Natural Yeast

So my mother in law got me a pet for my birthday. I named her Betty. She is very low maintenance. I only have to feed her twice a week. I don't have to walk her or pick up her poop in the yard. She doesn't dig holes under my fence, or drag deer legs into the yard, or leave me regurgitated mice on my doorstep. My pet is called Natural Yeast, and yes I named her Betty. By far the best pet I have ever owned.

Natural yeast is supposed to be more healthy for you compared to the yeast you buy in the grocery store. Did you know that they make the yeast you buy in the store in a lab? I didn't. I guess I never thought about it before. I don't know where I thought it came from. Essentially Natural yeast is just going back to how people made breads for thousands of years that did not have a store to buy it in.

It doubles in size after every feeding so I have to use it frequently or throw some away. I don't have the heart to throw her away so hopefully I can keep up with utilizing her frequently. I am scheduled to feed her tomorrow so I got to make some banana nut muffins today. Mmmm. mmm.

Christmas Festivities

Our Christmas this year was so fun and nice. We spent it with just our little family. This is the first year that we didn't go to family at least some point of the holiday. We did miss them though. We started out Christmas Eve making cookies for Santa. That night we had a special Family Home Evening where I attempted to teach the kids about the "true" meaning of Christmas which failed miserably. We watched the 5 minute Nativity story which was almost too long. We ended the night reading The Night Before Christmas and The Nativity Story. Claire had such a hard time falling asleep. I think she got out of bed for something or other about 10 times.

Claire got for Christmas a train set, dollhouse, and the first movie of Cars.

Kate got a cookie monster that talks and you feed him cookies, a zhu zhu pet with accessory and a semi truck with cars (she loves driving cars around the house)

For Christmas dinner we had ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green bean casserole. Great times had by all!

Rainbow Cupcakes

I made these rainbow cupcakes the other day thanks to my friend Amalia who gave me an awesome cupcake cookbook!!!

This is Claire eating the cupcake.

This is Claire licking the cupcake.

This is Claire licking frosting finger.

And this is Claire satisfied with the cupcake in her tummy.

And this is Kate wishing she could eat the cupcake too. I did give her a little lick of frosting.

Oh My Gosh!

So, my mother sent me this blog. I ventured there today and found this recipe for cookie dough truffles! At first glance at them I actually voiced out loud, "Oh-my-gosh!" Not just in my head people, but out loud. They actually have a recipe for chocolate chip cookie dough that is safe to eat! I KNOW RIGHT?! No Raw Eggs!!! I'm sorry Mandy this will also ruin your diet. But hey, I figure you can still eat them on Saturday or Sunday...or in my case only on the days that end in "day."

Maple Apple Dumpling

Raspberry Brown Betty

So, I decided that I needed to do something else during my day other than clean my living room and kitchen and play with a two year old. Mandy inspired me to start making fruit desserts again out of my awesome Rustic Fruit Desserts book. So I made Raspberry Brown Betty. It was so very good. I wish I could have shared it with all of you.

This is my flour sifter. I had to take a picture of it because I just love it. I love it because it is cute, an antique, and surprisingly very efficient.



So, whenever you come to visit I will whip up a bowl for you. Happy Sunday everyone.

Rustic Desserts

So, while we were in Portland we went to an awesome bookstore! Probably the biggest in the world. It is called Powells. I got this awesome cookbook there called Rustic Desserts. I have been on a dessert rampage. They have all turned out very good indeed. This pie crust is made from scratch by the way. Actually everything is made from scratch...except the brownie one. The box in the picture kind of gave it away. One of Claire's favorite past times is to help me bake. She loves to eat the batter, squish the flour between her fingers, and help me stir with odd utensils. Enjoy looking at these wonderful desserts that I so proudly made. If you come visit I would love to cook one for you.

Tim Tam Slams

So, there are these wonderful cookies that Dallin introduced me to (I knew I married him for a reason). They are called Tim Tams. They are a chocolate biscuit cookie that they eat in Australia. Some people in my family have already been introduced to them. They are pretty much by far the most delicious, delectable, sinful, oh so mouthwatering, good that I have ever inhaled. For those of you who live where there is a Target, Pepperidge Farm is making them for a limited time until March of this year. I implore you to go to Target and by like 10 boxes of the original kind. And then save 8 boxes for yourself and the other two share them around. For those of you who do not have a Target here is a website where you can order some. I included a video clip of how to eat them. I will also include written instructions for further clarification.

