Fabulous Food Friday

Peppermint Hot Cocoa

For each mug you will need
2-3 tablespoons of hot cocoa
hot water
1 candy cane
whipped cream

I like to make this to use up all those candy canes we seem to have left over after Christmas. I think you can figure this one out, but just in case, here is how I put it all together.

I crush the candy cane, while still in the wrapper. I put the whole thing in a ziplock bag an crush it with a meat tenderizer/mallet. Then I add about a teaspoon to the cocoa mix, add water, whipped cream and another teaspoon of crushed peppermint on top. Yummy!

Other things that are especially yummy in hot cocoa:

Cinnamon (Mexico style) is so tasty
Hazelnut flavored creamer (instead of whipped cream)
A drop or two of almond or coconut extract (almond joy goodness)
Don't forget about mini marshmallows
Flavored instant coffee

Picture of the Day 01-03

I love seeing all my Christmas cards. It reminds me of all my friends and family...sadly, I will be taking them down all to soon. Do you see yours up there?

Insulation incident

Dan filled our hallway with rolls and rolls of "the pink stuff." Then he had way too much fun watching them roll and bounce their way down the stairs to the basement. Later this week he will be insulating the basement ceiling. Our kitchen floor has been F-f-fffreeezing these past couple months and we are hoping that by insulating the basement better it may help. We also need to replace some windows as they are very drafty, but that isn't in the budget for now.

Dan has big plans for the basement. After he insulates the ceiling, he will seal the concrete walls, tile the floor and frame up a couple walls for the home theater "phase I" (as he calls it)...I'll keep you posted.

Picture of the Day 01-02

It's never too early to start coloring. Today Hayden was bored while I was making dinner so I gave him some colored pencils. It kept him happy for 10 minutes tops.

Welcome Back

It was good to see you post again. I think that it has been a week since you last posted. I had heard that you were a little under the weather.

Stay well and good luck with your list for 2007.

Love ya,

Dad

Happy New Year!

This is what New Year's looked like at our house on our circa 1980's wall oven! Reminds me of the count down clock from the hatch on the TV show LOST. Anyway, we didn't really do anything special for the new year holiday. Dan and I layed low and made pina coladas and watched the ball drop with Dick Clark. Hayden and I are fighting a cold and didn't really feel up to much. In fact, I stayed home from the Christmas gathering Saturday with Dan's extended family (on his mom's side) due to this cold/cough.

Anyone still making those New Year's Resolutions? I have some goals for the new year:
1. Exercise more...I got a jump start on this one today when I visited the brand spankin' new gym that finally opened up in Sandy. It is amazing!!! I used the elliptical and gazed out the window at the trees for 30 minutes...they haven't hooked up the TVs yet, but the view was so nice, even in the rain. Tomorrow the juice bar and coffee shop will open up and I can't wait to see what they offer. There is also a salon within the club, which brings me to goal #2.

2. Get a hair style (and no, a pony tail doesn't count.) I will admit that I am most comfortable in a pony tail, but it leaves a lot to be desired in the cute department.

3. Scrapbook more. I got a head start on this tonight and already posted it to my Paper Capers blog.

4. Keep the Master bedroom and bathroom clutter free. Wow, this is going to be a hard one for me. Right now it is clean, but I will need to keep on top of it, cause it seems to be the dumping ground for all sorts of things.

5. Read my Bible. This is always something I want to do more of.

6. Spend more quality time with the kids...doing what they want to do. Yikes! I love coming up with projects for them, but I also need to balance that with activities they choose.

7. Home improvement projects. I would love to paint the bathrooms and update the lighting and faucets this next year.

8. Loose weight. Loose 15 more pounds by the end of March and 10-15 more before we open the swimming pool up again this summer.

9. Spend more time having fun with friends. Since we've moved I haven't seen much of my friends and I really miss my girl time.

10. Plan more date nights with Dan. We seem to go for long periods of time where we don't do anything just the two of us. I want to make it a regularly scheduled priority.

There you have it, my goals. Well, school starts up again tomorrow and I better get to bed so I can wake up and get everyone to school on time.

Picture of the Day 01-01

Vroom, Vroom, Vroom!

Here is my little Lightning McQueen Junkie. Zander is sound asleep in his Lightning McQueen pjs, surrounded by Cars sheets and blanket.

Christmas Recap

We did things a little different this year. Usually Chrismas eve looks like this: Go to Dan's grandparents for a few hours, visit, eat then rush off early to have a second, very late Christmas eve dinner with my family, open more gifts with them and then around midnight drive home to put our grumpy, overstimulated kids to bed.

