Kitchen Academy

Madisen's second year doing a cooking class in the summer. She loved it and learned a lot. She cooked a whole meal for us and made a delicious cheesecake dessert and she got to take other desserts home afterwards from other kids. It was a fun class, we'll probably do it again!

A New Chef is in the House

Every summer they have classes that kids ages 5 and up can take at the local community college here in town. I saw a cooking class that I thought would be fun for Madisen as she likes to make pancakes, soup and cookies. She went Monday through Friday for 3 hours a day and made this whole meal for us! It was delicious. Thanks Madisen! I think we will continue taking classes every summer. Last summer she took a crocheting class, and learned a lot about sewing and crocheting.

Free Corn!

Ryan got called as 1st counselor in the College Ward and the high councilman that is over the ward owns acres and acres of corn fields. Well he invited us and others from the college ward to come pick as much corn as we wanted for free! What a blessing that was! Serving the Lord always brings countless blessings.

We love corn and ran out a few months before so we were excited to be able to go and get as much as we wanted for free. The girls helped us pick the corn, Ryan (bless his heart) did all the chucking, because I hate that part! And the girls washed/rinsed all of it while I boiled it and cut it all up to be put in freezer bags. 

Good Work girls!

We counted around 250-300 ears of corn. I think by the time we finished we had 1/2 of our freezer full!

Food Flop!

Everyone has their little secret indulgences. Mine is chocolate. A side of chocolate with anything and dipped in everything sounds great to me! ;) I have been craving CHOCOLATE chip pumpkin bread for the past, oh I know don't...2 weeks, but finally got around to making some last night. I have been trying to do things more healthy as far as food choices go, (The Biggest Loser inspires that in me... don't worry it doesn't last long!) One reason I put off making it, is because it isn't very healthy. But my craving for it kept resurfacing, and I found myself at those moments salivating uncontrollably. haha! So instead of adding 1 cup oil like the recipe says, I substituted that for apple sauce. And instead of three cups sugar I did 2 cups. And instead of 4 eggs, I did 2 eggs and 2 egg whites only. With all those heathly alternatives I thought, "I hope it tastes the same. I am really craving some 'good' chocolate chip pumpkin bread!"

Well, just like you thought... it was a FLOP. (The title must have given that away, not all the sarcasm)

I made three loaves and although they look great on the outside, the middle looks like gel and reminds me of fruitcake. (I am not a fan of big chunks of fruit in anything- pizza, pie, and especially cake). The texture is all wrong and doesn't even slightly resemble anything known as "bread". I was sadly dissappointed the way it turned out, and actually thought before baking it I would take plates of bread around to friends...what a joke that would be! (Sorry, I had good intentions mind you...) But what did I expect after taking out all the "good" ingredients!? At least now, I am not craving pumpkin bread like I was and saved myself a few long hours in the gym!

Anyone still interested in something that sort of resembles what should have been known as pumpkin bread, be my guest!

I found this cartoon and just thought it was funny.

Carrots for Dinner

I wasn't sure what to make for dinner tonight...most nights are like that. I do like to cook, but with two kids hanging on me as I try and prepare it, asking for something new every other minute...well you get the picture, it's just crazy sometimes! (Those with kids know what I am talking about, and those that don't have kids well I am sure you can imagine and if not well, just wait!) Tonight was one of those nights... I needed some quick meal that I could just throw together. I decided to cook up some Salmon and mashed potatoes with green beans. I asked Madi if that sounded good to her...She quickly said, "No"(typical thing I hear) and then looked up at me with such great enthusiasm and said, "I would like some carrots...and an apple please!!"

I had to chuckle a little...it was quite stunning and amusing to hear her say that....I was just waiting to hear her say chocolate or chips or some other really unheathly food. Although it's more of a snack than dinner...you just never say no when I child wants vegetables! So she ate carrots, apples and potatoes for dinner...what a meal, eh?