Cauliflower Soup and Brussels Sprouts

Tonight I made this Cauliflower Soup recipe from The Pioneer Woman, and it was excellent. We will definitely have it again.

When I took my half and half out of the fridge, it had gone bad (even though it didn't expire for a few more days) so I ended up using milk instead, but it was still really good.

I also made Roasted Brussels Sprouts. I would use less salt next time, but Todd and I both really liked them. The kids? Not so much.

The Winners

Thank you all for your help with Dinner Campaign 2010. We had a great time, and the boys are already thinking about their nominations for next year.

Our final ballot consisted of the top two (three if there was a tie) choices in each category, and the winners were:

Salisbury steak, glazed carrots, egg nog...

...and "Our Favorite Chocolate Cake".

Who won the election?

We all did.

Our Favorite Chocolate Cake

1 pkg. Devil's Food cake mix (is there any other kind?)

4 oz. instant chocolate pudding mix

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup warm water

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1/2 cup oil

12 oz. bag MILK chocolate chips

Grease and flour your bundt pan. Say the word "bundt" a few times (the way they say it on Big Fat Greek Wedding), tell your kids they can't lick the beaters 'cause there's raw eggs in the batter. Bake at 350 degree's for 45 minutes. Let it cool for a few minutes, slide a small rubber spatula down the sides, and dump onto your favorite plate. No frosting needed. Enjoy!

Blueberries are on sale this week!

Whenever I see fresh blueberries go on sale, I like to make these Blueberry scones with lemon glaze from Food Network.

Unfortunately, because of the fat content, I will not be making them for a little while.

I thought I'd post a link to the recipe instead, in case any of you with a functioning gall bladder would like a taste of heaven this week.

I've tried all kinds of things to make them less fattening, or less expensive to make, but I'm telling you right now that if you're going to go to the effort to do it, follow the recipe exactly. There's just no comparison. I've tried using frozen blueberries, whole milk or half and half instead of the cream, salted butter because that's what I had on hand, lemon juice from a bottle instead of freshly squeezed, etc. I could taste the difference every time and they weren't as good.

All I ask is that if you make them, you enjoy a bite for me.

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!

(holy sh!z) Apple Dumplings

I made V's apple dumplings last night, and they were wonderful.

We will definitely be making these over and over again for years to come.

Combine in sauce pan:

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
Heat over medium heat until mixtures become syrupy (I just brought it to a boil to let the sugar disssolve)
add 1/4 cup butter to the sauce and let it sit while you make the dumpling dough.

Dumplings:

2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup shortening

Cut in shortening with pastry blender
Add ice to 3/4 cups of water
Add water to pastry mixture a spoonful at a time
Roll out to a size that will cover your apple (the dough is sticky...like the dumplings you'd drop on your stew...so I had to pat mine out on a floured surface rather than roll it)
Make a cinnamon and sugar mixture
Place a peeled and cored apple in center of piece of dough
Spoon in sugar and cinnamon mixture add a dab of butter
Seal up apple and place in baking dish.

Heat oven to 375

Pour syrup mixture over apples in baking dish.
(syrup thickens as it bakes)

Bake 35 min

Screamin' hot deals at Albertson's

My sister and my friend/college roommate, Melanie, have gotten me hooked on coupons.

This is my third time doing this, but every time I've gotten more food for less money.

Here's what I got tonight: Grand total (after I get my $20 rebate in the mail):

$75.82

I saved $165

I do have to say, however, that I EARNED that $165 because it took forever and it was kind of a pain in the checkout line. I had to make 5 different transactions, with a trip to the car in the middle, and I spent at least 2 hours printing and cutting coupons, and then matching them up with the sale ad...only to get to Albertson's and find that they were out of some of the things I wanted so I had to re-figure in the store.

Luckily I went without kids or I think I would have given up. I probably spent a total of seven hours on this grocery trip, if you include the prep time, the travel time, and the store time, but with the amount I saved I was "earning" $23.50 an hour so I still think it was worth it.

Here's the breakdown:
13 boxes of cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cookie Crisp, and Kix)
4 boxes of Quaker something or others for a breakfast on the go
2 cake mixes
1 triple chocolate brownie mix
1 blueberry muffin mix
10 hamburger helpers
5 Skippy peanut butters
4 gallons of milk
8 pints of Breyers ice cream
10 Ragu's (spaghetti and alfredo)
2 Bertoli spahgetti sauce
2 boxes lipton soup mix
2 cans progresso chicken noodle soup
2 frozen pizza's (and they're not tony's)
3 cans frosting
2 boxes fruit snacks
4 bags chips ahoy
4 Old Orchard juice concentrates
20 Yoplait yogurts
and a Ty beanie baby for Dillon (shh, don't tell, I'm saving it for Christmas)

Pizza Party

"Pizza, Pizza, ran, ran, ran!"

