Food for Thought Fri..uh, I mean Saturday

I just got too busy yesterday to post, but I have to make sure I get my recipe up there. We had some very yummy home made wheat pizza the other night, so here is the recipe for the dough:

1 (.25 oz) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
2 cups bread flour (I used two cups of wheat flour and 1/3 TB dough enhancer)
2 TB olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
*maybe a handful or two of white flour

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl combine 2 cups bread flour, olive oil, salt, sugar, and yeast mixture; stir well to combine. Beat well until a stiff dough has formed....this is where I added about 1/4 cup at a time of white flour until the dough was the right consistency, mostly because I ran out of wheat flour and didn't want to grind any at the moment...Cover and rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Form dough into a round and roll out into a pizza crust shape. I rolled it out and tossed in on the pizza pan and then rolled the edges in to make the crust. Cover with your favorite sauce and toppings (we did half pepperoni, and half pineapple, that's all I had on hand at the moment) and bake in over until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

It was actually pretty quick and simple to make and even Logan my picky eater ate a whole piece by himself. Yum Yum.

Being Sick is still NO Fun

Well, about Wednesday the cold bug finally found us. I was feeling pretty good that morning and even got ready to go to some local aerobics, but I drove by and didn't see anyone there, so I headed back home, Damon had fallen asleep, so I tried to do one of my workout videos, but Logan didn't like that, so I stopped after about 30 minutes. I took a shower and after that it was like my body just gave up. I was really sick for the rest of the day, poor Logan was such a trooper and watched some videos with me. Then on Thursday Morgan got sent home from work because he wasn't feeling too well either and on Friday both of us were sick, so he stayed home again. I was hoping I would feel better on Saturday, Morgan was by the afternoon, but I still didn't feel too great. We were all getting cabin fever though, so we did go for some walks and decided to take the boys to Cabelas and see if they liked the animals. Logan only liked the fish, I think it's because it was the only thing moving, the other animals were just sitting there.

I did make another "food storage" trip this weekend. We've almost got our 3-month supply. We went to the church cannery and picked up some items and then I made a trip to Macey's because they had some other stuff on sale. We don't really have a pantry big enough to really store everything, but I think we've found a way to make it work.

They may not be the best decorations in the world, but funny enough, the cans actually match the colors of paint in our house. :) And it does make me feel good when I see it because I know we're headed in the right direction on something we've been hesitant to start.
Logan had a great time playing in all the boxes. :) So this week overall was kind of weird, Morgan had Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but we didn't really do a whole lot and then we were pretty much sick the rest of the week, luckily the boys haven't caught it. We did go over to a friend's house for some delicious dinner on Sunday night. If I can get those recipes I may have to post them if she'll let me. ;) I do have some more videos on the other camera, but those take a little more effort than I'm willing to do today, so maybe by Sunday I'll have them on the computer and we'll do a video post. Until next time....

Food for Thought Friday

Well, it's still January and I'm still experimenting with wheat, so of course I'll post another wonderful wheat recipe. :)

Whole Wheat Refrigerator Rolls (thank you allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
2 (.25 oz) packages of active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups whole wheat flour

*I actually used reversed the ratios of wheat and white flour and only used 2 cups all-purpose and the rest wheat and they still turned out great.

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 5 minutes. Blend in sugar, salt and 3 cups flour at a low speed until moistened; beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Beat in egg and oil. by hand, gradually stir in remaining flour to make a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smoot and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise until doubled or cover and refrigerate overnight. Punch down dough and form into dinner-size rolls. Place on greased baking sheets for plain rolls or knots, or in greased muffin tins for cloverleaf rolls. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour for dough prepared the same day or 1-2 hours for refrigerated dough. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes of until ight golden brown. Serve warm. Dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days, just punch down daily.

**Here's the best part and what I actually did. After the part where you knead the dough for 6-8 minutes, form it into about 72 equal sized balls (We like the cloverleaf rolls the best) and put them on a greased cookie sheet and freeze them. Then you can put them in a freezer-safe baggie and when you want some rolls take them out and put 3 frozen balls in each greased muffin cup and give them about 3-4 hours at least to rise, then bake. It's basically like having your own Rhodes rolls right in the freezer waiting for you, except you made them! It's awesome.

