Merry Christmas!

I didn't manage to get Christmas cards out this year, so this cute picture will have to do.  I didn't want to take a family picture with my braces on, so I thought I would just send one out with Hazel and Hattie, but taking pictures of them together is hard.  This was the best one I could get.  Hattie isn't looking at the camera, Hazel has her two teeth sticking out, and you can't really see their cute Christmas dresses, but I still love it.

Hattie's 4 Month Stats

                                          Height:      25 1/4 inches      75-90th percentile

                                          Weight:     13 lbs 14 oz        50-75th percentile 

                                          Head:        39.1 cm              10th percentile    

I guess Hattie has a pretty small head, or maybe it's just a normal size in proportion to her body.  Usually babies have big heads.  

Hattie can now roll over both ways.  She can also get on her knees and scoot a little bit, so I'm sure she will be moving around soon.  She continues to be a good baby that likes to smile a lot.  I just can't wait for her spitting up to be over with.  Somedays are worse than others.  Hazel and Hattie both have colds right now, but they should hopefully be over them soon.   

Hazel and Hattie are usually pretty happy and cute in the morning (if Hazel got enough sleep). 

Halloween

We snapped a few pictures in our yard before heading to Brendan's parent's house for dinner.  I wasn't going to dress up, but Brendan wanted us too, so a cowboy and cowgirl are outfits you can put together in a few minutes with clothes on hand.  After dinner, Hazel went trick or treating for the first time and loved it.  She would say trick or treat quite a few times before the person even opened the door.  The weather was perfect, so we didn't even need jackets.  Hazel received several full sized candy bars.  I remember only getting one or two each year as a kid and being pretty excited about it.  We know which houses to hit up next year.

Homemade Ravioli with Ricotta and Spinach

This is my second time making homemade ravioli, but I haven't been that impressed with the outcome.  I even bought a special ravioli rolling pin, but I don't really like how small it made them so I didn't end up using it this time.  Last time I made them I put too much filling in and it was coming out the sides.  This time I made them my own size, but they were uneven and didn't have enough filling because I was worried about last time.  I also think it was a lot of work and not worth it.  The filling was good though.  I got the filling recipe from Pioneer Woman, and I made up the sauce on my own.  Maybe I just need to look at a few more blogs to find an easier way to do it, and give it one more try.  Anyone had success with ravioli? 

Four Cheese Crustless Quiche with Spinach and Mushrooms

I like breakfast food and this is a great dish to also have for dinner.  A lady on my mission gave me this recipe and I make it often.

Four Cheese Quiche

In bowl combine:                                     In skillet:               

1/2 c Bisquick *                                        Saute 10 oz pkg mushrooms

4 oz cream cheese                                    1 small onion

1/2 c cottage cheese                                 2 T butter

1/2 c cream

4 eggs

1 c grated swiss cheese

1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese

salt, pepper, pinch of nutmeg

1 pkg 10 oz frozen spinach 

   defrosted and drained

Add skillet ingredients to bowl and mix.  Put in pie pan and bake 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees F.

*Bisquick has hydrogenated oil which I don't like to use, but I had some on hand.  I found some recipes online where you can make your own homemade Bisquick without shortening, but I haven't tried them yet.  Next time I make this I will try it out.  

Within the last year I read the book In Defense of Food and really liked it.  It has changed my eating and made me more aware of ingredients in food.  I like to make lots of stuff homemade now because it won't have high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, preservatives, and a ton of ingredients I can't even pronounce.  The less processing, the better.  I highly recommend the book.

Pumpkin Waffles and Buttermilk Syrup

I had some left over pumpkin puree in the fridge from making gelato and decided to use it up.  My friend gave me this recipe years ago, and I hadn't made it in a long time.  They're great on a nice fall morning.

Pumpkin Waffles

Batter

2 c flour

2 T baking powder

2 T cinnamon

1 T sugar

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

Mix ingredients together, then add:

4 egg yolks (save whites)

1 c pumpkin

1 T vanilla

1 1/2 c milk

3/4 c melted butter

Then beat 4 egg whiles until stiff peaks form and fold them into the batter.

Cook in waffle iron.

