aaron's salsa.

our good friend, aaron makes this salsa in his blender and chris loves it.  we both do, but chris really loves it because it's not chunky like the usual homemade salsa.

photo from {mountain mama cooks}.

aaron's fresh salsa: makes a medium bowl full.
12-14 ripe roma tomatoes, seeded and quartered
1 large bundle of cilantro, rinsed
1-2 T. sea salt (to taste)
juice of 1-2 limes(to taste, i like mine with a lot of lime, so i do 2 limes and i like to grate some lime peel into it too)
1 can of el pato duck brand tomato sauce w/ jalapeno
1/2-whole jalapeno (depends on how spicy you want it)
1 small yellow onion, quartered

1) place all in blender, give it a good whirl and then pour in a bowl and enjoy!  

sometimes i rough chop some tomatoes and cilantro and add in because i like mine with just a little texture.  enough for me but not too much for chris!

white chocolate and cinnamon popcorn.

here is a delicious recipe to snack on!

i went to play bunco with some ladies the other night and the hostess was serving up this yumminess.  i had to get the recipe.  her original recipe:

2 bags light buttered popcorn

1 bag white chocolate chips

cinnamon

melt chips in microwave and pour over popped popcorn. mix well and then sprinkle with cinnamon while still warm.  allow to sit for a few minutes for chocolate to set-up.

i made this with a friend a few days ago and we used 1/3 C. popcorn kernels, popped in an air-popper and then drizzled with about 4 T. of melted butter.  then continue with recipe above. so super good!  we all decided we thought it tasted similar to a churro.

pic from here.

a little bit of lately.

*charlotte, i hope you don't mind that i stole your tagline....

the boys have been sharing a bed off and on since we moved because i've been working on re-painting and sealing zach's bed.  finally done!  hopefully will get set-up today!  

aren't they too cute?  i love the messy hair and how they both sleep with their arms up (just like daddy).

and sometimes i find zach in the middle of the floor sleeping...or under the bed...usually surrounded by lots of blankies, books and stuffed animals.  he keeps stealing olivia's care bears too!

                               


we've been enjoying lots of sun and hot weather here.  the kids had some friends over the other day that live here that we were friends and neighbors with in twin falls!  carter, molly, brady and olivia had a blast jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler and water guns! zach missed out since he was napping!

i mowed and did some weeding last week in the front yard so olivia and zach ran through the sprinkler, played with chalk, ate snacks and blew bubbles

can you tell someone is a little model already?  she poses every time i try and take a picture!

 
we love summer!

a camping we will go. memorial day weekend 2014.

funny, but after moving from idaho we went right back up the first chance we got!  we needed to bring some boxes back up to our storage in IF and get zach's toddler bed and mattress that we didn't think we'd need here, but ended up needing due to space.  our friends, aaron and tiffany and their kiddos met up with us at rigby lake for a weekend of camping adventure.

the lake wasn't filled yet, about 1/4 of the way, so we did do some splashing and playing by the water...we'd love to make this an annual trip, but will definitely go later in the season when there is less chance of high winds {hopefully} and a lake to swim in.

we brought brady's metal detector, hoping to find some great treasures left behind by beach-goers, but the boys found a lot of trash instead.  oh well, we did our part to clean up the beach!

we arrived late on friday evening, and thankfully aaron and tiff already had camp and our borrowed tent set-up!  what a huge help!  we unloaded necessary items for the night, changed into p.j.'s and hit the sleeping bags.  the kids and chris fell asleep right away...i was awake until sometime around 4:00 a.m. the high winds were causing our tent stakes to uproot, so i had to fix them and the tent fly several times. the flapping of the tent wall and fly was so loud i couldn't fall asleep, not to mention some very hard ground and a small mattress pad that i had been hopeful would provide more comfort than it did.  

the next morning, although groggy and {slightly} cranky we aroused to crisp air and settled down winds, although still very breezy at camp.  i had made up some tin-foil breakfast packets the day before so we got a small fire going and cooked those (which were delicious) with a side of bananas and strawberries.  the only thing we were missing was some O.J.

lumberjack tin-foil breakfast packets:

pre-roasted or left-over potatoes, diced

eggs

breakfast sausage patties

chopped onion, peppers

shredded cheese

salt & pepper

lightly spray tin foil with oil.  layer sausage on bottom, then potatoes, peppers and onions and cheese. right before adding on fire add in the number of eggs you'd like in each packet.  (the eggs kind of ended up cooking to the foil and i didn't feel that they were completely necessary.  the sausage, potatoes and veggies were delicious, so next time i think we'll omit the eggs from the packet and cook separately).

wrap in double-foil and mark for each person.  cook on hot coals for about 30 minutes, turning halfway through.

recipe from here.

the boys all enjoyed stoking the fire and kept it going with their continuous searches for sticks and branches. (please excuse picture quality on a lot of these...iphone pics...)

