The week of Thanksgiving and all through the house...

Food. Food is good. Food is fun. Last night I baked zucchini bread with chocolate chips. Turned out fantastic! Crispy on the top, moist in the center. Yum! I didn't take any pictures. But speaking of pictures, I wanted to put some cute ones up of the fam, so I am making this post about my many Thanks. :)

1. I am very grateful for my wonderful family. To be blessed with a wonderful husband. He is my best friend. He is so great to me. I am grateful that he is mine forever. My children, I am blessed to have three. With so many friends of mine that struggle with infertility even after having even one or two children, how their hearts ache for more. I am thankful for our three, whether we keep it three, or also we have talked about adopting others in the future when Jake gets older. I love children. I love that ours are big sweethearts and that I want to be around them. But yes, I feel blessed that I have had the opportunity to be able to carry three.

2. Which reminds me. I am so blessed to be able to stay at home with my kids and raise them, and be around them 24/7. I loved when I did work, and wouldn't mind it if I did again, but I am sure glad that I get to spend this precious time with the kids; they are growing so fast. Being home also allows me to care for the home and develop domestic skills like canning/sewing/menu planning/couponing, etc. I am a work in progress. But I can't wait to see how I end up! (and teaching these skills to my kids as well)

3. I am thankful for my faith in my Lord. Without my faith, I would be lost. Sometimes it is hard for me not to be driven about everytime the media says something. I think I want to go this direction or that direction. I wonder sometimes if I am doing the right things. But when I center myself and pray, I am reminded that my path is the path that gives me peace, that brings a quiet happiness, as opposed to the party lifestyle that the media portrays as being the way towards happiness. I know I have a Father in Heaven, a brother that died on the cross for me, so that I can repent and try again. I am grateful for repentance as it gives me a clean slate, which gives me joy, instead of misery, that I am a horrible person for the things I have done. I also love the eternal perspective that was reminded to me on Sunday in Relief Society, when we discussed how the Lord knows our Spirits, and knew us before we came here, and so we feel bad about ourselves, but our vision is so small about who we really are. It's a beautiful thought, and I love it. I am more than I am now. And God loves all of me. I try to think of that when I am hating on  myself.

4. I am grateful that I live in the United States of America. What a blessing! I know it has it's imperfect moments, and right now there is drama, but the fact that I can walk down the street and do what I want, that I can go to what church I want, have what job I want, raise my kids the way I want, marry whom I want... FREEDOM, it's fantastic. I love the American Flag. I love our military fighting for my family's freedom. I am grateful for the protection I have here. I am grateful that our set-up isn't so corrupt, that we can't even trust the police (I'm sure there are bad experiences out there, but for the most part). Anyway, I am glad I get to vote, that there aren't shootings and trampelings and threats and all these problems for who we get to decide who goes into office. I am grateful for a President, not a King, or a Prime Minister. I am grateful we have a checks and balance system. I know the Founding Fathers were inspired, and although they were not perfect, they did their best. I am grateful for freedom of speech. That we don't live in a country that censors what we can see on the internet. I am grateful I can blog about whatever I want. :)

5. I am grateful to have a roof over my head, electricity and running water, clothing, bedding, that I and my family can read and write. I am grateful that we are not starving but can go to the grocery store and basically pick whatever it is we feel like eating.

6. I am MOST definitely grateful for me and my family being healthy. I know this is huge!! The fact that we can see, and walk and hear and are not in a hospital or doubled over in pain, or having to be on any medications. Whenever I do have a problem, I feel such empathy for those who struggle with health problems every single day.

7. So on that I am sorry if I haven't been a better person because of these blessings. I am sorry if I haven't been a better friend, mother, daughter, or person in the community. I am sorry if I hurriedly passed you by if you were in need of a helping hand. I hope to be better, every single day. Please forgive me and know that I am working on being better. Please ask me for help if you need it. I get so caught up in my brain that sometimes I don't really stop and look around. I hope I haven't offended anyone, I really try not to. :) I do put my foot in my mouth from being opinionated.

8. If I know you and you are reading this, I am lucky to know you. Thank you for all that you have done for me or my family. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and know that we are more blessed because of you!

Cheers!

Happenings

Today I am recovering from a Strep infection in my leg, sewing patches on Kev's work shirt (company logo) and trying to sew Rach's dress. Beef jerky is also dehydrating. And awaiting the word from a house we are trying to rent. We hope to get it! When/if we do, we will put up pictures!


