Our newest addition... again with the pets!

If you know anything about me you know I'm a SUCKER for animals. And this little guy is no exception. He was headed to the pound and I just had to have him. He is a 10 year old "Shorkie" Shitzu and Yorkie mix named Grizzly. He is just like a little old man because he likes things his way and.... well.... he smells like one. His breath anyway. But we adore him and He adores me. Mostly me and just tolerates the others. He is a self esteem builder for sure. :) So here's to another of my endless parade of pets.

Stuffed Zucchini... so good

Stuffed Zucchini

1 ½ lbs zucchini squash

1 ½ cups soft bread crumbs

½ cup grated cheese

¼ tspn salt

1/8 tspn pepper

2 eggs, beaten

2 Tbspn minced parsley

2 Tbspns butter

¼ cup grated cheese for top

Wash, cut off ends, and cook in 1 inch boiling water with 1 tspn salt in covered kettle about 5-7 minutes. Cut squash in half lengthwise. Carefully remove center of squash from shells. Chop squash and mix with other ingredients except butter and 1/4^th cup grated cheese. Pile mixture into zucchini shells. Dot with 2 Tbspns butter and sprinkle with ¼ cup grated cheese. Put on a baking pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

A few tasty dishes in a super busy week.

Tuna Noodle Casserole.... Something I've always thought was a bit white trash. I know, so rude. :) Cody love it though so I found a recipe I thought I'd give a try. I added some veggies in it to make me feel a bit better about it and to make the flavor more interesting. All in all I'd keep this recipe because it is cheap, easy, and actually quite tasty.
Next was what I was really excited about: Chocolate Banana Cream Trifle. Yum Yum! When I first saw this recipe I was intimidated because it was so long. But it was really easy. The only hard thing was getting it to look like the pretty picture (not the one above!) Oh this was a good recipe and it would impress company for sure! So these are going into my stash!

Tuna Noodle Casserole

8oz cooked noodles

1 can tuna fish

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

2/3 cup milk

(optional cooked vegetables)

Buttered bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients together except bread crumbs. Place in casserole dish. Top with Bread Crumbs. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

Chocolate Banana Cream Truffle

18 whole graham crackers

¾ cup chocolate morsels

1 12oz container whipped topping

1 ¾ oz box vanilla instant pudding

1 cup milk

4 large bananas, peeled

2 Tbspn lemon juice

Chop graham crackers; set aside. For ganache, place chocolate morsels and 1 ½ cup whipped topping into a small bowl. Microwave on high until melted and smooth, stirring every 15 seconds.

Combine pudding mix and milk in separate bowl; whisk until thickened. Fold in remaining whipped topping. Slice bananas, sprinkle with lemon juice and toss gently. Set aside 10-12 slices for garnish.

To assemble trifle, place half the graham cracker crumbs over bottom of trifle bowl. Place half the bananas on crackers and top with one third of the gananche. Spread half of the pudding filling over ganache. Repeat layer. Decorate with remaining ganache and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs. Arrange reserved banana slices around edges.

Peach Cobbler... so good

Tonight I invited my sister, her fiancee and my youngest brother over for dinner. We started with Turkey (or chicken) stuffing casserole which is in the Ballard Family Cookbook. Ceaser Salad and Parmesan Pillows, which are delicious Parmesan rolls (also in the Ballard Cookbook).
If you want those recipes, let me know. But the one I'm adding to my book that I don't yet have is for my brother Mark's Peach Cobbler. Oh boy is this easy and DELICIOUS! I'm not one who likes cooked fruit, but I really love this. Here is the recipe:

Mark’s Peach Cobbler

2 small cans of peaches (or 1 quart)

1 box yellow cake mix

1 stick butter

Put peaches in an 8x14 pan with most of the juice. Pour cake mix on top. Pat down until smooth. Cut butter into thin layers and put on top. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Serves 6-10.

Seafood Dinner.... its a keeper!

Last night I had some crab meat that I needed to use so I just created a fast Crab Alfredo pasta. So easy. Just the noodles, meat, sauce, and some veggies. It was tasty, but not a recipe. I wanted to try this other recipe for Maryland crab cakes I found. And guess what? It was lovely! They had a great flavor and weren't as hard as I thought they'd be. So here is the recipe which I will be adding to my favorites list!