Tonight we made pepperoni and olive pizza, per the boys request

(Todd and I are not big fan's of pepperoni, so they rarely get it)

We also had barbecue chicken pizza.

We used my friend Mindy's famous pizza dough.

Pizza Crust

2 C warm water

1 Tbs. yeast

2 Tbs. sugar

2 tsp. salt

5-6 c flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water (about 10 min.). Add salt and slowly add flour. The dough will be fairly stiff. Just add flour until it can be kneaded. Knead until smooth. This dough doesn't need to rise, but you may need to let it sit for 10 minutes or so if it is hard to roll out. I usually make 3 smaller pizzas, or you can make 2 large pizzas. I have found that it works best if I roll it out pretty thin... it raises in the oven, and can be doughy if you leave it too thick. Sometimes I use some of the dough to make breadsticks. Actually, sometimes I make this dough JUST for breadsticks. It's versatile. ;)

Spread sauce on crust. I just use spaghetti sauce. Add any toppings that you like (or can afford!) Sometimes I just make cheese pizza. This is also delicious with garden veggies, like tomatoes, peppers, onions, etc.

Bake in HOT oven... about 425-450 degrees until the crust is browned and cheese is bubbling. Let it cool for a few minutes before cutting.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza

3 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and cubed

1 cup hickory flavored barbecue sauce

1 Tbsp. honey

1 tsp. molasses

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped (we used dried cilantro)

1 cup smoked Gouda cheese, shredded (we used mozzarella, since our local store does not carry gouda)

1 cup thinly sliced red onion

1 cup julienned green pepper

In a sauce pan, over medium heat, combine chicken, barbecue sauce, honey, molasses, brown sugar and cilantro. Bring to a boil (or just nuke it).

Spread chicken mixture evenly over pizza crust, and top with cheese, onions, and green peppers. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

A mini-vacation, and Father's Day

After school got out, the kids and I took a little vacation to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Charlotte patiently helped me attempt to learn Photoshop, while all six grandsons worked their magic on Grandma's house.

Left to right: Brayden, Caleb, Dillon, Joshua, Samuel, and Jacob

This is one of the pages I managed to make using Photoshop

Before leaving, the boys and I did a little father's day shopping. They could hardly wait to give Todd this Pokemon shirt that matched their own!

(It was at Kohl's on clearance for $3.60, and I couldn't tell them no :o)Dad also got a transformer logo for his truck...

...and a new grill.

(We've been using a table top grill for 10 years)

Here's a favorite grilling recipe:

I like to buy a ton of london broil when it's on sale, and cut it up into chunks for kabobs (use kitchen scissors--it's way easier). I put the meat in old cool whip containers (I wash and save them just for this purpose) with this marinade:

½ cup soy sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 Tbsp. ketchup

1 tsp. dried oregano

½ tsp. pepper

Then I label the containers and stick them right in the freezer.All summer long, when we want to grill kabobs, I just pull the container out of the freezer in the morning, and the meat marinates while it thaws in the fridge. Afterwards, I just throw the container away.

The latest in Graves world

Well, first of all, when I went to download pictures from the camera, it became apparent that someone has been using my camera....even though he has his own now. I think he was spinning in circles while he took this one.

Uncle Ty, is there a math problem we can do to figure out how tall the person is who took the picture from this angle?

We stacked the bunkbeds

I "scored" a quilt on clearance for the top bunk (we only have two that match since I made them before Dillon was born). It was the right color of blue, and cost a whopping $25. I couldn't have made it for twice that--not to mention the quilting time.

We also organized the closet

We built Dillon's "wagon wheel bed" and brought this chest of drawers up from the basement. The boys wanted a cactus in their room, so we went to Wally-World and bought one (you can see it on the dresser).
I love pictures of shoes lined up, so I had to get a shot of the boys' cowboy boots :o)

We painted the "barn door" and the "hen house" yesterday, and next we're going to put white molding around the outside of the closet doors. We're getting a better stuffed chicken or rooster for the "hen house" soon, and we'll add some raffia for hay. We're looking for a really small weather vane to put on top if anyone knows where we can get one...

In other news, our grass head people got new "do's", and Todd got a new bonsai tree. It's called a pony-tail palm, and the "curliness" of the leaves makes me smile every time I look at it.

