Minestrone Soup A La Madeline

This is first soup I have ever made and boy was it a good first try. My friend Erin gave me the recipe as well as some of her leftover ingredients and said it was definitely worth trying. It was so so so good! I chopped the vegetables in the food processor so it was actually really easy to make. Very hearty when the sauce boils down and you just end up with a really thick bowl of soup. I wish it wasn't all gone.

2 brown onions (I used one yellow)
1/2 bunch fresh basil
1/4 bunch fresh cilantro
1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley
6 cups vegetable stock
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 cubes vegetable stock (I lost the ones I bought so I put in some chicken top ramen flavoring)
13 oz. canned tomatoes
1/2 cup brown lentils
1/2 cup pearl barley
4 bay leaves
2 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery, finely chopped (I didn't have)
2 carrots, finely chopped
1/2 parsnip, finely chopped
1 small turnip, finely chopped
1 can red kidney beans, washed thoroughly
ground pepper
Place the onions, basil, cilantro and parsley in a food processor and blend until finely chopped. In a large soup pot, place vegetable stock, soy sauce, one cup of hot water and stock cubes mixed with one cup of warm water. Stir and add onion and herb mix from the food processor. Place the tomatoes in the food processor and blend; add to soup pot. Add lentils, pearl barley and bay leaves. Cover and cook on low heat. Pass the garlic through a garlic press and add to the pot. Add the celery, carrots, parsnip and turnip to the pot. Cover and cook slowly for 80 minutes stirring occasionally. Season with black pepper. Add the kidney beans and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves.

I've been tagged.

A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.B: Each player answers the questions about themselves. C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
10 years ago today...
I was 18 and in my second quarter at Pierce College in Washington. I babysat my cousins in the afternoons.
5 things on my to-do list today:
1. Budget for the month
2. Make dinner
3. Get Lincoln to go potty in the toilet (he's been doing it a lot lately)
4. Clean up the living room
5. Spend at least a little time with my husband between his work and choir meeting tonight.
I enjoy:
Foreign films and good food. Classic books, mostly by Dickens.
What would I do if I were suddenly a billionaire?
Chris would work from home. We would buy a home in Washington and spend our summers there. Pay off debts, save, and help others out.
3 of my bad habits:
1. I play way too much Freecell
2. I eat way too much pizza
3. Is not showering or getting dressed until evening a bad habit?
5 places I have lived:
1. Sumner, WA
2. Milton, WA
3. Provo, UT
4. Flower Mound, TX
5. The Colony, TX
5 jobs I have had:
1. Picking raspberries
2. REI in the wrapping department
3. Incredible Universe (computer salesperson)
4. Ben Franklin Crafts
5. BYU Library
5 things people don't know about me:
1. I love game shows
2. I love spicy/salty foods way more than sweets
3. I have a huge scar from getting my appendix out at 5
4. My taste in music is a bit strange (generally bands not from America)
5. I am a great cook! At least I think so.
I don't know who to tag because I'm not sure who even knows I have a personal blog. I'll tag Nancy, Mom, and Erin.

Sewing Class Project #2

We made purses, and since I finished early I also got to make the extra little bag to go inside. I still have a one thing to do on the inside of the purse, but it's hand stitching so I didn't want to spend time doing it in the class. My 5 week class is over! I'm hoping to take Beginner 2 in April once they offer an evening class. This was so much fun!

Oatmeal Muffins

This is a recipe I got from a ward in college. They handed out recipe books ("Recipes Yo Mama wants you to know...") with recipes from all the girls in Relief Society. This is a recipe from Cara Ricks.
1 cup oats
1 cup milk
1/3 cup honey
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 well beaten egg
1/4 cup oil
Combine oats, milk and honey. Let stand 15 minutes. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Combine egg and oil and then add to oatmeal mixture. Add all at once to the dry ingredients, stirring just to moisten. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 425 for 20-25 min.
For mine, I didn't sift anything I just whisked the dry ingredients. They finished cooking around 15 minutes and were even a little darker than I would have preferred. I think our oven tries to sabotage my cooking.

