the bird

I sometimes think I'm a mean mom because I trick my kids into doing stuff they wouldn't normally choose to do. Last year I asked Grace how to make a Thanksgiving turkey because Salsie (her name for my mom) was looking at different recipes. You can click here if you are curious to see what she said. This year I told her Kara needed a new recipe. So Kara, here it is -

Ingredients:

3 cup oil

100 pieces turkey

1 pan

2 scoops salt\pepper

Procedure:

Put 3 cups oil in a bowl. Then put in 100 pieces turkey in the bowl. Put them in a pan. Last put 2 scoops salt\pepper in the pan.

Cook temp:

90

Cook time:

80 minnets

Daddy's Girl

Nate and Grace have had a few bonding moments over the last few weeks. On the last day of the Green rotation (remember, the most dreaded one of the year), Nate came home to find a package on the front porch - his 'loops' (fancy lingo for fancy surgeon glasses).

As you can see 1. He was pretty excited about it,









2. He looks hilarious in them,


3. Grace thinks her daddy is awesome.

They've also been working and planning to create at least 5 pies for Thursday. I came home one afternoon to find a pumpkin mess in the kitchen:

So next time you see these two - know that though they may be cute, they most definitely are up to trouble!

The same goes for these guys as well!

links to action

Today's post consists of a few unrelated links:

1. We had some "minor" excitement in our neighborhood. I'd like to point out that we really do not live in what some would deem "the 'hood," contrary to what some readers may infer. Please click here to read more. Its a link to my friend Kara's blog who once again writes about a snippet of my life. What she failed to mention at the end of her post is 1. The other exciting thing we saw out the window - a charming man carrying flowers home for his wife who just had her braces removed and 2. When eluding police one should not wear a red jacket (it is just too bright and a dead-giveaway) and one's baggy pants should be cinched up at the waist otherwise it would slow-down your "running away from the cops thing."

2. In honor of my braces being removed, I thought I'd post our favorite way to make popcorn. (Really we stole the idea from Giada deLaurentis). Take a pretty big (like 14 inches in diameter)and deep (maybe 3-4 inches) sauce pan with a tight fitting lid. Put the pan over medium heat, pour in 1/2 cup of Orville Redenbacher kernels (really don't use the store brand, it just isn't as good) and a 1/4 cup of olive oil (yes, olive oil). Put the lid on and wait until you hear some popping. Then every once in awhile carefully shimmy the pan over the heat. When the popping slows down turn off the heat. Carefully open the lid and pour the delicious contents into a very large bowl. Sprinkle with Kosher salt (I don't know why we choose that in particular except we always have it on hand and we like it). Enjoy!

3. In regards to the lasagna hunt from September, here are my final thoughts on the matter. All of the recipes that were sent were great. But in the end I went with a Martha Stewart one (crazy, yes but sometimes the truth seems crazy) that I tweaked to meet my needs. Click here for her recipe and then see below for my changes.

• I did NOT use fresh lasagna noodles. I'm sure they would have been great, but I did not have the time, patience, nor the counter space to devote to such an endeavour. Instead I used the Barilla no-cook lasagna noodles and they were fabulous.
• Fresh Mozzarella is good, but the regular kind works wonders. I prefer to have a ball of the regular stuff and then grate it. It has a better taste and consistency than the pre-shredded packaged stuff.
• I added about 1/2 cup of cottage cheese to the Ricotta. It breaks up the Ricotta some, has a slightly different taste, and makes it all a bit more cheesy (which is a good thing when it comes to lasagna).
• This is my curve ball - before beginning to make the marinara sauce, I sauteed some finely chopped onion and Chicago-style Italian sausage (sorry to be so geographic about it, but the Chicago-style Italian sausage is incredibly delish and I haven't found anything to substitute for it. I live five hours away from the source as it is; life will sure be tough when we move over 2,000 miles away from it!). The sausage should be removed from its casings and then cooked through. When its about halfway to its goal, add in the garlic. Your house will smell so tasty. Towards the end of your cook time, add enough oregano and basil to make yourself happy and throw in a pinch of rosemary and a teaspoon or two of sugar for good measure. This will help your taste buds rejoice.

