HOLIDAY COOKING

Mint Surprise Cookies
1 C Butter
1 C Sugar
1 C Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
3 C Flour
1 package Andies Mint Squares

* Preheat oven to 375
* Unwrap Andies mints and cut mint rectangles in half, making squares.
* Soften butter, add sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, baking soda and salt.
*Mix with electric mixer until smooth.
*Add flour and stir until mixed.
* Chill for an hour in fridge ( you don't have to do this but it makes it easier to form balls.)

*Spoon dough and roll around a mint square by using the palm of your hand. Cookie balls should be about 1 inch to 1.5 inch balls. The mint should not be showing.

* Bake 375 for 10-12 minutes.














English Toffee
1 C Butter
1/4 C Water
2 Tablespoons Karo Syrup (Corn Syrup)
1 1/4 C Sugar
1 Bag Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
Smashed Walnuts
Candy Thermometer

*Melt butter in a medium size saucepan. You must use real butter for this.
* Add water, corn syrup, and sugar.
* Stir until boiling.
* Turn heat down a bit so that the sauce is still boiling but not extremely hard. (usually medium low)
* Put candy thermometer into the liquid. Make sure it is not touching the bottom of the pan.
* Cook to 285 degrees. This will take about 20 min or more.
* Pour onto lightly greased cookie sheet (must have four sides)
* The toffee will look bubbly for a minute or two but then will become smooth.
* Pour bag of chocolate chips on the top, wait for them to melt and then smooth them all over the toffee.
* Add crushed walnuts
* Allow the toffee to set, either by leaving it out for several hours or by placing it into the fridge. Once cooked and set you can cut it with a metal spatula or butter knife.

WINTER FUN AT THE NUT HOUSE

Have any of you tried to make a gingerbread house lately?
Welllll, ummm, all I can say is good luck and have fun.

Emmi and I started making these three years ago. The first one was a tree and was fairly easy. Last year we made a train and I struggled with it, but still, comparatively speaking it was easy. This year Emmi wanted this cute little house.

The box showed a uniform house, with cute gumdrops all in a row and a checkerboard roof that made me say... "awww, that will be fun."

Boxes can be deceiving!

Very deceiving!
















We started on the roof. I figured that if we started there and let it dry then it would be easier than trying to frost and decorate the roof when it was ON the house. This was a very good decision and I think the only good decision we made.

Next we put the house together. I used the decorator bag and piped frosting on the sides and then Emmi and I squished them together into a cute little box house. We held them for a few minutes and then let go. And it held. I was so happy.

We waited for a while for the house to dry and then decided to put the roof on. So once again I piped the edges with white goo and then carefully placed the roof on the house.

Only to find it didn't fit!

It freaking didn't fit!

I'm no architect, so I stood there for a few minutes, ticked off, trying to figure out what the crap we did wrong.

These things don't come with instructions you know.

Finally I realize that the side walls of the house should have gone inside the front and back parts of the house and we had done it wrong.

So I got a knife and cut the house apart and started over.

After letting it dry a second time we once again carefully placed the roof parts onto the house. I held them for a few minutes and then let go.

And the house fell apart!!!

It fell....It freaking fell down.

I guess it wasn't as dry as we thought.












So once again we took the house apart, put it back together and then I went to lye down and let it glue itself together.

For the third time we carefully place the roof on the house and the house held. But when I let go of the roof it started a slow downward crawl towards the floor.

I watched the sliding roof in horror, not quite knowing what to do. I really didn't want to stand there holding the roof forever until it dried, so we tried proping it up with jello boxes, cups and such. But it just kept sliding.

So we held the roof on.

And held...and held.

We let go and it seemed to stay. So Emmi finished decorating her roof with a row of gumdrops while I sat down and rested. LOL

When we finished with the house I stepped up to the counter for a look and wouldn't you know it, the freaking roof had continued to slide leaving a gumdrop gap at the top.

*bash head*

Emmi said next year she is getting out the hot glue gun and gluing it together. I think my daughter is brilliant.

