The little things

While I was pregnant with Julie, Ben and I bought an unfinished all-real-wood dresser for her room from a furniture store nearby. Ben painted it white, and I dressed up the drawer pulls. The pulls were still a little sad looking, though. They were small -- only one-inch rounds, and looked a little pathetic against the white of the dresser. Not long after, I decided to buy two-inch round drawer pulls from Michael's and redo them. This time I decided I didn't want just ladybugs. so I designed a few other styles as well. The dresser has five drawers, and each one has a different style pull on it now. I like it much better.

The spider and the bee are definitely my favorites. I'm not crazy about the dragonfly -- I was too precise in the painting, and you can see my pencil marks, which is more than a little tacky. The butterfly is okay, and the ladybug is overdone, in my opinion.










So here's a before and after of the whole dresser:

Before

After

It's definitely a little thing, but I think it makes a big difference.

Snow, snow, go away

As beautiful as this photo may be, I'm so sick of the snow and bad weather. Sick, sick, sick of it.

Literally. I can pretty much only whisper right now.

A new relationship

Dear Sam's Club,

I'm not really sure how to say this without hurting your feelings, so I'm just going to come out and say it.

This isn't working for me. You're not meeting my needs. I mean, I can get everything I need from you, but you don't treat me with respect anymore. You waste my time and fill me with negative energy.

I've found someone new, and I think our relationship has a lot of potential. I'm excited to see what the next year brings for us.

I'm sorry. It's not me. It's you.

~Janelle

Little builder

A couple weeks ago, we found ourselves, as we often do, at Home Depot on a Saturday morning. We were walking down a main aisle when an employee smiled at Julie and asked us if we'd been over to the kids' workshop. Both Ben and I knew that HD does a kids' workshop every month, but neither of us had ever bothered to find out when it was, and Ben didn't realize it was free.

So we headed on over to it and sat down. Julie got a bag of freshly popped popcorn and a kit to build a battery sorter. It looks like a tiny tiny bookshelf. She's too young still to actually do the building, but she pounded the hammer a few times. She loves "helping" Ben when he's working, and she has her own tool set at home.

As part of the workshop, she also got a nifty orange apron and a pin with this month's project on it. We're definitely going back again next month.

Four generations

Back in November, my mom and grandma came to visit for a few days. My grandma had never been to my home before, nor had she ever met Julie. Unfortunately, Julie is a bit of a pill when it comes to her grandmas. Normally, outside of family, she's good with women, but shies away from men. When it comes to family, she seems to gravitate toward her grandpas, and avoid her grandmas. Grrr...

We definitely wanted to get a four-generation photo while they were both visiting, but Julie didn't want to cooperate. We tried tickling her and making her laugh in many ways, but I think what we really should have done was just bribe her. Whoops! Out of all the photos Ben took that day, only one came out in focus and not crying. Unfortunately, Gra'ma isn't looking at the camera, but it's the best overall.


Julie was much happier once we weren't trying to pose her anymore. She got to go back inside and play. Here's my silly girl:








Ben also got this shot of her, while giving her a break from posing. I love it.

Taste of Tuesday: Basic Bread/Roll recipe

Okay, I'll admit it. I've been holding out a bit. I've had this recipe for many many years. I think I've had it since the Summer I graduate high school. Possibly the next one after that. I haven't actually used the recipe in 3-4 years because it's become second nature to me. This is probably the most versatile recipe you will ever make.

I got this recipe at a Relief Society super Saturday thing. My mom wasn't able to attend, so she asked me to go and take notes for her in this class. To this day, I don't know if she's ever actually made it, but I know I sure benefited from going that day. There are some hints I remember from the initial workshop, and others I've figured out myself along the way.

(1) You can do just about anything with this recipe. Except scones. I've never tried them -- that's just what I was told. I've also learned that it's not ideal for just plain bread. It ends up being a little too dense for just bread, and it doesn't ride the way you're used to with bread. The flavor is good (the sugar makes it just a little sweet), but the texture isn't great.

(2) Make sure you do not use active dry yeast. I cannot emphasize that enough. Rapid rise yeast is an absolute MUST in this recipe. As I came to make it more often, I got tired of buying strips of three packets, and I now buy jars of "bread machine yeast" which works the same as the rapid rise.





