For Peggy...

See ya in Vernal!!!

Emergency Specific Food Storage

So if a picture is worth a thousand words, then does this picture give you any clue how my weekend went? Yeah, it wasn't pretty. Anyway, as soon as I was feeling better, I decided that I needed to make a little corner of our food storage to be set aside for just those special items needed when our family is going through the dreaded tummy troubles. All your favorite "B.R.A.T." diet items and a few extras. You see, while my amazing hubby was able to work from home on Monday so I could have a day of recovery, he still had to work which meant being on the phone pretty much all day. So when I requested a simple cup of applesauce around noon it slipped his mind and he brought it after a rather pathetic reminder around 1pm. Really not complaining - he was very busy and was making sure the kids were fed and where they needed to be - and I am very grateful for that. But I thought that if we put all the supplies in a specific location, then next time maybe it will be easier to locate said applesauce. So my contribution to emergency preparedness for the month is to prepare for an emergency that unfortunately is almost guaranteed to occur on a fairly regular basis.

April Fool's Day Juice

I like to trick my kids at least a little bit on April Fool's Day. Last night I made apple juice gelatin and poured it in juice glasses. With the addition of a straw, it looked exactly like regular apple juice. Spencer enjoyed it the most. He was the only one that actually picked up the juice to drink it and couldn't get anything through the straw. Matthew and Emmarsyn moved the straws first and discovered it that way. There was a lot of giggling from the boys . Not so much Em - I should have let her sleep, but made the mistake of getting her up to enjoy the prank. Newsflash to me - sleepy 4 year olds do not enjoy pranks. Overall it was very fun and easy - always a great combination.

Juice Gelatin
2 cups juice (divided)
1 packet unflavored gelatin (Knox)
1 T sugar (optional)

Sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold (mine was room temp) juice. Boil 1 1/2 cups juice. Add hot juice to cold juice and gelatin. Add sugar. Stir until completely dissolved - up to 5 minutes. Pour into juice glasses and add a straw. Chill until firm.

(I ended up making a second batch to fill up four glasses. So maybe just double it up front.)

A Suessical Day

Matthew has been all about Dr. Suess lately. We listen to his books in the car and read them every night at bedtime. Since we have such a fanatic in the house, we decided to celebrate his birthday this year. March could use an extra holiday anyway.

How to Win a Chili Cook-off

Just like in real estate, it's all about location. I have taken the same chili to our ward chili cook-off at least 3 times. This year I won. Now, personally, I believe my chili is pretty darn good and could have won 3 years ago, but I never got the "sweet spot" on the table. The "sweet spot" being right next to the bowls. So this year, we took the chili over just a few minutes early to test my location theory. And while it wasn't exactly a scientifically valid experiment, I think we proved that the "sweet spot" matters. To borrow another real estate term, I also did a little "staging" by putting bowls of Fritos, cheese, and green onions in front of my chili. If location isn't enough to sell a bowl of chili, Fritos certainly can seal the deal.

I thought I would post my recipe now that it is award winning. My mom actually got this recipe a church dinner years ago.

Chili
1lb extra lean ground beef
2 onions, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
3 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
2 15oz cans diced tomatoes (do not drain)
2 15oz cans kidney beans (do not drain)
1 6oz can tomato paste
2 bay leaves
2 T chili powder
1 t salt
1 t curry powder
1 t paprika
2 t ginger

Sautee ground beef, bacon, onion, and green pepper. Add all ingredients to a large pot. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 3 hours.

A few tips and tweaks -

• I always double the recipe. If you are chopping 2 onions and 2 green peppers you might as well chop 4 of each. It freezes really well so leftovers are not a problem.
• I cook the bacon first until it is crisp, then remove it and pour off the grease. Then I sautee the onions, green peppers, and ground beef.
  
• For the big competition Saturday night, I added 1 T of sugar, about 1 t of garlic powder, and a few dashes of red wine vinegar at the end. I had never tried these before, but seeing as I won, it obviously didn't hurt.
• And, of course, serve with Fritos and shredded cheese. I usually don't do the green onions, but I figured for staging purposes a bit of color would be a good idea.

