All Olympics, All the Time!

Here in the Shetler household, we anxiously await the Olympics every other year. The DVR has made it such that if we are in the house, it is an all Olympics, all the time scenario. This year, we put off a camping trip in order to have an Opening Ceremonies party. I knew we needed some kind of Olympic-themed food, and was also in the mood for a dip meal. These two thoughts led me to Olympic colored dips, in the colors (and arrangements) of the Olympic rings. Three of them ended up being original recipes (see below).

Red: Salsa and chips (peach-pineapple from Safeway)
Green: Guacamole  and chips/veggies. (It was great, but next time I'd use about half the salt.)
Black: Chocolate Peanut Butter Oreo Dessert Dip (inspired by this recipe) with graham crackers
Yellow: Tangy Curry Mustard Dip (using a mustard-pepper sauce I got as one of my food souvenirs at a farmer's market on vacation this summer in Indiana) with pretzels/veggies
Blue: Blueberry Fruit Dip (inspired by this recipe) with fruit.

Another fun addition was our Olympic "torches," which I saw on Pinterest :-)  Then, when we were all dipped out, and the Parade of (all 204) Nations started, we stayed interested by trying to find the answers to some Olympic trivia questions that I had come up with. Many of the answers were mentioned by the announcers, but those that weren't, Google took care of. Those that completed the questions (and anyone else who wanted one :-)) got gold medals (aka, Rolos :-).)

In addition to the Olympic food, we also planned on having it set up so we could watch the ceremonies from my parents-in-law's pool via a rear projection set-up my husband rigged. A few technical difficulties that night meant we all watched the events inside, but this idea's time will still come during the London Olympics and I am psyched :-)

Tangy Curry Mustard Dip

1 c. plain, non-fat yogurt
1/2 c. mayo or Miracle Whip
1/4 c. mustard-pepper sauce*
1 T. curry
2 T. minced onion
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1/2 t. spicy brown mustard
1/2 t. garlic powder

Mix all ingredients and refrigerate for an hour or more. Serve with pretzels and/or veggies. Yield: approximately 1 3/4 cups.

Blueberry Fruit Dip

8 oz. fat-free cream cheese
1/2 c. milk
6 oz. blueberry yogurt (1 small cup)
1 c. fresh or frozen, thawed blueberries
1/4 t. almond extract
1/2 c. fresh blueberries to top the dip with (optional)

Mix cream cheese and milk until smooth. Add yogurt, and extract. If desired, blend the 1 c. blueberries before adding to dip. Top with fresh blueberries. Serve with apples, bananas, peaches, nectarines, melons or graham crackers. Yield: approximately 3 cups.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oreo Dessert Dip


8 oz. neufchatel cheese
6 oz. vanilla yogurt (1 small cup)
1 pkg. sugar-free chocolate pudding mix (4 serving)
1 c. milk
1/2 c. peanut butter
2/3 c. crushed oreos
1/4 c. crushed oreos for topping (optional)

Mix cheese and yogurt until smooth. Add pudding mix and milk and mix until smooth. Add peanut butter. Fold in 2/3 c. crushed oreos. Top with crushed oreos. Serve with graham crackers and Nilla wafers. Yield: approximately 3 1/2 cups.

*If I had to guess at a substitute for the mustard sauce, I'd probably try something like this: 2 t. vinegar, 1 T. dijon mustard, 1/2 t. brown sugar, 2 t. chopped sweet pepper, dash of cayenne)

Sensational Summer Suppers from Sunset

I am lucky enough to have parents-in-law who wanted 1) an escape from the heat and 2) friends to hang out with them. So, they used Vacation Rental By Owner to find a fantastic "cabin" (4 bedroom house on a golf course) outside of Flagstaff, AZ, about 2 hours from Phoenix, where the air is cool and the pines smell fantastic. Thinking that they were even-ing things out, they said they'd pay for the cabin if the rest of us provided food. Silly them. That turns out to be an added bonus for me! I took it upon myself to do all the cooking for the 10 days, and just had others contribute funds toward the cause. So, I got to plan the meals and cook them, while Marilyn happily took care of Pax. It was a vacation for both of us!

At some point, Jay had picked out a few recipes from the Sunset magazine (a new favorite of mine) that sounded good to him, and so I made those, along with a few other things. I kept them all in a Google Doc if you want to see the nitty-gritty :-) Also, let it be known, that almost every meal involved some grilling (which was not intentional), and Jay gladly did a fantastic job of grilling everything I handed to him. Here are some of my favorites from the week:

