funny saying

How do you expect kids to listen to their parents when Tarzan lives half naked, Cinderella comes back home at midnight, Pinocchio lies all the time, Aladdin is the king of thieves, Batman drives at 320 KM/h, Sleeping Beauty is lazy and Snow White lives with 7 guys. We shouldn't be surprised when kids misbehave they get it from their story books.

Rattlesnake

Natalie-here is the rattlesnake story I told you about on Facebook.......yes I refer to myself as the rattlesnake.  Kyle's lucky like that.  :)


Many years ago, Indian youths would go away in solitude to prepare for manhood. One such youth hiked into a beautiful valley. There he fasted, and on the third day, as he looked up at the surrounding mountains, he noticed one tall, rugged peak. I will test myself against that mountain, he thought. He put on his buffalo-hide shirt, threw his blanket over his shoulders, and set off to climb the peak.
When he reached the top, he stood on the rim of the world. He could see forever, and his heart swelled with pride. Then he heard a rustle at this feet, and looking down, he saw a snake. Before he could move, the snake spoke: "I am about to die. It is too cold for me up here and I am freezing. There is no food and I am starving. Put me under your shirt and take me down to the valley." "No," said the youth, "I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you will bite me and I will die." "Not so," said the snake. "I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, you will be special. I will not harm you." The snake had beautiful markings and was very persuasive. Finally, the youth tucked the snake under his shirt and carried it down to the valley. There he laid it gently on the grass, when suddenly the snake coiled, rattled, and struck, biting the youth on the leg. "But you promised!" cried the youth. "You knew what I was when you picked me up," said the snake as it slithered away.

*There are lots of church talks that use this story in a much better manner than I do!  There is one really good one by Pres. Hinckley.  HERE
*Also I need to clarify, not so much in the "I'm going to bite you and kill you kind of way", more so the "maybe I don't shave my legs every day kind of way".  You know, hot stuff like that :)

YO-Gurt

This is my new favorite thing.  We use it instead of sour cream on tacos, instead of mayo in chicken salad, and cream cheese in some recipes.  And, whatever else I feel like experimenting with.  I really like it, and can't tell a difference, and it's MUCH healthier!   I know that you are all loving my photo skills right now, and yes I did take the picture just for this post.  That's dedication. 

Oreo Truffles!

Ok so Danny and I are mildly obsessed with these now. I have made them twice in the last week. I first had these at a chocolate extravaganza I went to in DC and I went on a mad search for a recipe. You have to like Oreos to like these, because they taste like an Oreo that has been dipped in milk... except richer. I think I just proved how awful I am at explaining things.

Ingredients:
1 package Oreo cookies
1 (8 oz) package Cream Cheese, softened
2 (8 oz) packages Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted (I used choc chips)

Directions:
Crush cookies to fine crumbs using blender, food processor, or crush up in a bag using your muscles! Place in medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended. Roll cookie mixture into balls, about 1 inch. Dip balls in chocolate; place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator.

Side notes:
I heated up the cream cheese for about 45 seconds and added it a little at a time until I got a consistency that would allow the cookie crumbs to roll into a ball. I did not use the full amount of cream cheese in the recipe.

I refrigerated the oreo balls for an hour before I rolled them in chocolate so they would hold together better when I dipped them in chocolate. To dip them easier, I rolled them around in the chocolate and took them out using two forks to allow extra chocolate to drip off.

If you search for oreo truffles online, you will see tons of different ways to decorate them! (Or just look at the link I embedded) I think I might do these for Christmas neighbor gifts!

Abbie Shoes

I tried making Abbie shoes.  These ended up being too small for her.  I was pretty upset, but I'm over it now because I found some really cute shoes that fit her at the salvation army for $2.  My days of making shoes might just be over. 

Guitless Alfredo Sauce and Creamy Pesto Pasta

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

2 C low-fat milk
1/3 C (3 oz) low fat cream cheese
2 T flour
1 t salt
1 T butter
3 garlic cloves
1 C grated Parmesan cheese

Toss the milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in a blender.

Process until smooth and set aside. In a non-stick sauce pan, melt butter on med-high heat and add garlic. Stand above the pan (but not close enough to scald your face) and inhale. Ahhh…butter and garlic. Okay, now get cooking again. Let the garlic saute for about 30 seconds, you don’t want to burn it. It should be nice and bubbly like this:

Then add milk mixture to the pan. Stir constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until it just comes to a simmer. Keep stirring and let it cook for a few minutes more. It should be much thicker now.


When it’s nice and thickened remove the pan from the heat. Add the cheese, stir it up and then cover immediately. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before using. It will continue to thicken upon standing. Also, if you have leftovers in the fridge, the sauce will thicken almost into a solid. Just re-heat and add a little milk and it will be back to normal again.
I use this sauce for so many things. Here’s a few ideas:
-Over pasta (obviously)
-As a dip for breadsticks
-As a sauce on pizza (this is the garlic cream sauce I was referring to in this recipe) and a half batch of sauce covers 2 medium pizza’s.
-Mix it with pesto for a creamy pesto sauce (so good)
-Mix it with marinara for a creamy marinara sauce

This clocks in at around 100 calories for 1/4 C sauce!