Jake dragged a doll stroller upstairs. He is hilarious. Gabi and Rach both have friends over and are about to go swimming. Ahh, summer days!

Quilt

I also made a couple quilt squares to go to a family in our ward, the daughter has a rare brain cancer and so we all rallied around to do something nice, and (well, there have been tons of things!) but this is one project that I helped work on. I can't wait to see what the final results are with everyone's quilt squares put together!

Beef Jerky and more, oh my!

So my pictures don't do the things I make any justice, but we sure enjoy eating what is made. The chocolate covered strawberries were made by my husband and daughters for Mother's Day. I was so surprised by their creativity.

The Chicken Black Bean Rice bake was Delish! http://picky-palate.com/2011/04/25/chicken-and-black-bean-green-enchilada-rice-bake/

And the Double Chocolate Oreo Cookies...http://picky-palate.com/2011/04/21/bakery-style-cookies-and-cream-cookies/

And I have a picture of the lemony-cream sauce that went over tortellini, the recipe is here...http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/04/tortellini-spinach-bake-in-creamy-lemon/

Fantastic! I even made this recipe again for a sister in our ward who just had a baby. It's so cool looking and good and looks complicated, but it isn't.

And then I made my family's wonderful Beef Jerky. The marinade is soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, ketchup, pepper, parsley flakes, red pepper flakes, and mash a clove of garlic to sit in the marinade as well. Then throw the thin slices of beef on the dehydrator and let it go until it is yummy, chewy jerky!

I also made salsa this week. I was telling my husband how between the chips and salsa and jerky, they made for wonderful snacks throughout the day, that curbed cravings and were satisfying. The problem is that they were both so wonderful that I would OVER eat them. HA! However, that is what I love about salsa, is that it is fresh ingredients and good for you. If I ate it with lower-sodium chips I bet that would be better for me.

And then my dear husband loves to eat cookies and he just made a wonderful batch this weekend, a classic chocolate chip but he also put in butterscotch chips and toffee pieces and I think he may have put some cinnamon candies in as well. But he made the not our normal chocolate chip recipe batch and he hand mixed it and it called for shortening (which our usual recipe doesn't use), and these came out perfectly crisp and chewy all at once and were big and rich!

He and I joked about opening our own place and calling it Biddles' Belly (Biddles is the nick-name of our son... he is a year old and walks with it stuck out and I just don't want him to loose that cute little pouch!). I enjoy having a husband that can cook. He likes to break the rules though, and that drives me crazy. He will make simple things like oatmeal, and not follow the recipe, so it doesn't always work... ha! But on things he CAN get creative on, he does a great job! Happy cooking!

Dehydration

So I guess I didn't take a picture of my corn... but I've done peas, corn, broccoli, carrots and today, mushrooms. So cool!! The carrots, that is a pound of frozen crinkle cut carrots, reduced to that amount in the jar. LOL!

My mom came to visit and has been showing me about dehydration from a YouTube video that a lady at dehydrate2store.com puts out there. She's amazing! I need to link her! Anyway, I was so impressed with how much I can store now without taking up so much space! My mom got me a yummy book called Dinner Is In the Jar, and it has cool recipes that are just about dumping from a jar or mylar bag and then adding water and maybe a meat or canned tomatoes or something, and that's it. It's cool for a delicious meal prepped fast.

So I will take pictures of the jars I make with my meals in them. My friend, Jen, inspired this as well, only she goes to those places you prepare a month of meals at a time and then store them in the freezer. These meals don't have to be stored in the freezer, and can last probably 20 years! I'm very excited!

Also, I'm anxious to expand my food storage. I went to help out at the Bishop's Storehouse and I bought some oxygen absorbers and before I left the guy working asked if I had my year supply of food. I said I was working on it, told them about the dehydration, etc. He said with the price of gas going up, that prices at the cannery were going to keep going up as well. (And they try so hard to NOT increase the prices until they absolutely have to). He was saying it is like the parable of the 10 Virgins. The 5 who were wise, had their food storage. The 5 who were foolish, waited until last minute, went out to start doing it, and the prices had gone up and so they couldn't afford to do their storage, therefore didn't have it. I thought it was interesting.

I also read an article about how an earthquake can displace water in wells (etc.) throughout the rest of the world and how in 1992 there was an earthquake in the states that ended up drying up local wells within 3 months. I'm totally butchering this quote, and I am looking for the link and it isn't up on the main USGS.gov site right now, but I could dig. Anyway, it spooked me because I don't want to have some earthquake in Alaska make it so I can't have drinking water here because it shifted it out of our wells/pipes/reservoirs, etc. So I am trying to get more bottled water stored for a just in case thing.

Oh and then Kev and I have been watching the show The Philanthropist on Hulu. It was only 8 episodes and got cancelled but it opened my eyes about ethical international business, and conditions around the world. The last one was about Haiti and it said that kids were eating cookies made of dirt/sand/oil/and salt... and I just thought, ack! (And the people were in huge lines for just a bowl of rice to feed them for that day and they usually wait in line for 3-4 hours) So I want to do what I can so that my family doesn't have to rely on government hand-outs if ever there was a problem. Now, obviously, like with the tornadoes that have happened lately, if my home got destroyed, well, at least I knew I was doing my best. But if something happened to where the government couldn't get help here and I was stuck in my home, I would be happy I had stuff on hand. Or I could help out neighbors or whatever. Anyway, I just want to be part of the solution, not the problem, as I got quoted from my parents, who are doing their CERT training. (Which I just signed Kev and I up to do, which starts in September).

But yes, the dehydration stuff... I looked into the diff of freeze dried vs. dehydration, and it says that freeze dried foods have better taste, but still weighs a little more than dehydrated. And freeze dried is more expensive, and you can't do it at home. My veggies are going to end up in soups and sauces and things that will be taking on additional flavors, so I am not too concerned if my foods don't have a super strong flavor, as long as we get the roughage and vitamins, I'm okay with it. :) But I've already had some meals my mom made as dinners in a jar (just had one tonight) and it turned out yummy! And she used dehydrated carrots and things in hers. The veggies come out beautifully colorful when hydrated again. So to me, the fact that I can do this at home, that it is literally just taking foods like peas out of the freezer and onto the dehydrator tray and then drying them about 10 hours and then putting them in a jar with an oxygen absorber, and viola, I have veggies for the next 20+ years, I'm very happy with that. So thanks for buying a new dehydrator mom, so I could have your old one. Ha!

My Enchalito Casserole, so Fab!

This dish just happened to surprise me.

Make ahead- 1 package Knorr Taco Rice, it cooks for 7 min in microwave.

Mix 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

1 small can green enchilada sauce

1 1/2-2 cups sour cream

Layer on bottom of 8x8 pan

Then tear 5 corn tortillas (I like white corn) in pieces and layer on sauce

Then sprinkle some cheddar cheese.

Then add a layer of taco rice.

Next add another layer of sauce.

Then tortillas, etc, keep layering.

After done, there should be sauce as final layer.

I added crushed up Fritos on top for fun and I had some cilantro laying around and added some of that throughout. It was SOO yummy. My 10 year old had 3 helpings and wanted it for lunch the next day. (And she had it!)

Mama Tiffany's Chicken Cacciatore

Mushrooms

Chicken Breast, chopped and sauteed in onion and garlic, till no pink

More garlic

1 can diced tomatoes

Artichokes from can, cut down a bit or separated out

Parsley flakes

Garlic salt, Seasoned salt, pepper

Could add water, or tomato sauce or a touch of cooking wine. Serve over any type of noodles you prefer. So yummy!

If I did this vegetarian style, I would take out chicken and add zucchini and maybe get button mushrooms and leave whole instead of sliced. Who knows. But it's fun to create!

The Birthday Girl!

Gabs had her 4th birthday party at the park on Wednesday and it was really fun. They day was overcast and breezy but then went to a partly cloudy afternoon. We did the party in the morning, but it went well! We had lots of friends come since it was Spring Break. Gabby got lots of nice presents, with jewelery, purses, webkinz animals, bubbles, etc. We got her a little tennis racquet and some tennis balls. She will get the rest of her gifts on her birthday day, Saturday, from the grandparents and such. Thanks to everyone who made it a special day!! We have great friends! Gabs is very happy.

Also, I like to spell her name as Gabby now, but then Kev has just told me that he likes the way we were spelling it, Gabi, and has been teaching it to her. So then I wrote both down and asked which she liked, and she pointed to the one I like, but now, she knows how to write her 'i' and likes to write her name with an i. So I have no idea how her name is going to be spelled and so I will spell it lots of different ways until she finally decides which way she likes it, and then I will let everyone know. Funny.

