Freezing Link

Joe and I are presenting at an enrichment class tonight about selecting and storing produce and meat. Joe showed me this link to the USDA website about freezing foods. It's full of helpful information and I definitely learned something new!

USDA Freezing and Food Safety

Hope it helps someone out!

Mortadella

Mostly, I think I try to be adventurous in eating. Except when it comes to seafood.
So once I tried a sandwich made with Mortadella. It was described as:

Genoa Salami, Mortadella, Cappicola Ham, Melted
Provolone, Red Onions, Sweet Roasted Red Peppers,
Tomato, Lettuce on Sour Dough

Sounds fancy? One would think...

But apparently Mortadella is bologna. It tastes just like it anyway. If you like that, this would be a great sandwich for you. Or really just buy some bologna cause it's gotta be the cheapest "meat" ever.

Enjoy this clip about bologna!

Cottage Cheese Goodness

Is this the first blog post you've ever read dedicated to cottage cheese?

When we were kids, my mom would make us a lunch that I thought was super special. Only as an adult did I realize how simple it really was.
She would place a pear half on a plate, then top that with cottage cheese. Then sprinkle on some grated cheddar and top with a maraschino cherry. Sounds weird? It was delicious! So refreshing and I loved when we would have that. Is this something others have had before or was my mom totally original?

I am not a hot dog fan and I never really have been. Another memory from when we were kids was when my family would go to RCWilley Super Saturday to have their free hot dogs, and I would end up eating a bun with ketchup and relish on it. But once in a long while, I'll brave a hot dog.
The first time I had cottage cheese with honey was on the Septic Dog. Our neighbors were bragging about their awesome hot dog concotions, so I put one to the test. I believe my hot dog had cottage cheese, avocado slices, olives, hard boiled eggs and honey on it. Note: this was BEFORE I got pregnant so we can't blame it on that! A true septic dog has more on it, but I think that is all I put. It was so tasty, and it was the first hot dog I had in years. (I'm pretty sure the one before that was a Yankee Frankee about 7 years ago. When in Rome...)

Since the hot dog incident, I've gone ahead and added honey to my cottage cheese pretty much whenever I have it. I'm lucky being married to Joe, and we have a variety of honeys to try. My favorite is the orange blossom. So if you've never tried it, drizzle some good honey over your cottage cheese next time, and it sweetens it up just nicely!

Chocolate Angel Pie

So at my house, this is really called Chocolate Mocha Pie, but I thought the Mocha would scare people away so I titled this post with the original recipe name. It really doesn't taste like coffee or else I wouldn't eat it. Instead, it tastes like rich, lucious heavenly chocolate with a crunchy meringue crust, and I always eat too much.

It's usually only made in December - once for my dad's birthday and once for Christmas Eve dinner. Since it didn't get made last December at all, Joe made some for my Dad (and a few other lucky souls) for Fathers' Day.

The recipe calls for making it in one 9" pie dish, but I loved Joe's alteration of individual slices and bites, with a big bowl of it for Dad.


The un-Joe-altered recipe can be found here.

Tortilla Tip

When it comes to making enchiladas, I really enjoy the ones that Joe and I make. It's a spin-off from the recipe I grew up with.
Instead of rolling them individually though, as Joe wished I would, I layered the tortillas and the filling like a lasagna. It just seems that no matter what I tried, the tortillas would crack in half while being stuffed.
I've heard you can microwave them first to soften them up, but I haven't tried that recently. I seem to remember it still didn't work that well.
Enter Kroger brand Tortillas! The store brand at Smith's was the cheapest one day so I bought those and they are super soft and very easy to roll without throwing them in the microwave or anything!
So check them out if you are interested in a nice, soft, store-bought tortilla shell.

Our Enchiladas for Two (and a little leftover)

Season (we used Grandpa Lynn's) 2 chicken breasts. Heat a skillet or frying pan to medium and drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil into the pan and allow to heat through. Place chicken breast in pan and allow to cook for 7 or 8 minutes or until brown and golden. Flip and repeat until chicken breast is cooked. Don't over cook the chicken cause it's going into the oven later.*

Let the chicken cool enough to shred it then mix in 1 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup milk, 1 small can green chiles, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese.
Put a little sauce in the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish. Fill enchiladas and lay them in the dish, side by side. Spread any remaining filling on top, then sprinkle with more cheddar cheese, to your liking.

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until bubbly, and heated through.
Delicious and easy!

*We find this recipe super convenient using leftovers from a whole chicken bought from the deli the day before or so.

It's ok, really!

I am one of those people who doesn't like to ask for too many things.

I am one of those people who will quietly read someone's blog without ever leaving a comment.

I am one of those people who would hesitate a little (or a lot) to request to be added to someone's private blog!

