playing with toys

Move over Betty Crocker (or at least Betty's sister-in-law's cousin twice removed)

One of my New Year resolutions was to organize my recipes. They were scattered across multiple locations: tiny scraps of paper with hard to read scribbles, stacks of mystery photocopies and printouts, small papers, large papers, half of envelopes, magazine clippings, binders, books, all mixed up and everywhere...

My first task was to separate all the recipes into 3 piles. The trash pile. The keep pile. And the "need to try before it makes it permanently in my collection" pile.

A lot of my recipes came from very old "hand-me-down" cookbooks or from my Grandma and it became very clear very quickly that cooking back then was much different than cooking now. There wasn't a single recipe that didn't contain large amounts of beef, butter or a cream of something. There seems to have been just a different style of cooking back then...so sadly (or not so sadly) many of them ended up in my trash pile. It is interesting how food evolves over generations.

So it was "so long" crazy Fruit Loaf and Crabmeat Casserole. "See ya" Peanut Crunch Slaw and Beef with Raisin Sauce. "I will never try you" Orange Fluff, Mint Peas or Jellied Chicken...yes, these are all real.

But part of me felt like there were some I just had to keep. One day someone is going to want me to make a meat loaf or a potato salad and so I better have a recipe handy, right? What kind of good homemaker would I be without a sloppy joe recipe in my arsenal, even if I never make it?

And then there were the odd recipes, like home made tortillas. When is it going to be a better idea to try to make tortillas instead of buying them? When we live on a farm and the closest grocery store is 2 hours away? During Armageddon when all grocery stores have been destroyed and my kids really want tacos? Humm, I guess you never know....the tortilla recipe stays.

It took me a few weeks but now all my recipes are neatly typed up, filed by category and secure in a binder. (I saved a few of my Grandma's hand written recipes because there is just something about using your Grandma's "hand written recipe".) Now all my favorites are together including some jems of my Grandma's, family favorites, friend classics and new discoveries. Now....what to make for dinner?

Okay people, listen up!

If you want to do a good deed today, help my organization fund one of the coolest (or should I say warmest) projects ever with just $1.

Our CHOICE Humanitarian team in Bolivia is creating innovative ways for students to learn by turning a cold, dark and boring classroom into one full of light. This is done by turning one wall of the school into a greenhouse to provide warmth, vegetables for the school and new educational opportunities.

(This video gets a little chopped off on the right, but you get the picture.)




Go to www.tippingbucket.org to see how amazing this project is and to give $1 to the cause. (click on the learn more link)

Then if you want extra karma....tell your friends about it. (Post it on your Facebook page, put it on your blog, sent out a tweet!)

If we reach our goal and the school is funded, you can say "Today, I helped to build a school in Bolivia." Won't that be nice.

Love you all!

Munchkin Land

Spent a warm weekend with these pip-squeeks in St. George a few weeks ago. Way too much fun!

What the.....?

I don't know why but I kind-of like
the "We are lost children of the desert" look
on these two's faces.

Birthday Weekend.

We celebrated Steve's birthday this weekend. The celebration began on Friday night. Steve totally beat me at bowling but I don't think my bowling ball was working right. I'm convinced it wasn't perfectly round.

Saturday morning we had lovely crepes......and that night we met up with a group of friends for dinner at the Texas Road House. The birthday boy even got to sit in the birthday saddle. Yee Haww! We then hit the drive-in. I'm pretty sure Steve slept through most of the second movie of the double feature but going to a drive-in is so much fun. Just be sure you bring your jumper cables...someone is bound to need them.

Sunday we drove up to temple square to enjoy the amazing Spring flowers. Okay, maybe this wasn't part of Steve's celebration, it was more for me...but who's counting?

Okay, just one more photo.
Okay, Last one.
Just one more....And then all there was left to do was to fly a kite. Happy Birthday Steve!

Festival of Colors!

Steve and I attended the Festival of Colors last weekend at the Hare Krishna Temple . It is a traditional Indian holiday to welcome in the vibrance of spring and to leave behind bleak winter. This is celebrated by throwing "color" at each other and wishing everyone a "happy holi." It was crazy but also an interesting experience which I think everyone should try...and no, I'm not sure if my jeans will ever be the same again.

I couldn't upload the cool video I took of everyone throwing the color so here is a link to one from the internet... CLICK HERE.

If you missed it...Steve revealed the secret of the mystery injury in the comments section of that post.

