Our new Bread Maker

Rob got a Breadmaker for our 5 Year Anniversary (April 9th), he had one but it was like 20 years old and the paddle was broken and it needs a new pan, since it was just as cheap to buy a new one as replacement parts, we bought a new one. It is great, and way yummy! Here are some pictures of some Honey Whole Wheat Bread we made in it.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread
Ingredients:
1 1/8 cups warm water at 110°F
3 tablespoons honey
1/3 teaspoon salt (we used 1 tsp and it tasted just fine)
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions:
Add ingredients according to the manufacturer's directions to your bread machine. Use the wheat bread cycle and light color setting.

Why I love my husband.....

I love my husband....he's such the practical joker. He keeps things 'interesting' to say, the least. We have discovered how to make a 'really' easy pizza using Pita breads as the crust, I'm on my protein day so am avoiding carbs, so I just ate the toppings. Anyways the pizza on the right is the one he made for me....it's on a ritz cracker :) He pulled this trick a while back with "Sprite" Floats...see here: http://robnheather.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-husband-and-i-are-equals-in-every.html

He definitely keeps things interesting, funny and happy! His coworkers all think I'm a saint for putting up with him :P

Enjoying the sunshine

Rob had his sleep study tonight so I wasn't going to get to see him after work so I made some Beef Enchiladas and took them out to his work for his lunch. They turned out REALLY good. We were able to eat them outside on a park bench in front of his work. It was a nice spring sunshiney day.



Here is the Beef Enchiladas I made:

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

1 lb Ground beef
1 Med onion, chopped (1/2 C)
1/2 c Sour cream
1 c Shred Cheddar cheese (4oz)
2 t Chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp Ground pepper
1/3 c Chopped grn bell pepper
2/3 c Water
1 t Chili powder
1 1/2 tsp Chopped fresh or
1/2 tsp Dried oregano leaves
1/4 tsp Ground cumin
(2 whole green chilies, chopped)
1 clove Garlic, finely chopped
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
8 Tortillas (5-6" in diameter)

---

Garnish: shredded cheese, sour cream, &

Chopped onions, if desired

Preparation

1. HEAT oven to 350*.

2. COOK beef in 10-inch skillet over mediumheat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown; drain. STIR in onion, sour cream, 1 C cheese, the parsley, and pepper. COVER and REMOVE from heat.

3. HEAT bell pepper, water, chili powder, oregano, cumin, (chilies), garlic, and tomato sauce to boiling in 2-qt saucepan, stirring occasionally; REDUCE heat. SIMMER uncovered 5 minutes. POUR into ungreased pie plate, 9 x 1 1/4 inches.

4. DIP each tortilla into sauce in pie plate to coat both sides. SPOON about 1/4 C beef mixture onto each tortilla; ROLL tortilla around filling. PLACE seam side down in ungreased rectangular baking dish, 11 x 7 x 1 1/2 inches. POUR remaining sauce over enchiladas.

5. BAKE uncovered about 20 minutes or until bubbly.

GARNISH with shredded cheese, sour cream, and chopped onions

Meal time made easier

I am trying something new. Menu Planning. Rob and I always spend a good portion of our time playing the "What do you want for dinner?" game. This is how it goes:

Me: What do you want for dinner?
Rob: Food
Me: What kind of food?
Rob: Good
Me: What kind of good food do you want?
Rob: The kind that you eat
Me: ARGH!

So I've learned that I just need to ask Rob "What kind of good food, the kind that you eat, would you like for dinner?" I just love being married to a perpetual smart butt!

In my 'blog' reading addiction I stumbled across this site Organizing Junkie who does something called Menu Plan Monday:
http://orgjunkie.com/2009/03/menu-plan-monday-march-23rd.html
Basically you put your menu on your blog, link back to her site etc etc etc. So I figured we'd give it a try here's this weeks menu:

Monday: Tacos
Tuesday: Chicken Fajitas (easy and yummy)
Wednesday: Minestrone Pasta (Something new I tried out of a cookbook, this was not a keeper recipe)
Thursday: Taco Beef Bake with Cheddar Biscuit Topping
Friday: Cream of Mushroom Soup added Mushrooms, Chicken over Rice (I'm having it over Cauliflower Rice) Really easy, 1-2 cans Crm Mush Soup, Mushrooms, Shredded Chicken, about 1/2-1 cup of sour cream then either put over rice or mix in with rice.
Saturday: Beef Enchiladas or Low Carb Spaghetti haven't decided yet
Sunday: Homemade Mini Pizzas, Rob has invited one of his friends from work and his wife over for dinner so we are making homemade pizza's using Pita's from Costco as the crusts...amazingly YUMMY!

Can you tell we love Mexican? We have decided what we are going to do is have 5 days of our 'favorites' or trusted and tried recipes, and then 2 days where we try something new, either from cookbooks or online. I'm excited, it has made meal time SO much easier already. Dinner on Rob's work days for him is a Slim Fast Shake/Fruit Smoothie combo as he gets home at 10:00pm and doesn't like to eat a heavy meal that late, so he takes whatever I make for dinner the next day for lunch at work.