However, even though our house is drafty and has a leaking roof and lopsided decorations...it is super cute.












On Friday we had our Great Grandma Christmas Party. My grandma does this every year and has since we were little.












Hi Grandma!

It is a tradition for the kids to put on a reenactment of Luke 2, the birth of our Savior. We did it every year that I can remember and now the torch has been passed to our children. The only difference is that when we were little we used sheets and robes. Last year my mom bought some costumes and I made like 10 costumes. It is so much cuter with the costumes. I wish I could be a sheepie.















Our star got stage fright at the last minute and the play must go on, so my cousin "took one for the team" (her words), and played the part of the star. What a bright and shinning star she is.












Last night we shoveled snow and my little one wanted to make a snowman. We tried to roll the balls of snow, only to have them fall apart. So we decided that we could pile the snow into a snowman instead.

Isn't it cute?














Look, she is an angel. *cough cough* *snort snort*

Meeting Ree Drummond

Emmi and I went to Salt Lake on Wednesday to meet Ree Drummond (aka Pioneer Woman). Me in my stupidity thought we would only be an hour or two...hahahaha

We got home at midnight...on a school night. (oops)












Ree was so very cute, she even sang for us.

















We stood in the 40 degree weather for lots and lots of hours. (Ree, I know it wasn't your fault)













Once inside we met this beautiful woman. This is Ree's sister in law. She is cute and funny and kept laughing at my daughter, who was so tired she was loopy.













Then we met Ree.













I really didn't get to talk to Ree. Why you ask? Well, because my daughter talked, and talked and talked.

What did she say?
"Can you make your website more boring so that my mom won't spend as much time on the internet and I can have more time?"

Ree's response. "Well, you like me a little bit don't you?"

To which Emmi said "I like your food."

*bash head*

I happened to snap a picture of the animated conversation between the two of them.













We were exhausted the next day, but it was worth it.

ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

In honor of Halloween, and since these are baking in my oven right now. Here is my moms recipe for pumpkin seeds (although I put more Worcestershire sauce in mine that she does)

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
2 C Pumpkin Seeds
3 T Worcestershire Sauce
3 T Butter (real butter)
1 tsp Salt

* Wash pumpkin seeds getting most of the pumpkin off

* Melt butter in a small bowl.

* Add Worcestershire sauce to the butter and stir.

* Add butter mixture to the seeds and stir well.

* Spread seeds onto a LARGE cookie sheet (the cookie sheet needs to have sides or this won’t work)

* Sprinkle well with salt. I like to use the coarse salt but table salt works too.

Bake at 250 degrees for 2 hours or until crunchy

***If your pumpkin seeds are large you will need to bake them longer.

SUMMER IS OVER

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last updated this blog.

I guess I can make the excuse that life has been just TOO busy.

Our family took a trip to Tony Grove in Northern Utah. We camped, fished, floated in a canoe, went on a hike and just had a blast.


We have been picking our garden and canning salsa like crazy.
This double-stacked-stuck-together tomato came from our garden this past month.
As did the watermelon.


I also got to spend a Saturday with some of my favorite people in the whole wide world. Mary and Heather. We spend many years together in Jr High and High school.



And we have just been having fun. Summer has ended, the flowers are dying and the temperatures are turning cooler. So why not enjoy the last of the warmth.

CANNED MILD SALSA

Do you have a truck load of tomatoes in your garden, or on your counter? Are you looking for an EASY-er Canned Salsa recipe. Have I got one for you. We like our salsa mild, but with taste. I've canned for several years and the recipes I have found have a bazillion different peppers in them and they just get too difficult. So here is a classic salsa that is safe for canning.

