Fancy Food

So last night I was trying to figure out dinner as is the usual afternoon activity. So I had some boneless pork ribs in the fridge that need to be used, so I threw them in the oven with some citrus and basil rub for a few hours. Then the problem is what do you make with them? I thought that rice would be nice, but not just plain rice would do. I decided to jazz it up with some garlic and basil. That turned out great and felt so fancy. I had gotten some artisan bread from Macey's for free so I cut a few slices of that with some honey butter, and corn on the cob. If felt like such a fancy restraunty dinner but really I was just using up stuff in my fridge that was about to go bad. I was just excited that I could make something like that so quick and easy, it has always been a dream of mine to get trained in culinary arts. I think that I just watch too much food network too.

So because of that dinner I made last night I thought that I would try to do cooking tips on my blog since that is something I love to do. Hopefully they will turn out good, and if you try one of my tips, please let me know how they turn out. I will be suggesting Pampered Chef products with all of the tips since I sell them and have them in my home. I will also state if I have tried this tip before or if I just think it might work. If you try one of my I think it might work, please let me know how it went.

So for the first one, the rice is a good way to start. If you don't want bland rice, try adding some flavors during the cooking. For a simple solution add chicken/vegetable stock instead of water. You could add your favorite herbs like I did last night. I also thought it might be fun to try adding some carrots, squash (one of the harder varieties), or sweet potatoes to it and see what I got out of it. I use the Rice Cooker Plus to cook my rice because it take the same amount of time as a rice cooker, but it is so much easier to clean and leaves the counter clear for other food prep.

Good luck.

Father's Day

I know, it is a little past fathers day, but as you see from the post before this one it took 3 days to finish.
So the Saturday was great because Nathan's sister came and got the kids and took them camping with her and the grandparents, so we had a night alone. We went and got Pizza Hut (a rare luxury) and rented "Jumper". That is a fun movie. Well after the movie I had such a sick stomach that I just went to bed. I got about an hour of sleep then tossed and turned with a sick aching stomach. Finally I got the release that makes you feel better and was finally able to sleep again. I got up the next morning (being able to sleep in a little because I didn't have the get the kids ready for church), took my shower, ate breakfast and was so week that anytime I stood up to walk I would get so dizzy and feel like my head would explode. So I gave up on getting ready and sent Nathan to church alone. How sad is that.
When he got home from church we slept for a little while, and he went up to get the girls and hang out. I had the house to my self for 7 hours. I got a little more sleep and watched a lot of tv. Biography channel is so cool. I finally had enough energy when they all got home to get them bathed (caked on dirt an inch thick) and into bed, then I was wiped out again. I laid down with Dailynn before she fell asleep and she told me the cutes thing. She said "Mom I will use my powers to make you feel better, but my powers are all gone." After questioning her on how she would make me feel better without powers she said "I will get some more, I will get some at the store." I loved her ideas and fun.
Monday we went back up to the camping group and hiked to the Timpanogos Caves. I was feeling so much better by then, but I am incredibly out of shape. It was only a mile and a half up hill and it killed me. I was dizzy in the caves and had to keep holding the hand rails. On the way down the hill the two kids (Avi and her cousin Jaxson) kept counting the numbers. There are little copper coins in the paved trails saying how far from the entrance you are, so every 100 feet there was another one. It was great because it kept the kids within 100 feet and on the inside of the trail the whole time. They also didn't complain about anything because they were so excited to find the next number.
After the caves we went back to camp and made dinner. Nathan and I were in charge, and I think we were a hit. After dinner we packed up the trailer and everything and all came home. After another bath because of the dirt again the girls went to bed and so did we. I put 17000 steps on my pedometer so I was pretty exhausted.
I will post pictures of Monday later hopefully

Singing Time

I got out the camera so that the girls could sing for me. Avi felt like she needed to give an introduction, so here goes



So after she introduced herself, they took turns singing. I don't think you want to see all of them, but if you do, let me know and I will add them.





Then the girls started to get a little silly. They have too much fun in front of a camera.