Another Week in Paradise

Well...sort of, it must be the mountains that make me feel this way. This week really has been a pretty good one as far as the weather. We've been able to go for walks almost everyday because the sun has been out and it's been a little warmer. Morgan has now completed two weeks of work and his school semester will officially begin on Tuesday, only one more semester to go until he will be finally finished with school. Hooray!

Anyway, this week we had some friends come over Friday night and after the kids were in bed we played Guitar Hero for the first time. Morgan did pretty good...but I did better :) tee hee. Actually, I decided that we can never get a PS2 or Guitar Hero because I would likely forget that I have children and play all day long. It was really fun, we played until almost midnight I think.

Then on Saturday we had some other friends over...mentioned on the previous post and we made homemade tortillas and had rice & bean burritos. They were yummy and if you didn't see the last post, I posted the recipe for Sweet Rice that was absolutely delicious. That was pretty much our week.

We did get to go visit Morgan's mom in the hospital after she had her thymectomy (had her thymus removed). It was done on Monday, but we waited to take the kids up until Thursday and she seemed in good spirits then and got to come home Friday, so we'll just keep praying for a healthy and speedy recovery. We love you Grandma!

And I did manage to even capture a few pictures this week:
These were from this morning, Damon wasn't very happy, he was getting hungry.
Logan kept looking at Damon like, "what's the matter dude?"

This is Logan saying "cheese."

We finally got a Bumbo chair. I found it on Ebay for about 1/2 price and it's still in really good shape. I don't think Damon is absolutely ready for it. He still slides around and squirms, but it will sure be nice in a couple more weeks. Logan really likes sitting in it too. We decided for his birthday we want to find him his own little chair or recliner, or something that he can sit in.

Damon is getting so big already, I can't believe how fast he's growing.

Some days I want it to slow down and others I want it to speed up so he's old enough to play with Logan without me worrying about Logan squishing him. :)

Hehe, we got out the bouncer for Damon to start playing in and Logan loves getting in and out, well, as you can see, he got pretty stuck. :)

He couldn't get his feet out. (I know, we're mean to take pictures while he's wailing in there to get out)

I think he forgave us though. Someday he'll look back on that and laugh along with us. :)

Well folks, that's all for today, so until next time....

A Little Late, but Worth the Wait

I forgot to post my recipe on Food for Thought Friday, but I came across a most delicious recipe today. We had some friends come over who once a month we are going to get together with to make a "food storage meal" together to share recipes and ideas with. Anyway, today we made homemade wheat tortillas, I won't post that recipe yet because it still needs some tweaking, but we made burritos with black beans and sweet rice. The sweet rice was absolutely delicious and I don't know if I'll ever be able to eat any other kind of rice again, so here's is the fabulous recipe:

Sweet Rice

1/2 - 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil (just sort of eyeball how much you need for the rice to make it all a little shiny when your frying it)

1 1/3 cups of white rice

3 cups chicken broth (I rarely have that on hand, but I always have bouillon or granules around, so I always mix my own broth. The only thing I would do different is maybe add about 1/2 cup more water/broth)

1/3 cup white sugar (this is more or less depending on how sweet you want the rice)

1. Combine the chicken broth and sugar, making sure the sugar dissolves completely.
2. Put a little oil in the bottom of a skillet and add the rice. Cook until it is light brown, but don't burn it.
3. Stir in the broth/sugar mixture with the rice and bring to a boil. (Be careful when doing this, it's kind of like rice-a-roni and when that first liquid hits the skillet, it really sizzles)
4. Bring to a boil and then cover and cook on low or med-low until the rice is done, usually about 25-30 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.

You can also add onion and fresh cilantro, but I'm not a huge fan of either, you just fry them in the oil just before adding the rice. It makes quite a bit of rice, I think we made at least 8 burritos and still had at least a cup leftover. It's really yummy in a burrito or would make a great side-dish, hope you enjoy! And the best part is that it uses only pantry items, something I will definitely be making sure I always have in a pinch for a last minute dish. :) Enjoy.

