, Pepperoni Lasagna Roll-Ups. Small serving size, easy to prepare, and winner of the best recipe of the week award. And in the interest of full disclosure this picture was taken this evening when I made a second batch. This is the first recipe I've made twice.

Then Saturday night to close the week of pain, Poopy slipped and fell in the basement to this effect:

As fun as calling him Fat Lip was, next week will be better, I hope.

Inevitable

There are certain experiences that I dread as a mom, but I feel them lurking around corners and hiding under staircases. One of those finally happened yesterday.

Ever since Captain Poops could crawl and was turned lose in my kitchen I have feared the oven. Stove is still out of reach, but the oven is right there and very hot. Luckily, whether by sense or shear luck, we have avoided the oven up until now and listened to all the 'no's.

But last night, at the end of a rotten day, when I was taking out dinner from a 450 degree oven, Captain Poops decided to help me push the rack back inside. With this result.

I got some cold water on it, and tried to get him to hold some ice, play in ice water, and eat an ice cream sandwich with that hand to no avail.

He was a very brave boy, and with a bath, some Neosporin, infant Tylenol, and lots of hugs and kisses he did go to sleep. And didn't even wake up during the night. Sweet boy.

And no complaints today, so I guess we just need to keep watching those blisters and make sure nothing gets infected.

Food Week 4

Recipes to Go: 507 472

Weeks to Go: 52 48

Recipes Made This Week:

Minestrone with Turkey

Olive-Onion Cheese Bread

Veggie Mac 'n' Cheese

Sweet 'n' Tender Cabbage Rolls

Banana Crumb Snack Cake

Onion Sausage Quesadillas

Sweet Sandwich Cookies

Southwestern Spinach Salad

Holstein Crinkles

I wasn't planing on making anything on Sunday, but it was so cold (barely 70 degrees, which after months of 92 feels quite frigid) that I needed some soup. Plus I had all the ingredients on hand for Minestrone, except the turkey. So we made the Minestrone with Turkey without turkey. That didn't stop it from being delicious. It hit the spot for a colder day.

On Tuesday I made Olive-Onion Cheese Bread and Veggie Mac 'n' Cheese. I probably should have sliced my veggies smaller for the mac 'n' cheese, but it was still delicious. And I found out that G really likes Cauliflower. Which worked out really well since it was my least favorite thing in there. So I gave him all of those bites and everyone was happy.

The Olive-Onion Cheese Bread was delicious. I'm glad I didn't use all the butter it called for. I only used half and it was still plenty greasy. And of course I used fresh mushrooms instead of canned mushrooms. I think I might be morally opposed to canned mushrooms.

The winner of this weeks yummiest recipe award goes to the Sweet 'n' Tender Cabbage Rolls. Blew all the other contestants out of the water. This one took some effort to make, but it cooked in the slow cooker. And everything from the slow cooker is even more yummy than regularly cooked things.

This picture doesn't make them look very appealing, I know, but trust me, they melt in your mouth. If only I had the patience to make this everyday. Maybe in a year we'd all be sick of it . . . maybe.

The Banana Snack Cake on the other hand has been the first recipe I don't think I'll make again. But that's only because I don't really like banana bread and that's basically what this recipe is for, except in much larger proportions.

Why is the batter so good but the cake not as much? Maybe by the end of this year I'll figure out how to take good food pictures.

The Quesadillas were easy to put together and very delicious. Unfortunately, I didn't think about it in time, but I only made 3/4 of the original filling proportions and used all the recommended tortillas, so they were a little thin and sad.

Luckily the filling is still delicious and easy enough to try again. Quesadillas are a good go-to meal when you're short on time.

I cheated and made the dough for the Sandwich Cookies last Friday, intending to take them to the Ward Movie Night, but I talked to my neighbors for too long before hand. It was worth it, though because I got cupcakes for the Great Exchange. So that meant that putting these together was really easy. Which was helpful on a Game Night where putting G down on time is a little more important.

I've made cookies like this before, fairly recently actually, from my Pillsbury dessert cookbook that has not steered me wrong yet. However, I creamed the butter and sugar too long so the cookies had an off-putting lack of texture. Also, I used too much milk in the frosting so it was thin. This time around, I'm happy to say I learned my lesson and the result was wonderful. 2,000 times better than the first attempt. They got rave reviews by the game crowd as well.

I was planning on making the Southwestern Spinach Salad with the Quesadillas earlier in the week, but things got away from me, as they do with a one-year-old. But it was a salad, and a filling one at that, and we had plenty of leftovers to eat through, so it all worked out. I really liked this salad.

I would have liked it more if I had used red peppers, but at $2+ for one, I was willing to settle for green. And the green peppers are still plenty expensive. It's times like this that I miss Reams and it's produce section. It's nice to get inspiration to put together interesting salads and creative homemade dressings. This one got a great response so I'll probably put together something like it in the future.

The last recipe of the week was what could be the Best Cookies Ever. Of course it doesn't hurt that I accidentally put in more chocolate than the recipe called for. I swear I read 6 oz. unsweetened, but it was actually 4. By the time I realized they were almost all melted, so I thought, less oil should even it out. I'm not sure if that's true, but it certainly didn't hurt the end product.

These were a bit of work as well, but Johnny said I couldn't give any away because they were too good, so I guess in this case the hard work paid off.

And no, Tea, we haven't been gaining weight. I was hoping that would be an added perk for me, but alas, not yet. I'll get back to you in a month or so. It doesn't help that most of the recipes in the book are pretty darn healthy. And also don't call for exorbitant amounts of butter. I do agree with Julie Child, however, that you can never have enough butter, except maybe in the Olive-Onion Cheese Bread.