Hmmmm....

I love to cook. It is soothing. However, I do not enjoy the sounds of a crying Mikey, a screaming Ellie and a laughing Alexis while I do it. I cook despite the chaos because I like to eat and I love to watch others enjoy my food. Today I tried a new recipe: Zucchini Rice Casserole. You can find the recipe here.


It calls for zucchini but Brian doesn't care for that vegetable so I used yellow squash. I don't like jalapenos so I used a different pickled pepper. I like this dish. It is a little spicy but it was just what a cold winter day calls for. Earlier in the day I made rice crispy treats with chocolate covered preztle fish for our Family Home Evening treat.


After dinner I didn't feel like a lesson and the kids were driving me crazy. So while I held Mikey and calmed him down, I sang songs with Brian. Then we ate our treat and watched Two Brothers. It's a movie about two tigers. It was a nice movie. Ellie and Alexis liked it. Alexis laughed at the tigers and for some reason it compelled Ellie to dance. It's been a long day and Mikey is crying again. oh well....

Trying to be Deceptive (Evil raised eyebrow)

Last week I tried a Deceptively Delicious recipe. She is all about pureeing veggies and adding them to her dishes. I made the Mac & Cheese 1 recipe. Brian and Alexis liked it. Ellie not so much (but Ellie doesn't seem to eat anything lately). When I told Brian that there was cauliflower in it, he was surprised. Anyways, I will try some of the other recipes.



Today I made one of Brian's favorite dishes that his Mom makes: Sweet and Sour Baked Beans. He even had her teach me how to make it while we were in Hawaii. It turned out well. We had a dinner party for a family whose father was baptized today. I also made my Grandma Doty's Scalloped Corn as a side dish (Love you Grandma. Happy Birthday!!!). Good food and good company. (I cut my finger preparing the garlic. We have really sharp knives.)




Umm .... unfortunately our camera is out for repairs and the flash is not working on the one that we have so the picture does not do my dish justice and the one of my corn is really bad.

Nov 2009 Slideshow

Oct 2009 slideshow (see post below for Halloween pics)

Oh What a Joy It Is...

Brian and I took the kids out to see a house that had their lights choreographed to music. As we turned onto the street, Alexis said that she had to throw up. I asked her if she really did and she said no. Not a moment later she had done what exactly she said she had to do. Brian was grossed out from watching her in the rear view mirror. He pulled the car over so I could see the damage and to take care of Alexis. When we got out Brian started to gag from the smell. I started laughing because he was having such difficulty helping. Then Brian threw up a little and I laughed harder and ended up losing control of my bladder just a little. Poor Alexis was sitting in the back of the van covered, Brian was on the curb unable to help himself and I was standing there laughing in the freezing cold wetting myself. (I am okay with myself to share that).

The situation was too funny not to share.

We went to the house and watched the lights for a little and then we drove home with the windows down because we could not stand the smell anymore. Anyways, all is well. Parenthood is great!

Christmas Eve lava flowing into ocean

We spent Christmas Eve in Volcanoes National Park and watching lava flow into the ocean just out of the park. It was a bit unconventional but we hope you all enjoy our version of Christmas lights.

Mikey laughing (among other things)

Leah was bouncing Mikey on her knee and he was laughing, so I grabbed the camera.

A Long Day

Today we went to Stake Conference in Vicksburg. It isn't that long of a drive. However, after missing a morning nap and being in new surroundings for two hours with constant stimulation it is long enough to take a nice snoozer. I was sitting in the back seat because we were taking an newly ordained Elder home and I couldn't help myself. They were too cute. I love to look at my babies while they are sleeping.

Precious Moments

Here is Alexis playing with Mikey. They are so cute. We do have precious moments amongst the chaos.

Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Last Sunday both Brian and I were prompted to invite a family over for dinner. After the invite, we found that one of the family members is a vegetarian. So I set out to find a recipe for our family to try since almost all of my meals include meat. I found this recipe for Sweet Potato Enchiladas. It sounded a little different but we are always up to try something new. Come to find out these are really good. We made two pans. One pan with red enchilada sauce and one with green enchilada sauce. In the future we will only make them with the green sauce. We served them with Spanish Rice and black beans. It was so good. I forgot to take a picture of them. Oh well. After dinner we played Star Wars Epic Duels (always a hit).

Anyways, good company and good food. A great night had by all.

Yum Yum Brownie Muffins

I have been trying to eat better but still enjoy the flavors. I got this recipe from my daily Hungry Girl email. It has only two ingredients: pumpkin and chocolate cake mix. It is so easy to make and doesn't taste that bad.

1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 can solid pack pumpkin (15 oz.)

Directions:
Mix the two ingredients together. Don't add anything else that may be mentioned on the box, such as eggs, oil, or water. The mixture will be very thick and you will be tempted to add in other things to make the batter smoother. DO NOT DO THIS AS IT WILL RUIN EVERYTHING! Place batter into muffin tins (or mini muffin tins) lined with paper, or sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes 12 regular or 36 mini muffins.

Updates

We finally got some updated slideshows up on here. We're only one month behind now. Hope you all enjoy.

Trip to the UP

Monday the new Saturday

I am so tired from the weekend that I have declared that Monday will be my do nothing day. I just want to spend the whole day in my jammies. Isn’t that what you are supposed to do on Saturdays? Well, to a certain point in the day and then you have to get ready. Maybe in time for dinner and Family Home Evening…

Sept 2009 Slideshow