The Cats Meow

Last night, my neighbor Misty brought over a gallon of fresh goats milk, (which my boys love) and some warm oatmeal cookies - which I will definitely get the recipe for because they were gone within minutes of her bringing them over! Misty said it was a thank you for tending her animals while they were gone last week, but I think it was really a thank you for taking two cats from her recent litter so she wouldn't have to deal with them anymore.

This is a picture of Lilly and LuLu. They are the newest members of the Tailwind Ranch family. When you have a barn, you have to have a barn cat to keep the mice population from over taking the area.

Something killed my last cat, Bandit, in November. I was devastated because she was the best cat! The week before she died, I watched my neighbor's dog, Cowboy, run home with my other cat dead in his mouth after he killed her. Before that, there was Gizmo, Patrick Jet Ed, and Addie. We haven't had a great track record with cats since we moved here four years ago, but hopefully my luck will change!

None of the boys were too excited about the names I chose for the kitties. Assuming they are both girls, I love their names!

Yesterday, my youngest came home with a book he had checked out at the library at school. He must have seen me looking through all my cookbooks recently because he brought home the, "Hershey's Classic Recipes" book. I asked him how he was going to read that each night and he said we could read the recipe to make something good. What a smart kid! You get your reading done, (if you want to call it that) and you get a bonus at the end.

Ken had already picked out several things to make - especially from the no bake section. Tonight we are going to try this recipe:

Easy Chocolate Cheese Pie recipe.

Melt 4 sections of a Hershey's chocolate bar in the microwave 1 to 2 minutes until the chocolate is melted and smooth when stirred.

Beat together 1/4c. butter, softened with one 3 ounce package of cream cheese, 3/4c. sugar and 1t. milk until well blended and smooth. Then fold in the melted chocolate. Next, fold in 2c. whipped topping and spoon into a pre-made graham cracker or chocolate crust. Cover and refrigerate for about 3 hours. Garnish with additional whipped topping.

Death By Chocolate

I know I should be grateful and not complain because we need the moisture, but I am so done with the snow and cold weather! We woke up to an inch of the white stuff! The frogs quit croaking, the birds quit singing and the bee's quit buzzing because none of them are happy about it either.

I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but lately I keep thinking about the best chocolate dessert I have ever had and I have been craving it like crazy. Last December, we took our boys on a Carnival Cruise with three other families in our neighborhood and they served a dessert called, warm chocolate melting cake. I am sure it could kill a person because it is so rich, but if I am going to die, maybe this would be a good way to go! When I looked on line, I found a couple of versions of this and I can't wait to try it - maybe that will bring a little sunshine and warmness into the day!

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake

Generously butter 6 custard cups and dust the insides with sugar then place them on a baking sheet.

In a heavy sauce pan, melt 3/4C. unsalted butter and 8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Mix 3 large egg yolks and 3 eggs, 1t. vanilla and 5T. sugar until thick, pale and fluffy, about 8 minutes. Then fold 1/3 of the chocolate mixture into this. Fold the remaining chocolate mixture and 1T. flour into this until well blended. Divide the batter between the molds - filling about 3/4 full. One recipe suggested putting these into the refrigerator for 8 hours or over night before baking them - I am going to try it without doing this.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes at 425* with the rack in the center of the oven. The edges of the cakes will be set but the middle will still look a little wet. You may have cracks on the top surface of the cakes.

Immediately remove from the oven and let them rest for a few minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top of each cake.

Dust in the Wind

"Dust in the wind. All we are is dust in the wiinnnd...." That's how I feel today. The vet came to stitch up poor Sancho's nose and we ended up going into the barn to do the procedure because we could hardly stand in one place. I'm so thankful we have it!

Sancho is such a good horse! The vet stuck his finger through the wound and his fingers came out through his mouth to show me how bad it was. All the while, Sancho just stood there and looked at us. He ended up having ten stitches and was very brave the whole time.

Last night before we went to work with the horse trainer, I decided to hurry and make some lasagna so my kids could eat while I was gone. After I cooked the noodles, I realized I didn't have enough for the top and the bottom of the lasagna. So I just used them on the bottom, and then made a batch of homemade mac & cheese for the top. My boys absolutely loved it!

