a few of my favorite things

I finally have a minute to record some of my favorite photographed moments from Christmas.

There were twice as many that didn’t get photographed.

Anyways, here are a few snapshots from a wonderful holiday:

There was a trip downtown to see some lights.

The annual gingerbread house building.

(Quality Control)

Finding this note to Santa on Kimi’s Stocking.  “tere’s someting in tere for you! and it is to keep” (I thought maybe it would be the letter “h” inside since it seemed to have gone missing.)

Ian finding out that Santa thought he was a very good boy.

Ian was surprised to find out that Santa also thought Natalie had been a good girl.

Our little angel appeared to the shepherd, and then went on to the manger.

The wise man came bearing a ring pop.

And the angel came back to tell Mary to take the baby to Egypt and chased everyone else away with a “You no kill the baby Jesus!”

That’s our Christmas all wrapped up!

Happy New Year!

oh, little town of bethlehem

I usually figure something is up when the three oldest children are able to go off and play for a while, and I don’t hear any fighting.

What a surprise was in store for me when I went downstairs.

I loved the way that Luke and the Polly “Mary” were watching so intently, and that “angel” propping up the star was quite the added touch.

I’ll say it again. I love Christmas.

haul out the holly

This month is slipping away at top speed.

So many traditions, so little time.

We painted some ornaments one afternoon.

I love Christmas.

a visit with st. travis

My kids got to see St. Nick at our ward Christmas party this last week.

The kids picked up on the fact that it wasn’t actually Santa though because he was being impersonated by Travis, who sits with us with his wife and helps us make it through sacrament meeting nearly every week.

Santa only picks the best people for his helpers.

Ian had to try to explain just what size Han Solo is to Santa.

Natalie jumped up on his lap and said, “I want a candy!”

Santa gave her a candy and she was done.

Christmas for a two-year-old is very simple.

Cali and Kimi both stewed long over what they would ask him before we left.

Christmas gives us so many magical moments. That’s why I love it.

easy pumpkin cheesecake

If you are looking for a simple and tasty Thanksgiving dessert, here is one to try.

I followed the recipe except for two things. I made my own crust because I didn’t want to go buy a crust, and I accidently baked the cheesecake for 20 minutes longer than I was supposed to. 

I burned two batches of cookies that way this week too. I need to start setting timers, even if someone is taking a nap.

Anyways, even with the extra oven time it still seemed to be perfect, and disappeared very quickly.

I got this recipe from the Kraft website. Go here for the original.

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

2 Pkgs. (8 oz) cream cheese softened (I used reduced fat)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Dash of ground cloves

Dash of ground nutmeg

1 graham cracker crust

 

Preheat oven to 325. Beat cream cheese sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on a medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended.

Remove one cup of batter. Stir in pumpkin and spices.

Pour remaining batter into crust. Top with pumpkin batter.

Bake 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight.

Top with some whipped cream and enjoy!

lucky number seven

Kimi just turned seven! (She is not a cake person, and chose cherry birthday-pie which we all heartily endorsed.)

She had an exciting day, and thought she was the luckiest girl ever because she got to see both sets of grandparents in one day.

To celebrate we took a little family trip to Mars. (via the planetarium)

Good thing they can hold their breath.

That’s one small step for Ian…

don’t judge a soup by it’s color

I thought I should throw in a healthy recipe with all the unhealthy ones I’ve posted lately.  This soup is one of those few comfort foods that I can love and not feel guilty eating. A half a cup has 198 calories, 11 g of fiber, 15 g of protein, and only a trace of saturated fat.

I could happily add this soup to my menu weekly, but so far Kimi and Scott are my only soup-loving converts so I only get to rotate it through occasionally. I’m not going to tell you what Ian calls it. One of these days I'll win the rest of them over. Until then, it's just more leftovers for me.

This brings the question to my mind, “how on earth did Mom get us to love soup like this?”  I guess since I was a kid who refused to eat macaroni and cheese I am getting my just desserts of picky eaters.


Hearty Split Pea Soup
(recipe from The Taste of Home Cookbook)
Prep: 15 minutes CookTime: 1 1/2 hours
1 package (16 ounces) split peas
8 cups water
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 large onions, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 cups cubed fully cooked lean ham or cooked corned beef
1/2 cup chopped celery
5 teaspoons reduced-sodium chicken bullion granules
1 teaspoon dried majoram
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/2 - 1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
In a large Dutch oven or soup kettle, combine all ingredients; bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours or until peas and vegetables are tender.
Yield: 12 servings (3 quarts)
(This reheats very well and I can eat it for lunch all week.)

more fall fun

Just because we had some of this going on over the weekend, doesn’t mean I’m ready for it.
Not that long ago, when we heard Jack Frost was on his way, we were outside doing this:

Natalie was happy to finally be given full freedom to pick any “mato” she could find.

And there were leaves just waiting to be played in.

They’re still are actually. Snow makes it hard to rake.

I am ready to declare Fall my favorite season. At least until Spring comes back around.

