Simple Everyday

 We all have our 'things', as parents that we never thought was a big deal, until you have kids and suddenly it's really important.  Sure, the basics of clothing, bathing, teaching them the alphabet, etc. are all important, don't get me wrong.  For some reason it is really important to me that our boys enjoy simple things and appreciate the simple beauties of earth.  I feel like there is so much commercialization of youth and so much of the world to overwhelm them that I want to be sure they recognize the sunset every night, the amazing things that keep us going each day, and the small overlooked things- like dust flecks floating in the air and how beautiful it is when the sun hits them. I get so happy and excited when I see my boys appreciate little things that might get overlooked by me.  This week it was the washer.  They both had their fascination with the dryer when they were babies, but this week they pulled up some stools and decided to watch the washer and it was so funny listening to their discoveries, Hyrum: "Wow! It spinning so fast, Mom". Noah: "Uh, oh. Clothes getting all wet!"  Yes, I'm a dork, but it still makes me happy. 

My sister, Mic, sent the boys some hand puppets for Christmas and they have been a HUGE hit, especially with Hyrum.  You would think that Hyrum's sheep is a real-living animal as much as he talks to it and pets it.  He frequently asks me to put it on my hand and then he just wants to hold it and he tells it over and over again, "I know you love me sheep! I love you too!"  It's pretty cute. 

Noah recently discovered a new trick.  He holds things over his head and repeatedly says, "SUPERMAN!" He holds pillows, blankets, books, plates, . . . . pretty much anything he can lift goes over his head and stays there for a few minutes while he shows everyone 'Superman'.   I'm really not sure where these boys get these ideas from.  They both love Superman despite the fact that they have never read any Superman comics or seen any Superman shows or movies.  I love it!

 Oh, and I don't want to forget Huggie Ghosts.  Hyrum loves putting blankets on his head and going around the house making ghost noises.  A few weeks ago he said he was a Huggie Ghost:, "I not scary, I give hugs".  So, now Noah and Hyrum run around the house making ghost noises looking for me to give big hugs.  

Tried and True-sday -Health

I know this is horrible of me to admit publicly, . . . . but here I go.  So, I know that our kids should be having 4 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, but I don't think I have EVER done that. . . or even come close.  They actually love fruit, so that isn't too hard, but we're lucky if they eat four servings of vegetables in a week!  With Brett being gone this last week (he's not a veggie fan) I decided to experiment with spinach.  I bought a big bag of frozen spinach and was determined to use it in at least two things every day Brett was gone.  I succeeded!  The boys love smoothies and so I figured I would try putting it in a smoothie first.  I looked up some recipes on allrecipes(dot)com and was excited about trying out some of the highly rated spinach shakes.  Unfortunately,  I made my first attempt just before Brett left.  He tried it, and I think it might be hard to convince him to try anything with spinach in a drink again.  I'll admit it wasn't that good, which is sadly often stereotypical of 'healthy' shakes and smoothies.  It's like there are two standards for good tasting.  The normal good tasting vs the healthy good tasting.  Their scales are totally different and I'm sad when something healthy is rated high as being excellent when in fact it tastes like barf. . . but it's really good for you so that must mean something right? Not if no one will eat it.  Anyway, enough about that.  I did a lot of experimenting and I came up with two recipes that honestly are delicious.  I think they taste identical to smoothies at jamba juice and if you blend it long enough you can barely see anything green in it.  Happy blending.  Here you go:

(Noah's favorite thing is helping me make smoothies)

Orange Julius Plus

1 -6oz. can frozen orange juice concentrate

1 cup strawberries

1 -1 1/2 cups frozen spinach pieces

1 banana

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk

1 cup water (opt. - to make it runnier)

Blend it up and serve!

Strawberry-Banana Blast Plus

1 -6 oz. can of frozen concentrate grape juice

1/2 apple chopped into slices or cubes so its easier to blend

2-3 cups frozen strawberries

1-2 bananas

1 1/2 cups frozen spinach pieces

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk (+ or - will determine how thick)

Blend it up and serve!

P.S. Next week I'm going to post amazingly delicious pizza crust and sauce.

What you may have missed

I'm sure I've said this before, but I really just can't get over how amazing our view is from our house.  It's actually very distracting for me, especially at sunset. . . which happens to be when I'm right next to the window prepping dinner.  Well, tonight I really just couldn't think about food when the sky was so breathtaking.  In a matter of one hour the sky transformed into a rainbow of colors and shapes.  I'm sad that I'm not a better photographer to capture just how vivid and astonishing the colors were.  At one moment it really appeared as though the clouds were burning with the bright reds, oranges, yellows, and pinks, and then moments later everything glowed in a deep purple and soft blue.  Every night it's a different show and every night it seems to be more spectacular than the night before.  Tonight I finally decided to try and get a few shots to prove my point.  These three were all taken within a thirty minute period.

