Memorial Day 2009

This year we drove down to Chancelorsville for our morning memorial. We arrived before the visitors center was open so we walked around, climbed on canons, saw a huge black snake and brought some ticks into the car with us. After we went through the little museum the boys each stamped their books.

Monumental

Before going to the airport we were able to walk around some of the monuments in DC. It was so nice to be outside on such a sunny day. Even though I have walked these paths more times than I can count, I still love it.

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I love this cookbook. It was a gift from a good friend. It is a favorite because there are beautiful pictures for every recipe, it is not too fussy, not too many ingredients, there is a sections for each season with soups, main dishes, side dishes and desserts.

I wanted to make potato pancakes because I had some at a fabulous Relief Society breakfast and wanted more. If you have a food processor the grating will be a lot easier than by hand, but it still worked. I squeezed the liquid out of the vegetables before I added the other ingredients because they seemed too wet. If you have a big family you might want to double the batch, it really only makes 8. I ate mine with Tzatziki because I love that stuff!

Potato Carrot Pancakes

3/4 pound (about 3 medium) white potatoes, peeled
8 ounces (about 3 medium) carrots, peeled
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions (about 3 scallions)
Coarse salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup matzo meal
1/4 cup vegetable oil, for frying
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream, for serving (optional)

In a food processor fitted with a fine-hole grating attachment (or on the small holes of a box grater), grate potatoes and carrots. Transfer to a large bowl; add scallions and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Using your hands, mix thoroughly. Mix in egg and matzo meal until combined. Divide into 8 mounds of equal size.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat, swirling to coat bottom of pan. Add half the potato mounds; flatten each to a 1/2-inch thickness. Cook until golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes per side.

Transfer to paper towels or parchment paper to drain. Repeat with remaining mounds (reduce temperature to medium if browning too quickly). Sprinkle with salt, and serve with sour cream, if desired.

NYC

One of our favorite trips this year was experiencing New York City. Matt had to go for work so I drove up with the boys to stay with him for a few nights. The car ride was long but we almost didn't want it to end because we were listening to the 7th Harry Potter book. That saved us because it took over two hours to get through the Lincoln Tunnel. Our hotel was overlooking Times Square which was so fun and great to be able to just walk out the door into the excitement.

Things we loved:
Riding the boat to the Statue of Liberty
Ellis Island
Getting our passport books stamped
NYC Skyline
Playing in Central Park
Walking with the boys
Watching TV in the Hotel

Buying Yankee Hats
Sitting in Times Square
Taking the boys to Mary Poppins!!!

Things I learned:
It is hard to carry cameras, everything else you need, and take nice pictures when you are trying to keep track of four boys in NY.
The boys were great at staying close to me.
Looking back I'm thankful for Cam's binky but I'm also really glad it is gone--he looks way too big to have that!
When you go to NY with kids you don't experience the good food--hence the McDonalds--but it is fun anyway.
The tolls are ridiculous.

Not buying $100 muppets was a good choice, even though I wanted one. (They are CUTE)

Sometimes you can't fit everything in that you want to do, but that is ok.

We still have a lot of reasons to go back again.

It is good to watch your kids enjoying themselves and appreciating new things.

Berry Pickin'

One lovely day we made it to the Westmoreland Berry Farm. We rode the tracker down the hill to the berry patch and picked enough to make jam and also have plenty to eat. The boys worked hard to try to get the goats to cross the walk and eat some corn and then we all enjoyed eating fresh strawberry ice cream. Yummy!

Here comes 2010

Festivities occured at our house New Years Eve and into the wee hours of the morning! Hope you had a great night too...

