Baking and Cooking

I'm thankful I know how to bake and cook. Sometimes the things I bake and cook are simple, sometimes they're more complex.

I'm also thankful for food bloggers and cookbook creators and for the recipes they produce.

French bread rolls from Mel's Kitchen Cafe are my go to rolls for making sliders.

 

I love A Season of Family Meal Plans (all four volumes) by Jordan Page where I got the recipe for Cheesy Chicken Sliders (in volume 4- Fall).

I'm thankful I've gotten better at learning substitutions in cooking or learning I can just leave things out. Only one pan of the sliders had cheese (based on family preference) and that's okay.

I'm also thankful I don't always have to follow a recipe when throwing dinner together. Spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad is something everybody in my family will eat.

I made sure to use the garlic and onion spaghetti sauce since November 8 was Bram Stoker's Birthday and Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day. It's tradition to cook with garlic that day. 

Easter Days

April 19 was Hanging Out Day. I got to hang out with Jr. at another UVU event. 

Besides the lunch they provided, the also had a soda bar and candy bar. We got lots of candy. I got a lemon-lime soda with coconut and pineapple flavoring in it based on Jr.'s suggestion. Thank you, Jr. It was yummy.

At the end of the event, they had a Bingo competition. I won! I won! I won! I won a little air fryer. 

I've used it a couple times since I brought it home, both times to make mini jalapeno popper egg rolls. I love those things.

 

That afternoon we had an Easter egg hunt at home. Jet loved it. I'm sure the older kids did as well. It was fun to see Jet didn't need guidance this year like he has in some past years. He was told which color egg to look for and didn't try taking anybody else's eggs.

April 20 was Easter. We went to church and had a beautiful Sacrament Meeting then a brunch in the cultural hall afterward.

We were able to put together an Easter dinner that day. We had ham, scalloped potatoes (from a Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 2, by Jordan Page), pineapple, and resurrection rolls or empty tomb rolls.

I had everybody come help with the rolls and taught them what each part represented.

Roll dough represents the tomb. A regular sized marshmallow represents Christ's body. Dip it in melted butter then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture to represent the oil and spices used to prepare His body for burial. Wrap it up in the tomb/dough and bake about 20 minutes. When you open the tomb, it is empty for He is risen. That's what it represents.

 

It was a nice little reminder during our dinner of what Easter is really about. Because Christ was resurrected, we will be resurrected, too. All the physical troubles our bodies go through in this life won't follow us through eternity. But the relationships we cultivate here on Earth, whether it's going to church together to learn more about our Savior or making a fun treat together, will last. What a marvelous blessing.

Charlie Chaplin's Birthday

Charlie Chaplin's Birthday was April 16. When telling the kids to set the table for dinner, I told them to set two forks at each place. The reason? I showed the kids a clip of Charlie Chaplin making rolls dance on the ends of forks from the movie, "The Gold Rush." Why couldn't we do it, too?

Christmas Eve 2022

We made it to Christmas Eve.

Nichole built our balloon tree frame yesterday and the boys helped her put branches (balloon dogs) on it. Today the kids and Jeremy got some balloon ornaments on it while I slept through The Muppet Christmas Carol. We'll get a star up later (I say as it's bedtime on Christmas Eve).

We also had Christmas Eve dinner and a little Christmas Eve program where we filmed ourselves saying what we'd been up to this year and what we were looking forward to next year. Then we turned off the camera for our last Countdown to Christmas scripture and testimony sharing.

The kids opened pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa and put them on. Jet was so excited for his dinosaur jammies. Roar. 

Then he was excited about grabbing his big brother's pajama bottoms and putting them on his head then grabbing his other pajama top and putting it on his legs. It's like the Sandra Boynton book, "Blue Hat, Green Hat," where the turkey keeps putting clothing items on the wrong places. 

So I had the kids stand in front of the tree and say, "Oops." 

Then they smiled and I got that picture. Way to go, kids.

And Merry Christmas to you.

Bonus: I made Parker House Rolls to go with Christmas Eve dinner. The dough was supposed to raise until doubled but it filled a lot of the bowl already when it started so when it finished...

Jr. said they're called Parker House Rolls because they're the size of Parker's house.

Wolfenoot!

Wolfenoot was November 23.

I wore my wolf sweatshirt to go out and do a little birding with Jeremy. He only needed a few more species in a certain county for this year's UCB challenge. 

The challenges are done every other year and there is usually a different challenge each time. This year it's getting at least 22 species (since it's 2022) in as many different counties as you can. A little added challenge was going out on 2-22-22 and seeing 22 species. You may remember the kids and I did that in February.

As Jeremy and I were driving, we stopped on the road at one point for wild turkeys to cross. We got to count them for the challenge (I already got my 22 species in that county. I was there supporting Jeremy).

Later that night as Jeremy was trying to thaw our Thanksgiving turkey enough to get the neck and giblets out, Jet saw it in the sink full of water and kept telling us how the turkey was swimming in the water.

How cute is that?

I slept through dinner but the family saved me some bacon and full moon pancakes because you have to eat meat on Wolfenoot.

 

The next day I made a lot of food and we ate it for Thanksgiving.

Pigs in a Blanket Day

April 24 was Pigs in a Blanket Day. Kids made dinner... sort of. Nobody wanted to be in charge of fruits or vegetables. Nichole wanted to use up the open containers of ice cream and call that good for dessert. Lucky helped Jr. make pigs in a blanket so he didn't want to be in charge of something else so he finally made Kool-aid. Jr. Jr. wanted to make braided rolls again (admittedly they turned out cute, braided and snails). So that was our dinner. Pigs in a blanket, rolls, Kool-aid, and ice cream. 

 

Jeremy made a suggestion to me later. Like a rotating chore chart or our family home evening chart, we should make a rotating chart with food assignments: main dish, bread or other grain side, fruit or veggie, dessert, and drink can be extra if someone wants something besides water. I used to ask the kids in advance what they wanted to make when they were in charge of dinner so we had all of those covered. I didn't this time. Sigh. I like the rotating food assignment chart idea. That way it can be different than a potluck where anyone can bring anything.

 

Looking back at my blog over the last couple years, we've had some of the dinners kids make that haven't been so successful. I guess I've been seeing how well our at-home potlucks are going. Those kids just need more practice.

Chips and Cheesesteaks

March 23 was National Chip and Dip Day. Yes, I made bean dip. Yes, it had seven layers.

Earlier, though, Jet and I went out to play at a park. I am loving that there are more nice days to play. Yay, Spring!

The next day, March 24, was National Cheesesteak Day. I am loving these Cheesesteak Subs we make from a recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. Yumm. And I love that we can make homemade buns from another recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe- French Bread Rolls. 

Jet of course wanted to be my baking buddy again and throw rolls and buns around while I tried to shape them.

He and I got out again that day for a walk around the neighborhood. Well, sort of. I wanted to go for a walk. Jet wanted to lie down on the ground and roll around in the dirt. Sigh. So we turned it into a game. I tried to convince him to walk back home while he decided to crawl back so I asked him what animal he was walking on all fours. I'd ask. He'd make the animal sound. A dog? Woof. Woof. A cat? Meow. An elephant? *Insert trumpeting sound* A monkey? Ooh ooh ah ah. We eventually made it back home.

By the way, I didn't tell him to make this face. That was his own decision. I don't know where he gets it from.

Helpers on a Roll

We went to visit my sister for dinner and the kids wanted to be big helpers carrying our rolls out to the car. They were already each carrying a bag of pretzels to snack on in the car. It was cute to see such big helpers with their arms full.