Clawson Live

Lemon Meringue Pie

2012-02-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

My Jimmy's birthday was this last week. He's old. But you know I'm a sucker for older folks, and I will make anything he wants. I really wanted to make him a Chocolate Cream Cake, but we both decided we needed something a little smaller that could be consumed in one sitting, and not linger around temping us for days. Jimmy loves lemon. Lemon bars are his favorite, and he loves pudding-y things too. Lemon Meringue Pie was the answer. I love this pie as well, but I have yet to master the dang confection. It always looks beautiful, but it is usually weepy, soggy, and a disappointment for a cooking perfectionist. I've been known to throw a pie against the wall when it didn't cut correctly. (True story, and I am not proud of that moment. Total loss of control. Can you imagine such a thing?)

A Lemon Meringue Pie was my first attempt at pie making. I was in 8th grade, and I had just watched Julia Child make a not so pretty pie on PBS, and figured I could do it too. The pie ended up beautiful! There wasn't enough meringue to make a super tall pie, but still it was lovely. I remember eating it with relish. I don't remember if it was soggy or not. 14 year olds really don't care much.

I want to master this pie!! I need some serious help here. How do you keep the pie from getting soggy, and weepy? All comments and suggestions are welcome. Please pass along your Lemon Meringue Pie wisdom. Someone out there must have this pie down to an art- love me, and help me here:) I've got the crust, the lemon curd, all down and maybe I should just be happy with that. Maybe we'll just start topping our Lemon Meringue Pie with billows of whipped cream---------now that just might be an excellent answer!

Lemon Meringue Pie

recipe courtesy of Kingsford Cornstarch

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup Argo® or Kingsford's® Corn Starch

1-1/2 cups cold water

3 egg yolks, slightly beaten

Grated peel of 1 lemon

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon butter OR margarine

1 baked (9-inch) pie crust

3 egg whites

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon Argo Corn Starch

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine 1 cup sugar and corn starch in medium saucepan. Gradually stir in water until smooth. Stir in egg yolks.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon peel, lemon juice and butter.

Spoon hot filling into pie crust.

Beat egg whites in small bowl with mixer at high speed until foamy. Mix 1/3 cup sugar with 1 teaspoon corn starch and gradually beat into egg whites. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Spread meringue evenly over hot filling, sealing to edge of crust.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack at room temperature for 30 minutes; refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.

Sour Cream Chicken

2012-02-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

This chicken is my favorite. I love it, and I can't believe I haven't shared it yet. Super old standby, but one that never fails. My mom and grandma used to make this when I was a kid. We'd eat it for Sunday dinner, one year for Christmas dinner, and my personal favorite was served cold on a picnic.

One summer evening my family and I went to the Sundance Summer Plays up Provo canyon. We were with another family. Another family with a lot of boys, that Hollie and I thought were cute. That didn't stop me though. I remember my mom and the boys' mom pulling out a cute little picnic quilt, and all sorts of picnic delights. Fun drinks, desserts, veggies, and this cold chicken. I ate 4 bossoms by myself. I just remember thinking it was soooo good, and I could not get enough. Maybe I was in desperate need of protein, but I just kept eating. Don't worry, my mom had made plenty. Others were not going without. I was just a hungry, growing, extrememly active, 16 year old.

Whenever I make this chicken to this day, I usually make a lot. The leftover chicken is so tasty, and can be put on a sandwich, chopped up into a pasta, or just eaten straight out of the fridge. It went very well with the Maddox Rolls last Sunday.

Sour Cream Chicken

aka Savory Baked Chicken

courtesy of the Lion House Christmas cookbook

8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 tbl lemon juice
1 tsp seasoned salt
1 1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
3 cus fine bread crumbs

1. Combine sour cream and lemon juice. Dip breasts in this mixture and place in covered bowl in refrigerator overnight or at least 4 hours. Prehat oven to 325 degrees. Combine all seasonings, then mix with bread crumbs.

2. Grease 9x13 baking pan. Dip chicken breasts in crumb mixture to coat all sides. Arrange in baking pan. Drizzle melted butter over top. Cover with foil and bake for 2 hours. Remove foil and bake an additional 30 minutes to brown.

Maddox Rolls

2012-02-08T10:50:00.002-07:00

Living about 15 minutes away from Maddox growing up was always a good thing. For those of you who don't have a clue what Maddox is...........I'm sorry. Come visit and I'll take you there. I will even buy your Turkey Steak for you if you will really come:) We didn't go out to eat a whole lot as kids, but birthdays were always very special occasions. The birthday person would pick their restaurant of choice and we'd be off. I always picked the Utah Noodle, but someone else always seemed to pick Maddox. We'd drive North, and have a contest who could see the Maddox red twirly thingy first. Those 15 minutes always seemed like an eternity, but the drive was well worth it. I'd always get turkey steak, or a turkey burger. Always! Another constant at Maddox was their rolls. Over the years I'm sure I've eaten more than a few bakers dozen. Who can resist when there is raspberry honey butter to put on each lovely morsel? Those rolls are delicious! I love them, and I have tried to recreate them tons of time. They're made in muffin tins, but a regular roll recipe never made the cut. Jimmy has a cute cousin that has been a waitress there for YEARS and I even tried to get her to tell me how they were made. She claimed she didn't know, but deep down inside I'll bet she did. It's probably one of those secret oaths and combinations that Maddox employees have to make when they are hired. "NO TELLING HOW THE ROLLS ARE MADE OR YOU WILL DIE." I'm sure of it. I'm sure Jimmy's cousin was just fearful for her life:)

Well the other day on Pinterest guess what popped up? A Maddox roll recipe, and gosh dang it, I think it's it! I should have known though. It was one of those recipes that I read and just went......Of Course! I totally should have been able to figure that one out. A batter dough, a lot like my muther's Dilly Roll recipe. But truth be told, I've never seen a plain old roll recipe like this. You don't even need to own a Kitchenaid. True! You only need to own a big bowl, and a big wooden spoon. If you have a big silver spoon that will work just fine as well. Oh and a couple muffin tin pans. Enjoy these this Sunday. I made them for Super Bowl Sunday in honor of my 49ers! Aren't we glad they won! (can you tell I had no clue or did I even care who was playing or who won. Now if it would have been the Tour de France in July, we'd have been allllllllll over that!) You're family will love you, and they will love you even more if you make the raspberry honey butter too. Delish is all I have to say!

Maddox Rolls

recipe courtesy of cityhomecountryhome

I think she used to work at Maddox:)

Maddox Ranch House Rolls

2 Tablespoons of yeast (not rapid rise)

1/2 cup of warm water

1 1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup (or 4 ounces) of butter

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

3 large eggs

5 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

In a saucepan, melt the butter and add the milk and salt. Scald but do not boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

In a measuring cup, mix the yeast and warm water. Add a pinch of sugar from the 1/2 cup measure and stir. Let the yeast sit and proof for a few minutes.

In a large bowl, mix the yeast mixture, eggs, sugar, milk mixture and flour just until blended and no lumps of flour remain. Do not over mix. The dough will be sticky and very loose.

Let the batter/dough raise until double (about 90 minutes). Mine took only 50 minutes to double in size; I live at high altitude so my dough raises quickly.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spoon it into greased muffin tins and let it raise again until doubled in size.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the rolls are golden brown. I'd go a little more on the underdone side.

Cool on a wire rack. Serve with honey or raspberry butter.

This recipe makes about 24 dinner sized rolls.

Raspberry Honey Butter

1 cube butter (1/2 c.)
1/2 c. honey
1/4 c. raspberry jam
1 t. vanilla

Whip the living daylights out of this until it is super fluffy. Don't start with melted butter. Room temp is great.

Orange Marmalade

2012-02-06T15:36:00.000-07:00

I love that during the cold dreary months of winter there is always a bright, cheery, beautiful fruit season going on somewhere in the world. I love the fact that oranges, grapefruit, lemons and limes are all readily available. I can get them at any grocery store. They are beautiful glowing orbs that make me smile. Big smiles here:) We have gone through 4- 40 lb. cases of oranges since Christmas. True story. I got a juicer for my birthday, and we have become juicing maniacs! Cases of oranges, apples, carrots, spinach, beets, ginger root.......you name it we've juiced it. My Jimmy craves the juices now. With all these beautiful fruits hanging around my house I decided to try my hand at Orange Marmalade. Everytime we go out for breakfast I search in the little jam and jelly container for the little Smuckers pouch of Orange Marmalade. I think it's wonderfully yummy! When it comes to jams my all time fave is Blackberry, and then I think it's Orange Marmalade. Raspberry comes in 3rd with strawberry 4th. I love grape jelly as well. Nothing goes better with peanut butter, but we're not talking jelly here. Only jam.

The whole process was a little more time consuming than regular freezer jam, but it is well worth the effort. One thing I've found while making any sort of jam is that I have to follow the recipe to the T. Nothing extra, no skimping, just do it as written. Enjoy and good luck! Now I can eat a little bit of sunshine on my toast every morning. It really is tasty:)

Orange Marmalade

recipe courtesy of Alton Brown-love that man!

Ingredients

1 3/4 pounds oranges, 4 to 5 medium

1 lemon, zest finely grated and juiced

6 cups water

3 pounds plus 12 ounces sugar

Special Equipment: 10 (8-ounce) canning jars with rings and lids, funnel, tongs, ladle, and 12-quart pot

Directions

Wash the oranges and lemon thoroughly. Cut the oranges into 1/8-inch slices using a mandoline, removing the seeds as you go. Stack the orange slices and cut them into quarters. Place the oranges into an 8-quart stainless steel pot. Add the lemon zest and juice and the water to the pot, set over high heat and bring to a boil, approximately 10 minutes. Once boiling, reduce the heat to maintain a rapid simmer and cook, stirring frequently, for 40 minutes or until the fruit is very soft.

While the fruit is cooking, fill a large pot (at least 12-quart) 3/4 full with water, set over high heat and bring to a boil. Place 10 (8-ounce) jars and rings, canning funnel, ladle, and tongs into the boiling water and make sure the water covers the jars by at least an inch. Boil for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the lids and leave everything in the pot until the marmalade is ready.

Meanwhile, place a small plate in the freezer. Increase the heat under the orange mixture to return to full boil. Add the sugar and stir the mixture continually, until it reaches 222 to 223 degrees F on a deep-fry or candy thermometer, and darkens in color, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. You may need to adjust the heat in order to prevent boil over. Test the readiness of the marmalade by placing a teaspoon of the mixture onto the chilled plate and allowing it to sit for 30 seconds. Tilt the plate. The mixture should be a soft gel that moves slightly. If mixture is thin and runs easily, it is not ready.

Remove jars from the water and drain on a clean towel. Place a canning funnel onto the top of 1 of the jars and ladle in the marmalade just to below the bottom of the threads of the jar. Repeat until all of the mixture has been used. The amount of marmalade may vary by 1 to 2 jars. Wipe the rims and threads of the jars with a moist paper towel and top each with a lid. Place a ring on each jar and tighten.

Return the jars to the pot with boiling water, being certain that they don't touch the bottom of the pot or each other. (If you don't have a jar rack, try a round cake rack, or metal mesh basket. Even a folded kitchen towel on the pot bottom will do in a pinch.) Add additional water if necessary to cover the jars by at least an inch. Boil for 10 minutes. Using canning tongs, carefully remove the jars from the water, place in a cool dry place and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 24 hours before opening. Once open, store in the refrigerator. Unopened marmalade will last for up to 6 months.

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

2012-02-02T12:26:00.001-07:00

It was pretty darn tasty! Really it was. The pasta bake was made in honor of a neighbor who just delivered her 12th baby! Twelve! And she's still alive, and doing well. Cute little nub of a baby. Perfectly round little baby cheeks, and lots of dark hair. She was being adored by lots of brothers and sisters the day I visited. They all had huge smiles of pride over their new baby sister. I'd say she was downright beautiful:) And lucky her, she has the same name as my oldest girl child. We call her Mems for short. She loves it. It all comes from our oldest child only being 17 months old when Mems was born and not being able to speak real well. At night they shared a room and when Emma would start crying you could hear Jed yell, "Shup Mems!!!!" I remember laying in bed laughing with my Jimmy as we heard this exchange. Priceless little moments in time. So Mems she's been from that day on. An uncle or two will still pull this nickname out every once in a while. It's cute don't you think?

Anyway on to the pasta. Nothing feeds a hungry family quite like pasta. I did double the recipe for the family I took it to and I think they had enough. At least they said they did. I hope they weren't lying:) My family loves all sorts of pasta bakes. They're pretty easy to make and can feed a crowd. Usually all you need to complete the meal is a great green salad (you can see that salad on my previous post), and a lovely loaf of bread. I kind of have an IN there. So enjoy and remember you can always improvise. Make it your own and take full credit for the deliciousness!

Chicken Enchilada Pasta Bake

3 or 4 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed or shredded

splash of oil or butter to saute your veggies

1 medium onion, diced

1 red or green pepper, diced

4-ounce can diced green chilies

1 can Rotel Tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin (or you can add 1 T. of taco seasoning)

3-4 cups green chili enchilada sauce (I bottle my own Chili Verde sauce so I used most of a quart of that)

1/4 c. sugar (I think the cumin is a little bitter and it needs a hint of sweet)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

2 c. half and half

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar)

16 oz. pasta of choice (I love Gemelli. It's a big fat corkscrew shape, but any will work.)

1 c. more cheese

1 c. crushed tortilla chips

DIRECTIONS:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta until tender. While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet and add the onion. Cook for 2-3 minutes until onion is translucent. Add the pepper and cook for another 2 minutes, until pepper is barely tender. Once the pasta is cooked I place it in a large Tupperware. I dump in all the other ingredients now except for the half and half. Stir until mixed completely. At this point I place the pasta mix in a large creased 9x13 in pan or casserole dish. I then drizzle the half and half over the pasta. Sometimes I use it all and others I don't. It all depends on how saucy the pasta is. Cover with tinfoil and place in a 375' F. oven for about 30-40 minutes. Make sure the pasta is bubbly and hot. Remove from the oven and remove the foil. Top with more cheese, crushed tortilla chips and return to oven until the cheese is melty and browned a bit. Take out of oven and serve. You can add chopped fresh tomatoes, olives, cilantro, green onions, or avocado to serve. Even a dollop of sour cream would be tasty.

Sugar Spice Pecans

2012-01-27T08:59:00.001-07:00

I love these nuts! I think I love all nuts these days. They've become my candy. The stuff I could snack on all day long. Wasabi Soy Almonds, Raw Almonds, Cashews, Smoked Almonds, my neighbor Colette's Spicy Bar Nuts (I will post that recipe one day), my mom's Cinnamon Pecans, and these Sugar Spice Pecans! They're all delightful, and good for you..........in moderation. I don't think eating the whole pan is good for you, but in a salad all I can say is YUM!

My mom started this salad years ago, and it only gets better as the years pass. We call it the Everything Salad. My sister has a unique talent of upping the ante with this salad every time we visit. All you need is baby greens, a fruit, a cheese, and a nut. You can always add more, but the possibilities are endless. The one thing though that I've found that really makes this salad amazing are the sugared nuts. They're super easy to make, and tasty in anything. They make chicken salad the best you've ever tasted. You'll have people beating down your door for these.

I have to thank my niece Ashlee for the spiciness of these nuts. I was making them one day while she was visiting and as I took them off the stove and gave them a little sprinkling of salt she suggested a little chili powder. Love on wheels is how I'd describe the addition. I can't make them without the heat now. It's not real subtle, just perfect. Enjoy these in your next EVERYTHING SALAD as we lovingly call it around these parts, or for a snack, or in your next chicken salad sandwich while skiing. There really is nothing yummier!

Sugar Spice Pecans

1/3 c. sugar

1 c. whole or chopped pecans

In a dry fry pan place the sugar and nuts and put over a medium high heat. Be diligent and stay right by these babies until they're done. I've burned a few nuts in my day, and even the kitty won't eat them:(

Don't stir until you start to see the sugar melting. Gently stir the nuts so they don't burn. Keep stirring until all the sugar melts and turns golden brown. This part goes fast. It takes a while for the sugar to start to melt, but once it does watch it. Poor the nut onto a WELL GREASED pan. Immediately sprinkle with a shot of salt and chili pepper. Let cool and then break up and add to the best salad. Here's the original salad recipe, but I'm afraid I have numerous variations. Last nights was blue cheese, pomegranate seeds, and sugar spice nuts. Hollie makes a great one with grapefruit, and avocado. I also love pears and blue cheese, or even fresh blackberries. Experiment!

Everything Salad

1 lb. field greens (Sam's Club is the cheapest place to buy if you didn't grow your own.)

1 green apple chopped

1 red apple chopped

1 c. craisins

1/2 lb bacon crumbled

1 c. Parmesan cheese

1 c. sliced almond

Toss everything together in a large bowl. If you have one of the Tupperware "That's a bowl's" use it. Make the dressing in advanced so it has time to cool.

Dressing

1/2 c. vinegar

1/2 c. sugar

1 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

Bring these ingredients to a boil and let bubble for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add:

2 T. balsamic vinegar

3/4 c. oil

Mix together quickly with a wire whisk. It should emulsify and thicken up. Don't place in a container while hot and shake to mix. I've done this and the lid explodes of the container and you will be covered in dressing from head to toe. Not a good idea.

I Love Some Things Big and Fat! ( just not my bum)

2012-01-24T16:25:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things lately is my eyelashes. My favorite sista gave me a lovely little bottle of Careprost. It's Latisse just cheap. It came into my life just when I needed it most. Sweet Baby Jane was born, and one of the nasty side effects is a bigger backside. Hollie came to my rescue with eyelash loveliness! I love it and it makes me smile just a little bigger. Especially when I bat my eyes at Jimmy. You need to get you some of this stuff. You'll be sooooooo happy! Big sometimes is WAY better!

You can buy the stuff here. It's $10 a bottle, but the shipping is $25. Find a few friends, split the shipping, and you and those you love will have beautiful lashes as well. It's shipped from India, but don't be nervous. I've been using it for 6 months and my eyeballs haven't fallen out:) Yet!

Cinnamon Rolls

2012-01-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

I'm just getting around to posting what I gave away as neighbor gifts this Christmas. The thing is, I think they'd be marvelous any time of the year. They'd be perfect for Valentines Day breakfast, or maybe even to freeze and have on hand for when you need to take some din-din to someone. Usually my Christmas neighbor gifts are loaves of bread from Great Harvest. I love to give that away, but this year I wanted those I love to know I REALLY love them. I spent the better part of 2 mornings making these cinnamon rolls.

My regular roll recipe is always dang good. The rolls fluff up nice and pretty, and they taste delish, but I thought I'd try The Pioneer Woman's recipe for cinnamon rolls. They are kind of like her thing. I've seen her make them on Good Morning America and so they much be tasty. Well the first day I made a triple batch of these lovely little rolls. It was some serious dough making at my house. We mixed and rested, rolled, and cut. After making about 8 pans with about 8 or 9 cinnamon rolls in each I was actually a little disappointed. Actually I was ticked. The rolls didn't rise hardly at all, and to me they looked like little nubs. I almost chucked a pan out the door. I have a tendency to get quite emotional when my food doesn't turn out the way I wanted it. I thought I had wasted a whole day making yucky stuff.

Well they looked cute when they were all wrapped up in cellophane and bows, but I wasn't happy. We delivered the pans anyway. I didn't have any other choice. I had one pan left over that first day, and Emma and I decided to taste one of the little rolls. I had no expectations at all. But then I tasted it. It was good! Dang good! Like lick the pan good! Emma was in cinnamon swirly heaven as well. I think it was the frosting. I usually just glaze my cinnamon rolls, but this recipe calls for baptism. Seriously. The rolls were swimming, but within 30 minutes or so the frosting had soaked in and made the most amazing cinnamon rolls. Thank you dear Pioneer Woman! I loved your buns, and I will make them forever and ever, and I may just take credit for them too. Only to my friends and family:) Kidding:) They may not rise the way you think they should, but darn it..........they are gooooood!

Enjoy friends! The perfect excuse is coming up in about 3 weeks.

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

1 quart Whole Milk

1 cup Vegetable Oil

1 cup Sugar

2 packages Active Dry Yeast, 0.25 Ounce Packets

8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour

1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder

1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda

1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt

Plenty Of Melted Butter

2 cups Sugar

Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon

_____

MAPLE FROSTING:

1 bag Powdered Sugar

2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring

1/2 cup Milk

1/4 cup Melted Butter

1/8 teaspoon Salt

(note from Lisa- I hate maple, but this frosting made the rolls. It was dang good! Just do it!)

Preparation Instructions

For the dough, heat the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat to just below a boil. Set aside and cool to warm. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it sit on the milk for 1 minute.

Add 8 cups of the flour. Stir until just combined, then cover with a clean kitchen towel, and set aside in a relatively warm place for 1 hour. After 1 hour, remove the towel and add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the remaining 1 cup flour. Stir thoroughly to combine. Use the dough right away, or place in a mixing bowl and refrigerate for up to 3 days, punching down the dough if it rises to the top of the bowl. (Note: dough is easier to work with if it’s been chilled for at least an hour or so beforehand.)

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

To assemble the rolls, remove half the dough from the pan/bowl. On a floured baking surface, roll the dough into a large rectangle, about 30 x 10 inches. The dough should be rolled very thin.