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I have wanted to share another food blog that is fantastic! It is called Smitten Kitchen. I haven't made a lot of recipes from her blog but I think it is beautiful and fun to read. We made these donuts back in October at a party with some friends. (Thanks for the cooking help Brian and Chad!!) They were fun to make and I think the concensus was that they were best with the glaze and the sugar. We must like things sweet here. Kind of rich though, you could hardly eat more than one or two. I ate some for breakfast the next morning and they were surprisingly good. I maybe even liked them better the next day with cold milk, for some odd reason. I think making donuts could become a fall tradition!

via smitten kitchen

Apple Cider Doughnuts
Adapted from Lauren Dawson at Hearth Restaurant

Makes 18 doughnuts + 18 doughnut holes (suggested yield for a 3-inch cutter; my larger one yielded fewer)

1 cup apple cider
3 1/2 cups flour, plus additional for the work surface
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick or 2 ounces) butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
Vegetable oil or shortening (see my explanation in the post) for frying

Toppings (optional)
Glaze (1 cup confectioners’ sugar + 2 tablespoons apple cider)
Cinnamon sugar (1 cup granulated sugar + 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon)

Make the doughnuts: In a saucepan over medium or medium-low heat, gently reduce the apple cider to about 1/4 cup, 20 to 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer on medium speed (with the paddle attachment, if using a standing mixer) beat the butter and granulated sugar until the mixture is smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue to beat until the eggs are completely incorporated. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the reduced apple cider and the buttermilk, mixing just until combined. Add the flour mixture and continue to mix just until the dough comes together.

Line two baking sheets with parchment or wax paper and sprinkle them generously with flour. Turn the dough onto one of the sheets and sprinkle the top with flour. Flatten the dough with your hands until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Use more flour if the dough is still wet. Transfer the dough to the freezer until it is slightly hardened, about 20 minutes. Pull the dough out of the freezer. Using a 3-inch or 3 1/2-inchdoughnut cutter — or a 3 1/2-inch round cutter for the outer shape and a 1-inch round cutter for the hole from a set like this, as I did — cut out doughnut shapes. Place the cut doughnuts and doughnut holes onto the second sheet pan. Refrigerate the doughnuts for 20 to 30 minutes. (You may re-roll the scraps of dough, refrigerate them briefly and cut additional doughnuts from the dough.)

Add enough oil or shortening to a deep-sided pan to measure a depth of about 3 inches. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and heat over medium heat until the oil reaches 350°F*. Have ready a plate lined with several thicknesses of paper towels.

Make your toppings (if using): While the cut doughnut shapes are in the refrigerator, make the glaze by whisking together the confectioners’ sugar and the cider until the mixture is smooth; make the cinnamon sugar by mixing the two together. Set aside.

Fry and top the doughnuts: Carefully add a few doughnuts to the oil, being careful not to crowd the pan, and fry until golden brown, about 60 seconds. Turn the doughnuts over and fry until the other side is golden, 30 to 60 seconds. Drain on paper towels for a minute after the doughnuts are fried. Dip the top of the warm doughnuts into the glaze or cinnamon sugar mixture (if using) and serve immediately.

Christmas at Home

We are not usually at our own home for Christmas, but this year we were. It was kind of bittersweet because while we really enjoyed the day, we missed our families! I love being together with our parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, and grandparents. I love the parties, the food, watching everyone open gifts, seeing the kids play together, playing games, and talking.

We had a party the day after Christmas (I didn't take any pictures) with some good friends that felt a little like being home to me, which was nice.

Christmas Eve

Almost impossible to get them all looking at the same time!

Christmas Morning

Waiting for Dad to turn on lights and check to make sure Santa came.

Heading down youngest to oldest.

He came!

Cam finally got his Nutcracker.

The long awaitest Stratego game.

Sam got his SLINKY!

KAYAKS!

I gave the boys fleece blankets with their favorite baseball teams.

The back of Nate's has old uniforms and special t-shirts from sporting events.

I was excited about this goody that Matt gave me. I love the polka dots!

Lots of screams when the boys opend Beatles Rock Band from Nana and Grandpa!

