Birthday and Bruschetta

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday.  It was beautiful and sunny.  My children were excited to celebrate with me.  We started our day with strawberries and cream.  Husband bought me beautiful flowers and a cd of one of my favorite musicians.  I just love him. Then, I went and bought myself a piece of german chocolate cake.  I'm the only one in my house that likes coconut so it wouldn't make sense to make a whole cake for me (actually it would make sense and I would eat the whole thing so it's just better this way).  It was delicious. We had school and played outside, enjoying our beautiful spring weather.  Before we knew it, it was time for dinner. Our birthday tradition is to let the birthday boy or girl pick their favorite dinner.  It's fun to see what each person wants.  Husband usually wants bbq.  Kids usually pick enchiladas or spaghetti.  Well, today was my turn.  I haven't really met a food I don't like, so this can be a hard decision for me.  But, if I think really hard I can come up with a few favorites.  I chose tomato bruschetta and roasted asparagus.  My family wasn't thrilled.  I was a vegetarian for a good while, so even though I now eat meat I generally choose a meat free meal.   I try and encourage my family to eat vegetarian.  I cook meat free a few times a month, but I also know that my husband loves his meat and potatoes so I try and cook things that make him happy.  I have a couple of kids, one in particular, that really don't love veggies.  We've actually spent many hours sitting at the dinner table waiting for him to eat his veg.  So tonight, because I didn't want him to go to bed hungry I baked a hawaiin pizza for them and I ate the bruschetta and asparagus.  Everyone was happy, my children went to bed with their tummies filled, and I enjoyed my beautiful veggies.  Birthdays don't get much better!

 

 

 

Grape Tomato Bruschetta

 

*note:  this isn't really an exact recipe, more a method so make it how you like it

 

1 pint cherry tomatoes (I used red and yellow)

1TBSP balsamic vinegar

2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil, plus some for drizzling

2 TBSP fresh basil, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

baguette

 

Slice your baguette and drizzle with olive oil.  Place in a skillet over med high heat and toast on both sides, about 3 mins per side.  (You could also put them under the broiler).  Slice tomatoes in half and put in a bowl.  Pour the vinegar, oil, salt, and pepper over the tomatoes and stir to combine.  Let them sit at room temperature while you toast your bread.  Stir basil into tomatoes and pour tomatoes over the hot bread.  Enjoy!

 

 

Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan

*again more method than measurments

 

1 bunch asparagus

2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

3 TBSP grated parmesan cheese (preferably not the kind in the green can)

salt and pepper to taste

 

Trim asparagus and put on baking sheet.  Pour the oil, cheese, and salt and pepper on asparagus and mix until well coated.  Roast in s 425 oven for about 10 minutes.

Weekends and Banana Bread

 

 

I love weekends! Husband get's to be home and we get some much needed time together. Some weekends we have big plans of errands or work, and sometimes we get tot just hang out. This weekend was suppose to have some errands, however we just decided to stay home. We got some much needed work done around the house and we spent time napping and playing. It was lovely. I wish weekends would last longer. I guess that we have our busy weeks so that we can really appreciate our blessed weekends. I decided to make some banana bread (because I had some very over ripened bananas). It is scrumptious. I use just my mom's recipe, however I have learned a trick that makes it just amazing.

 

 

 Put your bananas in a microwave safe bowl, cover with platic and cut a few vents.  Microwave for 7-10 mins until they get super soft and give off a lot of liquid.

 In the meantime mix your dry ingredients

 When the bananas are done strain them into a sauce pan.  I know they don't look good now, but just wait.

 

Cook the banana liquid on high until it reduces and becomes thick and syrup like.  I didn't take a great picture, but it is slighly golden in color, and smells amazing.

Smash up the bananas, add the syrup and the rest of the wet ingredients and mix until really well combined.

Add the wet to the dry and carefully fold together.  To much mixing will make tough bread so mix just until combined.  A few streaks of flour is just fine.

 Divide into two greased loaf pans and sprinkle each loaf with a little sugar.  This makes a great candied top.

Bake and enjoy!

 

Banana Bread

(makes 2 loaves)

 

3 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

8-10 bananas (very ripe)

2 sticks butter, melted and cooled slightly

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

4 tsp. granulated sugar (for topping)

 

Preheat oven to 350.  Microwave bananas 7-10 minutes or until extremely soft and liquid.  Meanwhile, mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  When bananas are done strain liquid into a sauce pan and place banana solids in a seperate bowl.  Cook liquid on high until reduced an sryup like, about 5 or 6 minutes.  Pour banana syrup over banana solids and mash until smooth.  Add rest of liquid ingredients to bananas and stir until combined, and sugar begins to disolve.  Pour wet ingredients over dry and carefully fold together.  Divide into 2 greased loaf pans and sprinkle each loaf with 2 tsp. granulated sugar.  Bake for 50-60 mins. rotating pans half way.  Let cool in pans for 15 mins. and then remove and let cool on racks.