To make the filling, pour 3/4 cup to 1 cup of the melted butter over the surface of the dough. Use your fingers to spread the butter evenly. Generously sprinkle half of the ground cinnamon and 1 cup of the sugar over the butter. Don’t be afraid to drizzle on more butter or more sugar! Gooey is the goal.

Now, beginning at the end farthest from you, roll the rectangle tightly towards you. Use both hands and work slowly, being careful to keep the roll tight. Don’t worry if the filling oozes as you work; that just means the rolls are going to be divine. When you reach the end, pinch the seam together and flip the roll so that the seam is face down. When you’re finished, you’ll wind up with one long buttery, cinnamony, sugary, gooey log.

Slip a cutting board underneath the roll and with a sharp knife, make 1/2-inch slices. One “log “will produce 20 to 25 rolls. Pour a couple of teaspoons of melted butter into disposable foil cake pans and swirl to coat. Place the sliced rolls in the pans, being careful not to overcrowd. (Each pan will hold 7 to 9 rolls.)

Repeat the rolling/sugar/butter process with the other half of the dough and more pans. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cover all the pans with a kitchen towel and set aside to rise on the countertop for at least 20 minutes before baking. Remove the towel and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown. Don’t allow the rolls to become overly brown.

While the rolls are baking, make the maple icing: In a large bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, butter, and salt. Splash in the maple flavoring. Whisk until very smooth. Taste and add in more maple, sugar, butter, or other ingredients as needed until the icing reaches the desired consistency. The icing should be somewhat thick but still very pourable.

Remove pans from the oven. Immediately drizzle icing over the top. Be sure to get it all around the edges and over the top. As they sit, the rolls will absorb some of the icing’s moisture and flavor. They only get better with time… not that they last for more than a few seconds. Make them for a friend today! It’ll seal the relationship for life. I promise.

Tender Mercy Chili

2012-01-11T14:42:00.000-07:00

Strange name I know it, but I am taking it from a talk by Elder David Bednar. It was a talk given a few years ago during a session of my faiths annual General Conference. Fantastic talk if you personally want my opinion, and describes this chili perfectly. I am a true believer in Tender Mercies from a loving Heavenly Father. I love this scripture that describes Tender Mercies. “But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance” (1 Ne. 1:20). Some people may call them coincidences, or luck, but I believe they are small little blessings that we receive constantly. One of my New Years resolutions last year was to try and recognize these "Tender Mercies" in my life as they happened each day and be thankful for them. I've realized I can count them on a daily basis and this chili just happened to be a Tender Mercy for me the other day.

I have been having a HUGE craving for Wendy's Chili lately and I can't seem to get enough. Maybe it's this little diet I've been on since Dec. and the fact that Wendy's Chili is spot on. 210 calories for a small cup and loaded with protein, fiber, and deliciousness. I can eat a cup of chili and a naked baked potato and be happy for the rest of the day. (That's a good thing since the rest of my meals suck!) A dear friend shared a copycat recipe of this chili a few years ago, and we even made it once on one of our enormous freezer meal cooking days. So I got this great idea to make a honkin' gi-huge roaster pan of the chili and freeze it in gallon bags for future use. I'm never sorry when I do this. And it came in super handy Mon. night.

So the kids started pouring in from school when the scent of delicious chili met their cute little freckled noses. My red head is the best. He comes home first and walks through the door and says, "MMMMMMM what's that mom?" I reply chili and he starts the whole fist pump, YES! yelling, and happy dance. I wish I could take full credit for his happiness, but I noticed the other day when he asked what was for breakfast and I told him cereal he did the same thing. He's just a cheerful kid. Practically perfect in every way. (As all my children are.) We started snitching small bowls, dipping chips in the pot, and testing to make sure the chili was safe.

At about 5:02 pm we were all lounging about doing homework, watching Netflix, and Pinterest when a car drove down the driveway. This may not seem out of the ordinary to most, but at our house you can see the car coming down forever, and they are far and few between. We didn't recognize the car either so we just sat until the car got closer. As the occupants started out of the car I got a sudden charge to my soul. The Missionaries!! I suddenly had a vague little remembrance of signing a sign-up sheet a few weeks earlier that I would feed the above mentioned missionaries for din-din on Jan. 9, 2012 @5:00pm.

Talk about jump into action. I yelled! "We're feeding the missionaries RIGHT NOW! Set the table, move your crap, pick up the other crap, and be a HAPPY FAMILY!" They did. Within 3 minutes hot steamy bowls of chili were served with chips, cheese, sour cream and avocado. I don't think we missed a beat. The missionaries had seconds and thirds and then I just happened to have the makings of Fried Ice Cream for dessert. Disaster was averted. I will still go to heaven one day. I was made strong and delivered and I will always call this chili Tender Mercy Chili:) It literally saved my bacon. So if you've got the missionaries coming over I know they like this stuff. I hope it serves you as well as it did me.

Love ya!

Tender Mercy Chili

AKA Wendy's copycat recipe

I've adapted it to just how I like it so enjoy!

2 pounds ground beef

One 29 ounce can tomato sauce

One 29 ounce can kidney beans, with liquid

One 29 ounce can pinto beans, with liquid

1 cup diced onion (1 medium onion)

1 diced green pepper

¼ cup diced celery (1 stalk)

1 can Rotel tomatoes

2 teaspoons cumin powder

3 Tablespoons chili powder

1 ½ teaspoons black pepper

2 teaspoons salt

1 T. Italian Seasoning

1/4 c. sugar

2 cups water

Directions:

1. Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat; drain off the fat.

2. Using a fork, crumble the cooked beef into pea-size pieces.

3. In a large pot, combine the beef plus all the remaining ingredients, and bring to a simmer over low heat.

4. Cook, stirring every 15 minutes, for 2 to 3 hours.

Street Tacos

2012-01-09T12:45:00.001-07:00

I love tacos. Did you know, or have I told you? I think I could eat them every day of my life, and be as happy as a bug in a rug. I will admit though that the tacos I fix now for my family are quite a bit different than the ones my muther used to fix me when I was a kid. You know the ones. Hard taco shell, ground hamburger, shredded lettuce, orange cheese, and a few tomatoes. Don't get me wrong. I will eat one of these tacos too, especially if it's the cheap ones from Taco Time, but I love the ones I make at home today.

For quite a few years my Jimmy and I would travel to Mexico, to a lovely little place in Mazatlan, every January. Way before the threat of drug lords kept us from going. We were always careful what we ate and drank since we didn't want to get sick though. My mom and granny have horror stories of the yuckies they've come down with while on a trip to Mexico. At first I wouldn't eat anything. I was too nervous. Especially a street taco. Meat on the street. Who knew what they might be plagued with. (James has since shared he ate way more scary things in Taiwan. Meat parts that were hanging from the ceiling donned his noodle bowl daily he has said. He had a gut of steel I'm sure!) Every vacation the most wonderful food would be paraded past us as different vendors would walk down the beach selling their stuff. Sunglasses, sombreros, toy, homemade doughnuts, fresh fruit, and tacos. Finally one day I told James I was buying something. I watched as a few people bought fruit from the vendor, and sat down and enjoyed their little cup of happiness. Being Lisa, I walked right over to them and asked them how the fruit was. I asked if they had ever become sick. Low and behold the folks I talked to had been coming to this same place year after year, and year after year they would buy a cup of fresh fruit everyday from the vendor. Not once had they been sick, so I decided I too was not going to be held back by my fear of sickness. I was going to enjoy the most beautiful cup of fresh fruit on the planet. Enrique was the fruit salesman. For $2 I would get to pick a large cup full of the most tasty fruit. Ripe mango, pineapple, watermelon, jicama, cantaloupe, and cucumbers usually filled my cup. I would get it "Mexican style" which included a hearty squeeze of lime juice, and a sprinkle of salt and chili powder. Oh yum!!! I was a street food convert. If you can believe it I converted my family as well. We all indulge in the Mexican street food now.

Hollie enjoying her lovely cup of fruit, selection, Enrique the fruit man, Jed and a fresh made doughnut, Seth with his roadkill coconut that Jimmy cracked open for him. Not a single tummy ache from the bunch. Actually that's quite amazing!

These tacos are along the lines of some you may find from a street vendor. Whether on the streets of Mazatlan, or Washington Blvd. As long as there is some fresh salsa, guac, and cilantro. Maybe even some pickled onions and sliced radish would be awesome. Corn tortillas are a must for me, but I do have a child or two who prefers a flour tortilla. I found this recipe in my Granny's ward cookbook. Thank you dearest Alana Harkness whoever you are. They're delish! This was a beautiful Sunday dinner for us yesterday. Light and fresh, and good for us. You can use any kind of shredded meat. They all taste wonderful. So no more pussy footing around street food. I actually think this stuff would be well worth the tummy ache if that happened. Happy Monday!!

Street Tacos

1 4-5 lb. beef or pork roast or 4-5 chicken breasts

2 c. salsa ( I used a tomatillo sauce. Green.)

2 cans El Pato ( Yellow can. A spicy Mexican tomato sauce. You can find it in the Mexican food aisle)

1/2-1 c. sugar

1 T. salt

Place all ingredients together in a crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred meat and stir into sauce. Serve meat on warm corn tortillas with shredded cabbage, pickled red onions, fresh salsa, cilantro, and guacamole. These are to die for!

Pickled onions:

1 large red onion sliced

1/2 c. vinegar

1/4 c. sugar

a pinch of salt

Place all ingredients together in a sauce pan and heat until the onions are limp and the sugar is dissolved. Serve on tacos. Especially good on fish tacos.

2011 Top Favorites

2012-01-02T16:34:00.000-07:00

It's 2012! Can you believe it! I know I'm enjoying these beautiful spring-y days of January. They've been beautiful, and I don't think there's much of a change in the weather anytime soon. I told the kids this morning that we better start praying for some snow. My garden is going to need it come summer.

Nothing scientific to this "Top 10" selection of recipes. It is ultimately the 10 recipes I liked the most this last year. There ended up being a few old standbys, but most were newly tried out recipes. I hope you get a chance to try one or two of them. Enjoy and here's to a fabulous 2012! How can it not be good!

#10 Red White and Blue Razzleberry Shortcakes

#9 My Mamma's Lasagna

#8 Gingies

#7 Pizza

#6 Pumpkin Spice Scones

#1 Naan Bread

And the best thing I made last year (Drum roll please! And I did have some help on this one.)

Sweet Baby Jane

Weapons Of Mass Destruction

2011-12-31T09:04:00.001-07:00

I have met the worst weapon of mass destruction. I can only imagine if some terrorist group actually used a bug like this on humanity. It would only last 12 hours, but still, it would be an awful 12 hours. Personally it hasn't hit me, and I feel like the last man standing in a shoot out, and the enemy is encircling around. I'm not going down without a fight.

It has hit my entire family. Even sweet baby Jane. And it hit hard! You all know what it is, and I'm sure it's visited your family at some time or another. The dreaded flu bug that sneaks up behind you during the Christmas holiday, and wipes one person out after another. It is quiet, and extremely fast and violent. We'll everyone at this home has been hit. We've thrown up on the school bus, on the side of the road, but most have made it safely to the porcelain throne. Thank goodness. So I am the last man standing, and can I just tell you..............I'm a little nervous. Shaking in my boots so to say, but maybe I'll be lucky and get the "Muther's can't get sick" blessing and stay well.

Here's to that happy thought and a happy and HEALTHY New Year!

Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows & Hot Chocolate

2011-12-21T12:12:00.002-07:00

Here I am. The longest day of the year, and actually a very exciting day if you think about it. We're on the downhill slide to summer. Yeah! And I have sick children as well. Seth lost his lunch on the bus ride home yesterday. Poor child. So we're home bound today, but I'm OK with that. The shopping is complete, there is cooking to be done, and recipes to share.

I noticed the other day, a friend who lives far far away, made these little babies this week. Great minds must think alike:) "Happy Peppermint Marshmallows Christine!" So last week I gave a demonstration on making homemade marshmallows for a bunch of ladies at church. They're always such a nice audience and so kind. These marshmallows are always the perfect treat in the summer, but I don't always make them for Christmas. They do add a little extra special touch to the holidays though don't you think?

I ripped this recipe out of a Martha Stewart Living magazine probably 14 years ago. I think we still lived in Pocatello and it took me a few years to dare try it. I don't know what took me so long. Something about the fact that I had no idea how a marshmallow was made. It was a mystery and something you just bought in bags I thought. It's really an easy recipe, and quite impressive to make. People think you're magic! In years past I've tinted the peppermint marshmallows pink and dipped them halfway in chocolate. Now that was yummy, but this year I did as Martha Stewart showed and marbled those babies. My kids thought I was amazing and Martha Stewart herself. The ladies enjoyed them at church, and we are still enjoying them with our hot chocolate every night as a family.

As a kid, my mom would make homemade hot chocolate for us, and I loved it. It wasn't a powder you added to water, but hot milk with loads of cocoa in it, and just the right amount of sugar. My kids love this hot chocolate now as well. Something is just extra special when milk is warmed and there is a giant hot pot of steaming cocoa on the stove.

Make some marshmallows, and cocoa for this weekend. Family and friends will think you're amazing, and it really isn't hard at all. It's extra special and fun to have. Enjoy!

Peppermint Marshmallows

courtesy of Martha Stewart

Vegetable oil, for brushing

4 envelopes unflavored gelatin (3 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons)

3 cups granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (or 2 t. peppermint extract)

1t. red food coloring

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

Brush a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish with oil. Line with parchment, allowing a 2-inch overhang on the long sides. Brush parchment with oil; set aside.

Put granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 3/4 cup water into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Cook, without stirring, until mixture registers 238 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 9 minutes.

Meanwhile, put 3/4 cup cold water into the bowl of an electric mixer; sprinkle with gelatin. Let soften 5 minutes.

Attach bowl with gelatin to mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. With mixer on low speed, beat hot syrup into gelatin mixture. Gradually raise speed to high; beat until mixture is very stiff, about 12 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Pour into prepared dish, and smooth with an offset spatula. Drop the red food coloring all over the marshmallow and use a toothpick or a kabob skewer to marbelize. Not to hard. Set aside, uncovered, until firm, about 3 hours. Better if overnight.

Sift 1 cup confectioners' sugar onto a work surface. Unmold marshmallow onto confectioners' sugar; remove parchment. Lightly brush a sharp knife with oil, then cut marshmallow into 2-inch squares. Sift remaining 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar into a small bowl, and roll each marshmallow in the sugar to coat. Marshmallows can be stored in an airtight container up to 3 days.

Homemade Hot Chocolate

courtesy of my muther:)

1 gallon milk or a combination of milk and cream or half and half. It all tastes good!

2 c. sugar

1 c. cocoa powder

pinch salt

1/2 t. vanilla

Add all these ingredients together and bring the milk to a simmer. Adjust the sugar and cocoa to your liking. I also like to add 1/2 t. of cinnamon sometimes for a Mexican Hot chocolate. Serve with homemade marshmallow, or big dollops of whipped cream.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-18T21:19:00.001-07:00

I love these new Bible videos of the life of Christ. For Christmas there is this beautiful video of the Nativity. I love it and had to share. I hope you enjoy and I've got a link to more of them. Have a Merry Christmas friends:)

Gingies!

2011-12-16T10:36:00.003-07:00

I think my most absolute favorite cookie on the planet is a really chewy gingersnap. I love them. I love them to pieces and I insisted years ago that gingersnaps be on our daily menu at the bakery. Just to make me happy year round. They're beautiful! Glistening with big rough sugar crystals and tasty as can be.

I usually make gingerbread boys every Christmas to go on the tree, but to be honest you'd have to be pretty hard pressed to eat one of those boys. The recipe is fantastic to smell and makes the best gingerbread houses, but thats about it. They certainly aren't a gingersnap. They smell like one, but that's about it.

Well this year I wanted to eat a gingerbread boy. Maybe it was the principle of the thing. I wanted a gingerbread boy to taste good. Not just something cute to be viewed and smelled but tasted. I was searching for a delicious gingersnap texture boy. Could it happen? Could gingerbread boys be tasty too. In a perfect world I knew it could happen.

I found it! Yeah!!! I have a testimony of Pinterest. That's where I spied these. They are delicious! My whole Christmas has been made. I've decided I don't even need a new Landrover now. I'm happy with my Gingie Babies!

Another trick I've come across is white chocolate. It actually looks as pretty as royal icing, but it tastes good too. We had a great time last night decorating all these babies. My kids favorite is the little girl laying on her tummy in her thong. Everyone seems to want to eat that cookie. We should eat her and sing that scandelous Christmas song while we eat her arm. You know the "Baby It's Cold Outside" song. Such a clean uplifting Christmas tune:) I hope you have fun making some gingerbread babies of your own. They really are delish!

Left to right we have Thing A Thong Cutie, Mr. Gingie, Honey Chunkers (she's going chunky dunking), Mr. Happy Gingie Baby, Swim Team Gingie, and Mr. Pirate Gingie. Can you tell we had fun!

Gingie Babies
Recipe courtesy of Annie-Eats

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 c. butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
1 large egg
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices to combine; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in the molasses and egg until combined. Add in the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Cover the bowl and chill the dough for at least one hour.
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface to about ¼-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place the cookie shapes onto the prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Or even a minute less. A little underdone makes a perfect cookie. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. Decorate as desired. I used melted white chocolate and piped it out of a Ziploc. Just melt the chocolate in the microwave for 1 minute and stir. Put back in microwave for 30 more seconds until melted completely. Pour into Ziploc and snip the end off. Go to town.

Where's My Editor?

2011-12-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

Where is my editor? Why doesn't she find the errors in my recipes and let me know before I use them. Today happens to be my birthday AND I get to host my neighborhood Christmas party. I think it's a perfect way to spend my birthday and I am thrilled to spend the day in the kitchen making all sorts of delicious things. The only thing that isn't fun is throwing an entire silver cookie sheet full of "not quite fudge" into the garbage. Yup! 2 1/2 lbs. of chocolate, not to mention all the nuts and other things that went into the mix. I went to my favorite fudge recipe. I followed it to the T. I failed miserably, and had to search for my hand written scratch piece of paper with the original recipe on it. It took me 20 minute to find the recipe in my jumbled up mess of a 3 ring binder. I had mistaken lbs. for cups. Do you know what that means? Almost 3 times the amount of chocolate, and a big giant greasy mess. Some typos can lead to enormous failures and today was the day. Good thing my food storage includes a few 25 lb. boxes of chocolate chips. I figure I need semi sweet, milk chocolate, and mini chips to get me through the end of the world. Also I think I will be able to barter for just about anything with my chocolate chips if the need arises:)

So a humongous apology to those who have tried making the fudge recipe. It sucks as written and I am now enclosing the corrected version for the record. It's tasty, delicious, divine, and perfect. Perfect for a dinner party of 35. So enjoy the fudge. It's the perfect time of the year to make it, and guess what? I've already taken one for the team so YOUR fudge should turn out perfect!

Western Family Old Fashioned Fudge (AKA The Clawson Secret)

4 c. sugar

1 can Western Family evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed)

2 1/2 c. mini marshmellows

Bring everything together in a big pot and bring to a boil. Once it boils, boil for 8 mins. Meanwhile in your mixing bowl add:

2 1/2 CUPS. chopped dipping chocolate ( or chocolate chips)

1 c. butter

Pour hot mixture into chocolate and butter and whip until everything is melted and the misture has lost some of it's gloss. Add:

1 T. real vanilla

1/2 t. salt

1 lb. whole nuts (I used pecans)

1 1/2 c. more mini marshmellows

Mix again until marshmellows melt. Pour into a buttered cookies sheet. The big silver ones. Allow to cool for a few hours. It makes a ton of pieces. 176 to be exact. But who's counting.

New Family Photos

2011-12-09T09:05:00.002-07:00

I have the cutest friend that has taken some fabulous photos for me over the years, and again she did not disappoint. We had the annual family photos taken a few weeks ago and I think they turned out smashing. But I do love all the people in these photos a whole ton so that may affect my liking just a bit. Thanks Celeste! And if you want to talk to her I'm leaving a link to her blog. She's fantastic!

We took the pictures one Sunday right after church. The kids all still looked put together and may I say that Emma is gorgeous! But I was incredibly worried about the day. A week earlier and we would have had some fall colors, but we had snow instead. It turned out amazing though. I've got a lot of silly kids. My Jimmy being the biggest one of them all. Can you tell what my life is like. James makes me and the kids laugh and smile everyday of our life. Sometimes the pictures Celeste takes in between the REAL photos are the best. They speak volumes to me. Celeste gives me a disk that I can print little photos with and I love playing around with it. My favorite site is called www.PICNIK.com. You can do so many great things and even ad text. Go there and have fun playing around. Thanks again Celeste for the great photos!! I cherish every one. (I'll be ordering my big one soon too:)

Wassail

2011-11-29T11:34:00.001-07:00

Was Thanksgiving not wonderful? We just got back from the best long weekend with friends. My kids were all in tears as we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge headed for home. They loved being with their San Francisco "cousins". For days there were six children snuggled on a huge leather couch watching all sorts of movies and loving being together. We went for walks, and out to dinner. We stayed up way to late every night talking and talking and laughing and laughing. We ate leftovers to our hearts content. The kids thought it was amazing that there were 10 people for dinner, but we had 7 pies. Almost a whole pie per person. It doesn't get any better than that. Our holiday was small and intimate and absolutely delicious. We learned some new fun traditions that I don't think we can stray from. Our friends have a tradition of frying up sausages to eat along side the turkey. Who doesn't love a good wienie. For breakfast or anytime for that matter. Seth was in heaven. And a wonderful corn casserole will now grace my Thanksgiving table every year.