CLASSIC MILD SALSA
Makes 6 Quart

22-24 Medium sized tomatoes
2 Large Bell Peppers
1 Large Red Pepper
1 Large White Onion (make sure it is very large, otherwise use two)
1 Large Red Onion
1 Cup Finely Chopped Jalapeno Peppers (About 5-6)
12 Ounce (2 small cans) Tomato Paste
1 Cup White Vinegar
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Salt
4 Tbsp Cilantro
3 Cloves minced Garlic

1. The tomatoes need to be skinned. You do this by boiling water in a large pot and then putting the tomatoes in the boiling water for 20-30 SECONDS and then putting them in a bowl of ice water. Then you can peal them.

2. Cut all of the peppers in half (green, red and jalapeno). Remove all of the seeds and rinse them. If you don't remove the jalapeno seeds, your salsa will NOT be mild.

3. In a food processor, or chopper chop Bell Peppers, Onions, Jalapenos, Garlic and the tomatoes. They can be chopped by hand, however, the food processor is easier. Also, I don't like my salsa really chunky, so the food processor works better. If you want a chunkier salsa you can chop half by hand.

4. Put all ingredients into a large pot. Bring to boil and simmer for 25 minutes. This process boils off some of the liquid from the tomatoes.

5. Place lids and rings into a small pot with water and bring the water to a boil. This will get the lids soft so they will seal better. Leave them in the hot water until you place them on the jars.

6. Also start your water bath (canner) water on the burner at this time. It takes a while to get the water boiling.

7. Pour the salsa into hot jars (you get the jars hot from putting them in a sink of hot water),. You want to leave an inch of air at the top of the bottles.

8. Wipe the rim of the jars with a wet cloth to get any drips off and the seal them with the lids, making sure you screw them tight.

9. Place jars into a water bath and bring the water to a boil. The water in the water bath needs to be at least an inch above the jars. Boil salsa jars for 20 minutes for Quart or 15 minutes for Pint.

10. Take the bottles out of the water bath canner and place them on a towel. They will seal as the jars cool. You know they are sealed by pressing down on the lid of the jar, if it doesn't pop when you push it then they are sealed.

No Eyebrows

So this morning my little girl, that precious beautiful girl of mine, decided she didn't like how "dark" her eyebrows were. So she cut them off.

I, of course, was horrified.

I am just very grateful she has blond eyebrows and not brown or black.

I'm also hoping they grow back before school pictures.



Before (This picture was taken a week ago)
Look at those beautiful eyebrows.




After (Taken tonight)



Do me a favor and try not to laugh too hard.

HELLO MY BABY

"Hi there my little girl."


"Hi mom. Mom? Why are you taking these pictures?"
"I don't know baby, I just wanted to."


"Hi mom. You are weird."
"Yeah babe, I know. But you are so very cute."

MY STORY (Part 6) HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

(Fall 2004)

So today is the day. 5 years ago today I was in surgery. “I’ve made it” as some at work have said. But really, my journey at this new life has just begun.

And now, the rest of the story

By three months post surgery I was finished with my physical therapy. They told me I was as good as I was going to get. I was no longer walking with my cane and had gained about 70% of the muscle activity back into my left leg. It would always be the weak leg and it would always have loss of sensation. My right leg was doing much better; I had 90% muscle use back and I could feel the whole leg except for my toes and an occasional spot or two. I hated physical therapy with a passion, so I wasn’t too sad to see it end. However the “this is as good as you are going to get” comment scared me, because, well….crap….I walked like a slow moving duck and hurt like hell. So REALLY, “this is as good as you are going to get” really sucked.

However, I was alive and I kept reminding myself of that. I had at least gotten that wish.

Two MRI’s were taken that year. They showed my spinal cord had gone from a slim crescent moon shape to almost a half moon shape. There was fluid left at the surgical site and the surgeon suspected that is what was causing the electrical jolts, but I had permanent nerve damage and permanent spinal cord damage. He told me that my cord would most likely never return to a fully round shape but that we would watch it and see.

I spent that first year getting use to my new life. Along with learning how to walk, I had to learn how to deal with the pain. My regular doctor was very helpful in this, however, I didn’t want to become dependent upon strong medications so I tried to take as few as I could. In all honesty, I probably inhibited my recovery by not taking the medications prescribed to me, but I needed to work and I couldn’t work and take care of a four year old when I was zoned out on pain killers. So I dealt with the pain.