Another fun surprise--which I only took video of--was from Mom and Ennis. The boys had fun doing a treasure hunt which led us to the final clue and message that we will all be going to DisneyWorld next Christmas! I'll have to add the cute puzzle Mom drew. The boys didn't quite know what to think. I'm already getting excited. It is always fun to have something to look forward to.

Thanks you to everyone for the wonderful gifts and cards and for making our day great,

even though we couldn't be with you! We love you!

Merry Christmas!

Snow Snow Snow

TWO FEET of SNOW!

WOOHOO!

Christmas Vacations starts three days early!

Matt doesn't always wear this coat, it just looks like it lately.

Cameron could hardly play outside the first day because it was too hard for him to walk around.

Some good face plants happened

Two ways: Which one do you like?

DC Tradition

One of our favorite things to do before Christmas is the go into DC to see the national tree. it is a beautiful setting with the White House on one side and the Washington Monument on the other. This year we went a few days after the big snow storm so it was trickier to find parking and some the trains were still buried. It is always fun to warm up at the GIANT yule log, peek in Santa's workshop, look at the manger scene and walk around the state trees and find Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Utah.

Cam was getting cold by this point.

On our way home we stopped to buy some donuts. The girl was so nice and she gave an extra half dozen, which the boys were pretty darn excited about!

Tree Pickin'

The day we planned to get our tree we had an early snow storm which made everything so beautiful and feel Christmasy. During the day Matt took the boys on a snow hike. Later we went to Five Guys, dropped some packages off at the Marine Museum, and headed to Home Depot to pick a tree. While it is not the most picturesque place to purchase a tree, they have good prices and it is close to home so it works for us. One of these years we'll get out and cut our own somewhere.

This is one day of opening the advent box. There were plenty of useless plastic objects this year. Some favorites were the snowglobe (which only lasted two days until Cameron broke it), jingles bells (who knew they could have so much fun spinning them?), and of course they loved it when they got chocolates.

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Honey Butter

From My Kitchen Cafe

2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup marshmallow fluff

Whip this stuff together and then slather it on anything edible. We had it with our scones one morning. I've made honey butter before but with the marshmallow it is so light!

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THESE ARE DELICIOUS! This would be a great recipe when you need to take a tray of something sweet for an event. I made them following her suggestion to substitute 1/2 of the oil with a 1/2 cup applesauce. That did make it lighter like cake, but really yummy. Olivia was a great helper!

Pumpkin Bars
from Paula Deen

Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (can substitute 1/2 cup applesauce for 1/2 cup oil)
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

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I think recipes9-15 will all be from the My Kitchen Cafe blog. I tried most of them for the first time while we had company recently, which is not always a smart idea. Everybody were good sports about my experimenting, especially Olivia if it happened to be a dessert:)

I made this meal with chicken instead of pork, just because that is what turned out to be easier that day. It was good, but I think I'll try the pork next time just for fun.

via My Kitchen Cafe

Mu Shu Noodles

12-ounces fettuccine
3 tablespoons canola oil, divided
3 eggs, beaten
3 medium-sized boneless pork chops, thinly sliced (it is easier to slice thinly if pork chops are slightly frozen)
Ground black pepper
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons ginger (about a 2-inch piece), peeled and grated
3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
1/2 pound mushrooms, stems removed and caps thinly sliced
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 small head Napa or Savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chicken broth

Place a large pot of water over high heat to boil. When the water comes up to a bubble, add some salt and drop in the fettuccine. Cook the pasta to al dente according to package directions. Drain the cooked pasta and reserve.

Combine the hoisin and soy sauce together in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a 12-inch non-stick skillet, heat one tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add eggs and scramble. When done, scrape them onto a plate and reserve.

In the same skillet heat two tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Season the pork with salt and pepper, add to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes (don't overcook or pork will be tough!). Remove the meat from the pan onto the same plate as the eggs and keep warm.

Add the scallions, ginger and garlic to the pan, and cook until aromatic and the scallions are tender, about 1 minute. Add the mushrooms to the pan and stir-fry until golden brown, 4-5 minutes.