• This is a simple uncooked tomato, basil and garlic pasta sauce served over seashell or spiral pasta and I made some super-fast acorn squash in the microwave with a bit of butter and brown sugar, with a salad for good measure. A light, refreshing, summer meal!
• Another fantastic summer meal was going out on a limb, for me. I made Indian-Spiced Salmon with a grilled Potato Salad. And for a girl who doesn't like fish, it was pretty darn good! A unique spice blend that wasn't overpowering or too spicy. And another salad. I'm pretty sure we rounded out almost every meal with a salad :-)
• Using my new favorite ingredient, smoked paprika, we had a great Chicken, Corn, and Spinach Salad with a paprika dressing. (It's my new ingredient because it's great, but also because it took me forever to find it! Thank you Winco!) 
• One of the first nights, I made a Slow-Cooker Curry Chicken that was decent the first night, but when I had it left over the rest of the week, it just got better and better, especially with brown rice pilaf, diced apples and raisins. (I did decrease the cayenne on this to a modest 1/2 teaspoon for this non-Texan.) 
• One morning, we had an excess of bananas left over from grilled peanut-butter banana sandwiches, so I located a recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins and modified them a bit. I substituted 2 bananas for the oil and then divided the batter in half. Half of it I made as peanut butter banana chocolate-chip muffins and half as peanut butter banana and jelly. To do this, I filled the muffin tins half full, put a teaspoon of jam on top, and then added more batter so they were 3/4 full and baked them. Both were yummy! :-) I would still like to find a way to work some oatmeal into them somehow or another... Also, I made them as regular muffins (not mini) and baked them for 20-25 minutes at 325. 
• For dessert one of our last nights, I felt we needed something light and summery, so I made Strawberry Shortcake. I had a favorite recipe for this at home which is almost more like a pound cake and is rich and buttery, but for this occasion, I decided to go with the biscuit style, that I grew up with at home. I followed this recipe, but with 2 extra tablespoons of sugar to give it just a bit of sweetness (but less sugar on the strawberries). I didn't get around to whipping the cream, so we just poured it over the top and it was heaven! :-) 

Then, when we got home from Flagstaff, the only thing I wanted to get done in the three days before we left for our next vacation (!) was to use up the leftovers. It was a challenge, but we got it done :-) 

Baking Day

A few weeks ago, I asked my mentee Kayla if she wanted to bake something for a mentor activity over the summer. She answered a quick "Yes, cupcakes!" So, that we did. I needed to make a dessert for a fundraiser on the weekend and so we had baking day. She, being a fan of the originals, decided to go with white cupcakes with white vanilla frosting. And sprinkles. :-) 

Coincidentally, I used the same really simple white cake recipe for my cupcakes. Mine were a bit more complex, with brownie on the bottom, white cake on the top, and peanut butter frosting to finish it off. The cupcakes should have been simple with a brownie mix and a white cake mix, but being generally against mixes, I made them both from scratch. The white cake was really fantastic, as long as I mixed in the eggs one at a time, and alternately added the dry ingredients and the milk. The peanut butter frosting was amazing. Period. Make it and try not to eat it all out of the bowl. Since they weren't particularly pretty when I was done, I shaved some dark chocolate over the tops and they looked great! After the fundraiser, apparently the fundraise-ee proclaimed how wonderful they were from the stage ;-) (I didn't hear this, since Pax and I left early, as he was being noisy baby.)

Simple White Cake

1 c. butter

1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

2 t. vanilla

1 1/2 c. flour

1 3/4 t. baking powder

1/2 c. milk

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 9x9 inch pan. 

1. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each egg. Add vanilla.

2. Sift flour and baking powder together. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, alternating with adding milk. 

3. Pour into pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes (18-25 minutes for cupcakes).

Yield: 12 servings or 12 cupcakes. 

Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting 

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 c. smooth peanut butter

3 T. milk, or as needed

2 c. powdered sugar

Blend butter and peanut butter together. Gradually mix in powdered sugar. Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until it reaches desired consistency. 

Family Favorites

Yay for summer! It always takes me at least two weeks of summer, saying every day, "Oh, it feels SO good to be home!" to get over the joy of it :-) I think I should have more time to post now, in the evenings after the baby goes to bed. Which is good, because I've been writing posts in my head for weeks.

I have a cookbook binder that has a cover that bends in the middle so that it stands up while you're looking at it (no cookbook stand necessary). I love this feature. However, my original purple one broke at the hinge, it got used so much. I could have just ordered a new one, but mom had an old one sitting around that she wasn't using. (She'd bought a few old cookbooks with that kind of cover just for the cover and thrown out the things in the binder part :-) So, I inherited one. The cover/spine says "Family Favorites," and it's from Paradise Adventist Academy in California. I have no idea what the place is, but it holds my recipes. And not just any recipes, only my favorite recipes, that I want to make routinely (which is rare for me) get put into the binder.

This is the recipe that advanced to the binder today (and that I am eating as I type): Berry Lemon Applesauce. I'm not a big applesauce person, though my husband is. He grew up eating it as a side dish at many (if not most) meals. To this day, he prefers his mac and cheese with applesauce. However, since I do the cooking around here and applesauce isn't my thing, it doesn't get made. Until I found this recipe. As they say, this changes everything. The redeeming feature is the berries (strawberries in my case). They give it a nice juicy tang and make it amazing! :-) No red hots needed here for extra interest!

Berry Lemon Applesauce
Yield: 6 servings

5 apples, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
1/3 c. dried cranberries
3/4 c. apple cider or juice
2 T. lemon juice
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1 T. honey
2 c. raspberries, blueberries, or sliced strawberries
1 T. lemon zest

1. Combine the first five ingredients in a saucepan and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, stirring regularly. Add water or more juice if the rest has boiled off.

2. Mash apples with spoon to desired consistency. Stir in honey and cook for 1 minute.

3. Remove from heat and stir in berries and zest. Serve cold, room temperature, or warm.

Makes 4-5 cups.

Party Planning

A few weeks ago, I knew my mother-in-law's 60th birthday was coming up and I wanted to do something special for both her and my father-in-law who turned 60 about a month earlier. As I pondered it, I thought a birthday party would be nice, because Marilyn often does this for us and we have rarely, if ever returned the favor. Hence, I decided this year we would throw them a big party for a big birthday :-) I'm not really a big party organizer, but I decided to give it a shot. And as it turns out, my extended 3 AM use of Pinterest came in quite handy, since party decor and food are a common theme on that site.