(I got a trophy for winning but it is going to be kept on display at the church, so the boys made trophies and a crown for me Sunday morning. Amazing what you can do with a few pipe cleaners.)

Yet Another Cheap Magazine Subscription

Click here for a link for a one year subscription to Taste of Home magazine for $4 with tax. You can actually buy up to 4 for that price so it could make for a great birthday present too.

The Doughnut Conundrum

The doughnut conundrum stemmed from our decision to hold Family Home Evening on Sunday nights instead of Monday nights. Between t-ball games and baseball practices we could no longer even pretend that FHE was going to happen on Mondays. All was going well until Spencer wanted doughnuts for the treat last week. We don't shop on Sundays, nobody wanted day old doughnuts, and I am afraid of yeast - hence the conundrum. As I pondered the situation, I recalled a friend mentioning that they made "doughnuts" with refrigerated biscuit dough. So I got a couple of cans and last night we gave it a shot. I must say it was awesome. They were fun, easy, yummy, the perfect size, and there's not much cuter than miniature doughnut holes. The only part that added a little extra effort and clean up was the request for glazed and chocolate donuts as well as powdered sugar and cinnamon sugar donut holes. But since the rest was so simple, I felt I could oblige.

Here are a few pictures of the process and the results. (It wasn't my best work aesthetically, but I am getting over strep throat so I was just thrilled that it happened and that everybody loved them.)

A couple of tips if you try this: make sure the oil is very hot so they don't get greasy - ours ended up being around 400 degrees; watch them closely - they took only 15-20 seconds to cook; using the spoon-like spatula really helped with the holes since they had to be put in separately and gathered up within about about 10 seconds.

Father's Day Cupcakes

The boys and I made these cupcakes today while Bruce was taking his 3 hour Father's Day nap (probably his best gift of all). I found the idea here. The nap may have extended to 4 hours had the boys not been so excited for him to come up and see the cupcakes and his cards and gift. After we all had a cupcake, Bruce proved that he was in fact "World's Best Dad" by cleaning all the crumbs and frosting smears left by Emmarsyn - not to mention the boys.

Happy Father's Day Bruce!

Free Cone Day!

(and mine too!!!)

On April 1 my Google calendar has a reminder to check the date for Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day. This year I couldn't wait and checked on March 31. The big day is Tuesday, April 21.

Here's how it works for any Free Cone Day rookies. Ben & Jerry's serves nothing but cones from noon to 8pm. You get in a remarkably fast line and when you get to the front, you pick your flavor. No shakes, sundaes, etc. But really - aren't B&J's flavors kind of like a sundae in a scoop?

Find a participating location (or perhaps two) in your area.

Enjoy!

Bruce's BBQ Pork Quesadillas

Thursday night I sprained my foot playing basketball so Bruce came home early Friday to help with kids, make dinner, etc. That afternoon I came across a recipe for BBQ Chicken Quesadillas on one of my favorite food blogs. I happened to have leftover BBQ pork and tortillas in the fridge so I gave Bruce a few instructions and he came through with an amazing dinner.

Bruce's BBQ Pork Quesadillas
Leftover BBQ pork (recipe below)
Shredded cheese (we used cheddar)
Corn (we used frozen white corn)
Black beans
Flour tortillas
Butter
Butter your tortillas. Pile on other ingredients as desired. Grill until golden.

BBQ Pork
This is one of my favorite recipes because it is so easy and versatile and it makes a ton.
3lb boneless pork roast - trim as much fat as possible (you can use a beef roast if you prefer)
1 envelope onion soup mix
20ish oz Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce (I suppose you could use another brand but personally I don't think it would be as good and Ray's is actually a really good deal if you buy it at Costco.)

Put roast in a slow-cooker. Sprinkle with soup mix and then cover with BBQ sauce. Cook on low for 10-12 hours until it shreds easily with a fork.

We also use the leftovers to make "pizzas" on pita bread. They are really good with cheese, garlic bread seasoning, and diced tomatoes. I have thought about doing a "Hot Pockets" kind of thing with the leftovers too, but haven't gotten around to it.

