Happy Birthday Dave!

Today is Dave's birthday, and we had a lovely evening. Of course he had to work, but he got off early and took the boys to their swimming lessons while I got dinner and dessert ready.

Dave is not much of a cake person. Plus he already had a cake at work, so he requested chocolate mousse instead. While looking online for a good raspberry sauce to put on it, I came upon an amazing idea: shell-shaped chocolate bowls. Luckily Spencer has a million shells of all sizes, so I wrapped them in plastic wrap, dipped the backs in melted chocolate and put them in the freezer to harden. I used big shells for the adults (Ellen and Jason came over), medium shells for the big kids and little ones for Brennan and Anna. To my delight they popped right off and held their shape really well. Aren't they dang cute? And much easier than you'd think.

I also made the mousse and raspberry sauce ahead of time. To assemble: I filled the shells with mousse,

Added a dollop of whipped cream, (don't you just love the word dollop? I feel like Martha Stewart when I say it),

And drizzled raspberry sauce on top. The sauce was super easy to make: I defrosted frozen raspberries, pureed them in the blender, removed the seeds with a strainer, and cooked it over the stove with a little bit of sugar. The whole thing was on the rich side, of course, but beautiful, decadent and delicious.

I had already given Dave his birthday present early (the GPS, which came in very handy on our Utah trip), but we still wanted to give him a little something to unwrap. Spencer and Tyler chose it, and they were so excited to give it to him.

An air soft BB gun! I'm not sure if it's more for Dave or the boys, but it'll be something fun they can do together. Don't forget to answer my poll on the right about Dave's age. The ladies at work asked him today, and when he told them they said his patients would never believe it. Happy Birthday Dave! I love you!!

Mini burgers, anyone?

Tonight I made these lovely mini hamburgers for dinner. Aren't they cute?
April Fools!! They are vanilla wafer buns with sesame seeds on top, peppermint patty burgers, coconut lettuce died green (see, it's still all over my fingers; I can never seem to use food coloring without getting it on me) with icing mayo, ketchup and mustard to hold it all together. Delish! And lots of fun too.

Saint Patrick's Day

Our festive green dinner

2 new things

I did 2 things for the first time on Saturday. First I drove a truck. After 3 years of wanting to put wood chips under the playset, we finally did it; we decided it would be a good day because the ground was soft from the rain. Dave recruited the cousins to come help dig (their favorite thing in the world), while I borrowed Nathan's truck to pick up the wood chips from a local nursery.

Alec & Braden were hard workers! They kept working long after all the other kids got tired and went in to watch a movie.It doesn't look that deep, but they dug down about 4", put weed barrier down, then covered it with 2 cubic yards of wood chips. It feels so good to finally have that project done.

My other first was making egg rolls, which is something I've always wanted to do. I just followed the recipe on the wrapper package, and they were super easy and yummy. First I cooked the pork, then I added shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, and green onions. It called for oyster sauce, which we didn't have, so I used Teriyaki sauce instead. Then I wrapped them up and fried them in oil. And we had the perfect tray to put them on, thanks to Emily. Next I want to try making dumplings.

Chocolate-covered cherry cookies

I took dinner over to Kristen's family yesterday; I wanted to make something extra special for dessert, since she can have sugar again. My mom made these coookies a few years ago, and when I bit into one I couldn't believe how incredibly good it was. So I just have to share the recipe. I don't know if it's the exact same one my mom uses, but I got it from my Better Homes and Garden Homemade Cookies cookbook.1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 10 oz jar maraschino cherries

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Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl mix butter, sugar, egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix altogether. Shape dough into 1" balls and place 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press down center of each ball with your thumb. Drain cherries, reserving juice. Place a cherry in the center of each cookie.

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

4 tsp reserved cherry juice

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For frosting: in a small saucepan combine chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk; heat over medium heat until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and stir in cherry juice. Spoon about 1 tsp of frosting over each cherry, spreading to cover cherry. If necessary, thin frosting with additional cherry juice. Bake about 10 minutes or until sides are set. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. I thought some of the cookies needed more icing, so I added a little bit after they got out. I ran out of cherries for the last few cookies because I doubled the recipe and used marshmallows instead. They were totally yummy too. Next time I might add nuts also.