Add the cabbage to the pan and stir-fry until tender, about 3 minutes. When the cabbage is tender, add the reserved pork and scrambled eggs back to the pan along with the hoisin-soy mixture and the chicken broth. Stir-fry to fully heat through, about 1 minute, and then toss with the reserved cooked pasta. Cook to heat through and serve.

Recipe Source: adapted from Rachael Ray

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This Julia project has been motivating for me. I've enjoyed looking through cookbooks and food blogs for ideas. So, lately I've gone a little nuts with this new food blog my friend told me I should check out. It is her niece or cousin or cousin's niece or something like that and It is a really well done food blog and so far everything I have made from it has been great. I've gotten lazy about taking my own pictures so I'm borrowing from her blog My Kitchen Cafe.

I liked this and it made good leftovers for reheating later.

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

Serves 6-8

*Plan Ahead: the recipe calls for cooked chicken so use leftovers or plan enough time to cook the chicken beforehand.

2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed or shredded
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 medium onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
4-ounce can diced green chilies
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 (10-oz) cans green chili enchilada sauce (I used mild)
2/3 cup red enchilada sauce (I used mild)
1 can large black olives, cut in half
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar)
16-20 oz. penne pasta (Depending on how "saucy" you want the pasta)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta until tender. While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet and add the onion. Cook for 2-3 minutes until onion is translucent. Add the garlic and red pepper and cook for another 2 minutes, until pepper is barely tender. Add the cooked chicken, green chilies, spices, enchilada sauces and olives. Let the sauce simmer for about 8-10 minutes. Add the sour cream and cheese and heat through, until the cheese is melted (but don't boil!). Pour the sauce over the hot pasta. Garnish with extra sour cream, cheese, diced tomatoes, green onions or crushed tortilla chips.

Recipe Source: adapted from my friend, Suzie (Her friend Suzie, not mine)

Christmas Trains

We try to visit the Botanical Gardens each December because of the awesome train exhibit. This year we were able to take Nana, Heather, Jaxson, and Olivia with us. It was a beautiful crisp day in DC.

Gettysburg

We were happy to have visitors for Thanksgiving! One day we traveled up to Gettysburg. It happened to be special day (but now I have forgotten what it was) and so there were authors there and we were able to meet Jeff Shaara who wrote Gods and Generals and whose father wrote Killer Angels which is a favorite book of ours. We enjoyed the film and the cyclorama show but we didn't have enough time to see the rest of the museum. We wanted to get out and see the actual battlefield. The kid's favorite parts were climbing the tower and climbing the rocks on Little Round Top. One of the neatest things was that at night they lit hundreds, probably thousands of the graves in the cemetery. It was a beautiful sight and being there makes you appreciative of all those who have given their lives for our country. (I think the event was the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.)

Memorial

Another visit here...

Thank Goodness: by Nate

Here is our Thanksgiving in a photo essay by Nate.

He took a billion pictures but these were some favs.

Self Portrait of the Photographer

Olivia was my little helper!

Happy Grandpa

I tried a new way to cook the turkey. It was more difficult than the magazine made it look. It is called spatchcocking the turkey. You cut the backbone out and flatten it down and then it cooks faster and more evenly. I figured that because of how much time it took to cut it, I don't think I saved any time. The turkey did taste juicy though.

New door hardware being installed.

Basement fun.

My picture wall inspired by Nie Nie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cox Farm 2009

These are from our visit to Cox Farm this year with Nana. After so many years of going we are starting to have a good system down. It is such a fun place, I hope the kids never outgrow it.

Picking the perfect pumpkin is very important!

On this slide you come out the dinosaur's back end. The boys were saying "I don't wanna be poop." I think it was supposed to look like you are sliding down the tail, but I have to agree with the boys that it looks a little more like you are getting pooped out.

The volcano is the funnest slide.

It rumbles and smokes on top and it is fast, especially if you sit on your sweatshirt.

Thanks Nana!