Creamy Pesto Pasta

print recipe text only
1/2 batch Guiltless Alfredo Sauce1/2 lb Farfalle/Bowtie Pasta  (or a little over 3 cups dry pasta)
3.5 oz Pesto (that’s about 1/3 cup, or 1/2 of a 7oz container they sell in stores)
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes 
3C mushrooms
3T pine nuts
Parmesan cheese
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
black pepper
Preheat oven to 425.
1. Prepare your Guiltless Alfredo sauce. When it’s finished, just make sure it’s covered and set it aside.
2. Place a large stock pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil.
3. Remove stems from mushrooms and slice. Place tomatoes and mushrooms on a foil-lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil (3-4 T should do it) toss with your fingers making sure everything is coated and then lightly sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Cook in the pre-heated oven for 12-15 minutes. You can tell the tomatoes are ready when the skins start to split. Don’t overcook them or they’ll be mush!

4. When water comes to a boil add a little salt and the pasta.

5. Toast pine nuts: Place nuts in a dry skillet on med heat. Stir constantly. They will start to turn glossy which means the oils are releasing. Then they’ll start to brown. (have you checked your pasta? go check your pasta) Let them get golden brown and then remove them from the pan to cool. It should take about 7-10 minutes total.

6. Your pasta should be done, drain it if you haven’t already.
7. Add pesto to alfredo sauce and stir to combine well.
8. Tomatoes and mushrooms should be done about now, take them out of the oven.
Put it all together! Place pasta in a large bowl and combine with as much sauce as you need. Place tomatoes and mushrooms on top and sprinkle on lots of fresh parmesan cheese. Sprinkle pine nuts on top and serve.

Serves 4-6

Hawaiian Haystacks

Some how our family missed out on this "Mormon" traditional meal.   The only time I even really remember eating these was once at Bear Lake when Aunt Dorothy made them.  Anyway I thought I would give them a try today.  I wanted something easy, that I could do in the crock pot and also gluten free since Glen's dad was coming for dinner.  Anyway after looking at several recipes that all seemed pretty bland I decided to just adapted a couple, so here is what I came up with.

3 Frozen Chicken Breast in crock-pot

1/4 C melted Butter then stir in 1 Chicken Gravy Packet then dump on top.

 Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Then, I took out the chicken and shreded it, which took 2 mins becasue it was so soft it was just falling apart.  The trick with the crockpot is to not add water or alot of liquid when cooking meat.  Your meat turns out way better with minimal water.  Also I usually don't cook with butter, but I've found with chicken in the crock pot the addition of a little butter makes the chicken WAY better (soft, not dry, etc)  Anyway put shredded chicken back and add  1 can cream of Chicken Soup and 1 can Evaporated milk (this gives it a nice creamy consistency).  Other recipes said 1 can chicken broth, but that just sounded to runny, so I went with evaportated milk, which I love in that potato soup so I decided to try it.  It worked!   

Stir and put on warm while you are getting things ready to serve.

I threw some Thai rice in the rice cooker and cut up tomaotes, pineapple, green pepper, tomatoes, cheese, coconut and celery and chow mein noodles if you want.

Anyway I liked this sauce, it was really good.  They were a hit, so I guess we are adopting the tradition.  It is a good Sunday meal for when you are in the mood to be a lazy cook!  Clean-up is really easy and not a hard meal to put together! :)  So I thought I would share it.  Sorry if is confusing to see the recipe among all my chit chat, but you are all smart you can figure it out! :)

Chewy Granola Bars

Ingredients

3 cups Rolled oats
1 1/2 cups Rice crispy cereal
1 cup Flour
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Vanilla
2/3 cup Butter, softened
1/2 cup Honey
1/3 cup Packed brown sugar
2 cups Mix-ins: mini-chocolate chips, raisins, craisins, white chocolate chips, nuts, peanut butter chips, etc.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease cookie sheet size pan. In a large bowl combine all ingredients & mix well. Lightly press mixture into bottom of pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.

Cook's Notes

You can also add 3 tbsp wheat germ & use wheat flour to make them extra healthy! Don't over bake!!! My favorite mix ins are mini chocolate chips with coconut  or do a oatmeal raisin and add cinnamon.

Wedding pics!

Ok we finally got our wedding pictures back and there are over 1,200 of them!!! I am putting all the pictures with people from your family on CDs and I will send them to you. Here are just a few highlight pics of you guys:

... and the best for last....

That should probably be your new facebook profile picture Carrie, I mean, people need to know how gansta you are!

French Toast Bake

My family has brunch on Conference Sunday at my parents' house. Instead of making my Dad make everything, I decided to try and help out.

The meal was a hit with the adults and the kids! It is a cross between French Toast and German Pancakes (some people call them Dutch Babies or something). Note: if you do not like the texture of German Pancakes, you probably wont like this! However, I LOVE French Toast bake now!

I got the recipe from one of the thousand food blogs I stalk, and I also used the picture from the blog because I lack the ability to take good pictures.

My changes: I did not add the heavy whipping cream or the granulated sugar. The streusel has enough sugar to compensate the sweetness and whipping cream is really not necessary. I also tripled the amount of cinnamon in the streusel because I love me some cinnamon :)

Cinnamon Baked French Toast
Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman
1 loaf French Bread
8 large eggs
2 cups milk
½ cup heavy whipping cream
¾ cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
Streusel Topping:
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
1. Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Tear or cut French bread into 1 - 2 inch cubes, and evenly place in the pan.
2. Mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla extract. Pour evenly over bread. Cover pan with saran wrap and store in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add butter pieces and cut into the mixture using a fork or your hands. Combine until the mixture resembles sand with a few pea sized chunks. Cover and store mixture in the refrigerator.
4. When you’re ready to bake preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle crumb mixture over the top of casserole. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the French toast is set and golden brown. *** Mine was done at 40 mins so make sure to check on it!
5. Serve warm with maple syrup.