One of the special touches of the weekend was a big steaming pot of Wassail set out for anyone who needed a bit of holiday cheer. Nothing says "Holidays!" quite like Wassail. Warm apple and spices being sipped out of lovely little mugs, with Nat King Cole being played in the background. Yum! As a kid my mom would make Wassail a lot. Every Christmas, but she would also make huge jugs full to take up skiing every Sat. morning to Snow Basin. We would ski all morning and then head down to the car for hoagie sandwiches or Spam sandwiches, and steamy cups of "Grog" as my dad would call it. We would all act like we were a bunch of drunk pirates drinking our Grog. Fun as heck!

So as the holidays have started, Cheers to all, and enjoy your cup of Wassail too! Here's to a great start to the most wonderful time of the year!

Christmas Wassail

10 whole cloves

11 whole allspice berries

3 cinnamon sticks

1 inch chunk of fresh ginger

1 quart water

1 c. sugar

Bring all these ingredients together and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Now add:

2 quarts apple juice (or 1 qt. apple juice and 1 qt. cranberry juice is real good!)

1 6 oz. can of lemonade concentrate

1 12 oz. can of orange juice concentrate

Stir together and heat through. Enjoy! I leave the spices in the mix, but you can strain them out if you don't want to dodge them while you're drinking.

Homemade Butterfingers!

2011-11-18T09:20:00.002-07:00

One of my favorite friends posted that she had made homemade Butterfingers on her Facebook status a few weeks ago and I was instantly intrigued. I LOVE BUTTERFINGERS. They're my favorite candy bar on the planet and I could eat them forever and ever and never get sick of them. And I trust this friend of mine. She makes the most "thigh twitchin' good" treats ever! Thigh twitchin' good is her expression, and sometimes that is exactly what some food will do for you.

These Butterfingers turned out really fun. And tasty too I may add. My kids, who of course have followed in my Butterfinger loving steps, were definitely happy children. You can make these into bars, but I followed my friends suggestion and made them into balls and then dipped them. Before they harden up, they're the consistency of cookie dough therefore making Butterfinger Balls very easy to makes. The candy never sets up quite as crispy as a commercial Butterfinger, but they still taste super. These might just be the new big hit on your Christmas goodie platter. I hope you have fun making them!!

Homemade Butterfingers

Recipe from all sorts of places, but I think Taste of Home is the official starting point for this recipe.

1-½ cup Smooth Peanut Butter

16 ounces, weight Candy Corn

12 ounces, weight Chocolate Candy Melts or chocolate chips

In a large bowl, measure out smooth peanut butter.

In a large microwave safe bowl, nuke the candy corn for 1 minute. Stir, and microwave again 20 seconds at a time, stirring until candies are completely melted. They will be very hot, be careful.

Whisk the peanut butter and candy corn until evenly combined. The candies will cool rapidly and the mixture will appear kind of grainy. Don’t worry, this will help achieve the crunchy texture.

Pour mixture into a foil-lined 9×9 inch baking dish. Place in the fridge to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Remove from the dish and cut bars into 1×2-inch rectangles. Or in my case I left the dough in the bowl and as soon as I could handle the candy I rolled the "dough" into balls and then dipped them.

In a double boiler, heat chocolate melts until smooth and melted. Stir frequently to avoid scorching the chocolate. One by one, dip the Butterfingers into chocolate, and tap off excess chocolate. Lay out on foil to finish cooling. Repeat until all bars are coated. Drizzle bars with additional chocolate if desired. The longer they sit the harder and crunchier they get. Keep in an airtight container and enjoy!

Razzleberry Pie

2011-11-08T15:57:00.000-07:00

This is who were visiting this year!
Can you tell my kids LOVE them!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I love it. It's my favorite holiday. It has all the family together-ness, food, festiveness, and wonderfulness of Christmas without all the pressure of the gifts. It's the perfect holiday. I just finished making the Razzleberry Pies for this years festivities. We are actually heading out to San Francisco to visit some favorite friends this year for Thanksgiving. Our friends told me not to worry about bringing anything.............but you know me. I'll have a cooler or two full by the time the actual day rolls around.

last years ice skating

Can I tell you about my first Thanksgiving being a Clawson? I hope nobody takes offense, because no offense is meant. I love James' family. They're the best. I gained 6 more sisters when I married James and I feel blessed everyday to have them. As you can tell the family is large. Way large and they celebrated Thanksgiving with the enormous extended family up until a few years ago. First off, Thanksgiving was celebrated at a church. I'd never experienced such a thing. We never had huge celebrations as I was growing up. Sometimes it would be just our family and one other. Sometimes we went to Vegas and ate at a buffet. But most times it involved a small intimate group with movies, ice skating on the pond, and a trap shoot. So the church thing really threw me off. The aunts cooked for hours. They looked like a bunch of lunch ladies in their fun aprons, and enormous amounts of food being prepared. When the big event was finally ready I was polite. The cute little new comer, and I didn't want to look like a Ziggy Piggy so I waited my turn in line. By the time I started dishing up some kids were already done. I came to the turkey platter and low and behold it was empty. EMPTY!! I had to choke back sobs right there. I wanted my mom, my dad, my little brothers, my dog, my house, and DANG IT I WANTED TURKEY!

Happy pies from Thanksgivings past

I went home that day and cried my eyeballs out. Really! I did. I questioned whether I wanted to be in this for better or worse. The "Worse" was pretty bad. No turkey. James was so kind and thoughtful. At least I don't remember him being mean or telling me to suck it up or anything. I learned that day a huge lesson. I always have a roasted turkey in my fridge now. I can't leave my turkey happiness up to anyone but myself. I won't ever be left standing without my obligatory leftover turkey sandwich again. Actually it doesn't matter where we have Thanksgiving I always have leftover everything in my fridge for the Holiday weekend. It's important to my cheerfulness.

So now enjoy the start of the season. This pie is absolutely the best! THE BEST! It makes 5 at a time and you freeze them until needed. This pie won first place at the Utah State Fair, and is a favorite of Elder Bednar. (I love hearing from happy recipe takers. Every once in awhile I have someone come up and tell me about one of the recipes I've posted and how much they love it. I love that! It makes my day!) I didn't make either of these winner pies, but as you can tell, the recipe is a winner. I hope you enjoy! (I hope you have gobs of turkey too:) I'l post some of my other favorite holiday recipes too. It's the most wonderful time of the year! as Emma would say! Loves and Kisses!!

Pies under construction. Love on wheels!

Razzleberry Pie

Crust:

6 c. flour

3 c. Crisco

3 t. salt

1 1/2 c. cold water

In a large bowl place flour and salt and cut Crisco into the flour until it resembles coarse meal. I actually have found it is easier to use you hands to make this dough than a pastry blender. Add the water and just bring the dough together. Don't over mix or it will get really tough. Divide the dough into 5 big dough balls. Each dough ball will then be divided into a top and bottom crust. I roll out 5 bottom crusts and place them in 8or 9 inch disposable pie pans. After all the bottom crusts are ready I divide the filling equally between the 5 pies. Then top with the top crust, crimp the edges and vent the pie. I place tin foil over the top of the pie and place in the freezer for later use.

Filling:

4 3/4 c. water

3 1/3 c. sugar

1 large raspberry jello package

3 rounded 1/3 c. measures of cornstarch

Stir constantly and bring the ingredients to a boil. Boil until it is clear and thick. Fold in:

1 lb. frozen raspberries

1 lb. frozen blackberries

1 lb frozen blue berries

I usually add extra berries since I have gallons of them frozen from my garden. Do what you got to do. Also if I don't have all the berries I've done it with just raspberries, or I usually add Huckleberries into the mix.

When you would like to bake a pie take it out of the freezer and brush the frozen pie with a little cream or milk and sprinkle white sugar on top. This makes the pie sparkly. Bake in a 375'F oven for 1 hour from frozen. Make sure the pie is puffed up completely in the middle. I sometimes have to bake an extra 10 mins. or so. This pie really is dang good!!

Thai Chicken Pizza On Studio 5

2011-11-03T21:33:00.000-06:00

Sorry! I didn't tell anyone except my mom that I was going to be on Studio 5 today. I didn't find out until Tues. and you know how it goes. So for anyone who cares here's the recipe I did today, and also a link to the segment. Sorry grandma! She always wants to know, and I just didn't tell today. I hope you still love me:)

Studio 5 Cooking Segment

Original Post

One of the best weeks of the year is when my little family spends a few days on the shores of Jackson Lake in Teton National Park. It has become a tradition over the last 7 years. It started in a canoe with a lot of portaging and paddling, and has evolved into packing the ski boat down with all sorts of camping gear and buzzing off to a remote back country camping site. For years James and I would stuff one canoe with four kids, and all our gear and canoe up String Lake and then have to unload everything and portage across to Leigh Lake to finally paddle to a beautiful little camp site at the base of Mount Moran. It still is the most stunning camp site on the planet, but after I shared it one year with a cute grizzly bear I asked if we couldn't find a way to evacuate our camp site a little easier than paddling our canoe back three hours to the car. Bears can swim you know. So now our lake of choice is Jackson Lake where motor boats are permitted. We are usually the only boater on the lake. Actually I feel like the only humans on the entire planet most years at Jackson Lake.

I have never seen more beautiful water than Jackson Lake. The trip is magical. The kids laughing, and getting along, and playing non-stop Uno. Fishing, and whittling, and eating camping treats. Roasting marshmallows, and drinking unlimited hot chocolate on each chilly morning, and just staring at the most beautiful surroundings in the world. The trip is perfection. Do you ever get that feeling, where you don't think you could be any happier than right at that moment in time? I have that every year.

The annual camping trip has evolved over the years. I first tried to do some pretty fancy camping meals, but over time I've realized that simplicity is key to a fabulous trip. And I've also realized that there is the best little pizza joint right on the lake and it's only a 10 minute boat ride to get there. It's become the highlight of the trip. We play hard all day, jump in the boat and enjoy the water as we head to Leek's Marina on the North end of Jackson Lake. There they have the best pizza on the planet! Really! We always get the Thai Chicken Pizza, and the Margherita Pizza as well. We eat to our hearts content and then jump back in the boat to head back to our campsite for smore's or eclairs. Nothing can beat this. So if you're traveling to Yellowstone by way of Jackson Hole you'll go right past Leek's Marina in Teton National Park. Tell them I sent you. Just kidding. They won't care. But I promise the pizza is superb, and your tummy will be happy all the way to Old Faithful.

Thai Chicken Pizza

Pizza Dough

Courtesy of The Pioneer Woman

FOR THE CRUST ( I actually doubled the recipe and have a Ziploc filled with extra dough. It lasts a while. It probably makes about 10-12 individual sized pizzas.)

1 teaspoon Active Dry Or Instant Yeast

4 cups All-purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

TO MAKE THE CRUST:

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water.

In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined.

Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you need it. ***It's best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better.

Toppings:

Shredded cooked chicken

fresh bean sprouts

shredded carrots

sliced red onions

cilantro or basil

Mozzarella cheese

chopped peanuts

drizzle of peanut sauce

I roll out the pizza and drizzle it with Olive Oil. I then top it with all the good stuff and bake in a 500' F. oven until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden. Drizzle the peanut sauce over the pizza right before eating.

Thai Peanut Sauce

1/4 c. peanut butter

1/8 c. fish sauce or soy sauce

sugar to taste

Thai chili paste

water to thin

Stir all these together and taste. Add a little more sugar or fish sauce to adjust to your taste. Thin with a little water and drizzle over your pizza. You'll love it!

Pumpkin Spice Scones

2011-10-27T16:23:00.001-06:00

I am finally in to fall. It came yesterday. Maybe it was the fact that Jimmy and I flew in yesterday from a lovely holiday and had a little layover in Denver. Denver was smack dab in the middle of winter. 5 inches of snow on the runway. Planes waiting forever to get de-iced, and cold white stuff falling. I decided right there and then that Fall is AWESOME! I will love it as long as it will stay.

We came home to happy kids, (they were actually excited to see Jane's tan) a very clean house, raspberries still waiting for me to pick, (Yeah!!) and one last pretty stale Pumpkin Spice scone. Our little babysitter Rachael is a great cook. We Face Timed the kids one night right in the middle of making these scone and I was sure glad there was one left for me to taste. Stale or not, these were so yummy! I would have never thought to make Pumpkin scones. I like berries, or cinnamon chip in mine, but I will forever be grateful for Rachael's scones.

My house now smells amazing, and I am happily enjoying eating my Pumpkin Spice Scone and loving Fall. I should do this more often. Enjoying the now, not wishing for tommorrow:) Love ya!

Rachel's Pumpkin Spice Scones

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (can use 1 cup AP flour and 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour)

1/2 - 3/4 c. sugar depends on how sweet you want them
1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 c cornmeal

1 cube cold butter

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

3-4 T heavy cream

1 large egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt, and spices. cut butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers or a pastry cutter.

In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together the heavy cream, pumpkin, and egg. Add it all at once to the dry ingredients and mix quickly with a fork until moistened. Knead it in the bowl several times to gather any dry crumbs into the dough.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat it into a 1-inch thick disk. Cut into 8 wedges and place on a baking sheet. Brush the tops with cream and sprinkle with sugar if you want. I drizzled a glaze on mine when they were warm.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, and serve warm.

Cinnamon Glaze

1 c. Powdered sugar

1/2 t cinnamon

1-3 T milk

Combine together and add more milk to thin. Drizzle on warm scones.

Homecoming

2011-10-14T07:01:00.000-06:00

Ain't they cute. My son is with the girl in the purple dress. Strapping young man!

My oldest son is 16. He's driving. He's dating. He's handsome, and wonderful, and he loves being this age. I remember 16. We'll the poor kid has a June birthday so he missed every dance his sophomore year of high school. He missed a lot of stuff due to his not being old enough to do much and the fact that NO ONE wants to give rides to the kid who lives in Timbuktu. So now that he is more mobile he is having a great time in high school.

Table set for the Homecoming Dinner

The high school celebrated their Homecoming a few weeks ago, as well as Utah State having their homecoming and one of the other high schools having their homecoming that week as well. That meant a lot of kids and people coming to town, eating at a limited amount of restaurants. We thought maybe a dinner at home would be a good alternative to Olive Garden. I definitely thought that was a better option than Olive Garden. So the plan was made. Dinner was going to be at the Clawson's for a group of hungry, cute, and handsome highschoolers.

We had a great night! The weather worked perfectly for us. And the night was enchanting if I do say so myself. The menu consisted of a wonderful Anything Salad, Hollie's Famous BBQ Ribs, garlic mashed potatoes (trying to limit the teenage kissing!) veggies, cheese bread, and for dessert Emma's Amazing Chocolate Lava Cakes. All in all I think it turned out great. The table set outside under a tent was beautiful, and the kids were fantastic. I even received a Thank You card from a couple of the girls the next week. Talk about some great kids. What a fun night! And just to clarify---------I think there was some lip action that night even with the Garlic Mashed Potatoes:) I'm sure I never did such a thing. (Mom lets not reply to this statement. My kids don't need to know what their mother was like:)

It's Snowing, And I Made A Really Great Treat!

2011-10-06T12:58:00.001-06:00

Truly it's snowing. Right this very instant! I don't want this quite yet. Give me a few months. Actually it could stay fall for approximately 2 months and 19 days to be exact. I don't need snow until Dec. 25th, and then it can go away. Stay in the mountains is my motto, but I forget sometimes that I CHOSE TO LIVE IN THE STINKING MOUNTAINS! So it snows some years in Oct. Most years in Oct. Sometimes even June and Sept. I can really only count on July and Aug. to not have snow. So I will just make fabulous treats to keep me happy. No really I took these treats to a new little family last night. They just had a beautiful baby boy. He looks just like his daddy. I thought they might like this treat. Turns out----who wouldn't love this treat. So I'm sharing the recipe since it ain't mine to keep anyways. So thanks to Mel at Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I love her stuff. Funny thing..........she used to live in Logan. She used to frequent the bakery a lot. We never met, but I'm sure we would have been friends. And she makes good treats!

Enjoy these. And I'll get my positive attitude out of the closet as well as my ski coat. For those of you who worry about cookie dough......... no need. There are no raw eggs here. Eat to your little hearts content and enjoy every minute of cookie dough bliss:0) And thanks goodness.........it stopped snowing!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownie

Brownie Layer:

1 12-ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup (2 cubes) butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs at room temperature

1 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt butter and chocolate chips. Stir constantly and remove from heat when chips are fully melted. In the same pot, blend in the sugar. Then add eggs, blending fully one at a time. Add flour and salt and beat until air bubbles form in the batter. Pour into a greased 9 X 13-inch pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn heat down to 325 degrees and bake for 10 more minutes.

Cool completely and then top with the cookie dough layer.

Cookie Dough Layer:

1/2 cup (1 cube) butter, softened

1/2 cup dark brown Sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a small bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in milk and vanilla. Gradually add flour and salt. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls over cooled brownies; carefully spread over top (this can be tricky but I found the best way is to slightly wet my hands and pat the dough down gently so it doesn’t pull up the brownies). Cut into squares. Store in the refrigerator.

Peaches and Cream

2011-10-03T09:31:00.000-06:00

Tis the season again for peaches. We have been thoroughly enjoying these beautiful late summer days. We haven't had a frost yet and everything is still producing like crazy. I think the Lord gave me such a beautiful September to make up for the cold slow coming summer.

I have to admit to being a peach and tomato snob this time of year. I don't ever bother with tomatoes or peaches unless they are fresh, in season, and from the garden. I'll buy a token tomato or two every once in a while to make a sandwich look presentable, but never a rock hard, tasteless peach from who knows where.

Once again my muther's peach trees delighted us this year. The peach raper has been shot, (hallelujah!) and the peaches are beautiful! We have been eating peaches like we won't see them again for another year:) To bad that is actually the case. We've had them on waffles, pancakes, with skim milk and cream, in smoothies and straight up in lunch boxes. The recipe that has dominated my kitchen this peach season has been this Peaches and Cream recipe below. I think I've made it at least 6 times. There's only one bad part about this dessert. It is the leftovers.

I have watched as the leftovers have just disappeared. Practically in front of my eyes. No dirty plates, just forkful after forkful eaten straight from the pan. This dessert is light and refreshing, and maybe that's why we have a tendency to just keep forking. It's fruit anyways. Almost good for you.

My mom gave me this recipe a few years ago, and I don't know why I haven't shared until now. You will love it, and think I'm amazing for sharing. Thanks! Also here's a few links to some of my other favorite peach recipes. Like Makita's Peach Pie and homemade Peach Ice Cream. All are wonderful! Enjoy friends!

My Muther's Peaches and Cream Deliciousness

1 pkg of cheap vanilla sandwich cookies

Oodles of peaches

3 c. cream whipped and sweetened

1/2 t. almond extract or vanilla

Place all the vanilla sandwich cookies in a blender or food processor and blitz the heck out of them until they are all crumbs. In the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan place about 1/2 inch of crumbs and press them into the pan. Now peel and slice tons of peaches. The more the better. Cover the entire pan with peaches so no crumbs show. Now spread the whipped cream over all the peaches. Right to the edge. The peaches won't discolor if you have the cream to the edge. Now sprinkle the cream with a few more crumbs. Strictly for aesthetic purposes. Enjoy!

Gourmet Night

2011-09-23T02:13:00.000-06:00

Thanks Jill for posting the photos!

We have a rather fun tradition that started quite a few years ago, that James' family and my family both like to do. We call it Gourmet Night, and it all started with a desire to learn more about Thailand's food. Years ago we had our first Gourmet Night at Jimmy's brother's home. He had served an LDS Mission to Thailand, and was going to teach some of us how to cook Thai food. That's how it all started. For a while there we would meet monthly with a new theme and have dinner. We've had Thai night, Japanese Night, White Trash night, and Garden Night to name a few. Every Feb. my family has their own Gourmet Night to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Since I have two brothers who served missions in Taiwan, a sister-in-law, and a husband we never miss this Gourmet Night.

It's been a while since we've had a regular Gourmet Night, but last Sat. we had a Sushi and Tempura night at my house. I won't proclaim to be a professional sushi maker, but I can roll some rice up. We don't live too close to the ocean, so we keep it safe with a spicy chicken salad inside the rolls. The best part of the sushi rolls though is the thinly sliced lemon that I wrapped inside. It was sooo stinking good!! I think you could wrap about anything in rice and seaweed, and then dip it in soy and wasabi. It would still be fabulous!

My children are huge sushi lovers as well. That is actually what fueled my need to learn how to make a sushi roll. I was going broke with all the nights at Happy Sushi. It costs a lot to feed 6 people enough sushi to make their little tummies full. I try all sorts of ingredients and usually the rolls are made with what I have in the fridge. My favorite though is the spicy chicken, cream cheese, cukes, avocado, and thin lemon. Delish!!

Don't be shy with sushi. Give it a try. All you really need to get started is a sushi mat, and they're pretty cheap. I figure I can make about 10 times the amount of sushi for the cost of 6 rolls at my favorite joint. Pretty dang worth learning!

