Berry Sweet

We agreed that this year went a lot better than last year. The girls actually listened when we told them to sit down or put their hands in their laps. And there was no crawling away like last year. We ended up doing 2 shoots because I like to torture Melissa like that but after 300 plus pictures we found 4 we really liked for the invitation.

23rd Week Class/Homework

2 New Recipes

Last week I made 2 new recipes...2 days in a row! I always get so excited to try something new and it really puts me in a good mood! I should probably do it more often!

Wednesday night I made Baked Chicken Penne. I got the recipe from one of my favorite sites- Our Best Bites. It worked out perfectly because the recipe is enough to make one to eat now and a freezer meal for later. I had just found out that Chris' cousin had given birth and immediately knew that instead of freezing the second meal, I was going to give it to her. So, with that being said. This meal works awesome as a give away meal or you can freeze it for another day. The bonus is you don't feel like you are working harder for two meals! And there was plenty!

Baked Cheesy Chicken Penne
based on a recipe by Martha Stewart


6 tablespoons butter, plus more for baking dishes
kosher salt and black pepper
1 pound penne rigate
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 8 ounces each), halved horizontally
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
6 garlic cloves, finely minced
6 cups whole milk
10 ounces white or cremini mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 cup sliced oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 cups shredded provolone* (6 ounces) you could also make that 1/2 mozzarella
1 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan (about 6 ounces)
*Note on Cheese:
Sometimes provolone cheese can be hard to find. I don't always encourage the use of pre-shredded bagged cheeses (because 've found they usually contain additives and therefore don't melt or taste as good), but in this recipe I've used a *good* quality one, like Sargento, and it's turned out great. Actually in this batch I used Sargento's Provolone/Mozzarella mix. You'll find that with packaged cheese mixes, provolone is often mixed with other white cheeses and that's totally fine. Just try to find one that is mostly provolone, like a 50/50 mix. The other easy option is to go to the deli department where you can buy sliced cheese. Just ask for a 6 oz chunk and you can grate it yourself.


Directions
Preheat oven to 400. Butter two shallow 2-quart baking dishes. If you're going to freeze one, use a disposable foil pan. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta 3 minutes short of al dente; drain pasta and set aside.
While pasta is boiling, heat oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Season chicken with salt and pepper; cook until opaque throughout, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Halve each piece lengthwise, then thinly slice crosswise. While chicken pan is still hot, toss the mushrooms in and saute until golden brown (3-4 minutes). Use a little extra olive oil if needed.
In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot (I just use the pot I cooked my pasta in), melt butter over medium. Add flour and garlic; cook, whisking, 1 minute. While whisking constantly, gradually add milk; bring to a simmer. Keep whisking frequently as sauce thickens, about 1 minute more. Add mushrooms and tomatoes; cook 1 minute. take the pan off the heat and and gradually stir in provolone and 1/2 cup Parmesan.
Add chicken and pasta to pot; season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide pasta mixture between baking dishes. If freezing, place remaining parmesan cheese in a zip-top baggie. If cooking, sprinkle on top.
Bake, uncovered, until top is golden and bubbling, about 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.


Freezer instructions:

To freeze, prepare through step 4 and then let pasta cool. Cover pan well with plastic wrap. Place extra cheese in baggie (for topping) on top and then cover entire pan well with foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. To bake, preheat oven to 400. Remove foil and plastic from pan and set cheese baggie aside. Place foil back on pan and bake for about 1 1/2 hours. Remove foil, stir pasta, and top with cheese. Return pan to oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until mixture is hot and bubbly throughout.

And THEN, on Thursday night, I made Deep Dish Pizza. I got the recipe from my blog friend Amy over at My Name Is Snickerdoodle. Every Friday she post a new recipe. I had some mushrooms leftover from the chicken and penne so I decided on a supreme style pizza. I don't do pepperoni, like the original recipe calls for so we had canadian bacon, sausage, mushrooms, and green bell peppers. Next time I think I might try ham and pineapple. This recipe was a little time consuming because you make your own dough. That means you have to plan ahead and start the dough around 1pm. This isn't a meal you can decide on at 4:30pm. I had never made my own pizza dough before but it was really easy and I probably won't buy canned pizza dough anymore! Be careful once it's in the oven though- I got distracted talking to a neighbor friend and my crust came out a little crispy! I served it with a garden salad and everyone loved it!