Getting Back Into the Groove

Well, it's been quite a week. Morgan has officially completed his first week of work, I've got a little routine down with the kids. I'll start off with a little video:

Damon is still my "normal" baby, but we're starting to get on a better routine. He slept two 8-hour nights in a row, it was bliss. And much needed too, I was starting to get a sore throat and not feel so good, but it's amazing what a couple nights of complete rest can do for you. Alas, he is back to his 6-hour routine, so I usually get a brief little wake up call at around 3:00am. But at least I only have to get up once for the most part.

I did get a chance to do a little "hobby-ing" this week. Among my "wheat" adventures (see previous post) I was able to make a quick blanket for Damon out of some scrap material I had from making slings and their Halloween costumes. I'm pretty pleased with the results, although I am by no means a crafty person, so trust me, if I can pull this off, so can you. :) I don't go for perfection, rather completion.

I found some cool soccer, baseball, and basketball material too and I'm thinking about doing a few more blankets, maybe do one a month. This is kind of a quirk of mine, when I find something good I like to have a lot of the same thing in a variety, like when I find a good shirt, I like to get several colors of that same shirt because I know they will all fit great. Anyway, the whole blanket project started when I wanted to make one of those little play areas with the different textures on the blanket and toys hanging down instead of buying one (They are like $60-70 bucks!) I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to make the crossbar to hang the toys from...let me know if you have any genius ideas. :)

Okay, time for another video:

That is my Logan 24/7--he is nonstop...well except for the occasional cat-nap during the day. :) This week we have been figuring out things to do outside. We've gone for a couple walks in the slush. We ran into a neighbor one day shovelling their driveway and Logan wouldn't be appeased until he had pushed their shovel all the way back to our house. It was then that I decided that we better take our walks with the stroller so I can keep a hold of him, or I might have to get a baby leash, or something. We've gone on a walk almost everyday this week and it has been really nice to get out of the house. I didn't realize how much I got used to that in Oklahoma and we were all starting to get a little cabin fever. We're going to look into more activities to do during the day because I know that our neighborhood is not lacking in the children department, but cold weather does put a slight damper, I think, on the excitement of playing outside at least for all the moms :)

Usually before the sun is out and it's a little warmer we'll watch a movie or a little TV, but Logan still just doesn't have the attention span for TV....I guess I really should be grateful for that, and I am, but some days (like when I feel like I've been feeding Damon ALL night) it would be nice to just sit and be able to take a little nap while he watches a movie.

I do have a few rare moments after Logan has gone to bed though to get some good quality cuddle time with Damon before he goes to bed.I love it when he just sleeps there while I rest and calm down after the days activities.

And finally this week Morgan's sister Laura got married!! Congratulations again!! It was a great reception and we were able to see a lot of family that we hadn't seen for almost 2 years. We went up early on Saturday to help get things set up and ready. Logan and Damon were troopers and pretty good until about 8:00, then Logan turned into a little terror. That's usually his bedtime, so we knew it was time to go. Morgan dropped me and the boys off at home so I could get them to bed and then he went back up to help clean up and visit for a little longer. Regardless of our children's behavior, it was a beautiful evening and Laura was gorgeous and Logan had a great time playing with his cousins. I wish we would have taken our camera so we could have some more pictures, but I sorta forgot it. Anyway, maybe we'll have some more fun adventures this next week to talk about....until next time.

Food for Thought Friday

Banana Oatmeal Cookies III

So, I stumbled upon this recipe from allrecipes.com, but I made a few changes. One of our goals this year is to get our food storage in order and with that comes learning how to use food storage, especially wheat...at least for me. Anyway, so last year we got a wheat grinder for Christmas and this year we got a basic starter kit that had some wheat, so I decided to grind some up and make flour and try out some recipes. I made these cookies this morning and they were delicious, Logan even ate them. Because for me, what's the point in storing all that wheat if I have no idea what to do with it. :) Alright, so on with the recipe:

1 1/2 cups wheat flour (or all-purpose)
1 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup shortening (I used the Butter flavored Crisco)
1 egg
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (I used about 3 medium)
1 3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 capful vanilla extract (I don't know, maybe 1/4 tsp-ish - I just added this in on my own to counter balance the wheat flavor, so you might not want to use it if you use white flour)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cut in the shortening until almost no lumps remain (I just used a big spoon to mix it). Add egg, bananas, and vanilla. Mix well (I used the mixer for a minute or so). Stir in the oats until mixed well. Drop by teaspoonful 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges are browned (I think it cooks faster with the wheat flour, I only had to bake them for about 10 minutes). Remove from pans immediately to cool on wire rack.