As with many of my good ideas, the bulk of it came to me all at once, and got planned out in my head in about in hour. Then I wrote everything down in my favorite recording place: the lowly steno pad. So good for so many things! Luckily, I had two lovely friends to help me put all my plans into action :-)

For the non-food aspect of the party (which is how I see most things: food-related and non-food-related), we had a number of things.

• We had a great Pandora playlist going of 50s and 60s country based on the likes of Gene Autry and co (Jay's favorite style of music)
• Our 7-year-old friend Josie made a fantastic poster with a giant 60 for people to sign. 
• Some friends made a great poster with pop culture from the years Jay and Marilyn were in high school
• Notebooks with kind thoughts from both of their workplaces
• A poster of sayings from Jay's hometown, Pigeon, MI. (Examples: "You ain't wrong." "You're just a dog, you don't have a face." "It's awful flat outside.") No one else knows what they mean, but Jay thinks they're hilarious. 

For sustenance, we had the following: 

• a ham set out for people to cut slices and make sandwiches with
• cream cheese carved into the shape of a 60 and covered with jalapeno jelly, to eat with crackers (great appetizer that Marilyn loves) 
• spiced nuts
• olives
• soft pretzel bites and cheese dip, cinnamon cream cheese dip, and mustard
• cups with veggies and dill dip
• Tex-Mex popcorn and Tuscan popcorn (Jay's Sunday night meal)
• Dove chocolates (Marilyn's favorite)
• German Chocolate jumbo cupcakes (for Jay)
• Carrot cake jumbo cupcakes (for Marilyn) 

While this may not have been the most elegant combination of food, I knew it was things they would like, and they did! It was great fun. While the party wasn't a surprise, the guest list, displays, and food were a surprise, so that was fun. A good time was had by all. 

Thankfully, the cupcakes were over really well, so I will share their yumminess with you now. :-) 

As is my new obsession, they were jumbo cupcakes, just for the joy of a big cupcake! My favorites were the carrot cake ones. (I probably liked those better because I forgot to add the vanilla in the German Chocolate ones! :-)) I chose this recipe because a reviewer said they tried 5 different carrot cake recipes for a wedding and this was their favorite :-) It has pineapple in it, which keeps it nice and moist. And my decision to add caramel drizzled over the top of the cream cheese frosting was not the wrong decision :-) As usual, the recipe came from Allrecipes.com.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Yield: 12 jumbo cupcakes

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose 
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour jumbo muffin tins
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour mixture and mix well.
4. In a medium bowl, combine shredded carrots, coconut, and pineapple.
5. Using a large wooden spoon or a very heavy whisk, add carrot mixture to batter and fold in well.
6. Fill muffin tins about 1/2 full, dividing batter evenly between all 12 cups. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour. Check with toothpick.

Frosting: 

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 t. almond extract

1 t. vanilla

3 1/2 c. powdered sugar

1. Mix all ingredients together with a hand mixer. Spread or pipe onto cupcakes. 

Topping: 

3/4 c. chopped pecans

Caramel sauce, drizzled over the top. 

1. Drizzle frosted cupcakes with 1-2 t. caramel sauce. Sprinkle 1 T. chopped pecans on top. 

Things I Learned on Maternity Leave

As I near the end of my 9 weeks at home on maternity leave (or in today's lingo, FMLA, for Family Medical Leave Act), I have finally had a few moments to reflect on things. More accurately, Pax has finally begun 1) sleeping longer at night, 2) taking naps and 3) taking naps that last longer than 10 minutes. Since I am more rested, I, being the terrible nap-taker that I am, have been thinking while I should be napping. These things that I've learned on maternity leave are what I was thinking about yesterday.

1) The baby is in charge. Period. If he wants to eat, end of story. Whatever I'm doing (for instance, eating breakfast) is officially over and/or paused until an unknown time. This morning my cereal sat on the counter until 10:30. If he has a poopy diaper, it needs to get changed, 5 seconds ago, unless I enjoy prolonged crying in my ear. If he is in a smiley, cooing mood, everything stops for that as well, because who could resist trying to keep this face around longer?

2) Get comfy pajamas. E. ssential. The first couple weeks after bring the little guy home, a person moves slowly, and the comfier you are, the better. I had a pair of the lightest, softest black pajama pants loaned to me that I wore for the last trimester of pregnancy and the 6 weeks after the baby was born. I was loathe to give them up...

3) On the other hand, never underestimate the power of a shower or fresh air. I am a shower person. I ALWAYS shower every day. First thing in the morning. So, when I got to take a shower the day after Pax was born, it was amazing. I finally felt like I could emerge from this crazy experience and rejoin the world again. Then, after staying in the house for so long and camping out with the baby, getting in the shower and cleaning off the dust that has been sitting around your house for a month along with you feels amazing. So does getting out and realizing that the world has changed to an entirely different season while you were dedicating most of your day to nourishing another human being. Exercise does a body good. It does a body even more good if Grandma can watch the baby while you get your exercise :-), though the sling is an effective back-up.

4) Let people help you. As I learned how to take on an entirely new role in life, it was immensely helpful to have friends and church family bring us meals. It meant we could sit around in the evenings and stare at this amazing new person in our lives! When my parents were here and I developed mastitis, my mom "took control" in her words, and made let me stay on the couch all day feeling sick. I haven't had that in ages! How fantastic :-D Having a mother-in-law come and fold my laundry (as much as I hated to let her do it), was a huge blessing too. As it turns out, it's awfully difficult to fold a T-shirt with one hand :-) If someone offers to do something for you, protest once for your dignity's sake, and then accept.