Sushi Rice

3 cups Calrose rice

3 1/4 cups water

1/3 cup rice vinegar

3 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Preparation:

Put the rice in a large bowl and wash it with cold water. Repeat washing until the water becomes almost clear. Drain the rice in a colander and set aside for 30 minutes. Place the rice in rice cooker and add water. Let the rice soak in the water at least 30 minutes. Start the cooker. When rice is cooked, let it steam for about 15 minutes.

Prepare sushi vinegar by mixing rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a sauce pan. Put the pan on low heat and heat until the sugar dissolves. Cool the vinegar mixture.

Spread the hot steamed rice into a large plate or a large bowl. Please use a non-metallic bowl to prevent any interaction with rice vinegar. I Sprinkle the vinegar mixture over the rice and fold the rice by shamoji (rice spatula) quickly. Be careful not to smash the rice. To cool and remove the moisture of the rice well, use a fan as you mix sushi rice. This will give sushi rice a shiny look. It's best to use sushi rice right away.

Pesto

2011-09-21T14:08:00.001-06:00

Perfect pesto! It goes on anything.

I hate to admit it, but I sometimes hate harvesting my garden. Like a few months ago when I finally pulled out my lettuce that was starting to bolt. All it did was leave a large area of unproductive ground. It looked like a scab on an otherwise unblemished face. I love the neat, perfect little rows and sometimes harvesting ruins my aesthetic perspective. Silly I know, but still it's hard for me:) Well yesterday I did it! I harvested a lot of my basil and then proceeded to make pesto sauce. I trimmed up those basil plants neatly. Kind of like a really good haircut. The kind that you don't notice a significant change, and everything still looks real nice. My mother-in-law told me that that is the sign of a very fine haircut. I believe her.

So the basil in the garden is still beautiful, but I now have a very large stash of homemade pesto sauce. It is so stinking pretty. The most beautiful color green. It totally matches my kitchen, and the walls at the bakery. I must have a thing for Pesto Green. What to do with all that pesto you may ask. We use a lot of it at our house. I stir it into the ricotta/cottage cheese mixture in lasagna. We use it as the sauce for our homemade pizza's, and the best purpose for pesto sauce of all is to make a Swede Turkey Pesto sandwich at home.

The Swede Turkey Pesto, or STP for short is the number one selling sandwich at the bakery. It probably out sells the other sandwiches 2 to 1. If you haven't had one I'll give you the secret recipe now so you can make them at home.

Don't you love this pic. My brother-in-law Doug does all the photos for us at the bakery. This poster is a huge hit!

Swede Turkey Pesto Sandwich

courtesy of Great Harvest Bread Logan, UT

and my sister Hollie who helped me come up with this sandwich:)

Great Harvest Asiago Sourdough Bread

Mayo

Spicy Brown Mustard

Pesto Sauce

Good Deli Turkey

Swiss Cheese

Leaf Lettuce

Red Onion

Tomato

Balsamic Salad Dressing

Ta-Da!! That's it! We take the bread and squirt on the mayo, mustard, and a smear of pesto sauce. Add the turkey and cheese and grill. We use a George Foreman grill. We like how it does the job, but a fry pan, or griddle will work too. When the sandwich is sufficiently toasty, add the veggies, and then drizzle the sandwich with the balsamic dressing. I actually like to dip so do as you please.

Just so you know who Swede is, he's my cousin and was a baker for us for quite a few years. And you say his name as it is spelled. It's a family name on the other side, but when we made the sandwich we needed a catchy name, and Swede was so unique, and interesting the rest is history. The sandwich is so famous that one semester Swede was sitting in a class the first day, and the teacher was reading down the role. When she got to Swede's name she said it, he responded with, "Here!" and then she stopped. She then went on to ask if Swede just happened to have a sandwich named after him at Great Harvest? Of course he did and I don't think Swede had to do a single assignment in that class that semester. He just got an A for being "the Man".

To make the pesto it is quite simple as well. If you've got a lot of basil in your garden, put it to good use. If not, go buy some and make yourself a Swede!

Pesto Sauce

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts

3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

A food processor or blender

Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.

Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. I poured my pesto into cute bottles and then poured enough EVOO on top to cover it. The pesto will discolor quickly if exposed to air. I freeze mine. It will last forever. One tip I learned was to portion the pesto in ice cube trays, and then freeze the cubes. When frozen place in Ziploc bags and use when needed.

Susan's Mint Chocolate Brownies

2011-09-09T04:11:00.001-06:00

"Mint chocolate bliss!" Jenny C.

They're to die for! I am not exaggerating, or even bias. They are absolutely the most wonderful morsel on the planet. Susan is a lovely sister-in-law of mine who indulged me this last Sunday. For Jane's baby blessing I had a special request of Susan. She was more than willing, and I am posting this recipe so all the others who attended Sundays function and who wanted the recipe will now have it. Now Susan doesn't take the credit for these. She got them off of the Tasty Kitchen website, but hallaluiah for us, she has them mastered. She did pass on a few tips to me the other day. These brownies are best made the day ahead, and then refrigerated. I will not mess with perfection. So do as Susan says! Enjoy............I know I did!

Susan's Chocolate Mint Brownies

courtesy of the Tasty Kitchen

FOR THE BROWNIES:

1 cup Melted Butter

½ cups Cocoa Powder

2 cups Sugar

4 whole Eggs Beaten

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

½ teaspoons Salt

1-½ cup Flour

FOR THE MINT FROSTING:

½ cups Butter, Softened

2 Tablespoons Milk

2 cups Powdered Sugar

1 teaspoon Peppermint Extract

5 drops Green Food Coloring

FOR THE GANACHE TOPPING:

½ cups Butter

1-½ cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Note: Increasing amounts to 1 1/2 times the original amounts will yield a baker’s half sheet (large cookie sheet) of brownies, to make 4 dozen brownies.

For the brownies, whisk together melted butter and cocoa powder. Then add sugar, beaten eggs, vanilla, and salt. Mix well and then add sifted flour. Stir in by hand. Do not over mix.

Pour into a 9×13 pan sprayed with cooking spray. If making 1 1/2 recipe, pour into a baker’s half sheet (large cookie sheet).

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-28 minutes. Cool for a few minutes and then place in the freezer for 20 minutes.

While brownies are in the freezer make the first layer of topping. Mix the mint frosting ingredients thoroughly. Evenly frost brownies and put back in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Make the chocolate ganache top layer. Melt the butter and chocolate and whisk together. (I melt them together in a Pyrex measuring bowl in the microwave for one minute. Be careful not to overheat. It won’t look melted but once whisked, it will.)

Drizzle warm chocolate over brownies and spread smooth with a spatula. Put back in the freezer for another 20 minutes. Susan's tip is to make a day ahead and store covered in the fridge. She says it make the flavors meld together and just taste better. I totally agree!

Marinara Sauce Repeat and Correction

2011-09-08T08:13:00.000-06:00

So yesterday I get a phone call from one of our favorite old employees asking for some clarification on a recipe of mine. Seems I had a typo involved with the Marinara recipe and the recipe was being used two different ways. The original recipe called for green peppers, but I wrote green onions. I'm sure the green onion version is delicious as well, but I must edit my recipe. So here it is again. Good luck and happy canning!! Sorry Emily! I know you have made it a lot with green onions, so maybe you can tell us when you find out which variation is best:)

Tis the season to stand at the kitchen sink for hours on end, with a really sappy Jane Austin movie, and can everything in sight. (It is best to have the 5 hour copy of Pride and Prejudice to keep you occupied for the day.) I love hovering around those colorful little quart jars as they come out of the hot water bath. I wait anxiously for the happy little popping sound. That pop means all my work is not in vain. The jar is sealed and can now rest peacefully in my storage room in perfect little rows of color. I know this may be silly, but I must confess, I take pictures of the pretty little jars. I have a friend that once confided she did the same. We are kindred spirits till the bitter end now. My favorite picture is when I do a batch of pickled beets and they are standing on the counter next to a row of perfect bottled peaches. Yeah!! The color contrast, the beautiful preserved fruit and veggies. I love the satisfaction that canning your own produce brings. Thanks to my mother dearest who taught me how to preserve my garden goodies. It has become an Aug. and Sept. ritual at my house. (As well as watching Pride and Prejudice from beginning to end for a couple of days straight. I get a years worth of Mr. Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennett all in one week.)

Today's task at hand was Homemade Marinara Sauce. This is a recipe that I received from my little friend Jill, and it is a keeper. I love having the fresh sauce on hand for spaghetti, and lasagna, but it is also really a great pizza sauce. My favorite preparation is to fry up a pound of hamburger and then pour in the sauce and 1 c. of cream. It makes a lovely pink sauce, that is a bit more mild than just a regular red sauce. Try it next time. I love this recipe because it makes between 15-18 quarts of Marinara Sauce. I've made it at different times of the year too. I have found it is just as good with #10 cans of crushed or diced tomatoes, dried onions, and dried green peppers. It is a great way to use up some of your food storage. I'll list the recipe using fresh ingredients as well as dried. Both ways are delicious, but I must say that you have to use fresh basil at all costs. It is just the way it is.

Jill's Fresh Marinara Sauce

1/2 bushel tomatoes peeled and chopped (or 3 #10 cans of chopped tomatoes)

7-8 chopped onions (or 1 1/2 c. dried minced onions)

6-7 green peppers chopped (or 1 c. dried green peppers)

12- 6 oz cans of tomato paste

5 T. oregano

1 1/2 c. chopped fresh basil (or 4 T. dried, but it isn't anywhere near as good this way)

3/4 c. oil

4 pkg. dry spaghetti mix

2 c. sugar

1/2 c. salt

6 c. water

Simmer for 1 hour stirring a lot so as not to burn the bottom. Place in clean sterilized quart jars and place in a hot water bath for 40 mins. for quart jars. Make sure the lids seal and then store in a dry place.

Blessings

2011-09-06T16:10:00.000-06:00

We just had the best Sunday for a long time. Sunday morning at 9am sharp the entire Clawson extended family and a lot of Garner extended family descended on the Paradise chapel to help out in giving our little Jane a name and a blessing. For those of you who aren't Mormon let me give you a little run down. When a child is born, sometime during their first few months of life they are given a special blessing by a worthy priesthood bearer (Jimmy doing the honors for Jane) and also pronouncing their name to be recorded down for all posterity:) It's a wonderful blessing actually that a father or grandfather gives the new babe. It gives them a good start. Blessing of health, happiness, love, and doing good throughout the baby's life are usually what are asked for. James also thanked the Lord for sending Jane to our family. It was short and sweet and Jane was surrounded by so many handsome men during the blessing. I believe there were 12-15 striking men who helped out.

Beautiful setting, beautiful day for a beautiful little girl.

When my dad sat down after the blessing he leaned over to me and commented on Jane during the blessing. The sweet little girl was being held up by all these men with the biggest smile on her face. My dad said she looked as if she was ready to burst into laughter. She seemed completely aware of what was going on and was basking in the blessing and love she was feeling. For those of you who know, a lot of times the baby is sleeping or fussy, but not Jane! She enjoyed every minute of the blessing and seemed truly happy to be apart of this world. Her smile was the talk of the day.

Isn't that smile contagious?

I am smitten with this child. I have been with all of them, but Jane is such a little ray of sunshine in our family at this stage of our lives. I love watching the older kids love her. Jed is not a love-y type kid, but when it comes to Jane he melts. All the others love her immensely as well. And best of all, I love watching James with one of his babies. He is so fun to watch as he coos and snuggles, and talks to a sweet baby. Jane adores James and her eyes light up when he talks to her.

So I guess I just feel blessed. Blessed to have Jane and the family I do. The day was beautiful, the weather couldn't have been nicer, and the food. Well let's just say I could live on Susan's Mint Brownies every day of my life! They really made the day perfect:) Blessing were abundant and I am truly thankful.

Zucchinni

2011-08-31T06:38:00.000-06:00

Carving of zucchini for the annual Zucchini Regatta

Have I ever told you about my grandpa's garden? I lived next door to my grandma and grandpa all my growing up years, and we were the recipients of many, many, MANY pounds of produce from their garden every summer. In fact we never grew a garden in my family until my grandpa stopped gardening as he got older. Until that point I would spend all day at my grandparent's house with all the cousins running around the fields and gardens. Thinking about it now, I was an exceedingly lucky kid. We had oodles of cousins to play with every day, and I only had to do my hair one day a week in the summer. Sundays.

My sister and I worked one summer in my grandpa's garden weeding, but we always helped with something or other with the garden. I remember sitting for hours as my mom and grandma would shell peas, or the times my grandpa would get pitchfork loads of pea vines and throw them on the back of a trailer and haul us around as we ate peas, by the load. I also remember the trunk loads of zucchini my grandpa would pick and then drop off to practically everyone in Pleasant View.

Happy kids ready to float their boats.

One day he unloaded a huge trailer load of zucchini on his front lawn and told me and Hollie, and a few other cousins that we could sell the zucchini to all the passer-byers and keep all the money we made. We had visions of polo ponies, and fancy clothes.........actually we just wanted enough to buy some penny candy at the little store. There were stayed for 6 hours that day. 2 cars stopped, but they only wanted tomatoes and we weren't selling tomatoes. Only zucchini. Nobody wanted the amounts of zucchini we had. We didn't even want the zucchini!

I've found the best use of zucchini now is for the annual Zucchini Regatta, and now this Chocolate Zucchini Cake. Truth be told, the cake is fantastic!! We loved it. I stumbled across the recipe here on the internet, and the recipe will be a staple. So I'm sure you have loads of zucchini, so make some cake right before you use them all for the zucchini regatta:)

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

3 cups grated zucchini

1 c chocolate chips

1 c. chocolate chips

1/2 c. brown sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the eggs and oil, mix well. Fold in the nuts and zucchini until they are evenly distributed. Pour into the prepared pan. With the second cup of chips add the brown sugar and sprinkle on top of the cake.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Summer Storms

2011-08-29T06:06:00.011-06:00

Bear Lake sunrise. 8/18/2011. Overlooking the lake, to the East just above Ideal Beach.

I don't think there is anything more wonderful than watching a thunderstorm roll in. I remember the summer I started dating James there seemed to be quite a few of these summer storms and we would sit on my front porch watching them roll in from the west. I could watch that for hours. There are a few storms that have really stuck in my mind though. Usually it involves James, porches, blankets and the most beautiful skies imaginable. It's the blue sky that gives way to a purple-y darkness. I call it periwinkle and I think it's the most gorgeous color the Lord gave us.

Bear Lake is one place that has spectacular storms roll in. I've spent many beautiful days at the beach only to have the infamous Bear Lake storm roll in late in the afternoon. Usually it comes in from the north and you can see the dark ominous clouds way before the drops start. It's beautiful!

Last Sat. morning one of those wonderful storms rolled in to Bear Lake at about 6am. James rolled over in bed and suggested we go watch the fireworks. I love him for that. Always willing to sit on the porch and admire a show. The lightning was incredible. Amazing actually. It was striking all around us. For two hours almost we watched from our front porch as the most spectaculars storm raged. Eventually we were joined by a few kids and a grandma and grandpa. Josh was witness to the storm too. It was fantastic. A storm that will be remembered for a long time. The picture is of the sunrise that morning. It was better than any sunset in Hawaii I have ever seen. These are the moments that you know there is a God who loves you. He sends you these great gifts if you'll just take the time to experience them. I'm grateful I was witness to this beautiful morning. It will go down as one of my favorites.

Fruits of My Labors

2011-08-26T06:48:00.001-06:00

An evening spent picking beans in the garden with the redhead. Love that kid!

I love my garden. Next to my husband, my children, my dogs, my home, my family, my friends and neighbors, my garden is truly loved. I pray for things in my garden, and yes, the prayers work. I'm afraid this year though in all the hub-a-balloo of birthing babies, and nursing babies, and loving new babies, some things in my garden just didn't get the right start. Cantaloupe won't be a staple from the garden this year, and I noticed that the new lawnmower in the family dismembered my cucumber plants. And the tomatoes........well let's just say I may never get a ripe one this year, but at least I have plenty bottled from last year. But the garden is beautiful still. I have to admit that a lot of the reason I plant a garden is asthetics. It's all about how it looks as I sit in my bathroom and admire it out the window. The rows have to have texture, and be placed in certain order. I love the tall lines of onions, the frilly wisps of fennel, and the beautiful color of giant Zinnias right down the middle of the garden. Sometimes I don't even harvest something because I don't want to ruin how the garden looks. I walk around the garden every day and admire the fruits of my labor.

As a kid I remember going to Bear Lake every year with my family and staying in Fish Haven. I think it's the cutest little town, and there must have been a million little old grandma's who lived there who loved their gardens. I loved driving through town and admiring each perfectly manicured garden. Tall rows of corn, sprawling squash, and tons of raspberry bushes. It all seemed so idealic to me, and it inspired me to do the same.

Every year I plant a huge row of pole beans right down the middle of the garden. Why pole beans instead of bush? Bush beans produce all in one big bang, but they're harder to pick, and they don't look as cute as the wall of bean vines that wind themselves up a fence. A bean fence is just absolutely perfect down the center of my garden. I LOVE the look, but the consequences are a load of beans. So far I've picked quite a few 5 gallon buckets of beans. Many get cooked with new potatoes, and bacon, but the majority have turned into Dilly Beans this year. A lovely neighbor gave me the recipe a few years back and the fam and I decided this years harvest would be devoted to Dilly Beans. Dilly Beans are better than pickles, and finger licking good. They are easy to make, and don't take a lot of time, or even a pressure canner. They're simple and delicious, and we love eating them by the bottle full. The recipe is from the "Good Book" of canning. The Ball Blue Book. So it's safe and approved by the canning god's, and my neighbor Beanie. (She's the canning god around Paradise.) So when life hands you beans here's something a little different to make, but I promise you will be pleased with the outcome. Especially come Christmas when you add these beans to a lovely relish tray, but let's not talk about Christmas............yet.

Dilly Beans

recipe courtesy of the Ball Blue Book of Canning

2 pounds fresh green beans, rinsed and trimmed
4 cloves garlic, peeled
8 sprigs fresh dill weed or 1 t. dill seed and 1 t. dill weed in each bottle
1/4 c. salt
2 1/2 cups white vinegar
2 1/2 cups water
Directions

Cut green beans to fit inside pint canning jars.
Pack the beans into four hot, sterilized pint jars. Place 1 clove garlic and 2 sprigs dill weed in each jar, against the glass.
In a large saucepan over high heat, bring vinegar, water, and salt to a boil. Pour over beans.
Fit the jars with lids and rings and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Jackson Lake Pizza

2011-08-19T08:32:00.000-06:00

Top to bottom, left to right: Family portrait, E paddle boarding on Jackson Lake, little boys fishing, family portrait on Signal Mountain dock, friendly neighborhood moose, pizza at Leek's Marina, Jimmy the ski boy (the lake was a tit bit nipply this year), pulling out, Seth the boat driver, sling shots, family portrait, 5 kids!, Thai Chicken Pizza at Leek's, morning fishing, Jimmy paddle boarding, traditional dock jump

One of the best weeks of the year is when my little family spends a few days on the shores of Jackson Lake in Teton National Park. It has become a tradition over the last 7 years. It started in a canoe with a lot of portaging and paddling, and has evolved into packing the ski boat down with all sorts of camping gear and buzzing off to a remote back country camping site. For years James and I would stuff one canoe with four kids, and all our gear and canoe up String Lake and then have to unload everything and portage across to Leigh Lake to finally paddle to a beautiful little camp site at the base of Mount Moran. It still is the most stunning camp site on the planet, but after I shared it one year with a cute grizzly bear I asked if we couldn't find a way to evacuate our camp site a little easier than paddling our canoe back three hours to the car. Bears can swim you know. So now our lake of choice is Jackson Lake where motor boats are permitted. We are usually the only boater on the lake. Actually I feel like the only humans on the entire planet most years at Jackson Lake.

I have never seen more beautiful water than Jackson Lake. The trip is magical. The kids laughing, and getting along, and playing non-stop Uno. Fishing, and whittling, and eating camping treats. Roasting marshmallows, and drinking unlimited hot chocolate on each chilly morning, and just staring at the most beautiful surroundings in the world. The trip is perfection. Do you ever get that feeling, where you don't think you could be any happier than right at that moment in time? I have that every year.

The annual camping trip has evolved over the years. I first tried to do some pretty fancy camping meals, but over time I've realized that simplicity is key to a fabulous trip. And I've also realized that there is the best little pizza joint right on the lake and it's only a 10 minute boat ride to get there. It's become the highlight of the trip. We play hard all day, jump in the boat and enjoy the water as we head to Leek's Marina on the North end of Jackson Lake. There they have the best pizza on the planet! Really! We always get the Thai Chicken Pizza, and the Margherita Pizza as well. We eat to our hearts content and then jump back in the boat to head back to our campsite for smore's or eclairs. Nothing can beat this. So if you're traveling to Yellowstone by way of Jackson Hole you'll go right past Leek's Marina in Teton National Park. Tell them I sent you. Just kidding. They won't care. But I promise the pizza is superb, and your tummy will be happy all the way to Old Faithful.

this is the pizza made at home

Thai Chicken Pizza

Pizza Dough

Courtesy of The Pioneer Woman

FOR THE CRUST ( I actually doubled the recipe and have a Ziploc filled with extra dough. It lasts a while. It probably makes about 10-12 individual sized pizzas.)

1 teaspoon Active Dry Or Instant Yeast

4 cups All-purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

TO MAKE THE CRUST:

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water.

