Peach Ice Cream!

Can I just say YUMMY!?!

I don't have the recipe, but what I can say is the peach ice cream was delicious and I espeically liked the glaze that we made to put over it. It hardened when it hit the ice cream and was chewy goodness in our mouths! And i'm so proud of the crowd we had together for this!

So good that we couldn't even get a picture before it was all gone!

Also we recently made some super cute necklaces. I don't have any pictures but it was fun to see how creative we could all be with one idea/pattern!

Thanks girls for being such awesome friends and homemakers!

tomato basil soup

Oh, ladies, here is that recipe for that delicious and easy tomato soup:

Ingredients

• 2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• 18 fresh basil leaves, minced
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, bring the tomatoes and broth to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add basil and sugar. Reduce heat to low; stir in cream and butter. Cook until butter is melted.

Park City BREAKFAST!

I had some requests for recipes from the yummy (if I do say so myself) breakfast we had in Park City.

French Toast:
Great Harvest Cinnamon Burst Bread (this is the key to amazing french toast)
Eggs (2 eggs per 4ish peices)
Milk (1/3 cup per 2 eggs)
Cinnamon (about 1-2 tsp, but really as much as you want, the more the merrier)
Nutmeg (ditto)
Ginger (ditto)
Vanilla (1 tsp per 2 eggs)

Heat stovetop to med/med-high. Mix eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and vanilla in a bowl or pan. I like using the 9x9 cake pans, they are a good size for dipping slices of bread into. One at a time, coat slices of bread in mixture and place on greased skillet or frying pan. After about 2-3 minutes, flip, then wait 2-3 more minutes and remove.

Syrup:
(I was tempted to keep this one to myself)
1 cube butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 T Karo syrup
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Heat stovetop to med-high. In a saucepan, melt butter completely. Add sugar, buttermilk and karo syrup. Bring to a boil. Note that this will start bubbling, become foamy, and double in size, so make sure your saucepan is big enough, or just take it off the burner before it overflows. But it is important to make sure that it starts bubbling. Once bubbling for about 1 min, remove from head. Add vanilla and baking soda. When you add the soda, it may slightly expand again, beware. Now its ready to eat! You can keep any leftovers in your fridge for about one month. Just reheat it in the microwave until it bubbles and becomes frothy.

Christmas Morning Casserole:
3 slices bread, cubed (white or wheat)
1/2 lb. grated cheddar cheese
1 lb. cooked ground sausage
1/3 cup diced onion (optional)
1/8 cup diced green pepper (optional)
12 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp mustard powder (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

topping:
2/3 can cream of mushroom soup
1/3 cup milk

In an 8x12" pan, layer bread, cheese, sausage, onion, and green pepper. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, 1 cup milk, mustard powder, salt, and pepper. Pour over bread mixture and let soak in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix cream of mushroom soup with milk. Pour over egg mixture. Put water in a pan or cookie sheet and place in oven. Set baking dish over pan with water (this prevents the bottom from burning - but you don't have to do this if you have a convection oven, like we had at the lodge). Bake for 45-50 minutes or until eggs are set. (Note, you can substitute bacon for sausage, or both!)

Orange Julius:
2/3 cup orange juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 cup sugar
10-12 ice cubes
1 cup milk
1 cup water (if needed)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients in blender. I would add the water last, if you feel like its needed. I think this makes enough for 2-4 people.

And since I forgot to post this recipe after we made it for homemakers a couple of weeks ago...

Pumpkin Cake Roll:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin
1 T lemon juice
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ginger

filling:
8 oz. cream cheese
4 T butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs and sugar together. Add pumpkin and lemon juice, mix well. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, and spices. Add dry to wet ingredients and mix until incorporated. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper and spray generously with pam. Pour mixture onto cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes (DO NOT try to do the next step without letting it cool. It MUST cool.). Sprinkle a small amount of powdered sugar on a towel and invert the cake onto the towel. Remove waxed paper. Beat together filling ingredients. Spread over cooled cake. Roll up carefully. Chill in fridge before serving.

