Merry Christmas Family and Friends!

2011

Dear Family and Friends,

What another year of blessings we have had!  The Lord is Good!

Mara is two and has QUITE a personality.  She is very strong willed and very independent.  She exercises her independence by regularly dressing herself.  She has come up with some very interesting ensembles.  She enjoys being the big girl at her sitter's house.  All the other kids are smaller than her, and she plays the little mama.  She loves to imagine and pretend and act like a grown up.  This summer she got to be a flower girl in my brother Travis's wedding, and she thoroughly enjoyed the princess dress that my mom found for her.

Walter started his first year of preschool at Zion this year.  He goes all day for five days a week.  He has class in the morning, then daycare in the afternoon.  He LOVES playing all day with his friends.  He simply adores his teacher, and he enjoys coming home each day to show us his projects.  I love that he is at school with me and I can stop in to see him once in a while.  Walt celebrated his fourth birthday this year with a Ninja Turtles cake.  He is very active and loves playing anything rowdy.  He also does better when the game or activity is social.  He's not much for playing on his own. Walter was the ring bearer in Travis and Carrie's wedding, and stole a lot of hearts with in his little tuxedo.  What a ham!

 Josh continues to work as a Branch Assistant Manager for Valley Bank and Trust.  He continues to sing in the choir and wins the hearts of the church ladies regularly as he is often chosen to do solos.  Oh, how those women can swoon! ;0)  He was a team captain for the Relay for Life this year.  Unfortunately their event was cancelled due to a nasty storm that came through during the walk; tornado sirens and all!  We were able to join his whole family in Michigan this past summer for his dad's retirement, and we are now blessed to have his parents and sister here for Christmas this year.  It's the first Christmas with family for several years.  What a blessing!

I faced a new challenge in August.  Immediately after returning from my brother's wedding, I began teaching a new grade-fifth.  After six years of teaching middle school Literature and English, I moved to a self contained fifth grade classroom.  I am loving both the change and the challenge.  It keeps me very busy.  I haven't spent this many hours on planning since we moved to Colorado.  I LOVE the age of my students.  I love having complete control over my schedule.  I am also enjoying teaching some subjects I haven't seen for a while.  The hardest part is managing  my time as a teacher and a mommy.  I am thankful for all of the technology we are blessed with both at home and at Zion.  I can no longer imagine being a teacher without the instant Internet access. 

We are very blessed, and we are thankful that YOU are in our lives.  We hope to see you soon in the upcoming year.  Let us know if you will be in the Colorado area.  Our doors are always open for guests!

We wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas and many blessings in the New Year!

Love,
Josh, Kara, Walter & Mara

Easy Cheeseburger Pizza

My final recipe for the project.  I found this recipe while once again perusing the Pillsbury website.  I'm looking forward to something delicious.  I hope this doesn't let me down.

 

INGREDIENTS

1 can (13.8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated classic pizza crust or 1 can (11 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated thin pizza crust

1/2 lb extra-lean (at least 90%) ground beef

1 cup tomato pasta sauce

1/4 cup chopped red onion, if desired

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)

1/4 cup dill pickle slices

 

DIRECTIONS

1 If using classic crust: Heat oven to 425°F. Spray or grease 12-inch pizza pan. Unroll dough on pan. Starting at center, press out dough to edge of pan. If using thin crust: Heat oven to 400°F. Spray or grease 15x10-inch or larger dark or nonstick cookie sheet. Unroll dough on cookie sheet. Starting at center, press dough into 15x10-inch rectangle.

2 Meanwhile, in 8-inch skillet, cook beef over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until thoroughly cooked; drain. Spread pasta sauce evenly over dough. Top with beef, onion and cheese.

3 Bake classic crust 12 to 18 minutes, bake thin crust 8 to 12 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and cheese is bubbly. Top pizza with pickle slices. Cut into 4 servings.

Tip if using classic crust: For a crispier crust, prebake crust 7 to 9 minutes or until light golden brown, then add toppings; bake pizza 12 to 18 minutes.

Pillsbury

I used a thawed bread dough for my crust.  I seasoned the hamburger meat as I would if I was making hamburgers while it was cooking.  I put the sauce on the crust, then meat, then cheese, then I topped with additional meat, onion, and pickle.

How did it turn out?

This turned out pretty good.  It cooked up nicely.  It took a few bites to get used to the tangy-ness from the pickle, but once you got over it, and adjusted to the fact that it wasn't a normal tasting pizza, it wasn't half bad.  I would even call it good; you just have to get used to the initial weird factor.

What about the kids?

Walter promptly ate all of the pickles off the top of the pizza, then stalled the rest of the dinner and eventually had to be cajoled into finishing his piece.  Mara ate her whole piece by dismantling it.  She ate all of the toppings, then eventually went back to finish off the crust.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Twin Cities Dogs

I came across this on the Betty Crocker website.  It looked like a nice treat for the kids, plus it was interesting.

