Day 41 - {.new traditions.}

update: I just added the recipe for the doughnut holes. It's from DC's mom, the source of many of our favorite recipes. :)

This was on a Saturday, just for fun. The doughnut holes worked out great with my three helpers. We divided into stations -- a frying station, a powdered sugar/cocoa station, and a cinnamon sugar station. We set the timer, and rotated the boys through. It was so fun!

Ma Baker's Doughnut Holes
1 3/4 c. flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3/4 c. milk
1 egg
Mix all ingredients. Drop by small teaspoonfuls into very hot oil (375 seems to be the sweet spot). When brown, turn, let brown on other side, remove and roll in cinnamon sugar.

 

"CTR" means "Choose the Right." When our boys turn 8 and are baptized, their Nana gives them a beautiful CTR ring (you can see Fluffy's in the first picture). Carving it into a pumpkin was an idea from the Friend magazine.

 

These activities and the CTR lantern we did on the boys' day off from school for Parent-Teacher Conferences. They had the idea of taking the caramel apple cookies to share with their teachers! So sweet, my boys. :) (btw, I think that sugar is an integral part of family traditions--ha.)

 

And for our family now, October 31st is for. . . .

 

 

 

(Thank you to Emily for this wonderful idea of using real autumn leaves to decorate.)

 

 

. . . and, of course. . . .

 

I am so grateful for the peaceful, happy day we had today.

Thank You, Heavenly Father.

Day 35 - { my mother-in-love }

 

Are you ready to play a guessing game? Are ya? Are ya? :) These next three Days of Gratitude posts will all have something in common, clues to a puzzle. See if you can figure out why I am doing these particular ones. . . .

 

Today's post is about DC's mom.

 

 

Can I just say that I have been blessed with the sweetest, easiest-to-get-along-with in-laws EVER on the face of this planet?

They have raised a ginormous family (DC is 3rd of 10 kids), and it has made them the most awesome people. Or maybe they were awesome to begin with, and raising such a large family only enhanced their awesome-ness. :)

Anyways. DC has never made me in any way feel like I need to "live up" to his mother. And it's a darn good thing:

For one thing, Ma Baker is patient. I have known her now for 14 years, and NOT ONCE seen her lose her temper or even come close. I have seen her in very stressful situations, and not a feather ruffled. If I ever learn her secret, I'll publish a book and be a millionaire! :)

Another neat thing about her is she is a FANTABULOUS COOK. Oh, I love her food. And she loves to cook for those who love to eat. From her enjoyment of watching us eat, it seems as though it's one of her favorite ways to show love. Very cool. I will include a couple of my favorite recipes from her at the bottom. . . .

Ma Baker is a delightful Grandma! Our boys just adore her. She always remembers their birthdays and has been at their baby blessings and baptisms. She even flew out on very short notice to be here for Benjamin's funeral. I love how she has continued to include him in many ways in our family, so that he is never forgotten.

She is a beautiful singer and seamstress. Her testimony and faith are so strong that you cannot imagine her without them. She radiates goodness and the Light of Christ.

Ma Baker is a loving listener. It is so soothing to be able to just pour out your heart to her, and know that she doesn't judge you. She just loves you. This to me is her single greatest attribute.

I am so grateful for such a wonderful mother-in-love!

 

My favorite words of wisdom from Ma Baker:

"Ice cream is the secret to a happy family."

 

Ma Baker's Classic Spaghetti with Meatballs

This is SO GOOD. It's worth making from scratch (and not hard)! You'll never want to go back. . . .

2 - 15 oz. cans tomato sauce

1 - 15 oz. can diced tomatoes

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. minced garlic

1/2 tsp. basil

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning

Mix all ingredients in large saucepan. Cover and simmer for about 1/2 hour.

Meatballs:

3/4 lb. ground beef (I use ground turkey and it works fine)

1/2 c. bread crumbs or rolled oats

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. minced garlic

1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese.

Mix all ingredients well, and form into walnut-size balls. Drop into sauce. Cover and simmer for about 1/2 hour.