4. I just want to let you know that I ate a piece of licorice with Grace yesterday and it was a joyful experience.

brace yourself

Toffee, ooey and gooey caramel popcorn, Starburst candy, Heath bars, Skor bars, cashews, peanuts, pecan pie. Mmmmmm. All of these treats are legal now. Its only been 14 months longer than originally planned, but I am brace-free and I am loving it!

Tag, I'm It

I've been tagged, twice I think. So I guess its time to give in and do it. 8 is the magic number.

8 TV Shows I love to watch:
DWTS
Whose Wedding is it Anyway?
Samantha Who?
30 Rock
Design on a Dime
Throwdown with Bobby Flay (love him)
The Fourth Quarter of a BYU game when they are winning
The Rose Bowl Parade

8 Restaurants I love:
Really there are so many this will be a very limited list and not provide much insight-
Aya Sofia
Ted Drewes (totally not a restaurant, but tasty nonetheless)
The Chocolate Bar
Pueblo Solis
Lorenzo's Trattoria
Foundry Grill
Jack Stack
Lou Malnatis

8 Things that Happened Yesterday:
Acquired a Brownie Scout uniform for Grace
Made some delicious Brussels sprouts (not kidding, they were so good)
Enjoyed some Heavenly Hash (marshmallows and almonds smothered in chocolate)
Did "Beads" with Grace (and Nate too)
Watched the CMAs (love that Brad Paisley)
Folded a lot of laundry
Hung out with my friend Kara
Realized there are only 2 days (including today) left of Nate's terrible rotation

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To
Maybe getting my braces off on Tuesday (Please keep your fingers crossed for me)
Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!
Moving to San Diego (well, sometimes I'm looking forward to it)
Nate having more of a normal schedule (like we'll get to see him on a regular basis)
The four of us attending church together, every week (not just meeting up together in the pew)
Living near family
Getting my braces off (did I mention that?)
Oh, and Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!!!!

8 Things on My Wish List
Having a back yard (one that is fenced, preferably)
A couch that is not supported by cardboard and held up by cinder blocks
Nate being around more
Grace and Jimmy living in a neighborhood with lots of fun kids their age
Living in a house where cute Trick-or-Treaters come every year
New make-up brushes
An amazing trip to Hawaii
Okay, I'd like to go to Greece too

8 People I'm Tagging
If you'd like to be tagged, consider yourself tagged. If you'd rather not play, go on and watch from the sidelines.

new perspective

For weeks and weeks I've been trying to convince Nate we should move the furniture around. For weeks and weeks he's been hoping I'll forget all about it. However, persistence has won this time and Saturday was the day. I love the outcome! I've been feeling like our house and belongings are taking me over and I've been feeling overwhelmed with our decorating style, "Student Special," but a new spin on things makes everything so much better! Sometimes looking at what you've got from a different angle makes you appreciate it a bit more.

Wishing you a Happy Tuesday,
Sarah the Content

in the 'hood

It is a beautiful sunny day, in th mid-70s wtih a light breeze. Jimmy and I stroll through the nearby park on our way to the polling place. Our path crosses with two fellow voters from the neighborhood. They greet us with one of them saying:

You goin' to git yo vote on?

Man, I'm going to miss St. Louis.

tricks and treats

Grace was a Treat in her "Grace the Glitter Fairy" get-up. Jimmy decided it would be more fun to play a Trick and refuse to wear his costume. At least I conned him into wearing an orange t-shirt with "Frankie-stein" on it.

On Saturday we finally carved our pumpkin. Grace oversaw the design. Jimmy tried really hard to get ahold of the knife to carve it himself. I tried to be as carefree as possible, but found it difficult to do so. Wonder if the 2 year old holding the knife had anything to do with it?

Dr. NoBeard

I've been searching for Nate and his face.
Have you seen him?



Maybe he's hiding behind something.


Perhaps he got hung up somewhere.


There he is, I found him!

too many tomatoes

At 4:00 on Sunday afternoon Nate sits at the computer and apparently checks the weather. At 4:01 Sunday afternoon he leaps out of his chair and yells, "It is time to harvest!!!!" What?! Apparently he learned it was going to come too close to freezing that night and would certainly freeze the next night. So for about two hours we harvest our tomatoes (remember when I told you Nate planted 12 plants?) We manage to get most of our crop in before dark (and before we are just tired of harvesting - Grace has now decided it would not be fun to be a farmer anymore, she's leaning more towards being a mathematician these days). So what do you do with lots of tomatoes?

