The Hosick Home

Family fun times

2011-03-26T11:50:00.001-06:00

A little town up in the mountains has a winter festival every year. For the last 11 years I have been asking….no begging Mark to take me. Thanks to a gracious friend of ours that has a cabin in the town that he happened to not be using one of the weekends, I was finally able to see the festival.

After a long day of sledding, we headed through the town to look at the ice/snow sculptures.

I have no idea how long it takes to make one of these sculptures, but they sure were beautiful. The detail on each one was amazing.

The 2nd place winner was this port a potty sculpture. This was an interactive exhibit. The kids had fun pretending to use it.

Ashley is very lady like when using the ice potty.

Allyson, always the comedian, had a little trouble working it out.

Even Mark, reluctantly, took a turn posing in the ice toilet.

Ashley took a moment to give a bear a kiss.

The first place winner had this little cabin with several animals and trees around it. I would love to be up there a few weeks before the festival to see the people working on these things.

The grand prize winner was Sharlie, the lake monster with these fishermen. The expression on his face is perfect. I’m sure he has a great story to tell his friends about the one that got away.

Ski / Snowboard Lessons

2011-02-17T06:18:00.000-07:00

Our homeschool group organizes ski/snowboard lessons through a youth athletic program. The girls were very excited participate this year.

Ashley picked snowboarding.

Allyson picked skiing. Both the girls were naturals.

The girls found their groups and got acquainted to their new feet.

As I watched I was amazed at how fast the kids were up and moving on those things. I would have been curled up in a little ball by the sign counting the minutes until the lesson was over.

“Here kids, strap these sticks on your feet and ski down the hill.”

Both of them were amazing. Staying up on their ski’s/boards and looking great.

Ashley learned the fine art of turning. That smile makes it look like she is actually enjoying her lesson.

This is a picture I took from inside the lodge. That’s Ashley riding the Magic Carpet, to go higher up the hill and board down. The lodge was nice and warm…I was sipping a hot cup of tea. And I may or may not have been playing games on the girls IPod. Ski lessons are fun.

That’s the Magic Carpet or ski escalator. Bye Allyson. Have fun. Maybe you should watch were you are going, to make sure you can get off in time.

By the end of the first lesson, the girls were zipping up and down the hill like pro’s.

Hooray, a picture with both the girls side by side. Too bad Mark didn’t snap it a few minutes earlier while Allyson was still upright.

Sunset….

2011-01-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

The other night on the way to take Ashley to ballet, the sunset was beautiful. I called Mark and told him to grab the camera and head outside and he said he was already on it.

Such a pretty fiery sky! WOW!!!

And my Baby turns 10…T E N

2011-01-05T05:33:00.000-07:00

Have you met Allyson? She is my baby. When I close my eyes I remember her like this.

She’s the one in the cute pink hat. She didn’t have much hair at first and she used to wear hats. Look at all her friends!

We went to Disneyland when she was 1 and she kissed Winnie-the-Pooh. She loved those guys. As a matter of fact, I think she was Piglet for Halloween this year.

When she turned Two she let me put her hair in cute little piggy tails. I miss those piggy tails.

Here she is on her 3rd birthday…notice no piggy tails….They grow up so fast.

Yes, she did enjoy the chocolate fountain at the wedding. Why do you ask?

When she was five she became a runner. Her older sister is somewhere behind her.

“My Mom’s taking a picture and I have to smile…am I done yet”

When she was 7 she let her sister do the work…smart kid!

For some reason I can’t comprehend right now, we continued to let her have birthdays. This is when she turned 8. It was a crazy hat party and all her girl friends came over and decorated hats. PLEASE STOP GROWING!!!!

This was just a few months ago. She growing more independent and wants to earn her own money. Then she’ll be talking about moving out and maybe even driving. What is wrong with kids today?!?

No matter how big she gets, every time I close my eyes this is what I see.

Happy Birthday baby girl! Now STOP growing!

Bread bowls…getting closer

2010-11-22T06:08:00.000-07:00

I’m no quitter. Even though my attempts to make bread bowls in the past have failed miserably, I’m going to keep trying until I get them right. I got closer the other night, still not perfect, but getting closer.

I made a version of seafood stew or cioppino. We had dinner at a friends house where they made cioppino and I wanted to recreate it at home. After cleaning out my freezer a few weeks ago I found that I have an abundance of shrimp and fish which are some of the main ingredients. The only thing I needed to pick up at the store were the clams and those were hard to come by on a Wednesday night. It seems people in my town only want to eat fresh clams on the weekends…strange.

I wanted to make fresh bread and thought the stew would look pretty in bread bowls. Melanie at My Kitchen Cafe has had great success with her bread bowls. And since I have failed at them in the past I was happy to find pot pie tins at the grocery store. I figured I could cheat and use them as a form. In the past my bread bowls turn out flat.

This is what they looked like just before I put them in the oven. You can see some of them did flatten out. After reading some of the comments on the website where I got the recipe, I feel like I under floured them. Thankfully I had the tins to help them hold their shape.

They cooked up fine and tasted wonderful, but I still have some room for improvement. I will keep trying. I’m sure I’ll get it right one of theses times until then at least the failures are tasting better!

Winter wonderland

2010-11-22T05:57:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of living in a small town with other small towns near us is all the fun holiday festivities. A town near us just spent a lot of money to uncover a creek that was running under the streets and building in their downtown area. The area was in desperate need of a revitalization project and the city hoped by uncovering the creek and creating a park like area it would bring people into the area and the businesses would benefit. They have several festivals through out the year and for the last few years they have created a Winter Wonderland area with thousands of lights and holiday decorations.

The lights were just turned on Friday night, so Saturday night we headed over for some family fun. We didn’t tell the kids were we were going, we just told them to dress warm. As you can see even Mark didn’t follow his own instructions. He is really in shorts. We have lived in Idaho for 12 years and he still wears shorts in the winter. I guess you can take the man out of Vegas, but you can never take the Vegas out of the Man.

The area follows the creek and has a few foot bridges that cross the creek. All the trees are wrapped in lights and the bridges are covered in lights.

I took this opportunity to mess with the shutter speed on the camera and tried to get pictures without a flash. With some trial and error I think I did well.

Some of the pictures I just used the Auto feature so I could see the kids. There were several of these lighted bears playing all over the area.

The reflection of the lights in the water is so pretty. Luckily the bridge on this end had a large hand rail and I was able to slow the shutter speed while the camera was steady on the hand rail. I just added camera tripod to my Christmas wish list.

I forgot to speed up the shutter speed, but thought this picture was pretty in it’s own way.

Over by their old train depot they had Winnie the Pooh train. Allyson was piglet one year for Halloween. Hello old friend!

Happy Holidays Piglet.

Ballerina Ashley liked the candy cane walkway. I guess ballet classes are paying off, this seems to be her standard pose lately.

12 years and going strong

2010-11-21T10:27:00.001-07:00

13 years ago today I sat down next to the most amazing man. One year later I was smart enough to marry him. Happy 12 year anniversary Mark. These 12 years have been so great. You are my rock and bring out the best in me. I’m looking forward to the next 12 years.

After looking through the past year of photo’s I found we have no recent pictures together…so I will just end with this….

I’m the luckiest girls I know!