(3) You cannot "kill" this yeast with water too hot. In fact, for this recipe, you want your water pretty darn hot. There's no need to microwave it or boil it -- the hottest water you can get straight from your tap is adequate.

(4) The bread will come out fine without eggs, but I find that the eggs give an extra lightness and take away a little from the heavy density. In short, try it both ways, but I prefer it with eggs.

(5) The dough has a good flour-to-water ratio when it begins to pull away from the edge of the bowl after each kneading.

(6) A full recipe makes a lot of dough. You can make a full savory dish, a full dessert dish, and likely still have some leftovers at the end. I usually only make about half a recipe, and still do two separate batches. I've put my own measurements in italics in parentheses in the recipe, after each ingredient.

(7) Almost all of the sample ideas listed with this recipe are ones that came with the recipe. I actually haven't done a whole lot with it. On the sweet side, I've made cinnamon rolls. That's about it. On the savory side, I make taco rolls and pizza rolls pretty often. I've made taco rolls with ground beef, shredded chicken, and thin steak strips. Everything it really personalizable. I've also made BBQ chicken rolls and broccoli & spinach rolls. Usually I just roll the dough out flat, spread the toppings on, and then roll them up and slice them like cinnamon rolls. Sometimes I roll the dough out flat, spread the toppings on the center third of the dough, then use a pizza cutter to slice strips in the sides, and criss-cross them in a braid pattern. Sometimes I make pockets, but I'm not crazy about them, because by the time they bake up in the oven, it's way too much bread, and not enough filling. I've also made just plain dinner rolls, brushed with butter on top.

(8) This is not your mom's all-day bread. Once you get the hang of it, you can do it in under an hour. It takes me about 50 minutes from start to finish to make the dough, let it rise for 10 minutes, roll it out, fill it, roll it up and cut it, and bake it. It's totally doable.

(9) If you like a more sour flavor, the dough will freeze well, or even refrigerate overnight. I prefer to use it all on the same day. Finished products (depending on the fillings) freeze pretty well, though. I've frozen plain dinner rolls, taco rolls, and pizza rolls with great success.

(10) Be creative! I made up the broccoli and spinach rolls myself one day. The possibilities with this recipe are just about endless. Don't be afraid to experiment!

Basic Bread/Roll Recipe

7-8 cups flour (3.5-4 cups)
1/2 cup sugar (1/4 cups)
2 packets (or 2 tbsp) rapid rise yeast (1 package or 1 tbsp)
2 tsp salt (1 tsp)
3/4 cup oil (about 1/3 cup)
2 1/4 cup hottest tap water possible (a scant 1 1/4 cups)
2 eggs (optional) (1 egg)

In large bowl, combine 4-5 cups flour, sugar, dry yeast, and salt; mix well. While stirring, add oil and water. When moistened, add eggs; mix well. Add enough additional flour to make a soft workable dough. Knead in bowl 2-3 minutes. Let dough rest, covered with a clean kitchen towel, for 10 minutes. Shape as desired, and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes for rolls. Thicker items, like braids, may require longer baking times.

Sweet rolls

• Cinnamon rolls (melted butter spread on dough with fingers, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon to taste) (or, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 cube butter, and cinnamon to taste, whipped together and spread on dough)
  
• Shaped sweet rolls (animals, hearts, etc.)
• Fruit-filled butterfly rolls (don't use jam -- pie filling only)
• Swedish tea ring
• Cinnamon raisin bread (it's heavy and it cracks on top)
• Elephant ears/fried bread (a good save-all for bad dough -- deep fry in one inch of oil)
• Orange rolls (butter, white sugar, orange zest)
• Sticky caramel rolls (brown sugar, butter, water, nuts)
• Pull-aparts (little sweet balls squished together)
• Cinnamon twists
• Braids (fill three strands individually, then braid together)
• Fruit pockets (circle shape, place pie filling on half, then fold over and vent with fork)
• Chocolate rolls (butter, sugar, chocolate chips)
• Christmas tree rolls (cinnamon rolls positioned in the shape of a tree)

