What Happened To Halloween?

I am seriously contemplating writing Vernal City a letter to ask them what they are doing. Today when I was driving downtown, the city workers were putting up Christmas decorations. What happened to Halloween?

Every spring, Vernal city plants a ton of planters along main street full of petunias Since we have have such a warm fall, the flowers are still in full bloom. So, right next to the pots of bright pink flowers there are now Christmas decorations. Kind of a funny combination right before Halloween!

Last weekend was a fun filled weekend with my family. I went into Salt Lake to celebrate my niece, Nicole's birthday and then drove back in Friday night so I could be there for my other niece, Tiffany's, wedding. My kids were elated to be able to spend time with their cousins. Ken and my nine year old nephew had a blast dancing at the wedding. It was funny to see Ken doing, "the sprinkler," and "the lawn mower." They had a blast dancing with their Grandma - (who also loves to dance, they must of inherited that gene from her.) I know it is something they will remember forever!

Right after the wedding ceremony, a bunch of waiters were walking around serving appetizers before dinner. They were good, but none were as good as my sister-in-law, Jenny's stuffed mushrooms that she always serves for Christmas. (All the Christmas decorations made me think about them!)

Jen's Stuffed Mushrooms

Wash one package of mushrooms and remove the stems. Brown a package of sausage and combine with one block of cream cheese. Stuff the mushrooms with this mixtures and place top side down on a cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes at 350*.

Inspiring Weekend To Recharge The Old Batteries

Dar and I spent a wonderful couples weekend at Powell. The weather was amazing! The water was a tad bit chilly, but when the temperatures got up into the 90's, it felt good. It was so nice to sit and read a book in the sun. I can't even remember the last time I was able to do that. I read Volume I of the, "Discourses President Gordon B. Hinckley." He was such an amazing man. I love to read books that leave me wanting to be better and renew my desire to help others and that is what this book did for me.

Saturday and Sunday we watched general conference. My presidency had given the young women in my ward the assignment to watch and write down their favorite quote so we can make a special gift for our bishop. I had so many favorite quotes it is going to be hard to choose one! Some of my favorites included: "Honor is the rich soil where the seed of faith thrives," by D. Todd Christofferson. Or Richard G. Scott's statement, "Nobility of character...gives life direction." I also liked Richard G. Scott's quote, "We become what we want to be by being what we want to become."

I love hearing President Monson speak. He talked about gratitude and said, "To live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven." But my favorite speaker was President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. The main theme of his talk was to SIMPLIFY, which I need to do desperately. President Uchtdorf is a retired pilot and his comments always relate to flying. He said when you experience turbulence, reduce your speed. Just like when you come to speed bumps, slow down a little so you can steady the course because that is when the adversary likes to hit you. I resolved that I am going to try to follow his advice to, "slow down a little and focus on the significant." I'm going to have to start next week because this week is going to be full of trying to get ready for my nieces wedding and then a fun family vacation. Hmmmm....Maybe after the holidays???!!!!

It was an uplifting, inspiring weekend, but I'm glad to be home with my boys. On the last night we were at Powell, we decided to use up all of our left overs from the weekend. We came up with a wonderful recipe that I call, farmers stir fry, because it came from everything home grown on my farm.

Farmers Stir Fry

In a large pan, cook four diced potatoes (we used white and red from our garden)in
4T. butter for about 10 minutes then add some fresh green beans, fresh pea pods, and diced zucchini and cook for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes start to soften up a bit. Season with some Jamaican me crazy season salt or any other season salt, some pepper,onion powder and garlic salt. Then add in some left over grilled steak (from Rosie the cow)that has been diced, and cook for another 5 minutes just to warm the steak up.

Hot Toppings

Last night we decided to go to the lake at the last minute for family home evening. It was a hot day and the lake was smooth as glass and looking very inviting from my window. We found the Baum family there with some of the Cummings. Ken immediately wanted to get on Russ's boat so he could have tube wars. So we exchanged a few kids and played for an hour until the sun went down. Darren was water skiing and sprayed their whole boat with his big wake. It was hilarious!

Tomorrow night I am having all of the mutual girls come to my house to eat ice cream and have a game night. My assignment was the ice cream toppings. For some reason, Walmart was out of almost all of the good ice cream toppings so I decided I would come home and make my own. Homemade is better anyways.

Hot Caramel Sauce

In a small pan, melt 1/2C. butter. Then add 1C. brown sugar and whisk until it is thick (about 2 minutes), then whisk in 2/3C. heavy whipping cream and whisk for another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add 1t. vanilla. Serve hot and store in the fridge.

Hot Fudge Sauce

In a large sauce pan, combine 2C. semisweet chocolate chips and 1C. butter. Stir until melted and combined. Gradually add 4C. powdered sugar and 2 2/3C. evaporated milk. Increase the heat and boil cook stirring constant. Remove from the heat and stir in 1t. vanilla and 1/8t. salt.
Serve warm and store in fridge.

Don't Try This At Home!

We had a whirlwind weekend with our friends so I am exhausted! Friday night we loaded up the horses and went for a fun ride up by the dam at Flaming Gorge with the Labrums. The views were spectacular, but we were riding mostly in the pine trees so we didn't get to enjoy the autumn colors. Renegade had thrown a shoe and I didn't realize it until right before we left so I put a boot on her. She kept stumbling with it on and almost went all the way down and scraped her nose. Poor thing! After that we went to the Flaming Gorge lodge and I had the best chicken friend chicken. If only I could make it like they can!