Sewing Class Project #1

Yesterday I finished the apron I was making in my sewing class. There are a few errors I chose not to redo, but overall I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I'm proud to say I finally finished a sewing item without having anyone do the hard parts for me. I hope I can use some of what I learned for future projects.

Sweet & Sour Pineapple Chicken Recipe

This was adapted from a recipe I found online. I left out 2 cups celery so you can add that too if you want.
2 cups green pepper
2 Tbsp. oil
1 tin (14 oz.) unsweetened pineapple tidbits (drained)
2 cups drained pineapple juice with water added to make up
5 Tbsp. cornstarch
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 cups left over chicken, cut in cubes
cooked rice (as required)

Sautee vegetables in oil until tender crisp. Remove from pan. Combine pineapple juice with water, cornstarch, brown sugar, vinegar and soy sauce in saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly until sauce thickens. Add drained pineapple, vegetables and chicken. Heat and serve with rice.

We used 2 green peppers, 3 chicken breasts, 2 five oz. tins of pineapples (one was shredded), and 3 scoops of rice into the rice cooker. The sauce amazingly transformed into sweet and sour sauce before our eyes. It was incredible. It was a very tasty, pretty easy recipe and we will definitely make it again.

Hawaiian Sunrise (thank you Palio's!)

The difference between a Hawaiian pizza and a Hawaiian Sunrise is the addition of dried cranberries and roasted cashews. It is delicious! We used ham leftover from a spiral sliced glazed ham we bought a month or so ago and froze. So I was a little skimpy on the ham (sorry Chris!), but it was delicious. Then of course the pineapple (I use shredded). The sauce was not my favorite for pizza. I used Barilla's spaghetti sauce which I love on pasta, but on this pizza I didn't love it. I'm looking forward to trying the cold leftovers to see how they are. I wish we had more leftover of course.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

This pizza is so so so good. Chris and I can't get enough of it. We made it tonight because the pizza yesterday (sausage and olive) burned very badly in our naughty oven. It just didn't give me my pizza fix. So today I decided to make a pineapple pizza. I figured since all I had for toppings was olives for a second pizza I should probably just make a BBQ chicken pizza. Why do I forget how much I love it?! So one thing led to another and we ended up with a Hawaiian Sunrise pizza (copied from one of our favorite places Palio's), and the BBQ pizza.
Use whatever dough recipe you want for the crust.
Boil 1 chicken breast.
Shred chicken.
In a small saucepan mix (all measurements are approximate):
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp yellow mustard
1 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp chopped onion
shredded chicken
Cook over low-med. heat while stirring.
Spoon sauce/chicken over crust and top with generous amounts of shredded mozzarella cheese.

My first sewing project

Ok, first of all, no I did not make what you see in the first picture! We are focusing on the second picture! I got my sewing machine all set up today (by myself!). The instructions covered about 90% of what I needed to know to get it going so I was glad I was able to figure out that extra 10% on my own. My first project was one that I've been looking forward to for a few weeks. We bought Lincoln a quiet book for church that has little stuffed animals/fruit/things/etc. inside for each letter of the alphabet. Well since I paid $1 for it at a garage sale I couldn't complain that 3 of the letters were missing their little stuffed toy. Today I filled in the "Q" with a tiny quilt. Yes, it could be better, but this was my first time sewing on my new machine and I must say I'm quite pleased with how it went. Hey, maybe I'll even inspire my mom to start a doll-sized line of her famous quilts. If you have any ideas for the "Y" and the "V" please let me know. All I can think of are yo-yo, vase, and violin. We'll see how that goes.

Hybrid Pancakes

I decided to make a cross between my mom's pancake recipe and the one I make for Lincoln. Result: Hybrids!
Combine:
3/4 cup whole rolled oats (ground into a course flour by blender)
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Stir in:
1 1/4 cup milk
1 egg
3 Tbsp cooking oil
1 Ripe banana (optional)
Mix until ingredients combined and lumps are small. Use a measuring cup to scoop out small amounts of batter into the pan. Cook on medium or a little lower until bubbles form and stay after popping. Then flip and cook for a couple of minutes on the other side. You can serve these plain, with butter, or with butter and any number of pancake toppings. They are delicious!

