A Great Recipe to Try!

First off, I'd like to wish everyone a happy Father's Day! Today is an extra special Father's Day for us, as our daughter is returning home from college. She has finished with her Bachelor in Dance. In addition to her graduating from BYU, we also have some exciting times coming up in the next week and half. You see, Ashley is not coming home alone, she is coming home with her finance, Jeremy. They will be getting married in exactly ten days! I know they are excited, and we are too.

In celebration of Father's Day, and our special guests, I decided to cook something special. One of my husband's favorite meals is lasagna; it's cooking right now. He loves it and loves the meat in it too. Ashley, on the other hand, doesn't like meat (I'm pretty much in the same boat as she is), so I decided to make something that I absolutely love--Tri Color Orzo. I got this recipe sometime ago, when I was watching Giada De Laurentis on Food Network. I really like her stuff, and this dish has become one of my favorite things to make. It is not only easy to put together, but very nutritious too. I've changed it up a bit, as the original recipe calls for things that I can't find locally. I will give you her version, and in parentheses, I will put in what I have substituted.

1 pound Orzo
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus 1/4 cup
2 cups (3 0z) fresh arugula ( I used fresh spinach)
3/4 cup crumbled ricotta salata cheese (I used feta cheese)
1/2 cup dried cherries
12 fresh basil leaves torn (in the winter I've just used dried basil. it is better to use fresh though)
1/4 cup toasted pinenuts (I just used chopped walnuts)
3 tablespoon lemon juice (lime juice works too)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper

Cook pasta in salted boing water til tender but firm (8 - 10 mins). Drain and put on large cookie sheet. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons of the oil. Toss and spread to cool. Once orzo is cooled put in large serving bowl and add remaining ingredients. Toss and serve.

The left overs are almost better. It is very good cold. I like to serve this with fish, and a lot of times I just have left overs for lunch. Hope you enjoy!

Monster Bookmarks

About every third Sunday, I get to teach a lesson to our Young Women who range in age from 12 to 18. This week I get to teach a lesson on opposition. I usually like to give them a handout. This week, I came across a really fun idea...Monster Bookmarks. Actually, they are called Page Corner Bookmarks. I figured that opposition can sometimes feel like a big monster, hence the "Monster Bookmarks." They were really fun to make and I think the girls will like them. I even made an extra one for me. You should go over to I Could Make That blog and check it out. The instructions are clear and easy.

Teeth

Well, it's off the dentist again. Lately I've been having some serious issues with my teeth. As I have mentioned before, I take really good care of my teeth. Since I am at home a lot, I brush my teeth after each time I eat. I am also an avid flosser. Seems like none of this really works. I believe that one does need to take care of their teeth by regular brushing and flossing, but genetics has a lot to do with it too. My immediate family, Mom, Dad, and two sisters, have wonderfully healthy teeth. My husband and four children do too. Me, on the other hand does not. I think I may have inherited that bad gene from my grandmother. From what I understand her teeth were not the healthiest. What is interesting about my teeth, is not only have I always taken care of my them, but my mother took very good care of herself while pregnant with me. She was very careful to drink her milk and eat healthy. So prenatal care has nothing to do with my bad teeth.

I am about to head to the dentist for my 6th time this year. I have had both my annual check ups, and seen the dentist four times because of tooth aches. I had an infection that would not seem to go away, and after two rounds of antibiotics, I was able to get a root canal done. While in the middle of this, I came up with yet another tooth infection on the opposite side. The infection was so bad that I was put on yet another round of antibiotics and he put some medication into my tooth. Today, I get to go back to the endodontist to see if the infection is gone. If it is, he will finish that root canal. If all goes well, I will then head to my regular dentist next week to be fitted for two crowns. Then after I get back from all the wedding stuff I will get to back again and have the crowns put on. All this after five years and about 15,000 plus dollars that were spent on my teeth just a few years back. Boy, I should have an award winning smile, but, unfortunatlly, I do not. I've never even had braces, and really do not have that pretty of a smile. I will have to say, my teeth are pretty white for an almost 52 year old woman. But that is probably due to not drinking coffee, tea, or cokes. I mostly drink water with an occasional juice now and then.