Don't be like me! If you are reading this, and I don't already have your email address, please send me an email (link to the right) or post a comment so I can give you access to our blog once it goes private. I don't want anyone to feel left out! Unless you are a creep. But I'm guessing there are no creeps reading this now.

Our ultrasound is TODAY so if you want to find out if we're having a boy or a girl, you'll want access to the new blog! I don't know if I'll be posting it anywhere else - how's that for incentive? :)

Also, if you used a reader before to get feeds of new posts and/or comments, I can add your email address to be sent an email anytime there is something new posted, and then you won't even have to remember to check back. Just let me know!

New Blog - Going Private

OK - We're starting a new family blog and it's going to be set at private!

So if you care enough about my random postings and pictures of my dog-child to want to keep reading, leave your email address* and I'll invite you to the new blog in a week or so. I suspect the postings will get even more interesting when I start to include stories and pictures of our human-child too.

I don't yet know if I'll keep this blog alive or not. We'll see if I can think of anything to do with it. :)

*If you'd rather not leave your email address in a comment, you can click on Email Me in the right-hand column of this blog.

Thanks!

Cheap Stuff at Super Target

I'm sure lots of you are bargain shoppers who get information on good deals from other blogs. Well, I've always used coupons here and there, but this was one of my first experiences with a basket of free and cheap stuff! It was fun!Jell-O Singles: Free
Mayo: Free
Candy Bars: Free
BBQ Sauce: $0.42 per bottle
Snack Pack: $0.47 per package of 4
Bacon:$2:49 per package. OK that deal wasn't as great but we found that we really like this bacon so since it was already on sale, we threw on a little coupon and got it even cheaper.

So our total should have been $21.86, but we only spent $6.32 and $4.98 of that was the bacon. Cool!

Christmas Treats

Maybe the Florida pictures will appear here magically on their own - a Christmas Miracle!
In the mean time...

Rugelach

One of my new favorite Christmas cookies!
I use Craisins and pecans instead of raisins and walnuts.

Cherry Chocolate Divinity
We used the Better Homes and Gardens recipe.
We added the juice from maraschino cherries
and then dipped the very bottom in melted semi-sweets.

Cinnamon Butter Toffee
I don't even know how Joe adjusted our recipe.
But it tastes like yummy cinnamon!


This is not a food pic, but we made little mangers in Nursery on Sunday.

I cut the cardboard and yarn ahead of time, and wrapped an almond in a small square of paper towel. The star is a brad left over from Young Womens (don't worry it wasn't paid for from the budget). It was super easy for even the youngest kids.
Each child got a cardboard and we went around putting some glue on it. Then they pressed a bunch of yarn on. Next another dot of glue for the baby, and then I put in the brad and wrote their name on it. Easy!
Only one of our 17 kids tried to eat the baby.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving early because we actually flew to Florida on Thanksgiving Day, yet here I am posting pictures 4 weeks later! I'm slow. And distracted. Let's blame it on the Holidays.
Also, no pics of people again. Just enjoy the food photos.



This is an apple pie. We also had pumpkin pie.

Peach and Raspberry Crisp

When Joe and I went to Logan on the 4th, we bought some peaches and raspberries up there. I bought too many raspberries so instead of just keeping them for eating plain, we made a dessert. It was SO good. The peaches were so sweet and the raspberries were just the right amount of tart.
We put a caramel ice cream on top and it was delicious!

Dessert Weekend

This weekend I made a birthday cake for my niece's 1st birthday! The party theme was polka dots. The cake turned out pretty cute. I wish I had made it taller, but it got too late for that.
The cupcake one was adorable. I should have just done all cupcakes.
Happy Birthday, Gwen!

On Friday night we went to the Millett's to have Korean food and watch Serenity. So I made a pie which turned out pretty good. I bought the crust, and it was Marie Callendars, but I thought it was too salty.

Serenity was a great movie! I definitely want to watch it again. Thanks for introducing me to Firefly, Brad! I am definitely a fan!

Birthday Cakes and Camping

It's been a busy weekend so far. On Friday I took the day off from work and made birthday cakes. It was nice to take the day off, especially knowing I have another one off Monday!!

Hannah and Michael had a combined birthday party so I made the ballerina cake and had the train circle around it. I think it turned out cute. Just my biased opinion though.

Joe and Nutmeg were pretty tired that night after they saw all the work I did so they crashed on the couch.
OK- I did not really make those cakes all by myself. Joe had to put on the pink edging on the ballet cake for me. I couldn't really figure it out, but in my defense, I was super distracted by Nutmeg who was crying for a nap but wouldn't sleep unless I held her!
Also, earlier when I was cutting the cakes in 1/2 to make layers, I totally sliced my fingers. It is clear that I can't be trusted with knives yet.


