Only in Colorado. Most of our snow is now melted. But you can see the nice mountain we had in front and behind our house this morning! Charlie has been loving the snow. I have been doing puzzles, sewing, eating ice cream and wishing Josh was off today to enjoy this "snow day" with me!
Another recipe for you...this one is REALLY good.
I modified it from a once a month cooking cookbook. You can bake these up and then freeze them and then just reheat them in the oven when you are ready to eat them. We thought they were better with ranch but pizza sauce is a good dip too.
Pizza Rolls
1 Pizza crust rolled out to 14x24 inches
1 pound ground turkey or other meat
1 can mushrooms, chopped finely
3 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese
2 tsp each of pizza seasoning, basil, oregano
You can use pre made pizza dough/crust or you can make your own. Roll it to a 14x24 rectangle. Brown your ground turkey and add the herbs to flavor it. Next add in mushrooms and remove from heat. Spray pizza crust with olive oil, cover with meat and mushroom mixture. Top with shredded cheese. Push toppings slightly into the dough. You will be rolling the dough up jelly roll style so if you don't do this step you will have toppings all over the place.
So next, roll up the dough from the 24 inch side. Pinch the last edge in so that it stays rolled up. Cut roll into 24 1-inch slices. Place on jelly roll pan and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes or until the dough starts to get golden brown. Remove from oven and top rolls with Parmesan or Romano. Another thing you can do that I didn't do the first time is to brush them with olive oil or garlic butter after you bake them.
If you want to freeze any of them just let them cool and then place in a freezer bag until you are ready to use.
Very tasty little treats!! :)
I seem to have forgotten about this blog. Sorry! So here is a little treat to tide you over...
A delicious recipe:
Mexican Chicken and Rice Casserole
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts-cooked and shredded or chopped
2 packages of Spanish rice
2 1/2 cups of Co-Jack shredded cheese
1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
1 small can of diced green chiles
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of Southwest style tomatoes, with juices
1 can of corn
Begin by preparing the Spanish rice according to the box. When rice is beginning to cook but still has a decent amount of liquid in the pan, add your tomatoes, black beans, corn and chiles. Give it a good stir and then put the lid on and let the juices disappear as they normally do when you prepare rice. :) After rice has finished cooking (the liquid should be gone now), stir in plain yogurt, 2 cups of cheese, and all of the prepared chicken. Pour into casserole dish and top with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.
Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes. Serve with a side of tortilla chips.
This makes a pretty big casserole but you can easily reduce the size with reducing your ingredients!
Enjoy!
This past weekend we had the great opportunity to go to Estes Park for a weekend of hiking, snowshoeing, and spending time with friends. We were so blessed when we got the invite and looked at our calendar and saw that Josh had the whole weekend off! Since Monday was a holiday I had the day off of work and although Josh was scheduled to work he was able to get a sub for the first half of the day. We went with our friends the Short's and Nordgren's and we were able to bring our dogs thanks to a pet friendly cabin rental. This was also a blessing to not have to find a dog sitter. We also got a pass to Rocky Mountain National Park and although dogs are not allowed in the park they are allowed in the National Forest which is right near the park. We arrived on Friday night and went straight to bed. We took the dogs hiking on Saturday and then spent Sunday snowshoeing through RMNP. Monday we got up and around and checked out and then drove home. There was also a hot tub at the cabin so that made it even better! If you want to see pictures, please visit our Picasa album. There is a separate album for each day. Have a great day!
Well we had a great Christmas and New Year. We are excited at what 2009 will be bringing us!
Our favorite Christmas gift is a Macbook Pro. I won't tell you how much time we spent on the computer during our time off together.
Sometimes Josh worries about what I eat while he is at work...but he shouldn't, here is the kind of stuff I have been eating. I have been mastering the grill pan and sirloin deal. The potatoes are Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes.
Next up, we have the cutest little red chair that was a hand-me-down. It was missing a chunk 
out of the arm and most people think that Charlie did it but seriously she is not that destructive. So I have been threatening to make arm covers for the chair but I just never got around to it. Finally I did!
The tan microsuede matches the back pillows on our couch so it does all work together.
That is about all we have been up to. I have been working on sewing diapers for the baby and on Thursday we will find out if it is a boy or girl.
We are hooked.
We have seen the movie twice now and borrowed the book from a friend. After both racing through it we went to the store and bought Twilight and New Moon because we just wanted to read them again and again. Upon checking out at Barnes & Noble, the cashier said to me, "I took the liberty of including a gift receipt for both books."
HAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Apparently young adults are not supposed to be devouring reading these books.
Also, we were trying to use cash this weekend so when we went to buy the books I used a big stack of one dollar bills and a few stacks of quarters to pay. And he still thought I needed a gift receipt?!
HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
J
Hey if you would like to see what we have really been up to lately, check this out.
Have a great day!
So this was yesterday—Charlie and her cute little scarf. My MIL, Linda, showed me this great idea and Charlie loved it.