Toppings:

Shredded cooked chicken

fresh bean sprouts

shredded carrots

sliced red onions

cilantro or basil

Mozzarella cheese

chopped peanuts

drizzle of peanut sauce

Thai Peanut Sauce

1/4 c. peanut butter

1/8 c. fish sauce or soy sauce

sugar to taste

Thai chili paste

water to thin

Stir all these together and taste. Add a little more sugar or fish sauce to adjust to your taste. Thin with a little water and drizzle over your pizza. You'll love it!

Naan Bread Makes Us Happy!

2011-08-01T14:28:00.000-06:00

Garlic Naan

Someone asked me the other day if my daughter Emma was a going to be a good cook one day. I had to immediately respond that she is already a fabulous cook and quite adventurous. Last week while Jimmy and Jed were at their High Adventure activity Emma asked if we could make something delicious. She is always wanting to try something new in the kitchen. I told her I had found a quick Naan bread recipe that we should try. She responded immediately with a loud yes and pumping of her fists. Something about Naan Bread and Emma. They seem to go together.

Emma's first Indian food experience was a few short months ago. We have a great little Indian restaurant here in Logan. It is located close to USU in a gas station of all places. Half of the building has your Corn Nuts, and Zingers, and the other half is The Tandori Oven. It's delish! We love it, but I will admit I'm not very adventurous. I like the Chicken Coconut Kurma, or the Chicken Tikka Masala and that's about it. Actually I think I really only like the above mentioned dishes just so I can dip the Naan Bread into something. I could dip the Naan Bread into Sunday dinner gravy, or Sweet and Sour Sauce and I'd be happy too. Naan Bread is stupendous!

Sweet Naan

Emma and I made two versions of the Quick Naan Bread. I love the sweet Naan that has dates, coconut, and cashews ground up and then rolled up in the dough. We also made just butter garlic Naan. I was so happy to taste this bread once it was finished. Emma and I just kept breaking off pieces, and making the yummy sound. I even jumped up and down a little with delight at the taste. It was lovely, and you know what? I don't think a longer, yeasted version would have made me any happier. We did make a delicious Chicken Tikka Masala as well to dip in. Since the initial making we've made the bread 3 more times. Each time making the family happier and happier! If you like Indian food give this Naan Bread a try. It was wonderful!!

5 Minute Quick Naan Bread!
Courtesty of (Never-Home) Maker

What you'll need . . .

1 cup bread flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 pinch salt

2/3 cup water

extra flour for rolling

Method . . .

Whisk together the bread flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl.

Add the water and stir. Then knead with your hands for a minute or two. If dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour.

Dough should be smooth and elastic. Divide into 4 balls.

Roll out each ball until it is about 5 to 6 inches in diameter.

Heat a frying pan until nice and hot. When hot, place one of the pre-naans on it. Press down a bit with your hands or a utensil. Cook until golden.

Then flip and cook until golden. If you have a gas stove, I grabbed the Naan and put it directly over the gas flame. I loved the charred marks. Repeat with remaining pieces.

Use a pizza cutter to cut each piece into 4 triangles.

I actually three times the recipe. It made about 10 good sized Naan Bread.

To make the Sweet Naan I took a handful of raisins, and handful of coconut, and a handful of cashews and buzzed them in a food processor with a little water until a rough paste formed. I then put a tablespoon full of paste in the middle of a dough ball. Folded it over and sealed the edges so the paste was inside the dough. Then you roll the dough out as directed and cook as directed. When the bread was done we brushed with butter and sprinkled some more coconut on top. Yum!!

Fish My Favorite Way

2011-07-24T23:49:00.000-06:00

A few years ago my Jimmy and I were on vacation with my sister and her husband in Kauai. It was such a fun vacation, and probably the vacation with the best food I've ever eaten. We probably spent more on food on that vacation than any other trip, but it was sooooo worth it. The very first night of the trip we ate dinner at a lovely little joint called Duke's and I had the best fish on the planet. Maybe it was the fact that we were eating fish that was swimming just hours earlier, or maybe it was the fact that we were in paradise, or just the fact that we were starving, but the fish was really good.

A few years later James recalled a similar experience on one of his trips to Yakutat Alaska. That particular year the fishing wasn't so good at the bay so they had chartered a guide to take them back in the woods to some fabulous rivers. Their guides name was Frank. A salty guy that was about as rough as they come. Frank also was running from the law. Or just technically "trying to disappear" from the real world. He was wary of James and his party of friends. They were a bunch of clean cut, young guys. A bunch of dentists, lawyers, and a baker boy from Utah and Idaho and all as handsome as could be. Someone just happened to be wearing a plain blue baseball cap that day and Frank thought they were the FBI there to take him in. It took some convincing that they really were just some regular old fishermen, out for the day. Once Frank was convinced, he took them to a great hole, and fixed the meal of meals for the boys right there on the side of the river with one of the salmon they had caught.

So what do these two stories have in common? The method of preparation for the fish. All you really need is a bottle of Mayo, and some flavorings of sorts. Frank's weapon of choice was apples. My Kauai fish flavoring was Thai chilies, but both fish were scrumptious! Frank filleted they fish, put a generous spread of Mayo on the fresh salmon and then topped it with apples slices. He then wrapped it in foil and cooked the fish over a campfire. My Kauai fish was prepared a little more gourmet with a few more ingredients, but technically it was made in a very similar fashion.

We love fish prepared this way at home. It is so easy, and it creates such a tasty, yummy meal. I've used lots of different ingredients, but the main ingredient is always the same. I make the fish on the grill every time, and it usually only takes a couple of minutes to prepare and then about 10 minutes to cook. Salmon is great this way, but Tilapia, or Halibut would be lovely. Enjoy!

Fish My Favorite Way

Fish filet's

enough Mayo to spread a generous amount on each fillet

Parmesan cheese

herbs of choice

fruit of choice

Sweet Thai chili sauce

Orange sauce

These are all just suggestions. I usually use about 1 c. of mayo for 6 fish fillets. I throw in about 1/2 c. cheese, and then 1/4 c. of Sweet Thai Chili sauce. This is my favorite. I've used a bottled Orange sauce from the Asian section before, and I've also used all sorts of spices in the cupboard. Lemon pepper spice would be good, or Italian seasoning would be good. I like a little sweet with my concoction. I stir all the ingredients together with the mayo and then spread a good slathering on each fillet. I then place the fillets on a big piece of foil and place it on the grill. It usually takes about 10-15 minutes for the salmon to be cooked, but it all depends on the thickness of your fish. The mayo, cheese mixture will get bubbly and brown a little. Don't overcook the fish. Ere on the side of underdone. The fish will continue to cook even after it's taken off the grill. Enjoy!

The Bird

2011-07-16T15:35:00.001-06:00

I don't mean to be crude or rude, or vulgar, but I have to admit that every time I walked out my door to my garden I was met with the sight of this lovely Blue Spruce giving me the bird. Can you see it? Seriously, every day I got a little tickle inside when I saw this tree. I do believe the Lord has a HUGE sense of humor:) Don't you think?

The tree has now straightened out its finger into a more appropriate pose, and is growing happily. It sure made me happy.

Pizza!

2011-07-08T08:37:00.002-06:00

Who doesn't love pizza? OK so technically Seth doesn't love it. He used to love it, but he was violently sick one night, and it just isn't ever something you love again. You know how it goes. Me and Garlic Cheddar bread will never really be friends. Oh well! Life will go on. Sorry about the image here. I had great intentions of fabulous pizza so just forget everything I just said about me and Seth. We all love pizza.

This summer we have made a lot of homemade pizza at out house. Usually it is comprised of a few loaves of Sourdough dough brought home from the bakery and a lot of fun toppings. But I found a great recipe for dough that is fool proof, and making the pizza on the grill is pure summer. My favorite pizza of choice is a classic Margherita Pizza with lots of fresh tomatoes, and basil, and fresh Mozzarella cheese. If you don't have fresh basil, and Mozzarella cheese make do with what you do have. My kids love pesto and grilled chicken and cheese, or BBQ sauce and chicken or just plain old pepperoni pizza. The combos are limitless, and everyone loves to make their own pizzas. It's a great Family Night activity and we love doing it with friends. The grill works perfectly and I loved the charred edges of my pizza. They were just dang good. I keep a Ziploc bag full of dough so the kids can have pizza any time. Seth made it for brekky the other morning. Yep! Pepperoni pizza for breakfast can't be beat. Enjoy friends!

Pizza Dough

Courtesy of The Pioneer Woman

FOR THE CRUST ( I actually doubled the recipe and have a Ziploc filled with extra dough. It lasts a while. It probably makes about 10-12 individual sized pizzas.)

1 teaspoon Active Dry Or Instant Yeast

4 cups All-purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

TO MAKE THE CRUST:

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water.

To grill pizza just light your grill and coat with a little bit of oil if your fearless. I didn't, but it still worked. I found it is easier to top the pizza after the dough is on the grill otherwise it is hard to transfer the topped raw pizza onto the grill. I had the flame on low and it took my pizza about 8-10 minutes. It got a little charred in spots, but I thought it was good. You can also make the pizzas on a cookie sheet and place in a 500'F oven and bake until cheese is bubbly and the crust is brown.

Red White and Blue Razzleberry Shortcake

2011-07-05T20:34:00.001-06:00

I have had an abundance of kindness shown to me the last few weeks. Actually it started way before Jane was even born, and it has made me exceedingly grateful for wonderful friends and family. I am truly blessed to know sooo many stinking kind people. I don't think I know any mean people. Maybe just one mean lady at the temple last year that made me cry, but James says she was probably just having an off day. I'm sure she's nice at heart. Our little family has been fortified and fed by some great people over the last weeks, and I want to thank them all from the bottom of my mixing bowl as Jimmy would say:)

One of my favorite treats we received, came from my fabulous neighbor. Now remember I only have one neighbor so she can totally be fabulous. She fixed a huge pot roast dinner with all the goodies, but dessert was my favorite. It was a new recipe she tried, and I loved it. James loved it as well. It was light, and summer-y and chock full of fresh raspberries. Maybe that's why it was so dang delish! So when Colette made the dessert she just used a can of Grands refrigerator biscuits and brushed the tops with melted butter and a sprinkling of sugar before baking. They were wonderful, and easy she said. I tried a scratch biscuit and it was lovely as well, but by no means necessary. The Grands were great too. So try these babies out with all the fresh berries coming on. I just picked my first gallon of strawberries out of the garden so this recipe is going to be made with strawberries very soon. I know raspberries will be starting soon as well so enjoy. I can eat a biscuit for dessert after dinner and again for brekky. They're that good. Enjoy!!

Red White and Blue Razzleberry Shortcake

1- 8 oz. brick of cream cheese at room temp.

Whip until smooth

1 c. or a little more cream whipped and lightly sweetened to your liking. Mine were barely sweet.

a little vanilla

Combine the whipped cream and the creamed cheese together. Fold in:

1-2 pints of fresh raspberries or any other berry of choice. I put in a pint of raspberries and a pint of blackberries, but blueberries or strawberries would be lovely. Mangoes would be good too with pineapple for a little tropical shortcake.

Shortcake Recipe

Courtesy of Alton Brown but I've adapted it a bit

2 1/2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 c. sugar

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons shortening

3/4 cup half and half (or milk)

Melted butter to brush shortcakes

Sugar to sprinkle on top

Directions

Heat oven 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in butter and shortening. Mix in half-and-half. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown. Cool and cut each biscuit in half. Fill with a heaping spoonful of the cream cheese, berry and cream mixture. Top with the lid of the biscuit. Eat and enjoy. I found that the recipe made 8 perfect sized Berry Shortcakes.

Just Jane

2011-06-30T08:53:00.002-06:00

She's here! She's finally here, and I can officially say, ALL Clawson's are in love. Even Emma:) Jane Juliet Clawson was born June 13, 2011 at 5:07 pm. She weighed in at a hefty 7 lbs. 11 oz. and 20 inches long. She is beautiful, and she sleeps well. She was a quick delivery. Actually wham bam boom quick. We decided on a home birth for Jane, and actually I don't think we would have made it to a hospital anyway. All went perfectly. I'll write all the details of that on my Day to Day page. We don't want to mix gory details with delicious food:) I feel like I'm back to somewhat of a normal person. Those hormones can sure send you for a loop for a while. But what a treat it is to have a new baby in your home. It amazes me that I like them so fast. They can't even smile at you, yet I still think Jane is wonderful. She looks a lot like Seth, but you know, every day she changes. She'll be a beauty I'm sure. Emma has stated though that if Jane has James' legs she will be ticked. Poor Em got my Barker legs, but they are sturdy and strong at least:)

For some reason I think she resembles Grandpa Rod here:)

Proud big brother Seth

All my babies love this big handsome man's chest. So do I!

20 minutes after I delivered these were delivered to my door. James thinks of everything.

Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters...........

So welcome to our sweet Jane! We love all her stinking guts!!

Camping Eclairs

2011-06-16T08:11:00.001-06:00

Impromptu campfire. Hotdog roasting, and Eclair making. Notice James and Jessica's dough wrapped sticks. Bottom center is the eclairs being roasted. Seth and Eric loved their finished projects. I love Summer!!

Have you had them? They will become your new camping or backyard tradition! Now you only need a few items to make them. The most important item is a 1 inch dowel. I've lost a few broom handles to the cause, but any 1 inch dowel from the craft store is great. You want it to be about 3 feet long so you can put it in the fire. You'll keep it forever, right with the rest of your roasting sticks.

Refrigerator biscuits

(Just the cheap kind. Don't get Grands or anything. They're too big. Just the cheap 2 for a $1 kind and lots of them!)

Snack pack pudding any flavor

Chocolate or vanilla frosting in a can

Here's the procedure: Take your biscuit and stretch it around the top of your dowel. Now roll it down the dowel like your making a snake. My sister in law's get the giggles when they do this part. I always thought they were such wholesome girls, but deep down inside they are a little sassy. You don't want the biscuit to be too thick or it will take way to long to roast. Now stick the dowel into the fire like you're roasting a marshmallow. The biscuit will take a few minute, but you will know it is done when it is golden and easily twists off the dowel. Now fill the biscuit with your choice of pudding and frost the top with frosting. You will love these. Enjoy!!

Fruit Pizza

2011-06-13T07:57:00.001-06:00

I think Fruit Pizza is the most wonderful invention. We had a baby blessing last Sunday. My brother Josh and his wife Katie blessed their new son Isaac. He's beautiful, and you should have seen Katie. She was beautiful. Drop dead gorgeous actually. Her hair, her blue blouse! I know why Josh loves her! But we actually missed the blessing. By about 10 minutes. That's how it goes when Jimmy gets caught after a church meeting. But we had a wonderful day with family anyway. It's so great when the weather is good, the company is good, the food is good, and everyone bringing dessert brings something different. Can I just say that the dessert bringers were in tune with the spirit. Susan brought the most wonderful Chocolate Mint Brownies (I'm going to make them today!), Jess brought yummy Magic Bars (She had a much better name for them though.) Amy brought perfect cookies, and I had a Strawberry Fruit Pizza. We had a little of everything. Not to much chocolate, not to much fruit. It was just right. I told Katie I'd post the Fruit Pizza recipe, but maybe I'll just replicate all the desserts and post them as well. I'd do that for you:)

Fruit Pizza

3/4 c. butter

3 c. sugar

3 eggs

Cream together and then add:

3 c. flour

3/4 t. salt

3/4 t. baking powder

3/4 t. baking soda

Mix until combined and press into a large silver cookie sheet. This will make a pretty thick sugar cookie crust. You can make it a little thinner if you want and just not put all the dough in the pan. I have to spray my hands with Pam when I press the dough in. Otherwise the dough is way too sticky and just makes a mess. Bake in a 375'F oven for about 12 minutes. The cookie will barely start to brown. Cool and frost.

Frosting

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese

2 c. of powdered sugar

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Beat until thick and smooth.

fold in a small carton of Cool Whip

You'll have extra frosting, but is that a bad thing? Frost the cooled cookie with the frosting and then top with any assortment of fruit. I had a ton of strawberries so I only used strawberries, but all fruit is welcome on this cookie. Serve

June Loveliness

2011-06-09T07:35:00.000-06:00

Two little boys on their way to
the last day of school.
Skipping as they go!

School is finally out, and I believe Spring has arrived finally. Not Summer, but definitely Spring. I've decided this is the time of year that I stick long dreary winters out for. It is absolutely beautiful right now. The lilacs are actually blooming this year. They have a tendency to freeze before they bloom in Cache Valley, but not this year. They are heavy laden on every bush. Kind of like me right now:) Also the apple blossoms are wonderful, and the chokecherries just came out on Monday. It smells like honey to me where ever I go. I've sucked a few white blossoms up my nostrils the last few mornings. And how about the snow capped mountains still. There's a great song by Eddie From Ohio that talks about 50 weeks of snowy peaks, and I'll bet ya we'll be pretty dang close to that this year. It makes for some great pictures though. We always have a bet in our family to see when the final drift melts off our mountain in back. It's usually around the 4th of July, but I'm going for a little closer to Aug. I'll keep you posted on that. I told my Jimmy the other day that we don't know how to have fun on the boat without snow capped mountains in the background. How would it actually be to water ski in water that was somewhat warmish?

My rhubarb is happy this year too. And the strawberries have been in abundance in my Bountiful Basket. These two make a lovely combo. I believe my mom's favorite dessert of all times is Strawberry Rhubarb pie. I haven't made a pie yet this season, but a Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp was in the line up last week. I love crisps! It reminds me of elementary. And they are just so easy to make as well. I actually think my favorite crisp of all time was an Apricot Plum Crisp I made last Spring. Now that was delish!
I hope your Spring/ Summer is starting out well. We're hoping to get a baby here soon so she can enjoy the beauty as well. Or maybe it's purely selfish. I want her here so I can enjoy the rest of the beautiful summer!

Spring Crisp

3-4 c. of chopped or sliced fruit

(I did about 3 c. of Rhubarb and 2 c. of Strawberries. You don't have to be exact.)

1-1 1/2 c. sugar (Depends on how tart your fruit is.)

Mix these together and place in a 9x13 inch pan. You can actually cook the fruit for a few minutes on the stove top as well. I just place it in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. It will make your crisp cook a ton faster once it's in the oven. And the more fruit you have the longer the crisp takes to bake.

Crisp

1 cube of butter softened

1 c. of flour

1 c. of oats

1 c. of sugar brown or white

cinnamon as wanted

Cut the butter into the other ingredients until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle on top of the fruit and sugar mixture and place in the oven uncovered until fruit is bubbly and the crisp is crisp. It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. My last crisp took an hour, but I had a ton of fruit, and I hadn't cooked the fruit a head of time. Enjoy hot with a big dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream! Yum!

Pad Thai

2011-05-31T18:02:00.000-06:00

So here it is. The last day of May and I have no inclination in the world to do my visiting teaching. None! Zip! Nada! Don't I have a good excuse? Dang it................I look like Humpty Dumpty, and I am not going to be relieved of that anytime soon. Actually, I'm putting my positive affirmations to work here today. I will have a baby soon. But I'm still not going visiting teaching. I'll tell my ladies I love them on May 32, 2011. That totally works:)

So instead of visiting teaching I made my favorite dish in the world. As of today that is. Tomorrows favorite will be different, but today it is Pad Thai. And according to my Thai speaking brother in law it is pronounced, "Put Thai". I try to say it correctly every chance I get. I'm honing my foreign language skills. If you've ever been to a Thai restaurant this is one of the safest things on the menu. As a first time Thai restaurant goer 18 years ago, this is the first thing I ever ordered. I remember it coming out with lots of limes, sugar, peanuts, and fish sauce so that you could doctor your dish up just the way you liked it. I remember thinking it was delicious, and I order it almost every time we eat Thai. That's the good thing about having 4 children. At a Thai restaurant at least one of the dishes can be Pad Thai, as well as a number of other goodies. I've noticed as of late, that everything you need for Pad Thai can be purchased at any grocery store. They've got it all now a days. I hope you like it, and if you make it sometime soon, as you bless your food, pray I have this baby soon. I'm tired of looking like Humpty Dumpty.

Pad Thai

1 (12 ounce) package rice noodles

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons fish sauce

3 tablespoons white sugar

1/8 tablespoon crushed red pepper

2 cups bean sprouts

1 cup shredded carrots

1/4 cup crushed peanuts

3 green onions, chopped

handful fresh cilantro chopped

1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions

Soak rice noodles in hot water 20 minutes, or until soft. Drain, and set aside.

Heat butter in a wok or large heavy skillet. Saute chicken until browned. Remove, and set aside. Heat oil in wok over medium-high heat. Saute bean sprouts and carrot shreds. Crack eggs into hot oil, and cook until firm. Stir in chicken, and cook for 5 minutes. Add softened noodles, and vinegar, fish sauce, sugar and red pepper. Adjust seasonings to taste. Mix while cooking, until noodles are tender. Add green onions and cilantro just before serving.

Footnotes

Garnish with crushed peanuts, more chopped green onions, cilantro and wedge of lime. I serve with more sugar, vinegar, and fish sauce. Everyone likes their Pad Thai just a little different.

Lovely Ladies

2011-05-18T21:14:00.000-06:00

Jimmy building the coop. Seth helped. Kind of.