Saturday morning we got up and got ready. Joe made some really delicious smoothies. Our AWESOME neighbors, Jason and Kimber, invited us to go camping with them up in Kamas so we then got everything together and drove up. The trip was not too bad and when we got there, it was beautiful and cool (weather). Suddenly we realized that we were invaded. Bees were everywhere! They wouldn't stop buzzing around us! So we set up the tent that Joe and I brought (a 6-man tent belonging to my parents) and then we all played Apples to Apples for a while. The boys got bored I think and went out to shoot Joe's new gun (.22 rifle) and then Jason shot his gun once (.45 handgun). They made up a bullseye and did pretty well. Kimber and I just hung out in the tent longer talking and avoiding the bees.

Finally as darkness came the bees were gone so we just sat around the campfire for hours. It was SO relaxing and what I've really been needing lately. Then someone just had to mention bears before bedtime. So I was a little bit nervous. We put all the food inside the cars and went to bed. I don't know how long into the night it was, I know I wasn't asleep yet because I was having trouble falling asleep, when suddenly Joe and I heard something walking around outside. I froze and squeezed Joe's hand. I whispered "what is that?" and Joe said "I don't know but it sounds like it is gone." I knew it couldn't have been Jason or Kimber because I didn't hear their zipper on the tent open for them to come out and the sounds also came from the other side than where they were. It was totally some wild animal walking right up to the tent and sniffing around. I was afraid it was some ferocious creature that wanted to eat Nutmeg! To add to the scariness, we were under a tree and whenever there was the slightest breeze a pine cone or small branch would fall onto our tent and make me jump! Then... the rain started pouring down. Needless to say, my relaxing evening was gone and I hardly slept that night. Luckily we didn't get wet or eaten by bears.
For the record, I did get stung by one of those mean bees! It wasn't bad at all, but it made me not like them even more! So I got stung by a bee, was covered in dirt (thanks to Nutmeg) and my fingers were bleeding all within the first 30 minutes of our camping trip. I don't know what my deal was - I'm normally a blast to go camping with!! :) Don't let this deter you from inviting us to go camping with you in the future! :)

The next morning was beautiful and it really was such a great camping trip with great company. Nutmeg is a little hot pocket. She slept right next to me in the tent and I know I would have been freezing without her there! So when you go camping next, take a dog with you for warmth!

Thanks, neighbors, for inviting us!!





Nutmeg slept more than anyone else that night, but the next morning she was tired again, of course. This is how she wanted to sleep on the drive home.
What a cutie.
And finally, for your entertainment, more pictures of the pupcake:

the wedding cake

Joe and I made a wedding cake this week for my sister's friend, Charlotte. It was her wedding I attended in Texas. The cakes turned out pretty good.

The wedding cake was white with raspberry filling.

The grooms cake was lemon cake with a lemon filling, in the shape of Texas in honor of Justin.

the oatmeal cinnamon chocolate cookies

The Albertsons near my house is closing permanently so everything that is left is on sale. Joe and I stopped by there between conference sessions on Saturday and stocked up on some things for our food storage like shampoo, deodorant, and body wash.
We also got some good food items. Even some of the things that were on sale were not that good of deals, but we did manage to spend more than we should have.

One item I bought were some cinnamon chips (like chocolate chips, but cinnamon). I had never seen them before, and we are pretty big cinnamon fans. So last night I made some oatmeal cookies with mostly cinnamon chips and some chocolate chips as well. They are very good!

using up the peaches

I decided to make a peach tart. I saw that all those peaches we bought at the farmers market weren't going to last much longer, so I had to make another dessert...sigh... :)

First I made a crust of flour, ground pecans, butter, and water, and baked it for about 15 minutes.

The filling was cream cheese, sugar, and eggs. Then we (joe helped me - as usual) topped them with sliced peaches and nectarines.

You have to bake it again to cook the egg in the filling.

Then I topped it with a syrup of peach jam and couple slices of plum from my neighbor's tree.

These are not rich or too sweet, so I feel like I am being healthy when I eat this dessert!

Salt Lake Farmers' Market

What to make when you get home from the Farmers' Market??
Ingredients:
Yummy Bread
Creamy Swiss Cheese
Sweet, Ripe Tomatoes
Parmesan Balsamic Vinaigrette
Kosher Salt
Basil


Joe and I were going to drive up to Peach Days today in Brigham City, but the activities they had posted online didn't look as fun as we thought they would. Instead we headed over to the Farmers' Market in Pioneer Park.
Everything looked so great, but the produce looked the best. We got some tomatoes, peaches, apricots, green beans, pumpkin blossom honey, and 5 grain bread. The weather was a little bit overcast, so not hot at all. It was a really fun time!