4. Eat, Enjoy, Repeat! :)

This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies and the are delicious.

Gee it's Good to be Back Home Again

So, there has been non-stop snow since we got back-which I love-but it has made it a little less inviting to go out and do things, mostly because I'm not a very experienced driver in the snow and I get nervous, even more so with two kids in the car with me.

Today however, I had to go to the grocery store to get some more Drano among other things. Both of the renters that were previously here had dogs, so we're assuming that the tubs are clogged full of dog hair, anyway, that's beside the point. The boy's bathtub wouldn't drain last night, so it sat full of water all night and it was now or never.

I packed up the kids and went on our way, luckily my wonderful husband had shoveled and salted the driveway so I could at least get out of our garage without sliding into the building next to us. I made it through the 4 inch high snow covering the roads in our neighborhood and safely arrived and the wonderful Walmart (I actually dread going to Walmart here, but I just remind myself that at least I'm in a Utah Walmart and not somewhere halfway across the country, like, oh, say, Oklahoma:)

I guess I should get to the point of my post, which is I realized today that if you are looking for goodness and kindness in people, you will undoubtedly find it, and when you are looking for snobbery or unkindness you'll find that too. Ever since we got back from Oklahoma we have tried to take on an unassuming and kind attitude and look for ways to help people and be friendly and outgoing. Well, today as I finally slid into the parking stall, Logan and Damon were both asleep, normally it wouldn't be a problem except the nearest cart was inside Walmart and it was snowing. I pulled Logan's hood on and covered the baby with a blanket. I finally get everything situated and I awkwardly head inside carrying Damon in the baby carrier and a sleepy Logan on my hip.

Out of nowhere some guy and his wife come up and ask if I need a cart or help or anything, and proceeds to carry Damon in the carseat all the way inside and helps me get him loaded in the cart. This act of simple kindness really took me back and made me realize how easy it really can be to make someone's day. I tried to keep this mental note while shopping and singing to Logan (yes, it's really funny to watch me shop, I sing about our grocery list to Logan to keep him entertained) and in the checkout lane I had some really good friendly chit chat with the checker, the lady behind us, and the couple in front of us. Wow, what an awesome trip to Walmart.

So, as much as we say that there are just great people in Oklahoma, which there really are and we will miss them, there are some gems here in Utah too, you just have to look out for them, and I've found the best way is to try and be one of them. Well, I guess that's all for my mid-week insight. I just had to make note of this event while the babies were sleeping. :)

Christmas Time is here...and gone again.

Christmas is my favorite holiday and season of the year. With it brings lots of fun, excitement, and great traditions. This Christmas was no different, although it was a lot busier. So, I guess I'll start from the beginning about this Christmas. The day before we flew into town we watched all of our belongings drive away in a moving truck, it was pretty crazy, but again so worth it. We got to spend the night with our great friends in Oklahoma and had a great time and the next morning they took us to the airport and it was sad good-byes, but hopefully we'll get to see them again when we go back for graduation. Oklahoma was covered in a dense fog that morning, but we didn't think anything of it until we landed in Utah and found out that almost all the rest of the flights out of Oklahoma had been cancelled or delayed. This was just the first of many blessings we received during our relocation.