Family Recipe Database

The Family Recipes Database is UP and running! This is for family of Robert & Heather Thompson! We are going to collect bunches (hopefully) of recipes from both sides of our families and then load them into the book. We will probably have a "Briggs Family Cookbook" then a "Sims Family Cookbook take 2" and a "Thompson Family cookbook" so feel free to e-mail your recipes to cprcheetah@comcast.net we are hoping to get lots of input and support with this from both sides of our families! We are working on having a 'submittal' page where you can just type in your recipes.

Here is the link for the page: http://family.rnht.net/recipes/
Just click on one of the names/books on the top of the page to see the recipes, then click on the recipe name for the recipe.

Our Recipes is Rob N Heather's favorites...just a couple so far added.
Meal Master & More Meal Master have TONS and TONS of various Recipes
Sims Family Cookbook is the printed cookbook Jen Sims did for her Laurel Project way back when

7 Minute Icing on Angel Food Cake

So it's not exactly "Diet" Friendly, but today was my dad's 66th birthday and I wanted to do something special for him. So I called my mom last night and asked what his favorite cake was...it is Angel Food Cake with his Mom's Seven Minute Frosting recipe. So I baked the cake last night at about 11:15 (Yah I was wired last night). Then this morning I attempted to make the frosting, the first attempt didn't really work out as we could only find 1/2 of our double boiler, and our hand mixer was acting up. So I was near tears and hubby gave the go ahead to go pick up a double boiler and a new hand mixer. I was so excited! So I made it and it's more like 20-30 minute frosting not 7 minute frosting :) I had to mix it for 20 minutes before it was forming peaks, so I probably should have gone a few minutes longer to get it even stiffer!

So I work for my dad, my mom had physical therapy and needed a ride home today. My dad didn't have any appointments, so we 'booked' a phony one to keep him at work so we could surprise him. I picked up my mom, gathered all the employees in the exam room, set up the cake etc, and told my dad his appointment was there. Now mind you, he thinks he has a real appointment there so he's asking all sorts of questions, how old is it, how long has it been vomiting, has it had any shots? any diarrhea? Yah I was stuttering and stammering coming up with answers, but it worked. As we went into the exam room all the workers started singing Happy Birthday to him. The look of happiness, and joy on his face was a kodak moment for sure (wish I would have thought to grab my camera), he was SOOOOO happy. I also got one of his favorite icecreams vanilla/orange sherbert combo, his favorite drink Orange Crush too. Overall I think it went well, the only thing I should have done differently was cook/beat it a little longer. My mom was impressed with how it went and said I can be the official "Dad" birthday cake maker from now on HA HA! My Grandpa (RIP)'s birthday was on Feb 23rd, and he preferred German Chocolate Cake w/homemade frosting, then my dad's birthday was 2 days later so they had the Angel Food/7 Min Frosting cake 2 days later :)

Here is the recipe for Phoebe Smith's (Great Grandma) 7 Minute Frosting

From: Gilda Sims
Makes: 1 servings
Ingredients:
	2 egg whites 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup white syrup 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/4 cup orange juice 1 tablespoon orange rind
Instructions:
	Make sure the cake is very cool before trying to frost. Beat all ingredients constantly in top of double boiler over medium-high heat, except orange rind, until stiff peaks form. Add orange rind and spread over cake.

Here are pictures of the cake I made:

Low Carb Pancakes (Pork Rhinds)

Ewww...gross was the comment my hubby made when I told him I wanted to try them...my curiousity got the best of me and I made them tonight, they aren't half bad...actually I like them better than regular pancakes (I have to be in a 'mood' for pancakes to actually enjoy them). They puff up just like regular pancakes and to me are more 'moist' they have a nice flavor. Here's my picture:


Low-Carb Pancakes (Pork Rinds)


(1 serving) Printable Version

• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup HEAVY Cream
• 1/2 of a 3-oz bag of unflavored pork rinds
• 3 packets of Splenda (or other sugar alternative)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 dash nutmeg

Crumble pork rinds until they resemble bread crumbs.

In a seperate bowl, beat eggs until frothy then add remaining ingredients and continue to beat until well mixed. Add pork rinds to the egg/cream mixture and set aside for 5 minutes to allow batter to thicken.

Cook on a lightly greased skillet as you would any pancake recipe. Drop batter on surface large spoonfulls. Cook until each side is lightly browned.

Serve with butter and a low-carb store bought syrup. Or for an interesting low-carb topping, mix 1 Tablespoon of sugar-free jam with 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons water and microwave for 45 seconds.


These pork rinds are surprisingly low in fat and have zero carbs. They may sound pretty crazy, but these little pancakes are fantastic! For more low-carb recipes try Mr Breakfast's Low-Carb Breakfast Index.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I got this recipe from www.choosing2lose.com (a weight loss forum that I am on). It is VERY simple and REALLY yummy and for those watching the points it is only 6pts for each muffin. Which I think is really reasonable. The original recipe called for Devils Food Cake 1 Box and 1 15oz Can of Libby's Pumpkin. Since Rob has asthma we have to really watch the chocolate so we opted to make it with Spice Cake. Heres the recipe:

1 Box Spice Cake (or Devil's Food Cake)
1 Can Libby's Pumpkin 15oz

Mix 2 ingredients together. Then put into Muffin cups/tin. Makes 12 Muffins
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 18 minutes. (we had to add about 7 minutes to this time because our oven isn't 100% accurate---just do the toothpick test on them).