5) If something isn't right, get help. Generally, my "seek medical attention" philosophy is Wait a few days and see if it gets better on its own. This worked nearly 100% of the time previously, (but it sure helped to have a Nurse Practitioner mother who could confirm that there was nothing to worry about). My other medical philosophy is "Walk it off and/or Suck it up." Needless to say, I don't go to the doctor often. However, before the baby was born, through our Bradley classes and a book I'd read on breastfeeding, I knew within 5 days after Pax was born that something was not right, because I was in pain. The nurses at the hospital, my obstetrician, and a lactation consultant all told me that nothing was wrong, I just had to get used to the feeling. However, a wonderful person at church who has done a lot of work with LLL, convinced me that it shouldn't be that way, and so I kept looking elsewhere. Finally, I found a lactation consultant and a subsequent pediatrician who confirmed that something was wrong. The baby wasn't getting enough to eat because of the bit of skin under his tongue was too short. A simple 5 minute procedure took care of it, and he started gaining weight like nobody's business. Without  prodding from someone to get help, I never would have known this! So again, get help if something doesn't seem right. You've got time; do it.

And those are some of the things I learned while learning to be Momma, which as it turns out, can be a really enjoyable job  :-)

[This accidentally didn't get posted until now. Oops! We'll call it Mommy brain :-)]

Apps for Baby

It seems that my iPod touch has grown into my hand. It spends as much, if not more time with me than Pax. Since I've been pregnant with him, it has found many uses. There are 4 pregnancy/baby apps that have been the most commonly used. In case anyone is in need of such resources, these are the most useful ones I've found so far :-)

Full Term Contraction Timer: First, when my contractions started and I was debating when to go to the hospital, I had an app that wasn't just a timer, but kept a log of all the contractions I had so I could see what the consistent pattern was. Exactly what I needed.

Then, when the baby was born, I was thrilled and wanted to tell everyone, but was too tired to do all the notifying work, the Bambinapp let me fill in the 3 relevant details and send it straight to Facebook so that everyone knew about our new bundle of joy :-) (And in a cute way, of course.)

Since Pax has joined us, and we've been at the pediatrician (and lactation consultants), they want to know how often he's eating, pooping, and sleeping. With the What to Expect Baby Tracker app, it lets you input all the information with very simple motions (no typing). (PS: I have found lots of useful information for first-time moms through their daily emails as well, which you can sign up for on the website.) Also, it helps reveal patterns. It's been most useful to me to help me remember when he last ate, which side he nursed on, and how long he ate for. Also, it's been super-useful as the weeks have passed to see when (if) there are sleep patterns. So it helped me see that he has slept for almost exactly the same amount of time the last 5 nights (though not necessarily at the same times). It also has a notes section for each category to note things like what strategies I used to get Pax to sleep (swaddled, not swaddled, lamp on/off, etc.) Anyway, great app, I'd highly recommend it.

Finally, we have been back and forth to Target, Home Depot and the grocery store on many occasions. (Okay, this isn't that different from any other day of my life :-) However, the new app that helps me keep these things organized in the palm of my hand is called Slide To Buy. It's just like many other list making apps, but my favorite part is that it lets you see your lists without unlocking your device. I always hated having to unlock the iPod and then swipe and click through to find and open the app and the appropriate screen. With this one, you can light up the device and your list(s) are all right there for you to see and cross things off. Definitely helpful in my world.



 And in case you were wondering, a number of these apps I've discovered using the Apps Gone Free app, which has a daily alert of 5 apps that are temporarily free. There's usually at least one game, most days there is a kid-friendly app like a story book, etc., and many times there is a productivity or photography app as well. And all free! :-)

Breakfast Soup

As I've been enjoying my lazy mornings at home with Pax (which mainly involve sleeping, eating, and going to the bathroom for both of us), I've gotten back to one of my favorite lazy breakfasts. I grew up eating this "breakfast soup" occasionally and it has since become one of those foods that I remember every once in a while and go, "Oh that's right, this is really good. I should eat this more often!" (I have the same experience with banana splits periodically.) It's the simplest thing. Hope you like!

Breakfast Soup (or Cinnamon Brown Rice Breakfast Chowder))

3/4 c. brown rice, cooked
1 c. milk (or as much as you'd like)
1/4 t. cinnamon
drizzle of honey
2 T. raisins (optional)

Heat in the microwave or on the stove until just warm.

The new guy is here!

Wow. It has been a busy, busy, busy time for us. I haven't posted for a long time because when I get stressed and/or busy, all non-critical things get dropped from my life. And as it turns out, for me, the last trimester of pregnancy was one of those times. For basically all of November and December, we spent tons of time doing things that needed to be done before the baby arrived, like birthing classes, getting the nursery ready, choosing names, baby showers, writing thank you notes, visiting family, doing "the last time before the baby comes" things, etc. (not to mention Christmas baking and shopping!) The first half of January was spent nervously awaiting baby.