                                           

brady, max & ethan

after playing around for a bit and exploring our site and the lake we parted ways with our friends for the afternoon as they had family plans and so did we.  we headed into town, stopped and said hi to some friends and neighbors and unloaded boxes at the house in IF and then met up with shawnae, tim and brielle and bryce at beautiful freeman park for a picnic.  for memorial day there was a 1000 flag memorial and some free entertainment so we enjoyed hearing bagpipes, seeing live re-enactment soldiers and musket shooting as well as a local performing troupe of acrobats, aged 6-20 years old. 

olivia was hooked.  she's been doing "acrobats" ever since!

the guys went off and played disc golf with brady and shawnae and i took the littles on a walk around the beautiful park.  i really love that place.  i wish i had gotten pictures of the guys...

we threw stones into the creek...and blew "wishing lions"

olivia filled shawnae's stroller full of the "perfect" dandelions...

 
and our cute little niece, brielle slept the afternoon away!

we left freeman park and met up with our friends, rose and wes at their house for a quick visit and some ice cream cones!  i even brought my camera in to remind me to take a picture....but forgot!

after we headed back to aaron and tiff's and cooked tin-foil chicken and stuffing dinners over their fire pit and a fruit salad.  her brother and his girlfriend graciously accepted to watch ALL 7 of our combined kiddos while we adults snuck away for a double-date to the drive-in!

we were equipped with games, pillows, blankets, homemade caramel corn, drinks...but not enough cushions!  our tushies were numb!  we saw x-men and godzilla (could have passed on the latter, but the guys loved it).  tiff and i had a hard time staying awake anyway and we rolled home at around 2:30 in the morning and crashed in their living room!

the next day was sunday, and despite our best efforts to get to church in IF to visit our friends we didn't make it.  i had packed our sunday bag with us to aaron and tiff's but as we were getting kids bathed and trying to hop in showers i realized our underwear and toiletries were all still at camp, about 15 minutes away.  chris tried to hurry over and get our stuff but by the time he got back we didn't have enough time to finish getting ready and make it to church.  so we read our scriptures and church magazines instead and enjoyed a delicious pot roast lunch with our friends when they got back from their ward.

then we packed back up and headed back to camp!

the kids explored more, played in the sand/dirt, rode trikes and bikes and ate marshmallows before dinner.

      

                                        

                                        

             

then we cooked delicious steak, chicken, grilled veggies and corn on the cob over the fire with fruit salad and pasta salad on the side.

                            

                                 

our awesome baby sitters!  tiff's brother, justin and his flame courtney.

                                                

and after dinner....?  more smores!

our last night was a much better night's sleep.  i actually slept like a rock, seriously.  so exhausted from the weekend.  in the morning we had bacon, eggs, egg mcmuffins, pancakes, yogurt...played in the water, gathered up camp and went back to aaron and tiffs to play games and hang out until we had to head back home.

we are so grateful for such good friends and that our children play well and love spending time together.  our kids were so excited for this weekend.  it was a great time!

baked sweet & sour chicken. fried rice.

tonight's dinner was the first time i saw olivia eat voraciously other than when i make pancakes or french toast.  she had 3 HUGE helpings and kept saying this was the best dinner ever!  she even ate the rice which was filled with vegetables that she usually complains about.  very happy about this meal!

i liked this recipe because it wasn't too "sicky sweet" like others i've tried and it wasn't thick either.

the recipe and pics are from here, but i doubled the sauce in this recipe because i felt like it needed more.

Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken-
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1 C. flour
3-4 eggs, beaten
1/4 C. olive oil

1) preheat oven to 325°.
2) rinse chicken, cube; season with salt and pepper.
3) dip chicken in flour and then into eggs.
4) heat oil in frying pan, lightly fry chicken until browned.
5) place chicken in 9x13 pan; mix sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and pour evenly
over the chicken.
6)bake for a half hour, stirring chicken halfway.

sauce: (i doubled this)
3/4 C. sugar
4 T. ketchup
1/2 C. white vinegar
1 T. soy sauce
1 tsp. garlic salt

fried rice:
2 C. cooked rice (left-over works the best)
3 T. sesame oil (or olive oil)
1 C. frozen peas
2 carrots, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 T. sesame seeds
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 T. soy sauce
1 T. fish sauce
1-2 T. rice wine vinegar

1) heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet.
2) add vegetables, sesame seeds and garlic; fry until tender.
3) lower heat, push mixture off to one side, put in eggs and fry until scrambled.
4) add in rice and sauces, stirring well to combine and heat through.

i added in the sesame seeds, fish oil and rice wine vinegar because i didn't have any sesame oil and it came out really well.

buttermilk & garlic mashed potatoes.

these were super yummy and easy to make, as well as healthy because they don't have any butter or sour cream in them, which is what i usually add to my mashed potatoes.

i took the picture this time!