Deep Dish Pizza
Crust
1 cup warm water
1 pkg yeast
1 TBSP sugar
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 tsp cream of tartar
3-4 cups flour

The Rest
1 jar of favorite spaghetti sauce
8-12 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
pepperoni
2 Italian sausage links, uncooked
green peppers
sliced olives
sliced mushrooms

In a small bowl, mix together sugar and warm water. Sprinkle yeast on top and gently stir with finger. Cover with a towel and let proof for about 5-7 minutes. Mixture should be bubbly at that time. In a medium bowl mix together oil, cream of tartar and yeast mixture. Add in 3 cups of flour and add more from there if needed. Dough should be firm, but slightly sticky. Knead it for about 10 minutes, adding a bit more flour is needed. Roll into a ball. Pour about 2 tsp of oil in a large bowl and roll dough around until coated. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and then a towel. Place in a warm place and let rise for about 2-3 hours. You can also let it sit out overnight on the kitchen counter. Roll out large enough to fit into a 10 or 12 inch cake pan or stone that has sides. Coat the pan with lots of melted butter, the bottom and sides. Place dough in pan and pinch the dough up the sides.

Now go with me on this one...it seemed totally backwards to me, but makes for the best pizza! Place half of your shredded cheese on the bottom of the crust. Place your pepperoni around and then pinch small little pieces of uncooked sausage around. Add other desired toppings, but I am telling you, I think it's the uncooked sausage that makes this the best. Pour about half of the sauce (about 3/4 cup) over the toppings. Add more if you like it saucy. Bake in the oven at 350 for about 35 minutes. Take out of oven and sprinkle remaining cheese over the top. Place back in oven and cook until cheese is melted and crust and cheese is slighly golden brown. About 45-50 minutes total cooking time. (Sausage will be completely cooked by this time.) I let mine sit for about 5 minutes before cutting into it.

*For better cheesy results, buy a block of mozzarella and shred it yourself. Pre-shredded cheese has additives and coatings that help it not stick together in the bag and it doesn't melt the best

POTD Challenge 2/14-2/20/2010

I really slacked this week with my picture a day. By Wednesday I realized that I hadn't taken pictures of much of anything so I just decided to give myself the week off!

The biggest news of the week is Elodie learned how to ride her bike without training wheels! This would be a case where peer pressure is actually a good thing! Elodie's friend Emma and her little brother Eli ride bikes on the sidewalk behind our house. While the last few days and supposedly part of next week are rainy and FREEZING, we had some awesome weather at the beginning of the week and the kids have enjoyed being outside after school. While Emma and Eli were riding their bikes, Elodie would ride her scooter. I guess she started to feel left out or maybe saw how much fun riding a bike could be because she decided she wanted to try her hand at riding.


It seriously took her like 2 minutes to get the hang of it! She would need a push every once in a while but about 30 minutes later she was able to push herself off without any help! We think she picked it up so easily because of her scooter. The balancing part is the trickiest part and since she already knew how to balance on her scooter it was just a matter of getting comfortable with a bike. Now she is off and wants to ride her bike ALL. The. Time! We even went to a bike shop yesterday to look into getting her a bigger bike. The bike she is riding on is one she has had since she was 2! And it was obviously too big for her then, now she is about to outgrow it! I want to get her a little beach cruiser!! We tried a few out and found the perfect one but she is in between sizes so we think it will be a birthday present in a few months! The bike place we went to had the same bike we wanted for Elodie in MY SIZE too!! Our whole family might just need to get bikes for Christmas!


It seems like that is all I took pictures of last week...Elodie riding her bike. Oh, and Addysen got a hold of a permanant marker and decided to give herself a tatoo. I was surprised at how easily it came off in the bathtub and grateful she didn't take the marker to any furniture! She isn't one to get into things but I guess it was too much to resist!

Crazy...

that we are already planning these girls second birthday party! Just crazy!

In my photography world...

This is my life.


I have the "poses on demand, can hold a sweet smile for minutes, won't move a muscle, and looks directly at the camera" girl to my right

And

The "won't sit still, cries on demand, will only smile if sister or dad is behind me, doesn't want anyone touching her, and won't look at me for every fruit snack in the box" girl to my left.

As we all know, these moments are fleeting and I have no doubt that if I give this girl a year or so, she will be posing just like sister. By then I'm sure I will be gearing up for a new little bundle of uncooperativeness! As crazy as it is in the moment- I love these shots! They are by no means the best of the bunch (although the more I look at the one below, the more I love it!), but they capture a small moment in our lives that just make me grateful. Grateful for my girls, grateful to be passionate about things, and grateful for a husband who pampers my obsessions. And by pampers, I mean he doesn't roll his eyes EVERYTIME I'm on a mission for pictures!

This year I am committing myself to the details. It's hard but life is too good to complain.

Happy Valentine's Day!

And here are the valentine cards Elodie handed out to her classmates!