My daily routine was hard. When I woke every morning I would have to give my body time to get going. I woke most mornings to numb legs and if I slept with my arms out or above my head they too were numb when I woke. I went to work and tried to put in a full day but by three o-clock every day I was useless. The muscles in my back were tense and pulling by then and my back hurt like a bugger. I also had headaches and leg pains. After work I would pretty much lye on the couch in intense pain until it was my daughters’ bedtime; then I would take the strong pain meds and muscle relaxants. Mornings were the best time of the day but my evenings were awful.

My little four year old girl was a godsend that first year. She became my little helper. She learned to become so very independent and helpful and rarely complained. And her little prayers at dinner and bed gave me hope.

“and bless mommy’s back that it will feel better.”
“bless mommy’s back that it will feel better so she can play with me.”
There were lots of “bless mommy” prayers,

there still are

(fall 2004)

It was a tough year, and I still couldn’t walk well. I looked at my future that first year with a lot of anxiety. I was grateful for being alive, but I wondered how long before my body gave up and gave out. I missed a lot of work that first year. I never knew how my back and legs would feel when I woke up and there were many mornings I woke up to find myself in excruciating amounts of pain and with legs that wouldn’t hold me. I was determined that within 5 years I would have to leave my job and be on disability. It made me sad and fearful.

At the end of year one I had another MRI which showed my spinal cord was still misshapen. It also showed that my muscles had not attached in the manner they were supposed to. The surgeon told me they had attached themselves to the surgical patch instead of to each other and so every time I moved my back muscles I was irritating my spinal cord. This was what was causing the intense back pains and my muscle spasms. It couldn’t be fixed without further surgery and the risks for that were too high. I would have to live with it until I needed another surgery. He told me that my spinal cord was as good as it was going to get and that very rarely do they change shape after a year. He also told me that getting pregnant again with my spinal cord that way would not be a good idea.

I was crushed.

But I was also grateful. While I have always wanted more than one child, I was so very grateful I already had become a mom and it was a blessing she was here. While my pregnancy was a difficult one, I had gotten pregnant while the tumor was small. Had I gotten pregnant a few years later when the tumor was bigger it could have had a horrible outcome.

(Christmas 2004)

Between year one and year two things started to look better. I was missing less and less work. I learned how to run, even though it was really only just small sprints and I walked with much more confidence than before. I had learned to get used to the tingling sensations and was starting to be able to ignore the constant nerve and muscle pains. I tried many medications trying to find one that would help with the nerve issues but after a while I gave up and decided I needed to get used to it.

At the end of year 2 I had another MRI that shocked the surgeon and even shocked me. My spinal cord had changed from a half moon shape to a misshapen round form. It was still damaged but the shape meant that it would be stronger and that it was working better. It was great news.

Four months later I pushed myself even further by embarking on a new journey. I purchased a home, with a yard. It was a very happy time for me. I had come so far and been able to accomplish so very much.

I didn’t know if my body was strong enough to be able to do the mundane things that home ownership brings…like mowing the lawn and shoveling snow. But my daughter needed room to play and a place to put a swing. Plus she needed friends.

And remember, it is always for her! Plus I had made that deal with the Lord that I would be the best mom I could be. Part of that is providing a good environment and home for your child.

(Spring 2006)

So in December 2006 we sold our condo, packed our stuff and embarked on a new and scary life.

Life as a homeowner, not a condo owner.

When I decided to buy a home I had a list, most people do. However, my list was based not on what type of countertops I wanted or how big of a master tub I felt I needed. (I still dream about a large bubble tub….awww). Nope, my list was based on what I felt I could handle. This is what was on my list:

Little, or better yet, no stairs. (Stairs are still very hard for me.)
Small yard (I didn’t even know if my body could handle mowing)
If the home was two stories, the washer needed to be upstairs,
A garage, so I wouldn’t have to scrape my car.