Instructions for eating the Tim Tam Slam!

1. Go to Target and buy 10 + boxes of Tim Tams
2. Go home and make up some hot chocolate
3. Nibble off one corner of the cookie
4. Nibble off the other corner diagonal to the one you just bit off
5. Stick the end you bit off in the hot chocolate and suck the hot chocolate like the cookie is a straw.
6. Once you feel the hot chocolate enter your mouth, hurry and eat the cookie
7. Then say, "Oh my gosh! This is freakin' good!"

Mmmmmm....Cheesecake

So, I ventured into the unknown of making my own cheesecake from scratch. Little did I know that it was going to be very time-consuming and not so cheap to make. But it was pretty good and I was satisfied with the end result. This is my lovely graham cracker crust that I pressed into my new spring-form pan. Then the wonderful cream cheese filling. And Tah-Dah! The grand finale! Wish you were all here to try it. I guess I'll just have to eat it myself.

Happy Halloweenie!

I hope everyone had a fun, safe, and scary halloween. Dallin and I and Claire didn't do a whole lot. I did do more than I did last year. It wasn't hard though to do more than I did last year. I dressed Claire up as a pumpkin. We took her to the fudge/candy store in Salmon to have her picture taken. I won't get those photos for about a week. Do you think I could make it out of the store without buying some fudge? No! I got 1/2 pound of raspberry and 1/2 pound of rocky road. Then the store owner told me, "When you buy a pound you get a 1/4 pound free." Oh, you evil store owner. She obviously cares nothing about my ever expanding waist line. But, how can I hate someone who makes such delectable fudge? It just melts away in your mouth to a cream. Anyways. Then Claire came home and hung out in her costume at home. The merchants here in Salmon give out candy to trick-or-treaters. Everyone told me that I should take Claire. Funny thing though. I think the store owners might catch on that the candy is not going to be for Claire. So, I decided not to go. I did take Claire to my work to show my fellow co-workers her costume. She got the sniffles late last night so my little pumpkin has a snotty nose. She is still pretty cute though.

Never-Fail French Bread

So, I got a couple of requests for the French Bread recipe, so here it is:

2 pkgs . active dry yeast (2 T.) "It's alive!" :)
1/2 cup luke warm water
2 cups hot water
3 T. of mmmm....sugar
1 T. salt
1/3 cup oil
6 cups flour
slightly roughed up egg white

Dissolve yeast in luke warm water. In large mixing bowl, combine hot water, the mmmm...sugar, salt, oil and 3 cups of flour. Add dissolved yeast. Beat until smooth and well blended. Add remaining flour to make a soft dough (about the consistency of your stomach) that can still be mixed with a spoon. Leave spoon in batter and allow dough to power nap for 10 minutes. Stir down batter, let dough power nap again, then repeat the process of stirring dough followed by 10 minute power naps until it has been done a total of 5 times. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead like a kitty cat only enough to coat dough with flour so it can be handled. Divide dough into two parts. Roll each part into a rectangle (9 x 12"). Rollup like a jelly roll. Arrange lengthwise on greased cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining portion of dough. Brush tops with roughed up egg white. With a sharp knife, slash with a vengeance the tops diagonally about 3 times across loaf and make the "Psycho" sound effect. Cover and allow to rise until double in bulk, about 30 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes two loaves. Note: this bread also makes good cinnamon rolls. You can double this recipe and it also freezes well.

Our New Friends

So, Dallin and I and Claire all made some new friends. Their names are Jesse and Tiffany. They have an adorable little boy that is 4 months old. His name is Cameron. We were all joking that he was Claire's future prom date. Here are some pictures of Claire and Cameron playing together and my pretty dinner that I made. I made Chicken and Dumplin's and homemade French Bread. Mmmmm...boy howdy... I got the awesome recipe from my awesome sister-in-law, Melonie. It is called "Never Fail French Bread." And it really is Never Fail. I look for those kinds of recipes. The first picture is just Claire sporting her cute winter hat that I made her.