Buttermilk Syrup

1/2 cube butter (not margarine)

1/2 c buttermilk (or substitute 1 T lemon juice + 1/2 c milk)

1 c sugar

1 tsp light corn syrup

Bring to a boil and take off heat.  Add 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp vanilla.  It will bubble up quite a bit, so make sure your pan is large enough.  Stir until it settles.

Serve warm over pumpkin waffles!

Pumpkin Spice Gelato and Chocolate Coconut Almond Ice Cream (Vegan)

 

I bought this book back in June and have made a few recipes from it that were delicious.  I just tried out the pumpkin spice gelato, and it tastes just like pumpkin pie.  Next time I want to add little bits of pie crust to it.  I bought some cute little pint containers and gave it to my visiting teachees for a treat.  I also made chocolate coconut almond ice cream.  Back in June when we were in California we went to the well known Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco.  The two flavors we tried were salted caramel ice cream and chocolate coconut ice cream (vegan).  They were both delicious.  I tried making salted caramel a while back, but I still need to perfect it.  I looked at some recipes for chocolate coconut and they all mainly have coconut milk, cocoa powder, and some sweetener, but I changed the measurements and added some ingredients of my own.  The chocolate coconut tastes just like regular ice cream.  You would never know it was vegan unless someone told you.  I'm not on a vegan diet or anything, but it is a little lower in fat.  Here are the two recipes below.  The gelato takes a bit longer to make, but the chocolate is easy and fast.

Pumpkin Spice Gelato

Plain Base (see below)

1 c pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix), chilled

1/4 c sugar

1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of ground cloves

Make the plain base and chill as directed.

Place the pumpkin, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and cloves in a blender and add half of the base.  Blend until smooth, then whisk into the remaining base.  Pour the mixture into the container of an ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions.  Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.

Plain Base

2 c whole milk

1 c heavy cream

4 large egg yolks

2/3 c sugar

In a heavy-bottom saucepan, combine the milk and cream.  Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally so a skin doesn't form, until tiny bubbles start to form around the edges and the mixture reaches a temperature of 170 degrees F.

Meanwhile, in a medium heat-proof bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth.  Gradually whisk in the sugar until it is well incorporated and the mixture is thick and pale yellow.  Temper the egg yolks by very slowly pouring in the hot milk mixture while whisking continuously.  Return the custard to the saucepan and place over low heat.  Cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and it reaches a temperature of 185 degrees F.  Do not bring to a boil.

Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl and let cool to room temperature, stirring every 5 minutes or so.  To cool the custard quickly, make an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and water and placing the bowl with the custard in it; stir the custard until cooled.  Once completely cooled, cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Chocolate Coconut Almond Ice Cream

3 c coconut milk (Not low fat.  I used Thai Kitchen organic coconut milk, about 2 cans.  I refrigerated my coconut milk, but I'm not sure it's necessary)

6 T cocoa powder

10 T sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 c shredded coconut (Mine were kind of long pieces so I chopped them a little bit)

1/4 c chopped almonds

Blend the first 4 ingredients in a blender until smooth.  Freeze in your ice cream maker.  Add the shredded coconut and almonds the last five minutes.  Eat right away or transfer to an airtight container and freeze. 

While I was looking in my viewfinder, I saw Hazel's hand come into the picture.  She couldn't wait any longer to get her share.

Bath Time

Hattie is just a little over 3 months now, and is such a good baby.  She smiles so much and loves to coo.  She still sleeps through all 3 hours of church from nine to noon, which makes it nice for me.  My visiting teachers came over and Hattie was awake and playful and they said it was the first time they had seen her because she was always in her car seat sleeping.  I would say she was the perfect baby except for her spit up problem, but I'm hoping that will go away soon.  Yesterday we had over an older man from my home ward visiting from California.  He was playing with Hattie while someone else was holding her, and he said he would hold her except that he had seen the two previous people holding her get spit up all over their clothes.