Then, just 12 hours early, the little guy arrived! His name is Pax Jacob and he is amazing. :-D See the pictures for proof. Today he is two weeks old. Here are some of the things I adore about him:

• the super-cute baby noises he makes, (similar to the tired sounds you make as you go to bed at night)
• his long fingers that might be piano-playing fingers :-)
• the fleeting expressions that cross his face, lickety-split (from pure bliss, to rage, to horror, to peaceful sleeping--all in 3 seconds or less)
• how he can be totally asleep and nothing wakes him up. Sometimes. 
• the fact that the dogs barking doesn't startle him in the slightest
• no matter how many times he wakes me up at night, it still makes me smile when I see him
• how his arms operate totally independently of anything he wants them to do (sometimes an arm just pops up straight out in front of him and stays there until I move it :-))
• his Houdini-like quality of getting his arms out of the tightly swaddled blankets that Grandma made for him
• his wrinkly little bum!
• how cute he looks in Ben's arms (he looks even smaller when Ben is holding him)
• how cozy he is in the sling (he slept straight through his first hike last weekend at Deem Hills)
• his bright, blinking eyes when he's awake and alert in the mornings

Also, I'm attaching a link to the story of Pax's birth. I wrote it out in long form for my own sake, but also because I think it's something people don't hear very often. As Ben and I went through our birthing classes, we realized that we had absolutely zero knowledge of it, beyond what is seen in TV shows. Most people who have babies, the birth story for the general public goes something like this: "I was scheduled to be induced Tuesday morning. After 17 hours of labor, being induced twice and having an epidural, he was born." Or something like that. Hence, most of us go into the process of birthing a child with literally no idea of what happens in the mysterious intervening hours. That was definitely the biggest benefit to us in the birthing classes was simply knowing what to expect. Either way, for that reason, I wrote out the entire story of Pax's birth, in a fair amount of detail, mostly for people who have no idea what happens. Feel free to read it if you want, but consider yourself warned, it is most of 5 pages :-s 

I hope to post more regularly now that we are back at home and my brain is starting to unscramble. :-)

Around the house these days...

A few images from what's going on around the Shetler house these days...

First garden cucumber (Aremenian) 

First window I've ever broken. A pan fell out of my hands in some inexplicable manner. I would love to blame this on pregnancy, but alas, this type of thing is a daily occurrence in my everyday, non-pregnant life. 

One section of the (poorly-planned) garden right now. Giant bushy zucchini and cucumber bushes trying to overtake the climbing peas and green beans behind them. But, it looks like everything should produce, so that's good :-)

My one must-have Halloween treat :-) 

Ben "practicing" for baby (or harassing Nimbus, depending on who's side of the story you get). 

What 28 weeks pregnant looks like on me (and Rezzie). 

Self-portrait at 11 PM :-) 

Like Greased Caramel

Caramel Pretzel Bites. A caramel unwrapped and flattened, wrapped around a pretzel nugget and dipped in chocolate. Sounds (and looks) amazing, and not terribly difficult, right? Such was my optimistic mood on Saturday morning when I got ready to try these babies. 3 ingredients, you can't go wrong. (Cue ominous music.)

As per usual, I couldn't quite do it exactly according to plan. I initially wanted to make these because I had a bunch of caramel left over from supper group the previous week, which I had made to dip apples in. The reason more of the caramel didn't get eaten was because I evidently boiled it a touch too long, so it was a little too stiff to dip things in, and it ended up being more of an item you spent the next 2 hours picking out of your back teeth, in a very unflattering manner.

So, my thought was that I'd heat up the caramel to make it a bit more fluid (which worked), and then roll it out. I got started by smartly covering the counter in wax paper. I dumped the caramel on top of the wax paper and put another on top of it and squished everything down. Then, I decided I probably better double-check that it wasn't sticking. Of course it was. Like the dickens, as the say. So, I painstakingly scraped most of it off the wax paper and threw the paper away.

Silly me, I thought. I should have greased the wax paper. Still optimistic, I greased up another set of wax paper good and proper. This seemed like it'd be a great solution, until I realized that as I rolled, the newly exposed caramel carried the grease away with it. Or something. Either way, the long and short of it is that the exact same thing happened. Disastrous sticking. More scraping. More throwing away of wax paper. (And yes, I was definitely losing caramel mass AND brain mass at this point.)

Finally, out of exasperation, I just greased the entire counter area and the metal rolling pin. Nothing stuck anymore. However, that meant the rolling pin just spun on the caramel and the caramel was moving all over the counter. The final solution ended up being me patting and stretching it into some generally desirable shape. (And trying not to scream.)

The next step was to stick the pretzels to the caramel. Turns out, when the caramel is as well-greased as mine was, the pretzels don't stick too well, but I was DETERMINED to make this work, in some form or another at this point. I more or less got the pretzels to wedge into the caramel a bit, and then tried dipping them in the melted chocolate chips (which actually is what the recipe called for). Apparently, I had conveniently forgotten (as I do once or twice a year), that I DESPISE dipping things, or doing anything that requires me to touch every single serving of something. With this background, the dipping was less than ideal.

After dipping three caramel/pretzel pieces, and realizing they were coming out looking like a big gloppy mess, to put it politely, I re-engineered the process. The final product ended up going something like this on some of my leftover greased wax paper: dab of chocolate, square of hardened caramel, dab of chocolate, pretzel. Done. End of story. While this definitely worked, I was more and more infuriated with every dab at how awry this activity had gone. (I had also just realized that these items would have to stay in the fridge if I didn't want the caramel to melt into each other, but that then the caramel would practically break off in your teeth, again leaving me with a lose-lose situation. At that point though, I was in too deep, I just had to finish it as a matter of principle.)