Buttermilk mashed potatoes-

6 baking potatoes, washed and cubed
1 C. chicken broth
4 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 C. buttermilk
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
large pinch of salt

1) place potatoes in a large pot with broth, garlic and enough water to cover.
2) bring to a boil over high heat; reduce to medium and simmer about 15-20 mins., or until potatoes are soft.
3) just before draining the potatoes, put buttermilk in a saucepan and warm through.
4) drain most of liquid from the potatoes; return to pot and mash well, adding salt, pepper and buttermilk.

serves 6-8.

this is from a book that i had picked up at the D.I. a few years back called "bannish belly, butt and thighs" (www.banishbbt.com)

i topped mine with more pepper and some fresh snipped chives from my patio "garden."

*i used powdered buttermilk added to water, minced garlic from a jar, powdered chicken bouillon added to water and leave my skins on the potatoes.

homemade maple syrup.

in my efforts to be frugal and eat with less preservatives i made homemade maple syrup last week when we ran out and i had made pancakes for breakfast.  i have been trying to trim down the grocery budget to $150 every 2 weeks, which for a family of 5 with at least 3 big eaters has been a challenge!

this syrup is really yummy and everyone liked it (even chris, surprise! score!) it is runnier than store-bought syrup but doesn't have any chemicals or corn syrup added.  and of course it's basically pure sugar so don't go pouring a cup of it over your pancakes!

image from here.  i tried this recipe initially and it was ok.  it was runnier and had a milder flavor than i was looking for. the recipe i am posting is from www.cooks.com

homemade Maple syrup-
3/4 C. water
1 3/4 C. - 2 C. brown sugar (depending on how strong you want the taste)
1 T. butter
1 tsp. maple extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1) bring water to a boil in small saucepan.
2) stir in sugar and butter until dissolved.
3) add in vanilla and maple extract; stir well.
4) continue to boil, slowly, stirring constantly until thickened, 4-5 mins.
serve warm, but syrup will thicken slightly more as it cools.
5) transfer to a mason jar with a lid.

*we store ours in the cupboard because we use it often enough that it doesn't last long.  you could easily make a double batch. if you don't use syrup very often then store in the fridge so it will keep longer.
                                                   

easter 2014.

we had a last-minute change of plans and easter dinner at our house this year.  the last event before we moved.  boxes were piled everywhere but we had no furniture left in the living room so we set up two long church tables and had a feast.

the kids also had a big easter egg hunt in the backyard which was a lot of fun.  

we were all so excited because shawnae and tim got to bring home their darling baby, brielle after a week in the NICU.  they surprised us by showing up to dinner with her!

the kids in their sunday best.  grammie morgan was here visiting for the month and she loved filling their easter "buckets" (i get my kids a new beach bucket or some other container every year instead of a basket).  zach loved his "cool dude" glasses.

we got a bunch of pics with my mom because after dinner she headed down to SLC with chris, nick and nickie to catch a plane early the next morning back home.

my pretty girl

it was a beautiful day.  we had lovely talks at church and focused on the resurrection of the savior.  everything was so busy i didn't get to spend as much time as i usually do talking with the kids about easter and the real meaning, but we did watch the video the church had up on lds.org.

chocolate pancakes.

i never thought to make chocolate pancakes before, until i ran across a recipe the other day on a blog i was browsing for ideas on making meals from scratch and being frugal...

i made these this morning for breakfast and we had them with syrup and bananas but they would be perfect with a slight drizzle of chocolate syrup, whipped cream and strawberries (or raspberries!)

pic from here

*Chocolate pancakes-

1/2 C. sugar                                      
4 eggs, slightly beaten                       
3 C. buttermilk*                                  
6 T. applesauce                                 
3 1/3 C. flour                                    
4 tsp. baking powder                        
2 tsp. baking soda                            
1 tsp. salt                                         
2/3 C. cocoa powder                     

1) combine sugar, eggs, buttermilk, and oil. mix well.

2) mix dry ingredients well; add into wet and stir until just combined.
3) heat a lightly greased griddle.  pour batter onto the griddle, cook until bubbles form on top.
4) top with whipped cream, raspberries, strawberries or syrup.  

makes 20 pancakes.

*use buttermilk powder and mix with water in blender until smooth

(www.blissfulanddomestic.com)