Secretly I love this song. We are huge Les Miserables fans at our house, but I'm afraid my Jimmy usually skips this song when it comes up on the play list. We don't need children asking what lovely ladies are quite yet do we? But deep down inside I LOVE to sing this song. It's a little scandalous, and sassy, and I just like being that way sometimes. But I'm posting about some other lovely ladies today. We have recently had 11 gals join our family. I love their guts!

This is the day we brought the ladies home. Happy kids, happy chicks!

A few weeks ago Jimmy decided he was going to build a chicken coop. We were going to give it one more shot. We've had chickens twice in the past, but it hasn't exactly worked out too well. First they make a mess of gardens, and secondly Lucy and Gus find chickens to be enormously entertaining. It all starts out quite innocently. A bird in the mouth that is gently spit out, but eventually the bird squirms just enough to let the dogs know how fun it is to play with them. And it never ends pretty. I remember the first morning we had a rooster join our family. We woke up to a beautiful Cock-A-Doodle-Doo. I commented to James how nice this was going to be and the next thing we knew Lucy was eating breakfast. No more roosters for us. It's just too tempting for our canine family members.

So our new chicken coop is cute. It's very functional as well, but dang cute. It matches the barn. Jimmy worked his guts out, and ended up with a coop fit for 11 lovely ladies. Now getting our ladies was a treat too. My brother Josh told us who to call, but didn't mention that the people we were buying from were polygamists. In his defense the chicken people delivered Josh his chickens. We went to their farm to get ours, and yep--------polygamist for sure. Do you know how I could tell? Well when you ask if 2 little boys are twins and the answer is, "Oh no. This brother's birthday is in Sept. and the other brother's is Dec." you know you've met a polygamist. They know how to round up the chickens though:)

I LOVE this picture. You can see just how excited and proud Jimmy was of his new coop. I love it!

So everyday now Seth runs off the bus and heads straight to the chicken coop. We are getting between 7 and 9 eggs per day. So I figured if we eat German Pancakes everyday we will be able to keep up with our lovely ladies. Yum! Who doesn't love German Pancakes? I've included the labor intensive recipe. We might just have it for dinner tonight!

German Pancakes

1 c. flour

1 c. milk

6 eggs

1/4 c. butter

In a 9x13 inch pan place the butter and put in a preheating oven. Watch so that your butter doesn't burn, but is completely melted. In a bowl combine the milk, flour and eggs, and mix until smooth. Pour into the 9x13 inch pan and return to a 425'F oven for 20-25 minutes. My kids fight over the puffy edges. I serve with apple pie filling, or buttermilk syrup, or any other syrup or fruit of choice. I thank my chicks daily!

Yeasted Waffles

2011-05-16T07:06:00.001-06:00

I have a favorite waffle recipe. I do, but I think we have a new favorite at our house when it comes to these little Saturday morning breakfast delicacies. A few months ago I taught my very last Macey's class. It was a little sad. I've been teaching these classes for the last 9 years if you can imagine. It's always been a lot of fun, and I have loved getting to know all the ladies and the few gents that came to my class. We never made anything too fancy, but it always tasted dang good. I've made more mistakes during these classes than a presenter should be allowed, but the folks attending classes were always so kind. I will say we probably had more good laughs than anything else. I think my skinny dipping adventure at Leigh Lake will never be forgotten by most of my Macey's friends. It turned us into true friends really quick. (If you don't know what I'm talking about-------you are lucky. The visual is just a little too much.) So my last class taught was a waffle night. I've collected quite a few recipes over the years, but I've never tried them. I was stuck in a rut, and I just didn't want to venture out. A Macey's class was the perfect venue for trying something new.

The three waffle recipes were all different. The first was my old tried and true. The second was a Shortbread Waffle recipe that surely was meant to be served with ice cream and chocolate sauce. And the third was a yeasted waffle. I'd never heard of a yeasted waffle, and I was intrigued. Turns out, it was the favorite waffle of the night. It is very easy, but it does require a little planning in advance. The batter needs to be made the night before. Other than that though, it's pretty straight forward. The batter is a little thin, and the waffles turned out prettiest in one of those nifty "flip over" waffle irons. I don't own one of those at home, but if you can imagine, all waffle irons can be turned over on their tops. It totally worked and the waffles were beautiful. James and Emma loved these waffles. They just kept eating Sat. morning. They are not quite as filling as other waffles so you can eat way more than a normal waffle. The house smelled a little like beer as I was making these, but that didn't stop us. The overnighting of the batter makes a bit of a sourdough dough, giving you the smell. The taste was spectacular though! It has a strong bready flavor, and just tasted wonderful. This will become our new waffle of choice on Sat. mornings. Make sure you have some lovely Buttermilk Syrup to soak up, and fresh berries make everything better.

Overnight Yeasted Waffles

(Courtesy of Allrecipes)

2 cups milk

2 1/4 t. yeast

1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1/2 cup butter, melted (or oil)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon white sugar

3 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. ( I actually just microwaved my milk for 2 mins. Saves you some dishes.) In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. (Here again I just added it straight to the bowl. Who wants extra dishes.)

In a large bowl, combine milk, yeast mixture, butter, salt, sugar and flour. Mix thoroughly with rotary or electric mixer until batter is smooth. Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight.

The next morning, stir beaten eggs and baking soda into the batter; beat well.

Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown. This is where I differed. I poured the batter onto the iron, clipped the lid shut and then immediately flipped the iron over. The batter rises a lot, and can actually make a huge mess as it oozes out the side of your waffle iron. After the first waffle though, I was able to gauge just how much batter to put in each time. After a minute or two I flipped the iron back the right way. It worked perfectly. If you don't flip your iron the waffle iron squares don't fill in completely and your waffle looks a little less than perfect. It will still taste good though:)

Pot Roast Loveliness

2011-05-06T06:00:00.002-06:00

This is my roast after browning and right before it headed into the oven.

There is a main topic of conversation that has a tendency to pop up during 5 am running sessions. We seem to like to talk about what we eat. A lot! Especially on Monday mornings. We've all had a lovely weekend and I usually ask what everyone had for Sunday dinner. Is this strange? I always ask what people eat. My dad calls and I ask what he had for lunch. My grandma calls and I ask what she fixed for her last get together. My mom calls and I ask what they had at Empty Nesters. Hollie calls and I ask if she's got anything new. I just want to know. It stirs my imagination. It's my one creative outlet. Last week I was running with my little friend Jill and she told me about the best roast she'd ever had. It came from the Pioneer Woman and couldn't be any simpler. I listened and thought, "mmmm...maybe I'll make that one of these days." But then not 2 days later another friend mentioned the same roast. She'd heard from Jill and went right out and fixed it. Her family loved it too. Two recommendations in as many days...I had to make this roast.

Great recipe and easy too. If you're lucky enough to have half a cow in your freezer, just use what you've got. If not a cheap chuck roast works well. My family loved the dinner, and I loved that it actually made two nights worth of dinners. I used a good 4-5 pound roast. I saved all the juice from the roast the first night, and reheated the leftover roast in the juice the next night. It shredded up just nicely and we topped some warm Ciabatta Rolls with the shredded beef and then dipped them in the juice. French Dip style. Throw in a cantaloupe or apple, and a veggie of choice and both nights became home runs! I'd definitely make this again. You can't beat a two for one

Pioneer Woman's Pot Roast

1 whole (4 To 5 Pounds) Chuck Roast

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 whole Onions

6 whole Carrots (Up To 8 Carrots)

Salt To Taste

Pepper To Taste

1 cup Red Wine (optional, You Can Use Beef Broth Instead)

2 cups To 3 Cups Beef Stock

3 sprigs Fresh Thyme, or more to taste

3 sprigs Fresh Rosemary, or more to taste

Preparation Instructions

First and foremost, choose a nicely marbled piece of meat. This will enhance the flavor of your pot roast like nothing else. Generously salt and pepper your chuck roast.

Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Then add 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil (or you can do a butter/olive oil split).

Cut two onions in half and cut 6 to 8 carrots into 2-inch slices (you can peel them, but you don’t have to). When the oil in the pot is very hot (but not smoking), add in the halved onions, browning them on one side and then the other. Remove the onions to a plate.

Throw the carrots into the same very hot pan and toss them around a bit until slightly browned, about a minute or so.

If needed, add a bit more olive oil to the very hot pan. Place the meat in the pan and sear it for about a minute on all sides until it is nice and brown all over. Remove the roast to a plate.

With the burner still on high, use either red wine or beef broth (about 1 cup) to deglaze the pan, scraping the bottom with a whisk to get all of that wonderful flavor up.

When the bottom of the pan is sufficiently deglazed, place the roast back into the pan and add enough beef stock to cover the meat halfway (about 2 to 3 cups). Add in the onion and the carrots, as well as 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary and about 3 sprigs of fresh thyme.

Put the lid on, then roast in a 275F oven for 3 hours (for a 3-pound roast). For a 4 to 5-pound roast, plan on 4 hours.

Rumbi Rice Bowl Knock Off

2011-05-03T09:58:00.002-06:00

I love Rumbi Island Grill. We just got one in Logan.......actually last year, but I think it's dang tasty. My kids think it's dang tasty and I figured it can't be that bad for you. The other day I was checking for some recipes and came upon a segment on Studio 5 where the Rumbi man made a Chicken Teriyaki Rice Bowl. Delish! I love their salads too, and I especially like their Bahama Mama Tortilla Soup. It's a lot like my favorite Thai soup Sump Tom. Coconut milk in a thin broth with lots of good things. So back to the rice bowl. I love the brown rice with tons of veggies. Who cares what the meat is. I just wish there were 10x's the amount of veggies included. So Mr. Rumbi showed how to make the bowl. It couldn't be simpler, and it actually tasted just the way it does at the restaurant. So if you love these rice bowls too, fix one up tonight. Their not hard at all, and your family will think you are amazing!

Rumbi Island Grill Chicken Teriyaki Rice Bowl

Brown rice cooked according to directions. (This is the part that will take the longest. Brown rice cooks approx. 40 min compared to regular rice. If you want Rumbi Rice just cook white rice with 1 can of unsweetened coconut milk, some sugar, and chicken broth in place of water. Add black beans and Wa-laa!)

1/2 chicken bosom for each person

zucchini

carrot shreds (I buy the pre-shredded kind)

broccoli heads

celery

In a large saute pan pour a little drizzle of Olive Oil and the secret ingredient is a tablespoon or two of Sesame Oil. That's it. Dump all your veggies in and add a little salt and pepper and of course I added a little sugar and stir fry until veggies are a bit tender. Not mushy, but still firm. I marinated my chicken for a few hours in some Yoshida's Teriyaki Sauce and then grilled them. Cool slightly and then cut into strips. We served the rice bowls buffet style and the kids took as much as they wanted. We had 7 people that night and 4 chicken breasts was plenty. There was leftover chicken. Everyone can drizzle a little more Yoshida's sauce over their rice to their liking. It was lovely!

Strawberry Cream Pie

2011-04-28T20:44:00.003-06:00

Every year for Easter our little family is involved in the Paradise Lion's Club Annual Easter Egg Hunt. First off let me just say.............."I hate Easter Egg Hunts!" They stress me out. It all started when I was a teenager. I remember going with my youngest brother to an Easter Egg hunt in St. George and watching the kid struggle to find one stinking egg. I hate ruthless mothers that are boxing out the competition, and have the mentality of a soldier in combat during the race. I remember wanting to scream, "Stop!!! Can my poor little brother just find one egg?" The competition is just way too fierce for a lovely spring morning. Now that that is off my chest, on to the Paradise hunt. It's the same. I just don't look. Actually my kids are old enough now they don't care. They get to hide all the eggs for the different age groups now and that's their fun. And maybe it's that I tend to over compensate for their lack of egg finding skills with our hunt at home. You know everyone gets the same amount of eggs and candy and toys and clothes and................you get the idea.

Before the hunt can start every year though there is a bake sale. All the wives of the Lions bring their best Easter treats and the hunt can't start until all goodies have been purchased. When James joined the Lions Club years ago there was a little old lady in town that would bring two Lemon Meringue Pies to the sale first thing every year. There were always people waiting to grab the pies before they even made it into the fire station. Dear Sister P doesn't make the pies anymore. She's still alive, but the pies are a bit too much now a days. The pies always brought in the most money from the bake sale. I don't do a very good Lemon Meringue. They tend to weep, but I make a mean Strawberry Cream Pie. I've taken other pies in years past, but it's all about the presentation. Who can resist a bright red Strawberry Pie piled ten feet high. Nobody! They were snarfed up in minutes and brought a pretty penny for the cause. One of the men who bought a pie actually called Sat. afternoon to tell James that the pie was the best he'd ever had. I'm sure it wasn't, but that sure made this chubby little pregnant ladies day.

So it's strawberry season, and there is nothing prettier on the planet than a Strawberry Pie. We like to have a cream filling first and then a huge pile of strawberries on top. It's the best of both worlds. Side note here and hopefully it's not too graphic. It will gross my brother Marc out but oh well. James had a dream the other day that he rented a big white tent and he set it up in my strawberry patch and we had this baby there. We had a great laugh! Trust me........if such a thing ever happened I'd at least have her middle name be Strawberry. Wouldn't that be adorable. Truly Strawberry Clawson! She's going to be scrumptious no matter what I'm sure. Sorry for the graphic image. Enjoy your pie!!

My Favorite Pie Crust Recipe

3 c. flour

1 1/2 c shortening

1 T. sugar

1 t. salt

1 egg

1/4-1/3 c. water

1 T. vinegar

3 T. cornstarch

Combine flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar. Cut in shortening. I actually like to use Manteca Lard a lot of the times. My sisters friend Makita gave us this tip a few years ago and it make delicious pie crust! Mix egg, cold water, and vinegar. Blend into flour mixture until it forms a ball. Try to handle the dough as little as possible. Makes 4 single pie crusts. I always make the whole recipe. If I have dough left over I just plop the dough ball into a Ziploc and put it into the freezer. All you have to do is thaw and roll when needed.

For the Strawberry Pie you need to blind bake the crust. That's just prebaking. I usually roll out the crust and crimp the edges and then put another pie pan on top of the crust to bake. That keeps the dough from slipping down the pie pan. Bake at 375 for about 15-20 mins. or until browned.

Cream Filling

This is pretty much just a no bake cheesecake.

1 8oz. cube cream cheese

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2-3 c. of cream whipped and sweetened

2 c. of vanilla pudding (instant is fine or homemade)

Beat the cream cheese and condensed milk together until completely smooth. Gently fold in the whipped cream and pudding. This much cream filling filled 3- 9 inch pies. Fill each cooled pie shell almost full of cream and then top with fresh berries.

Strawberry Glaze

I use this all the time. It is so easy and cheap to make. No need to buy Danish Dessert anymore.

1 c. water

2/3 c. sugar

2 T. cornstarch

2 T. raspberry or strawberry jello powder

pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients and cook until mixture comes to a boil. Cool and add to fresh berries for a beautiful glaze.

I used about 1 1/2 lbs. of strawberries for each pie. I like the berries whole or just cut in half. I don't add a ton of the glaze. Just enough to cover all the berries and then pile them as high as you can on top of the cream filling. You need to eat the pie the same day. It looks terrible the next day, but it tastes divine still.

Easter!

2011-04-22T13:13:00.001-06:00

Yummy White Chocolate Marshmallow Popcorn, beautiful spring Emma with a bouquet of the first signs of Spring in Avon- Curly Jacks, Orange Rolls my personal fave, Gingersnap Fruit Pizza, Dilly Rolls, Creme Brulee Berry Pie AKA "Navine Pie- Oh My!"I think this is my Granny's favorite thing on the planet, Chinese Pork Roast James' favorite Sunday dinner, Scones, Potato Fennel and Leek Gratin, Sheet Pan Sugar CookiesThanks Colette, Curly Jacks, Joshy Bake!

So what are you doing for Easter? That is the question. I asked it this morning on our early morning run, and found everyone was doing something a little special. A lot of ham in the picture, as well as a lot of Easter egg hunts. We are headed down to Grandma G's house this year, but still I felt the desire to fix something a little special. My neighbor Colette was making brunch. I thought that was a fantastic idea. You can have your ham, but also your favorite breakfast fare, and of course desserts. That's the good thing about brunch. You can't quite get away with having dessert after breakfast, but you certainly can have a big slice of Key Lime Pie or something after brunch. I believe brunch has now just become my favorite meal. I need to have it more often.

I'm in charge of the Orange Rolls Sunday, and I'm sure we'll have many other different things. One extra special treat is a brand new nephew. My brother Josh and his wife Katie just had a beautiful little boy this morning. Katie was only 3 1/2 weeks ahead of me, but she decided to have him about 5 1/2 weeks early. All is well. He's 5lbs. 14 oz. and 19 inches long. That's about what my full term babies are. So guess what? Out of 6 cousins to be expecting last Christmas at our annual Garner Christmas party...............I'm next!!!!! But I'll keep cooking this little babe at least 7 more weeks. We don't want a doughy baby as James put it the other night. But Congratulations to my brother and his family! And here's some links to some recipes that might just be fantastic for Easter!! Love and Kisses! PS click here for a great Easter message from Mormon Messages. Don't you just love them!

Yummy Macarons

2011-04-08T11:01:00.001-06:00

Oh my love, and total happiness!! I did it!! I made these babies, and they actually turned out. What a good day! Tomorrow Seth is getting baptized and I'm busy today making all sorts of yummy things for the small group that's coming tomorrow. We're going to have a crepe bar, a couple delicious salads, some Key Lime Tarts, and these lovely Macarons. I mull over the details of these "after"events for days.......even weeks. I love them. The family gathers for a great event like a baptism, baby blessing, or even a missionary farewell, and then we get to just enjoy each others company for a few hours. Tomorrow is extra special though since Seth and his favorite little cousin Tyler are both being baptized. As Hollie put it, "two for the trip of one!" A perfect day I think!

I have always loved coconut macaroons. Ever since I can remember. A few years ago I first started seeing these little macarons pop up here and there, but it wasn't until our little vacation to San Francisco last spring that I first tasted a real French Macaron. First off, there is no coconut involved at all, but lots of almond meal. So all a French Macaron really is, is egg whites, sugar, ground up almonds, and flavoring. Not to bad. Then they are sandwiched together with something delicious. We made chocolate ones today and sandwiched Nutella between them. So tasty. We also made lemon ones and we're going to sandwich lemon curd between those. Light and springy (even though you'd think it was Dec. around these parts today.). So when we tasted our first macarons in San Fran they were a buck a piece. Little cookies not much more than the size of a quarter and they were charging a buck. It was a complete rip off, but I had to have one. James and I each had a delicious little morsel, and I've been smitten ever since. I've never worked up the gumption to make them before today, but I figured if I at least tried, I would have one attempt under my belt. They weren't bad at all. My chocolate cookies turned out the best. I folded the egg whites as directed and they worked perfectly. They lemon didn't look quite as pretty since I got lazy with the folding and I just stirred. Don't do that. Just follow directions. Both cookies tasted great though.

So now I no longer need to visit San Francisco for my little bite of goodness. I can make them at home. And it saved me a bunch of moolah too. Enjoy! And congratulations to my Seth-a-roni for getting baptized tomorrow. I'm proud of him, and grateful to have such a good little boy! Love his guts!!

Chocolate Macarons

Makes about fifteen cookies (I doubled the recipe and it made about 32 sandwiches)

Adapted from The Sweet Life in Paris (Broadway) by David Lebovitz

Macaron Batter

1 cup (100 gr) powdered sugar

½ cup powdered almonds (about 2 ounces, 50 gr, sliced almonds, pulverized)

(I used the almond meal from Bob's Red Mill products. It cost about $10, but well worth it. Or you can finely grind some raw almonds yourself. You'll have flecks of almond skin, but it will still taste great!)

3 tablespoons (25 gr) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

2 large egg whites, at room temperature

5 tablespoons (65 gr) granulated sugar

Chocolate Filling (I just used Nutella)

½ cup (125 ml) heavy cream

2 teaspoons light corn syrup

4 ounces (120 gr) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 tablespoon (15 gr) butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C).

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2-inch, 2 cm) ready.

Grind together the powdered sugar with the almond powder and cocoa so there are no lumps; use a blender or food processor since almond meal that you buy isn’t quite fine enough.

In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.

Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).

Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch (3 cm) circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.

Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then bake them for 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.

To make the prune filling:

Cut the prunes into quarters and pour boiling water over them. Cover and let stand until the prunes are soft. Drain.

Squeeze most of the excess water from prunes and pass through a food mill or food processor.

Melt the milk chocolate and the Armagnac in a double boiler or microwave, stirring until smooth. Stir into the prune puree. Cool completely to room temperature (it will thicken when cool.)

To make the chocolate filling:

Heat the cream in a small saucepan with the corn syrup. When the cream just begins to boil at the edges, remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let sit one minute, then stir until smooth. Stir in the pieces of butter. Let cool completely before using.

Assembly

Spread a bit of batter on the inside of the macarons then sandwich them together. (You can pipe the filling it, but I prefer to spread it by hand; it’s more fun, I think.)

I also tend to overfill them so you may or may not use all the filling.

Let them stand at least one day before serving, to meld the flavors.

Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or freeze. If you freeze them, defrost them in the unopened container, to avoid condensation which will make the macarons soggy.