My "lasagna"

1-2 boxes rotini pasta
16 oz. container cottage cheese
16 oz. shredded mozzarella
1 jar spaghetti sauce
Boil noodles in salted water. Drain noodles when they are al dente. In a 9x13 pan layer noodles, sauce, cottage cheese, and lastly mozzarella then repeat until you have a nice full pan. (Usually 2-3 layers.) Make sure there is a lot of cheese on top. Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes until the cheese is starting to brown. You may substitute lasagna noodles for the rotini, but this will take longer to layer. I don't usually use all the sauce or cottage cheese if I am making a single batch. That is personal preference.

Chicken Enchiladas #1

I've decided to add some recipes even if I haven't cooked them in a while. I'll add pictures later.
2 chicken breasts (boiled and shredded)
1 generous cup shredded cheddar
1 can diced green chilies
1 can refried beans
1 can red enchilada sauce
1 package flour tortillas
Mix the shredded chicken, cheese, chilies, and beans in a bowl. Coat a tortilla with the enchilada sauce and spoon filling onto the tortilla. Roll up and place in a 9x13" pan that has some enchilada sauce in the bottom. Repeat until you run out of filling and tortillas. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake in a 375 degree oven for about 35 minutes.

Kate's Pasta Salad

1 box/bag penne (boiled)
1 can/bag/jar artichoke hearts (pulled apart)
1 bag/box cherry tomatoes
1 package Italian Salad Dressing (prepared)
1 can black olives
1 container feta
1-2 breasts chicken (cooked and shredded)
It was sooooo delicious and easy!

The Insects are Cheating

Ok, I do try to live in harmony with the insect kingdom, but come on how much can a person take? There are some simple rules and if they are in violation of those rules they deserve what is coming to them. I consider myself a generous person when it comes to whether or not I will inflict the death penalty on these creatures when they are in violation of the rules. I did have a fire and bite me the other day, and I think I'm allowed to kill a bug that comes into my home and bites me. That's self defense. (By the way, fire ants are named that for a reason. It feels just like a burn). I try to put bugs outside alive from time to time, and I let the spiders live in the house as long as they agree not to bite me or my little boy or climb in my mouth while I'm sleeping. That's fair enough isn't it? When they lay eggs in the house though, that's crossing the line. I can't support entire families of insects in the house. I'm sorry, I just don't have the room. So when there were aphids all over my indoor nasturtiums (bad idea by the way), I hunted every last one down. Then when the baby spiders hatched, I did the same. When maggots crawled around our house, I found every last one. Those were moments of wrath I do not care to revisit in detail. Tonight, I've had enough with the mosquitoes. They're cheating! Yesterday I went outside and got several mosquito bites in the 10 or so minutes I was out there. Fair enough, it was night and I was in their territory (although some of those bites occurred in the garage which should technically be neutral ground). Then earlier today I received more bites when I went outside to watch Lincoln and Chris test out the new bike trailer. At this point I was a little peeved. Chris pointed out that he hadn't been bitten at all and he was outside much longer than I was, plus it was early enough in the day they shouldn't have been out eating blood yet. Tonight was the last straw. Here I was sitting at the computer INSIDE!!! Minding my own business and I received no less than 5 mosquito bites! From 1 mosquito! In the house! I would have exacted some revenge, but I lost the little cheater.

Chicken Nuggets

This recipe was taken from the Kroger Shredded Wheat box. We are hoping to try an asian style chicken nugget next.
2 cups Shredded Wheat, crushed to 1 cup
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup low-fat mayonnaise (we used regular)
1 Tbsp honey
2 tsp prepared mustard
1 pound chicken breasts, cut into 3/4 x 2 inch strips
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine cereal, Parmesan, seasoned salt, paprika and garlic powder. Combine mayonnaise, honey and mustard. Stir chicken strips into mayonnaise mixture; roll in cereal mixture to coat evenly. Place on rack in shallow baking pan. Bake 12-15 minutes or until strips are no longer pink in center.
We were a little worried that we cooked them too long, but the cheese just tasted better the browner it was.