halloween

Friday was our ward Halloween party. It was really fun. The Bishop and his wife dressed up as Mr. Fredrickson and Russel from Up.
Rachel got to trick or treat from doors in the church and ws really good at picking up a candy from the bowl when offered.
I won a ball toss on my first try and got Rachel the pumpkin Frisbee. Josh did the putting and did it on the first try as well.
There was a costume contest for the kids with a first second and third place and one for the adults with about 4 categories one award each. Me, Josh and Rachel won the superhero/cartoon category beating out a Zelda and link along with others.

TGI Fridays sizzling chicken and cheese

This recipe is from the cookbook mom and dad got me for christmas last year called America's most wanted recipes: Favorite Restaurants. You need a cast iron which melts the cheese and melds everything but me and Josh both really enjoyed it. It makes a ton of veggies. I added marinara sauce to the leftover veggies for lunch or you could just make more chicken and potatoes to serve the whole family. I used red potatoes instead of russet because I love them a lot. The recpie serves 2.

Sizzling Chicken Skillet

2 4oz chicken breasts
marinade:
2 T chopped garlic
1/4 c olive oil
1tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
Veggies
1 green bell pepper cut in thin strips
1 red bell pepper cut in thin strips
1 onion cu tin thin strips
1/4 c olive oil
1 tsp chopped garlic
salt and pepper to taste

The rest
2 T olive oil
2 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 c shredded chihuahua cheese (it exists but is really hard to find use montery Jack)
2 slices American cheese (I think cheddar would have been a little better)
2 T chopped fresh parsley

1. Marinate chicken 3 hours
2. saute pepper and onions in olive oil add garlic near the end and season with a little salt and pepper.
3. Saute chicken in olive oil on all sides till cooked
4. Heat cast iron on burner until very hot.
5. place potatoes on skillet followed by the vegetables, cheese, chicken and garnish with fresh parsley. ( cheese should melt from the hot cast iron if unsure cover with foil for 1-2 min and the heat will melt everything)



Super yum!

top secrete recipies

I was looking for items to make our costumes at DI and while looking through the cookbooks I found this for $3. Normally it would be $15. I love cheap books about cooking!

molasses cookies with a kick

I tried a new cookie from my Oct/Nov taste of home. It was the second place winner in the contest of the month, cookies. It called for about half the spices I have. Which is a lot. I was actually amazed that I had them all. One of particular interest was cardamom, which has a special place in my heart.

The cookies came out awesome and soft. They won't last long. It made 4 dozen. Here is the recipe, as always if you make it I want to hear your opinion.


Molasses cookies with a kick

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root
  
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon each ground white pepper, cardamom and coriander
• 3/4 cup turbinado (washed raw) sugar

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the molasses, egg and ginger. Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves, cayenne, salt, nutmeg, white pepper, cardamom and coriander; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1-1/2 hours or until easy to handle.
• Roll into 1/2-in. balls; roll in turbinado sugar. Place 3 in. apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

inching along

Rachel is now inching along when she can. She is really going and trying to stand as much as possible.

P F Changs mongolian beef

I as searching around the internet trying to uncover the secrets of panda expresses food and I discovered a recipe swearing to be the actual recipe for P F Changs Mongolian beef. Me and Josh had gone there to eat out one last time before Rachel was born. from some secrets I had learned it sounded pretty legit and I found the same recipe with the same claim. I tried it and it was awesome. Only adjustments were I did not use all the sauce it made and to make the brown sugar dark I added 1/4 tsp molasses. Did you know that molasses is taken out of sugar to make it white and then added back to make it brown again for brown sugar? Coll things to know.

Here is the recipe

Mongolian Beef

2 tsp veg oil
1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 Tb minced garlic
1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c water
3/4 c dark brown sugar
1 c veg oil
1 lb flank steak
1/4 c cornstarch
green onion tops cut 2 in

Sauce:heat oil slightly, add ginger and garlic ( will become fragrant), add soy sauce and water, dissolve brown sugar into it. Boil till it thickens and reduces slightly ( it wont thicken much, the cornstarch from the beef really does it)
Thinly slice the flank steak across the grain so it is tender ( this is easier when slightly frozen). Toss in cornstarch to coat. Heat oil in wok. Fry the beef. drain oil from wok. add back the meat and add the onion, wilt slightly, add sauce as desired, toss and heat, serve.