We spend a couple nights at Morgan's parent's house during which time we acquired a minivan with the money we got from selling our Subaru. I never thought I would say this, but I LOVE our minivan. However "un-cool" it may seem to some, it has been one of the best and wisest purchases we have made in a while. We also ate some most delicious and traditional Christmas Fudge that Morgan's dad makes. It was an especially good batch this year, but I didn't get to eat as much as I wanted because Damon is not a huge fan of chocolate these days, so I'll just have to look forward to next Christmas when we'll be done breastfeeding. :)

Our stuff arrived safe and sound and everything was un-loaded in just a few short hours. After that we headed up to Heber for a little get together with all the Goodmans that live up north. It was great to see everyone and tell them our Christmas surprise. Thanks again for keeping it secret for a while. :)

We headed down to St. George a day earlier than planned to beat a storm that was passing through and it was a good thing that we did go down early, I heard it was a beast of a storm. So, while in St. George, my cute little nephew decided to give everyone a little present: the flu. Yep, my mom and dad were completely out for an entire day. I've never seen my parents stay in bed so sick for a whole day. Then after that, it just kept passing around everyone in mild, moderate, or terrible form. I only got the mild version. Somehow though, Logan, Damon, & Morgan were all spared. I'd like to think that my breast milk helped protect Damon while Logan and Morgan just have the super immunity that we now call the Hadlock immunity. Hopefully all my kids will be as immune as Morgan is. Morgan has only ever been really sick maybe once in the past 5 years that we've been married.

Despite all the sickness though, we still got to do some traditional Christmas activities like looking at Christmas lights and reading stories by candlelight on Christmas Eve. We really had a great Christmas and Logan really loves all his family and cousins, Goodmans and Hadlocks alike. It was hard to leave either family, but knowing that we are back in Utah made it a lot easier for both parents I think. After Christmas we came home and spent the next couple days un-packing and getting ready for life again. Ready or not, 2009 here we come.

We're Baaaaack

Whew, and we finally have the Internet again and we are officially unpacked and moved in....and I never want to move again, well maybe one more time when we finally "settle down" but I wouldn't mind if we spent the next 5 years here. Anyway, so as far as blogging, I'm going to be doing some catching up posts, but don't worry I'll break them up into different pieces. My Ode to Oklahoma post was unfinished, but that will be an ongoing thing when I think of the wonderful things I learned in Oklahoma, but as for right now I'll just do some brief picture posting and maybe a couple videos and then I'll do a separate post for our Christmas Adventures.

First, here is a video that some family has been dying to see. This was my mom's reaction when we gave her the Christmas Surprise (moving back). You can tell she's aware of the camera, otherwise I think we would have had some back flips going on in the kitchen. :)

This is a video of Logan trying a lime for the first time. He tried a lemon earlier that day and we missed it, so we thought we could fool him with the lime.

This is Logan in an awesome hat. When I first showed it to him, he wanted to wear it all over and wouldn't let me take it off. There is a jacket that goes with it too.
This is Logan with his cousin Kashlynn. They are only a month apart and could pretty much be twins. They had an awesome time at Christmas.
My mom said Kashlynn looks a lot like I did when I was little and Logan looks like Steve, who knows, maybe this could have been me and my brother if we had been twins. :)
Logan is starting to understand what the camera is and really hams it up sometimes.
This is Logan's cousin Lincoln. He's almost a year old, poor little guy was sick the whole week we were down there, but we all got to share in his misery..except Morgan, Logan, & Damon, but I'll post more on that later. :)

Sorry the picture is so dark. Logan loves Fig Newtons, just like his mommy, even better than all the yummy cookies that were around.
We did actually get a little rest while were here on "vacation"
And we even got to play some games while the little ones were entranced with "Cars"
"Look, Kash, that's Mater" (did I ever tell you how much I love "Cars")

Damon got to do lots of bonding with Grandma.

This was just as we were getting ready for the family pictures. And of course, Damon who is my ultimate fussy baby never made a peep, while all 3 other grandkids were throwing fits. Go figure.
We had to find a new place for these matches where Logan can't reach them anymore.
Boy oh Boy, is he ever a Boy!

Cheers! Well, I'd love to post some more, but both the boys are asleep for the night and there is no where else I'd rather be than here in my home in my nice warm bed. I will try and get the Christmas post up tomorrow and then finish more about our whole moving process, but for now *yawn* I'm going to bed. :)