 

Ma Baker's Eggless Raisin Squares

One of DC's childhood favorites. He says the smell of this still takes him back to the good old days. . . .:)

1 c. raisins

1 1/2 c. water

2 tbsp. margarine

1/3 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 c. sugar

2 c. flour

1/2 c. chopped nuts (so optional in DC's book :)

Simmer the raisins, water and margarine for 1 min. Add to remaining ingredients and blend thoroughly. Pour into greased 9x13 pan and bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes.

A post-Easter breakfast tradition

Egg Goldenrod

You will need:

eggs
butter
flour
milk
salt
bread

1. Hard-boil the eggs (1 per piece of toast)

2. Peel, and set aside the yolks

3. Meanwhile, make a white sauce (2 tbsp. butter, 2 tbsp. flour, 1 c. milk, 1/4 tsp. salt) - make more depending on the # of pieces of toast

4. Cut up the egg whites and add to the white sauce.

5. Pour over toast (buttered, if you want), and sprinkle crumbled yolks over the top.

 

I have fond memories of discovering this recipe while I was a college student. One of my best friends from Pennsylvania lived in a nearby apartment, and we often had Saturday breakfast together after going to the Provo Temple.

One time she fixed this for me, and I was enchanted! It looked so pretty and cheerful. And it was just so creamy. Mm-hmm.

It morphed into a post-Easter tradition quite naturally, as the hardest part of the recipe is boiling the eggs, and after Easter, there's no shortage of boiled eggs around here!

The boys all love this recipe, and I have to nearly triple it because they always want seconds and thirds. Just 1 serving is plenty satisfying for me, though. It's the type of breakfast that makes you feel good for the rest of the morning. :)

Try it!! You will love it!!

A slice of humble pie

Anyone out there try making Bakerella's cake pops?

Well, if you'd like to see the anti-climax of my Thanksgiving weekend, visit this post on my seester Becky's blog to see our deformed reindeer pops. . . .not for the faint-hearted!

"I look heedeous."

A Visit from SuzieQ - FOOD

If only we had photographed each and every savory meal we created and partook of during the visit!. . . .But then you would all have puddles of drool on your keyboards. :)

A few highlights, however:

Glazed Kielbasa (above), with red potatoes on the side

Taco Soup

Crockpot Salsa Chicken Burritos Oh, yum. These are absolutely heavenly, and SO EASY!!

Spaghetti Casserole

Strawberry Pretzel Dessert (below)

Grasshopper Pie

Hamburger Cookies

Oh, honey. We had some great food!

Girl Scout Thin Mints recipe!

You're probably going to think I'm obsessed with this website. (And I probably am!) But I just noticed that the Top Secret Recipes website has a free recipe for the Girl Scout Thin Mints cookies! I love those, and didn't get any this year, (waah!) so I'm anxious to try it.

Also, just another plug for the book. For part of our at-home date last Friday, Chris and I tried out the recipe for "Chili's Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie" and nearly passed out with joy tasting it. It tasted exactly like what you get at the restaurant! (Good thing, too--it's a bear to make). But it made enough for our whole family to have it 3 times! Fun times.

Well, we were out of vanilla (due to the Wendy's frostys - ha), so we substituted cookies and cream.
Thank goodness Target has such good prices on ice cream!
(This is so not good for my trying to lose weight. . . .ahem!)

Homemade Wendy's Frostys!

For part of our Valentine's Date last Thursday, we tried out a recipe I found on topsecretrecipes.com

Now, I have hesitated to recommend this website, because many of the recipes on it are not free. When I first found it, I was SO EXCITED because now I could make Olive Garden's Chocolate Lasagne and Carrabba's Chicken Marsala, etc., etc. But then when I clicked on a few of the recipes, I found that many of them cost a small fee to be able to access. HOWEVER. There are also many free ones, like the Wendy's frosty.