See pictures below of us eating breakfast.

Enjoy!

PaRk CiTy!!

This past weekend a bunch of us got together and went to Park City. I found a really great deal on a place in the Canyons that ended up being even nicer than we expected! We started the night by meeting up at the Castle's. We caravaned up to Midway where we ate at a mexican restaurant with like 30 different kinds of salsas. DELICIOUS!

On the trip to Park City we had:



Me and Casey


Hayley and Jake

Marti and Collin

Collin was nice enough to practice polygamy for the weekend and take on a second date. Lucky man, Marti AND Corrine!!

Corrine :)

Ben and Sara

Kara and Tyler

AND Lexi and Greg

When we got to the lodge, the wine glasses were in instant hit with the guys! Apparently there's something very attractive about drinking water from a wine glass.

And us girls did a similar pose to the one we did last year in Park City.

This year, the bed was big enough to fit all thirteen people for a group shot!

After checking out our room for the night, we checked out the pool and hot tub.

Let's just say the girls stayed warm in the hot tub,

While the boys did some aerial synchonized swimming.

The hot tub was really cool... in the shape of a donut. At one point we all got our work out in for the night by making a lazy river.

Hayley put together a FABULOUS breakfast. She made a delicious breakfast casserole, her incredible syrup with french toast, fruit, orange julius and of coarse, cheesy hashbrowns.

We had a wonderful trip to the Escala. Now we are ready for the Outlets!

CHEESECAKE

This week for homemakers we made Liesel Galletly's DELICIOUS chocolate cheesecake. I would give you all the recipe, but I have been sworn to secrecy. Jessica and Marti both had midterms so our numbers this week were kinda dwindling... but Corrine, Hayley, Anna and I were able to enjoy some cheesecake. Also Corrine brought some home for Marti and Colin... I hope it made it!

I put a picture of a home in honor of "homemakers" on the big cheesecake...

And out of the kindess of my heart I put some canadian chocolate, Cadbury Caramilks on the small ones for the girls to take home to thier significant others...

Homemade homemaker bread and ice cream :)

As most of you know, I love easy, simple and few ingredient recipes. I love this bread recipe for that reason... it's simple and fast. I got it from my mother-in-law who is a fantastic cook. You can use it for bread, dough for pizza, dough for calzones, rolls, even a lot of dessert.

1/4 Cup Sugar

1/2 T Salt

1/2 T Yeast

1 1/2 T Lecithin

2 Cup Hot Water

5 1/4 Cup flour ( or wheat)

Mix all ingredients for 1 minute. Knead for 5 mins. Let rise 25 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

We experimented with different shapes of bread and different toppings. We made some croissants, some cheese bread and some cinnamon bread.

We also made some ice cream. I debated putting this picture up because it doesn't even start to depict how delicious the ice cream was. We made peach cinnamon and let me tell you- it was great! All I can potray from this picture is notice how empty the container is... we gobbled it up! Jessica with ingredients to come :)

Tarantula

Caution: If you have arachnophobia, this may give you nightmares.

This last Tuesday, Jessica, Marti, Nicole, and I gathered to make peach ice cream (can you say, YUM?!). We were in need of some ingredients so we all piled in Marti's car and headed for the store. About 3 minutes into our journey Marti yells, THAT WAS A SPIDER!!!, and flips her car around. As she's flipping around I look back and see a large black spot crossing the road. Sure enough, a tarantula was crossing the road.

Did you hear me???

A TARANTULA!!!!!!!!!!!

Do those even exist in Utah???? We didn't think so.

We were all in shock for a few minutes, didn't know what to do, tried calling animal control with no luck. Soon enough, a family was walking down the street so we asked them if they had seen tarantulas in this area. They acted shockingly calm and said yes, they don't bite and aren't poisonous. We debated throwing rocks at it, running it over with the car, and finally just decided to leave it be.