There were a few other things on my list, but those were the most important. The home I bought was so far from my list that it is almost funny. Our new home was on just over a fourth of an acre, had four stories with the laundry at the bottom level and the bedrooms on the top. But it did have a garage.

What was I thinking?

(Dec 2006)

I don’t know what I was thinking. I fell in love with the home maybe that was it. But whatever it was, I bought a home that I didn’t think I could care for. And within the first month of moving in, I had fallen down the stairs 5 times.

Since that day, back in December 2006, my life has changed for the better. I found that I can mow the lawn, and while it hurt to do it at first, slowly my body got used to it and my muscles became stronger. I found that I can also shovel the driveway, although that task has not been easy and gets harder every year.

But working on my home, my yard, my gardens, has brought my life so much joy and through it all it has kept my body active and healthy. Plus I have gained some of my confidence back. Confidence that I “can do it” or at least I can try to do it. I needed that back, I needed to feel good about myself and my abilities again.

So today as I celebrate my five year anniversary, I feel almost whole.

Yes I struggle daily with things that others take for granted. My balance sucks, I still have very little sensation in my left leg and both legs still have constant tingling sensations. I also still have constant back pain and nerve pain. But I feel like I have my life back. I feel like myself again. It is a new me, but it is me.

While I’m not able to do many things I enjoyed before this journey began I have learned to accept what I can do and ask for help with what I can’t do. And those fun things I can no longer participate in, I try not to miss them. I have adjusted to my new body and my new life.

I have been able to enjoy my life the way it is. I can walk normal now, I can run again, I can exercise and participate in some activities.

But most of all I have succeeded at what I wanted most in life. I can be a mom. And a pretty darn good mom at that.

Plus there has been no new regrowth of the tumor and no new tumors found.

It has been a long five years. Filled with anger and tears but I have made it.

I no longer feel that my life is hopeless. Yes there may come a day when my situation will change for the worse and yes I still have bad days and even bad months and sometimes even multiple bad months in a row. But I look to the future mostly with hope.

And with gratitude.

I am so very grateful that I was born in a time when medical science could fix my problem. I am so grateful I was blessed with doctors who were given the gifts and talents that led them to medicine. And I’m grateful to my family and friends for being there for me through this journey.

Here’s to the next five years

Thank you for allowing me to share my story with you.

(Fall 2008)

CREAMY CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI CASSEROLE

Today's meal is brought to you by the letter "B"

B is for broccoli.

B is for broccoli that most kids hate and most adults love.

B is for bright green, my daughters favorite color (this month anyway)

B is for bright green broccoli that my daughter just picked out of her lunch.

B, B, B,

I love this meal, yes it takes a while to prepare (about 20 min) and another 25 to bake, but I just love, love, love the flavor.

We won't talk about the calories. Lets not talk about those little things.

Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Casserole
Serves 6

4-5 Chicken Breasts (cut up into bite sized pieces)
16 oz Frozen Broccoli
12 oz Can Evaporative Milk
8 oz Cream Cheese
1/8 Cup Chopped Onions
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
Pepper (as much or as little as you like)
1 Cup Grated Cheddar Cheese
1 tube Ritz Crackers

You will need 4 dishes for cooking this meal. 2 sauce pans (one for broccoli, one for the milk mixture) 1 skillet for the chicken and an 8x11 glass casserole dish

Empty crackers into a ziplock back and smash them. Set aside
Chop onion and set aside
In a medium sauce pan, over medium/low heat, heat evaporated milk and cream cheese until smooth
Add garlic powder to milk mixture.
While milk is heating, place raw chicken pieces in a skillet, add onion, pepper and salt to the chicken and cook until done.
While chicken is cooking, boil broccoli and then drain the water.
In an 8x11 glass casserole dish, layer chicken then broccoli. Pour milk mixture over the top. You may have to stir it to get milk on everything.
Top with cheese and crackers.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 min