It's not too late.

If you are still interested in filling out the missionary questionnaire, please do! I'll keep sending them to my brother as I get them.

Thanks!

Mission Interview

If you are reading this, and you are a returned missionary would you do me a favor?? (I'm thinking LDS missionaries, but if this works for other faiths, I'm all for it.)
As part of my Christmas gift to my brother, Elder Aaron Fox, I wanted to send him these little interviews, completed by returned missionaries. Please just reply with your answers, if you or your spouse are willing to participate.

If you want to email me your answers instead of posting for everyone to see, that is fine! marriedtoachef at gmail dot com

Thanks!

My Mission

Name:

Mission:
Language:

My favorite part of serving a mission was:

The hardest part of my mission while I was out in the field was:I overcame this hardship by:
My one piece of advice to a missionary is:

Thanksgiving Food

We sure had some delicious thanksgiving food this year! We didn't go out anywhere because of the new baby, but we didn't let that stop us from having a full Thanksgiving dinner!





That turkey is the best I've ever had. The recipe is from Alton Brown, and can be found here.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today I am especially thankful for...

Jack-o-Lantern

I'm not carving any pumpkins this Halloween, but this one almost makes me want to give it a try:

"A Stephen Colbert jack-o'-lantern is a beacon in the night, illuminating all who enter your home with the glow of truthiness."

Not sure if you need to be a member or not, but you can get the stencil here.

Free Bagel Poppers

The ladies over at Coupon Gals posted a link to a coupon for FREE pumpkin bagel poppers with the purchase of any beverage at Einstein Bros Bagels.

I printed the coupon and went there for lunch today. Yummy!

Click here for the coupon. It doesnt' expire until 10/14/09. You may want to call ahead to check if your location honors the coupon.

(If you want to know, the beverage I got was their delicious blackberry lemonade!)

Stampin Up! Giveaway

Want a chance to win some cool Stampin Up! stuff? Check out Laura's blog, Stamp Princess.

The prizes are:
Grand Prize - My Digital Studio!
2nd place - pack of rub-ons (your choice)
3rd place - classic stamp pad (your color choice)

I hope I win the GRAND PRIZE! I'll have lots to scrapbook soon enough.

A new lunchbox

A blogger over at Seventh Generation posted about this lunchbox last week: the Goodbyn lunchbox, and I think it's neat! (For the blog post, click here.)

It comes with stickers so you can decorate it how you want. Or you can leave it undecorated if you plan to use it yourself and worry what your coworkers will think. :)

It eliminates the need for baggies because each compartment seals separately. It comes with a bottle so you don't need to add a juice box.

When I first saw the price ($37.95 with shipping), it seemed steep! But consider all the baggies and juice boxes you won't have to buy and maybe it would even out in the end? Plus, you'd be helping the environment and the economy, as well as looking cool!

Great Blogging Tips

One of my best friends posted on her blog about some easy ways to protect your online content. I know there are lots of people out there who are worried about their family information online. And there are many people who work super hard on something before sharing it with us on their blogs.
So if you'd like some helpful hints about keeping all that stuff your own, check out this link about protecting your blog at Fantastic Find. And I'm sure if you have any questions, you can leave a comment and get great help or advice!

p.s. She also has TONS of other tips about blogging, recipes, kids stuff and more! I love that blog!

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!