Lucky tarantula.

Disgusting tarantula, more like.

I just have to say that I couldn't fall asleep last night because in the dark the fan on my bedroom ceiling was looking very similar to the tarantula and royally freaking me out.

Here are some pretty crappy pictures I took with my phone. They don't do it justice.

Are you proud of how close I got to it? Yeah, I'm pretty brave. So were the other girls.

At this point, it was getting pretty late, so we decided we would skip making ice cream that night and call our tarantula adventures our homemakers for the week.

I'm still looking forward to peach ice cream, soon, though! 

Ashley

Dear Ashley,

Homemakers misses you. We all thought of you last night and hoped you are having a fabulous adventure.

We love you!!

The girls.

Scripture Bags and Funnel Cakes

Last night we started this new season of Homemakers off at my house. I've been meaning to make something to carry my scriptures in ever since Jake gave them to me for my 21st birthday (I'm almost 22 1/2, scary). My mother-in-law gave me this great and easy idea for making the perfect scripture bag.

All you need is:
One place mat, made of fabric... cute fabric preferably.
Ribbon OR Cording OR homemade straps for the handles (We used ribbon)
A sewing machine and thread

Here are the steps:
1. Fold place mat in half, hamburger style, right sides together.
2. Pin short sides.
3. Sew straight line up short sides.
4. Measure two inches up from bottom fold and draw a line across on both sides. This line does not need to be dark.
5. Fold corners into triangles.
6. Sew along drawn line.
7. Turn right side out, and DONE!
Well... then you just sew on the handles and your really done.

And there's always a treat! FUNNEL CAKES!

Here's the recipe:

3 cups Flour
1/4 cups Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Poweer
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3 Eggs
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
2-1/4 cups Milk
Powdered Sugar (for dusting)
Oil (for Frying)

Heat oil in large, deep pan. Mix dry ingredients. Whisk in eggs, vanilla, and milk. Add more milk if needed. (Should be like pancake batter) Pour batter into and through a funnel, making slow circular motions. Make sure to hold the funnel close to the oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes, then flip. Drain on a paper towel. Dust with powdered sugar.

Boy, these were good, weren't they!? I think I'll make them again tonight. And for breakfast tomorrow. Yum!

Sorry there are no pictures on this post, but we will get better at that as we go.

Have a lovely day!

Back in business!

After a wonderful, long, crazy summer full of weddings, vacations and soaking up some vitamin D - Homemakers is back in business!!

Stay tuned for weekly updates on the fun things we are doing this Fall.

fruit salsa and cinnamon chips!

In case you guys didn't know, I'm truly madly and deeply in love with all kinds of fruit. The first time I had this was HEAVEN.

recipe:
2 kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and diced
8 ounces raspberries
1 pound strawberries
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor
 
10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
butter flavored cooking spray
2 cups cinnamon sugar

1. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, Golden Delicious apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray.
4. Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

*notes* use any kind of fruit you want... like we added mangos in there. Also, I didn't think this was going to yield a lot, but it totally did.

Disneyland Dinner!!

So tonight we will be making cards that we will donate to a school in Sprinville. In return, Disneyland will give us a free day pass to thier park! We thought since we will all be getting together to make cards that we should also make Cafe Rio- something we've been wanted to do for a while. Here is the recipe for the meat and dressing.

"Just like Cafe Rio" Pork:
5-6 lb prk roast
1 Tbsp cumin
1 cup brown sugar
12 oz bottle La Victoria Taco sauce
20 oz bottle coke

Cook roast on low for 12 hours in crock pot with water added half way up roast. After 12 hours, drain water off roast and add remaining ingredients and continue cooking for 4 more hours. Then shred the meat and cook for 2 more hours.