Saturday, our friends from high school, Matt and Tracy Hansen came and stayed with us on their way home from watching their oldest daughter, Ellie play softball in Rangly, Colorado. We had tons of fun riding the horses. We even got Matt on a horse. He was swearing the whole time because he was so scared whenever Ellie came along side and made his horse run. It was hilarious! Cute Ellie was still wearing her softball uniform from her games, it was quite a sight to see!

Darren took Matt on a wild ride in the razor to see the petroglyphs up the canyon, they came back with huge smiles covered in dust. The weather was perfect for sitting out on the porch laughing and talking for hours. Alex took Ellie, who is sixteen, to a bonfire with a bunch of his friends. Afterwards, he received a bunch of texts from the guys asking if Alex could get them her phone number for them. Ellie and Alex hit it off pretty good and spent the evening texting each other.

I tried to make a funeral potato casserole for dinner Saturday using zucchini instead of potatoes. I would highly NOT RECOMMEND trying this because there was too much moisture from the zucchini and it was more like cheesy zucchini soup. Next time I will probably just add 2C. of zucchini into the potatoes.

I keep thinking about the yummy dinner Friday night so I found this recipe for the chicken fried chicken - hopefully it will be as good as the one I had at the lodge!

Chicken Fried Chicken

Beat together 1 egg and 1/2C. milk and set aside. Then mix together 1/2t. salt,
1/4t. paprika and 1/4t. pepper and sprinkle on both side of four boneless skinless chicken breasts.

Dredge the chicken breasts in a bowl filled with 2C. flour, shaking off the excess then dip it into the egg/milk mixture and back into the flour.

Heat some cooking oil that is a half an inch deep in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Place the chicken into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes until the chicken pieces are cooked through. Drain on paper towels.

Serve with this cream gravy recipe:

After the chicken is done, pour off all but about 2T. of the oil trying to save as many of the browned pits in the pan. Heat over medium heat. Sprinkle 3T. of the left over chicken flour into the hot oil. Stir with a wooden spoon, quickly, to brown. Gradually stir in 3/4C. milk and 3/4C. water, mixed together, stirring constantly and mashing out any lumps. Lower the heat and continue cooking until it reaches the desired consistency. Add some salt and pepper to taste.

Pucker Up!

We haven't seen our good friends, the Caldwells, for a long time so last night we went over to their house for dinner. Carrie is the most amazing cook I know so I was very excited to see what she had whipped up for us. Their front window was open as we walked up to the front door and I could smell Mexican food. Yeah! I love Mexican! She had asked me to bring over some tomatoes. Evidently they were pretty juicy ones because just as I walked into her kitchen with a brown paper sack full, the bottom fell out and we had tomatoes everywhere! Watch out! The Christensons are in the house! After we cleaned up the mess, we made taco salads and Carrie served us some Brazilian lemonade. Wow is all I can say! It was soooo.... good. While we looked at the house plans for their new house we ate homemade key lime pie. I'm not even going to attempt that one, but I know I can make the lemonade.

Brazilian Lemonade

In a blender, combine 5C. water, 1/2C. sugar, 3T. sweetened condensed milk and three limes. Then pour into a pitcher with cheese cloth on top to catch the limes. Serve over ice and pucker up!

Stir Fryin'

I love this weather! Warm during the day and cool at night. I wish it would stay this way all year.

My garden is overflowing with veggies! The other day I was excited to see the peas growing. I had about given up on them because they didn't get enough water while I was in Africa. One little row of green beans has been producing a basket full about every other day. So I decided to make stir fry with the fruits of my labor for dinner. It was so good - my family ate a huge pan full of it!

Cook two cups of sticky rice according to the directions and set aside.

Dice two steaks (whatever kind you like best) and place in a frying pan with 2T. oil. Cook until it is lightly browned. Add 2C. fresh green beans, 2C. fresh snap peas (still in the pods), 1/2 of a small onion diced, 1C. sliced carrots or matchstick carrots, 1T. garlic, 1T. Maggi Seasoning (I found this by the rice at the grocery store), and 2T. Cantonese Oyster Flavored Sauce, (this was also by the rice.) Simmer for 8 -10 minutes.

Serve this over the rice.

Raining Cats and Dogs

It was raining cats and dogs yesterday. That always means flooded apartments because the stairwells get full of water. It also means mud everywhere! I am surrounded by mud until we get the grass put in my back yard and the driveway paved. Hopefully this weekend we can get the sprinklers put in and solve the first problem. As for the driveway, maybe one day when the apartment business picks up we will be able to pave the road but until then it's just mud!

We played ultimate Frisbee in the rain for mutual last night. Everyone was having so much fun, no one really noticed how cold and wet they were. All three of my boys had a blast.

It was cold again this morning which makes me think it is soup season. Here is a great recipe for tortilla soup.

Boil three chicken breasts, remove them from the water and shred. In a large pot, add one can of Campbell's nacho cheese soup, one can of chicken broth, 3 cans of water, the shredded chicken, 1/2C. match stick carrots and 2C. salsa. Simmer for one hour then serve with grated cheddar cheese, crumbled tortilla chips, some guacamole and sour cream.