PB & J cookies

2010-11-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

I was just telling Mark how I wanted to make a Peanut butter and Jelly cookie when Melanie posted a yummy Peanut butter cookie recipe on her blog. I figured I could adapt it a little and fill my craving.

I made the cookie dough and placed it on my baking sheet. Using my teaspoon I created a little indent.

Then I filled it with grape jelly, because that’s the only kind I had…but any flavor would work.

I baked them as directed and let them cool.

I made some with jelly and some without. I made some bite sized and some large. I like variety and this made a bunch of cookies. According to the original directions they are able to be frozen. I tested this out and they are perfect after coming out of the freezer, even with the jelly. So make some yummy PB & J cookies, they are worth it!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

(adapted from www.melskitchencafe.com)

*Makes about 4-5 dozen

1 cup (16 tablespoons) butter, softened to room temperature
2 cups smooth peanut butter
1 ½ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ tablespoons milk
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips (I used mini chocolate chips)
½ cup jelly

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl combine the butter and peanut butter and beat the mixture until it is light and fluffy Add the brown and white sugars and mix until well combined. Add the eggs and mix for 1-2 minutes, until the mixture is well combined and light in color. Add the milk and vanilla and mix. Add the dry ingredients and mix just briefly. While there are still large spots of flour, add the chocolate chips and mix until the flour is completely mixed in and the mixture is well combined. Let the cookie dough sit for 15 minutes before scooping onto the baking sheets. It will firm up as it sits.

When ready to bake, scoop tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto silpat or parchment-lined baking sheets leaving about 1 to 2 inches in between the cookies to allow for spreading as they bake. Using the back of a tablespoon make an indention in the cookie; fill indent with jelly. Bake for 10-11 minutes, taking care not to over bake. Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes after baking before removing them to a cooling rack. This will help them set up and be firm enough to transfer without having them over bake in the oven. The cookies may look slightly under baked but they will firm up as they cool. Cooled cookies can be placed in the freezer in a storage container. Let thaw for a few minutes before eating.

A quick trip or small vacation.

2010-11-17T06:18:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Mark was telling me how swamped he was at work. They had some big deadline they had to meet and a few things they did didn’t meet with the engineers expatiations. He prepared me for possible overtime, which means he wouldn’t be able to come home on the weekend. Just to give him a hard time I jokingly said “We don’t have anything on the calendar this weekend, maybe we should take a quick trip to Vegas?” He responded 8 hours later by saying, “We are busting this work out. Plan the trip. I’m in”

So I planned a last minute trip to Las Vegas. We packed shorts and tank tops, a great change from the long pants and sweatshirts we had been wearing, picked up a rent a car and headed south. Mark’s sister lives in Vegas and it just so happened that there was a birthday party for our 3 year old nephew that weekend.

We took the girls downtown on the strip. They were amazed by all the buildings and things to look at.

Look a pirate ship!

A skull…this place is great!

Prettiest Walgreens I have ever seen.

We met some stars….

Played some hoops with Shaq….

Helped Simon pick the next American Idol…

And made sure President Obama was doing his job correctly…..Did I mention we had a nice time at Madame Tussauds?

Ashley was hangin with MJ Mark helped Jessica with the flag Allyson was the first Hosick on the Moon

Ashley showed off her ballet skills. And the girls rocked it with Gwen.

After sight seeing we made a quick stop by Trader Joe’s for some groceries. I miss this place. Such yummy unique items, I picked up some great popcorn/rice puffed snacks for the drive home.

No trip to Vegas is complete with out a meal (or two) at In-n-Out burger. Greasy burgers, fresh cut fries, and creamy strawberry milk shakes….yumm!

And don’t forget the Pump N Snack…I think the name says it all! O the fun you have in Vegas!

The Pirates of Briarwood

2010-11-16T01:41:00.000-07:00

Another Halloween has come and gone. Which brings to a close a frantic month of sewing costumes. When we first talked about what the girls wanted to be for Halloween, they told me we could just go to a thrift store and buy some clothes they would cut up and make into pirate costumes. Thinking I would have an easy October, I agreed to make capes for the Star Wars concert. But after a few trips to the fabric store to get cape supplies, the pirate costumes morphed and my sewing list grew.

Each of the girls helped create their own costume. And for the first time Ashley’s costume was easier than expected! The girls were very happy with the results and I think these were the best costumes I have made.

This was Halloween 2009 A vampire and the queen of hearts.

Halloween 2008 a fairy and a bar maid.

I’m glad I can find the time and have some skills to sew the girls costumes. It’s something my mom always did and I loved having custom made costumes. In addition to the Halloween costumes, I also finished a few projects that have been partially made in the sewing bucket for a few years. Allyson now has a few more skirts to wear this winter!

A busy weekend

2010-10-25T08:37:00.000-06:00

We have a wonderful friend who works for the Boise Philharmonic. For a few years now she has been telling me about all the wonderful things that the philharmonic is doing and inviting us to check them out. Life always gets in the way and we have been unable to attend any of the concerts…until this weekend.

You see, the philharmonic put on a Star Wars concert. The girls (and Mark) were very excited to hear the music from one of their favorite movies. I even volunteered to make capes.

The philharmonic had Star Wars characters in the lobby before the show and of course the girls took several photo ops. The music was wonderful. The conductor was very animated and lots of fun to watch.

Mark even joined in the fun, though he didn’t have a cape. I offered, but he declined. O Darth Vader how tall you are! We all enjoyed the show so much we are talking about getting tickets to see the Lion King performance they are doing next year. What makes it perfect is they have a “Family Series” of performances that are only an hour long and on a Saturday morning. So the kids don’t get antsy. This was the first time the kids had ever seen and orchestra, choir, and conductor. They both realized how much goes into making a song after seeing all those people at work. I’m glad we finally got it together and went to a performance and I hope we do it more often.

The lighting in the lobby was terrible and I had to use the flash for most of the pictures so everyone has that pretty yellow glow. But heck we have pictures with Darth Vader…

Clone troopers….

Jawa’s

and did I mention Darth Vader?

Allyson wanted to be Darth Maul so Mark and her painted the mask. It turned out really great and was a fun project for them to do together.

Now that Star Wars is behind us I’m sewing pirate costumes for Halloween. Hopefully I get them done before the weekend…why do I always wait until the last minute?!?

We live in a college football town

2010-10-11T12:21:00.001-06:00

I don’t think I ever watched college football before moving to Boise. This town LOVES their college football team. We are also fortunate to have a pretty darn good team, so it makes it a bit easier for me. A few years ago we started buying season tickets to the games with some friends of ours. Every few weeks we get together with 35,000+ of our closest friends and cheer on our home team.

Here is a picture of the bleachers across from us. See that little group of people dressed in black in the lower right corner…those are the visitors. This was the game again the Oregon State Beavers. This was our first home game of the season and the stadium was SOLD OUT. 32,000 people inside the stadium and another 10,000 outside in the parking lot tailgating and watching the game on generator ran TV's. It’s quite an experience.

It’s great when the action is right in front of us.

It’s nice to enjoy the game with good friends.

It’s even fun to see the man who paints his body blue sitting in front of us. Gotta love football fans.