Homemade Mac & Cheese Lasagna

Cook 5 lasagna noodles according to the directions and put them on the bottom of a casserole dish. Cook up a pound and a half of hamburger and add a jar of spaghetti sauce. Cook a package of ditalini pasta according to the directions and then put it back into a sauce pan after draining off the water. Add 4T. melted butter, 3c. sharp cheddar cheese, 3T. Parmesan cheese, 1 1/2c. half and half, 1 1/2c. whipping cream, 1t. dry mustard, 1/8 t. nutmeg, 2T. flour, some salt and pepper and cook over medium heat until the cheese is melted and it is well blended.

Put this on top of the meat and then sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese. Bake for 30 minutes at 350*.

When we came home from the horse trainer, Carrie Caldwell brought over two plates of yummy treats. On Saturday, she came over and got a bunch of rhubarb off of my huge plants that one of my workers planted in front of the barn several years ago. I have never liked rhubarb, and I'm not quite sure why Mike planted them for me in the first place, but I am sooo..... glad he did because I love Carrie's rhubarb pie! I hope she comes over and takes all of it so we can have more! (I won't even attempt to make a pie crust - that would totally destroy my confidence in cooking.)

Oh Mess

Last night, we went to one of our neighbor's houses for family home evening. We had a great lesson on making good choices and then played a couple of fun games. Then Debbie brought out the Rice Krispie Rolls. I'm usually not a big fan of Rice Krispie treats because they are such a mess to make. By the time I am finished making them, I usually am covered with the sticky gooey stuff. But these were so good, I think it is worth the mess!

Debbie's Rice Krispie Rolls

Melt one bag of semi sweet chocolate chips and add 1/4C. peanut butter. Stir until smooth.

In another pan, melt one cube of butter then add 12C. mini marshmallows - stir until smooth. Next add 12C. Rice Krispies and stir together until well blended.

Spread this out onto a greased cookie sheet with buttered hands. Do this quickly because they cool fast. Next drizzle the chocolate across the top and then quickly roll up into a jelly roll. Place in the fridge for about 10 minutes until they are set up then you can slice them into one inch bites.

How Not To Catch A Train

My Aunt Dixie was one of my hero's. She grew up on the Alamo Ranch, which was the home to the Wetherill brothers, who discovered Mesa Verde in southwest Colorado. That is where she learned to love horses and ranching. She had all kinds of wonderful stories about her childhood.

Once she and one of her friends decided to get on her horse and try to jump on a train like the robbers did in movies. They were running along side the train and just about to jump on when the train whistle blew scaring the horse so it reared and they both fell off.

She had a ranch in between Big Water and Kanab, Utah. Arizona Highways magazine did an article on her. Everyone was amazed because she would stay out there all alone and herd her cows. She was a true frontier woman because the little cabin didn't have any electricity or running water. One night she got up in the middle of the night to go to the out house and she stepped on a rattle snake that was curled up on her porch. Ouch!

Dixie wrote and published a book called Trekking Home before she died. It was fun to read because it incorporated a lot of things from her life. It also inspired me to write my book, "The Power Of A Penny."

Last night for dinner, I made Aunt Dixie's Queso Taco sauce - but I added a twist - a can of chili. My family devoured it!

Aunt Dixie's Queso Taco Sauce

Melt a small block of Velveeta cheese in a pan over medium heat then add one can of cream of chicken soup. I have added 1/2C. of salsa and a little sour cream to it before, but last night I added a can of chili - then spoon it over the top of a taco filled with meat.
This makes a great dip for tortilla chips as well.

I picture her on her favorite horse riding around the pastures of heaven with a big smile on her face!

A New Favorite!

The Jurassic Park birthday party was a success on Friday. The kids had a great time making their own pizza's and I found a new favorite! I made some of my Alfredo sauce that I posted back in February and put that on top of my bread machine pizza dough which I posted in March and topped it off with some grilled chicken, Canadian bacon and Monetary Jack cheese. There goes my diet!

I hope to plant some potatoes, onions, peas, pumpkins and green beans today. I'm turning into a real farmer!

My family loves this recipe for a green bean casserole that Dar's Grandma used to make.

Grammie's Green Bean Casserole

Combine 1 can drained French green beans or 2C. fresh green beans into a 1 1/2 quart dish with a lid. Add 1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup, 1/2C. milk, some salt and pepper and I like to add a dash of A1 steak sauce.

Bake covered for 30 minutes. You can add the dry crunchy French onions on top, but my family prefers to eat this without them.

Are You Insane?

I can't wait to have fresh raspberry shakes, fresh raspberries with whip cream on French toast and raspberry honey butter this summer!

On Saturday, Carrie Caldwell and I went to her old house, (where my friend Tresa lives), and dug up a bunch of raspberry bushes that Tresa wanted to get rid of. Carrie is so amazing! She knew the name of every plant she had planted in that huge yard even though she planted everything three or four years ago!

I brought them home and ended up planting 20 raspberry bushes, along with 8 strawberries, 8 blueberries, and a variety of perennials that day. I was exhausted when we were done, but it is so nice to go out and see the start of a beautiful garden growing and the idea of having fresh berries to eat! Yummy!

One of my other friends, Stephanie Merrell, was telling me about her new hobby.... Bee's. She said she had read somewhere it is supposed to be calming. "ARE YOU INSANE?" I asked as she and her husband were telling me how there were twenty bee's crawling all over them the day they picked them up. When her husband told me how the bee's were crawling under the strap of his flip flop and he was afraid to walk and hurt them I knew they were crazy! That is one thing I truly do not have any desire to do. I hope they will share some of their honey though so I can make Carrie's Raspberry Honey Butter Recipe with my fresh raspberries!

Raspberry Honey Butter

Whip 1 pound of butter that has been softened and add 1C. honey and whip. Stir in 1C. of fresh raspberries that have been smashed a little bit (or you can use the frozen kind that have been thawed), and 1t. vanilla. Whip until it is incorporated and serve with a slice of Carrie's warm homemade bread - which I don't even attempt to make.

On Sunday, Carrie dropped off a loaf of that yummy bread and I could only dream of eating it with the raspberry honey butter, but it won't be long!

OOPPPS!

FYI - when you make the Blackout Cake, you CANNOT just put the batter into a 9x13 cake pan. I found out the hard way that it is too much batter for that little cake pan and I had a smokin' oven from the batter over flowing and dripping down onto the heating element. The name of that cake is appropriate because my whole house was "blacked out" from the smoke. Jubilee makes great chocolate cakes......

I had all the doors and windows open to get the smoke out and a starling flew in through the balcony french doors. That was quite the adventure getting it out! In the midst of all of this we had a rodeo in the pens. I happened to look out the window just as Ruby jumped over the water trough into the round pen with the horses. Copper and Cheyenne were immediately right on her tail. Rosie didn't want to get left out so she jumped over the trough and joined in. What a sight that was! I was laughing hysterically as the horses worked together to finally corner the poor cows.

It's always an adventure with the Christensons!

Next time, I think I will stick to this easy chocolate cake recipe:

Sift together 1 1/2C. unsweetened cocoa powder, 1T. baking soda, 1 1/2t. baking powder, 1 1/2t. salt and 3C. sugar in a bowl.

Next, beat in 3/4c. oil, 1 1/2c. buttermilk, 1 1/2t. vanilla, 3 eggs and 1 1/2c. hot water. Using a mixer set on low, beat until smooth - about 2 minutes. Pour the batter into two round cake pans that have been buttered and then dusted with cocoa powder. Bake at 350* for 45 -55 minutes.

Let cool for 20 minutes in the pan before inverting and cooling racks.

For a 9X13 pan, bake for 20 minutes.

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

Sift together 4C. powder sugar, 1/2C. unsweetened cocoa powder and 1/4t. salt. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat 12 oz. cream cheese (room temperature) and 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temperature), until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the sugar mixture. Then mix in 18 oz. of melted bittersweet chocolate - which has been cooled slightly and 1 1/2C. sourcream.

Motocross Mishap

Yesterday my two oldest boys were riding their motorcycles up in the hills by our house with some friends and my middle child ran into one of his friends while they were jumping. Thank goodness no one got hurt! Lance, the friend he ran into is getting ready to go on a mission in July so he must have had angels watching over him because it could have been really bad! Last September my oldest hit a pipe while riding his motorcycle and broke his arm in two places and had to have two rods put into his arm to fix it. I just finished paying for all the doctor bills this month, I really don't want to start up a new payment plan! Whose idea was it to get the dirt bikes anyway? I don't remember having any say in that decision!

Thank goodness the pioneer trek for youth conference was postponed until July because it was snowing this morning! I know that would have made it all the better for the kids to realize how hard it was for the pioneers who didn't have a choice to go or not because of the weather, but I was not excited to freeze my tush off!