These Muffins are literally TO DIE FOR! They are VERY VERY TASTY! To make a special treat we added Cream Cheese Frosting to a couple of them. Which only added 1.5 Pts to the muffin.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Ever since I saw the movie way back when I've wanted to try some and have just never gotten around to it. Well here in Utah we had SNOW this weekend....and this weeks forecast is 71! LOL! You know you live in Utah if you have SNOW and 70's in the same week :). Anyways my mom and dad had a TON of tomatoes and a lot were green so I picked some up and made some Fried Green Tomatoes tonight!
YUMMY! I really enjoyed them! Here's the Recipe I used:

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES from Southern Living

Yield

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 medium-size green tomatoes, cut into 1/3-inch slices
• Vegetable oil
• Salt to taste

Preparation

Combine egg and buttermilk; set aside.

Combine 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl or pan.

Dredge tomato slices in remaining 1/4 cup flour; dip in egg mixture, and dredge in cornmeal mixture.

Pour oil to a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch in a large cast-iron skillet; heat to 375°. Drop tomatoes, in batches, into hot oil, and cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Drain on paper towels or a rack. Sprinkle hot tomatoes with salt

***IMO they could have used a little more flavoring in the breading...not sure what though.

We also made Apple Sauce & Apple Jelly

Rob decided that since we were going to be canning might as well do some apples too. So he picked up 3 different varietes of apples and we peeled them using our nifty apple peeler

We got it from Walmart last December and LOVE it! Picking up some applesauce after it's been cooked. We left some chunks in there, it's pretty good!

Putting in some of the apple jelly. Again we used Splenda/Sugar mix and it was 1/2 of what the recipe called for and was still GREAT!

You can see the chunks in this. The Applesauce is almost the consistency of apple butter but not quite.

And of course Quality Control at it again:

BTW....it was DEFINITELY DeeJay Approved! She went NUTS for it kept pawing at my hand to get more!

It's hard work being the supervisor! DeeJay asleep on our Satellite Receiver....it's warm and one of her FAVORITE spots!

Canning Peaches

So my mom and dad gave us a BUNCH of Peaches from their peach trees....granted they sat in my dad's truck all day on a semi-warm day so they were REALLY REALLY ripe. I've never really put up anything on my own (remember helping my mom when I was younger). So Rob and I spent Conference Sunday (only day off before they were WAY too far gone to use) canning peaches while we listened to General Conference. Here's some pics/proof :)
We basically had a large apple box and 1/2 of a large laundry detergent bucket full! The Pint Jars were ALL we could find, we went to 4 stores all together and NO ONE had ANY Quart Jars, I guess canning is popular in Utah County! Look at how pretty they are!

Rob was the official peeler etc, they were so ripe we didn't even have to boil them to peel, it just slid right off!

I was the offically "Lid Putter Onner" :) This is what happens when you ask your husband to take a picture :) He's usually the camera PRO! We made the light syrup with 1/2 Sugar and 1/2 Splenda to cut calories!

Starting to heat up. We don't have the canning supplies yet so we had to improvise a little!

Finished Product! We got 18 Pints! We did have to throw some out probably could have gotten at least another 10-12 pints! My mom and dad got 24 pints out of the peaches they kept!

Quality Control: DeeJay was supervising!

Greek Chicken & Pasta

I made this on Friday night. Got the recipe from: E-Mealz Menus & Meal Planning which is a site that has different options and will give you a weekly menu with a shopping list etc. I love it, I have a REALLY hard time coming up with stuff on my own so this works great for me.

Greek Chicken & Pasta Makes 3 servings
6 Weight Watchers Points Each *Heather is doing WW and is down 25#
Read about her Weight Loss Journey on her blog: http://notime2weight.blogspot.com
3/4 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
4 c fresh spinach
4oz sliced mushrooms
2 Roma Tomatoes sliced
1/3 c Reduced Fat Feta Cheese
1/2 c Fat Free Balsamic Vinaigerette**
1 1/2 cup cooked Angel Hair Pasta

Cut chicken into tenders. Layer spinach, chicken tenders (I seasoned with Garlic & Onion Powder and Seasoned salt), mushrooms, tomatoes & then feta in a sprayed 9x13 baking dish. Pour vinaigerette over all ingredients and bake 30 min at 350 uncovered. Divide into 3 portions and serve each portion with 1/2 cup pasta.

**I had no balsamic vinaigerette and didn't feel like making any so I used: Two Sisters Gourmet Garlic Parmasan Vinaigerette and it TRULY made the meal way NUMMY! My hubby is NOT a big fan of vinegar products but he REALLY like this one, said it was a keeper, he suggested instead of the Angel Hair pasta to use toasted italian bread underneath it.