Allergy-free double chocolate muffins

Dallin and I made chocolate muffins yesterday morning, and Brennan was feeling totally left out. So while the muffins were in the oven I looked up a recipe for allergy-free muffins in my Sophie-Safe Cookbook and made a few changes. A couple days ago when I was at the health food store, I found coconut flour - how cool is that? So I substituted some of the oat flour with it. The results were delicious, and although I still preferred the regular chocolate muffins, I've had requests for this recipe. So here it is:

1 1/2 cups oat flour (grind oats in blender)

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup oil

1 egg, egg substitute, or 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup soy milk

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and liquid ingredients in another, then add all together and mix just until moist. Add chocolate chips. Fill lined muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from pan; they're a little crumbly.

Sweet Italian Sausage Casserole

As requested, here is the eggplant recipe I found in the Parade magazine 6 years ago when they had a casserole recipe contest. It won 4th place, but I liked it better than the top 3. The amazing thing is that it is full of veggies, but my kids still love it because it tastes like sausage and cheese. I love that.

2 Tbsp margarine
2 Tbsp olive oil
8 oz sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1 cup diced eggplant (1/2")
1 cup diced zucchini (1/2")
1 cup diced red or green bell pepper (1/2")
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 can (28 oz) Italian plum tomatoes, drained and chopped
2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley or 2 tsp dried
2 Tbsp fresh chopped basil or 2 tsp dried
pepper to taste
2 oz grated mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the margarine with the oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook about 10 minutes, breaking up the meat with a spoon. Remove to a bowl with a slotted spoon.

2. To the same pot, add the eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, onion and garlic. Stirring occasionally, cook until softened, about 10 - 15 minutes. (This seems like a long time, but don't shorten it! It's very important to cook the eggplant long enough or else it has an odd spongy texture. If someone says they ate eggplant and didn't like it, I suspect it wasn't cooked long enough.)

3. Stir in the reserved sausage, the tomatoes, parsley, basil and pepper. Reduce the heat and simmer 15 minutes.

4. Spoon the mixture into an 8 or 9", oven-to-table baking dish and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake in preheated oven until the cheese melts, about 15-20 minutes. Serve with crusty bread or rolls and a salad. Yum!

Truffles = Pure Bliss

I finished making the truffles and boxed them up last night. Dave is giving them to everyone at work today. I like to use the recipe from the Martha Stewart website, which is so simple and delicious. I did make a few changes though, so let's walk through it.The most important ingredient is 8 oz of very good quality dark chocolate, finely chopped. I used the Pound Plus Bittersweet Belgian chocolate bars from Trader Joes (they used to have a 10 lb bar, but they stopped carrying it).Bring 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream to a gentle boil and add to chocolate.Stir until all the chocolate is melted, then add 1 tsp of extract (I use a different flavor for each batch: almond - Dave's favorite, raspberry - my favorite, and peppermint). Let sit about 15 minutes, or until thickened.

Line an 8" dish with plastic wrap and pour in chocolate.

Wrap plastic around to cover top and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or until firm.
Remove from dish by lifting up on plastic and place on counter. Use a ruler and knife or pizza cutter to cut it into 3/4" squares.

Dip in melted milk chocolate and put on foil or wax paper to set. Optional: drizzle with melted white chocolate (I use this as a way to differentiate the flavors; white for almond, then added food coloring to make pink for raspberry and green for mint)

I assembled the boxes with tissue paper and paper cups, fitting 6 truffles per box.

Then I tied them up with light green ribbon. I just love dark brown and light green together. See? Wasn't that rather easy? Once I got the right kind of dipping chocolate, it went much smoother. I used the Wilton Light Cocoa Candy Melts, which have a much higher amount of oil. It doesn't taste quite as good, but it's much easier to use and you only need a thin layer on the outside. Martha uses cocoa powder on hers instead of the melted chocolate, but I think that's too bitter. The kids LOVE them and I just might have to make another batch.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Someone from church was handing out flats of strawberries for free because they were leftover from the food bank and would have gone bad if not eaten immediately. So we enjoyed sweet delicious strawberries all weekend, including strawberry shortcake for dessert last night. Then I made strawberry freezer jam with all but the last pound. I don't know if you've ever made it before, but it is SOOO easy and SOOOO yummy. It took me less than an hour last night to make one batch. It tastes fresher and much less sweet than regular jam. Here's the recipe:

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4 cups of crushed strawberries (about 3 lbs)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 packet of Ball Freezer Jam Pectin (I get it at Wal-Mart in the canning section)

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First rinse strawberries and remove stems. Then proceed to rinse three more times by putting them in a big bowl, covering with cold water and draining. Dry on paper towels. Mash them in a big bowl using a potato masher. Mix sugar with pectin, then add to strawberries. Mix for three minutes. Ladle into clean jars, leaving 1/2" space at the top; serve immedately, refrigerate up to 2 weeks or freeze up to a year. Label with the date. Makes five or six 8 ounce jars. Put on biscuits, toast, sandwiches or over ice cream. It is so good!