Well this is our 100th post and I am going to blow it on a quick movie review. Not a big deal. :)
This weekend we saw the movie Changeling. Since we no longer have a TV and don't see all the previews we really didn't know too much about the movie before going to see it. Based on a true story, the movie was very touching. Angelina Jolie did a fantastic job and although I am not usually a fan of her and her lips I thought she was great in this role. At the end of the movie most everyone in the theatre stayed seated for a little longer than they would after a comedy or lighter content movie.
If you are not familiar with the story, a woman, Christine Collins leaves her son at home on a Saturday while she goes to work as a manager at a telephone operator company. In the movie she tells him they will go see a movie on Sunday but in another description of the actual story I read that she left him with a dime to go see a movie. This happened in the late 20's. So, Christine returns home from work later that day to an empty house. Her sweet son has disappeared. She calls the LA Police and they tell her they won't take a missing person report until the person has been missing for 24 hours so she calls back as soon as she can the next day. Time goes by and eventually the police return her "son" who has been "found" in Illinois. At first glance Christine says it is not her son and thus begins the meat of the story. Through the process of trying to prove that this boy is not her son it becomes evident to Christine how corrupt the LAPD is and a local pastor enlisted his time to help her. It is a very frustrating story as you watch this mother be so committed to finding her son and be shut down time after time.
I have been reflecting on the movie since we saw it and I just can't imagine dealing with something like that but I know it happens every day. Innocent people are put in jail to serve time for someone else's bad actions, innocent people lose their lives, and innocent people are forced to suffer through horrible circumstances. It has forced me to think and to wonder if I am doing all that I can to help innocent people. Could we sponsor another child? Could we fill more than 2 shoe boxes this Christmas? Could we bring more than a few cans to the canned food drive? To me, those are just little things compared to the injustice that so many people are faced with every day. I'm not going to go on with this thought but I am sure you can think of many of the injustices in our world today.
If you need a movie to see I would recommend Changeling but be aware, this story could move your soul.
Ok I've been tagged at 2 different blogs now and one was for 6 random facts and the other was for 7 random facts so I'll do 7 just to keep it real. Here are the rules… 1. I was tagged by sarahbee and amber. 2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird. 3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog. 4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. 5. If you don't have 7 blog friends, or if someone else already took dibs, then tag some unsuspecting strangers. I'm not going to tag anyone else but if you would like to do this on your blog leave me a comment saying you have done this and I will definitely check out your blog and your random facts! Fact: I had a very strange feeling that Josh and I would be together for quite a while the very first time we went out. Fact: He had a similarly strange feeling as well. I don't know why it took us so long to figure it out. HA! Just kidding, it didn't take that long. Fact: I love to watch football and baseball. Fact: I would love to open a little bakery/café/shop some day and sell sweet treats and yarn. Fact: I gagged 3 times this morning while trying to brush my teeth, my front teeth, not anything in the back or my tongue or what have you but the front of my mouth. And still I gagged. Fact: Favorite hobbies would be knitting, reading, playing games, baking or cooking, and shopping. Fact: I have been working on a very special new blog which I will soon be giving you a link to! Have a blessed day!
A special thank you to my mom who has so graciously provided text as a guest blogger. Josh and I have been so busy lately working on many projects and one very big one that this blog has sadly taken a backseat. We do have some very, very exciting updates to come soon!
I'm sorry there won't be any pictures of this but next time I make it I will try to remember to take some pictures. This sauce is really very simple to make and is delicious to eat. You start by making pesto or you can buy it if you are into wasting money like that (just kidding, kind of). Go to your local farmer's market and they will probably be selling basil for some absurdly low price like 2 bunches for $1. If you buy this much basil you will have like 3 batches of pesto. Pull the leaves off the basil and put them in your salad spinner. Fill up the bowl and cover the leaves with cold water. Shake off the water and pour it out of the bowl. If you don't have a salad spinner, put the leaves in a strainer and fill your sink with water, then drain the water. Rinse the leaves again and then spin them a few times to get all of the water off. Now to make pesto, I use a very simple recipe….are you ready for this? Get out your blender and load it full of basil leaves, pine nuts, and olive oil. Grind. Chop. Mix. Whatever you need to do. Make sure all the pine nuts and basil are chopped up to little tiny pieces. Oh, you want to know how much to use? Hmmm.. I use about 3-4 cups of basil leaves, 1 cup of olive oil, ½ cup of pine nuts and then I added a pinch of garlic and Kosher salt for some flavor. Add more olive oil as you see fit. So you made your pesto, it is great to put on pizza or pasta or you can freeze it and save it for later. Now let's say you want some pasta with pesto but you want it to have some depth to it and not just be plain pesto. Here is when you should make the pesto cream sauce! To make the cream sauce: You make a simple Bechamel sauce and then add pesto. Easy as 1-2-3. To make a Bechamel sauce you do the following: 2 Tbsp Butter 2 Tbsp Flour 1 ¼ Cups Milk Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and stir until the flour is dissolved to a paste. You want it to start bubbling but not change colors. This happens pretty quick. Next you add your milk and continue to stir. Let the milk boil. Lower the heat, add your pesto and cook. Stir the sauce for about 2-3 minutes. If you want it to be more like an alfredo sauce with the pesto, add some parmesan cheese. If you want it be cheesier, add some mozzarella cheese. Keep stirring until the cheese is melted. I usually add about ¼ to ½ cups pesto. It will turn a nice shade of green. Don't worry, it will taste so good you can overlook the color. Hope you try this, it is very tasty!