My Favorite "Go-To" Treat Recipe

Yesterday at 3pm I knew I needed a pretty decent treat for my Cub Scout den. They are all just about ready to get their Webelos badges and we were doing some pretty boring stuff to pass off the last few requirements. So I pulled out my trusty brownie recipe and before they got to my house at 4pm, the brownies were out of the oven and well into the cooling process.

I love this recipe because -
1. it calls for melted butter - no remembering to take the butter out of the freezer 12 hours before I actually want to make them (this is a huge selling point for me)
2. i can use chocolate chips which I always have around
3. it is very quick to get together and only takes 25 mintues to bake
4. the brownies are just plain yummy and always come out perfectly

So I just thought I would share this family (and Cub Scout) favorite. If anyone has a great recipe to share, post it on your blog and leave a comment with a link. I love getting new recipes - especially when they are tried-and-true.

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Brownies:
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
1/2 cup unsalted butter (you can use regular butter - just decrease salt to 1/4 tsp.)
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted (This is part of the original recipe from Kraft Foods. My boys won't eat nuts so I have never added them. But I bet it would be tasty.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 6 oz. of the chocolate chips and the butter in large microwaveable bowl. Microwave for 2 min (stirring every 30 seconds) or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Add sugar; mix well. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, salt, and pecans until well blended. Stir in remaining 2 oz. of chocolate chips. I usually throw in about half a handful more just to be safe.

Spread into greased 8- or 9-inch square baking pan. (Here is a little thing I do...after spraying the pan, I coat the bottom with a thin layer of sugar. Same technique you use when flouring a cake pan. The brownies come out very easily and it is a nice treat on the bottom of your treat.)

Bake 22 to 25 min or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. Do not overbake. (For me it is exactly 25 minutes.) Cool in pan on wire rack. (The original recipe says to melt the remaining 2 oz. of chocolate chips and drizzle over the brownies. I prefer to just mix them in like I wrote in the recipe. Seems like the drizzling method would exponentially increase the messiness factor with my kids.) Cut into 16 squares to serve.

The Elmo Cake

I must admit I was pretty pleased with how the cake turned out. I was really not ready for Elmo to be sliced and eaten a mere hour and a half after I finished him. Oh well, I suppose that was the point.

Bag Meals

I tend to get excited about weird things. Often rather mundane things. Today it is the concept of "bag meals". The idea is to find a recipe that consists of mostly non-perishable items, pre-measure them if possible, and put them all in a bag. When you need a quick meal, add one or two perishable items and voila, you have a complete dinner at a moment's notice. In Relief Society, volunteers were asked to taste test a "bag meal". As Spencer says, "Mom loves free things", so I was all over that. We tested out a beef stroganof recipe. While the dish left much to be desired, I loved the concept. Since the stroganof wasn't going to happen again, I set out on a search for a new recipe. I found one with just a few ingredients that were - as a bonus - really cheap! Tomato,Beef & Noodle Skillet Dinner - very simple but actually quite tasty even to me and I am not a huge fan of ground beef dishes. On days like today when we were running errands until about 5pm, it saved us from the temptation of picking up fast food. We got home, put the boys in the tub and I had dinner on the table before they were finished flooding the bathroom.

So here it is. If anybody has other recipes that can be adapted to the bag theory, please feel free to share.

Tomato, Beef & Noodle Skillet Dinner
Serves 4
Bag Contents:
2 14 ½ ounce cans stewed tomatoes
1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni (Can add more to stretch the meal a bit.)
¼ cup dry chopped onion
1 t salt
1 t chili powder
1 t garlic powder
¼ t ground pepper
¼ t sugar
(I add a dash or two of curry powder and ginger as well.)

Add:
½ lb ground beef (The original recipe called for 1lb.)

Cook and drain macaroni. Sautee ground beef with dried onion. Add tomatoes and seasonings. (I use a potato masher to crush the tomatoes as the kids - and I - do better with fewer "chunks".) Stir and cook until bubbly. Stir in macaroni and serve. (Additional ingredients such as fresh or frozen vegetables and cheese may be added to taste.)