This year Dan took the kids to his grandparent's gathering while I stayed home to clean the house in preparation for my family's Christmas eve dinner. Just about the time Dan got back, dinner was served. We had a spiral cut ham, garlic mashed potatoes, yams and green bean casserole. Our family, like many, has special treats that come out at Christmas time. Ours are Norwegian in origin and are must haves for the Roush Family Christmas. Gjetost (pronunciation: 'yeah-toast') is a type of goat cheese and Oslo Kringla, a Norwegian pastry. The only thing missing this year was Julekake (pronunciation: 'yule-a-cogga), which is a Norwegian Christmas bread. We also love our egg nog with a dash of nutmeg sprinkled on top. Yummers!

After dinner, my sister Toni made everyone Creme Brulee! It was so yummy...I caught Dan sneeking in to the kitchen several times trying to get his hands on some more dessert. Then it was off to bed for the kids. Eveyone stayed over, so we moved furniture around to get settled for sleeping. Then the next morning the kids got up ready to open presents.

I was so tired from cleaning up the night before that I didn't realize everyone else was already awake. Before coming downstairs, we were serenaded by the women in my family who sang us "we wish you a Merry Christmas."

After all the gifts were opened we fixed breakfast and enjoyed a lazy morning together. Soon enough, the guys and kids (one in the same, I know) got out the nerf guns and began to wage war on each other. After most everyone left, Dan brought out his special 3-d version of Settler's of Catan, a game Aaron and Tami like to play too. After Aaron came out from nowhere and won, we called it a day. They left for home and we headed over to Dan's sister Katy's house for a Mexican Christmas dinner.

While dinner was cooking, the kids opened up gifts with Grandma Flutter. Dinner was great! Katy had made tamales from scratch along with homemade refried beans served with tortilla chips, salsa and guacamole. She also gave us something new to try...goat's meat. It was prepared in the traditional Mexican fashion with wonderful seasonings. I couldn't believe how good it tasted. For dessert we had flan and apple pie. Boy, it was all so good, I stuffed myself silly! Then after playing a couple games, I crashed out on the couch. We left and got home around 10 p.m. When we got home, we were too tired to open our gifts to each other, so Dan and I decided to wait until morning. This morning the kids opened their stockings from Santa and spent the rest of the day playing with all their new things. We couldn't ask for a better Christmas...just wish we weren't so tired from all the fun!

Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Here is a cute "letter to Santa" that was sent to me. I thought was worth sharing with you all...

Dear Santa,
I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor, and sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years. Here are my Christmas wishes: I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store. I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy. If you're hauling big ticket items this year, I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone. On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight, and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools. I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog. If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container. If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family. Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always, MOM...! P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

Fabulous Food Friday

Christmas Mice

This is a fun treat I like to make to include with my Christmas goodies. To make the mice you will need:

• maraschino cherries, with the stems, drain and dry on a paper towel, then refrigerate

• Fondant:
1 T butter
1 T light corn syrup
2/3 c. sifted powdered sugar

• Chocolate chips or candy melts
• mini M&Ms or dragees for eyes
• large chocolate chips for the nose
• almond slivers for the ears

To make the fondant, mix all the ingredients together until it forms a ball, like play-dough. You may need to add more powedered sugar if it is too sticky to kneed with your fingers. I would put it in the refrigerator to chill for 15 minutes, so it's not too soft.

Wrap about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the fondant around each cherry and place on waxed or parchment paper. Warning, this is messy! Place back in the refrigerator for 15 more minutes. Melt chocolate in a bowl in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. Dip cherries until covered with chocolate and return to waxed/parchment paper. Decorate with almond slivers, chocolate chips and whatever you like for eyes. Refrigerate until set.

My favorite Christmas treats, Oslo Kringla and
Ginger Snaps...Here they are ready to be delivered!

Picture of the Day 12-22

Anyone want to help with the dishes?

This is what my kitchen looked like at 1 a.m. this morning after a marathon of baking Christmas treats for our neighbors.

A sad day for Oregon

Like many of you, I have been following the coverage of the three missing climbers on Mt. Hood. For over a week now, I kept hoping for the climbers to be found. (Click on the top photo for a link to rescue photos). Every day, I watch the news and read the updates on-line and today it seems that all hope is lost for these last two climbers to be found alive.

I guess one of the reasons I find this story so compelling is that Dan is also a climber of mountains. He has climbed to the summit of Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, some of the Sisters as well as Mt. Hood. Each time I get nervous and he reassures me he will be careful. I tell him don't do anything too crazy and that I love him. I imagine the wives of these 3 climbers must have similar conversations with their husbands before each climb. I bet the climbers didn't think this would be one of their last conversations with their wives. My heart goes out to the wives and family members of the 3 climbers and the loss they must feel. In all of this tragedy, it is comforting to know that the men were Christians.

I thought I would share some photos Dan brought back from his time climbing Mt. Hood... don't think he would ever climb in December though.

Dan's Climb up Mt. Hood:

Here is Dan getting hooked up to the rope.
(I'm sure there is a more manly term for this.)

Almost there. Look how high up they are!