Oh, Man

Hyrum has the wildest imagination and he really says the funniest things sometimes.  

(Here he is holding Cambry.  My friend Naomi's little girl.  She's SOOO cute!  Hyrum kind of LOVES babies lately!  He kept asking Naomi to hold her and carry her.  In fact, if you have a baby and don't want Hyrum all over her, you might just want to stay away:)

We had a little New Years Eve party with ice cream cookie sandwiches and a movie.  Hyrum is now obsessed with having New 'Ears' Eve Parties.  He asks for one several times a day.  Yesterday I gave in and said that we could have a Party, but we ran out of cookies and ice cream.  So, anyway I was busy doing something and Hyrum said, "Don't worry, Mom, I'll get the party all ready"  I came downstairs and he had two paper lunch bags out and put a fruit snack pouch in each for he and Noah.  What a nice big brother:)

Here are a few random Hyrum stories:

I asked Hyrum what he was doing and he just said, "Ok, Mom, you can play, but you have to share! Ok?!"

Last night we had the little girls from our youth group over at our house, since Brett's out of town.  The boys got to do a craft activity with them.  One of the girls had braces and when Hyrum saw them he just stared at them and then got really close to her face and said, "Wow! You have a pretty necklace on your teeth!"  

During Christmas we discussed the Wise Men and all Hyrum could talk about was how they built their houses on rocks:)

At JoySchool one of the other teachers said that she complimented him on a picture he drew, and he gave her a stern, "NO, you supposed to say: 'Wow, Hyrum, good job!'"  He frequently tells us what HE wants to hear.  

My favorite is when he yells at Noah for something and gets in trouble.  We tell him he has to use a nice voice, so he'll proceed to talk to Noah in a super high pitched voice. (I hope I don't sound like that:)

"There was a magic apple and all kinds of things, and they changed me into an elevator." . . . ? very interesting

Tried and True-sday

Don't be overwhelmed by how long this post is.  It's not a reflection of the difficulty of the recipe.  I just added extra stuff.  This is my all time favorite go-to recipe when I don't know what to make and we don't seem to have anything to eat.  We almost always have the ingredients to make rolls, and we usually have cheese and sausage in the freezer.  This does take some time because you have to make a yeast dough, but it's so easy and it's great to double the recipe and freeze the other half for another -don't want to cook- kind of day.  I probably make this once a month and Hyrum LOVES them.  (After I made this batch last week Hyrum ate FOUR for dinner!)  I wouldn't really qualify it as healthy, but considering my boys refuse to eat anything green this is a big step in the right direction. 

My mom made this frequently when I was growing up and it wasn't until later in life that I realized that it's not a typical, everyone knows what I'm talking about, kind of dish.  Although they're very similar to calzone's if you want it to relate to something.  They're called Peroski's and they are a Ukrainian dish.  I usually just serve them alone for dinner, because I'm not that fancy, but they can also be a side dish.  The great thing about Peroskis is that you can fill the dough with anything you want.  Hamburger, olives, and taco seasoning. Beans and cheese. Chicken with alfredo sauce.  I've written in my two favorite fillings I've created below. Happy Cooking!

Peroski

Step One: Make the filling ahead of time and store in the fridge.  You can't use it too warm or it will ruin the dough. Sometimes I make the filling in the morning or the night before just to have it done and out of the way.

Step Two: Make your favorite Roll recipe and let it rise the first time just like normal

Step Three: When done rising, roll the dough out onto a floured surface to be about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into squares.(tip: only use serrated knives when working with yeast dough) You can also cut into rectangles if you want them to be long instead of round.  Place a spoonful of filling into each square. Pinch the dough shut and lay pinched-side down onto greased baking sheet.

Step Four:  Let rise again for about 30-40 minutes (they will not double in size)

Step Five: baste with whisked egg whites if you want them to have a glazed look and then bake according to your roll recipe directions. Done and delicious!  

Creamy Goodness -Filling 1: (I don't measure, so this is a good estimate)

1 tube sausage (mild)

4-8 oz. cream cheese

1/2-1 cup brocoli florets

shredded cheddar cheese to sprinkle

Cook the sausage in a frying pan until brown and then turn the heat down and add the cream cheese and brocoli.  Stir and smoosh it up until the cream chease is all liquefied and immersed. Store in the fridge until ready to put on dough. When dough is ready put a spoonful of the mixture in the center of the dough, sprinkle with cheddar cheese.