 

I decide that we won't be able to eat them fast enough so it is time to "put them up" or to "can" them.

 

You start by cleaning the tomatoes. In this case I cleaned somewhere between 12 and 15 pounds. We had about 5 different varieties - some big, some small, some yellow, some red, some purplish, some teeny, some ginormous, you get the idea.

 

Then after a quick knife action (you slice a little "X" on their bottoms), they are off for a dip in boiling water.

 

After that, let them land in some cold, chilly water. You'll notice their skins start falling off.
Take them from the water and slip the rest of the skin right off. Now its time for a big decision: stop and can the tomatoes or make tomato sauce and then can that. I decided to go for the sauce. This meant I had to seed the tomatoes and then go ahead and actually make the sauce. I must tell you, this took a long time.

Next it is time to "can." This was actually done in a jar, not sure why they call it canning, but they do. I used a funnel designed especially for this purpose. After the jars are as full as they should be, you put on the lid, and then the ring. The ring holds the lid in place while they are "processed."

What? Processed? Yes, that is the fancy way of saying you are going to seal the jars of whatever deliciousness you put in them. This is done in a large pot, sometimes called a canner.

The canner is fitted with a kind of rack that sits on the bottom. This holds the jars in place so they don't rattle around while processing. Processing is really just boiling the jars in a lot of water for a long (and usually specific time).

After the specified time has elapsed, use your special canning tongs and remove the jars from the water.

The jars need to sit at room temp for about 24 hours. During this time you may hear a popping sound, but don't worry as this is exactly what you want to hear. It is the jar's way of letting you know it is sealed tight and whatever you spent all your time making and then canning will be fresh and ready for you.

At this point you ponder if it was all worth it. All I'll say is that the sauce so tasty, I certainly haven't found one to compete with it at the grocery store.

sneaky mom

First off - Sorry I've been a non-blogging-entity. Life here can be defined as "catching up." What or who are we catching up with? Not sure, but I'll let you know if/when I ever figure it out.

In the meantime here are two very tricky things I've done. 1. I sneak in a lot of flax seeds when the children aren't looking. Nate puts them in waffles and it makes a sort of polka-dot effect. I prefer to sneak them into chocolate chip cookies. It ups the fiber and has lots of those great omega fatty acids (I still don't quite understand what they are, but I'm sure Dr. NoBeard will be more than happy to fill me in on that, again). 2. I like to sneak in butternut squash into macaroni and cheese. I prefer to make homemade mac'n cheese (vs. blue box), and I can't tell you how delightfully tricky I feel "hiding" what some in the house (y'know G and J) would consider unwanted vegetables into the dish. Anyway, thought I'd share with you. Do you do tricky things like that?

we're back

We spent the better part of a week in Tennessee. It is a beautiful state! The majority of our time was in and around the Smokie Mountains. It was rumored we'd run into Lions (mountain variety) and Bears (sadly no tigers). The cabin we stayed in was even called "Bearadise." We think the children were even a little too wild for the bears, because we didn't see any! (well except for the few in the Bear Habitat, by that time we figured it was the closest we'd come to seeing any bears and it turns out we were right). It was a nice time to be together as a family. One day I might even post pictures and tell tales, but for now you know we're back and starting back to reality with work and school tomorrow.

a quick note

I am taking a blog-hiatus for roughly 7ish days. While I'm away from the blog-world please know that I am having fun, taking lots of pictures of Nate and his beard, herding the children from one place to another, not cooking as much as usual, and hopefully getting some shopping done somewhere in there as well. Hope you will be having fun too!

breathing a sigh of relief

Today I did something I knew I'd have to do eventually (because really it seems at some point or another you do) but I didn't think it would happen so soon. Grace came home on Monday with a very unsettling story/situation. I was livid (not at her). The next day a note was sent to the principal requesting a meeting with her and the teacher. Another note was sent to the teacher notifying her of the request. The meeting was set for today. I must say I was a cool customer. The teacher was pleasant enough, but she is now aware that things done and said in the classroom are coming home and I am not afraid to call her on it.
The principal said several times that the things discussed (real incidents that have occured in the classroom) were very inappropriate. She took notes, and assured me that she would take care of it. I have no doubt that she will, because (unbeknownst to her) I think she is one tough cookie.