When I saw this, I could have passed out. A few years later,
just weeks before Dan was going to hike Mt. Hood again,
climbers got stuck in a deep crevasse just like this one. After
hearing this on the news, he decided not to climb...thank God!

Here is Dan with our good friend Chris at the summit of Mt. Hood. (Oops...I stand corrected. This is the summit of Mt. St. Helens. I was wondering why the change of clothes!)
(BTW, nice hair! This was during his long hair phase)

Majestic Mt. Hood: A stunning view from 11,239 feet up;
the highest point in Oregon.

Picture of the Day 12-19

My sister just emailed me a bunch of photos she has taken of my kids.
I thought this one was so cute of Natalie and Harley...green glowy eyes and all!

Picture of the Day 12-18

Unfortunate Fortune:

Last night my family all met up at Chang's Mongolian Grill to celebrate my brother's birthday (which is actually tomorrow). We all had a good time and good food. On our way out, as is customary, we all took a fortune cookie. Here is the one my brother got. This has got to be the worst fortune ever. I thought it was funny. Right now I am so tired, my judgement is off...this should have been my fortune!

Natalie's Christmas Program

Yesterday we got to church early to get good seats to hear Natalie sing. She did a great job until she got distracted. She spent a lot of time checking out the big screen behind her. Then she decided that this would be a good time to get that food out that was stuck in her teeth. So for one whole song she had her fingers in her mouth. I was just glad they weren't in her nose!

Here is Natalie, looking so sweet in her Christmas dress. In this photo she is in the middle with a white bow in her hair.

Most of the time Natalie looked behind her to see if she could find herself on the big screen.

Look! There she is on the screen.

Ernst Corral: Setting the scene

What cowboy party would be complete without a wanted poster?

Here is the saloon entrance.

Woody and Bullseye are the center of attention around here, so the centerpiece for this table was easy.

The Dining room was transformed once again into a cowboy room complete with old blue tin plates, lanterns, and burlap sack chair covers. I draped a faux barbed wire around the light fixture for another rustic touch. The kiddos all got cowboy boot cups to drink out of and later they would be washed out and taken home as a favor.

Lunch is served. I like to use containers that fit the theme, like putting my "happy trail" mix inside a cowboy hat with a bandana to protect the hat. I also used various pails and old tin camping dishes for serving containers. Zander wanted "pupcakes" so I found this cupcake stand that worked perfectly. I baked the cupcakes in those new star shaped muffin tins by Reynolds Wrap. Each of the cupcakes was topped with a small plastic horse. Some of the other snacks included chocolate candy that look just like rocks, peanuts, homemade cowboy crackers and rattlesnake eggs (spotted jelly beans).

When I was looking for food for the party, I came acrossed these. I called them Wagon wheels for the party, but I don't have any idea what they are really called. I think they are a hispanic food. They were in the bulk food section at WINCO near the pasta and rice and they were orange in color and about 1/4 this size. I fried them in oil for about a minute and then drained them and coated with a sugar/cinnamon mix. They were tasty whatever they are.

Zander's Cowboy Party

The party was a success! We had 12 little crazy cowpokes at "Ernst Corral" this afternoon. Zander had a great time, but now I am pooped! I thought I better post some party photos before I collapse.


When guests first arrived we gave them a cowboy hat and made sure to get a photo of each of them sitting with Zander. (Here are just a few of them.)

Then we mosied on into the kitchen for a cowboy craft. Even cowboys can be crafty ya know! These cowboys made picture frames to put the photo in that was taken earlier.

Here's how some of the crafts turned out.

For lunch we had beans and "little doggies," cowboy crackers, wagon wheels, snacks and chocolate milk served in cowboy boot cups.

Zander received so many nice gifts. Here he is unwrapping his Woody doll.

It took a few tries, but Zander finally got all 4 candles blewn out.

Cowboy Camp: Party Games

I don't normally plan for a lot of party games, but I came across some good ideas that I thought would be good to keep these cowboys and cowgirls busy.

"There's a Snake in my Boot"

This is like the old party game where you try to drop clothespins into a jar (only with a cowboy twist). Instead of clothes pins we used toy snakes and instead of a jar we used a black cowboy boot.

Look...No Hands
The object of this game is to get the doughnut off the string without using your hands. This made for some great laughs as well as some powdery faces.

Rodeo Ropin'

Just toss the lasso over the horse to show your true cowboy skills.

Fabulous Food Friday

Cowboy Cheese Crackers
I just made these for Zander's party

1 Cup flour
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter
1 cup shredded cheddar or parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-4 tablespoons water
dash of paprika
sesame seeds

Combine first 6 ingredients using a pastry blender to cut in butter. Roll 1/4" thick, sprinkle with sesame seeds and roll again to press seeds in. Cut out with cookie cutters and place on baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes until they just turn brown and crisp.