Week 8 Sunday October, 4th 2009

Mac-n-Cheese, Cinnamon Rolls

It was our first week back cooking together after our trip. (See catch-up post below). In true form we had not yet decided what we were making until it was time to make it. I really need to get better at planning ahead. We found a several recipes that were serially rejected for one reason or another. Pesto Gnocchi-- too much work and we didn't have a ricer (whatever that is)
Chicken Fajitas-- we didn't have a bell pepper, or cilantro, or most of what it called for so.... We finally settled on.... a Mac-n-Cheese from an online website. Slightly more sophisticated than the Kraft kind it was decadent and sounded delicously creamy. After a week of meat and potatoes, It was time for a good pasta. Complete with a bechamel sauce to start, and a list of cheeses to which we substituted our own, yum yum.

As for dessert this may be cheating but we counted the cinnamon rolls we made for breakfast as dessert. Making cinnamon rolls on conference weekend is tradition. We did try a new recipe this year so technically it is keeping with the rules. There is no photographic evidence because I had fully inteded to make a different dessert for dinner. But then we ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast, lunch and I'm pretty sure the kids would have had them for dinner, but that's where I drew the line. Even I have limits on sugar consumption. The thought of making dessert was sickening and so we were left without the photos. There are plenty from dinner however. Starting with this handsome devil.

Being silly



Karate chopping the butter

We bought the Julia Child's Mastering the art of French Cooking.

It is more like a text book than a cook book. It's awesome

I wish there was one like it for all
international cuisine, starting with our own.

We used her suggestions in making the bechamel sauce.

Look at that beautiful Bechamel --

Thank you Julia Child

Much of the time the most memorable aspect of the experience isn't the cooking but what they are doing before, during, and after the cooking

The Before...

While JJ and I were deciding the dinner menu. The kids were doing a magic show. JJ brought home two very large boxes from work a few weeks ago and they have been an endless source of entertainment providing such useful functions as a forts, rooms, trains, and now a magicians box. Isabel cleverly figured out she could create a false bottom by stacking one inside the other and make her siblings appear in the "empty box." This video is Lane and Jordan's version of the trick. They called themselves "The Magic Magicians." Kinda catchy, JJ and I contemplated renaming ourselves "The Cooking Cooks." Maybe next time.

During.....

Laney and Isabel changed their outfits several times while dancing to the Italian Opera playing in the background. Their costumes are as follows...

Regular clothes

Laney as the dog

Video-- Dancing as the dog

Who can resist the Brindisi?

Then Isabel became the dog

Then she became a .... I'm not sure, but I like her style.

Then Laney ended as a fairy.

Thankfully Jordan stayed in one set of clothes. Believe it or not, Jordan often is the worst when it comes to changing his clothes during the day. He has a thing for layering, sometimes I catch him wearing 4 shirts... in phoenix.... in the summer!

Silly kids.

The final product.

It was rich

It was creamy

Survey said it was too rich and too creamy.

Actually Laney and Jordon who are usually lucky to finish one plate, had several.

Isabel, JJ , and I who usually go back for seconds and thirds were done after one. I'm not sure what that means but, I never thought I would see the day when Isabel would say emphatically that she didn't want the pasta leftovers!

After....

Jordan chowed about 3 bowls of pasta.

By the time bowl 3 hit bottom he started to suffer from what is known as

"pasta shock."

October 5th Catch up time---Aaah!

Okay, I am pretty far behind, considering it is October 5, when I am writing this post and the last one was August 30th I think. That's pathetic. I don't know if I should even try to justify this with my lame excuses , but I will anyway. The two weeks prior to our leaving for our trip were pretty busy and then we were in Ireland (JJ had to go for work and I had to go because ... well it's IRELAND !! I couldn't let him have all the fun this time) the last two Sundays of September. We got back a week ago and I have been in a funk ever since trying to adjust to life as the cook and maid. I had forgotten how nice it was to have someone bring you wonderful meals all prepared. Meals with which I didn't have to help or feel guilty for not helping. For example, every morning I merely had to happily bounce (and I did bounce) down the stairs to a wonderful breakfast of freshly cut fruit and eggs benedict. Or how wonderful it was to leave the bed messy and come back to clean crisp sheets all neatly tucked in – it was magical. Now it’s back to reality. Cold cereal for breakfast and I can finally see the floor in my room as of this morning. But I am finally back to it and excited to play with the kids on their fall break over the next two weeks. With much will power I have ignored the temptation to skip the last four weeks and start fresh. This is for my posterity's sake and I can't just pretend those weeks didn't happen so, I am doing a super post with all of them together. Without further adieu.. the last four weeks in a very large nutshell.