I want so very badly to post the actual recipe for you, but in order to access even the free recipes, you have to promise not to copy or post them anywhere. But I will say this: the recipe calls for only 3 ingredients, which we had on hand, and you probably do, too, AND it tastes EXACTLY like a real Wendy's frosty. One recipe makes enough for 2 large frostys. We loved ours!!!

So I checked the book out from the library, and the same promise holds. Each recipe is strictly copyrighted. I guess I may just have to buy the book. :) I have tried 4 or 5 of the recipes, and each has been fabulous! So, as my friend Malauna says, this is a shameless "product endorsement." ha! Try some of those freebie recipes on the website! This guy is really good at what he does!

A Southern New Year's Day (sans football)

I tried a new recipe for New Year's Day. Evidently it's not optional to have black-eyed peas around here on New Year's. I have no clue how to fix them, so I pounced on this recipe from my neighbor. It is SO GOOD. I ate probably half the pan singlehandedly over the last two days! :)

TRY IT. YOU WILL LOVE IT.

Black-Eyed Corn Bread

1 tsp. butter
1 lb. spicy loose fresh pork sausage meat
1 med. yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 c. white cornmeal (I used yellow)
1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1 c. buttermilk (I used regular milk with a 1 tsp. lemon juice - let it sit to curdle a little)
1/2 c. vegetable oil
8 oz. cheddar cheese, grated (about 2 c.)
1 (15-oz.) can black-eyed peas, drained
3/4 c. canned creamed-style corn
1/2 c. canned chopped green chilies
1/2 c. drained sliced pickled jalapenos, chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x13-inch baking dish with butter. Break sausage meat into chunks and put into a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook, breaking sausage up with a slotted spoon until meat is just cooked through - about 10 minutes. Transfer sausage and onions to paper towels to let drain.

Whisk cornmeal, flour, salt and beking soda together in a large bowl. Beat eggs, buttermilk and oil together in a medium bowl. Add egg mixture to cornmeal mixture, stirring until cornmeal mixture is just moistened (batter will be lumpy). Stir in sausage mixture, cheese, black-eyed peas, corn, green chilies, and jalapenos. Pour batter into prepared dish, smoothing the top with the back of a spoon. Bake until golden brown - 50 to 60 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

And for your "Gee, Whiz" file:

Black-eyed peas are traditionally eaten on New Year's Day in the American South and in some other parts of the USA. In some areas, they are served as a starchy side dish, cooked with or without fatback and/or diced onion, and often served with a hot chili sauce or a pepper-flavored vinegar. In other areas, they are served in a traditional dish called "Hoppin' John" made of black-eyed peas cooked with rice, sometimes pork (such as hog jowls, neckbone, hock, or fatback), and seasonings.

The traditional meal also features collard or mustard greens or cabbage. This is supposed to bring good luck and financial enrichment. The peas stand for good luck, the greens symbolize paper money. Cornbread also often accompanies this meal.

These "good luck" traditions date back to the U.S. Civil War. Union troops, especially in areas targeted by General William Tecumseh Sherman, would typically strip the countryside of all stored food, crops, and livestock and destroy whatever they couldn't carry away. At that time, Northerners considered "field peas" and corn suitable only for animal fodder, and as a result didn't steal or destroy these humble foods. Many Southerners survived as a result of this mistake. (from Wikipedia--hope it's true--ha).

Conference Delights

It's been a while since I've had time to post. One of my beloved friends from Tallahassee is here visiting, and we've kept busy with some organizing projects and just keeping up with the boys. Janice is REALLY talented with lots of things, and is so helpful--it's delightful to have her here.

Yesterday and today were wonderful times to come out of the world and just be together as a family and as a Church. I always just love Conference weekend. We made pigs-in-a-blanket and blue jello jigglers, and had our traditional Conference M'n'M's for the game the boys play.

Here's a picture of the boys and Janice just before leaving for the church this morning:

One of Janice's talents is cooking, and tonight she made us a delicious meat loaf, and showed me how to make it look like a cake. The "frosting" is mashed potatoes. :) Here's a picture of how it turned out: