Oh Baby!

Yesterday, my friend Lisa called and said she was at the hospital with her daughter Jessie who was having contractions. I ran down to the hospital to take her a treat and as I watched the nurses putting the IV in and watching the monitor with the babies progress, it brought back all the memories of when I had my three boys. I had a hard time delivering each one of them I was so grateful it was her laying there about to deliver and not me. She wasn't dilating so they ended up doing an emergency c - section and Jaycee arrived about nine o'clock last night. I'm excited to go see her this morning!

We have been friends with the Labrums for about sixteen years. It started out with our husbands going snowmobiling together and they are practically family now. It was amazing to think as I watched Jessie lay there about to deliver last night that I knew her when she was so young.

One of the things we like to do with the Labrums is celebrate birthday dinners together. Since Lisa is the better cook, she usually brings the cake. One of my favorites that she makes is her Red Velvet Cake. I can't make it as good as she can, but it is yummy!

Red Velvet Cake

Combine 1 chocolate cake mix with 1C. sour cream, 1/2C. water, 1/4C. oil, 1 (1 ounce) bottle of red food coloring and 3 eggs. Beat on high for 2 minutes. Pour into two 9 inch round pans that have been greased and floured. Bake 25-35 minutes at 350*. Cool for 15 minutes then remove from the pans.

Frosting:

Combine 1 1/2C. milk with 1/2C. flour in a sauce pan, cook until thick - cover with plastic wrap and cool. Beat 1 1/2C. butter and 1 1/2 C. sugar until light and fluffy. Combine the flour mix 2 T. at a time, beating well in between. Beat on high until smooth then add 1T. vanilla. Then frost the cooled cakes.

If the glass slipper fits, wear it!

Last night for mutual, we had a Princess finishing school night. If you have ever seen the Princess Diaries, it was a similar challenge to teach these young girls how to sit properly, (I get tired of seeing their underwear on Sunday's when they wear skirts.) We also taught them how to walk with good posture, how to talk like a princess and wear makeup in moderation like a princess. I had another brilliant idea when I was planning this night - I took my ironing board and a bunch of my ironing and had one of the leaders teach them how to iron so they could wear clothes that weren't wrinkled and look like a princess. By doing this, I eliminated several shirts from my very large pile in my ironing bin - I absolutely HATE ironing!

At the end of the night I gave each of them a little plastic Cinderella slipper with a note that said, "If the glass slipper fits, wear it!"

It was a lot of fun and I hope they all learned something.

I found this recipe which I am excited to try for Baked Ziti. It involves two of my favorite things: Pasta and it is sooooo.... EZ!

Baked Ziti Supreme

Cook 1 pound of ground beef and add 1 medium onion, chopped. Pour off any fat. Stir in 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce. Add 1C. mozzarella cheese and 5C. medium tube shaped pasta that has been cooked. Spoon this mixture into a shallow baking dish and sprinkle with more mozzarella cheese and 1/4C. of Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes.

Seeing my ironing pile a little smaller gave me hope, so today I am going to tackle the rest. It's a Cinderella life I tell ya!

New Way To Pop Your Corn

My mom sent me an email with a video of some people using their cell phones to pop some kernals of popcorn. I was a little skeptical at first but the evidence is alarming! Go to www.dailymotion.com/video/x5odhh_pop-corn-telephone-portable-mocro-o_news. You may never want to use your cell phone again!

My friend, Michele Fitt gave me a recipe for microwave carmel popcorn that I just love! I think I will stick to it instead of using my cell phone!

Michele's Microwave Carmel Popcorn

Pop a bag of pop corn and set aside.

Combine 1C. sugar, 1 cube butter, 1/4C. Karo syrup and 1/4t. salt in a 2 quart bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. Add 1/2t. baking soda.

Put the popped popcorn into a large brown paper bag and pour the syrup over it and shake.

Cook in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes, shaking the bag every 30 seconds.

Midnight Surprise

Last spring, my husband happened to cut through our pasture and noticed a brand new baby horse in our neighbors, the Binghams, field. He knew the Binghams were out of town so he called Marty and asked him if they got a new colt. Marty was shocked and said he didn't know what my husband was talking about. Evidently, he didn't even know the horse was pregnant! The even funnier things is, my husband kept asking Marty if he needed more hay, but Marty told him his horse was getting to fat and could just eat sticks for a while. The moral of the story is, if your horse starts getting really fat, you might wanna check to see if she is pregnant!