Bananas Foster In Paradise

2011-03-25T10:00:00.001-06:00

Bananas Foster in Paradise

As I write this post I am sitting out on the back lanai watching the palm trees sway gently in the Kohala Coast breeze. It is beautiful. We've already had our morning jog, Emma and I, and I only think we got a few funny looks. Have you ever seen a 7 month pregnant woman jogging. Just looking at my shadow I want to bust up laughing. But I am slow and there is more walking in my morning routine, but at least I'm still going. Chubby and slow, but moving. I am actually spending the week here in Kona with my Grandma and her two cute as heck little 83 year old friends. Technically I'm not a baby sitter, but in all reality I had to know where the hospital was and what to do in case of an emergency before Jimmy would let me come. I brought Emma along for the ride so can you imagine this visual. Three little 83 year old women, one 7 month pregnant mother to be, and a 14 year old girl. Quite the motley crew!

Every day is spent at the pool for the little ladies, while Emma and I hit a different beach. Lunch is out somewhere, but dinner is at home, usually with a lovely salad, and fresh pineapple and some crust bread and butter. Last nights dessert was Emma's idea. We make it every time we're in Hawaii, and I think it is one of my dad's favorite things to eat. None of the ladies had ever had it before, but I think they liked it. I liked it and so did my granny and Emma. Who wouldn't love hot, wonderfully caramelly, sticky stuff over vanilla ice cream. It is easy and quick, and only requires you to have to repent a little. Actually you can make the whole dessert without the use of the booze required in the recipe and it will still be wonderful!

When I was younger my family would spend every Spring Break down in St. George. For days Hollie and I would lay out at the pool, body to body with every other Spring Breaker, and bake our guts out. We'd usually spend a day in Zion's National Park, and enjoy the gawking at the polygamist at we drove through Colorado City on the way. The best part of the trip though was the yearly Easter tradition. We'd wake up early Sunday morning and get all gussied up in our new Easter dresses and ties and head to the local chapel for Sacrament Meeting. The place was always jam packed, and there were always a few young men who showed up in the swimming suits since they conveniently left their Sunday clothes home:) Straight after the meeting was over we were off. We'd all jump in the big old custom van and head down to Las Vegas. We'd head right to Caesar's Palace for their Easter Brunch. It always seemed so strange to be in our Sunday clothes, coming right from church and then standing in the midst of Babylon. If the end of the world was coming we were for sure goners, but the brunch was always worth it.

They had everything your little heart could desire. Prime Rib, shrimp, the best Almond Poppy Seed muffins in the world and every other imaginable dish. But the most important part of the meal was the Bananas Foster that my dad would bring back to the table first thing. This Bananas Foster was flaming too. A sight to behold for this little girl from a small Utah town. But my dad loved it. He'd lick his bowl I'm sure, and we'd all go back for more and more.

So now every time we're in Hawaii we make this treat. I'm going to make it at home from now on too. It's really simple, and it tastes soooooo good. Give it a try. It's a good dessert for company, and it's good for breakfast:) (Emma and I had to eat it this morning since the lighting was so bad last night, and I had to make a second batch for photos sake. What we won't do for the sake of this blog!) You'll impress your husband and your in laws, and probably your kids too. You can totally substitute some rum extract in place of the real rum and you'll have the same thing. Give it a try! You'll love it!

Bananas Foster

Recipe courtesy of Allrecipes.com

1/4 cup butter

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

3 1/2 tablespoons rum (or 2 t. rum extract)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 bananas, peeled and sliced lengthwise and crosswise

1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (totally optional and I never use them)

1 pint vanilla ice cream

Directions

(I usually double the whole recipe and it will serve 6)

In a large, deep skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in sugar, rum, vanilla and cinnamon. When mixture begins to bubble, place bananas and walnuts in pan. Cook until bananas are hot, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve at once over vanilla ice cream.

You have to be a quick mover. An extra helper right at serving time is quite helpful. Since the dessert is hot it will melt the ice cream quick so have all the ice cream dished and then pour the hot bananas on top and have someone run them to whoever is lucky enough to eat them with you fast.

My Mama's Lasagna

2011-03-23T21:39:00.000-06:00

Lasagna assembled, but not baked yet.

There are a few things in this world that I think my mom makes the best. She makes the best gravy on the planet, the best Dilly Rolls, the best Sunday Dinner, and the best dang Lasagna in the world. I love it!! When I was a kid Spaghetti or Lasagna for dinner was a huge treat. Usually it meant that company was coming over, or it was a special Sunday dinner. My mom would make a homemade spaghetti sauce that made the entire meal. It would simmer and bubble for an hour or more, and always tasted so wonderful.

Baked and ready to eat!

A few weeks ago a friend of mine called and asked if I had a good Lasagna recipe. I do, but it has never made it to the blog until now. There is another lasagna somewhere amongst my posts, but it is way to labor intensive, and when all is said and done........it just ain't worth it! This is the lasagna recipe to end your searching. Of course it is always better with a big yummy green salad, and some hot Great Harvest Sourdough bread, but again I may be a bit biased. Don't hate me for that. I hope you enjoy my mother's lasagna. I know my family does!

MaryAnn Garner's Marinara Sauce

1 lb. hamburger fried with 1 chopped onion (drain fat)

1 lb. Italian Sausage fried with hamburger (my mom doesn't add sausage. She hates it.)

1-2 qts. stewed tomatoes (I use 2)

2 small cans tomato paste

1 t. dried basil or a bunch of chopped fresh

1 t. dried oregano

1/2 t. cinnamon (secret ingredient. Don't add if you're making lasagna. Only for spaghetti.)

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 c. sugar (this is my addition. My mom doesn't add sugar, but I think it cuts the acidity from the tomatoes)

1/2-1 c. cream or half and half (this is another Lisa addition. I only use it if I'm using the sauce for spaghetti. Not lasagna.)

Bring all the ingredients to a simmer for at least 1 hour. Serve over spaghetti or make lasagna from it.

Lasagna

1 recipe marinara sauce

1 12 oz. box of lasagna noodles cooked (Sometimes I am lazy and just place dry noodles in the lasagna. I will usually add 1 c. of extra water to the sauce for the noodles to absorb.)

16 oz. cottage cheese

2 eggs mixed into the cheese

Mozzarella cheese

Fresh spinach leaves (optional)

pesto sauce in the cottage cheese (optional)

In a 9x13 inch pan place a thin layer of sauce. Top with 5 or 6 noodles. Layer the cheese mixture over the noodles, and then top with sauce. Repeat 2 more times. Sometimes I put a layer of spinach in the mix too, or I will put in 1/4 of a cup of pesto into the cottage cheese mixture. Just some ideas. Cover your lasagna with foil and I usually bake my lasagna for 60 minutes in a 375' F. oven. The last 15 minutes I will take off the tinfoil and sprinkle with the Mozzarella cheese and bake until melted and bubbly. Let the lasagna sit for 10 minutes to firm up a bit. Serve with a delicious salad and warm bread. Yummy!

You're Getting Kind of Fat

2011-03-14T16:49:00.001-06:00

Spring Rolls - ksl.com
So this is the statement that came out of Darin Adams mouth the first instant he saw me. Now don't get offended. I didn't. That's how friends tease right? But I do think I looked pregnant-good thing I am! Fun segment today on Spring Rolls. Just a hint: try some different things. My friend Erin swipes a little bit of pesto down the middle of hers, and we thought about a slightly thicker sauce by adding some orange marmalade or something. Use shrimp, go strictly veggies, or in Darin's words, "You could wrap up chicken and rice casserole and it would be dang good!" I may try that the next time I make these. Thanks for watching, and thanks for holding your tongues about the roundness of my body. Only 14 more weeks! I can do this!

Studio 5 and Spring Rolls

2011-03-11T08:12:00.012-07:00

Darin, Me and Jimmy

Yeah I am just giving my fellow loved ones a heads up. I have gotten in trouble the last few times for not mentioning that I'm going to be on Studio 5 from my family, so here's your notice.

Studio 5

Date: Monday March 14, 2011

Time: 10-11 am

Place: KSL Channel 5

Menu Item: Spring Rolls

Who: Me and James will be cheering me on from the sidelines! I love him!!

The actual filming of the segment.

We're going to be having a Spring Roll bar! I posted about this last year and I'll do it again. It's that good. I hope some of my friends tried these and maybe after watching how easy it is, more of you will make them. Last year I called them Winter Wraps since we had received so much snow, and I'm starting to feel the same this year, but maybe calling them by their given name, that will usher in some warmer weather. It's always fun to do a Studio 5 segment. Darin Adam's was a friend way back in our Pocatello days and it is always fun to laugh with him. And Brooke. Well she's as fun and nice in person as she is on TV. Hey Katie do you want to come down with me? Anyways I hope you enjoy the recipe and the segment come Monday. (I'll leave a link Monday for those of you not in Utah who would like to see the segment.) I love all your guts!! Lisa

(Original post from last year!)

They're actually called Vietnamese Salad Rolls, Thai Spring Wraps, or Summer Rolls but maybe I'll just call them Winter Wraps since it seems to be winter around here. I think we've received close to a foot of new snow. What an April Fools. A few weeks ago James and I attended a convention for Great Harvest in Napa Valley. It is a beautiful place even if you don't drink, but a favorite part of the trip was being able to take a cooking class at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. It was fantastic!! The building is the most amazing old wine cellar that has been converted into the most beautiful cooking school and restaurant around. Our class was very intimate. Only about 19 people, and the class was on Vietnamese Salad Rolls. I asked the instructor what the difference was in Thai Spring Wraps and Summer Rolls and he said it just depends on what country you're in. All of the above are one in the same. I've wanted to learn how to make these for quite some time, but I've just never got the courage up to do it by myself. Well I'm never going to let those little wraps intimidate me again. They were so tasty and really easy.

There really is no cooking involved with making salad rolls, but we learned a lot about flavors blending together. Each one of us had a little tray with all the goods to make the salad rolls and a dipping sauce. It was amazing how everyone's dipping sauce tasted so different. We all started with chopped garlic, sambal chili sauce, sugar, lime juice and fish sauce. If you don't know what fish sauce is, it is exactly what the name states. Barrels are filled with fish and then layered with salt, more fish, salt and on and on until it's full. The barrels are then left in the sun for months. The liquid is then drained off and bottled. Wa-La! Fish Sauce! It sounds sick and it smells sick, but it tastes lovely. It is what countries like Vietnam, and Thailand use instead of soy sauce.

Each one of us was then asked to create a sauce using all of the ingredients and varying how much of one thing we used to balance with the other ingredients. I like my sauce sweet and James' was a bit more salty. I also thinned mine with a little water and James used his straight up. It was so fun and so tasty. I was so excited to try it out at home.

The Saturday after we returned home we set up a wrap station in the kitchen for lunch and the kids went wild. I wasn't sure if the little boys would like the rolls so much. It's a ton of veggies, but they devoured about 10 wraps together. If you have all of your ingredients already chopped and ready to go the making of the rolls is quick. We made them again a few days later they were that good. I've been able to find all the ingredients for these wraps in my regular grocery store. An Asian market is always fun to visit as well. The picture below of the finished wraps is two wraps cut on a bias. Emma actually made one and I made the other. These little love nuggets are dang good and super duper healthy. Tons of raw veggies, some rice noodles (I added coconut milk and curry to mine.) and a protein of choice. We used shrimp in Napa, but chicken was perfect at home. You are going to love these babies!

Vietnamese Salad Rolls (AKA Winter Rolls)

1 (8 ounce) package rice vermicelli

8 ounces cooked, peeled shrimp, cut in half lengthwise (Or chicken)

8 rice wrappers (6.5 inch diameter)

(They are round disks that have a basket weave texture on them. You can find them just about anywhere.)

1 carrot, julienned

1 cup shredded lettuce (I used spinach)

chopped Napa Cabbage or purple cabbage (I used both. It was pretty.)

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or mint or cilantro

Directions

Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil. Remove from heat. Place rice vermicelli in boiling water, remove from heat, and let soak 3 to 5 minutes, until soft. Drain, and rinse with cold water. I then added a can of coconut milk, a little sugar, curry powder or paste and a dash of fish sauce. I cooked the noodles until they had absorbed the coconut milk.

Fill a large bowl with hot water. Dip one rice wrapper in the hot water for 5-10 seconds to soften. You don't want them too soft. They'll be totally soft by the time it is ready to roll up. Lay wrapper flat, and place desired amounts of noodles, shrimp, carrot, lettuce and basil in the center. Roll the edges of the wrapper slightly inward. Beginning at the bottom edge of wrapper, tightly wrap the ingredients. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Serve the spring rolls with dipping sauce.

Dipping Sauce

Chopped garlic

Sambal chili paste

sugar

lime juice or vinegar

fish sauce or soy sauce

Add little amounts of the above ingredients and stir until sugar is dissolved. Taste before using and add what you think it needs. I like it a bit sweeter. Experiement!

First Class Raisin Bran

2011-03-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

Last week my Jimmy and I were at a bakery convention in a lovely, warm spot in Florida. The weather was wonderful, the ocean was beautiful, the sunshine made me tan, and the seafood was delish! We had a great meal at a place called The Crazy Flamingo. Technically it was a bar with a few picnic table, sushi, and yummy fresh seafood. I got a dish of clams, mussels, and linguine and Jimmy got the fish special. It was cheap too. What a deal. They even had WiFi and we Face Timed our kids while we were eating. They didn't think that was to great, but we sure did! I have to say one of my favorite moments of the vacation was eating breakfast on the morning we traveled home though. We were upgraded to First Class on our flight from Ft. Meyers to Minneapolis. Don't ask me how that happened but it did and it was wonderful! I love Delta! They serve Biscoff cookies too. It doesn't get better than that! Breakfast was served with china, and linen napkins, but the best part was that it was Raisin Bran. I thought it was perfect. I love Raisin Bran and I ate every morsel. Here's the best part though. I will alway cherish lifting my china bowl to my lips and slurping every last drop of milk out of that bowl. That's right folks! I drank my cereal milk sitting in First Class. Totally a redneck/Avonite move but that will be a memory to last me a lifetime. I'm sure James was so proud!

Clam Chowder Lovliness

2011-03-07T09:52:00.001-07:00

I have loved Clam Chowder my entire life. Whenever we would go to restaurants as a kid I would always get the Clam Chowder if it was on the menu. It's just yummy I think. I especially love it when we travel somewhere where there is a lot of fresh seafood around and the Clam Chowder is just perfect. Ivar's in Seattle, the Lexington Mass. Great Harvest has the most amazing Clam Chowder, and I even love getting a San Francisco Sourdough bread bowl in the airport in San Fran filled with hot steamy clam chowder! It is soooo good!

I remember the night of my first prom because of the Clam Chowder I had that night. I was with Clark (my high school boyfriend), I had a beautiful dress, he was handsome, and we rode to the big city in a Limo. Dinner was at a restaurant called Maxi's in the Red Lion Hotel. I don't believe it's there anymore, but my memories will never die. The soup that night was a Manhattan Clam Chowder. I had never had a tomato based Clam Chowder, but that soup has never been duplicated. I remember making numerous yummy sounds and wanting to lick the bowl. It was just a delicious soup. So wonderful.

A short while after Jimmy and I got married I wanted to test some culinary skills and make Clam Chowder for him. I didn't have a real recipe. I just didn't think it could be that hard. I had been the official gravy stir-er my entire life, and I thought all you had to do to thicken a soup or gravy was add flour. So a very poor rendition of Clam Chowder was started. I had all the veggies, and clams and milk and plenty of flour to make it a thick soup. I must have added cup after cup of flour. Nothing seemed to happen, until all of a sudden my soup turned to paste. A thick concrete consistency. Needless to say I cried, we dumped the pot and headed to Jake's Over the Top for fries and shakes that night.

I try different recipes all the time. I'm still looking for that perfect balance of clammy-ness, bacony-ness, and creaminess. I've come close a few times, but I haven't found just the recipe yet. So here's my plea: If you have a great Clam Chowder recipe, send it to me! I'm desperate! The recipe I made this weekend was pretty good. I wanted a little more clammy-ness, but I will tell you it got better the next day. As my mother would say, "the flavors enhanced over time." and yes they did. The original recipe is from the Market Street Broiler in SLC. I changed just a few things, but for the most part followed the recipe pretty spot on. Give it a try. I know I am one who will try any Clam Chowder recipe in search of that perfect soup.

Market Street Grill Clam Chowder

Ingredients:

1 cup potatoes, diced ½ inch (I used about 3 c. potatoes)

1 cup celery, diced ½ inch

1 cup onion, diced ½ inch

1 cup green pepper, diced ½ inch

1 cup leeks, diced ½ inch

¾ cup chopped clams (I used 4 cans chopped clams)

¾ tablespoon coarse ground black pepper

1 ½ tablespoon salt

¾ tablespoon whole thyme

6 bay leaves

1 teaspoon Tabasco

¾ cup sherry wine (optional- you can also just add broth or more water, or at the end of cooking add 2 T. vinegar. This works great!)

2 cups water (I used 3-4 since I had way more potatoes)

¾ cup clam juice (drained from canned clams or purchased separately in can)

¾ cup butter, melted (I used 1/2 c.)

1 cup flour

2 quarts half-and-half (I used 3 c. milk and 2 c. half and half and 1 c. cream)

Method:

Combine melted butter and flour in oven-proof container and bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. I actually placed 1/2 c. butter the flour and 1 c. of milk in a saucepan and made a Roux. Just cook the 3 ingredients together until the flour thickens and cooks through. It is a serious paste, but it mixes into the soup perfectly. Stir constantly to eliminate clumps. In large saucepan, combine remaining ingredients except half-and-half. Simmer until potatoes are thoroughly cooked. Stir butter-flour mixture into chowder and stir until thick. Mixture will be slightly less thick than cookie dough. Remove chowder from heat. Stir in half-and-half until blended. Heat to serving temperature, stirring occasionally.

Serve immediately.

Hum Hum Hum Hummus! Yum!

2011-02-28T13:21:00.001-07:00

It didn't even make it to a serving bowl. We ate it straight from the buzzer!

My first introduction to hummus was a few years ago when our family won the Cooking With Your Kids Contest with the Food Network. One of the nights we were in NYC we were able to prepare dinner with all 4 of the families who won, and Emeril. Each family had a station in the Food Network kitchen and made a different component of the dinner. Our family made a dessert of Frozen Chocolate Dipped Bananas rolled in all sorts of good thing, and fresh Chocolate Dipped Strawberries. The Chocolate Dipped Strawberries were one of Emeril's daughters favorite things to eat. He was so kind and good with the kids. He made each kid there feel like he loved their guts. Nice guy. Well one of the other families made a homemade Hummus dip that we dipped pita chips and fresh veggies in. It was surprisingly yummy! I had never been interested in it, but now I was intrigued.

We went home from the vacation with loads of recipes, and treats, and the Hummus recipe became a favorite. A few days ago I came across a recipe highlighted on the Tasty Kitchen blog. It was a homemade hummus that incorporated fresh spinach in it and it looked so pretty. Since I just happened to have all the ingredients on hand (my pantry stock is getting ridiculous! I usually have just about every weird ingredient you could ever imagine.) I decided to make it.

It was the perfect pre meal snack before Sunday dinner. And the good thing is, it will last a while in the fridge. I love dipping Stacey's Just Naked Pita Chips. Emma likes tortillas chips. Veggies are great too. It's actually really healthy and a great alternative to creamy chip dips.

Spinach Feta Hummus

Courtesy of Tasty Kitchen and www.whatsgabycooking.com

30 ounces, weight Garbanzo Beans Drained

1-½ cup Fresh Spinach

8 ounces, weight Feta Cheese (I used Goat cheese)

⅓ cups Olive Oil

5 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

4 Tablespoons Tahini (this is sesame seed paste)

2 Tablespoons Red Pepper Flakes (I used Sambal chili sauce 2t.)

2 cloves Garlic, Peeled

2 teaspoons Salt

1/4 c. sugar

Preparation Instructions

Combine the garbanzo beans, spinach, olive oil, lemon juice and tahini in a large food processor. Pulse until combined. Add the feta, red pepper flakes, garlic and salt. Pulse until combined. Taste and add salt or more red pepper flakes if desired.

I Love This Bread Recipe

2011-02-25T12:48:00.000-07:00

I know. My husband owns a bakery, but I love to make homemade bread at home on occasion. Actually I make it quite often with 4 big kids that love hot bread with homemade blackberry jam on it. Sat. we were going to go skiing with the fam, but Jimmy wanted to give his wounds a few more days to heal. ( He was using the treadmill in a very inappropriate way, and ended up getting some very large gouges on his leg, and some huge raspberries in various other locations. I've told him that a treadmill is only to be used for running or jogging, but James seems to need to test the water. He's had his road bike on it, and just last week he had the boy's remote control cars racing down it's track. That's when everything went horribly wrong and he was injured. It's hard to be sympathetic when it's plain old stupidity that injures your loved one. At least it wasn't a child hurt...........actually James is my biggest child:) So home we stayed and I enjoyed every minute of it.

First off we had a lovely brekky of waffles with tons of fresh strawberries and mangoes on them. So tasty! Then I got in a baking mood. I figured we needed some hot fresh bread for the day. My suggestion was unanimously approved. When I was a kid my mom made homemade bread all the time. I remember eating Scooble Scobble and loaves of hot bread with butter and honey for dinner on many occasions. My mom would make a ton of little loaves every time she would bake bread. Probably half of the loaves would be consumed before the last loaf even had a chance to cool. We'd eat tons of it. My mom made the best bread!