Pie for you, pie for me

Thanks to the wonderful website www.ourbestbites.com, I was told by my friend Jennifer about this site and the Pies-in-a-Jar recipe. Super fun!! Jen and I were supposed to make these together but her son was sick, so I went ahead and made 7 blackberry pies. The kids and I ate them as after school snacks, they were yummy! The only thing I did wrong was not add as much sugar to the filling as I thought it was going to be too sweet. After I was eating the pie I realized how pie filling and jams/jellies, are just fruit and sugar. Ha! So yeah, next time, keep the right amount of sugar. It wasn't bad, but blackberries can be really tart and the sugar helps with that. I used 3 cups of blackberries. I used my Grandma Virginia's yummy crust recipe, which is with vegetable oil. She doesn't put sugar in it, and I add sugar because I like a sweeter crust. I also doubled the crust recipe since I wasn't sure how much I would need. I didn't follow ourbestbites.com really, I just used it for the cooking time, etc.

So I have two left in the freezer, since Kev was out of town during the creation, and so we will eat them next week. These are super cute for gifts! Oh, and I got the half pint jars at HEB with the lids and all, 12 jars for $6.77. I thought that was a good deal. I LOVE HEB!

The most work for this recipe is lining the jar with the crust. I was also doing other things during this process, but it seemed that was where a lot of energy went. But I would still do it again. In fact, I plan to as I have pear pie filling my Bishop's wife gave to me that she canned lasted summer. I also didn't mention the great feature that the pie just slides right out of the jar onto a plate, it was easy to eat and clean! And you don't have to grease the jar, the oil from the crust makes it not stick.

Baked Potato Farmer Casserole

Before and After baked pictures... Yum.

This is my creation but with inspiration from the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook. I love that thing!

I am not going to put exact measurements on this recipe at the moment...

2 or 3 Cups Ore-Ida Hash Browns Southern Style, Thawed/steamed... enough to line bottom of pan (I used 8x8 for our family).

3-4 eggs beaten with a half to 3/4 cup milk mixed in. Add pepper and sea salt 1/2 tsp+). In fact, I added the salt on top of the potatoes first. Then added some to the egg mixture. The egg/milk mixture is fun to mess with as it makes the egg more fluffy and less dense when more milk is used, so I like adding more to it.

Pour egg mixture over potatoes.

Add Oscar Meyer Real Bacon Bits, enough to your liking.

Grated Cheddar cheese. Then I added crumbled Feta cheese. That is a fun flavor enhancer!

Then chopped green onions to top with.

Bake 350 for 35 min, but check on it and make sure it looks done and cheese is bubbly. I also don't like my eggs cooked hard or scorched brown, so I baby mine and check on egg type dishes regularly. In fact, whenever I bake now, I just leave the oven light on the whole time. Now I just need an eye-level oven!!

The combinations for this casserole are endless. Obviously, avacado, cilantro, salsa, green chilies, sour cream, olives, ham, you name it, could be added before/during/after. I LOVE casserole. I was also wondering about if I fried up my hash browns before lining the pan for a bit of crispness... not that the extra oil is needed, but yum, I bet that would be a tasty way to do this as well.

And the fun thing about this is it can be made (not baked) ahead of time and then when ready, remove from fridge and just throw it in the oven for 10-15 min longer.

Enjoy!

Black Forest Lava Cake

So this picture doesn't do it justice, but if you love cherries and chocolate, this is an awesome recipe!

4 tablespoons Butter

1/3 cup white sugar

3 eggs (beaten in their own bowl)

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup flour

1 1/3 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (I like Ghiradelli)

Preheat oven to 400.

Spray or butter and sugar (sprinkle to coat) muffin pan (6 or 7 muffin cups).

In my Kitchen Aid, I cream butter and sugar. Add beaten eggs. Add the vanilla, then salt. Add flour. Melt choco chips in bowl in 30 second intervals until completely melted. Add into batter and mix until blended. (Just a few seconds in the Kitchen Aid). Pour into the prepared muffin pans. Bake 8-10 min. 8 minutes seems to work great for me.