Hattie is very strong and loves to stand up and look around.  Her eyes always get big when she's excited.  When she's laying on her back, she is usually kicking her legs and swinging her arms.  Whenever Hazel is doing something to Hattie I usually tell her to stop attacking Hattie.  The other day while Hattie was doing her kicking and swinging on the bed with Hazel next to her, Hazel said to me, "Mom Hattie is attacking me."  I couldn't help but laugh. :)

Rigatoni with sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese

I recently joined facebook mainly so I could sign up for pinterest.  I found this recipe on there and decided to try it.  I changed it a little though.  I used organic whole wheat pasta with homemade wheat bread crumbs and put them in cute individual ramekins (which I just purchased at Winco for a great deal.)  It was a tasty entree.   

Pass of all Passes

We recently renewed our Pass of all Passes, and it now includes the Seven Peaks Ice Arena.  For our  Family Home Evening activity we took Hazel ice skating for the first time, and she had a lot of fun.  We went with Brendan's family.  Brendan's parents were nice and watched Hattie on the side and Christopher and Brianna switched off skating with Hazel.   She liked cruising with the cart, but it hurt our backs after a while to do it with her.  We will definitely be going again.  

Barnyard Boo

Last Week we went to Thanksgiving Point's Barnyard Boo.  It is located inside the farm, and they have lots of little Halloween activities for kids.  We met up with Tabitha and Sawyer for a good time.  

Fall Break

 Brendan has Fall break at the U, and I really like it.  This year we decided to take a trip to visit his biological grandpa, Clell, in Cody, WY.  It's kind of a long story, but Brendan met him for the first time 15 years ago and then saw him once right after his mission.  Clell is getting old and wanted to see us.  We decided to make it a fun trip on the way up.  The first night we drove to Rexburg and had dinner over at our friend's house.  We also went out to ice cream at G's.  It was delicious.  We stayed the night in Rexburg and drove to Jackson Hole the next day.  We stayed a night in Jackson Hole and then drove up through Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks on our way to Cody.  We stayed two nights in Cody.  It ended up being a fun little road trip and a good time with relatives.

Jackson Hole

Grand Teton

The leaves were beautiful!

We spotted a moose around Jenny Lake.

Yellowstone

A buffalo by the road.

It was so nice to go in the Fall.  Usually the roads are so packed with people stopping along the road, but there was no one around.

Cody, WY

Brendan, Hattie, Hazel, Bernadine (Clell's sister), Toula (Clell's wife), and Clell.

Brendan driving Clell's old Scout.  He also had to buy a nice cowboy hat to fit in around town.

Snow White or Sleeping Beauty?

Hazel is going to be Snow White for Halloween and was so excited when her costume came in the mail.  She would like to wear it everyday if she could.  One day Brendan was babysitting Hazel, and he turned on the Lion King for her to watch.  He said she was sitting up straight and tall and very attentive to the first 2 minutes of the movie when he went into the kitchen to get a drink.  When he came back she was sound asleep on the floor.

BYU Homecoming Parade

The parade goes right past our house, so all we had to do was walk out front.  

Hazel loved collecting all of the parade candy in her pumpkin bucket.  She actually got a lot of candy, but most of it was salt water taffy.  I think each group needs to switch up a little next year.

Of course Hattie had a great time too.

Sesame Street Music Videos

Brendan emailed these videos to me a while back, and  I think they are cute.   Hazel likes to dance to them.  The artists change their songs for Sesame Street.  Here are two I like.  

Key Lime Tart

Tastespotting is a great website to find delicious recipes, and browsing at all of the pictures gets me excited to cook or bake something.  I needed to bring a dessert to dinner yesterday, and I found this key lime tart recipe on there.  It was super easy, and turned out just like the picture.  I used Betty Crocker's filling recipe though, which is just slightly different.  I used 3 eggs instead of egg yolks and added a teaspoon of lime zest.  I served it with whipped cream on top.  I will definitely be making this again.

She makes me laugh and cry

Hazel is getting smarter all the time, and she copies what we say and do constantly.  She comes up with the funniest things.  She can also be very difficult.

Some of Hazel's new phrases are one night and all the time.  Here are some examples: "I saw that man walking one night."  "Did you buyed that frame one night?"

 Hazel was with Whitney and Whitney was pointing to dragonflies and Hazel said, "I see dragon flies all the time" as if it's no big deal.  I saw her dancing in the room and she said to me, "I dance with Dad all the time."  It's even cuter if you know her little voice and how she says it.