The best sandwich ever

I like to get creative with my lunches, when everyone is at school/work and I have time to experiment. A few years ago I was going through an eggplant phase, so my mom gave me an eggplant cookbook, which is even shaped like an eggplant. Here's the thing about eggplant - it looks weird, and it tastes weird if you don't cook it right. The key is to cook it long enough, and it really does take a little while. Otherwise it has an odd spongy texture. I've had it at restaurants and either loved it or hated it. So I like to make it myself. I like eggplant Parmesan, and I've even gotten my family to like it. How can you not like something fried and smothered in marinara sauce and melted mozzarella? I also have a recipe for Sweet Italian Sausage Casserole with many yummy veggies in it, including eggplant. But my favorite, quick delicious thing to do with eggplant is derived from a recipe in my eggplant cookbook: Grilled Eggplant Sandwich, although I've tweaked it a bit. I made it for lunch on Sunday (I have all kinds of time before church now that I've been released from primary), and when Dave came home from his meetings the house smelled so good I just had to make him one too. Every time I make it I am sure it is the yummiest sandwich I've ever tasted and wonder why I don't make it more often. So here's the recipe:

Grilled Eggplant Sandwich
5-6 very thin slices of eggplant
2 slices of San Luis Sourdough Cracked Wheat bread (or some other inferior brand)
2-3 thin slices of tomatoes (of course fresh garden ones are best, if they're in season)
1 slice of cheese (mozzarella, Gouda, Swiss, or whatever you happen to have on hand)
garlic (fresh is best, but garlic powder or salt are fine too)
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
basil, either fresh or dried

Preheat broiler or grill. Place slices of eggplant on a pan and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic, salt and pepper. Put on the grill or in the oven or toaster oven and broil for a few minutes. Watch them closely! When they start to turn golden, turn them over. Broil or grill the other side until golden. Remove from oven/grill. Meanwhile, spread sourdough bread with butter. Grill on the stove until toasty. Assemble sandwich: bread (toasty side down), tomatoes, basil, eggplant, cheese, bread (toasty side up). Let sit a few minutes to melt cheese. Enjoy!

Tips: The eggplant skin makes it difficult to eat because when you bite into it, the whole thing comes off, disassembling your sandwich. You can either remove it before or after broiling it or cut little slits in it all around. If your bread it huge, just use one slice and cut it in half. The recipe from my book suggest mixing the olive oil with the garlic, salt and pepper and brushing it on the eggplant and bread before grilling it all together. You can do it either way, but I just love sourdough with butter cooked on the skillet, and I cook the eggplant in my toaster oven so there's no room for the bread with it. The recipe also calls for arugula, but who ever has that on hand? I guess you could use fresh spinach.

When life gives you shredded beef, make Carne Asada Tacos

I bought a huge package of thinly-sliced beef for our July 4th BBQ because I wanted to make kabobs, but it was sliced even thinner than I realized. Half of it was too thin to put on skewers so we had to cook it in our grill wok. Saturday night we used the leftovers to make teriyaki stir-fry, which was fabulous. Then last night we marinated and grilled the rest of the meat to make carne asada tacos from a recipe I found on http://www.allrecipes.com/, called Taqueria Style Tacos - Carne Asada. They were SO good. Here's the recipe, with a few changes I made:

2-3 lbs carne asada (very thinly sliced beef)
soft corn tortillas
taco toppings
Marinade:
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 cloves garlic
2 limes, juiced
1/2 cup oil
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika

1. Mix all ingredients of marinade and add to beef in large Ziploc bag. Mix well and refrigerate 1-8 hours (the longer the better - it makes it so flavorful and tender). Grill over medium high heat in grill basket. Since the meat is so thin, it will cook very fast. Chop into smaller pieces if needed.
2. Fry corn tortillas in very thin layer of oil over medium high heat. I use my big pan so I can do 3 at a time. Cook just until it starts to turn light golden. Turn over and cook the other side the same. Drain on paper towels. Don't overcook or else it will be too stiff to fold.
3. Fill tortillas with meat, lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and cilantro, although we liked the meat so much we put fewer and fewer toppings on it because we didn't want to cover up the flavor.