What I really want to say is the teacher and principal were "schooled." And to think I did it with a smile on my face. VICTORY!!!!!!!!!

fall is here

I know that Fall is here because one isn't compelled to wear shorts today. I also know this because we had one of our favorite Fall dinners last night - butternut squash soup with wild rice and sausage. I would like to point out for the record that I used to not enjoy butternut squash in the least - in fact that would be true for all squashes (there are some now that I really quite like but that's for another day I suppose). One year Nate insisted on planting several butternut squash plants along our driveway. By the time Fall came around, they were actually overtaking our driveway. I suggested that if he did not redirect them, I would happily run them over. And I did - but only two! So it just goes to show a woman can change her mind and this recipe has helped me do just that. Its a bit involved, but makes a huge amount. And we love it. Hope you do too.

if you don't have anything nice to say...

It's been much too long since my last blog post. The reason for my blogging absence - just like your mom used to say "if you dn't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." Last week was the pits - full of anxiety, stress, with a touch of insomnia (something I had not experience before and thankful I don't have it on a regular basis!). I am happy to report that the stress has for the most part passed, the anxiety has left, and I am sleeping again at night. This makes everyone in my house pleased.

In other news, yesterday was the Primary program. Grace was one of 7 kids in the program, and if you were unable to see it you missed a great show. She not only belted out each song, she did hand motions and directed the younger kids on how to sing properly (mind you the song-leader was there doing just the same thing). The best was during one song that contains the word "grace." She kind of rolled her eyes up in some sort of weird serious face and pointed right at herself. Really hilarious. When it was her turn to give her lines, she just skipped right up to the pulpit. Then it was time for her to give a talk. Yes, the 6 year old gave a 2-3 minute talk discussing the prophets' propheices of Jesus' birth. Here are a few exceprts:

In the Book of Mormon Samuel the Lamanite said
"Yea Christ will come to the Earth and he will be our Savior."
And it came to pass the people that didn't like his teachings shot bows and arrows at him and rocks.
He told them:
"When Jesus will be born there will be a new star and there will be a day and a night and a night and a day and a night and a day and another night it won't get dark."

And another:

And Jesus came to the Earth and He taught the women and children to share and be happy and be nice to each other. Oh and the men to take care of their children and wives. And he taught them how to be reverent and about the Sacrament. And he blessed all the children.
And all these things came to pass.

Another highlight was Jimmy. He of course was not in the program, but squirmmed around in the pew between Nate and I and my parents. But he'd stop for every song and everyone of Gracie's lines and her talk. After each one he'd say, "Yeah, Gracie!!!"

So yes, I'm a gushing mom. But I loved it.

loyalties

 

I made this pie for my Grandma, one of the staunchiest Cubs fans you'll ever meet.

stay right where you are

For those of you just dying to know why on earth I still have my braces on (because in your mind you were thinking they should have been off a year ago), I have news for you. Today was the day my ortho said I can be rubber band free for the next three weeks! Whoooo hoooo! There is of course a condition placed on this great news - my teeth cannot move. He took measurements and pictures, that way of course we can compare and contrast (how exciting, huh?) at my next visit. Then if all is well "we will discuss taking the braces off."

So to my teeth - Stay Right Where You Are!!!!!

pitcher a wacie

 

We pass this billboard everyday on the way to Gracie's school. Think you recognize anyone in it?

"free" time

 

Yesterday I convinced Kara to ignore her impending ironing and I chose to post-pone my laund-ra-fying for yet another day. Why would we chose to do such things? Well, its because the first breezes of Fall were blowing into the area (after incredible rainfall the day before thanks to the remnants of Ike) and we thought what better way to celebrate than by making some serious homemade apple pie.

Sadly the pastry chef of the house was needed more in the O.R.; however, I managed to get his flaky pie crust recipe out of him in between cases. Using his recipe (which up until that moment could "only be found in [his]head") Kara and I each made an apple pie. We made the crusts by hand (not even a food processor in sight), we peeled the apples by hand, we contemplated the best way to spice the pies, we filled the pies, and then baked them letting the apple-pie-ness fill the house. They weren't perfect looking, but they were a lot of fun to make and certainly much more fulfilling than laundry ever is. Even the Pie Doctor was impressed when he stumbled home late last night. He perked up long enough to have a significant piece and then almost immediately fell asleep on the couch (see picture in the post below).