Dinner rolls

• Chili rolls (canned chili, onions, cheese, garnish with sour cream)
• Taco rolls (refried beans, salsa, meat, cheese)
• Pizza rolls (pizza sauce, toppings, shredded Mozzarella cheese)
• Tuna rolls (cream of mushroom soup, tuna, celery, onions, cheese)
• Rueben rolls (corned beef, sauerkraut, 1000 Island dressing, Swiss or Gruyere cheese)
• Pockets (pizza, BBQ pork, etc.)
• Wiener wraps (pigs-in-a-blanket)
• Pizza crust (will turn out like a deep dish or breadstick crust)
• Cabbage & beef-filled rolls (hamburger, onion, cole slaw mix -- steam together and stuff dough)
• Chicken or turkey rolls (stuffing, berry sauce, meat; serve with leftover mashed potatoes & gravy)
• Broccoli & spinach rolls (chopped broccoli, loose-leaf spinach, Provolone)
• BBQ chicken pizza rolls (BBQ sauce, shredded chicken, crumbled bacon, carmelized onions, Monterey Jack cheese)
  

Taste of Tuesday: Chicken Alfredo Lasagna

I made this for dinner on New Year's Eve Eve this year. I'd made it once or twice before, but I haven't quite yet gotten my timing down right. The first time, we ended up eating at about 8:15pm. This time it was still about 7:30 when we finally sat down. Methinks I need to start preparing at 3:00 in the afternoon.

I got the recipe first from Michelle at Scribbit, which if you're not familiar with, you totally should be. She is an award-winning mom blogger, without the whole "mommy community" thing going on, which at times, can be quite cloying. The recipe as she found it was called Chicken Caesar Lasagna, but there's absolutely nothing Roman about it. Definitely no anchovies here. Just creamy, cheesy, vegetable-y goodness. I've made a couple of edits in the way of recipe helps.

Original recipe

Chicken Alfredo Lasagna

1 box lasagna noodles (about 15 noodles)
2 bottles light Alfredo sauce
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
3 cups cooked chicken breast, diced or shredded
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 ounces chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 cup diced onion
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook noodles according to package directions, drain and rinse with cold water; drain again. (Hint: if you don't have a pot large enough to boil lasagna noodles in, and don't want to wait for half to soften enough to bend and fit the other half in the water -- they cook unevenly that way -- use a roasting pan. It's okay to get it out more than just for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.)



In a bowl combine Alfredo sauce, lemon juice, and black pepper. In a skillet saute onion, pepper and carrots in olive oil. Once onions are translucent (about five minutes) stir in spinach and cook one minute more.

Lightly grease a 13x9x2-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Add a scoop of sauce mixture to the bottom of the pan and smooth around to coat. Stir spinach mixture and chicken into Alfredo sauce. Arrange 4 noodles in bottom of dish. Top with one-third chicken mixture then 1/2 cup grated cheese. Repeat layers twice more. Use the last three noodles on the top of the last cheese layer. They won't overlap, but will provide a good guide for cutting up and serving later. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top layer of noodles.

Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes or until heated through and browned on top. Let stand 15 minutes before serving. Makes 12 servings.


(This second picture was taken of cold leftovers the next day.)

5 Minutes: Halloween memories

The next writing prompt for Your Life in 5 Minutes is this:

What is one of your best Halloween memories: a costume? trick-or-treating? gorging on candy? parties? carving pumpkins?

Obviously, I'm behind schedule here. That's okay. This isn't for you, it's for me.

I love Halloween. It's such a fun holiday. It's just very childlike and it's a great excuse to be silly again. But the memories I have of childhood Halloweens aren't the most positive. I'm a little bitter, to be honest. I never got to have the door-to-door trick-or-treating experience. I guess our little city wasn't necessarily the safest, but I think my mom was a little over-protective about the tradition. When I did go trick-or-treating, she would drive me around to people we knew, I'd get out of the car, run up to the door, and then come back to the car. As a parent now, I can understand the concern, but it was pretty lame at the time.