Grilled Potato Skins

4-6 Yukon Gold potatoes (I tried russet & didn't like them as much)
2 Tbsp butter/margarine, melted (we use vegan so Brennan can eat 'em)
garlic salt to taste
garlic powder to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Cut potatoes into quarters lengthwise. Cut away half of the potato from the skins and discard (or save for another meal). Place potato skins on microwave-safe plate and microwave on high for 8-10 minutes or until tender, turning over halfway. Brush with melted butter/margarine, garlic salt and garlic powder. Cook skin-side up on preheated grilled over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, or until lightly browned. Turn over and cook 2 more minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

My kids LOVE these. They think they are french fries and dip them in ketchup. The recipe I got from allrecipes.com said to top with shredded cheddar cheese, cover and cook until cheese is melted, then sprinkle with crumbled cooked bacon and green onions and serve with sour cream. I haven't tried all that yet, but it does sound good. Also, instead of the garlic salt and garlic pepper, it calls for 2 tsp fresh minced rosemary, but Dave isn't a fan of rosemary, so I use the garlic instead.

Tomato Cucumber Salad With Mint

1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 large cucumbers, peeled, quartered and sliced
3 large tomatoes, diced
1/3 cup fresh mint, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl combine vinegar, sugar and salt. Mix in cucumbers and marinate in fridge 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Gently mix in tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper.

This is such a wonderful fresh summer salad. It's a great way to use up an abundance of garden tomatoes. I usually cut the recipe in half for my family.

Strawberry/Nutella Crepes

Wash and slice 1 pound of strawberries, sprinkle with a couple tablespoons of sugar, mix and refrigerate 1 hour. Make one batch of crepes:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups milk
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs

Mix dry ingredients. Mix remaining ingredients and combine all together. Spray a small pan with Pam and pour 1/4 cup batter onto hot pan. Immediately rotate skillet until thin film covers bottom of pan. Cook until light brown. Turn and cook other side very briefly. You can make them all ahead of time and just refrigerate until you're ready.

Take one crepe at a time, spread with Nutella (yum!), heat in microwave for 10 seconds, top with mound of sugared strawberries, roll up, top with whipped cream and chocolate syrup with vanilla ice cream on the side. So simple, and yet so delicious. It makes a beautiful presentation too. I bet it would also be good with bananas.

I love strawberry season

I made these lovely strawberry tarts for dessert tonight. I was going to make a strawberry pie, but it didn't look like I had enough strawberries. So I made half a batch of sugar pie dough, cut out big circles and put them in muffin tins. Then I baked them, let them cool, filled them with diced fresh strawberries and topped them with a fruit glaze. Yes, they were as good as they look.

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Today was a big day - Brennan started nursery!! We've looked forward to this day for about 6 months, when he decided he was not content to sit still in class anymore. Dave stayed with him for a few minutes then snuck out. Every time I checked on him he was totally fine. He looked like such a big boy sitting there at the table with everyone else. His nursery leaders were concerned when they looked at the ingredients of the play doh and discovered it contains wheat. So they watched him closely to make sure he didn't eat any. They also had to keep the animal crackers away from him. But they said he was happy the whole time. Yay!!

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Sugar Pie Dough

1/2 lb butter

4 oz sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 lb flour

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Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Work in flour until it forms a ball. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Roll out, put in a pie pan and scallop the edges. Using a fork, poke lots of hole throughout. Bake at 325-350 about 15-20 minutes, or until edges turn golden brown. Cool. Fill with lots and lots of cleaned and dried whole strawberries, stems removed. First put in the largest berries, pointy side up. Once the bottom is covered, work your way up, using smaller and smaller strawberries to fill in all the spaces. Don't skimp. Use lots of strawberries! Top with glaze:

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Strawberry Pie Glaze

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup water

2 Tbsp corn starch

red food coloring

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Mix together in saucepan and stir while bringing to a boil. Boil until clear and thickened. Let sit a few minutes. Optional if in a hurry: put in ice bath to cool. Spoon over pie. Chill and serve.

My Favorite Orange Pancakes

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp sugar

2 beaten eggs
2 Tbsp oil
1 cup milk
1/2 - 3/4 cup sour cream
grated zest of 1 orange

Preheat skillet. Mix first 3 ingredients. In a separate bowl, wisk remaining ingredients. Combine all together. Pour onto hot skillet and cook until golden brown. Instead of syrup, try squeezing the orange juice onto pancakes and topping with powdered sugar. Trust me, it's delicious!