Our toilet leaked all night last night and caused a "mell-of-a-hess". I think we may have to replace the floor boards. We needed to paint the cabinets and re-paint the walls anyway, but it wasn't exactly on the schedule for this week.
Todd left church after Sacrament meeting to come home and rip out our laminate floors. We won't do that in a bathroom again, 'cause this is the third time we've gotten water under it. Now we have the lovely old linoleum floor until we rip it up. It's a good thing we have a toilet downstairs. I'm sure wishing we had the shower and sink put in down there...
We found a new recipe that we like. It's called Brownie crackles. They are very easy, and very good. It's more for dark chocolate lovers, but I do like them (and I'm on the milk choc. side).
Brownie Crackles

1 package fudge brownie mix (13x9 size)
1 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
confectioners sugar

In a mixing bowl, combine brownie mix, flour, egg, water, and oil; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Place confectioners' sugar in a shallow dish. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls into sugar; roll to coat. Place 2" apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: 4 1/2 dozen (or 1 serving :o)

Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?

Upcoming events in our household:

- Re-do the bathroom upstairs

- Finish the bathroom downstairs

- Build window boxes

-Till the garden

-Finish painting the outside trim and our new doors

-Plant grass in the backyard (it died last year when we didn't water it for a couple months).

-Trip to Logan to see Beauty and the Beast for my birthday

-Todd's thesis is being presented at UAMFT (Utah Association for Marriage and Family Therapists) conference in a couple weeks!

-HMQS (Home machine quilting show) will probably have to take a back seat this year 'cause there's just too much going on :o( .

-I'm WAY behind in quilting. Would anyone like to take my kids for a couple months so I can catch up? I've got 18 quilts right now, and one lady has been waiting since last July.

-Speaking of kids, their Spring Festival is this Thursday, and I've got to make 12 statue of liberty costumes for the kindergarteners...

-School is out on May 23rd. I've got mixed emotions about this. On one hand, we will have three months of homework free nights. On the other hand, I can't even imagine what our food bill is going to be. My least favorite words these days are: "I'm Hungry". And then there's the problem of having "helpers" all day long. Thank heaven's for a "humpaline".

Happy 6th Birthday, Caleb!

Since Brayden has school from 8:00-2:50, and Todd has to work from 2:00-10:00, we had to have Caleb's birthday party at 7:00 this morning. He wanted a Transformer party (and he reminded me that the presents needed to "match" the theme). We downloaded the Transformers theme song and played it loudly on our MP3 player to wake him up.

There was testosterone all over the place.

Caleb also requested that his name be on the wall.

He chose to have "Dip Muffins" for Breakfast (our family tradition for Christmas morning).

Dip Muffins:

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. Baking Powder

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 mins. (ours never take more than 15 mins).

Serve hot with a bowl of melted butter, and a bowl of cinnamon/sugar. Dip and eat!

Waiting for Brayden to get dressed for school, so he can open his presents.

Thanks everyone for the gifts! Grandma Graves gave him two Transformers and Cars swim trunks; Grandma and Grandpa Salisbury gave him another Transformer and Martian Matter Alien Maker; We gave him a new Planet Hero and a toolbox full of real tools, and Grandma Great gave him the Webkins Leopard (on top of the alien maker box). Apparently, these Webkins come with a code that you enter online, and Caleb will be able to name his pet, create a home for it, and will have to log in every day to take care of it. He's addicted to the computer, so this should be fun.

This recipe is a keeper

Sweet Pork Burritos (like Cafe Rio, or Costa Vida)
I've tried a few recipes claiming to be like Cafe Rio, but this is by far my favorite.

meat mix:

6lb Pork Roast: Put in Crock Pot and cover halfway up with water and cook for at least 6 hours. Discard Water. Shred.

In separate bowl mix a 12oz can of salsa, 1 can Coke, and 2 cups brown sugar. Pour over meat. Cook an additional 3 hours.

dressing:

In a blender combine:
1 Buttermilk Ranch Mix packet.
2 cups mayo
2 cups buttermilk (or 1 cup sour cream and 1 cup milk)
2 tomatillos
1 jalapeno, seeded
1/2 - 1 bunch cilantro
1 Tbs lime juice
1 clove garlic, crushed

I had to look online to see what a tomatillo was--I've actually had the dressing recipe for awhile but I've been scared of it because of the tomatillo's. Turns out they're a small green tomato, and even though my local grocery store didn't carry them fresh, I found them in a can in the "mexican food" aisle. This dressing is fabulous!

Cilantro Lime rice

I just threw some chopped cilantro and 1/2 cup lime juice in the rice cooker before cooking the rice.

Place meat mix, rice, black beans (we just opened a can, rinsed, and heated them) and dressing on a tortilla. Roll up and experience HEAVEN! Dillon took one bite and said, "mmm, tasty." I think Costa Vida puts cheese in it or on top or something, but we didn't need it.

I did a search online of similar recipes and found one that used lemon-lime soda, and one that used Dr. Pepper. Next time I'll try the Dr. Pepper since it is my favorite.

The meat mix and the dressing make a ton, so I'm freezing some for next time. What a SUPER EASY meal that makes enough for another night. I love it!