Week 4 Sunday September 6, 2009

Chicken Courdon Bleu, Apple Crisp

After the Carmel Apple Cheesecake incident we decided to try Apple struesal part with something more suited to her attention span-- Apple Crisp. There she is hard at work.

Laney --stealing apple slices.

It's pretty hard to get after a kid for sneaking apples.

Jordon pounding the Chicken

You can imagine how much he loved that

--Being handed a large blunt object and

encouraged to use it to hit something very hard--

He was in heaven.

Kids were so happy to have their dad back to cook with in the kitchen.
I was too since he did the work

and I spent the time documenting it.






What they were doing while cooking...
Taking turns jumping off the bench shouting nonsense on the way down.
How do they come up with this stuff?

I have a couple cute videos of them doing this but it kept loading the video at the bottom and it was too much of a pain to move them up so look for them at the bottom of the post.


This was so good. It got very enthusiastic thumbs up!

JJ and I loved the apple crisp it was perfect.

The kids didn't however, not appreciating the slimy texture of the cooked apple. They discovered Apple Crisp is a misnomer,

which takes a crispy apple slice and turns it soggy.

That didn't prevent them from licking up the icecream and crumb mixture.

So much for a dessert with food value.

Week 5 Sunday September 13, 2009

Cafe Rio Pork Salad, German Chocolate Cake

This was a special Sunday. It was Isabel's 8th birthday and baptism day! She really enjoyed being surrounded with loving family and friends on her special day. We had Cafe Rio Pork salad from our ward cook book (and yes I will eventually post the recipes) I have been wanting to try this for a long time but alas it requires thinking ahead. The meat slow cooks over night. I can barely remember to start dinner by 4, no who am I kidding, 5 let alone the night before. But since it was a birthday dinner and I was feeding the masses, I pulled through. The kids weren't much help with this one, there was too much going on. But Isabel wanted German Chocolate Cake with white chocolate chips and she did cook the frosting. That is until she burned her fingers tasting it while it was cooking. I would have had more sympathy for her except that I learned she burned herself on about the 7th or 8th time sticking her fingers in. How thick can you get?

I had new helpers this time.

My Mom

JJ's Mom

It was a good thing too, because this is what JJ was doing.

The Spread
After dinner we went to Isabel's Baptism

She looked like an angel

Celebrating her birthday with family

It's hard to believe she is 8. I still remember rocking her when she was a couple weeks old and wondering what she would be like when she got older. I know I am going to blink and she will be 18. Then I will be nosalgic remembering when she was 8. As the kids get older the more I realize the importance of enjoying each and every moment--even the shrieking ones.

Week 6 Sunday, Sepember 20, 2009 (Kerry, Ireland)

Had I been more prepared I would have taken pictures of the food we ate. But instead I can only offer documentation of what we were doing during the hours we would have been cooking at home. Actually, to be honest the thought did occur to me to take pictures of our meals but I am more inhibited about pulling out my camera in populated places, I am pretty sure photographing my food would score highest on the shameful tourist meter.

This was a big day for Kerry county. There was the championship gaelic football game between Kerry and Cork at 3:30 that day. It's akin to being in the state of one of the teams playing in the superbowl the day of the superbowl. I might even venture to say possibly even the superbowl can't compare. There were flags hanging from just about every residence with the Kerry colors of Green and Yellow. Every where we went we overheard conversations about the getting ready to watch the game. In fact, the first thing the hotel receptionist said to us when we checked in on Friday night was "get yurself to a pub on Sunday at half tree (they can't say "th" sound it's really rather adorable. ) tere will be the big game, Kerry v.s. Cork at tree tirty." Then Pat our bed and breakfast host from Saturday night spent all Sunday morning during our breakfast telling us about the players and who to watch for as he reinacted some great moments in football history. (I'm serious, it was a riot) His sons had gone to Dublin to the game and he was so excited for them. We quickly realized watching the game in Kerry was not an experience to be missed. So, we stayed in the area before we headed on our 3 hour drive north to Galway, where JJ would be working during the week. Per suggestion of our new friend Pat, we had enough time to explore the incredible grounds of the Muckross House and Muckross lake in Killarney National Park. There was a trail that followed around the lake in a large loop. We had a wonderful time meandering through various paths and some trails less traveled through densely wooded areas that pictures can't even do justice to their beauty. We walked for hours and I think we calculated it must have been about 8 miles or so. We had worked up quite an appetite just in time to watch the game while we grabbed some grub. Unfortunately the more lively places weren't serving food--everyone was standing packed around a small TV suspended in the corner. So we ate at a more tame resturaunt with an older crowd, large flat screens, and not nerely enough spunk. After our meal of the best burger and fries (meat and potatoes are the bulk of Irish meals) I have ever had, we then moved to another pub to watch the end with the true excitement of the local pride.