Yesterday I went to lunch with a couple of friends, Tresa and Rhonda. We went to Winger's and had horrible service and we decided that was why we don't eat out anymore. I met Tresa when she moved into my old neighborhood and we were instant friends the day I rode with her to do carpool so my youngest wouldn't freak out about going with a stranger. We sat and cried together for two hours that day as I told her about the trials my youngest was having and ever since we have been great friends. I met Rhonda through Tresa, and she told me about a couple of recipes that I am excited to try. The first is for Blue Cheese Steak and the second is for coconut milk rice.

Blue Cheese Steak
Broil your favorite steak for 5 to 7 minutes on each side then add some crumbled blue cheese on top and melt under the broiler.
I love a good steak - as Kennedy would say, (I must be a carnivore like the dinosaurs!)

Coconut milk rice
Cook white rice according to the directions except add a little bit of coconut milk and one small stalk of green onions sliced thinly.

Both of these recipes are so easy I couldn't resist adding them to my collection!

Divine Rolls

Last Sunday, one of Brayden's friends, Josh McCormick tried making cinnamon rolls for the very first time and was so excited that he brought over a plate of them to Brayden. My family loved them even better than my cinnamon rolls. Ouch! I got beat out by a 14 year old boy on his first try.

Last night we went to the McCormicks for our monthly Bunco game and I talked Raelynn into giving me the recipe because they are to die for!

Rae also made some yummy enchilada's and tortilla soup. I will definitely be getting the recipe for these things too! Carrie Caldwell brought some amazing rice - that I will also be getting the recipe for! We had a lot of fun - I didn't win (of course) but it was still fun to get together with all of those amazing people and laugh and visit.

Josh's Cinnamon Rolls

Mix and make a well with the following:

4 1/2C. flour, 2t. salt, 1/2c. sugar and 1/2c. powdered milk.

Then pour 1 1/2C. warm water and 2 packages of yeast into the well.

Cover with a towel for 15 minutes. Then add 1/2C. oil and 3 beaten eggs. Mix together well, (the dough will be sticky.) Add just enough flour to handle the dough. Let raise until it doubles in size.

Roll out and put melted butter on the dough some brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll up and slice then let them raise again.

Bake at 375* for 20 minutes. Then frost with powdered sugar frosting.

There is nothing better than a warm cinnamon roll - they are divine!

Blackout Cake

Last night when I went out to put my horses away, I noticed that my three year old horse, Sancho Juan Pablo, had a huge gash on his nose. It looks like he has three nose holes! There was a bunch of hay stuck in it so I decided I had better clean it out so it wouldn't get infected. He is so awesome - he just stood there and let me stick my hand clear up to the my knuckles inside the gash to get it all cleaned out. Yuck!

When I was little I wanted to be a veterinarian but when I found out you had to give shots and deal with blood, I decided it wasn't for me. Now that I have all these animals, I have to give shots, wormer, and deal with massive wounds and blood all the time! I should have gotten my degree so I could get paid for doing all this stuff! Once Lakota was being sassy and she backed into a trailer which resulted in a huge gash in her butt. Every time her heart beat the blood squirted out so I had to put my hand up inside the wound to put pressure on the artery until we could get her to the vet and get her stitched up. I was covered with blood. It's a good thing I love these animals so much!

Tonight is the big twelve year old Jurassic Park birthday party. Ken LOVES chocolate cake so I am going to make a version of the Cheesecake Factory's Linda's Fudge Cake that I found on line and decorate it with little dinosaurs. He wanted to watch a Jurassic Park video and make homemade pizza's. Sounds like a party to me!

Blackout Cake

In a large bowl, beat together 3/4C. butter and 3C. sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes). Add 3 eggs and 2t. vanilla and beat until well blended. Add 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate - melted and beat another 1-2 minutes then set aside.

Mix together 3C. flour, 3t. baking soda and 1/2t. salt. Add this to the chocolate mixture in two additions alternately with 3/4C. buttermilk. Beat until well blended. With mixer on low speed, add 1 1/3C. boiling water and beat until smooth (the batter will be thin). Pour the batter into two 9 inch round cake pans that have been dusted with flour.

Bake at 350* for 35-40 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then take them out of the pans and let cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the chocolate ganache:

In a 2 quart glass measuring bowl, combine 3 - 6oz. packages of semisweet chocolate chips (about 3C.) and 1 1/2C. heavy cream. Heat in the microwave for 3 minutes or until smooth when stirred. Stir in 2T. butter and 1t. vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until the ganache holds its shape and is thick enough to spread onto a cake.