Life has been hectic

2010-10-07T13:01:00.001-06:00

My grandmother was in the hospital for a week and has now been home resting and trying to regain some strength for a few days. She was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure which was a shock to all of us. After a week in the hospital, lots of test, talking to several doctors we were happy to have her back home, but she needs help at her house. A bunch of us have been taking turns staying the night with her, cooking for her, and making sure she doesn’t over do it. It’s a terribly hard job..the last part..since she has lived alone for 15+ years and is used to doing everything for herself. We don’t know what the prognosis is, so we are taking it day by day.

In my research for her sodium restrictive diet I came across a recipe for homemade ketchup.

A while ago I bought the book Deceptively Delicious but have never really made anything from it…until now. I made ketchup. It was low sodium…good for Grandma…low sugar…good for Allyson the household ketchup eater…and easy to make…good for me I like simple. For low sodium make sure your tomato paste doesn’t have any added salt. At first I kept the salt the recipe calls for out, but after tasting it and realizing it really needed the salt, I put it in. The carrot puree called for is really easy to make. Peel, slice and steam about 4 carrots. After the carrots have cooled run them through a blender/food processor and the measure for the ketchup recipe.

This ketchup was quite thick so next time I will increase the water to 1/2 cup. But other than that I thought it was a pretty good recipe.

Homemade Ketchup (from Deceptively Delicious)

1 6oz can tomato paste (no salt added)
½ cup carrot puree (peel, slice, steam carrots, puree in blender/food processor)
¼ cup water
2 Tablespoons Apple-Cider Vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used one)
1 Tablespoon packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon dry mustard
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon chili powder (no salt, I made my own)

Stir all ingredients together in a big saucepan and bring to boil over med-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer about 15-20 minutes. Keeps in fridge about 5 days or freeze and thaw as needed.

Fried Rice

2010-09-24T06:24:00.000-06:00

Now that we are back into our school schedule and each of the girls has evening activities a few nights a week, I need to start thinking ahead for dinner. Last night I made a tofu dish from The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook I borrowed from the library and it turned out wonderful. I wanted some rice with my tofu and decided to make an entire pot so I could have left over rice for another night. Fried rice is a super quick dinner that both the girls will eat…ok so Allyson will only eat it if she has sweet and sour sauce to pour over the top, but at least she will still eat it. The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook has a recipe for fried rice that I adapted to fit our family tastes and the ingredients I had on hand. If you don’t have fish sauce you can just increase the soy sauce, but be careful you don’t get it too salty. The soy sauce, fish sauce, and chicken broth all contain a bunch of salt unless you have the low sodium versions. With the left over rice this dish came together in a few minutes. It took longer to dice up the ham steak than cook the meal. Allyson who is our pickiest eater gave this a thumbs up, she even said she didn’t mind the peas in the meal.

Fried Rice

Adapted from The Steamy Kitchen cookbook

1 t oil
3 eggs, beaten (I used egg beaters)
1 ham, diced
1 cup frozen peas
4 c cold rice
1 t soy sauce
2 t chicken broth
2 t fish sauce

Heat large skillet (or wok) over medium high heat. Add oil to skillet and scramble eggs until just set. Remove from pan. Put diced ham in skillet and heat thoroughly. Remove from pan and add to eggs. Dump frozen peas in skillet and cook for 30 seconds then add the cold rice. Leave rice and peas alone for about a minute or two until rice begins to brown a bit. Stir rice and let sit for another minute. Add soy sauce, broth and fish sauce to rice/peas. Quickly stir, and then add eggs/ham back to skillet. Continue stirring until thoroughly incorporated.

Salmon Recipe

2010-09-22T05:32:00.003-06:00

No the salmon isn’t burned in Mondays picture. Even though it doesn’t present well, the balsamic glaze is quiet tasty. I got the recipe from here, but again I’ve made some changes to the original. I left out the wine (I didn’t have any white wine in the house), reduced the garlic, and increased the honey. I love that the fish goes skin side down on a foil lined baking sheet. This makes the skin stick to the foil so serving is easy and clean up is even easier. When I make this I leave half the fish without the glaze so Allyson will eat it. Depending on the price of salmon, I have substituted steelhead for salmon.

Balsamic-Glazed Salmon Fillets

6 (5 ounce) salmon fillets
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoon honey
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Coat a small saucepan with non-stick cooking spray. Over medium heat, cook and stir garlic until soft, about 3 minutes. Mix in white wine, honey, balsamic vinegar, mustard, and salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for about 3 minutes, or until slightly thickened.

Arrange salmon fillets on foil-lined baking sheet. Brush fillets with balsamic glaze, and sprinkle with oregano.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 14 minutes or until flesh flakes easily with a fork. Brush fillets with remaining glaze, and season with salt and pepper. Use a spatula to transfer fillets to serving platter, leaving the skin behind on the foil.

Toe Surgery photo

2010-09-20T14:05:00.005-06:00

updated to add the before photo
This is the before surgery photo. See how the tip of the toe nail is white, it’s actually lifted off the toe. At first we thought it was an ingrown toe nail, but it never healed. Our pediatrician referred us to a podiatrist who knew almost immediately what the problem was. The dr took an x-ray and could see a little bone growth on the tip of the toe bone. The surgery entailed cutting half the nail off, making an incision and removing the growth. Hopefully the nail will grow back normally (sometimes the nails grow back wavy or thicker than normal) and she will forget all about this.

So here is the photo of Ashley’s surgery site. I have placed a pretty little flower over the incision. If you want to see the toe, just put your mouse over the picture and the flower will disappear. If you don’t want to see the grossness, keep your mouse away from the picture. Good luck.

Super busy week

2010-09-20T08:19:00.000-06:00

We have had a super busy week and I seem to be neglecting the blog. Ashley had to have surgery on her toe Wednesday, so our lives were a little consumed by her this week. She had what was called an Osteochondroma growth the tip of her big toe. It was a minor surgical procedure and she is doing great after the procedure. I will post some pictures later this week after we have her follow up surgery.

When I knew she was doing fine after her surgery, I got to work in the kitchen. Hopefully this week I will get some recipes posted of the delicious baked things I made, but for today I will give you a recipe for risotto. I love risotto, but it’s not something I had ever made at home. I was a bit intimidated by the cooking process. You really have to baby sit the pan and NOT WALK AWAY, which is something I’m not good at when cooking. There seems to always be fifty things going on when I’m trying to make dinner. I got the original recipe from the food network site, but did make some changes to it. The original recipe calls for dried mushrooms in the chicken broth and also an addition of wine with the rice. The risotto was wonderful even without these things. I also made Balsamic glazed salmon with the risotto and will post that recipe later.

Mushroom Risotto with Peas

8 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups finely chopped onions
10 ounces white mushrooms, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice or short-grain white rice
3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
2/3 cup grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, optional

Directions

Bring the broth to a simmer in a heavy medium saucepan. Keep the broth warm over very low heat.