Roasted Portabello Mushrooms

So, I made a new recipe today. I got the recipe from Rachael Ray. Yumm-o! It is very fresh, simple, and clean tasting. It is pretty easy also and I thought pretty enough to take a picture. I even think it is pretty healthy also. The recipe didn't really call for any spices so I had to add some of my own. I thought it might not be as good unless I doctored it up a little.

Fun with Cathy

So, my awesome sister got to come to Salmon, ID and spend almost a whole entire week with me! It was pretty awesome. She finally got to meet Claire and quickly learned how cute she is and what a cute cry she has. Cathy unfortunately got sick two of the days she was here. But the rest of the week we went to some antique shops around Salmon and found some treasures. We cooked some really good food as you can tell from the pictures of the delectable crepes and the oh so good lasagna. We then went up to Williams Lake and floated around in some inflatable kayaks. It was a pretty warm day. We floated around the lake amidst the damsels and the ducks and the plethora of fish that were jumping all around us. We cooked a "Yummo" dutch oven dinner at the lake. After the lake we launched our kayaks into the Salmon river and attempted the killer category 2 rapids. The float trip was pretty uneventful until we got to where we were supposed to get out. We were supposed to get out at the bridge that is right in town. I swear that was the fastest part of the whole float trip . There were sooo many people along the banks I just knew we were bound to embarass ourselves. There were some punk teenagers that were yelling things at us, I couldn't hear them because I was trying too hard not to hit the cement wall holding up the bridge and not to hit the board that was tied to bridge that the punk teenagers use to surf on (which by the way Cathy did hit and it almost decapitated her!) Cathy slammed into the wrong side of the river and came to a halt that was not shallow whatsoever. She had to get out in waist deep water and hoist her kayak with all her might up onto the shore and then pry her way out onto the shore. I on the other hand ran into the tree that was overhanging and then kept on floating down the river. The fast flowing river combined with an inflatable kayak that does not cut through the water at all equals disaster. I just kept on floating and floating and could not get to a side no matter how hard I tried. In my panicky mind I was thinking, "I'm going to die. How far am I going to float down river. I have no idea what is ahead of me. What if there are killer rapids ahead?" Finally I got to a side and had to walk back to the bridge to try to find my sister. She had been running down the bank trying to get to me. She passed this motel that is along the river and there were two guys sitting out on their balcony and they yelled at her, "Keep going...she's way down there." How embarassing. I'm so glad I don't know a whole lot of people in Salmon yet. Then we went to Hundred Acre Wood for dinner. It is a really pretty place out by the river. They have ducks and geese that wander around the green grass in the back and there are bird feeders in the window so you can bird watch. It's a way fun place to go. If anyone comes to see us in Salmon we will take you there.

Pan Roasted Salmon with Tomato Vinaigrette ..mmmmmm

This is the famous recipe that Cathy cooked for Dallin and I the last night we were in Portland. It is very yummy!

Cooking time: 30 minutes
4 servings

1 pint of grape tomatoes cut in 1/2
1 medium shallot, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. of drained capers
2 Tbsp. of red wine vinegar
Salt
3 Tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil
4 center-cut salmon fillets with skin (about 7 oz. each)
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp. of ground cumin
2 Tbsp. of canola oil
1 Tbsp. of minced parsley
1 Tbsp. of chopped basil

1. Preheat the oven at 425 degrees. In a bowl toss the tomatoes with the shallot, capers, vinegar and 1/2 tsp. of salt.

2. In a medium oven-proof skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. of the olive oil. Season the salmon with salt and pepper and add it to the skillet, skin side up. Cook over moderately high heat until well-browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Carefully flip the fillets. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast until the salmon is cooked through, about 7 minutes. Transfer the fish to plates and pour off any fat in the skillet.

3. Place the skillet over moderate heat and add the tomato mixture along with the cumin, canola oil and the remaining 2 Tbsp. of olive oil. Cook, scraping up any bits stuck to the skillet, until the tomatoes just soften, about 2 minutes. Pour the sauce over the salmon, sprinkle with parsley and basil and serve right away.

Enjoy!

Yummy Wheat Bread Recipe...and it's easy!

5 cups of warm water
1 cup of sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. salt
3 Tbsp. yeast (heaping)
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup wheat gluten (heaping)

Mix all ingredients. Add 7 cups of ground up wheat flour and mix. Then add approximately 3 more cups of flour and knead. Put in greased loaf pans and allow to raise for 30 minutes or until it doubles in size. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.