The pictures I took, I did not have my cakes turned over to look more like a mountain, but however you want to serve it, (even serving them baked in ramkins is great), dust with powdered sugar. Add cherries (cherry pie filling), and can use whipped cream, piped in for added decor/flavor. (Black Forest Cakes definition are cherries, whipped cream, and chocolate cake). I liked just having the powdered sugar. I wish I took a picture of the nice oozy center. These turned out fantastic!! I. ate. two. Ha!

Another thought was to put some cherry pie filling into the muffin pans and THEN the chocolate cake and then bake, turn it over and have the yummy cherries on top, baked into the cake. So I will try that next time. Anyway, this recipe is super fast and easy. The longest part is the melting of the chocolate chips, but totally worth it, as you get to lick the spatula after... yum!

Food

So I decided to go the food direction and post foods I've made or created on here, because I realized I am pretty passionate about it, I just really enjoy putting flavors together, so why not! And I have REALLY been enjoying the other food blogs I've been reading. It's been so inspiring.

The bad thing is, either I need to take a photography class or a different camera. I tried taking a picture of the creamy artichoke dip I made, and with the flash, it made the food all washed out. So bummed! Anyone have any tips??

So this week I made white wheat bread, salsa verde, artichoke dip, bruschetta, and now I'm going to make molten lava cakes. I have an idea for the lava cakes but first I want to try the regular recipe and then see if my idea works in the next batch. Fun to create! I'll let you know how it turns out. So yeah, bummer about not being able to post the pictures of what I've made so far...

Here is another website that I just discovered that is super cute! If you know anyone that loves food, this site is great for gift giving and having little boutique type items... http://foodzie.com/.

I will keep you posted on my lava cakes.

Okay I'm updating!

Hola~ There have been happenings! We went on a cruise to the Caribbean that Kev got through APX. It was fun. We took the kids and it was really nice. Then we came back and enrolled Rach in school so that she could have more socialization. I thought we would be doing more with other homeschoolers, but with Jake's nap schedule and stuff, it wasn't working out. Also, our little girl neighbors moved in Oct and so then Rach was really out of it, especially after volleyball ended. So I was like, okay, I got to spend a semester with her, I feel like we got what we needed out of homeschooling for now so let's put her back in. Not to say we won't ever do it again. In fact, I am thinking that when Gabs is in Kindergarten and Jake is Gabi's age, Rach will be in Jr High and it would be fun to have her out with me during that crazy transitional time. We'll see.

So here we are in January, back from the fabulous cruise and getting in the routine of things. Kev is, at this moment, back in CA doing our rock chip repair business and doing fantastic. So this is the sad thing is that we are most likely moving back to CA when our lease is up, end of July. We love it here in Austin, but our business is really successful out there, so why not keep it going?! It's most entreprenuer's dream to have a successful business and work the schedule around however you want and Kev totally has that. So yeah. Unless some other thing occurs, we will be heading back. It isn't horrible, because we have all our same friends and family there, so it will be nice. It's just hard to part with this wonderful community we have met here! But we are a pretty fluid family and adjust easily.

Anyway, Kev wants to go back to school and he also wants to get his insurance certification as well. He has always been interested in the insurance world. All our journeyings have been good to help Kev figure out what he wants to do for his life and realizing the blessings he has, etc. All of our travels have helped us get closer as well.

I'm also trying to figure out the direction of this blog. I have seen some fantastic blogs. Do I want to go informational (become another cooking blog since I love to cook)? Do I want to go opinionated (share my thoughts of what I have read, current events, etc)? Do I want to keep this more as a public journal and throw my soul out there? Stay tuned. Ha! Or maybe it will be all of it!

I also just wanted to post on here how I'm grateful for being here in Austin because without this move here, I wouldn't have met the Carlson family, the Hall family, the Zivics, Adamsons, Howas, Laura Moore, and others I am not naming because it could go on and on. But those of you who may end up reading this, know that I love you whether I named you or not! Thanks for everything you have taught me, the interests you have shared and inspired in me, the kindness you have shown to our family. This has been a wonderful time in our lives! We are truly blessed and I hope that our friendships can continue to grow no matter where we are at in this world. And of course being closer to Kev's siblings has been a plus, so Lisa, it's been fun getting to know you more since this whole time, we never got a chance to hang and get to know each other very well and now we have. I hope that relationship can continue to deepen. Especially since you are stuck with me for eternity. ha!

Oh, and those that are affected by the floods in Austrailia, Brazil, Phillipines, and S. Africa, you are in our prayers.

Happy New Year, everyone! It's going to be great.