Melt the butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add olive oil. Add the onions and sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the white mushrooms and garlic. Sauté until the mushrooms are tender and the juices evaporate, about 5 minutes. Stir in the rice and let it toast for a few minutes. Add 1 cup of hot broth; simmer over medium-low heat until the liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Continue to cook until the rice is just tender and the mixture is creamy, adding more broth by cupfuls and stirring often, about 28 minutes (the rice will absorb 6 to 8 cups of broth). Stir in the peas. Mix in the Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Reptile day

2010-09-19T21:51:00.002-06:00

Fruit cup at the park

2010-09-14T12:49:00.001-06:00

We had an A Mazing weekend. It seems that we are actually able to enjoy all three days Mark has off lately. Mark has some time for new tattoos this weekend and that gave me and the girls some time to explore a few of the festivities going on at parks near us. Saturday morning I took the girls to Lowes for the Build and Grow Clinic. I forgot the camera this week, but we built these cute dog leash holders.

Then we made a quick stop at our local farmers market, again without camera, for lunch. On the way to the fruit stand to check on the peaches we stopped at a park to check out the Music Festival for Hopes Door. We were a bit early for most of the activities, but we enjoyed walking through the park and looking at the different craft booths. As expected there were a variety of food vendors that gave off wonderful smells. I hadn’t eaten lunch yet and was happily surprised to see a fresh fruit cup vendor. I was more surprised when the lady sprinkled Chili Powder on the fruit and gave it a squeeze of lime juice. But nothing prepared me for the explosion I tasted. What an amazing way to enjoy a cup of fresh fruit. The sweetness of the fruit, spice of the chili powder and tart juice of the lime all came together in perfect harmony. I couldn’t wait to recreate this home.

This made the perfect breakfast with a nice toasted English muffin.

At home I used cantaloupe, watermelon, pineapple, mango, grapes, chili powder and lime. My grocery store didn’t have any good fresh mangos, so I bough the ones in the jar. They were a little softer than fresh and didn’t hold up very well under the weight of the other fruit.

I diced up all the fruit and put it in a large bowl so I could toss it all together. Then I moved it to a plastic storage container and keep in the fridge just like that until I want a bowl. This is how my kids eat it. They just scoop out a serving when they want a snack.

But when I want a snack, I put some chili powder on top.

Squeeze on some fresh lime juice and

enjoy. I found that I like a lot of chili powder on mine. The spicy sweet tartness of this fruit really hit the spot.

Spicy Fruit Cup

2 C Watermelon, cubed
2 C Cantaloupe, cubed
2 mangos, cubed
1 C Pineapple, cubed
2 c grapes, halved
2 limes cut in half
Chili powder, to taste

Place watermelon, cantaloupe, mangos, pineapple and grapes in large bowl. Toss to combine. Place serving of fruit in bowl, sprinkle with chili powder to taste and squeeze lime half on fruit. Enjoy.

Remember

2010-09-11T13:58:00.001-06:00

I was looking for a picture of a flag to post in honor of 9/11, but the pictures of our flag pole must be on my other computer. I found this one from a few years ago when the girls were in a Veterans Day Parade with their Girl Scout Troup. I think it’s still very fitting. Please take a moment or two today to remember that day and everyone that was effected by it.

Relaxing…I mean hunting

2010-09-10T12:09:00.001-06:00

We are lucky enough to have access to a wonderful cabin in the woods. The house sits on acres and acres of pine tree lined land. There is a huge meadow in the back of the cabin that the deer cross after getting a drink from the lake. Since I come from a family of hunters, it is the perfect weekend retreat for them to hunt and me to relax. This past weekend my Dad joined us at the house.

That’s him in the boat with the girls getting fishing poles ready for a fun day on the lake. For me this means the family will be gone and I will have hours to spend reading, listening to the wind in the trees, watching the little ground squirrels collect pine nuts, and working on my ~~sunburn~~ tan. I think I get the better end of this deal, but the kids get hours of fun on the lake with their Dad and Papa…I’m sure I get the better end of the deal!

Hey, you little squirrel, where is your pine nut? It’s almost winter you better get to work.

A weekend at the cabin means unlimited access to the dirt bike. Last year there was a well traveled road that lead to the back of the property. This year the road was overgrown with grass and wild flowers, so we made our own trail and the girls had some off road experience. Good lessons on how to use the brakes, down shift, and keep your balance.

We were there during the Labor Day weekend and many of the small towns around the cabin had festivals. The small town of Roseberry had an old fashioned ice cream social. For a donation to the historical society you had your choice of 6 different ice cream flavors and lots of fun activities for the kids. They still use the original general store. It’s full of old bottles, cans, feed bags, and suit of armor…suit of armor I don’t think that’s an original antique.

They had a car show that had several of these cars from 1913.

This one is a Ford, but there were others in this same style by different makers. They had the neatest little lanterns on the side. Looking at these old cars always makes me wonder about the original owners. Where did they drive to? What fun stories does this car hold in it’s history?

O yeah we did some hunting too. That was the whole purpose of going to the cabin after all.

2010-09-09T08:10:00.001-06:00

Camping

We’ve been camping more at the end of the summer than we have the entire summer combine. I guess it’s a good way to skip the heat and miss most of the bugs, but we finally have a pretty good system in place where we keep our stuff in the cargo trailer and only have to load/unload the items that need washed or restocked. Keeping with my new goal of not neglecting this blog, I decided to put up a few pictures from a recent camping trip we took where the girls spent the entire weekend in their swimsuits chasing various critters around the river, rocks, and sandy beach. I’ll give a more detailed report over the weekend.

2010-09-07T07:38:00.000-06:00

Field Trip

We belong to a very active home school field trip group. During the year they organize at least 2 field trips per month. Even during the summer we still have access to great field trips. One of the summer field trips gave the kids access to EAA Young Eagles Program. When the coordinator of our group contacted them about bringing a group of home schooled youth for plane rides, he asked if our group would be willing to volunteer and help out with a group of disabled youth preparing for their flights. We were excited to give back to this great program.

My understanding is that the pilots donate their time, planes, and all cost involved with flying to give kids a look at what a pilot does and an opportunity to fly. Everyone we met involved in this program was wonderful. The pilots took the time to explain how the controls worked, the kids were able to ask question, and take pictures of their flights.

Allyson rode in a 4 seater plane, but all the other planes were 2 seaters. She had never been in a plane before and was very excited to fly.

She’s all buckled in with her headphones on and ready to fly.

The view from her window as they are heading to the runway.

This is the golf course not too far from our house. She was taking pictures of things she recognized.

She noticed how everything looks like little squares up in the air. Such a different sight from the ground.

I was happy when she landed safe and sound. This field trip was two fold; we were able to help a group of kids experience flying and rewarded with our own flights. I am appreciative of Jan our groups coordinator and the wonderful pilots that give the flights to the kids.

2010-09-05T06:16:00.009-06:00

Rocky Bar

Up near where we have my annual family reunion camping trip is a little ghost town called Rocky Bar. Back in 1864 the population was about 2500 people. They were mining gold and lots of it. A fire tore through Rocky Bar in 1892, but the town quickly rebuilt. By then the gold mining started declining and the town slowly dwindled.

This was the general store and saloon. There used to be a front porch and a second story balcony. The inside still looks like an old saloon.

I can only imagine back in the day wandering into this bar and ordering a drink. The wood work is amazing. I’m sure the stories this place has hear would be amazing if walls could talk.

This house is next to the saloon. I think I read something about it being the mine owners house. It had two bedrooms, living room, and kitchen in it. It also had a bathroom added later.

This is the kitchen area. It is actually bigger than my current kitchen.