Springville Art Museum

If you live close to the museum and you have not been here reciently you should go. Me and Rachel came today to see what there was to see there was some really fun art inside even the lower level had art picked out to demonstrate color principles for children. The Best however was the sculpture garden. I have been her many times but the garden wasn't open yet. Today it was and right now it is beautiful. many flowers and roses are in bloom, the vines have grown and decorated the walls, apples hang like ornaments from manicured trees and the weather is perfect to be outside. One of my favorite things was a fishsculputre on the patio area. Carved of marble the artist picked the perfect piece. The colors ans streaks really remind me of a colorful fish under shimmering water.

more ducks

ducks

duck

She's gonna catch those ducks

More crawling

Just more crawling

She is so cute and has mastered the sit and crawl. She wants to eat the camera too!

Crawling

Rachel is only 6 months old and has mastered the crawl. It takes a lot of cleaning and energy to keep up with her. Today she managed to completely pull her self up on the crib, slightly leaning over the rail so down another level it went. She is bigger than the boy below us who is 1 1/2 -2 months older.

She grows so fast!

Panda express ideas

I found a copycat recipe for their Beijing beef. I was not all that I had hoped. The sauce was really like a sweet and sour sauce and not at all what I was looking for. However I did get a technique from the recipe that was very helpful. The beef has a coating on it and this recipe seemed to get it. The beef was cut and marinated in egg, salt, water and cornstarch. then it was dredged in cornstarch and fried. the coating on the beef was good and it picked up the sauce like you want it to.

Now I just need to figure out the sauce.

Vegetables have always been easy and right.

Poem: Recipe

I didn't have potatoes,

so I substituted rice.

Didn't have paprika,

So I used another spice.

I didn't have tomato sauce,

so I used tomato paste.

A whole can not a half can-

I don't believe in waste.

My friend gave me the recipe-

she said you couldn't beat it.

There must be something wrong with her,

I couldn't even eat it.

This poem is not of my making but I thought it was to funny not to share.

first taste

This was Rachel's first taste of semisolid food not counting the things she found when I wasn't looking. She left me a piece of grass in her diaper. Woops!

spicy peppers

I am reading a book about food called the shameless carnivore. In the book the man is trying 31 different meats in 31 days. He is making rattlesnake and decided as suggested on the package of meat that he make it into a chili. As with many chilies it necessitated cutting up peppers. If you don't wear gloves watch out and wash really well or beware! After cutting the peppers and lightly washing his hands he scratched his nose and also accidentally took a big whiff. Here is an excerpt from the book.

" this is what it felt like: Imagine an ice cream headache. Now imagine that the ice cream flavor is "searing pain." It is not a pleasant experience. Your head is filled with what you assume to be boiling carbolic acid that is moments away from liquefying your gray matter, your nose begins to leak uncontrollably, your eyes redden and swell as though you'd been punched in the face by a gorilla, after which comes wave after wave of coughing and nausea...and there is simply nothing you can do but sit there and endure it. Spiciness has no complete remedy but time. So I sat down in a comfortably chair, took some long, measured breaths (through my mouth- my nose was still dribbling a clear,spicy liquid that, for all I knew, used to be part of my brain), and assured myself that the worst would be over in about thirty or forty-five minutes, which it was. At least I only touched my nose, I thought with great relief when the pain in my face had diminished to a moderate tingle; I couldn't bear to imagine what would have occurred had I instead tried to remove a stray lash from my eyeball or, elsewhere.


Peppers can be dangerous.

fruit or vegetable?

By definition many of the plants we assume are vegetables because of how we eat them are not what they seem.

Fruit - Reproductive part of plant meant to be eaten to distribute seeds

Vegetable- any part of the plant besides the fruit that is consumed ex: leaves, stems, roots tubers ect.

You thought it was a fruit but it's a veg:
rubarb
Let me know if you think of others

You thought it was a vegetable but it's a fruit:
Tomatoes
peppers
green beans
snap and snow peas
zucchini
squash
cucumbers
olives
ect.

Now you know.