Muckross House

This is Our new Dream House

Spacious Lawn for Kids, 10 orphans (or so) and myself to frolick on to our hearts content.

I have a bit of a grass fetish. (JJ makes fun of me) I admit it took some effort to suppress the urge to toss my shoes and run through the grass with my arms out like a bird flying in the wind. Okay that's confessing too much, cheeks are reddening now. Back to the dream.

Georgous Lake with which to build a private dock to go sailing (with the kids and orphans). Okay JJ wasn't too keen on the orphans part of the dream--a bit too altruistic for him. I say, come on with a house like this and servants there is plenty of time and room for homeless children, plus more hands on deck right?

Beautiful Muckross Lake

This pictures doesn't do justice to the blanket of Green covering the mountains around the lake. It was so pretty I almost couldn't stand it. It's as though you just want to bottle it up and bring it home to share becuase a two dimmensional replica just isn't enough.

Sample from some wooded area around the lake.

Everything coverd in Green!

On our walk-- see I'm wearing the Kerry colors.

It was the perfect shirt for the day!

Torc Waterfall

We ran up to this waterfall vista as a small detour of our trail.




Video -- Kerry Wins-- Celebration!

Week 7 Sunday September, 27 2009 (County Clare Ireland)

So I don't have pictures of the food again. But this is what we were doing about the time we would have been cooking. ...... Sailing on Lough (lock) Derg

JJ with his extrasensory sail boat honing skills, steered us to this little place where they rent sailboats on the lake. It turned out to be the perfect way to spend our last (sigh) afternoon in Ireland. We've discovered on our recent trips we really have a knack for "flying by the seat of our pants" when it comes to sightseeing. as JJ says in his great Irish brogue, "You've got to move your feet and keep your wits about you and good tings will happen."

JJ in his element. This was the highlight of the trip for him I would wager! All that boy needs is water and a boat to make him happy. (me too, actually )

So...what are we doing in arizona?......

"I am Sailing"
I think I'm wearing 4 layers to stay warm. It was a wonderful blustery day!

Now to Give you an idea of what we are used to-- meet Lake Pleasant, AZ
A pretty little oasis in the desert valley, and we enjoy escaping there to sail as often as we can.

BUT.....

It's not this....

or this....

Or this (sigh).

This, by the way, is a picnic spot we sailed to. We ate some really yummy Camembert Cheese and french bread we bought at a local grocery store. We had a great time "putting into port" here and another place that had a little pub where we ate some soup. All afternoon, we kept thinking how much the kids would have enjoyed having a lake like this to explore on our weekends. Ah (sigh again).


Now I am caught up --whew- I will have this week's post done before Sunday and all will be well. I am so glad we are doing this. It really has been a great experience so far. The kids reminded us when we got back that we hadn't done our cooking days while we were gone. I was happy that they missed having them. Maybe someday we'll be cooking together in Ireland....

I can dream can't I?

This is the Video from Week 4 it's pretty funny



Those sillies

Sunday-- August 30, 2009

This was the day JJ came home -cause for celebration! Since it was a welcome home dinner, not just any food fare would do. After thinking about the kind of foods he would have been eating for the past week, though I was no expert in German food, I imagined meat and potatoes made up the heavier side of the balance scale. So, I couldn't think of any meal that would speak the words "Welcome home, we love you " louder than a good pasta. Add a bechamel sauce and the words would be accompanied with a warm hug. There was a Chicken Lasagne recipe in one of my cookbooks I had passed on occasion that looked tasty. I decided to give it a wirl, even though I have to admit I harbored some doubts that chicken and lasagne were meant to co-exist. But it called for a pound of leeks in the sauce, which sounded exotic, and chicken stock was the base liguid which I also thought unique. While I stared into my favorite pot (a dream for sauces by the way)and watched the ground chicken transform into unapealing balls of white meat, I began to question whether some meats should ever be ground. And as we poured the unusually watery sauce across the layers of lasagne noodles it looked borderline "gross"rather than "exotic," and I couldn't help but wonder if I had made a grave mistake. Thankfully, doubt was replaced with gratitude for having ignored it so that I could enjoy every bite of one of my favorite lasagnes ever. Which is saying something because lasagne is taken very seriously in our household. As I reflect on the meal I still wonder sometimes if the chicken in it brought much to the table (quite literally) and I think I would like to try the recipe again with a different kind of meat. The leeks were definitely the star of the show and without them this one might have ended up on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Yet all's well that ends well and it definitely ended well.

Unfortunately dessert didn't share the same fate. We, or rather I, decided we would make Struesel Carmel Apple Cheesecake. This was a recipe from my good friend Wendy who must have the heart of a French cook because all of her recipes call for 1 or 2 sticks of butter- yum! I do love her recipes and was excited to make this one because I still had fond memories of eating it at her house nearly a year ago.

