IN OTHER NEWS

The opening ceremonies of the Olympics were Friday night...

and, as we all know, I'm a bit of a weird, over-excited, almost embarrassing Olympic FANATIC!

So... it was a big deal

When I mentioned to Brinlee that the olympics were starting, she said "Fun! What's the olympics?"

Sheesh.  I can't have questions like that in my house!!!  So, I decided we'd better get into the spirit a little.  

Starting with food, of course.  

How do you like our olympic ring lunch plate?  

And our decorations? 

For dinner we decided to go Rio style and try our hand at some Brazilian cuisine.  And it turned out really yummy!  We had mocqueca de camaroes, feijao e arroz, sumo de manga, and bolinhos de chuva. Translation (thank you translate.google.com): We had Brazilian shrimp stew, beans and rice, mango juice, and Brazilian raindrop donuts.
Delicious.
I was more proud of it than I should have been...

McKenna was in bed before anything started, and Brinlee didn't even sit still long enough for me to take a picture.  Once the ceremonies started and she saw what they were, and then realized we weren't actually going to Brazil, well then she had had enough. But she did wear her "America flag" shorts. And it did seem to put her in a go-get-em spirit.  She volunteered to finish up the dinner mess, and then did an awesome job! The gold medal for dishwashing definitely goes to this darling little champion.

We're pretty pumped for the next two weeks!
Ok, well at least I am...
Woo!
Go Team USA!

And as long as we're traveling the world from home, why not hit Ireland next?  

Dublin Ohio does an Irish Festival every year that we figured we should probably go check out.

Now this is rare footage here.

A sight not seen very often these days.

Proof that Tim and I do actually get out of the house together once in a while without kids,

and still do occasionally do fun things!

Irish things, in this case.

This moment was brought to you by our fabulous friends/neighbors/babysitters extraordinaire!

Thank goodness for date night!

Pizza and Fondue and Smores, Oh My!

As promised, photo proof that we are dating and love it!

Week One: Home Made Pizza
Even down to the crust and sauce, yes sir this was a true blue homemade pizza!



Week Two: Theme Night
Tim did all the planning on this one and I was treated to a Night in Italy, complete with fondue (which may actually be French...), Pavarotti, and the movie Letters To Juliet.  So fun! 

Week Three: Smores
How convenient that for Christmas we got marshmallow roasting sticks.  Tonight we pulled those bad boys out, fired up the stove, and enjoyed a huge sticky mess.

Huge coincidence that so far, all of our dates have been food related...
We haven't picked yet for week four, but I'm finding myself a little giddy about it!  This new year's resolution may actually go all the way.

And now the how-to's, so you can date too.

Pizza Crust:
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon brown sugar

1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes

2. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.

3. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.

4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.

5. Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Pizza Sauce:

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

6 fluid ounces warm water

3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons honey
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
salt to taste

1. In a small bowl, combine tomato paste, water, Parmesan cheese, garlic, honey, anchovy paste, onion powder, oregano, marjoram, basil, ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes and salt; mix together, breaking up any clumps of cheese.

2. Sauce should sit for 30 minutes to blend flavors; spread over pizza dough and prepare pizza as desired.

Fondue:
1/2 pound shredded swiss cheese

1/2 pound shredded Gruyere cheese

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup milk and a splash of lemon juice as needed for texture

Simmer milk and lemon juice in fondue pot. Add Swiss cheese, Gruyere cheese, 1/4 pound at a time. Stir after each addition of cheese until melted. Stir in flour. When all the cheese has melted, stir in salt and nutmeg. Serve with cut-up French bread.

Where I Kick Off My Shoes

There truly is no place like home!  (insert small dog, sparkly red shoes, and heel clicking here)

After a lot of unpacking, a lot of cleaning, and a little bit of recovery-napping (on my part anyway), we are happy to announce that all of the boxes are unpacked and our little place finally feels like home again!  :)  Thankfully we were able to come back to the place we were before (see here) which we were glad about, we love the apartment!  I am still trying to decide where to hang all of our pictures, so the walls are a little bare. And we're experimenting with some furniture rearranging... But the book shelves are stacked, the cupboards are full, and we are back to eating home-made food!  Though I will surely miss pizza and Taco Bell, you can't beat home cookin'!  And the soup we had tonight was SO yummy!! 

Ok, I'll share, it's "souper" easy! (I crack myself up)  Just boil a cup and a half to 2 cups of your favorite mixed beans until they're soft.  Then add: 
- ham hocks (I used shredded chicken)
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 large can of tomatoes (fresh works too)
- 1 pepper pod or 1 tsp. chili powder
- the juice of 1 lemon
- 1 to 3 cloves minced garlic
- salt and pepper to taste
Let simmer for 30 minutes and enjoy a yummy, healthy, heart warming meal!  We'll be putting it on the "make again" list for sure.


And now on to enjoying a nice evening at home... such bliss!  Now if I could only beat Tim just once at this blasted game of Tetris life would be complete...

Mini Golfing and Bread Making

Valentine's Day is here again (almost) and since Tim and I will both have a full day of classes we decided to jump in and celebrate a little early with two new "firsts": Rexburg mini golf and homemade bread sticks! The mini golf course here isn't really that impressive, but the game was fun anyway. I think I would have lost big time if we had been keeping score/I hadn't been cheating...

And can I just say I am in love with my Bosh! It was a Christmas gift and thus far hasn't been used a whole lot. But it has now officially been inducted into the wonderful world of cooking and so far fits in perfectly!

This sauce was by the way delicious and really not too tough! All you need is

1. 1 1/2 cup milk
2. 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
3. 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4. 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
5. 6 egg yolks from fresh jumbo eggs
6. Salt and black pepper to taste

Heat and keep stirring and voila! The entire recipe and instructions can be found here if you're interested in a yummy treat! I need a better bread stick recipe though... this one was good, but for one who loves bread sticks as much as I do it may need to be taken up a notch... stay tuned.

Bananas

Once upon a time there was a newly married couple. They were young and happy enjoying life, each others company, and the weekly shopping trips to Broulims grocery store.

Early on in their marriage they discovered a mutual love for bananas, yet another reason why they were the perfect match! Each week they would buy a nice batch and enjoy the sweet, yet nutritious treat in cereal, ice cream, as a smoothie, over waffles, or even just simply peeled and eaten plain.

However, as time went on and new favorites were discovered (namely apples, celery, and broccoli), bananas slowly fell out of favor. Though they remained on the weekly shopping list, often not all of them would get eaten before they were too ripe to be enjoyable. In an effort to not be wasteful, at the end of each week the couple would throw the brown-spotted, unused bananas in the freezer - "surely there could be some use for them later" they would say. But as schedules got busier, the good intentions for the bananas remained merely good intentions... and so the frozen banana pile grew, lonely and largely forgotten.

Finally, one day while searching for something yummy for lunch (probably chicken nuggets), the forgotten bananas were rediscovered and the couple decided it was time to put the pile to use. After much deliberation, the perfect idea was settled on and the young wife made a call to the greatest chef in all the land (thanks mom!). And thus, the banana bread addiction was born! After a little work and an hour of passing baking time playing card games, they had a warm, delicious treat that they instantly fell in love with. And they have had at least a loaf a week ever since!

If you concentrate, you could probably smell the sweet smell of the banana baked goods coming from their home even now... and if you're lucky, they may share.

Banana Bread:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 Cup sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 Cup mashed bananas

1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix dry ingredients well. Mix bananas, butter, sour cream, eggs and vanilla well and then add dry ingredients. Mix about 2 mins. Add nuts if desired and bake at 350 in greased loaf pan for one hour, or until toothpick comes out clean.