 

 

 

 

Where Does Time Go?

I don't know about you but I feel like time has actually sped up!  There's no scientific research to back me up, but I'm pretty sure that 24 hours is more like 14 these days.  My life is filled with so much stuff that by the weekends I just want to stay in bed and read a book.  I love all of the things that get to do during the week, it just becomes so much.  How do you slow down?  How do you prioritize how you spend your time?  We have homeschool, housework, yardwork, swim practice, tumbling class, school groups, organ practice, piano lessons, church service, family time, and random obligations like doctor appointments.  It's a lot!  I feel like the biggest lesson I have learned as a mom and a homeschooler is that you have to do what's most important and let everything else fall away.  It's a hard lesson.  I miss spending time with friends during the day.  Having lunch and time to visit was something I really loved.  But, I know that I what I am sacrificing is worth it.  I have little glimpses during the day of why I do what I do.  It's those moments when Graci reads me a story from her reading lesson book without asking if the letter h sounds like a k.   It's those moments when Gunnar will bring me Green Eggs and Ham, sit on my lap, and let me hold him and read him that book 15 times before he runs off to play.  It's those moments when Gavin, Gage, and Gibson use their free time to write a story together about a magical world with wizards and beasts, or when they come home from swim practice so proud of themselves that they mastered flip turns.  My family always comes first.  I know it's not just homeschoolers that feel this time crunch.  All families are trying so hard to keep their families close, while trying to keep up with the speed of this world.  I read once about the amish communities and how they value quiet peaceful time.  If you were to go to an amish farm you would notice how hard they work all day in the fields, but when the sun goes down they are done.  They, unlike most of us, understand that work is important but when the sun goes down it's time to put work aside and have peaceful time.  They go in their homes, read, talk, and just spend time together.   I should try to be more like the amish.  I need to let go of the guilt that if I don't let my family do everything they want that they won't be happy.  I think children would be happier if they had to do less, if they had time to decompress away from all electronics and media.  If families would make it a priority to spend time together.  Not just be in the same house doing their own thing, but to turn off everything and spend time talking and being together.  I think something that simple could change the world.  So I am challenging myself to be more amish.  To give my family the gift of calm and quiet. 

Fire And A Lesson In Etiquette, Man Etiquette That Is

This weekend we had our first fire and roast of the year.  We have spent countless hours in our little backyard enjoying a cozy fire with hot dogs and smores.  It has led us to some of our greatest conversations.  There are times, however, that our roasts aren't quite as refined and elevated.  This weekend's roast had my children rolling around in the dirt laughing so hard that they couldn't breath.  What were they laughing at?  Belching, of course.  Who can belch the loudest, who can belch the longest, and all sorts of different ways to make yourself belch.  I really try to teach my kids to be polite and act properly at a meal.  However, living in a house full of boys I sometimes have to step back and let the testosterone flow.  And I'd rather have that happen at our roasts than at our nice dinner with the missionaries (which has happened too!) So, I hope your weekend was filled with sunshine, family, fun, and maybe a little belching! 

Quick tip:  We use chocolate frosting on our smores instead of chocolate bars.  It's less messy!  Also, try using fudge dipped cookies instead of graham crackers.

Movie Night and Hello Dollys

Last night was movie night.  It's one of my very favorite nights I spend with my family.  We turn off all the lights, ignore the phone, hunker down on the couch downstairs and enjoy a movie.  We always have popcorn and a treat and it's just a great time.  We watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night.  Husband just finished reading the book to the kids and we always watch the movie after they are done.  The treat that we decided on is one of my all time childhood favorites.  They are called Hello Dollys and they are divine!  Graham cracker, butter, chocolate, what's not to love?  Here's the recipe.  You can cut it in half for a 9x13 pan, however they are always devoured and they store great so why not go for the big half sheet!  Enjoy.

Hello Dollys

30 graham crackers, crushed finely
2 sticks butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can sweetend and condensed milk

Combine graham crackers, butter and sugar until well combined.  Press into half sheet pan and bake for 10 mins at 375.  Take out of the oven and sprinkle on the chips and pour the condensed milk all over.  Put back in the oven for another 6-8 minutes or until the milk starts to bubble and brown.  Allow to cool before cutting into squares. 

*you can also mix it up!  Add walnuts, use butterscotch or peanut butter chips, or a combo of your choice!