To assemble, cover a cake layer with a little more than 1/3C. of chocolate ganache. Set second layer on top. Frost top and sides of cake then refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until the ganache is firm.

April Showers

Last night we went to a Scout Court of Honor for my boys. I was so proud of them. Alex wore his eagle medal. Bray received his life merit badge and can now start working on his Eagle. Ken was advanced to a first class scout and got his first four merit badges. It is a lot of work, but in the end I hope they thin it is worth it.

I love the rain! It seems so good and it makes everything so clean and fresh. It also makes weeding so much easier! Right now I can use all the help I can get in that department.
My good friend, Angie Lloyd taught me this secret. I was complaining about the weeds in my yard and she shared her secret with me - after it rains, go out and pull the weeds while the soil is still soft.

She also shared this yummy recipe for chicken pot pie with me. Thanks Angie!

Angie's Chicken Pot Pie

Boil 2 sliced potatoes, 1C. carrots (sliced), 2 stalks of celery, (diced) and 2 chicken breasts, (diced.) Drain off the broth and save 1C. Add 1 can of cream of chicken soup to the broth and 1/4C. milk. Stir thoroughly and add a little salt and pepper.

Put a premade pie dough circle into a pie tin. Put the chicken and veggies on top of it and then pour the cream of cream mixture over the top of that. Put another premade pie dough circle on the very top - pinching the edges together. Cut three slits in the top of the dough with a sharp knife and then brush with melted butter.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350* or until the crust turns a golden brown.

You Are My Sunshine

Yesterday was my youngest sons twelfth birthday. He is my little sunshine and always makes me laugh! When he grows up he wants to be a professional motorcycle rider like Travis Pastrana, but getting him out to ride the motorcycle is a challenge. Once he gets on it, he loves it, but it has to be his idea.

He loves to watch the television show, Sponge Bob and he retains the funny one liners off of it. Somehow he always pulls these phrases out at the perfect time to make us laugh. The other day he couldn't get the lid off of something and he said, "Oh tarter sauce." You can't help but laugh when he says something like that! Or another day he said, "What the Halibut?"

One time when we were down at Lake Powell with our friends, Lisa Labrum made egg McMuffins for breakfast. Just as Ken was about to put the Mcmuffin into his mouth, he started singing the McDonalds theme song, "ba, ba, ba, ba, ba - I'm lovin' it!" Lisa was laughing until she had tears rolling down her face.

Here is Lisa's McMuffin recipe:

Toast and butter two English muffin halves and top with a cooked egg (however you like it cooked), then add a slice of cooked Canadian bacon and then a slice of cheddar or American cheese on top. I like to microwave it for a few seconds to melt the cheese. You can also add a cooked sausage patty instead of the ham. Then sing: ba, ba, ba, ba, ba - I'm lovin' it!

When I was making my little Friendship Stew cookbook for all of my friends, Ken started looking through it and asked, "Where's my recipe?" I said, "I don't know, what do you cook?" He then told me to add his chocolate banana smoothie recipe. So he helped me design the page and I added it to the cookbook!

Ken's Chocolate Banana Smoothie

Cut up one banana into the blender, add 6 ice cubes, 1T. chocolate Ovaltine and 4C. milk. Blend it up and serve. Make sure you leave the chocolate mustache on your lip so everyone knows how good it was - like Ken does!

Spring!

I think spring is finally here! After such a cold long winter of 20 below some days, I am sooooo.... ready for the warm weather. Yesterday when I took Miss Renegade down to the trainer, I heard frogs croaking, bee's were buzzing and the birds were singing. It is music to my ears!

Everyone is buzzing around here to prepare for the growing season. The farmer who takes care of our hay field is grating today. Darren has been working on getting the irrigation line going. We have been burning all the dead weeds and today I planted some pasture grass seed. We are hoping to plant grass soon so we have been getting all of the planting areas ready. We planted 25 more tree's. That is one thing I hate about building a new home, there are no tree's! All together in the last two years we have planted over 200 trees. One day we will have quite the forest!

It is a sure sign that spring is here when my neighbor, Meradee, is out in her yard. She spends countless hours out there and it always looks amazing! I worked with Meradee in our ward's young women's program when I first moved here. She loves to cook and one day she made me this recipe for Baked Southwest Sandwiches. My stomach is growling just thinking about them!