Maryland Crab Cakes

1 6oz pkg crab meat

2 egg whites

2 Tbspn green onion finely chopped

2 Tbspn mayonnaise

1 Tbspn parsley, snipped

2 tsp Dijon Mustard

2 tsp fresh chopped thyme or ½ tsp. dried crushed thyme

½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

½ cup fine seasoned bread crumbs (reserve ¼ cup)

¼ cup cornmeal

2 Tbspn olive oil

Lemon Wedges

Thaw crab if frozen; drain. In a bowl, combine egg whites, green onion, mayonnaise, parsley, mustard, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, and ¼ cup bread crumbs. Stir in crab; mix well. Shape into 4-5 patties about ¾ inch thick. Combine the remaining bread crumbs and cornmeal mixture. Dip each side of crab cakes in mixture. Fry crab cakes in oil over medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side or until golden and heated through. Add additional oil if necessary. Serve hot with lemon wedges.

A recipe a day keeps the clutter away!

If you are anything like me, you like to cook. But only when it is delicious and appreciated by all. Which is why lately I haven't cooked anything exciting. :) But I've decided to consolidate my recipe collection by going through my books and index cards and filtering out the not so great ones.

What am I going to do? Well let me tell you. Every day that I feasibly can, I will make one of my recipes in my collection. After it is consumed we will decide if it is worthy of going into my FAMILY RECIPE FAVORITES list I will be compiling. And then I will post about it. Including a recipe if it is one we liked. So get ready for my cooking adventure!

4th of July

Hope everyone had a happy 4th of July! We relaxed with a few family friends and then lit off a LARGE amount of now legal fireworks! The kids played with sparklers, well.... until Hyrum burned his hand and had to get some medical attention. I'd like to say that I had told my beloved husband several times that I didn't want them to hold them and that sparklers were the #1 cause of injuries when it comes to fireworks. But hey... anyone surprised that he didn't listen? Men.... I tell ya! And at one point in the day Adelaide had a cute fourth of July skirt on but that only lasted as long as her dry diaper... aka not long.

California Trip

Funny how living in California we never did all the fun touristy things we should have done. Luckily we had an excuse to do them this trip! We got to hang out with all the Andreasen family and go to the Long Beach Aquarium, the Beach, and Disney Land!



After spending two hours in line waiting for a new Tangled ride, we were surprised to find out it wasn't a ride, and we were waiting for a two second opportunity to take a photo with Rapunzel. lol.... so not worth it.
She was so cute though. She reminded me of my sister in law Britta.

A happy Hyrum on the Dumbo ride.
Hyrum and Adelaide on the steps of the Haunted Mansion. Hyrum claimed that was his favorite ride. He is so much like his Mom. :)
The Merry Go Round. Photo taken right before the person in charge got mad at me for standing too close to the end. OOps!

The magical place called Disney Land.

Sunburned me and Hyrum at the Long Beach Aquarium.... Don't I look so lovely? At least the burn masks some of my acne. Ahhh... to be of English decent. :)

We had a great trip. It made me so happy to see the family and made me so sad to say goodbye. This trip was truly one to remember.

When Men are in Charge of Fridge Temperature

'nough said.

Why?

Why do kids wear diapers on their heads and not their butts? And then touch their butts?


I'm just saying....

Easter Adventures

Here the kids are searching for eggs. I didn't follow the Andreasen tradition of putting money in them because I wanted to nip the Human Nature tradition of "It's not fair" in the bud right away. I still don't know how six boys did that without bloodshed. :)
Just so you know, I followed my Roper tradition of making everyone put all the candy in a bowl and take a little bit out at a time. And all the candy was in equal amounts. Like I said, I'm not eager to deal with candy chaos.
Every year I try to make my kids wear their bunny ears. Every year Hyrum fights it (this year he won.... boo). But Adelaide was fine.....
Even though in this picture she looks like she is being strangled to death. She was actually supposedly trying to smile for the camera. lol
Adelaide loves sports and climbing, but is still such a girl. She loves dresses (this one's a hand me down) and all things girly.
The kids and Cody's Easter Baskets. Notice how mom never gets one? What's that about??

Most importantly, a big thanks to our big brother Jesus for doing the impossible and making it possible. He is the reason we live and will live again.

Hyrum's Birthday

My boy turned 4 on April 17th. He was born after 24 hours of horrible labor. lol... He was born at 12:17 A.M. And he's been a stinker ever since. :)

We celebrated his big day by going to church (what fun, right?) then having my family come over for dinner and cake and icecream (which I made and it was nasty... at least the cake was good).

Hyrum went to his doctor's appointment to get all his school shots. He smacked the nurse in the butt after she gave him the shots. I was so embarrassed. But on the upside he was measured 95% for height, 85% for weight, and had a BMI of 15.4.... which I had that body mass index!!!