I thankfully finished all of the pretzel caramel situations, with an entirely greased counter, the belly of my shirt with giant chocolatey streaks, and chocolate up to my elbows. But, I still had a bunch of chocolate left over. I knew I should just throw it out and be done with it, given my current level of frustration, but if I was that sort of person, I wouldn't be in the current mess in the first place, as I would have thrown out the caramel a week ago. So, since I still had 2/3 of a bag of pretzels left, I just dipped those half way into the chocolate. Turns out, that was the easiest, most attractive thing I did all afternoon (though still time-consuming).

When all was said and done, I was so frustrated with the whole episode, I had to wash every dish in eyesight, wash every ounce of chocolate off me in a long shower, and throw the recipe away to even begin to alleviate the aggravation. I have not had a total disaster like that in the kitchen for a while. I would like to blame it on being pregnant, but we all know that is something that could have happened to me any day of my life. And I'm sure it will happen again. Oh well, here's to staying humble, right?

Church Cookbook Love

I was recently asked by my dear husband if I'd cook breakfast for the board meetings our church was hosting this last weekend. I agreed, knowing I could use a similar menu to what I helped my friend Liz make last year for another event. The menu was as follows: Baked Oatmeal, Yogurt, Fruit, and Granola (for the yogurt). Added bonus: all gluten-free, as one of the board members is gluten-intolerant. (Though in case you're wondering, while oatmeal is gluten-free in theory, it's often processed in plants that process other gluten-y items, so you do still have to search out gluten-free oatmeal).  I made the same granola I usually make and cut up some apples, bananas, and oranges.

When I looked up the recipe for the Baked Oatmeal in our church cookbook, I remembered why it was so good :-) A whole lot of brown sugar and oil!! I did substitute half the oil for applesauce and then added extra cinnamon and a handful of chopped apples so I could pretend that it actually had the slightest bit of health to it :-) I think it turned out pretty well, and I'll definitely be making it again. Thank goodness for church cookbooks! [And my philosophy on church cookbook recipes still applies: fantastic person = fantastic recipe ;-)] The recipe, as I made it, is listed below. 

Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1/2 c. applesauce

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

4 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon (optional)

4 eggs

2 c. milk

6 c. oatmeal

1 1/2 c. apples, peeled and chopped (optional)

Mix oil, applesauce, sugar and eggs. Beat until yellow and glossy. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well-blended. Bake in greased 9x13 pan at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Serves 10-12. 

Other optional add-ins: 1 c. raisins, 1/2 c. sunflower seeds, any kind of nuts, coconut, or fresh or dried fruit.

Side note: the "Planning the Menu" notepad I bought a while back came in super-handy the past 2 weeks. They let you specify the recipe, source, ingredients, and notes on the results. I used them for supper group, 2 meals for the board, and a meal I brought to a family at church. Given the proximity of all of these events piled on top of an already stacked week, I needed the extra organization!

Side side note: Thank goodness for church cookbooks, but not for church kitchens! Despite the coordinator's best effort, it is always amazing the sheer quantity of random items that show up (or more importantly, DON'T show up) in church kitchens. Items NOT found in our church kitchen as of Saturday: scissors, pen and paper, large ziploc bags, and most notably a cutting board. I ended up chopping everything on a plastic serving tray!

Improvisation

Last Friday, Ben wanted to stay home and do homework, but only after he saw the end of the Diamondbacks play-off game at his parents' house (who have cable). Since I knew this was going to be longer than he thought, I made supper there for all of us.

It was a supper of new and old things. The main dish was an improvisation of things that I had sitting around; specifically extra lasagna noodles and ricotta filling. I decided to use these to create broccoli lasagna roll-ups. Eventually, these ended up with the following: a lasagna noodle topped with ricotta, white sauce, broccoli, string cheese pieces (due to a lack of mozzarella) and then rolled up. All were placed in a dish and topped with more white sauce and a bit of cheddar cheese and then I baked the whole thing. It was a bit of an adventure, but it turned out pretty well :-) Also, yogurt dill sauce with roasted veggies was on the menu. I had bought strawberries this week and was waiting for a good reason to make strawberry shortcake and this was as good of a reason as any. (Who needs a reason for strawberry shortcake anyway??)

The very Greek yogurt dill sauce is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and worked well on the random combination of veggies I had in the fridge (zucchini, red peppers, parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and onions). The strawberry shortcake is my all-time favorite. It's fantastic on it's own, but is killer with strawberries. It comes from the Mennonite Fellowship Meals cookbook.

Broccoli Lasagna Roll-Ups


8-10 lasagna noodles, boiled
2 heads broccoli, chopped finely
2 c. ricotta
3/4 c. parmesan, shredded
1 3/4 c. mozzarella, divided
2 t. oregano, dried
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. onion, chopped
2 1/2 c. milk
6 T. butter
6 T. flour
1 t. italian seasoning
1 t. parsley, diced
salt and pepper
2/3 c. shredded cheddar

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x13 pan. Let noodles sit in a few inches of water to prevent sticking together. Chop broccoli finely and steam in microwave or on the stovetop.

2. Combine ricotta, parmesan, 1/2 c. mozzarella and oregano in separate bowl. Set aside.

3. Saute onion and garlic in butter. Add flour and stir till bubbly. Whisk in milk and stir until thickened. Add italian seasoning, salt and pepper, and parsley. Set aside half of the white sauce.


