Summer salad

Oh my goodness! This salad is so yummy. A massive thanks to my brother-in-law, Kyle for sharing! I have literally had this several times the past few weeks.

Salad:
1 bag of Spring Mix
1-2 peaches chopped
1 bunch radishes chopped, without the greens.
1 green onion chopped
1/4 cup slivered almonds

For dressing:
1/8 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp vinegar
2 tsp honey
Salt and pepper to taste

I have also used spinach and it's been amazing!

6 Months!!!

I can't believe that Brooklyn is ALREADY six months old!! Holy cow!! I am loving this age, but I miss my cuddly little girl!  She scoots everywhere now and loves to play on her belly!

She is:
14.7lbs (19%)
27 inches (80%)
Taking after her daddy in being so tall and skinny.

Feeding her baby food now for breakfast, lunch and dinner! She loves it! Still nursing through the night like a champ. Just a little distracted lately and I'm considering a Nursing Necklace!

Beef Enchiladas and FHE Hot Fudge Cake

I LOVE my magazines that I get from Taste of Home every month and I thought I would share a recipe from there today. I found an excellent Hot Fudge cake in there and made it today! First, I would like to share with you all the beef enchiladas I made. I'm sorry, I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of our food because we ate it all!

Garlic Beef Enchiladas

1/2 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped *
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 can (about 7 ounces) Diced tomatoes **

Sauce
1/3 cup butter
4 to 6 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup water
2 tsp beef bullion
1 can (14 1/2 oz) tomato sauce
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt

10 flour tortillas
2 cups of your favorite cheese (we used Medium Chedder)

Brown meat and onion until beef crumbles. Then add the next six ingredients and stir until incorporated.
Set aside

For the sauce, Melt butter and add garlic and stir until garlic is soft. Then add flour and stir until smooth. Then add water and bullion and stir until boiling. Add the rest of the ingredient and heat through.

Put sauce on the bottom of the pan and then fill each tortilla with some beef and some cheese, fold and stick in pan. Spread remaining sauce over enchiladas and top with cheese. Bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes.

* - I always use dried chopped onions. Still gives it the same flavor, but cut small enough that my family doesn't know it's there.
** - I only used half the can of diced tomatoes, but if you like tomatoes you can add the whole can.

Hot Fudge Cake

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
6 Tbsp baking coca, divided
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup 2% milk
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 3/4 cups hot water
Ice cream or whipped cream, optional

In large bowl combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar 2 Tbsp cocoa baking powder and salt). Then in another bowl combine milk, oil and vanilla and add to the dry. Stir until moist. Put in a 9 inch baking dish. Then mix together 4 Tbsp of cocoa and 1 cup brown sugar and sprinkle on top of dough. Then add hot water to the top and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Jaron's birthday

We had a fabulous day yesterday. Jaron's brother got him a helicopter ride for his birthday and I had the privilege of riding along with him! 

I especially loved flying around the temple.

We also got to see the capital as well and that was cool. Everything looked toy-like. It was fun!!!

 

We found out that evening that Jaron's aunt died in a tragic car accident. Our prayers are with her children as our hearts are all breaking. We won't be able to go to the funeral, but that's okay. I am grateful for the knowledge I have of the gospel and that I know the savior died for us so that we can live again together forever. There is nothing else than that which gives me the daily comfort I need.

Lemon Poppy Seed muffins with Crumb Topping

I love to bake, especially in the spring. Lately I haven't been able to with a little one. So when Brooklyn sleeps Mommy bakes. The other day I confessed to my sister Alicia that I have a Lemon and Poppy seed obsession. Hey, it's spring, and nothing says spring better than lemon and poppy seed!!! My other sister, Sharlotte, has a lemon tree and I can't wait to get some from her sometime to make this again!

I found this recipe online and decided to add some of a twist to the original. Every time I got to the bakery I used to work, I have to will myself not to buy the crumb muffins because I believe that they are slightly overpriced and I can't eat an entire 12 pack myself either. It's either 12 for $8.99 which isn't bad or one for $1.29 which can be. I gave in last week and got a lemon poppy seed one with the crumb topping. I have never made them, but I decided to try it out.

For the Muffin Batter
2/3 cup sugar
Grated zest 2 lemons
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sour cream 
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

For the Crumb topping:
1/4 Flour
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 Tbs softened butter.


First you mix the sugar with the zest of Lemon until it has flavor. It will look like this:

Then mix in all the dry ingredients next: Flour, Baking powder, Baking soda and salt. Then in another bowl melt butter and add Sour cream, eggs, vanilla and juice of lemon. Mix liquid into your dry ingredients, stir until combined and do not over stir. Add Poppy Seeds last.

For the crumb topping, Mix everything in a bowl with electric mixer until it resembles fine sand.

Top muffins with crumb topping:

Yum!! Enjoy!!!

4 Month Stats.

Took Brooklyn to the doc today and found out all of her growing stats! I was soo excited to see how much she grew!

Weight: 13 lbs 13 oz (41.5%)
Height: 25.5 inches (87.5%)
Head circumference 15.75 inches (30.5%)

She is a little small in everything but her height! She is almost always over 80% in that. It does help having a great grandpa over 6 feet tall!!

She can roll from front to back, just started rolling back to front the other day, reaching for toys, laughing (even though she doesn't share that too often), and she's starting to put her legs under her during tummy time!!! Wahoo!

Goals for this month: We are going to try to introduce rice cereal! Doctor said that we can introduce that around 4-6 months and she seems to get extremely hungry at night and it seems like she is never truly satisfied so we are going to try it!

Conference weekend with Sweet Cornbread

This weekend was a little dreary so what better than to have a chili and Cornbread meal!! I thought it was the best idea ever!!!

I love LDS conference for several reasons. My favorite is the talks about faith. I love hearing about ways to strengthen my faith in our church and in the lord and so that someday it will become a strong conviction. I was impressed by the comment about a happy child is one who sings throughout the day. I love my children. They are such a joy in my life.

My other joy is baking. I am not very good at anything else, but I know that I can bake excellent desserts and other items to satisfy my enormous sweet tooth. I have always loved sweet cornbread and my favorite is the one I get at my local grocery store that they make from scratch  I discovered this one about a month ago and wrote it down after I tried and promptly forgot where I got it from, but it is sooo good!

It is sweet with a cake-like texture! Enjoy!

• 4 eggs, whites and yolks seperated
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 2 cups flour
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine egg yolks, milk, vanilla, and cooled melted butter and stir.
3. Mix in cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt, stirring to incorporate - but do not over mix.
4. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Carefully fold them into the batter.
5. Pour into a greased 8x8 pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Check with a toothpick to make sure it is cooked through.