It was cold, rainy and his other horse, (appropriately named Cain,) was upsetting the mother whose name was Midnight. So we caught the mama and brought her and the baby up to the warm barn where she would be safe. We kept him in our corrals for a few months so they could work with him easier. I thought they should call the colt Midnight's Surprise but they named him Bolt. He was so cute! His mom was a wild mustang that was trained and while she was at the trainer, she got pregnant and no one knew. We still laugh about it every time we see him.

About a year ago, Michelle Bingham brought me an Amish Friendship Bread Starter - it was a little work to keep up, but it is soooo.... good! Plus it is fun to share with friends.

Amish Friendship Bread Starter

In a small bowl, dissolve 1 pkg. active dry yeast and let it stand about 10 minutes.

In a 2 qrt. container glass, plastic or ceramic container, combine 1 C. flour and 1 C. sugar. Mis thoroughly. Slowly stir in 1C. milk and the dissoved yeast mixture. Cover loosely and let stand until bubbly. Consider this to be day 1 of the cycle. Put into a ziplock baggie at room temperature.

Day 1 - Do nothing. (Today you received the bag, or go by the date on the bag.)

Day 2 - Mush the bag

Day 3- Mush the bag

Day 4 - Mush the bag

Day 5 - Mush the bag

Day 6 - Add 1C. flour, 1C. sugar and 1C. milk to the bag

Day 7 - Mush the bag

Day 8 - Mush the bag

Day 9 - Mush the bag

Day 10 -

Pour the entire contents of the bag into a non-metal bowl.

Add 1 1/2C. flour, 1 1/2C. sugar and 3/4C. milk.

Measure out 4 separte batters of 1 Cup each into 1 gallon zip lock bags.

Keep one starter for yourself and share the other three with friends along with a copy of

this recipe. Write the date on the bag so everyone will know what day it was started.

Preheat the oven to 325*

To the remaining batter in the bowl, add:

3 eggs

1 1/2C. milk

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1C. oil

1 C. sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 C. flour

1 lrg. box of instant vanilla pudding

Grease 2 large loaf pans or 4 small loaf pans and mix in a separate bowl:

1/2C. sugar and 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Dust loaf pans with half of this mixture.

Pour the batter evenly nto the bread pans and sprinkle with the remaining

cinnamon mix on top.

Bake 1 hr. or 40 min. if using the small pans

Cool until the bread loosens from the sides of the pans about 10 min.

If you keep a starter for yourself, you will be baking every 10 days. The bread is very good and makes a great gift for a friend!

All Dogs Go To Heaven

Yesterday was a horrible day at my house. My husband ran over my golden retriever puppy, Zoe and she is now in doggie heaven. It was totally an accident and he feels horrible about it. I will miss her tremendously because she was my little ray of sunshine. She followed my middle boy around like a shadow when he was home, so I am really worried about him. But he seems to be taking it as good as can be expected.

Some good things came about as a result of the accident. My oldest son bought me a dozen red roses. He treats me like a queen and kept asking me if I was ok. When I told my youngest what had happened, he didn't say anything. So I asked him if he was sad and he said no. He is developmentally delayed and he stutters, so communicating his feelings is really hard for him to do. It doesn't matter if he has been spit on by a mean boy on the bus, had his tooth knocked out by a kid on the playground or lost his clarinet, he always answers that his day was great...mostly because I think he doesn't want to talk about it. But at the dinner table last night, he was listening to his ipod and when I asked him to please turn it off he got mad. So his Dad took the ipod and threw it. He exploded and told us he was angry because his dad "freakin' threw his ipod!" Now I don't like my boys to use the word, "freakin'" because it is just a replacement for an even worse word, but I was so happy to hear him use it I couldn't get mad. Then he asked me if he could talk to me after dinner. WOW! This never happens. As we talked, he told me school just isn't fun anymore and everything about it is bad. Then I told him I was proud of him for telling me how he felt and that whenever he felt, mad or frustrated he needed to tell me and I would help him. Then he said, "What about sad?" I told him yes, sad too and then he started crying and told me he was sad about Zoe. It really broke my heart when he told me through his sobbs that he knows Zoe is with Jesus. It was truly a huge deal that he was talking to me like this and hopefully I can help him through his problems at school because he knows he can tell me about them.