Meradee's Southwest Sandwiches

Combine 1 can (4 oz) of chopped olives with 1/2t. chili powder, 1/2t. cumin, 1/2C. mayo, 1/3C. sour cream and 1/3C. chopped green onions. Spread this onto slices of french bread then add a slice of deli turkey sliced thin. On top of that add a slice of tomato then a little more of the mayo mixture, a slice of avocado and sprinkles with shredded cheddar cheese.

Bake at 350* for 15 minutes or until heated through.

It's Official!

It's official! The Tailwind Ranch is now a cattle ranch. Rosie and Ruby got to come home yesterday! It is so awesome to be working in the yard or be inside my house working and hear a big hearty, "MOOOO." The horses weren't too sure about them - especially my baby Copper who has never seen a cow before. She was excited to have new friends to play with!

We had to take the calves in the horse trailer to IFA to be weighed. While we were there, I saw all the baby chickens, ducks and turkeys that were for sale. Oh I am a sucker for babies! Darren wouldn't let me get any until I build a chicken coup first - which makes sense after my track record with birds.

A couple of years ago for my birthday a good friend of my mine, Richard Tolbert, gave me two baby ducks, two turkeys, a rooster and two chicks. I was so excited! We have a couple of big empty grain silo's so we put them inside of those as a make shift bird coup. Well the turkeys killed baby ducks. One of the turkeys ran away and something killed the second one. The chickens didn't make it either and the rooster either ran away or something ate him. Darren swore we would never have birds again. After tending Misty's chickens this week, he agreed it is nice to have fresh eggs.

Plus we could always eat chicken!

I found this recipe for Malibu Chicken which sounds good at this moment!

Malibu Chicken

Pound 6 boneless chicken breasts thin.

Stir 1 egg and 1T. water together with a fork.

Put 3/4C. bread crumbs into a bowl.

Combine 1/4C. flour, some salt and some pepper then coat the chicken breasts with this mixture, then dip into the egg mixture and then press firmly into the bread crumbs.

Heat 2T. oil and 2T. butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Brown each side for about 4 to 5 minutes. Then place the chicken on a cookie sheet and top each piece of chicken with a piece of thinly sliced cooked ham and a piece of swiss cheese. Bake at 350* until the cheese melts. Then top each piece with a little bit of the following mixture: 1t. mustard and 1/4C. of mayonnaise.

Raising boys

Today is my Mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Mom! Even though I don't live close enough to see her very often, I talk to her almost every day. She has traveled the world and loves to decorate and volunteer for different causes. I'm so glad she is my Mom! She doesn't understand

my whole horse obsession. She grew up on a farm and thinks it is all too much work. It is a lot of work, but it helps me raise my boys. This weekend, my brother-in-law was so impressed that my boys could all drive the tractors and heavy equipment so well. I said, "You thought I was raising horses, but I'm really raising boys."

A few days ago, I went to Salt Lake and I went to lunch with my Mom and my sisters to celebrate our birthdays. We went to Rumbi Grill. If you haven't ever been there you have to try it! Their barbecue chicken salad is to die for! This recipe is similar to it and you should try it!

Barbecue Chicken Salad

In a bowl, combine the following:

1 bag of Romaine lettuce mix

2 pieces of grilled terriyaki chicken - diced

1/2 can of black beans - drained

1/2 can of sweet white corn - drained

some cilantro - chopped

scallions - chopped

Roma tomatoes - diced

julienne carrots

jicama - diced

tortilla strips - (or crumble some tortilla chips)

1C. shredded mozzarella cheese

Top off with ranch dressing

Toss this all together. ALOHA!

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

My neighbors are out of town so I get to tend their animals while they are gone. The best part is there are six baby kittens I get to love! They are so adorable! The fresh eggs are a bonus too - maybe I should ask them if I could tend more often!

It's a good thing a I have been getting two or three eggs a day because I have been making all these breakfast casseroles that require lot's of eggs. My sister in law, Jenny, made this casserole for us one Christmas morning and it has become one of my families favorites!

Jenny's Christmas Casserole

Butter a casserole dish and add 8 pieces of sliced french bread. Cover them with 2C. shredded cheddar cheese. Brown 1 package of sausage and put on top of that. In a bowl, beat 4 eggs with 2 1/4C. milk. Pour this over the top of the french bread and refrigerate for 3 hours. Then mix 1/2C. milk and 1 can of cream of mushroom soup then pour this over the top of the french toast mixture and bake for 1 hour at 300*.