 The first month after Hattie was born was kind of rough for me and I had a few meltdowns, and Hazel let me know all about it.  We were sitting on the lawn on a blanket and she was running around and playing and then she would come over to the blanket and put her hands on her head and put her head down on the blanket pretending to pout and say, "I can't take this" then she would get up and play and do it over.  I couldn't help but laugh.

Hazel was getting better with Hattie for a few weeks where I felt comfortable leaving them in the same room, but now I'm not so sure.  I heard a thump in the room the other day and then screaming.  I went in the room to find Hattie on the ground.  I think Hazel tried to pick her up and she fell off the bed.  Luckily Hattie was fine.  Last night I heard Hattie coughing in her bouncer, and I went in the room to find Hazel putting a triscuit down her throat.  Recently, Hazel has had a biting problem.  She bit me on the arm, and I have a huge bruise that is finally going away.  Brendan caught her with Hattie's fingers in her mouth the other day and she bit them.

Hazel has a nickname for Hattie.  She calls her Patty.  It's weird because she knows how to say h's.  When we have her slow down she can say it, so sometimes you will hear her say Hat - tie.

When Hattie is crying, Hazel will sometimes say, "Mom, the baby is grumpy."

Two weeks ago we took a family bike ride up to BYU.  Brendan and I were on the tandem with Hazel in the front seat and Hattie in her car seat in the bike trailer.  We were going down the hill by the Clyde building when our brakes went out.  Brendan turned onto the grass which is lined with metal poles and rope to keep people off.  The rope caught a hold of our bike and ripped out a few poles until we came to a stop.  Unfortunately the rope caught a hold of Hazel's leg and gave her rope burn.  It took off quite a bit of skin and she was screaming.  We felt bad because she was the only one that got hurt, and we were fine.

Brendan was telling what happened to his grandpa, and he was saying how he had to make a decision whether to keep speeding down the hill and crash or turn into the poles.  A few days later I was taking the kids on a walk up to campus to visit Whitney and we walked by the poles and Hazel said, "Dad had to make a cision over here.  Then for Family Home Evening we watched the movie The Pioneer Miracle (which Hazel wanted to watch 4 times) and the girl says that she had to make a decision and she made the wrong one.  During that part Hazel kept saying, "The girl made a cision.  Dad taught me that."

Apple Pie

Whitney thought an apple pie sounded good the other day, so I decided to make one.  I used an all butter crust recipe from Smitten Kitchen and thought it turned out really well.  I don't usually make pies, because I hate making the crust, but it wasn't all that hard.  I have a pastry frame my sister gave me, and I love it.  The dough doesn't stick, and it makes it easy to see what size you need to roll it out.  For the filling, I just used a recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook.  It was great with ice cream!  I made it on Sunday and probably needed two more apples, but couldn't run to the store, so next time it would be piled a little higher.  

Hattie's 2 Month Stats

Height:     23 inches          75th percentile

Weight:    11 lbs 10 oz      90th percentile

      Head:      38 cm                50-75th percentile

Hattie continues to be a great baby.  As you an see she has spit up in the corners of her mouth.  She was spitting up as I was taking these pictures, but other than that she is great.  She started sleeping a full 8 hours at night in her bassinet!  Hazel still doesn't sleep that long at night.  She usually wakes up around 4:30 am and comes to our room.  Hattie has been mistaken for a boy 3 times when she wasn't wearing a bow on her head, so I try to keep her looking girly.  

The New Cupcake?

Cupcakes have been popular for quite a while now (and I still love them), but from what I've heard french macarons are the new cupcake.  They've been around for a while, but I just discovered them about a year ago, but not many local places sold them.  I've recently seen them popping up in more bakeries around here, and at farmer's markets.  They are made from a meringue shell with a buttercream filling, and they just melt in your mouth.  They come in many colors and flavors.  Salted caramel and key lime are some of my favorites.  

I've heard they are hard to make and kind of finicky, so I bought the book i love macarons and decided to try them out.  I just wanted to see if they turned out, so I didn't try anything fancy, just vanilla on vanilla.  My sister Whitney came over and helped, and we had a good time.  There are a lot of steps, including grinding almonds into flour (much cheaper than buying it), but they turned out great.