Well, wish me luck, hope I don't squeeze the arm off his chair.

Bridal Wreath

We have really been busy with all kinds of stuff going on. We had a graduation a couple of weeks ago...our third child graduated from high school. He is getting ready to head to college in July, so we have been getting things ready for him. Our youngest son just had his Eagle board of review, so now he is officially an Eagle!!!! We will soon be planning his Eagle Court of Honor. Since he received his Eagle, he was now ready for his driver's license (family rule...you don't get your driver's license until you get your Eagle). The day after his board of review, he got his license. The other thing that has been happening in our family, is a wedding. I've blogged about our daughter's wedding a few times, and now there is less than three weeks before the wedding. She is not only in the middle of wedding planning, but also finishing up with her Bachelor Degree in Dance from Brigham Young University, so to say the least she has been one busy chick!

Speaking of chick...what do you think of the feather head wreath I made? My daughter and I have been discussing what she would wear on her head. I wore a silk flower wreath when I got married, and it is displayed in my curio cabinet along with my silk flower bouquet I carried. Ashley has seen my wreath, and even tried it on when she tried my wedding dress on. Even though she liked it, it just didn't float her boat at the time. I was at a boutiqe not long ago, and they had new, unused bridal veils for $5 and $10! There was one beautiful one. It was fingertip length with Swarvoski crystals all around the botton. It was gorgeous! I am not usually a veil fan, and I know Ashley isn't either, but this one was really pretty. The crystals alone were worth more than $5, and I use them in my jewelry making, so I went ahead and bought it. I figured if she didn't want to wear it, I'd use the crystals. Besides, if she had changed her mind and wanted a veil, I didn't want to spend $100 plus for a veil. We also have a tiara that I got for really cheap sometime ago. Originally she thought of wearing it.

The other night, we were talking and she said she might want a wreath for her hair. I told her I'd see what I could do. One of my friends said, "Why doesn't she just wear your old wreath?" Well, that is a thought, I looked at it to see if I could revive it, but I really didn't want to change it. My colors were lavender and white, and her colors are yellow and turquoise, that just would not work.

At first I thought about getting some silk babies breath and doing a babies breath wreath. I couldn't find any silk babies breath, or any little silk flowers that I liked, so I had to come up with plan B. Hmmm...I remembered I had ribbon left over from her bouquet, and some white feathers. I started to play a little, and this is what I came up with.

I still think it needs something. I plan to go one more place that sells a lot of silk flowers, and hopefully, I can find some little white silk flowers that don't look so fakey.

If you look real close, you can see some blue crystal like butterflies I glued on to the wreath.




I like the ribbon hanging down with ribbon flowers.

Don't know if she will like it, and if she doesn't, that's fine. We can use is somewhere as decoration. She could even where this with the veil. I know a lot of girls do that. Since she has three separate places she will be wearing her wedding dress...the temple, Indiana reception, and Louisiana reception, she could even wear separate head pieces.

Garlic

A while back a lady in our church left a box of garlic plants at my doorstep. She has all kinds of stuff in her garden, and knows I love garlic, so shared some with me. At first I had no idea what they were, or who left them. Over time, I figured it out. My husband and I planted them and then waited...

Now, it looks as if it is time to harvest our garlic, but we have no idea about how to go about it. So, I headed to the internet and youtube and did some thorough investigation. I'm still clueless, but this is what I learned:





First off, I really needed to pop the buds off before they bloomed for bigger garlic bulbs, but I just thought they were so cool, I couldn't do it. I read that if you kept the flowers, you could dry them and they make fun arrangements. For awhile, they looked like pods, but this past week, they have started to pop open and there are a zillion teeny tiny flowers inside. They start out white, and I just noticed today, they are turning purple. I guess I better go out there and pick them.

I also read where you could take the pods and cook them, and they are suppose to be pretty good. I might try that next time. I just like the flowers too much.

When you harvest garlic, you are suppose to let them dry, but not in the sun, because they can burn, and you don't want that. Once they dry, then you can braid the garlic, and hang in your kitchen. I just might try to do that.