22nd Week Class/Homework

Elodie had progress reports sent home last week. She got ALL O's with the exception of a S+ in demonstates self-control. She still struggles occasionally when I come to have lunch with her or volunteer in the class. It's the weirdest thing. In the mornings she practically leaves the car door open, she is so excited to get to school! But if I come to have lunch with her and go to leave, she gets all emotional! Some days are perfectly fine, others not so much! Gotta love that girl!

Dear John...er Chris

Last weekend my in-laws came to town. They brought with them our oldest nephew Kolton (15) and his sister Aubrey (12-almost 13). Or as she spells it now A-U-B-R-I-E. Apparently IE is the new EY. And to think I wanted to spell Elodie E-L-O-D-E-Y. Now it just looks wrong but I wanted it like mine. Christopher would hear nothing other than E-L-O-D-I-E....the french way. And to him, the only way!

Which leads me to my real topic.

While my in-laws were in town, my Mother-in-Law, Barbara, took me and Aubrey to see "Dead John". I'm all too familiar with Nicholas Sparks style of writing..it's the same everytime. Boy Meets Girl, Happy Little Romance, Someone Dies, The End! I was anticipating it the whole movie! So as not to give away the whole movie, I'll just say, I liked it. And while I wanted to read the book before seeing the movie, I'll still put it on my "To Read List".

In Summary, the movie is about a couple, girl's in college, boy's in the military. They fall in love and decide to write while he is deployed for a year. And then 9.11 happens and he decides to reinlist putting them write back in to writing letters.

The whole time while watching the movie I couldn't help but compare their relationship to mine with Chris. We wrote letters to each for 4 years. 1997-2001. 2 years while he was on his mission in France and then another 2 years when he joined the National Guard and was in Basic Training.

It's not an easy thing to do and while there were times I didn't think it was going to work out, it did. Almost 5 years later we were married!

Just the other day, I was cleaning out a closet. I'm trying to figure out what to do with all those storage boxes full of pictures. While sifting, I came across all of those letters. 4 binders total. 2 to Christopher, 2 to me. Each filed in order first to last. Every handwritten letter, every email, every instant message, every birthday card. It was all there. I even went as far as to keep the covers of packages I sent to Christopher! And you wouldn't believe this, but we BOTH wrote to each other every single day the last month he was in Basic Training.

I got distracted and started reading through some of them. The first letter I wrote to Chris while he and his family traveled to the MTC, my little 16 year old self...the last letter I knew I would ever write when he was getting ready to leave Basic Training.

I'm so glad I have them. And while a lot of them are pretty cheesy, and some of our "lingo" I don't remember, I love that it's apart of our history.

POTD Challenge 1/31-2/6/2010

Fruit snacks before church...

Eating grapes..

A sucker for holiday m&m's

So true...

We found out on Friday, after a doctor's visit, that Elodie had ear infections in both ears!!! She complained about her ear hurting at the beginning of the week but never again. The only reason I brought her in was because she had a cough she couldn't get rid of....who knew! Her first ear infection ever!

Snuggling...

21st Week Class/Homework

Not much to brag about this week-just an awesome spelling test! They have 15 spelling words each week and 10 phonograms. Thursdays they have a practice test and Friday's are the real thing. Each night she has to write her spelling words and phonograms for homework. Just a few weeks ago I had to stand over her and make sure she was "doing her best work". Now, she is a champ and breezes through her homework with little or no help from me. I just check when she is done! She is awesome!

The little things...

Today was a good day!

-I had dinner in the crockpot by 10am.

-I finally decided on outfits for the girls for Valentine's Day. They don't match completely but it'll work. I'm now on a mission to find red capri leggings. It's never ending!


-I caved on the 2nd day of February and bought Valentine M&M's. I justified my purchase by tell myself I needed them because I signed up to bring M&M's to Elodie's Valentine Party on the 12th. Sadly, I'm sure these will be long gone by then. Our whole family hearts M&M's and I'm a sucker for holiday ones!

-I sanded the chair I'm going to paint red for Valentine Pictures. Gotta love Goodwill's 50% off saturdays.

-We got sonic drinks on the way home from school. Love Happy Hour!

-Grapes were 99 cents a pound at Safeway. Picked up 4 pounds and the girls happily ate a bowl each for snack. Addysen was doing the happy dance the whole time she was eating them. It's been so long since we have had grapes at our house. I refuse to pay more than 99 cents a pound for them and during the off season they can be as high as 3.99 a pound! We've been eating a lot of apples, oranges, and canned fruit for the last couple of months so the grapes were a happy change. A sign of spring! Not that I'm encouraging the heat by any means.

-I kicked the soccer ball around the backyard with Elodie.


- AND, the new season of LOST starts tonight. All 3 glorious hours of it!!

Happy Tuesday!