Hello, we are back. I had the flu last week and was pretty much lazy so that meant no blogging. I could hardly get enough energy to read all of the blogs that I like to read. So we are back and ready to post again. A forecast of what you can expect to see this week…pictures from Josh's birthday party (only 10 days late), a recipe for Creamy Pesto Sauce, a fun knitting project, something from Josh. Ok that should do it. Just wanted to let you know we are still alive and kicking, just a little bit slow these days.
We also went to a Rockies game on Saturday and here are a few pictures from that...
Pictures from the Rockies Game
They lost but we still had fun. And I got to eat nachos with extra jalapenos. YUM.
We rode the Light Rail to Denver from Orchard Station which I would definitely recommend doing if you are going to the game. It is so much easier to just park and ride the train than to go downtown and find parking and deal with traffic.
Well, we survived the Puppy Party! On Sunday we had 11 dogs at our house, 9 of which were Labs. Charlie and Toby turned 1 so we thought it would be fun to have everybody over. Valeen (Toby's owner mom) and I made a ton of treats for dogs and humans. We had a great time watching all the dogs play. I don't think there is too much else to say. Probably the hit of the party was little miss Belle who is Daron and Rachael's new Golden Retriever puppy! You can see pictures here…
So the V is backwards. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to switch it around. I probably will but it will take some time to get that high on my list again. J
I've been doing a lot of baking lately and would you believe I didn't take any pictures to show you. We now have homemade biscuits, pita bread, and hamburger buns in the freezer. I can't believe how cheap it is to make this stuff. A note to any of you who would like to do your baking with whole wheat flour instead of white flour…it is very simple to make this switch you just need to buy yourself a little box of Vital Wheat Gluten. You may have tried using all whole wheat flour (wwf) in a previous recipe and it just didn't taste right nor did it have the correct texture. You may be using half white flour and half whole wheat flour to correct this. This is a fine set up but not my preferred way to work. Well my friends, the answer lies in this cute little box.
When you are baking your goods whether it is cookies, bread, biscuits, etc. and have used all wwf without adding gluten or using a high gluten flour, your goods will probably be bitter and very heavy. Almost like the texture and heaviness is too thick to eat. You will want to add in some gluten to give your product more chewiness and what gluten also does is holds together moisture so your baking will be more moist and fresh. The gluten won't add tons of extra carbs but it does add some. While most traditional recipes are created using All-Purpose Flour you can easily substitute wwf as you see fit when you understand how much gluten to add in. They do sell wwf with higher gluten content as well as ww pastry flour but if you are cheap like me you can do it this way.
From what I have been reading and trying to understand, gluten is the protein that works with yeast and helps it to stretch and rise. When you are making any kind of yeast bread adding some gluten to your wwf will make all the difference. In the hamburger bun recipe it uses 3 cups of flour and ¼ cup of gluten. The directions on the box say about 2-3 tsp of gluten to 1 cup of flour so the ¼ cup could probably be reduced a little bit. As you work with wwf and gluten you will see where you need to adjust. When I bake cookies using all wwf I will add just a little bit of gluten (maybe 1 tsp) because I don't want the cookies to be super airy but I also don't want them to be rock hard and a pain to eat. This seems to work well.
I have not yet tried wwf for things like gravy or cream sauces and I don't know if I will…I just always have some all-purpose flour on hand for those types of things. Maybe I will start with the half and half approach and just see what happens.
Do any of you use wwf? Do you use it only for baked goods or all sorts of stuff?
lmost orange which is fine by me. The end goal is to now surround the letters with pictures representing love—most likely wedding pictures and maybe some with friends but it's our bedroom so it seems kind of weird to hang pictures of friends on the wall across from the bed...if you catch my drift.
I haven't had much to blog about lately and finally got some inspiration.
before we got her. Toby is the very light yellow lab.
We had our first dinner guests since receiving our fabulous Fiesta Ware so of course I took some pictures of the set up. I don't know what it is about the Fiesta line but I just love the splash of color it adds to a table. There are some times when I truly enjoy eating off of a plain white plate so that will probably be the next addition to our collection. But, the color combinations are so fun. I had to get flowers because my mom said so. :) She was right, they look nice!
To some of you it might be weird that I am so excited about a colorful dining table but Josh and I both just love hosting people and preparing food. With both of those things it is like 80% based on presentation (I think). SO the table and settings really complete the meal. And that, my friends, is why it excites me! Knowing that you prepared a delicious meal and then serving it on a pretty plate is so much fun.