Mini Family Reunion

My husbands family came out this weekend. We haven't all been together for a very long time. His sister and Dad were missing, but everyone else came. We saddled up the horses and had a good laugh watching Darren's little brother try to act very brave, even though he was scared out of his wits! The kids had fun riding the motorcycles and playing in the dirt and then a group of them went up four wheeling to see some Indian petroglyph's. They got to see an added bonus - a grey wolf!

It was a fun weekend, but I am exhausted!

For breakfast, I made Rachel Baum's yummy French Toast Casserole recipe:

Break up a loaf of white bread into a casserole dish. Then combine 6 eggs, 1/2C. sugar, 1 1/2C. half and half, 1t. vanilla, 1/4t. cinnamon and 1 shake of nutmeg. Cover and refrigerate over night. In the morning, melt 1 cube of butter then add 1/2C. brown sugar and 1T. maple syrup. Drizzle this over the toast mixture and bake for 40 minutes at 350*.

Serve this with Carrie Caldwell's buttermilk syrup - which was listed on my last post.

WOW! Is all I can say - you can just feel the pounds growing on you as you eat this, but it is sooo... worth it!!

Pioneer Pancakes

The Green Chili Soup wasn't as good as I had remembered. I wonder if the Green's didn't give Deidre the secret ingredient! Next time I would add 1t. salt, some flour to thicken it up a bit and maybe some bacon grease to add a little more flavor.

I am up to my eye balls trying to plan a youth conference for the kids in my ward. The big event is supposed to happen on the 23rd and 24th. It will take a miracle to pull it off! We are doing a pioneer themed conference and they are all coming to the barn to play games to earn stuff for a trek, then we will have a square dance and they will sleep in tents inside the barn. On Saturday after a pancake breakfast, we will do a service project (the young men are in charge of this - so I don't know for sure what it is,) then hike through the hills near my home. Along the way they will get injured, some will die and be born into other families and we might even see some Indians. The trek will end at a spot where we will eat dinner and have a fireside.

I must be hungry because the pancakes are sounding soooo.... good at this moment!

I have the best buttermilk pancake recipe from one of my favorite friends, Lynette. This recipe makes a big batch, but they are so good everyone always eats every last one of the pancakes!

Lyn's Buttermilk Pancakes

Combine 5 eggs, 5C. flour, 4t. baking powder, 2t. baking soda, 2t. salt, 1/2C. sugar, 1 Qt. buttermilk, 1C. plus 1T. melted butter. Mix until just blended - it may have lumps.

These taste great with one of my other favorite people, Carrie Caldwell's, buttermilk syrup.

Carrie's Buttermilk Syrup

Boil 1/2C. buttermilk, 1 cube butter and 1C. sugar for 3 minutes. Take off the heat and add 1t. vanilla and 1/2t. baking soda. (If you don't have any buttermilk, use 1/2C. milk mixed with 1/2T. vinegar.

Ohhhh!!! My mouth is watering just thinking about these yummy treats!

Smokin' Chili Soup

Yesterday was my birthday. I feel like all I did was eat! I woke up to my family singing to me while I was served the breakfast of champions in bed.... a big pink sugar cookie with a candle in it and a coke. Then a couple of my friends took me to Betty's for pancakes and a coke. My husband took me to Cafe Rio to get my favorite tortilla soup and another coke for lunch. Then last night we went over to the Labrums for a pasta bar and the "better than anything cake". It was a great day! I didn't get many presents, but I got something better..... lot's of warm wishes from friends and family. I was overwhelmed with the love I felt from everyone yesterday.

I never know what my husband is going to do for my birthday. Sometimes he is so wrapped up with taxes that he barely remembers. Other times he goes all out and surprises me with something big.

One year he gave me an old Rolls Royce. I didn't even know what a Rolls was and he drove up in a beautiful black one. We had a lot of fun in that car. Our, "save a restaurant dinner club" used to take it when we would visit a dying restaurant. One year we took my mom to the Grand America for her birthday. We made her wear a crown and gave her a bottle of Grey Poupon for her birthday. We called her Queenie and the bell boy at the hotel asked us who she was because he thought she was a famous person.