I am not sure what prompted me to let Isabel shoulder the responsibility of this more complex recipe from her previous conquests, except that she truly had become fairly reliable in the kitchen. With a crust, cheesecake filling, and the struesal topping, it required a lot of steps and cutting in. She started out with the zelousness of a budding chef as she used the pastry blender to cut in the butter. In fact she was reminding me how she wanted to be a chef and a writer. Coming to the accurate conclusion they weren't mutually exclusive, she thought maybe she could write cook books. However, after a few minutes of cutting in, I heard her say with an exhasperated sigh, "this is hard work." It was then she noticed the word blender in the recipe and asked "what's the difference between this blender and an electric one? Can't I just use the electric one?" She was definitely my daughter, I always disliked cutting in too. At the time I forgot I usually cheat and use electric beaters, so instead I helped her finish.

Mistake # 1: choosing a recipe beyond her stamina.

Mistake # 2: Talking on the phone with my mother-n-law while helping Isabel wih dessert and cooking dinner. That was taking multi-tasking beyond my capabilities.

As I was talking, I glanced at the bowl of the cheesecake mixture and noticed spices piled in there. Remembering the cinnamon and nutmeg went in the struesal part I reminded her about reading the recipe carefully. Still on the phone, I told her "oh well" and that it shouldn't matter much--she should just mix it in now that it was in there. Had I not been distracted with my conversation I probably would have processed the fact that something was off in that mixture, but alas I did not, which made

Mistake # 3- not double checking her measurements.

And even worse,

Mistake #4 not tasting it.

Unaware that I was racking up mistakes right and left, we baked it. Out of the oven we let it cool and released it from the pan--It looked beautiful even despite the discolored filling. Because JJ's flight didn't arrive until 8 pm and we had to eat dinner without him, we decided to wait on dessert until he came home. After a happy reunion we all gathered around with wide eyes and eagerly cut into the cheesecake. As I took my first bite my mouth watered with glorious anticipation and was instead met with great disapointment. Something was very wrong. All of the sudden the memory of that bowl resurfaced in my mind as I asked (much too late) "Isabel how much nutemeg did you put in?" "2 tablespoons" she replied. Yes, you read that right, TABELSPOONS! Any cooks reading this knows what a colossal mistake that was. I told her with an exassperated tone, "honey, teaspoons not tablespoons." I asked her what happened, didn't she read the recipe? Poor thing , she shrugged and said she thought she did.

Mistake #5 doubting my daughter.

It was bad, even the kids didn't get past the first bite either. The butter and sugar content weren't enough to mask the mistake even for them. I felt so bad for Isabel, all her hard work ruined because I didn't pay attention.

I was reflecting on the experience the next day and the thought occured to me that 2 teaspoons of Nutmeg seemed like a lot to call for. I pulled out the recipe to acertain exactly how she got from whatever it called for to the astronomical 2 tablespoons. I immediately realized what happened. The ingrediants list wrote the sugar as 1/2 cup plus 2T 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg and 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon. The 1/2 cup sugar was for the filling and the 2T mixed with the apples. Down in the paragraph of directions it stated to add the 2T sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. The 2T modifying only the sugar. Isabel being inexperienced in cooking and grammer, thought the 2T applied to all three and put in 2T each of the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. An experienced chef would have understood why the 2T were mentioned only for the sugar and would have looked for the measurment of cinnamon and nutmeg in the ingrediants list, knowing there isn't a recipe on earth that would call for 2 TABLESPOONS of nutmeg! AaaH poor Isabel. I had some apoligizing to do. Sometime we'll try the recipe again so she can experience how good it tastes, and when we do, I will remember to stay off the phone!

Isabel cutting in the butter for the crust. A tiresome chore.
(I love the flour mustache sign of a true chef)

Had I not been distracted on the phone I would have clearly realized this is not merely 3/4 tsp worth of cinnamon and nutmeg

The carrots were drumsticks this time.



Leek: n
a green onion on steroids










Everyone helped layer the Lasagne.

Ready for the Oven!

JJ will be excited!

Sorry kids you'll have to wait until dad gets home.

The kids Decorated the walls with welcome home signs.

Elayna- so happy to have daddy back!

This is what she had to say to him

(Jordan passed out on the way home from the airport so he missed the festivities)

Yeah ! JJ's home and enjoying the Lasagne we saved him.

It got enthusiastic thumbs up!

Look at them!
Such excitement on their faces in anticipation of this wonderful treat ending up in the bottom of their stomachs. Too bad it ended up in the bottom of the garbage disposal.

Aaaah ..." C'est la vie"