8	large hot dogs
1	stick (1 oz) mozzarella string cheese, cut lengthwise into 8 strips
1	stick (1 oz) Cheddar string cheese, cut lengthwise into 8 strips
1	can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® Crescent Recipe Creations® refrigerated seamless dough sheet
1	egg, beaten
8	wooden corn dog or wooden craft sticks
	Ketchup and mustard, if desired 1Heat oven to 375°F. Slit hot dogs to within 1/2 inch of ends; insert 1 strip of mozzarella and 1 strip of Cheddar cheese into each slit. 2Separate or cut dough into 4 rectangles (if using crescent rolls, press perforations to seal). Place 2 hot dogs crosswise down center of each rectangle. Cut 1-inch-wide strips in dough on each side of hot dogs to within 1/4 inch of hot dogs. Fold strips at an angle across hot dogs, alternating from side to side. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, cheese side up. 3Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Insert 1 stick into each hot dog. Garnish with ketchup and mustard. Betty Crocker I have no idea what the egg is for in the ingredients.  It is not mentioned in the directions, and I did not use it.  I misread the directions, so I cut two separate slits in the hot dogs for the cheese.  It worked fine.  I used kabob skewers for the sticks.

How did it turn out?

This was an interesting twist to pigs in a blanket.  It was not much different, but it was good nonetheless.  It was pretty easy to pull off, and it looks really fancy.  It might be a fun thing to serve at a birthday party or other kid occasion.

What about the kids?

The two hot dogs as one serving was too much.  Walter pulled his apart and ate one of the hot dogs.  Mara pulled hers apart and ate the cheese out of both of them, but didn't really eat much else.  She was having a difficult day today, so I'm not blaming the food.  I would suggest serving one set to two smaller kids.  

Rating: 4 out of 5

Impossible Quiche Try Number 2

I had to give this recipe another chance because I knew it was better than my first one turned out.  I did add a variation, so I wouldn't be doing the same exact recipe twice.  Please refer to the recipe on my first post.  Impossible Quiche.

This time I added 5 pieces of cooked and crumbled bacon.  I did not use the onions this time.  I used shredded Monterrey jack cheese.

How did it turn out?

It is amazing what a difference measuring the salt can make ;-)  This turned out really good!  I liked it a lot.  The bacon was a great add.  It is so easy to make; I highly recommend it.

What about the kids?

They both ate their small piece fine.  No one was clambering for seconds though.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Jello No Bake Cheese Cake Cups

This one feels a little bit like cheating, but in my defense, I did not go out and buy this just for this project.  This was a box of dessert that was in storage for a while, and I used an adaptation recipe instead of just the plain no bake cheesecake.

I prepared the recipe as written on the box, and added a half strawberry garnish.  I loved how easy this was, and I especially liked that there was an option for individual little cheesecakes.  It makes for cute little treat that I'm sure the kids will enjoy when they see it tomorrow.

How did it turn out?

These are very good.  They are tasty, and great for a small sweet snack.  Because they were so easy to make, they tasted even better!  :0)

What about the kids?

Both kids enjoyed these a lot.  They've both had a couple of different desserts of the cheese cakes and have made yummy noises each time.

Rating: 5 out of 5 (strongly influenced by ease of preparation!)

Sour Apple Martini

Earlier in the week I was looking for low calorie cocktail recipes.  This one came up quite a few times in my searches.

1 part Vodka
1 part Apple Pucker

Myrecipes.com

We did not have lime juice, so we experimented until we found the right proportions.  1 to 1 seemed right.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Cheers JD! ;-)

Picnic Corn Squares

We are grilling today, so I set out to find a side recipe to go along with our steak.  I came across this at Cooks.com and it sounded interesting, plus I had all of these ingredients on hand.

1 can creamed corn
1 can corn, drained
1 (8 oz.) carton sour cream
1 stick butter, melted
1 box Jiffy corn bread mix
2 eggs
1 c. sharp Cheddar cheese, grated

Mix all ingredients except cheese until blended. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees in 9 x 13 inch pan. Top with cheese and bake 5 to 10 minutes more, just to melt cheese. Let cool slightly before cutting into squares. These are great for picnics as they serve like brownies.

Cooks.com

I followed the recipe exactly today.  My container of sour cream wasn't completely full, but it did not seem to make a difference.

How did it turn out?

It was only okay.  It was pretty bland tasting, so if I tried to make it again, I would need to add something to season it up a bit.  It was better after it cooled rather than still mushy fresh out of the oven.

What about the kids?

They both seemed to enjoy it fairly well.  They ate quite a bit without needing extra coaxing.  They really liked the cheese on top.

Rating: 3 out of 5