Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Sunday Dinner at Nana & Papa's



The highlight of my week is when everyone comes over for Sunday dinner. We had a traditional marinara sauce over linguini which was my friends italian mother-in-law's recipe. It was one of the first things I ever learned to cook after we were married. I found the best recipe for turkey meatballs to put in it. I am sorry I didn't take a picture but I have an older picture of the family eating my other spaghetti.

Turkey Meatballs by Ellie Krieger, Foodnetwork: (I made just a couple changes)
1 lb ground turkey breast
1 slice fresh whole-wheat bread, crusts removed, pulsed in to crumbs in food processor.
1/4 C grated parmesan cheese
1/2 C finely grated carrot
1/2 C finely chopped onion
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 T minced fressh parsley leaves
2 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
I placed the bread in the food processor and pulsed until it was crumbs. Then I added the parmesan, grated carrot, chopped onion, minced garlic, whole parsley & thyme leaves, salt and pepper and pulsed until everything was finely chopped and combined. Then I dumped it into a bowl and add the turkey and eggs and mixed together with my hands.
Using a large cookie scoop I formed the mixture into 2 inch size meatballs and placed on a large cookie sheet lined with parchment and broiled for 10 minutes until almost completely cooked. They were brown on top with just a little pink showing. Then I put them in the marinara sauce and simmered them for one hour. One recipe would make about 8 meatballs. I doubled it to feed 14 adults and 4 kids. I think I should have tripled it.
These were supper easy to make and so delicious.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Best Week Ever

This week started out great and ended even better. We went to San Francisco last Saturday, which happens to be one of my favorite cities. Saturday night we went to Boudins on the wharf for dinner and had the traditional clam chowder in a bread bowl, Havarti bread and a great salad. Then we walked to Ghirardelli for a hot fudge sundae and a banana split. So fattening but so good. Sunday we went to church which was great. It was a very sweet, humble ward in San Leandro. They were so warm and welcoming to us. We loved it and it was less than a mile from our hotel. Later in the day we met our sister-in-law and her family for dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant, Thai Town in Milpitas. It was exceptionally good food and being with family made it even better. They introduced us to a new drink which is now one of my most favorite things. It was made with coconut milk with different tropical fruits in it. Wow, I am in love. Thank goodness I don't live there or I would want to go there all the time just for the drink.

Monday I met everyone in this picture in San Francisco and we walked all over China Town. I had a great time exploring all of the many different shops. I had the most fun watching my sister-in-law get excited about finding hats, scarves, dried sweet potato, Hi-Chews, and Gogi berries. That evening my husband and I met my good friend from high school and her parents for dinner. It was so fun to see them again. It had been over 30 years since we had seen her parents. We ate at a great restaurant called Hayes and Kabob which specializes in Mediterranean food. It was so good.




Tuesday I did a 6 mile run on an awesome path that goes along the bay. It was just down the street from our hotel. I love running there. There are so many people out there and it is such a beautiful place to run. I only had to slow down once for a flock of geese to cross. That afternoon I met my sweet friend and we spent the day going to lunch and shopping.















OK, so much for my travel log.

Today was the best day of all.  At 2:32 this afternoon my sixth grandchild came into this world and I was there to watch her take her first breath. She is amazingly perfect and her beautiful mother did such a great job. It was so fun when Tinkerbell and Cinderella came into the room to see her for the first time. It is always such a spiritual moment when a baby takes their first breath and enters into this world to begin their life. Heavenly Father has blessed us greatly this day.







Thursday, July 14, 2011

A Special Afternoon


I had a great time today with Rapunzel, Flynn, & Maximus. Their smiles light up my day. Rapunzel and I had so much fun watching Giada, Ina, and Paula on the cooking channel while Flynn & Maximus took a nap. She loves to be my helper in the kitchen, especially when we make bread together.