4. On each lasagna noodle, layer 2-3 T. ricotta mixture, 3 T. sauce, 3 T. broccoli, and a sprinkle of remaining mozzarella. Roll up noodle and toppings carefully, and place in pan, seam side down. Repeat with remaining noodles. Spread remaining white sauce over rolls in pan. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Serves 6.



Yogurt Sauce with Cayenne & Dill


1 c. yogurt
1/2 c. sour cream
1 large garlic clove, crushed
Salt
2 t. dill, chopped
3/4 t. cayenne or hot paprika

Mix all ingredients and refrigerate before serving. Yield: 1 1/2 cups.

[This sauce, plus the roasted veggies, scrambled eggs and cheese made for a great breakfast burrito!]



Best Strawberry Shortcake


1 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. baking soda
1/2 c. plain, fat-free yogurt
1/2 t. vanilla
strawberries, finely diced

1. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Sift dry ingredients.

2. Add the dry ingredients to the batter alternately with yogurt. Beat until smooth. Blend in vanilla. Pour into greased and floured 7x11 pan.

3. Bake at 325 for approximately an hour. After cooling for 5-10 minutes, cut into 10 servings. Top with strawberries.

[Note, the original recipe is doubled and baked in 3 loaf pans. It also uses sour cream instead of yogurt. I've tried it both ways and can't tell the difference. I'd also love to make this in jumbo muffin tins for individual servings, but I don't have any. I don't know why it wouldn't work though.]

Super Supper

I love it when meals are surprisingly good and/or make you say out loud, "Mm, that hit the spot!" Since we were gone at church retreat last weekend, and I knew I'd be working late yesterday, I got all my groceries for two weeks the previous weekend. (I usually only buy for one week at a time.) What ended up happening: I wrote down the recipes, but not where they're from, I've used ingredients for other things as I've gotten hungry, and I wasn't sure what was actually in the fridge. So, tonight's meal was definitely going to be a bit of a surprise ending. Additional point of consideration: Ben wanted supper before he left for a meeting, so I was hurrying through my somewhat improvised chopping to get it ready in time.

The original "entry" on my menu was for Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta and Chipotle Veggies. I intended to use the pesto (from here) that my dear mama purchased for me at the farmer's market when she was here recently, which I did (though I did have a momentary heart attack while the pasta was draining when I realized I hadn't seen it in the fridge in days and thought I had used it.)  I have no idea what the tomatoes in the fridge were originally for, but they got thrown in the pasta for added texture. The parmesan cheese that I was planning on using is now "in absentia," so mozzarella got used instead.

For the veggies, I realized that 1) I had no recipe for it, 2) no idea which veggies I planned on using, and 3) the only available veggies were carrots, potatoes, lettuce, cilantro, and tomatoes. So, after a bit of mucking around allrecipes.com, I managed to locate an interesting-looking grill marinade that I adapted a bit to work for my situation.

Added bonus: I had been wanting salad all week and forgot I had lettuce, so that got chopped up along with some of the tomatoes and two random hard-boiled eggs left in the fridge. The dressing I used was ranch and chipotle salsa. End result? I really enjoyed everything. Ben didn't eat because he was working on homework :-) More for lunch tomorrow!

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta


1 lb. whole grain pasta
4 oz. sun-dried tomato pesto
2-3 Roma tomatoes, diced
mozzarella cheese

Boil pasta and drain. Return pasta to pan and add pesto. Mix with pasta until evenly coated. Toss pasta with tomatoes. Serve with mozzarella cheese sprinkled on each serving. Serves: 4-6.

Roasted Chipotle Veggies
8-9 medium carrots, peeled
5-6 medium potatoes, peeled

Marinade: 
1/3 c. oil
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
3 T. cilantro, chopped
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped
1 t. salt
1 t. paprika
1 t. cumin

Preheat oven to 425. Whisk marinade ingredients in the bottom of a large bowl. Chop vegetables in 1/2 inch chunks and mix with marinade. Spread veggies on baking sheet(s) and roast for 25 minutes, stirring half-way through baking time.
Serves: 4

Mexican Salad
1 bunch lettuce, chopped
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 c. black beans, cooked
1 c. corn, cooked

Dressing:
1 c. ranch salad dressing
1-2 T. salsa

Combine dressing ingredients and chill until ready to serve. Toss remaining ingredients in a salad bowl and serve with dressing on the side.

[Photos from church retreat. The comic was made using my iPod Touch and the Halftone app, which I LOVE!.]

Aaaand...we're up and running!

It's been a busy month, with school starting and getting everything organized. Ask any teacher how the first 2-4 weeks of school is, and inevitably you'll get some sort of answer along the lines of:

Whew!

Busy!

Running around like a chicken with my head cut off!

I still have TONS to do and I've been at school every night till 6!

I'm not so sure about this class...

I forgot how much work this is!

Collecting forms bites!

If only I'd stop getting new students!

Etc

Etc

Etc

I'm finally starting to get everything how I want it (though I still have emergency sub plans to write) so now I have a bit of time to consider the food that I'm actually putting on the table. Tonight for supper group, given that I had a bunch of quinoa around (thank you Costco!), I made this chicken with quinoa and vegetable dish from allrecipes.com, along with mom's italian vegetable salad, bread and jam, and these fantastic banana chocolate chip cookies from Taste of Home. They're almost cake-like :-) Definitely a fantastic use for bananas that are on the verge. There was definitely some double-fisting going on by the kids :-) 

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies 

1/3 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1 egg

1/2 c. banana, mashed

1/2 t. vanilla

1 c. flour

1 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1/8 t. baking soda

1 c. chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg, banana, and vanilla. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in separate bowl. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheet, leaving 1-2 inches between each. Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes, until edges have browned. 