"Just like Cafe Rio"
Creamy Ranch Dressing: 1 pkg dry Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
1 cup mayo
1 cup shopped cilantro
2 cloves garlic
3 tomatillos (peel off paper) (found by the hot petters in the fresh produce)
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less as desired)

Put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.


Pictures from the night:

I have to admit I was very impressed witht he creativity and card making skills our boys have. I think the others girls would agree...

I am the worst poster. Here are some recipes we have tried:

French Onion Soup

Serves 6.

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 pounds yellow onions, sliced 1/4-inch into half circles
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups Beef Stock
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 small French baguette, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
• 8 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated on the large holes of a box grater (about 3 cups)

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large heavy pot on medium-low heat. Add onions. Spread them out in as thin a layer as possible. Sprinkle with sugar, and cook, stirring just as needed to keep onions from sticking, until they are melting and soft, golden brown, and beginning to caramelize, about 1 hour.
2. Sprinkle flour over onions, and stir to coat. Add stock, and thyme, and bring to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, for about 30 minutes, to allow the flavors to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Meanwhile, lightly toast bread under a broiler; set aside. Ladle hot soup into six ovenproof bowls. Arrange the bowls on a baking pan. Place 1 or 2 slices of toasted bread over each bowl of soup. Sprinkle 1/2 cup grated cheese over bread in each bowl, and place under the broiler until cheese is melted and crusty brown around the edges. Watch carefully that bread doesn't burn. Serve immediately.

Chicken Pot Pie Serves 8. 2 tablespoons butter 1 carrot, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced 1 medium onion, chopped 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface 1 cup whole milk 1 can (14.5 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth 1 rotisserie chicken (about 2 1/2 pounds), skin and bones removed, meat shredded (about 4 cups) 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice Coarse salt and ground pepper 9-inch-round store-bought pie dough (from a 15-ounce package) or homemade double crust

Directions Preheat oven to 425 degrees, with rack in the middle. In a large saucepan, heat butter over medium. Add carrot, onion. Cook until carrot is crisp-tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Add flour; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Gradually add milk and broth, stirring until smooth. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a simmer and thickens, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in chicken and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper. Divide filling among eight 8-ounce ramekins or ovenproof bowls; set aside. On a floured surface, roll out dough to a 15-inch round. With a 3 1/2-inch floured biscuit cutter, cut out eight rounds; place one on each ramekin. Transfer ramekins to a rimmed baking sheet; bake until filling is bubbling and crusts are golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving. To store: Prepare through step 3; let cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap, then aluminum foil; store in freezer, up to 3 months. To reheat: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Uncover ramekins; bake on a rimmed baking sheet until bubbling and golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

PUMPKIN SOUP!!

We made yummy yummy pumpkin soup tonight! Go homemakers.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons margarine, softened
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 slices whole wheat bread
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F(200 degrees C). Combine butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Spread butter mixture evenly over one side of each bread slice. Place bread, buttered side up, on a baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until bread is crisp and topping is bubbly. Cut each slice of bread into 8 small triangles or squares.
2. Saute onion in butter in a medium saucepan until tender. Add 1 can chicken broth; stir well. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes.
3. Transfer broth mixture into the container of a blender or processor. Process until smooth.
4. Return mixture to saucepan. Add remaining can of broth, pumpkin, salt, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground pepper; stir well. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally..
5. Stir in whipping cream and heat through. Do not boil. Ladle into individual soup bowls. Top each serving with Cinnamon Croutons.

GIRLS NIGHT

It's a good thing we love each other... it was a right car ride up. Ashley was an awesome driver.

We loved visiting the Family Tree Center in Park City! Hayley and I wanted to find out exaclty how we are related... we didn't really get to but it was really fun. The two senior misisonaries were really nice :)


They even took our picture

We thought it would be fun to take pictures... like the really sweet ones on christmas cards. This is our version of a "Family Portrait."