Monday, July 11, 2011

HABOOB



Last Tuesday night we had the craziest storm blow in. We had no weather warnings on the TV until it had already hit us. I looked out my kitchen window and saw the largest wall of black dirt coming straight at us. I told my daughter that it was either the biggest dust storm I had ever seen or a huge tornado. Within 30 seconds it hit us. One second it was day light and the next it was pitch dark. It was totally crazy. The storm was a mile high and 100 miles wide. UNBELIEVABLE!! We had no damage at our house but everything was coated in a fine layer of brown dirt. The pictures were taken by my son as he was driving home from work.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

My New Favorite Cookie

My sister-in-law gave me this recipe. It is my new found favorite. Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I served these at a baptism last week and everyone wanted the recipe, so here it is.

Shelly's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies


2 C. Unbleached Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 C. Brown Sugar
1 C. Granulated Sugar
1 C. Unsalted Butter, room temperature (2 sticks)
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
3 C. Old Fashioned Oats
1 C. Unsweetened Coconut
1 C. Semisweet or Bittersweet Chocolate Chips (I like Ghiradelli)
1 C. Coarsely Chopped Walnuts

Directions:
Cream butter and sugars together.
Mix in eggs and vanilla
Mix together dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add to butter mixture.
Stir in Oats, coconut, chocolate chips, and walnuts.
Bake at 350* for 10 - 15 minutes (depending on how big you make them).


My Bread Recipe

I had a request for this recipe. So here it is.
This recipe comes from Shar. I changed it just a little bit.

Whole Wheat or 14 Grain Bread


6 C. warm water 115* (I use hot tap water)
1/2 C. Grape Seed Oil
2/3 C. honey or molasses (I use molasses)
2 T. sea salt
3 T. dough enhancer
1/3 C. gluten
6-8 C. whole wheat flour (fresh ground) I like the Lehi Roller Mills hard white wheat they sell at Costco.
3 T. Saf instant yeast (Placing the yeast on top of the flour keeps it from hitting the hot water too soon.)
To make 14 grain bread add:
1 C. 14 grain- seed mixture or any cracked or rolled multi-grain cereal.

Instructions:
Place all ingredients in the Bosch bowl in order given. Mix until just combined on pulse or speed 1. Turn  the dial to speed 2 and start adding more whole wheat flour until it begins to clean the sides and bottom of the bowl. Work quickly, you want to get all the flour in within 1 minute. I use a two cup measure which helps get it in quicker. Don't worry if it gets too dry, you can add a few tablespoons of water at a time or if too sticky add unbleached white flour a little at a time. Knead for 9-10 minutes until gluten is developed.
Put dough on oiled counter and cut into 1lb 12oz pieces and shape into loaves. Place in Pam sprayed pans (I use a 2 lb loaf pan with strait sides), cover with towel, and let rise until double. Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes until temp measures 190*. Take out of pans and let cool completely on racks. Bag and freeze right away.
A few great places to find loaf pans are Ross, Marshall's, or The Home Goods store. I always look for them when ever I am at one of them.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments. ENJOY!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Clouds Are Gifts From Heaven

I awakened at 3:38 am this morning. My alarm was due to go off at 3:45 so I went ahead and got up so my alarm wouldn't wake my husband. I felt good with 6 hours sleep. I had been nervous all week anticipating my long run. Todays high temperature was 117* and the weather report said the low would be 88 - 90*. I guess that is for tonights low. I froze my camelback last night, half filled with water and a tropical flavored Nuun tablet. Then I filled it completely this morning with more water. My water stayed cold for my entire run which was great. I had a Gu, Honey Stinger Chews, and Enduralite Capsules packed and ready to go just in case I needed them. I ran 2.5 miles by myself then I met the running club at 5 and ran 9.5 more miles with one of the girls in the group. I couldn't get over the fact that it felt so cool this morning. It was 77 when I started and only got up to 80 by the time I finished. There was a beautiful cloud that covered the sun the entire run. Wow what a blessing! I decided to run 1 more mile to make it a total of 13 miles which put me ahead of my training schedule.


     I made bread today. It is one of my favorite things to bake. I hadn't made any for several weeks. I always make at least 7 - 8 loaves at a time and freeze them. It tastes so good and costs about 40 cents a loaf to make. That sure beats paying $4.99 a loaf for bread at the store.