PIE night idea and a scrumptious pie

We have a little monthly tradition at our house called “PIE Night” that I wanted to share with you guys.
A few years ago, within a short period of time, I heard repeatedly the counsel and read about the fathers of the home doing regular personal interviews with the children. When I hear something that many times I figure there is a reason.
The suggestions were also to start with young children so that it would be established before they hit the more difficult years where they will need to be able to talk to us.
In an Ensign I saw the suggestion for “PIE Night.” The woman who wrote about it said they had come up with an monthly night, where they had Personal Interviews for Everyone (PIE) with Dad,  while Mom and kids could make a pie to enjoy as a family.
The idea included baking so that’s all it took for me.
So we picked every fast Sunday to have a PIE night. The kids look forward to it, and wouldn’t let us forget if we tried. It’s not just the dessert though, they also like getting individual time with Dad. For now he just keeps it simple and asks about what’s going on in their lives. They love it.
We’ve also tried many baked pies, cream pies, ice cream pies, and have called anything baked in a pie plate, a pie (like brownies.) I have also been known to buy a frozen pie or two. We’re not picky.
So anyways, this has become something fun at our house, and hopefully it’s one more thing we can do help our kids make it in this world.

Now about this particular pie:

The pie pictured about is Crunchy Caramel Apple pie that I first tried making a few years ago. Some woman won the a Good Morning America pie bake-off with it and its not hard to see why.
The crunchy-buttery topping on the pie is wonderful, and the rest of the pie is good too.  I have made it with bottled pie filling, and with fresh apples. The fresh apples were better, but the bottled was definitely a good shortcut if you are short on time.
Also, if you put the nuts on when there is about 10-20 minutes left of bake time they get a great roasted flavor.

Crunchy Caramel Apple Pie

(I originally took this from the Good Morning America website)
For Pie:
pastry for single crust pie
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 cups thinly sliced peeled apples
 
Crumb Topping:
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup butter (room temp)
 
Final Topping:
1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
 
1. Prepare pie dough as directed. Place in pie plate & crimp edge
2. In large mixing bowl stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon, & salt
3. Add apple slices & gently toss until they are coated well
4. Transfer mixture to pie crust
5. For Crumb Topping; stir together brown sugar, flour, and oats
6. Cut in butter until the topping resembles coarse crumbs
7. Sprinkle over pie
8. Cover edges with foil
9. Bake in 375 degree oven for 25 minutes, remove foil, bake an additional 25-30 minutes
10. Remove from oven, sprinkle with nuts & drizzle with caramel
11. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm or room temperature.

pumpkin cookies

This is one of my very favorite recipes, and one of my favorite cookies. It is probably also one of the healthiest cookie recipes I have.

I originally got this recipe off of my sister-in-law, Tiffany’s, blog a few years ago. We’ve tried variations of this recipe with chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, raisins, and cream cheese frosting.

I think the chocolate chip is the best combination.

Ian likes sprinkles with some frosting.

pumpkin cookies

(This recipe makes about 3 dozen. It can be doubled or halved successfully. That has come in handy when I am just using up canned pumpkin. If you half it, just use a whole egg.)

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

1 egg

1/2 cup oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 bag of chocolate chips

Mix first five ingredients together.

In a separate bowl, combine next 6 ingredients.

Mix pumpkin mixture with flour mixture.

Fold in chocolate chips. (or something else, or leave them out and frost the cookies later)

Drop teaspoonful's of the the batter onto greased cookie sheets

Bake 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes.

halloweening

Every sister dreams of doing stuff like this to her little sister. Usually they aren’t so compliant though.

Not that I would know. (Elizabeth, you don’t have to comment about that. )

We had trunk-or-treating, Halloween parades, class parties, and then the actual trick-or-treating. It was one fun-filled couple of days.

Can I just say that I find bobbing-for-apples completely disgusting? That didn’t stop my kids from doing it over, and over, and over.

Then I found Natalie over at a bowl just lapping up the water like a dog. I guess she needed something to help wash her doughnut down. Yummy.

Ian changed his mind many times over the month and at the last minute put on the costume I wanted in the first place. Sigh. I also wish I would have gotten pictures of him in all the other costumes he had been wearing over the weeks.  He wanted me to put dots on his face so he would be a convincing Indiana Jones. He looked good with stubble.

Then the kids were ready to go. Especially the fairy who wouldn’t stop flitting for a picture.

We couldn’t have a asked for a better fall night. It was a perfect Halloween.

punkins

Pumpkin may be my favorite fruit. They are good to eat, and lots of fun.

This year we decorated, carved, glittered, and lit them.

Natalie and Ian got to decorate some with friends. Natalie REALLY liked the glitter.

At our house, Cali and Kimi did their pumpkins without help and I was quite impressed.

Ian and I worked together on his. He’s good at supervising.

Ian (I) did the ghosts, Cali did the “welcome” and kitty-bat, and Kimi did the ghoul coming out of a coffin.