When Hollie and I got married, Hollie got a Bosch mixer one year for Christmas. She needed and wanted to learn to make homemade bread, but I didn't. I was married to the baker boy, therefore I had an unlimited supply of homemade bread. This statement is true, but now in my older years I've decided bread baking is necessary to any growing family. There is a difference in pulling hot loaves out of the oven and bring a loaf home in a paper bag. I do love being at the bakery in the mornings when the bread is hot and steamy and I love the comments you get from a customer when you hand them a hot slice steaming with goodness. That's the response I like seeing at home too. I came upon the recipe a few months ago, and I love the taste. It makes the best Orange Rolls, and Cinnamon Rolls too. The three loaves of bread I made didn't make it to see Sunday. Actually they didn't make it to dinner time. All three loaves were consumed with great satisfaction.

The Best White Bread

Courtesy of Allrecipes.com

(numbers in parenthesis are for a 2/3 sized batch)

3 cups warm water (2)

3 tablespoons active dry yeast (2)

3 teaspoons salt (2)

4 tablespoons vegetable oil (3)

1/2 cup white sugar (1/3)

8 cups bread flour (6)

Directions

I you don't have a Bosch or a 5+quart capacity Kitchenaid mixer then reduce the recipe by 1/3. (The numbers in parenthesis) and the recipe will make 2 good loaves.

In a large bowl, combine warm water, yeast, salt, oil, sugar, and 4 cups flour. Mix thoroughly, and let sponge rise until doubled in size.

Gradually add about 4 cups flour, kneading until smooth. Place dough in a greased bowl, and turn several times to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled.

Punch down the dough, let it rest a few minutes. Divide dough into three equal parts. Shape into loaves, and place in three 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch greased bread pans. Let rise until almost doubled.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 to 45 minutes. The loaves may need to be covered for the last few minutes with foil to prevent excess browning.

Visions of IKEA Dancing Through My Head

2011-02-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

Happy IKEA visitors!

We love IKEA at the Clawson household. It's just one of those fun places that the whole fam damily likes to visit any chance we get. We usually make it our yearly "Beginning of Summer!" tradition each June as soon as the kids get out of school. My brother Josh first introduced us to IKEA years ago when they lived in the Seattle area. Since then we've hit every one we come across. Maybe it's the maze you walk through to visit the store, or the fun kitchen gadgets, or the exciting "kids" stuff, the giant chocolate bars, or just the picture frames that make IKEA such an adventure, but one thing we never miss is the cafeteria. We love picking out exactly what you want to eat, trying the lovely Swedish desserts, or the tangy Lingonberry juice, but I personally never get anything except a big heaping plate of Swedish Meatballs with boiled red potatoes, and Lingonberry Sauce. Delicious is all I have to say. We've even been known to stop at the IKEA in Salt Lake and just make a b-line to the cafeteria. We missed the maze all together and enjoyed some lovely meatballs. That's my kind of stop!

James has an older brother who served a mission years ago in Sweden and befriended a large family in one of his areas. Their father had recently passed away and there was a beautiful mother with 5 perfect kids. Over the years all of these friends have visited and even lived in Utah to attend college. Now it's moved onto the next generation, since most of the children are married, and we have now included some wonderful spouses into our circle of friends! The Lindahl's have always been so much fun to be around, and just recently one of the sisters and her husband joined the Clawson siblings in Kona HI for a week of fun in the sun. I can say I love their guts, and they are some of the funnest people I know. I have never asked if the Lindahl's have Swedish Meatballs at their home regularly, but if so........I'll be right over friends. I've decided everything in Sweden must be wonderful. The friends, the meatballs and have you had the chocolate! Or even the little Bilar marshmallow-y candy. Lovely!

I found this recipe yesterday while trying to figure what to make for dinner. The recipe was simple enough, and I had a jar of Lingonberries in my fridge so I figured I would go for it. They turned out DELISH!!!! Oh my heck! Everyone slurped these up so fast. I served the meatballs with steamed New Potatoes, and steamed cabbage. I have a new favorite invention. Ziploc Zip and Steam Bags. They are heaven on wheels and make cooking veggies so fast and easy. Place cut up potatoes in the bag, seal, and 6-7 mins later they are done. Cabbage only took 4 minutes. No water, oil or anything. Just lovely naked veggies that you can dress however you want.

So It you have visions of IKEA every once in a while at your house too, this recipe is a keeper.

Swedish Meatballs

Courtesy of www.thisweekfordinner.com and then Lisa-ized

- 1 lb ground beef

- 1/2 lb ground pork

- 1/4 t pepper

- 2 t nutmeg (a must! It adds so much goodness!)

- 2 t paprika

- 2 C bread crumbs

- 1/2 C milk

- 1 onion (medium) I just added 3 T. dried minced onion to the meat

- 2 1/2 t salt

- 1 t dry mustard

- 2 beaten eggs

Sauce:

- Fat left in skillet

- 1/4 t garlic

- 5 T butter

- 2 t tomato paste

- 1 t beef concentrate (or bouillon cube)

- 2 C bouillon or beef stock

-1/2 c. flour

- 1 C sour cream

Have meat ground together twice or mix really well. Soak bread crumbs in milk. Add meat – mix well. Mix in pepper, nutmeg, paprika, and beaten eggs.

In a large frying pan, saute onions in 2 T butter until soft. Add salt and dry mustard and stir. Add onion mixture to meat mixture and mix well. Form 48 small balls. Brown meatballs or better yet just bake them in a 375'F oven for about 15 mins. Remove balls – set aside in a 9×13 baking pan.

Sauce: Add garlic and 1 T butter to fat left in skillet. Blend in 4 more Tbsp. butter, tomato paste and the 1/2 c. flour. Stir until the flour has been cooked through. Add the beef concentrate, and beef stock. Stir mixture over low heat until it thickens slightly. Stir in 1 cup sour cream. Pour sauce over meatballs. Heat in moderate oven (I think baked them at 375 degrees) until hot and bubbly. About 15 mins. Serve meatballs with boiled new potatoes (or just Zip'n Steam them) and steamed cabbage. I love vinegar and salt and pepper on my cabbage. Lingonberry Sauce is also wonderful with these. I've been able to find them sometimes at the regular grocery store by the pie filling and canned fruit. Sometimes by the jam. IKEA sells jars of it or you can order it online. If you don't want to go to all that trouble just use cranberry sauce, or raspberry jam. It's close enough and it will give you the same idea. Enjoy!!

This recipe improves if made one day ahead.

Chinese New Year

2011-02-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

We celebrate this holiday every year. Why you may ask? Because most of my family speaks Chinese, have all lived in Taiwan for a few years, and we need another reason to make 240 pot stickers don't we? My James was the first to go to Taiwan. A two year mission in 1990-1992. Then it was my brother Marc who served a mission to Taiwan as well and then ended up marrying a girl who served in Taiwan too. And finally my youngest brother Eric just returned from his mission to Taiwan as well 2 1/2 years ago. Isn't that crazy. But it's true. Get in a room with these lovely siblings and spouses, and be prepared to not understand a word they're saying. Actually over the years I can actually tell what they're talking about. I can catch a word here and there, and then with all the body language as well I can almost speak Chinese! Not really, but I'm sure one day I'm going to live there so I might as well get the Rosetta Stone Chinese version soon.

Actually we just love to get together every Feb. and eat Asian Food. My brother and his wife have adopted two little kids from Vietnam so we now have some more traditional Vietnamese food represented. And I always throw in my favorite Thai foods as well so we seem to have most of the Asian world represented in our Chinese New Years festivities. This year we celebrated on Feb. 5th. The New Year actually started on the 3rd, and goes until the full moon on the 17th. Just think. If you lived in Taiwan you'd get 2 weeks of parties, and get togethers, and yummy food. It's sounds as good as Christmas to me!

We really did make and eat 240 pot stickers this year. That's all anybody wants. They are so dang delicious! We love them! We had some fabulous salads as well and Eric made a mean Fried Rice. I will say though that dessert is always one of my favorite things. My sister in law Susan loves this stuff, and I think I could probably get her to do anything for me if I just made her this treat. Mango Rice!!!! MANGO RICE!! It is wonderful and lovely and everything you've ever wanted. I love it!! Next time you go to a Thai restaurant get this for dessert. It's not so convenient to make at home since it requires some special rice and extra special equipment, but if you love it like me you'll be tempted to go buy the special stuff just so you can have it anytime there are some cheap mangoes on sale.

I love this dessert with lots of fresh fruit though. Mangoes are wonderful on it, but if you can have fresh berries, and kiwi, and maybe fresh pineapple on it all the better. I will leave a recipe for the mango rice, but if you don't own a straw hat steamer and a big bag of Sweet Rice, I'll give you some options. Enjoy!! I know I did!

Mango Rice Courtesy of Paula Dean

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 cups long-grain rice

1 (14-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk

2/3 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

1 large ripe mango, peeled and cubed

1 more can unsweetened coconut milk

1 c. sugar

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the rice and stir to coat with the oil. Add the coconut milk, water, and salt; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer about 20 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.

Remove the rice from the heat and fluff with a fork. With the second can of coconut milk, place it in a saucepan and add the 1 c. sugar. Simmer until the sugar is dissolved. Top the rice with fresh mango slices and any other fresh fruit. Drizzle the sweetened coconut milk over the top. Enjoy!

Here is a link to the actual Thai version with the Sweet Sticky Rice.

Jimmy's Birthday

2011-02-15T08:57:00.001-07:00

Feb. is such a great month. I love Valentines Day, and it's also my favorite man's birthday. It's also a month of hope that the long winter will end. How about the last few days in Cache Valley. We've been in the 50 degree zone. It's been wonderful. A bit spring like, and just a wonderful reminder of what's to come.

So I have to tell you what I love about James since it's his birthday. He's wonderful! I met him and was instantly smitten. It was really hard though, because my family wasn't at all encouraging. I had a missionary that they absolutely loved. But James was so fun, so exciting, and interesting. He had just returned from a Mormon Mission to Taiwan and I was amazed at all he knew. Did I say he was exceedingly handsome as well. The first date he showed up at my house in a pair of his grandpa's old cut off coveralls, and this hair! He had so much black curly hair that went everywhere. He had the look of someone a little edgy, but a heart of pure goodness. He was good! Good in every way possible. I think that's what caught my attention most about James was his goodness. He's always been good. Just a perfect spirit from heaven. Well now 18 years later, 4 (almost 5) kids later and a lot of life experiences I love his guts even more. I'm thankful for him every minute of every day. He works so hard for me and the kids, and has provided so well for us. He has let me be a mom and stay home, but also encouraged me to do anything I want as well. He is kind. Extremely kind and personable, and the best talker. He is the best dad in the world too. I married Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome, but it's all his other qualities that make me love him so much! I love your guts James.

So for the big 40th bash we actually were quite low key. James enjoyed every minute of it. His mom asked if I was doing anything big, and I admit I am not that kind of wife. I don't do birthday parties, and if a gift is actually wrapped it's amazing, but we had a great night with just the fam. I do, do birthday cakes though. Nothing spectacular, and more times than not it may be a pie or trifle, but the birthday boy this year wanted a Coconut Cream Cake! Trust me, I had no recipe for this. I had to make something up according to James' wishes. I'd do anything for that man! I think it turned out great. It was sure pretty. Next time I think I'll make some marshmallow-y 7 Minute Frosting to cover the cake with. Just to mix things up a bit. This time I just used stabilized whipped cream though. Give the cake a try. Especially if you're a coconut lover like we are!

James' Coconut Cream Layer Cake

1 white or yellow cake mix made with 2 extra eggs, and coconut milk for the liquid baked according to directions. I put the cake mix in 2- 9 inch cake pans, froze them when they were done and then split each frozen layer in 2 to make a 4 layer cake.

2 c. of lemon curd (recipe next)

Lemon Curd Recipe

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest

1/2 cup sugar

3 large eggs

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into bits

Whisk together juice, zest, sugar, and eggs in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 6 minutes.

Transfer lemon curd to a bowl and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap, until cold, at least 1 hour.

3 c. of whipping cream whipped until pretty stiff. Don't turn it to butter. That won't work real well.

Powdered sugar to taste

vanilla

1 t. gelatin powder

1/4 c. water

While the cream is whipping I take a small sauce pan and put the 1/4 c. water in and sprinkle the gelatin over the water. Let it sit a few minutes and the gelatin will "bloom" or absorb all the water. Then turn the stove on low and swirl the pan until the gelatin dissolves. It's fast. Pour the liquid gelatin mixture into the whipped cream very slowly and keep whipping. You don't want big clumps of gelatin to form so drizzle slow. So now you have what is called Stabilized Whipped Cream. It will last forever. It won't separate and get wet overnight. I love to layer this between my favorite Chocolate Cream Cake and it made a great frosting for the Coconut Cream Cake.

Assembly:

Take one cake layer and spread a thin layer of lemon curd and then top with a generous amount of cream. Place the remaining 3 layers on the cake repeating the lemon curd and whipped cream. I like to stick a skewer of pencil down the middle of the cake to keep it in one place. Actually this time around I stuck 4 skewers in the cake to keep it upright. Otherwise it will tend to slip and fall. When done frost the entire cake with the whipped cream. I toasted a bag of coconut and spread that all over the cake to make it pretty. The cake is best made the day before, and then served cold. The cream frosting really makes a moist cake.

My Day

2011-02-04T07:34:00.004-07:00

Cold, austere beauty!

Last Friday was so beautiful. You know those cold mornings when the whole world looks as if it's been flocked. I love the way everything looks. The trees, the ornamental grasses, my kitty's whiskers, and my running friends eyelashes. Beautiful and white. I had to share my day and what we had at the bakery. It's that time again for Red Velvet Love Cakes, and fabulous sugar cookies, but I must admit it was the Reuben sandwich that made me happy.

I love this sandwich. It's kind of a man sandwich, but you girls out there should really try it. And none of this sissy, "no saurekraut please". It just won't do. Do it big or don't do it at all. I wish I could say this to customers sometime. "Ooh! No apple butter please, no pesto, no cranberry sauce, oh yuck I hate coleslaw!" For heaven's sakes just trust me on these things. Your life would be so much better with these things on their designated sandwiches. We should all try our sandwiches as God intended at least once, and then you can change it up. Saurerkraut is a must on any Reuben, or it just stops being a Reuben. Why bother then.

Years ago when our family won the "Cooking With Your Kids Contest" from the Food Network we spent 6 days in New York City. James and I had a different Reuben sandwich everywhere we went. They were all different, and we enjoyed each one. When we started making sandwiches a few years ago I knew we had to have a Reuben. I like mine with lots of cold veggies after it's grilled. It makes the sandwich perfect. So if you are hungry today or tomorrow I'll be at the bakery, and I'll make you the best Reuben you've ever had. I promise you'll love it. And while your here, you deserve a Love Cake too.

Yeah!

2011-02-01T07:19:00.001-07:00

Yeah we've moved on to a new month! I am not a negative person, and I love all the seasons, but I always get a little thrill when Jan. is over. Just last General Conference there was a talk that struck me. It was a talk by Elder M. Russell Ballard where he talked about the beauty of fall and then the "cold austere beauty" of winter. His talked made me think of a favorite song I have at Christmas time. It's called, "In The Bleak Midwinter". Those words all sound so dreary and..........cold, but they describe January perfectly. They are excellent adjectives to describe the first month of the year. I always love moving on to Feb. Maybe it's because March is right after, and most snow drifts have melted by March 19th at my home. It's just a little sign of hope that life will appear again. But I will admit my fireplace, big fuzzy socks, sweaters and an inherited down coat are delicious this time of year!

Last Sunday we had the most perfect January Sunday dinner. You can call it stew, but we prefer to call if Beef Bourguignon. It just sound a little more Sunday-ish with a good Julia Child title. I received a fun gift for my birthday this year from my mom. Actually she gave me money and I bought it. Thanks Mother-Dearest!! An electric pressure cooker. It's fantastic. I've made split pea soup in 1 hour, barbecue pork sandwiches in 1 hour 15 mins, and this beef stew in 1 hour and 15 mins. as well. Keep in mind this is from the time I pull a very frozen white package of meat out of my deep freeze to eating the tender, fall apart meat. It's a miracle! I'm hooked. I just followed the recipe that came with my new toy, and added a big scoop of garlic mashed potatoes in the middle of the bowl. Dinner was adored and it afforded me a nice little Sunday nap with the time I saved! Yeah!!!

In making the recipe you will notice the addition of some spirits. I have always felt if I'm going to add this then it might as well be on Sunday. Just kidding!!! I am totally kidding. Actually you can replace the wine with beef stock or even apple juice. If you do just add a little vinegar at the end. You'll like it. I didn't add any potatoes to my Beef Bourguignon since we were topping it with some mashed potatoes, but if you're not in the mood for dirtying a potato pot as well, just add some cubed potatoes with the other veggies. Some Great Harvest Asiago Sourdough bread goes fantastic with this stew as well. Sorry, that's my shameless plug for you to buy more bread:) Enjoy!

Classic Beef Stew (Courtesy of Cuisinart)

Makes 8 cups

(PS- if you don't have a pressure cooker just put it in your crock pot for 4-6 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.)

3 pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 11⁄2-to 2-inch pieces

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 medium carrot, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 cup dry red wine (I have no idea what a "dry" wine means. They're all wet to me.)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 bay leaf 3⁄4 cup beef broth (I never add bay. I hate them!)

2 cups baby-cut carrots

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup frozen peas

Season pieces of chuck roast with salt and pepper and reserve. Place the olive oil in the cooking pot of the CuisinartTM Electric Pressure Cooker. Select Browning. When oil begins to sizzle, add pieces of chuck in a single layer – do not crowd. Continue browning meat in batches until all meat is browned. As meat is browned transfer to a plate. Select Sauté. Stir the chopped onions into the pot. With a wooden spoon scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan that have accumulated while meat was browning. Sauté for 1 to minutes, until onions start to soften and are translucent. Stir in the carrots and celery. Sauté vegetables for about minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the chopped garlic and Sauté for an additional minute.

Once vegetables are soft, stir in red wine, again scraping any brown bits that have accumulated on the bottom of the pot. Cook until red wine has reduced by half, then stir in the tomato paste.

Add the reserved beef, bay leaf, and beef broth to the pot. Select High Pressure. Set timer for 10 minutes. When audible beep sounds use Quick Pressure Release to release pressure. When float valve drops, remove lid carefully, tilting away from you to allow steam to disperse. Add carrots to the pot and select High Pressure. Set timer for 6 minutes. When audible beep sounds use Natural Pressure Release to release pressure. When float valve drops, remove lid carefully, tilting away from you to allow steam to disperse.

To thicken stew, strain the solids from the stew liquid, reserving both. Remove and discard bay leaf. Blend softened butter and flour to make a paste (buerre manié). Return liquid to pot and bring to a boil by selecting Brown. Once liquid comes to a bowl whisk in the butter/flour mixture. Select Simmer. Once liquid thickens, stir the meat and carrots back into the pot. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper accordingly. Just before serving, stir in peas.

Nutritional information per serving (11⁄2 cups): Calories 340 (32% from fat) • carb. 16g • pro. 35g •fat11g•sat.fat 4g•chol.103mg•sod.98mg • calc. 49mg • fiber 4g

The Best Two Bites You'll Ever Eat!

2011-01-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

These were so yummy!! During our New Year's getaway to Bear Naked Lake, my sister in law Katie was in charge of snacks. She did a bang up job, and of course had all my favorites, but one item she brought surprised me. She had a gallon Ziploc bag full of mini little banana bread muffins. They didn't look like much. You know. Just a mini muffin, but they were oh so good. She opened the bag and I took one to be nice, but then I took another and another, and yet another. They were soooo good! Perfect little bites of my favorite bread. They were so little and perfect to grab, that everyone indulged. They didn't last long. You could see many a child sneak into the kitchen for a little bite or two. They were the weekend favorite I'm sure. They were mine. I vowed right then and there I would have to make these.

I was a little worried since a few weeks before at my house, I had a serious cleaning day. I had cleaned (with the help of two fabulous cleaners!) the inside and outside of all my kitchen cupboards. I had rid my home of many and item, and I thought I had disposed of my mini muffin pans. I think I'd only used them once up to this point and I didn't see any purpose for them in my life. I was wrong, and just the other day I found them. I wasn't quite as ambitious as I thought. They did make their way into the disposal pile, but the pile never was disposed of. Hallelujah!! I still have mini muffin pans, and I've now got the best use for them. Try this at home. It's two bites, and in my book two bites is low calorie delish! I used my favorite banana bread recipe and it did not dissapoint. Maybe it was the fact that I used some pretty nasty bananas and a lot of them! Do make these for your family soon. You'll be so glad! Thanks Katie!!!

Ruth's Best Banana Bread

1/2 c. shortening (I use butter)

1 c. sugar (I use brown sugar)

2 eggs

2 c. mashed bananas (Don't skimp or it will just be ok banana bread not spectacular!)

1 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

2 c. flour

1 t. cinnamon (optional)

1/2 c. chopped nuts

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and bananas. Add salt and soda to flour and add to the first mix. Add nuts. Bake at 350' F.for 45 mins. This makes one big loaf. I use a Camp Chef cast iron bread pan and I love it. I grease and flour the inside of the pan. Also really watch and make sure the middle of your bread is done. Check it with a toothpick or skinny little knife. It may take longer to bake depending on you oven and pan size. Good luck! Oh it's really good with chocolate chips in it too!

I made this recipe into 48 mini muffins and they baked about 12-13 mins. Heaven in two bites!