Such an inviting living room. This room over looks main street. What fun to sit on the front porch and watch the goings on of the town.

Here are the stage coach prices from August 26th, 1880. That $14.00 fare is to Atlanta Idaho, not Atlanta GA.

Annual Family Reunion Camping Trip

2010-09-02T05:35:00.000-06:00

Every year over the Memorial Day weekend my Dad’s side of the family gets together for a fun filled weekend camping trip. Over the years the location has moved, but the fun stays the same. Dad’s side of the family is huge. Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents come from all over to join in the weekend. We have organized tournaments with trophies and everything. The weekend is full of fishing, horseshoes, golf, motorcycle riding, family stories, great food and good drinks.

That my grandmother in the middle serving up her tequila shots. Grandma’s tequila shots are a yearly tradition during the horseshoe tournament. We always look forward to spending time with 125+ of our closest family members. This camping trip is the only time we see many of these family members. I love to see the kids play with cousins they have never met before and become best friends by the end of the weekend.

Ashley and Allyson spend the weekend riding dirt bikes, fishing, and playing with cousins. They go to sleep every night worn out from a full day of activity.

Allyson tore it up on the dirt bike this year. She rode for hours. Was covered in dirt and loved every minute of it.

Ashley became good friends with a cousin from Boston. They rode ATV’s, played with the dogs, and hung out for most of the weekend. I love all the activities we get to enjoy living in Idaho.

The fair was in town

2010-08-31T15:13:00.001-06:00

What a wonderfully fun summer we have had. I’ve taken the summer off from the blog and hope to get some updates from the summer on here pretty soon. Blogging was a bit of a pain in the butt with the way I was doing it, so I’ve done some research and hopefully have found an easier way to keep up to date. Only time and blogging will tell.

To end our summer we had a fun day at the Western Idaho Fair. The girls rode lots of rides and ate really good fair food. We learned some things in the Farm Town building.

This was a new ride called “The Windsurfer”. It was in the shade which is something I appreciated since the temperature was around 98 degrees.

Here are my little vegetables outside the Farm building.

I hope everyone had a great summer. I am excited for school to start again…I’m not sure the girls are, but we do have some fun stuff on the schedule.

Happy Birthday Ashley

2010-05-03T10:02:00.000-06:00

And my daughter turns 11 today. My computer crashed a while back and I haven't put the baby pictures on the new computer yet, but lets look back....

12-2002

Christmas at Grandma's house

10-2004

Such a pretty flower girl in her Aunts wedding with her younger sister and cousin. That hair took about an hour to do. She sat so nicely for the lady and it looked beautiful. So long!

5-2005

6th Birthday trip to Las Vegas to visit her Dad. She was so excited to fly on a plane.

05-2005

Shooting her bb gun during our annual camping trip.

11-2006

Sleep over at Grandma's house with her sister and cousin.

08-2008

Hiking in Yellowstone with some friends of ours. Eric was at the hospital when she was born.

11-2008

Family vacation to Disneyland.

08-2009

Super fun lake day.

4-2010

A fun family day a few weeks ago near Silver City Idaho.

Happy Birthday Ashley!

We framed a wall!

2010-04-24T08:02:00.000-06:00

The basement project is moving forward. A few weeks ago Mark brought home all the studs we should need to frame the walls. We are using metal studs because we got a great price on them and some of the guys Mark works with gave him a quick tutorial on how to put them up. So late Friday night we headed down stairs to get to work. After I asked a million questions and Mark was very patient explaining it over and over to me, we got to work.

If you don’t get sick from the angle of this picture…I feel a little dizzy…you can see what it looked like after we removed all the old walls. Just a concrete basement. Very nice and clean.

And here it is with the first wall framed. I helped with that wall. I actually have my very own pair of work gloves. Some of those screws holding the wall up, I did. I can work a drill. I’m a builder!

We even framed windows. At this point in the project I was the level holder. Not an extremely strenuous job, but an important job none the less. Mark had the dangerous job of cutting the studs.

The sparks were very pretty. It did smell terrible and at one point the smoke alarms in the whole house started going off. So then I had the important job of fanning the smoke detectors.

It was noisy and smelly and smoky

But it was very pretty

And now we have the outside walls of the family room, bedroom 1 and bedroom 2 framed. Progress is a good feeling.

Perfect brownies

2010-04-22T11:35:00.001-06:00

We have been on the hunt for perfect brownies. For some reason, Allyson is constantly asking for brownies right now. We haven't really been brownie eaters, but Allyson seems to want them now. So we tried out a few different recipes.

This recipe used melted chocolate chips. It looked really promising.

And the girls worked well together making the brownies.

It looked ok in the pan, however the girls used a pan that was too small and didn't cook the brownies long enough. So we had brownie soup. Not what we were looking for.

During Ashley's ballet class one week, Allyson and I went to a thrift store to kill some time. I started looking in the cookbook section and came across a sample issue of Cooks Illustrated. The cover promised

Classic Brownies, Not Cakey, Not Fudgy, Just right!

So I happily paid the 25 cents for the issue and told Allyson we would try again. And this is what we made..

They have a crunchy top and soft middle. The edges were crisp and soft. Really a perfect brownie.

Classic Brownies

From Cooks Illustrated

1 Cup pecans or walnuts, chopped medium (I didn't use any since Allyson doesn't like nuts)
1 1/4 cups cake flour (I used all purpose)

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine

12 Tablespoons unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 325. Fit foil to lie in 13 by 9 inch baking dish, allow foil to hang over the edges so it is easy to remove brownies after they bake. Spray foil lined dish with cooking spray. Whisk to combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl; set aside. Melt chocolate and butter in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan of almost-simmering water. Stir until smooth. Whisk in sugar. Add eggs on at a time mixing after each addition. Whisk in vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture in three batches. Transfer batter to prepared pan; using spatula, spread batter into corners of pan and smooth surface. If using nuts, sprinkle over batter. Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of brownies comes out with few moist crumbs. Cool in pan on wire rack until room temperature. Remove from pan by lifting foil overhang. Cut into squares and store in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Sunday was family day!

2010-04-19T09:50:00.002-06:00

Last Sunday we had all of our house chores done and there really wasn’t anything new to start on the basement project, so I packed some sandwiches and we headed out for a drive. Mark was driving and we had no real destination planned. It was nice to just get away and do something fun. We ended up on the road to Silver City, Idaho. A few years back we drove up there to see the ‘ghost’ town. It was interesting. I need to remember to take more pictures out the truck window so I could show you how treacherous the road was. About 14 miles into the 20 mile journey I had a huge panic attack and forced Mark to turn around. For the first 10 miles I tried to nicely tell him that I wasn’t really up to this journey…so it really started at mile 1 when the sign on the side of the road said something to the effect of “Road travel impossible from September to June due to hazardous conditions. Travel at your own risk”.

Somewhere around mile 6 there is a sign that say “Travel past this sign at your own risk. You will be responsible for all cost incurred for rescue”. I read these signs to Mark and he just kept on driving. I nicely pointed out the mud pit in the road at various points and reminded him to be watchful of places the truck would get stuck in the mud. He just kept on smiling and looking out the window. Looking back at it now I really think he thought I was being helpful…he had no idea my panic attack was escalating to catastrophic levels. Near mile 12 I pointed out how hard it would be to turn around on such a narrow, twisting, mud laden road, but when we turned a corner and encountered snowy icy mud laden twisting narrow road I had enough. I actually said “I’m telling you now I am out of my comfort zone”. He just kept on smiling and driving. Did he not notice I was dying over here?!? I think he said something like “It could get better in a minute.” I didn’t have a minute. I needed out of the truck RIGHT NOW. We turned a corner and the road did clear up, it also opened up for a perfect place to turn this huge truck around. But Mark wasn’t slowing down; he made no attempt turn the truck around. I saw all my common sense fly out the window. I had to get out of that truck and quick. With panic in my voice I told him he had to stop the truck NOW. I was getting off this crazy train. I think that was the first time he actually noticed I was in a full blown crawling out of my skin panic attack. Where the heck had he been for the last 14 miles, enjoying the scenery. Did he not know we were going to DIE here on this muddy snow covered icy mountain road? Finally he understood the grave danger we were in and he pulled to a stop; carefully he turned the truck around and let me get out.

I know from the pictures it doesn’t look like we were in danger, but these are some very frightful parts.

While I was coming back to my senses, the girls climbed the near by mountain.

the decent

We then got back in the truck and drove down the mountain. It was much easier driving down then up...and quicker. Why does that happen? Maybe because the fear of dying had left my body. We found a nice little hill off the main road and had a wonderful lunch in the back of the truck.

Then the girls went looking for rocks.

Look, hitch hikers looking for ride back to town.

Does she look trustworthy? We picked her up anyway!

On the way home we took a detour and looked for fun stuff on the river bank.

The cows on the opposite bank needed a little drink.

I love relaxing Sundays with the family they seem to be few and far between with all the busy schedules in this house. Hopefully we can change that soon.

If only I was younger...

2010-04-16T05:23:00.003-06:00

As I watch the kids on these wonderful sunny spring days...yes the sun has finally decided to stick around for a few days now...I dream of days when my body wasn't so old. Days when I could do this.

Ok, so maybe not EXACTLY this.

Or this either. That looks like it hurt. In reality it did hurt and she took a break from showing me her new 'trick' I don't think this is what she envisioned in her head when she told me to "Come Quick"

While Ashley took a rest, Allyson took over.

Good rotation

I think the look on her face shows just how much fun this jumping is. Lets take a closer look at the joy!

Honestly, she though that was fun. I would hate to see her do something NOT fun.

Feeling brave again, Ashley jumped right back in it.

I love that it looks like her hair is holding her up.

Again where is the joy?

AH, there it is. The joy of knowing you have lived through the trick.

All the time the kids were jumping, the dog was doing this...

She's actually jumping at the bugs she sees. She likes to eat them...but that's an entirely different story.

Spring has arrived...I think

2010-04-14T07:00:00.015-06:00

As usual in Idaho the weather doesn't know what it should do. April came in with a bang, but then a day later it was a nice sunny day. The flowers in the front are showing their pretty little heads.

There is a little tiny spider on tip of the daffodil.

He's so cute and just hang in out on that leaf. I didn't even know he was there until I transferred the pictures to the computer.

When we replanted this flower bed I had no idea what was in it. The girls and I just pulled everything out one fall and tossed all the bulbs in a bucket. Once we were sure we got them all out, we just started putting them back in the ground. I'm just loving how low maintenance everything has been.

Notice the dark grey sky in the background...a few minutes before it was nice and sunny. Idaho in spring time is so unpredictable. But the tree has such pretty blooms on it. In a few days these blooms will drop and be swirling around the neighborhood looking much like a snow storm in April.

April brought more destruction

2010-04-12T17:37:00.000-06:00

April arrived and brought with it more basement destruction. Mark and his brother have been working hard on getting everything ripped out of the basement and I think they have almost completed their to-do list.

Anybody need a pile of old drywall and insulation? Sorry you can't have it, we have already taken this pile to the dump, but when we rip out the main floor I will make sure to offer it before we haul it away.

And can you think of a more peaceful looking place to do your laundry? Really I am a lucky girl to have such luxury. Notice the toilet back there? That is what is left of our second bathroom. Who needs privacy...not us. The girls now refuse to go downstairs to us the bathroom. Kids are so picky.

Everything is open and we have been able to pull out the old baseboard heater wires. The mess has been cleaned up and we are nearing the reconstruction stage. Now if we could just come to an agreement as to where to put the new walls we could get off and running.

I just keep reminding myself that it's getting closer every day, even though it feels so far away.

Did I mention we might have house guests this summer...no rush!

I’m not so scared of yeast…anymore!

2010-04-08T10:09:00.022-06:00

I've been getting better at yeast bread. My first attempts at yummy fluffy dinner rolls turned out more like weapons….I could have killed someone with these pucks.

Believe me when I tell you these were supposed to be bread bowls for some yummy broccoli cheese soup, didn't work out as planned. My loving husband still ate his. The girls dug the centers out and made bread balls to dunk in their soup. I haven't tried bread bowls again…I'm slowly working up the nerve…I'll let you know when I get to that stage.

What I have been making is wonderful bread creations like these pretzels. These were my first yeast success. They are so easy to make and yummy to eat. I got the recipe from My Kitchen Cafe and I love making them for a quick afternoon snack. I'm a huge hit with the neighborhood kids. We even got crazy and dip them in cinnamon and sugar.
Then there is this very yummy monkey bread from the King Author Flour Blog.

This was another huge hit and very yummy for a Sunday morning breakfast. Just make it the day before and leave it in the fridge overnight.
But my biggest achievement to date in the yeast bread category is this super yummy wheat bread.

I adapted a recipe from the King Author Flour site and the kids seem to eat almost a loaf of bread a day. Ashley wrote about how my homemade bread is better than the store bread. Triumph at last.

I use active dry yeast, so it's really important to make sure the yeast puffs up before adding it to the flour.

That's what I like to see after a few minutes. Nice puffy yeast…a great start! This particular dough is a little dry looking and that seems to be just fine. The finished product is nice and fluffy. Because this dough has whole wheat flour in it I like to let it sit in the mixer for a few minutes before kneading it.

See how it's dry looking. I add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix it just until combined. It ends up looking like oatmeal, so I bring it together with my hands a bit. After sitting for a few minutes I mix it for about 7 minutes in my Kitchen Aid on speed 2. It needs to rise for about an hour.

This is before the Rise. This is the after. It's still not a super soft dough.

A baker I know advised me roll out my dough and then form it into a log by rolling it up cinnamon roll style.

Let it rise again and get ready to bake it.

I wanted to see if I could make it look like the split top bread, so I cut a line down the center.

After 30 minutes in the oven…HEAVEN!!!

After it cooled I sliced it and had wonderful sandwiches, toast, and most importantly many yumms from the family. I'm no longer scared of yeast….but I'm still not ready to try bread bowls yet…but soon.

Wheat Sandwich Bread
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

1/2 cup lukewarm milk
1/2 cup lukewarm water
3 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
3/4 cup dried potato flakes
2 Cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 cup orange juice
5 tablespoons butter, softened

Combine warm milk, water, sugar and yeast. Set aside and let yeast poof for a few minutes. In mixing bowl mix dry ingredients. Add yeast mixture, orange juice, and butter to dry ingredients and mix until combined. Let sit for a few minutes so the wheat flour will absorb the water. Knead until you've made a smooth, fairly stiff (but not dry) dough. (I do 7 minutes in my Kitchen aid on speed 2) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow it to rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until it's expanded a bit.

Lightly grease a loaf pan. Flatten dough and using a rolling pin roll it into a rectangle no wider than the loaf pan. Roll the dough up much you would a cinnamon roll. Tuck the ends under and put the log in the pan smooth side up, cover the pan, and allow the loaf to rise for about 60 to 90 minutes, till it crowns over the rim of the pan by 1" to 1 1/2" or so. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the bread for 10 minutes. Lightly tent it with aluminum foil, and bake for an additional 25 to 30 minutes, or until the center registers 190°F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove it from the oven, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack. Run a tablespoon of butter over the top of the hot loaf, if desired, for a softer crust. Allow the bread to cool completely before slicing.

Yield: 1 loaf.

Chili Verde

2010-04-07T13:01:00.003-06:00

When Mark and I were dating we often went to a Mexican restaurant in one of the casinos in Las Vegas. OOO those days of limited responsibilities and lots of disposable income...OOO those days of eating out often and never having a sink full of dirty dishes...OOO those days of financial irresponsibility...sorry, where was I...yes the mexican restaurant where I fell in love with Chili Verde; a spicy green chili soup with large chunks of tender pork topped with sour cream and crunchy chip strips. The soup was so spicy I would sweat and drink many many margaritas.

Since moving away from Las Vegas I have been disappointed every time I order Chili Verde at local Mexican restaurants. Taking matters into my own hands I searched the internet for a suitable recreation. After a few years I have created a version of Chili Verde that fits into my comfort food zone.

Now I know my colors are off for traditional Chili Verde, I used red and yellow bell peppers for this. Green bell peppers were almost $1.50 each and the colored version were 3 for a dollar...so colored it was. I adjust the heat level by either leaving the seeds in the jalapeno or taking them out. This day I wanted it pretty hot, so the seeds were left in and it was perfect. If you don't want it hot, take out the seeds or just leave out the jalapeno all together.

I also started roasting my green chilis myself. It's a pretty easy process and the flavor was amazing, but canned chilies work just fine also.

Chili Verde

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound pork, cubed

1 small can diced green chili's

1 Jalapeño, (seeded for mild) diced

1 can beer

1-2 cups chicken broth (or water)

½ Tablespoon Oregano

1 teaspoon Sage

¼ teaspoon Thyme
½ teaspoon Cumin

In a large sauce pan heat olive oil, add onion, bell pepper, and garlic and sauté until soft. Add diced green chilies and jalapeño, sauté until fragrant. Remove veggies to a plate and reheat skillet. When hot add pork brown on all sides. Add veggies back to skillet and put in remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until meat is tender. Serve with sour cream and chips.

A day at the Zoo…kind of!

2010-03-29T13:49:00.012-06:00

So last Thursday the local schools were out for parent conferences or something like that. Even though we home school, trying to get the girls to do school work when their friends are home from school is impossible. So this year I figured if the traditional schools were out we would take the day off too. It's worked pretty well. Thursday is cheap day at Zoo Boise, the girls invited a few of their friends to come with us and we headed to the zoo. The weather man said it would rain in the morning, but as soon as we got into Boise the wipers were on full speed. The kids were undaunted by this fact and decided to go to the zoo anyway. After making a mad dash to the monkey house I pulled out the camera to document the craziness and found the memory card was still at home in the laptop. I figured I would check the gift shop as we ran past it to the rainforest house and was shocked that a 2G card was the low low price of $27.99. Having the common sense to not spend a fortune on a little memory card…I do have about 10 at the house…I left the gift shop empty handed and found the girls sliding down the rain drenched slide. Now that two of the four girls looked like they had a potty training accident, we moved quicker through the zoo. After a few hours of running from shelter to shelter getting soaked I took pity on them and called my Grandmother who lives close by asked if we could stop and use her dryer. By the time we finished drying our clothes the sun was shining and I think little birds came out to chirp…good thing I listened to the weatherman. Anyhow, since I refused to buy the overpriced memory card I will show you pictures of our zoo trip from a year or so ago.

About the time we went the zoo had just opened the Africa theme area. Allyson is standing on the 'dock' where the boat to Africa departs. You don't really get on a boat; as a matter of fact the dock is overlooking about 2 feet of water in the duck pond. You can stand on the dock; take pictures that look like you are waiting for a boat, and then walk the 100 feet or so to the Africa area. The girls were disappointed they didn't get to ride a boat,

But hey we have giraffes now.

And Lions

We have our good old favorite tigers,

And the always good for laughs penguins. I love seeing them half in the water, glass walls are great!

The girls always love posing with the bat ears. I must have a picture like this from every trip we have made to the zoo. They are finally growing into those bat ears.

Pizza is now a staple in our house

2010-03-28T23:18:00.004-06:00

For the last 9 years I have stayed away from pizza. Ever since I was pregnant with Allyson just walking into a pizza place is enough to give me heartburn. Occasionally, if Mark and I had a date night I would order pizza and leave the check for the babysitter to pay the pizza man…that happens maybe twice a year, yeah we have a very active social life. Lately I've been getting recipe inspiration from various blogs and I saw a bunch of great pizza recipe. Hoping that maybe my heartburn issues have something to do with mass produced sauce I decided to give pizza a try with a homemade version. I found a good pizza sauce recipe at MyKitchenCafe but needed to change it for our family taste. I made some changes to the pizza crust recipe I found in the Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook. If you want to see the original recipes click the links to view them.

The pizza sauce recipe makes enough for two pizzas. We don't like a lot of sauce so I make the kids pizza first then add crushed red peppers to the remaining sauce and put it back in the food processor to blend in the peppers. We usually added the red peppers to the top of the cooked pizza, but I found the flavor better if I add it to the sauce.

We love a nice crispy crust, so I cook the pizza on my pizza stone. Funny how I have had this pizza stone for about 6 years and it just saw its first pizza two months ago. I figured out that it's best to preheat the stone. Even though the manufacturer does not recommend it in an oven over 400 degrees, my perfect crust is found at 425 degrees. So I rebel and heat my stone to 425 degrees, I like to walk on the wild side. Sometimes, but usually in my mind only. The problem I found was once the pizza stone was 425 degrees I couldn't touch it to make my crust the right size to fit the pan. It's amazing how your fingers don't like touching that hot stone. So I improvised and found my largest metal bowl, turned it upside down and put a little olive oil on it.

Then formed my crust.

If the crust gets tough and doesn't want to move down without tearing, give it a rest for a few minutes and try some more. Within a few minutes I usually have the crust all the way down.

Once the pizza stone is heated, carefully peel the dough crust off the bowl and put it on the stone. Top it with sauce, cheese, and any other topping you like. I bake mine in a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes. While the first one is baking I remix the sauce adding crushed red peppers and form the second crust. When the first pizza is finished it will slide off the pizza stone and I can make the second pizza.

I'm glad I decided to give homemade pizza a try. It has been crazy easy and so much yummier than store bought pizza…not to mention I almost always have the ingredients on hand and the cost is much less.
Pizza Sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
1 teaspoons garlic salt
2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
Crushed red pepper (optional)

Put all ingredients in a food processor (or blender) and blend until it is the right consistency. This recipe makes enough sauce for two pizzas. I usually make the kids pizza then add the crushed red peppers to the remaining half of the sauce and blend it again so the adult pizza gets the spicy effect.

Pizza Crust
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 ½ Cups Warm Water (110 degrees)
1 Cup Wheat Flour
3-4 cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/3 cup Olive Oil

Put yeast, sugar and water in small bowl. Let the yeast sit for about 5 minutes to get frothy. Combine wheat flour, 3 cups white flour, and salt in mixing bowl. Add olive oil and mix for a minute. Add yeast water and mix until dough ball forms. If it looks really wet and sticky add a little bit of flour and mix again. I have found that when I use the wheat flour I only need about 3 cups of white flour. If using wheat flour let the dough ball sit for about 5 minutes before kneading. Knead the dough for 5-7 minutes. I just leave the dough in the mixer bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Let it sit to rise about 2 hours. After it has doubled in size, split the dough in half and shape for your pan. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Top the crust with your favorite toppings and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Breakfast is served

2010-03-17T09:33:00.004-06:00

Lately I have been neglecting breakfast. I know it's a bad habit to start and even harder to break. I always make sure the girls eat breakfast, we have been talking about nutrition and what makes a good meal, but I hardly ever take my own advice. So today I decided to fix the breakfast problem and make a big pan of steel cut oats. YUMMM sort of…. I've used Alton Browns recipe from the food network as a starting point, but made some changes to make it a little healthier for me. The trick to it is to NOT stir it after adding the boiling water. Just let it bubble on its own for 25 minutes then add the milk. I like to add golden raisins to the pot and a pinch of brown sugar to my bowl. The raisins give it a nice sweetness so I don't over sugar the oats. After it cools a bit I put it in a plastic container and keep it in the fridge so I can heat it up quick every morning.

Steel Cut Oats

Adapted from Alton Brown, food network

1 T butter (I skip the butter and just toast them dry in the pan)

1 C steel cut oats

2 ½ C boiling water

½ C Soy milk

Raisons/Craisons (optional)

Brown Sugar (optional)

Cinnamon (optional)

Melt butter in large sauce pan. Add oats and toast for a few minutes until brown and nutty smelling. Add boiling water, reduce to simmer 25 minutes, NO STIRRING. Add soy milk and Raisons if using to pot, stir, cook an additional 10 minutes.

Place in individual bowls adding brown sugar and cinnamon to taste.

Workin on the basement

2010-03-16T20:04:00.007-06:00

Mark and Jason have most of the basement ripped out. The family room, playroom, storage area, and office are no longer. All the drywall has been taken down, the insulation (not that there was much of it) has been removed, and all the studs on the outside walls have been removed. Since we are making two bedrooms down there we had to have the windows cut bigger and custom windows made to fit the new holes. Next to go is the laundry room and bathroom. Then the fun can begin. We have little to no idea what we are doing, but I'm sure we will learn.

St Patrick's Day Cupcakes

2010-03-16T12:47:00.006-06:00

I saw this recipe for frosting this morning and decided to give it a try. I made butter cream frosting over the weekend and it was ok, but Ashley said it was 'too buttery'. I figured I would find a different one for her and this one looked interesting. The girls helped me make cupcakes and after they cooled I used a piping bag to put the frosting on the cupcakes.

The frosting came out more like whipped cream. It was really soft and wet so I put the cupcakes in the fridge and the frosting firmed up. Again, one kid liked them and the other didn't..no winning with this crowd. I think the girls will give most of them away to friends this afternoon. I love baking but don't need the stuff around the house tempting me to eat it all.

We have run into the spelling word blues around here lately. I decided to change it up this week. We are reviewing old spelling list and adding in a few new words, but we decided to give up the notebook and pencil this week and we are using the white board. Schools are closed on Friday, so I figure we will take Friday off, too. So for this weeks spelling lessons the girls are given random words and if they spell them correctly they get a colored noodle. On Friday they can trade in 40 noodles and I will take them see the movie "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" we are almost done reading the book together (both of the girls have already read it separately) and it should be neat to see how the book is translated to a movie.

Working on the basement

2010-03-05T09:01:00.005-07:00

The basement remodel has begun. For the last few weekends Mark and Jason have been ripping all the drywall, insulation, and most of the walls out of the basement and hauling it to the dump. So far we have moved 3000 pounds of the house to the dump. Since we are having new windows installed Mark worked on making a window well larger. So he jumped in the hole and shoveled.

and shoveled,

and shoveled. About 10 wheel barrows later he was done.

Bright and early this morning the window company and the concrete cutting company showed up to get the new windows in place. The noise is crazy

L O U D, but the excitement of getting to the next step of the project is great.

Snowy days is a great day

2010-02-24T14:29:00.004-07:00

We woke up to a nice lovey coating of snow this morning.

Shortly after we got up the icy rain started and then regular rain, so by the afternoon most of our snowy white blanket is gone. Now the streets are slushy and the puppies are soaked when they come inside.

We continued our science experiments with yeast today. Last week we found out that yeast likes to eat sugar, so we wanted to see if a certain type of sugar was better. So we got 4 different sugars and went to work.

Our findings showed that the yeast like pancake syrup best out of our four kinds. For this weeks science project we are growing mold on bread to see if mold grows best in light/dark/dry/moist conditions. I will update you on our findings as we go through the process.

2010-02-13T15:30:00.005-07:00

Today was a Lowes Build and Grow clinic. The girls got to make a Jewelery holder. I think for the first time in the 2 years we have been going to these Ashley was able to read and understand the directions herself.

Mark helped Allyson hold it together.

Then we decided to make pretzels again. This is the easiest snack ever. Today we turned some of them into pretzel bites and they worked great.

Happy Valentines Day! I hope it is a great day.

Yeast

2010-02-12T14:41:00.005-07:00

I've been trying to make yeast bread and I'm having some issues with my bread getting the rise I think it should. So in order to understand yeast a little better I've incorporated it into our science lessons. So today we tried yeast three ways and have scientific proof that yeast likes to eat sugar. Not very surprising for me, but the girls had fun making hypothesis and objectives and conclusions. Goodness it's almost like we did 'school' today.
The first bowl is hot sugar water, middle is just hot water, and last is cold water. Next week we are going to see what sugar yeast likes best and then for fun we will add yeast to different liquids and see what happens. All the while we will keep baking bread and see if I can get some that aren't flat.

Bread Bowl...or maybe Bread pucks

2010-02-11T19:02:00.006-07:00

So I again tried to make bread bowls. And again I flopped. They just didn't get the nice bowl shape they were supposed to. I ended up with this...

And the inside looked like this....

At least this time they were two inches tall. Last time they looked more like hockey pucks. I'm getting closer. No worries though, I took the other two dough flats and rolled them out, fried them in oil and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on them. If you want to try the bread bowls I got the recipe here and hers look wonderful.
All in all it worked out well. Happy day!

Testing

2010-02-11T13:52:00.001-07:00

I have no idea what I am doing with this or even why I would need one of these blog things, but I pushed a button and accepted something and here I am. Maybe some day I will give this thing a try.