I learned on youtube, that they are usually ready to harvest around the 4th of July. Only thing is, the guy lived in the northeast part of the country, and so it is much cooler up there than down here for a longer time. I'm thinking, it is time to harvest now, down here in Louisiana. So, we might just see what they look like this weekend when we are playing around in our yard.

Sports

Being a mother of three boys and a girl, I have spent many hours watching their various activities. All three of our boys love soccer, and until we moved to Louisiana, we were very much involved with the sport. Sadly, soccer is not very popular here in Louisiana, and so they have not been able to be involved much.

In addition to our boys playing soccer, our oldest son, Miles wrestled in high school. Miles also did some karate for several years. Our middle son, Scott played some football, cross country, tennis, and A LOT of baseball. Since he had a very bad knee injury a couple of years ago, he has not been able to play. Boy, do I miss those nice warm spring and summer days watching him play.

Our daughter danced, and still does. She is now about to finish her last term at BYU and will have her degree in dance. Being a dancer myself, I really got into her sport a lot. I call myself a dancer still now, even though I haven't been able to do much for several years. You may ask, "What on earth does one do with a dance degree?!" Well, actually there is quite a bit one can do. I had planned to go into therapy with my degree...but instead I got married and helped my husband get done with school, then had some amazing kids. Ashley had thought about going into therapy, but I think for now, she will try to just teach, choreograph and perform. She is getting married in June, and then her and Jeremy will probably be headed to Baton Rouge, LA to LSU. Jeremy will be majoring in Kinesiology, and Ashley hopes to be able to dance with a company and teach at several studios. She would also like to have some choreography opportunities. But anyway, enough of that...back to the boys...

Benjamin, our youngest has not only played soccer and football and done a little karate, but now has started being involved in track. He has just started competing in pole vault. Boy, does that look like a fun sport! Yesterday, the school sponsored a track meet, and so I went up there to take some pictures. For just starting out, Benjamin is actually pretty good! I really enjoyed watching them fly through the air. Benjamin is just a sophomore, so if keeps up the hard work, maybe by the time he is a senior, we will be headed to state.

Keep up the hard work, Benjamin!!!

Young Women's Cooking Activity

For our Young Women's activity last night, we cooked a dinner for our missionaries. We met at one of the girl's homes and we went to cooking.

First we made the main dish, which was Spaghetti Casserole. I got this recipe from a book my mom used when I was young. My mom passed the book down to me, as it is now out of print...for obvious reasons. The book is called, "How I Feed My Family On $16 A Week (And Have Meet, Fish or Poultry on the Table Every Night)" by Jo Ann York.

3 oz spaghetti
1/4 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion chopped
1/2 green pepper chopped
1/4 cup mushrooms, sliced
dash of pepper
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
dash of leaf oregano
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 8 oz tomato sauce
3 oz Velveeta cheese cubed

Heat oven to 325
Cook spaghetti according to pkg directions, drain and set aside. Brown beef drain and set aside.
Heat oil in a 1 1/2 qt oven casserole. Saute, covered the onion, garlic, green pepper and mushrooms, til soft.
Add pepper sugar, Worcestershire, oregano, parsley flakes, tomato sauce and cheese. Cook, stirring over a low flame til cheese melts.
Add cooked spaghetti and browned beef and mix well.
Bake, covered for 30 mins.
4 servings

After it was made, we divided into two containers (since we have two sets of missionaries). I just bought a bagged Caesar salad kit to go with the spaghetti.






The next task was dessert. I have a recipe that my grandmother use to make all the time. I now make it A LOT! The ingredients can always be on hand, and it is really quite simple, and EVERYONE loves, LOVEs this!

Butterskotheroos

Heat 1 cup kayro syrup and 1 cup sugar til sugar is dissolved. Remove from burner and add 1 cup peanut butter and mix well. Add 6 cups krispie rice cereal. Press into cake pan. In microwave, heat about a cup of chocolate chips and about 1 cup butterscotch chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. Spread onto the top of the cereal mix.




We all had a really fun time with this activity. The girls have been wanting to do more service activities, and this was a fun service for them to do, plus they were able to learn some cooking skills and obtain some new recipes.