As much as he has his "moments" he has times where he is a delight. The kid never stops talking, and often has very creative things to say. He can be very helpful (when he chooses) and kind to his sister (also when he chooses). And I will forever remain grateful for the many lessons he has taught and will continue to teach me.

I love you Hyrum James!

All This for $25 and a Headache..... taken from my socalcoupongals.com post

So let me tell you about my trip to Walmart today. As many of you know, I recently moved to Eagle Mountain, UT. And there are A LOT of couponers here. I would bet my life there are more per capita than anywhere else in the world.

I just ran in to get a prescription filled and get a few other things when someone told me that every Tuesday this Walmart double coupons up to a dollar to compete with another local store that does this also. So I suddenly understood why the place was packed with couponers and their binders.

I got several items and got ready to check out. As soon as the cashier saw me he said, “Do you have coupons?” I told him I did. He said, “You make me want to swear right now.” I didn’t say anything to that. Because what do you say? Anyway, I continued to be polite throughout the long transaction because that is the right thing to do. But the cashier continually made comments on how he hated doing this (even though I later found out he did it wrong and I didn’t get all my money off) and how he hated people who used coupons and this and that. I really couldn’t believe it. Then the lady behind me started telling him how to do his job which he didn’t like either (don’t blame him there) and made him more angry. She was one of those annoying couponers who told us how she always uses them so she knows everything. Then she started accusing me of clearing shelves just because I happened to have some things that she wanted but couldn’t find the right kind. I told her I NEVER clear shelves. I think it is wrong. Then she started accusing me of wasting food because I bought more food than she did. I told her that I never let food go bad and I donate what I can’t use. What I wanted to tell her is that if she truly used coupons so much she should know that we couponers should stick together and not irritate the crap out of cashiers. lol….. After the register locked up (which also happened to the lady in front of me…. Walmart’s systems are not used to the doubling) the lady behind me told the cashier that he would like her much more than he liked me. I had to laugh. Are there seriously people like that out there? I guess so.

That is my rant and rave for the day. I got some good deals but I also had to deal with huge crowds, a very rude cashier, and a lady I wanted to slap upside the head.

Moving...or not

Ahhh moving. What fun what fun. We have just moved from our lovely village of Apple Valley California to the also lovely area of Eagle Mountain Utah. I spent the first week busting my butt to have the entire house in its place so Cody would be impressed when he got back from working a week in L.A.

#1 I did a fantastic job and worked from before sun up to after sun down.
#2 Don't ever do something that you think your husband will be impressed with.
#3 I mean geez... it is like he didn't even notice.
#4 Not that I'm bitter or anything.....

I spent the next week depressed (another reason not to bust your butt unpacking and doing your house... you then have nothing to do) and lonely. I began wondering what I was doing as a stay at home mom, because obviously my children are still little brats. I still wonder how it is I accomplished nothing in the nearly 4 years since Hyrum was born. I have struggled with the whole stay at mom vs. working woman thing for years, and it seemed to come to a head. Who knows what the future will bring, but sadly, I'll bet my kids are still gonna be brats.

So now I'm here, slowly getting acquainted with the area, and trying to convince myself living around this many Mormons won't kill my spirit. All I can say is some people do better in Utah, and some people do better elsewhere. I may just be a part of that small population that loses their mind completely and gets tattoos that say things like "Jack Mormons Rule".... But lets hope I can withstand. :) Wish me luck!

Our Christmas

Hyrum and Adelaide were totally into Christmas this year. Adelaide was super excited every time she saw Santa, while Hyrum took to yelling, "I hate Santa!" Dumb kid.
This year we had a very frugal Christmas, with just three presents under the tree. I loved it because the kids were very excited anyway. In fact, the present that got the most oohs and ahhs and squeals was... A BOX OF POWDERED DOUGHNUTS. No joke.
Our Christmas Tree.... Oh what fun. Not much else to report, but just in case anyone out there was curious.

Apple Valley's Christmas Tree.... For Real

No Joke: This is the famous Apple Valley Christmas Tree that they light up every year. They had a little festival... I took the kids... let's just say it was about as sad as the tree. Can anyone say Charlie Brown?

Adelaide's Birthday

Does anyone even read this blog anymore? :) Anyway, here is a picture of Adelaide's birthday cake. She turned 2 on Dec 22nd and had a great day! She is a fan of 'SCARY THINGS" so that is why she had a Halloweenish cake.