In sixth grade, I was invited to a Halloween party by a friend at school. (It was a really big deal to me, because I was typically a bullied kid, and didn't have friends. This particular girl, and her twin brother, had transferred to my school just for the last year, and they had a Halloween party every year. That year was no different...the invited all their friends from the old school, and were each allowed to invite two friends only from the new school. I was one of those. You can't imagine how excited I was.) There was food, a costume contest, a pumpkin carving contest, and the part I was most excited about: door-to-door trick-or-treating in their neighborhood! I didn't care about any of the rest of the activities. It was a surreal experience for me to finally get to do it the traditional way. Their parents followed along behind our group, and I dutifully didn't eat any of the candy until I got home and my mom could inspect it (which I did for my own daughter this year), but it was so exciting for me.

The other thing I wasn't crazy about as a kid was that once my sister was born, my mom often coordinated our costumes -- Peter Pan (me) and Tinkerbell (her). Bo Peep (me) and her sheep (her). It's not that I didn't like the costumes, just that I didn't get to choose them myself. But I will admit, I had pretty awesome costumes in general. Several of them were mom-made, and she always did a good job. Even those that weren't mom-made (like Bo Peep) were great outfits. And I can't say that I might not do the same thing in my own family. I have a friend who does family themes with their costumes. Three years ago, they dressed as a 50's family -- him in a white t-shirt and tight jeans, with greased hair, her in a poodle skirt and ponytail, and the baby in a similar skirt. Two years ago, she dressed as the Cowardly Lion, her husband was the Tin Man, her mom (who was in town visiting) was Glinda, her stepdad was the Scarecrow, and her little girl was Dorothy. It was really cute. Last year, they did Alice in Wonderland. My friend was the Queen of Hearts, her husband the Mad Hatter, their older daughter was Alice, and the new baby was the White Rabbit. I like the family theme, but Ben is a little humbug-y for it, I think.

Anyway, here are some fun blast-from-the-past Halloween pictures. My parents and sister will probably be mad at me for posting them, because they're in some of them, but oh well.

First up, Halloween 1985. That's my mom on the left, and my dad on the right. My mom had helped make costumes for the big LDS dance festival in LA that year, and she had leftover fabric from it. A lot of striped polyester.

Here's a little closer up on me:

Now on to 1986. My mom made this dress. I actually really love it. I hope I can put it on Julie in a few years.



And now, 1988. My sister's first Halloween. Yeah, she's pretty much going to kill me for the rest of these photos.

1990. I did a Girl Scout Halloween party this year (or the next one?) in this costume, and everyone thought I was Robin Hood. I guess I just needed my Tinkerbell with me.

Finally, 1991. I'm not particularly fond of this one, but it's a nice costume. Candice and I went together well.

One costume I couldn't find a picture of (I think it must have been after my mom stopped doing my scrapbooks) was Snow White. I didn't like it because it was a great costume or because I love Snow White (she's actually probably my least favorite Disney princess), but because I have fun memories of that year. My great-aunt always threw a huge Halloween bash at her house every year, but it was always more "mature" -- definitely not for kids. One year, my aunt got married, and decided to have a theme wedding at Auntie Yiyi's house. The wedding was on October 30th, and the colors were black and white. Everyone was asked to just come in their Halloween costumes, and the reception turned into the party later in the night. I was uncomfortable with the idea of dressing up (or down, as it were) for a wedding, so I wore a Snow White costume (and wig!) that we had. It was kind-of itchy, but I just remember the whole evening being so much fun. I got to spend time with my aunt as she got ready for her wedding, and with my cousins (who were always a blast). It was a fun year.

5 Minutes: It's elementary

Though not the most current, the writing prompt I left on for Your Life in 5 Minutes is this:

What is your earliest or favorite memory of an elementary school teacher?

I actually remember all my teachers' names, though not necessarily much about them. In kindergarten, I had Mrs. Armitage. First grade was Miss Wilkinson, second grade was Mrs. Stone (super mean), and later Mrs. Lebo (I moved). The rest become much more vivid. I remember that I really like Mrs. Wilkinson, though. She was really nice, and I remember my mom talking about her in a positive light. Also, the caption on this photo in my scrapbook says "Janelle and her WONDERFUL 1st grade teacher, Miss Wilkinson."