Healthy Goodness -Filling 2: (Again, sorry for the lack of measuring)

1 tube sausage (mild

1/2-1 cup sour cream

1 cup-ish pico de gallo

shredded cheddar cheese to sprinkle

Follow the same instructions as the above recipe.

Extra, Extra!

This is one of my all time favorite sweet dinner roll recipes that also happens to be PERFECT for Peroskis because it almost always ends up making just the right amount of dough to match the filling.  Thank you Michelle for this awesome recipe!

Sweet Dinner Rolls 

In Kitchen Aid mix the following:

1/2 cup HOT water

1/2 cup milk (warmed)

1 egg beaten

1/3 cup butter (melted)

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt

Slowly add the following:

3 3/4 cup flour

1 Tbsp. yeast

Mix and Kneed for about 3 minutes. When dough feels kind of elastic-y pour it onto a floured surface, form it into a ball and then place in a large bowl.  Let rise until double (about an hour).  (If making Peroskis follow the instructions above).  When done rising pour it back onto the floured surface and using a serrated knife cut out small fist-fulls of dough and shape it into a ball and then place on baking sheets. Let rise again for about 30-45 minutes.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. 

Long awaited. . . and long feared

Long Feared

   I don't think anyone grows up and thinks, "Someday I want to drive something hot, sleek, and thrilling like a . . . minivan."  For years I told myself, "I will never own a van.  I will NEVER own a van!"  Why?  Hmmm.  Well, because owning a van means the end to spontaneity, thrill, whistles from random men (not that I've ever had that happen to begin with), fun in general, and all aspects of coolness. Or at least that's what vans in general seem to generate in the world.  So, I will be one of those cool moms with a big honkin' SUV.  About a year ago I decided that I could potentially swallow my pride and consider a mini-van as a practical alternative to cool.  I've since done much more thinking and my heart has changed to realize that I don't need my vehicle to define me.  I define myself. . . or at least I'd like to think so.  We decided, with the recent accident, to use this opportunity to take the plunge and give into practicality, because if I'm defined as being practical by those around me than that's okay with me.  So, take that world of SUV's.  I may slightly still be jealous of you, but as for me I am still me, just now in a bigger car.  Goodbye Rodeo. Hello, our new Town and Country.
P.S. new Mini -Van you're pretty wicked awesome!

Long Awaited

I've been meaning to put this first clip up since Halloween.  Our boys are just so dang cute.  They really crack me up sometimes.  The first two are just hilarious.  The third one is super sweet and then super funny.  You have to turn the volume up for the third clip.  Hyrum was in a time out for something but when it was over he wanted to stay in the corner to 'practice singing a song'.  At the end I was trying to straighten the camera out so it's kind of bumpy, but you have to listen to what Hyrum is saying.  He has the funniest imagination.

Oh, and sorry for the funky color of the last video.  I have no idea what happened but the colors went crazy.

Tried and True-sday

There are a few side dishes that I have eaten that I literally need to give them away or I WILL eat it ALL! Today I'm going to share this one with you from Brett's Grandma Long. I am really not a big fan of Jello. I don't like making it, and it's not my favorite thing to eat, but this is DELICIOUS. I did just make it for New Years, but sadly I have no pictures because it's gone:) Enjoy, and happy baking!

Jello-Pretzel Salad

Step 1-Crust:

1 cup finely crushed pretzels (about 4 cups whole pretzels put into a ziploc bag and beaten/rolled with a rolling pin)

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup melted butter

Stir together and then press crust into a 9x13 pan. Bake @ 350 degrees for 10 minutes. I stab it with a fork all over a little while after taking out of the oven so that the crust doesn't get too stiff. Cool completely.

Step 2 (while crust is baking) - Jello mixture

1 large (serves 8) raspberry jello mix

2 cups boiling water 1 cup cold water

1 pkg. frozen raspberries

Whisk the jello packet into the boiling water until dissolved and then add the cold water and raspberries. Stir and then put in fridge until somewhat jelled (about 30 minutes). If it doesn't seem to be jelling fast enough for you then put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes for a quick jell.

Step 3 (while jello cools) - Filling

8 oz. softened cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar

8 oz. cool whip

Mix and then smooth over the cooled crust. Spread the partially jelled jello on top of the cream cheese filling layer. Chill completely set.

Note: Strawberry Jello and frozen strawberries are also delicious!