I heard the most famous macaron shop, Laduree, just opened its first location in the U.S in New York a few weeks ago.  Their stores are eye candy.  Check them out online.   

I was informed by Brendan and Whitney that they've heard pie is the new cupcake.  After googling it, it seems to be cupcakes are dead and pie is hot for 2011, but just in March the Today show was calling the macaron the new cupcake so who knows.  I like cupcakes, macarons, and pie.

  

Fruits of our Labor

This year we were able to plant a nice garden in our backyard.  It already had a perfect spot.  Brendan prepared the soil, and I planted all of the plants.  That's about all I did, but Brendan watered and took care of it.  It has done really well.  We have had lots of zucchini, and after a while we stopped picking them and they grew to be enormous.  My sister, Dawn, gave me a great zucchini lasagna recipe.  I didn't get a chance to take a photo, but it is delicious.  Try it.  We also grew beets, cucumbers, green beans, peppers, rosemary, basil, pineapple sage, yellow squash, and tomatoes.  We planted lots of different kinds of tomatoes, and they are delicious.  

Recently we've been eating lots of tomatoes.  We've been having BLT's, bruschetta, and marinara sauce.  I made my own sauce with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden and let it simmer for a few hours.  I also made my own whole wheat pasta.  I even ground the wheat into flour.  I have a Kitchenaid attachment for pasta, and I love it.

Zucchini Lasagna

2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
1 large onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp Italian seasoning
4 cups zucchini, sliced
1 egg
2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded
1 can Cream of Celery soup
1 32 oz spaghetti sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
9 lasagna noodles
3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

Cook lasagna noodles and set aside.  Saute onion and garlic in olive or vegetable oil.  Add Italian seasoning.  Add zucchini and cook until tender.  Add egg, Swiss cheese, and cream of celery soup to vegetable mixture.  Set aside.  Combine spaghetti sauce with vinegar.  Place 1/2 of spaghetti sauce mixture on bottom of 9x13 pan.  Next place a layer of 3 noodles on top of sauce.   Place 1/2 of vegetable mixture on top of noodles.  Sprinkle with  1 cup of mozzarella cheese.  Repeat with noodles, vegetable mixtures and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.  Top with remaining noodles and cover with remaining sauce.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Cover with remaining mozzarella cheese and bake for an additional five minutes.  Let sit for fifteen minutes before serving.

Hattie's Blessing

Over Labor Day weekend we blessed Hattie, and all of my family was able to come except for my brother who is on a mission.  That's 10 out of 11 kids, and all had to travel from out of state except Bruce and Whitney of course.  It was a fun filled weekend!

On Saturday we went up Spanish Fork Canyon to Brendan's family cabin for swimming and a BBQ.  It started to get chilly in the evening and they always have warm attire in the closets, so it kind of became dress up.  I'm not quite sure what the pirate face is all about.

Our new place has a nice backyard that we have been enjoying all summer.  It was a perfect place for our luncheon after the blessing, and the weather was beautiful. 

Not only was my immediate family able to come, but I had some local cousins and Brendan's relatives also.  We were blessed to have so much family with us. 

Pictures from left to right.  1. All of the sisters in order from youngest to oldest.  2. My two oldest sisters, Brook and Dawn. (Dawn is the oldest.) 3. My mom and Ivy (the youngest sister.) 4. All of the married sisters are sitting with their husbands, and all of the single sisters are standing.  We were going to take pictures of the brothers, but Bruce had already left to go to church, and Blake is on his mission so it left just Bill. 

Hazel was picking up grass and putting it on Hattie's head saying she needed some more hair, and then Hattie happened to spit up which is very typical.  Hattie and I both have to change our outfits a few times a day with all of the spit up, but it is getting better now.

Nieces and Nephews enjoying the hammock.  I thought it was going to break with all of the jumping on it, but luckily it held up.

By foot, strollers, single and tandem bikes, a bike trailer, scooters, a skateboard, and a golf cart, we all took a walk on BYU's new trail.  It is a nice cobblestone trail with a creek and waterfalls. (I had to throw the picture in of my dad on the skateboard.  I don't know how many years it's been since he has been on one, but it made me laugh.)