The most memorable experience with that car though had to be the day it caught on fire. It was Christmas Eve and my husband went out to start it up to take it to Grandma's house for our family party. It dripped oil so he had put a piece of card board underneath it. Evidently it sparked and caught the card board on fire and then the car. Thank goodness, Dar rolled it out into the driveway before it caught our house on fire!

The fire department came and we had all the neighborhood in an uproar. It was quite the site! That night when my husband started it up to pull it back into the garage, he got quite a surprise when the brakes wouldn't work after the brake line was burned during the fire. He hurried and slammed it into park, but the big heavy car had already slammed into his metal tool chest and pushed it into the sheet rock at the front of the garage. Thank goodness he acted so quickly or it would have been in my family room next to the Christmas tree! But wait, that isn't the end of the story. When the tow truck man was unloading it off of his truck at Ken Garff Jaguar to have it fixed, he thought he could just roll it off of his truck. No, no, no! The big heavy car slammed into a brand new Jaguar. The Jag lost that fight! After that I called the car Christine, after the possessed car in the movie. We sold it last year because there wasn't really anywhere to go in it in our small town. Some how driving down my dirt driveway to go to Mc Donald's just didn't seem right. But we had lots of fun memories with that car!

One of my friends, Deidre Durrant, brought me over a plate of cookies yesterday. Then she and her cute daughter Ann sang to me with their amazing voices. She gave me the best present though.... the secret family recipe I have been trying to get from Stan Green for his awesome Green Chili Soup! Now that's a true friend!

Green Chile Soup

Brown a boneless pork roast.
Then, place it in a crock pot and cover with water.

Add: 2 onions, diced. 2 cans of diced green chilies, 1t. cumin, 1 1/2t. roasted garlic, 2 peeled and cubed potatoes, 1 can of pinto beans, 1 small jar of salsa, salt and pepper.

Cook on low in the crock pot all day. Shred the meat right before eating.

Serve with sour cream, tortilla chips and sprinkle with cheddar cheese.

Guess what we are having for dinner tonight?

Mexico

We got back from a ten day trip to Mexico on Saturday night. We drove down to my husbands fathers house in a tiny little place called Punta Bufeo on the Baja of Mexico. Right before we reached his dad's house, we saw a wild horse right by the side of the road and then I saw the most beautiful sight ever..... she had a baby that couldn't have been more than a day or two old standing next to her. It was amazing!

My boys had a fantastic time riding their motorcycles on the beach and around the sand dunes behind the house. Alex thought it would be fun to ride wheelies on the beach...after he biffed it three times, I insisted he stop so he didn't have another broken arm!

My youngest had a ball wandering around the tide pools catching creatures. We went with our friends the Bain's and their kids helped Ken build a crab castle where they deposited all of their new pets. The best find was a baby octopus. They put it in a square metal box and laughed their guts out when it inked on them!

One day we got the wave runners out and rode out to an island filled with sea lions. It was so fun to see them swimming around and following us. I wanted to jump in and swim with them like I did once in Cabo San Lucas, but it was a long ride back to the house and I didn't have a towel.

My husband went over to our Mexican friends house to use their phone and they said the phones weren't working after the earthquake. Earthquake? What earthquake! Sunday night, there was a 7.2 earthquake in Calexico - which was 100 miles away from where we were and we didn't even know it. We had been out on the beach riding in the razor and on the four wheelers collecting shells, so if the ground shook, we didn't feel it. As we drove home on Friday through Calexico, we started seeing tents everywhere. Then we started seeing houses and buildings with major damage and then there were places where the road had buckled and had huge gaps in it. There were Red Cross trucks passing out food. We were in shock! After we got home we regretted that we hadn't stopped and given those poor people everything in our cooler and our sleeping bags, pillows and blankets.

We ended up staying in a hotel right outside the border called El Centro. The television didn't work in our room. The lady at the front desk told us it was from the earthquake - most of the t.v.'s hit the floor. About 2 AM my husband woke up to a big bang and thought I was up doing something - we found out later it was a 4.5 after shock. Nice! Who's idea was it to stay there?

Anyway, we were grateful to make it home safely but we are missing the sand, sound of the waves and the 80 degree weather. We just have to eat our guacamole and dream!

My husband makes the best guacamole -

Cut up and mash one avocado.

Add: 3T. fresh salsa, some garlic salt and squeeze in a fresh lime.

Open a cold coke then sit back and dream of sitting in the soft sand!