Yield: 3 dozen (though for the size I was making them, it was more like 2 dozen) 

Summer Grilling Goodness

It's August, which means we're midway through the dead of summer, with about a month to go. This also means that at this point, we're getting tired of salad and watermelon. Ok, I take it back, I can never get tired of watermelon, but we're definitely in need of some variety in the diet. Hence, when I ran across this quinoa salad from Canadian Living magazine on a blog, I thought it sounded like an excellent change of pace (along with some egg salad). However, since I was not paying attention when I grocery shopped, I had to make do with what I had (no big surprise). So, my version is a tiny bit modified (as described below). 

Grilled Vegetable Quinoa Salad with Chipotle Vinaigrette 

Salad: 

1 c. quinoa, uncooked

2 bell peppers, quartered

1 zucchini (green or Mexican), cut in 1/2 in. thick strips, lengthwise

4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced in diagonal 1 in. chunks

1/2 c. goat cheese, crumbled

3 T. cilantro, chopped

Chipotle Vinaigrette

3 T. olive oil

2 T. red wine vinegar

1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced

2 t. honey

1/2 t. cumin

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

1. Boil quinoa in 2 c. salted water for 12 minutes. Remove from heat, fluff with fork and let sit for 15 minutes. 

2. Meanwhile, whisk together vinaigrette ingredients and set aside. 

3. In large bowl, toss peppers, zucchini, carrots and 3 T. vinaigrette together until coated. Place on greased grill over medium heat, and grill until charred and tender (between 8-115 minutes, depending on the size of the vegetable chunk). Cut into large chunks and return to bowl. 

4. Add remaining dressing, quinoa, cheese, and cilantro. Stir to combine. Serve immediately. 

Serves 6.

Back to School with Ice Cream!

Every year, as people reluctantly trickle back into Phoenix in July and August (having spent as much of the summer as possible out of the heat), my church holds its annual Back-to-School Ice Cream Social. This event holds two purposes: 1-it raises money for a scholarship fund to help kids attend church schools, and 2-it functions as a blessing on the year, by praying for students of all ages, teachers, support staff, and parents. As I was preparing the ice cream I planned to bring, a friend said that she would have just bought some gourmet ice cream. I said, "No, you don't understand. Everyone who volunteers to bring ice cream is volunteering to bring an ice cream freezer of homemade ice cream." So, the event also ends up being a bit of an ice-cream potluck.

This year was a battle for me to get the ice cream done, since we had been camping all weekend. (Technically, we were yurt-ing :-) We stayed in a large, round, structured tent in northeastern AZ. Good times :-) See pictures.) We got home from camping at about 4:45, and I needed to leave the house at 5:45 with a finished freezer of ice cream AND shower. Yikes.

I picked a strawberry ice cream recipe, because I'm pregnant and that's what I'm in the mood for. And strawberries were on sale for 77 cents per container. :-) I was a little worried about the ice cream given that I had never made it before and it had no eggs (raw or cooked) in it. Every ice cream I've ever made has some amount of eggs in it. But, the reviews on the recipe sounded good, so I gave it a shot. After an ultra-fast shower, I chopped bunches of strawberries and mixed up the batter.

Going against some people's recommendations, I multiplied the recipe times 1.5, hoping it wouldn't overflow my 5 quart ice cream maker, which I'd never had happen. I felt pretty safe given the fact that this recipe seemed to make a lot less, and in reality, only filled up my ice cream maker about 2/3 full. (My normal recipe ends with "Then fill up the rest of the ice cream maker with milk to the top rim." Expansion has never been a problem.) I put the ice cream in to churn at 5:20, and at 5:43, the motor finally stopped. (Trying to "freeze" ice cream outside while its 105 degrees is a fairly humorous battle. I was outside adding ice at least every 5 minutes. And salt. Lots of salt.) The ice cream definitely did eventually expand enough to fill the entire container, but it only overflowed a tiny bit.

When I got there, my strawberry ice cream and I were standing among the likes of such flavors as Wendy's Frosty flavor, Very Peanut Butter, Blueberry, Coconut, and Mango Habanero (and 3 different versions of vanilla). As I dipped out my untasted ice cream for people when they walked through the line, people kept coming back and commenting on how creamy it was, that they loved the texture, and the generally yummy flavor. When I finally got a chance to enjoy some, it turned out they were right :-) I got the original recipe from Allrecipes, but modified it just a bit. Below is the 1.5x recipe along with my adaptations. (And a potluck success: I went home with an empty container!)

Summer Strawberry Ice Cream

2 c. cream
4 c. half and half
1 1/2 c. white sugar
1/3 t. salt
1 T. vanilla
3 c. mashed strawberries (to desired consistency)

 1. Combine all ingredients and mix with hand mixer or whisk. Pour into 5 quart ice cream maker bowl and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

(Top picture: our yurt, in Lyman Lake State Park, near St. John's, AZ. In Steve's words, "all the good parts of camping, and none of the bad parts," i.e. setting up tents.)
(Middle picture: Darla & Steve Schrock and Laura Glass-Hess as we go on a self-guided petroglyphs tour at the campground.)
(Bottom picture: Darla has mastered the Jet-ski --probably due to the compressing features of the wetsuit--and celebrates accordingly.)