I got Zoe from my twin sister. She had a litter of ten puppies and she loved this dog as much as I did. She is my idol and I am so glad she is my sister. She and her family are big American Idol fans. Every Tuesday night, they have my mom over for dinner and an American Idol night. This week she made this yummy soup and I can't wait to make it for my family!

Idol Soup

Cook a roast and save the left over juice. Shred the meat and put it into a crock pot with the juice. Add a can of corn - not drained, 3C. salsa and 1 can of chili. Let this simmer all day. A few minutes before serving, add 1 tub of sour cream. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and crumbled chips.

Green Eggs and Ham

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! To celebrate, it is, "National Read Across America Day!" Grab a good book and enjoy the day.

Only in Vernal can you find a large green dinosaur wearing a Dr. Seuss hat! Every few weeks the city workers dress this dinosaur up to celebrate whatever holiday is coming up. It is hilarious to see bunny ears on top of it's head or even a big sparkler hanging out of it's mouth. Sometimes I go out of my way to drive past, just to see what costume it is decorated with!

To celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday, we will be eating green eggs and ham. I am anticipating that my youngest will say, "I do not like green eggs and ham," but I know he will like the little Dr. Seuss hats.

Green Eggs and Ham Corn Bread Quiche

Make a package of corn bread muffins according to the directions. Line the muffin tin with paper liners and then fill them 1/4 of the way full with the corn bread mix. Bake at 350* for five minutes. While these are baking, combine 6 eggs, 1C. shredded cheddar cheese, 1C. chopped ham (or you can use crumbled bacon) and whatever else you like in your quiche. Since we are eating green eggs and ham today, add a little green food coloring to the mix. Pour this mixture over the top of the corn bread muffins in the tins and bake for about 8 minutes or until the eggs are set up.

Dr. Seuss Hats

Using a small cookie cutter, cut out round slices of monteray jack cheese and beef stick pieces that are about 1/8 inch thick.

Place a small dab of cream cheese on a round Ritz cracker, then put a slice of the beef stick on top of it, then put another dab of cream cheese and add a slice of monteray jack cheese. Alternate layers of beef stick, and the monteray jack cheese until you have a Dr. Seuss hat.

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." Dr. Seuss

All Accounted For

Yesterday my golden retriever puppy brought me some presents .... chicken feet and then the wings. This morning she brought in a chicken head. Nervously I called my next door neighbor and asked her how many of her chickens were missing. She called me back after counting and said they were all accounted for. WHEW! Now the big question is where is Zoe getting these pats and pieces from? Around here, if your dog is caught killing chickens, they can be shot because once they have a taste for the birds, they won't leave them alone!

This weekend I spent a lot of time moving the snow banks that were piled all over our property so as the snow melted, the water would run into the pasture instead of down my drive way to make a mud puddle. In two of the piles I found dead chickens. In November, something was killing everything around here....including my favorite cat! The night after the murder, one of my sons saw a coyote so we hoped that was the culprit. But we had also heard rumors of a mountain lion sighting.... hopefully it was the first creature and not the second who was doing the dirty deeds! Anyway, I wonder if whatever the killer animal was, took it's favorite parts of the chicken and left the rest for my puppy. Either way I'm not happy about the gifts!

Speaking of Chicken, here is a great recipe for Crescent Chicken Squares:

In a bowl, combine 1 - 3oz. pkg. of cream cheese, softened with 2T. melted butter until smooth. Add 2C. cubed cooked, chicken, 1/4t. salt, 1/8t. pepper, 2T. milk and 1T. chopped onion.

Separate two 8oz. cans of pop-n-fresh crescent dinner rolls into 8 rectangles. Fill with the cream cheese mixture and seal the edges of the dough.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and brush with melted butter, then sprinkle with crushed saltine crackers.

Bake 350* for 20-25 min.