Put The Marker Down Slowly!

I had some visitors today and one of them brought her two small boys. To keep them occupied she brought a drawing board for each of them. Then she gave them a few of those large magic markers. Off came the caps and my attention immediately was focused on those fat markers. As the boys began to fight and the pens began to wave I began to get nervous. They were awfully close to my leather couch, my cool coffee table and way too close to one of the cute pillows I painstakingly sewed.

These markers were the two ended type...with a marker at each end and when the second cap came off my palms began to sweat. I couldn't focus on a word my visitors had to say. With 4 open markers and two boys fighting over each color, pretending to draw on walls, blinds and plant, dropping the markers on the floor, I thought for sure something of mine was going to get a brand new look. One pen was just millimeters from my cute pillow and I couldn't take my eyes from that blue tip as it swirled and jabbed around in the air. I could feel my bottom lip beginning to make that little pouting/quivering motion as I held my breath. Those 20 minutes felt like an hour! Twenty minutes of pure anxiety.

In the end, everything was safe but now I am worried what will happen when I am a parent! I could hardly handle a few markers! I'm in trouble.

Spring must be near!

(the fuzziest willow I've ever seen!)

(and one new carburetor later...)

mystery circle

I'll give you a high-five if you can tell me how Steve injured his finger.....

hint: it is not a burn.

Пора обедать!

With our newly acquired money (see post below) we went to a little Russian deli and market in Salt Lake. Steve bought all sorts of Russian food and then made me a real Russian dinner.

This is Vareniki. It is a potato filled pasta. Steve said most of the meals Russians have are very simple like this. We ate it with butter and a little sour cream and it was quite tasty.

On the other hand this Russian soda called Kvas was pretty nasty. It is made from barley. Steve guzzled it down while I just sipped. It kind of grew on me a little by the end.

And for dessert, Pecheniye. Yummy little cookies with a cute cow on them. It was fun to experience an authentic Russian meal. I'm going to try to make the Vareniki one day and when I do you are all invited. I won't make you try the Kvas.

Mission Accomplished!

Steve and I decided one of our New Year's resolutions would be to pawn something. That's right. I said pawn, as in take something we don't want anymore into a seedy, sketchy pawn shop and see what happens. We are proud to say we can check this one off our list.
Steve's sister was getting rid of an old stereo system and donated it to our cause. We took it to one of the many pawn shops by our house and carried it inside. They guy helping us was very nice. He looked up the stereo on his computer and quoted us a price so there was no bartering, no sweet talking him into giving us more money. I was kind-of hoping for some good bartering. Next I was photographed and fingerprinted. No kidding! And then we were handed some cash. It actually only took a few minutes and was much less complicated than I imagined.

Oh, yeah. I guess you are all wondering how much we made. We walked away with $26.00. We took our earnings and hit the town as seasoned pawn-ers!

St. Patty's Day Surprise.

Last night Steve made me close my eyes and get into the car as he drove me to an undisclosed parking lot. He got out and left me alone for a few minutes returning with a treat I had to try with my eyes still closed.

Turns out it was the Shamrock milkshake from McDonald's.

It is a bright green minty shake that they only sell around St. Patrick's Day. Steve told me that they don't advertise this shake anywhere so you have to be "in the know" to order one. When I asked him how he knew about it he said, "Someone who is in the know told me about being in the know." So there you have it. Now you too are "in the know" and can go get yourself a Shamrock milkshake to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Sip and enjoy.

Soup of the day.

One of our favorite places to eat out is Zupas. They serve the most amazing Wisconsin Cauliflower soup that Steve always gets. I would get it too except I cannot not get the Tomato and Basil with Orzo Pasta soup. It is always a big debate. Do I get the amazing tomato soup or the amazing cauliflower soup?

The tomato always wins.

Always.

But I still really like the cauliflower soup so I decided to try to make it at home. I was a little nervous to make it since if there is going to be a cooking disaster, it's gonna happen while making a soup out of cauliflower. It turned out pretty good. I think next time I make it I will change up the recipe a bit but overall it was a sucess. To see the recipe visit the Pfost pfood blog at: http://pfostpfood.blogspot.com/

Sweetaphobia.

Today we celebrated my co-workers birthday with some strawberry short cake. Our volunteer declined to have any because she can't/won't eat sweets in the middle of the day. I didn't tell her about the hand full of chocolate chips I ate for breakfast.