Looking Out My Back Door

 

Our days usually begin with devotional and then school. We try to get the "formal" stuff out of the way early so that we can spend the rest of the day playing and studying anything we like. We are pretty good about sticking to a schedule so that we get our basic skills done. Well, it's been a long cold winter and the last couple of days have brought hope of spring. It's been mild, sunny, and gorgeous! So instead of doing our formal "schooling" I felt it was important to let my kids out to soak in the sun and get rid of their cabin fever energy. I don't think there is anything more important for kids than to have outside creative play time. Boys especially need time to run, build muscle, create something, and burn off some of that male energy that they always have. I have 4 sons and 1 daughter and I have learned very quickly that they are different! I have found over the years that when my sons are yelling, making messes (there have been some doozys!), and are constantly fighting and hitting that they just have pent up energy that they need to release. They are always better behaved when they can run around and play. Not organized play like sports, or games, but play that they can create on their own. As I write this they are all outside being miners in the backyard, mining for gold and other minerals. They are climbing our giant apple tree and chasing Maggie with her bone. When all of my boys were little I was worried about them playing unsupervised. They could get hurt! But I have learned that these little men need some "danger". They need to be boys. It helps them to develop that wonderful quality that a good man has of being a problem solver. So here are a few pictures I snapped looking out my backdoor. Everything is still brown, but the sun and the blue skies bring hope of a beautiful green spring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakfast For Dinner

I was so excited to finally feel well enough to cook for my family so I tried to think of one of their most favorite things to eat.  I came up with....breakfast.  Breakfast foods are probably the most popular thing at my house.   We love pancakes, waffles, biscuits and gravy, pretty much anything that has to do with morning time foods.  One of their most favorite breakfasts that I make is hash.  I just throw hash browns, any breakfast meat, any veg that I have in the fridge, into a pan and cook it together.  Top with an egg and maybe some salsa and it becomes one of our most beloved weekend breakfasts.  I decided that was what I was going to make.  I wanted to "dinner it up" so I decided to take out the hash browns and turn it into a hash stuffed twice baked potato.  Let me tell you, it was amazing!  My family loved it so it's definatly going into our regular repertiore.  I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine did.

Hash Stuffed Twice Bakers

4 medium to large russet potaoes, baked and cooled
1 lb bulk breakfast sausage (could also use ham or bacon)
1 each red, yellow, green bell pepper, diced
1 red onion, diced
1 lb  cremeni mushrooms, sliced (could also use button)
1 jalepeno, minced
8 eggs, cooked how you like (optional)
cilantro (optional)

Cut potatoes in half legthwise and scoop out middles, leaving about 1/4 of flesh in to hold the skins together.  Put halves on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, then bake for 15 mins at 400 until crisp.  In the meantime, brown your sausage in a pan (cast iron is perfect for this).Once browned remove leaving drippings in pan.  Add your vegetables and saute until crisp tender and the mushrooms have browned.  Add back your sausage and warm through.  Spoon filling into potato skins (you could top with a little cheese if you would like) and then top with an egg of your choice.  Sprinkle with cilantro.  *note:  you could also add in your potato middles and brown them after your meat.  I chose to save those for another day.

Surgery and Lazy Chicken

I've been out of commission for a week or so, not because of a vacation or anything fun, but because I had some minor surgery last week.  I have been sick for quite some time and I needed to have my gallbladder out.  I had that done and I'm recovering well.  Because of that I haven't been doing any cooking (or much of anything for that matter).  I have wonderful neighbors and family that have brought my crew dinner so that I could just rest.  Husband has been taking over my homeschool duties and it has been a nice week of recovery.  Now it's time to get back to life.  Honestly, I haven't been the best patient.  I don't really enjoy laying around.  I'm excited to get back to school, housework (well maybe not that) and cooking real food.  While I've been down we utilized easy food that was quick for my husband to prepare.  One of his favorite things is what we call Lazy Chicken.  It's a slow cooker meal, and I'm pretty sure everyone has a version of it.  It calls for cream of mushroom soup, something I normally avoid like the plague.  But, my family enjoy's it and it really is a lazy recipe.  Enjoy!

Lazy Chicken

6 to 8 frozen boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
1 family size can cream of mushroom soup
1 8 oz block cream cheese
3 TBSP butter
1 envelope dry italian dressing packet.

Put everything in the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6 to 8 hours.  When fully cooked use a fork and shred the chicken.  Stir to combine (the cream cheese sometimes stays lumpy until you stir it a bit).  Serve over rice.

90 Day Book of Mormon Challenge

I am part of an amazing group of women called The Eliza R. Snow Association.  We get together each month to sing, pray, read amazing books, and discuss ways to better ourselves and our families.  In our last meeting someone mentioned this challenge and I've been so excited to start!  It's the 90 Day Book Of Mormon Challenge.  It's not what you might be thinking.  You don't read the whole Book of Mormon in 90 days, you read it 3 TIMES in 90 days!  Each time through you are focusing on different things.

1st 30 days:  Highlight anything that talks about how God deals with his children
2nd 30 days:  In a different color highlight anything that talks about Gods atonement
3rd 30 days:  In a different color highlight anything that likens the scriptures to you

You read about 18 pages a day.  Here's a printable schedule that you can use for a book mark.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkXdPMkcfwTWdElLLVpZa0xKSUlueC0wSjRFNHoyZnc&hl=en#gid=0

I hope that you can join me in this challenge!  Let me know how it's going. 
More spiritual enlightenment here: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng&format=general-conference&view=sessions&media