She's awarding me with a "super speller" award, January 27, 1987. Check out the totally awesome 80's hair goin' on! I do vaguely remember learning to tell time, and money-changing during class with Miss Wilkinson. And I also vaguely remember being teacher's pet, and a nasty snobby girl named Donna (I think) not liking me for it, because she wanted to be teacher's pet.

Taste of Tuesday: Chocolate Chex Mix

My husband's family has a New Year's Eve tradition of making large batches of Chex Mix, and watching movies all afternoon and evening. He looks forward to that Chex Mix and relaxation. Try as I might, I haven't been able to get the Chex Mix recipe. It's not quite the original, which easily can be found online, but my mother-in-law has been making it for so many years that she no longer uses a recipe and doesn't know the measurements. So I've been unable to replicate the tradition. I've tried several substitutes -- Barbecue Chex Mix (FAIL!), Chex Muddy Buddies (too sweet and not munchy enough), and others. This year, a friend gave us some white chocolate Chex Mix as a Christmas treat. It was pretty good. Mind you, Ben does not like white chocolate at all, and since we've been married, I've lost my taste for it because it's so rarely, if ever, in the house. But this snack was really good. We gobbled it up almost entirely in one night.

So I decided to try to make it for New Year's Eve this year. I thought that Chocolate Chex might be a yummy twist on an original, so I bought that.


I also did little pretzel rods, dry roasted peanuts, M&M's, and, at the last minute, I added marshmallows.





I thought I had a bag of white chocolate chips in the cupboard, so I didn't buy any with the rest of the goodies. I'd forgotten that I had used about 2/3 of the bag on a yummy cookie recipe for a church activity at the beginning of the month. I still had a little less than 2/3 cup left. I also had about half a bag of vanilla-flavored white baking chips in the freezer. I'd asked my friend about her white chocolate coating. She said she just heated the white chocolate in the microwave with a little oil.

It didn't work. Not for me. For one thing, the baking chips are most definitely not the same as white chocolate chips (despite the ingredients being just about the same). They cooked differently, and I ended up burning the whole thing.

Crap.

My husband suggested that I just make a chocolate coating instead.

Duh.

I decided not to take anymore chances (read: waste anymore chocolatey goodness), so I Googled "chocolate candy coating recipe." The first hit was a dipping recipe from Hershey. Chocolate chips and shortening. Not oil. Not butter. Not margarine. Shortening. I wasn't sure I had any. The last time I remember buying any was probably two years ago.

Fortunately, that stuff has a shelf life longer than Twinkies. Yay!



So I made the chocolate coating -- in a double boiler, instead of in a less reliable microwave -- and poured it over the dry mix. I spread the whole thing out on parchment paper on two cookie sheets and stuck them in the fridge to solidify quickly, since it was already about 7:00pm on New Year's Eve.



Verdict: It was really good, but a little too sweet. I think my mix would have been fine if I'd been able to go with the white chocolate coating. The chocolate chocolate was good, but I'd have made a few modifications if I'd known I was going that route. First, I wouldn't have used Chocolate Chex. Second, I would have used less M&M's and more peanuts and pretzels. Either way, I should have used more marshmallows. The world can always use more marshmallows. I might also add a little peanut butter to the coating. Mmmmm...

8 cups Chex (though by the time I was done snacking before adding the chocolate coating, this may have been down to 7 cups...ssshhhh!!!)
2 cups dry roasted peanuts
2 cups pretzels (I'm a little anal and didn't want big pieces, so I used mini rods and broke them in half first)
2 cups plain M&M's
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 cups chocolate chips
2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp shortening

Mix the cereal, peanuts, pretzels, M&M's, and marshmallows in a large bowl or roasting pan. In a double boiler over medium heat, melt the chocolate chips and shortening together. When smooth, pour over dry mix. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the boiler bowl and get every bit of yummy goodness! Mix the wet and dry ingredients together thoroughly, until all the dry goodies are well-coated.

Line two rimmed cookie sheets with parchment paper. Spread half of the Chex Mix on each one. Leave out to harden, or put in the fridge to harden more quickly. I think it only took 20 minutes for me in the fridge. Break into pieces and store at room temperature.


(Sorry I didn't get a dry picture -- the coated pictures are still while the chocolate was hot and melty.)