C'mon, I couldn't be posting on this blog without including a picture of food... this is what we had for breakfast. Hayley knows how to make killer waffles and syrup. YMM

Hello Ladies!!

The garden wasn't a total bust! Ashley and I enjoyed a very red and delicious tomatoe the other day! Out of the six plants in our garden, only two of them produced ONE tomatoe each. Therefore, we decided to take many pictures of our tomatoe seeing as they are very scarce. We are waiting for Jessica to get back North Carolina to pick the other one (which by the way is THIS WEEK!!)

So us girls decided to plant the garden mostly for fun but also as a learning experience. We thought we could try it out and see what we could learn by trial and error. The main lesson for this season: Plant a garden in the SUN.

Kinda Lonely :(

Ashley and I picking the tomatoe.

Yummiest snack ever: Tomatoe with salt and pepper.

very mary chicken casserole

so called because this recipe is from my aunt mary. and yeah, i've been a huge slacker lately (but hopefully my work schedule will be much more regular starting next week and then i can re-organize my life). also, i've misplaced my camera somewhere in the last hour, so pictures will have to wait. but here is the chicken casserole recipe. as promised.

-3 to 4 pounds of chicken (but we just used 3 breasts and it works out fine)

-1 can cream of celery soup

-1 can cream of chicken soup

-8 oz sour cream

-8 oz pkg Pepperidge Farm herb dressing (stuffing)

-1 cup chicken broth

-1 cup melted margarine

Boil chicken in small amount of seasoned water (can use onions, celery, leaves, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, garlic, salt, etc.) Remove meat from bones. Place meat in bottom of a 9x13" casserole pan. COmbine soups with sour cream. Pour over chicken. Press dry herb dressing lightly over the cream mixture. Slowly pour the melted margarine over the dressing. Top casserole with cup of chicken broth. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes covered. Then uncover and continue baking about 15 minutes until top is crispy and hot. Become addicted to the creamy, savory goodness. 

*also, don't get me wrong, i love h.a. with a large portion of my heart, but i feel like we are lacking in organization lately (probably mostly because of me and my crazy schedule the last 3 weeks) but i want to work on this so that we can live up to our fullest domestic potential!

Mushroom Chicken and Oreo goodness

So my mother-in-law makes this delightful chicken dish that I believe everyone should know how to make. It's fast, easy and absolutely delicious. I secretly hope everytime we go over there for dinner that she's making it. I decided to learn how myself! This was our attempt.

Directions straight from her:

• First brown your chicken with mushrooms and a little onion and garlic salt. (Mushrooms can be canned ones or fresh, either works great).
• Add 1 can of crème of mushroom soup, about 2 heaping tablespoons of sour crème, and add crème or half/half instead of milk to the soup mix.
• Salt and Pepper to taste.

On another note, last night my sister brought dessert for father's day dinner. To my surprise, this was one of the yummiest treats i've ever had and apparently really easey to make. I call them Oreo balls of goodness.

Ingredients:

• bag of Oreo's
• box of cream cheese
• chocolate chips

All you have to do is mix the Oreo's and cream cheese in a blender. When you have a dough-like substance, roll into balls. Then dip the balls in chocolate (michele had then so that the top part of the ball was covered, but I imagine you can put as much chocolate as you want). Put in the fridge until cool. Trust me, these are delicious!!

pretty as a picture...

So I'm pretty technologically impaired and I can't figure out how to go back into previous posts and add pictures. However, I promised a certain married woman that I would post these tonight, so here goes. And then maybe Jessica Day can show me how to fix this later :)

This is pretty much the best crust I've ever had- curtsey of Jessica. I will definitely be using the recipe again.

Ok, so maybe we're fatties. But we're happy fatties :)

And now for the not-so-secret garden...

We meant business.

Evidence of the onion-lawn.

This one always manages to get something smeared on that nose.

The after math. Yes, we get down and dirty and we wear cute shoes while doing it.