Bop and Beep

My vegan, gluten free, dairy free power bar experiment.

2012-02-06T10:36:00.001-08:00

In my continued effort to only consume the healthiest of food, I reviewed a few recipes this weekend on the granola and power bar front. I wanted something that tasted good, had enough season or spice to it, as well as having the right mixture of dried fruit and nuts in it. Additionally, I wanted to make this vegan. As well, as gluten & dairy free. This is what I came up with for healthy snacks for Holly and I to enjoy during the busy work week at our offices. Great source of protein and fiber. Pretty low natural sugar content from the honey. No refined sugar in this at all. And the batch split 18 ways is 128 calories per par, or if split 15 ways is 142 calories per bar.

Cinnamon-Cranberry Granola Power Bars

1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats
½ cup packed unsweetened dried cranberries
½ cup chopped toasted pecans or almonds
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ tsp sea salt
6 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons best quality honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line an 8X11 inch baking pan with foil, allowing foil to extend over sides. Lightly coat foil with olive oil. Mix oats, cranberries, nuts, cinnamon & salt in a bowl. Combine olive oil & honey in a medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the mixture is smooth and begins to boil. Pour oil-honey mixture over oat mixture and stir until well coated. Transfer to prepared pan.

Using a spatula, press mixture evenly into pan, pushing down to slightly pack. Bake mixture until top is golden brown, about 23-25 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely for 1 hour. Using foil as aid, lift out of the pan. Place on work surface (cutting board), and using large sharp knife, cut into 15-18 bars.

Once portioned out, wrap in waxed paper and place in plastic bag. For best/freshest quality, consume within one week.

More Ways To Use Our Nutella Stash

2012-01-31T10:37:00.000-08:00

As we continue to use up the vat of Nutella I gave Holly for Christmas, friends keep sending us recipes for items incorporating Nutella in some fashion. Noelle sent us this link to a blog that I have never come across. Not only did I get a good recipe to play with and adapt a little, I also got a new foodie related blog to follow.

Nutella Oatmeal with Fruit
Adapted from Simply Scratch

Ingredients:

1 cup Milk
1/2 cup Old Fashioned Oats
2 tablespoons Nutella
1 teaspoon Dark Brown Sugar
A pinch of Kosher Sea Salt
Sliced Banana
Fresh Blueberries
Sliced Almonds

Preparation:

Heat the milk in a small sauce pan until boiling. Reduce heat to medium-high and stir in oats. Keep stirring, removing from the heat if necessary to stop it from over boiling. Cook until the oats have absorbed most of the milk. Remove from the heat and stir in the brown sugar and Nutella. Pour into a separate bowl and top with sliced bananas, blueberries and nuts.

Pressure Canning Cannellini Beans

2012-01-30T17:25:00.000-08:00

More projects with the pressure canner for our pantry. I love how easy it is to soak good quality organic beans, jar them up, and pressure can. I can control the spices and herbs. And get a best quality organic product for cents a jar.

This will come in handy for my homemade white bean spreads, soups, hummus concoctions and lots of other quick healthy prep meals.

Inheritance Cycle

2012-01-25T17:25:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading the last book in the what I lovingly call the "dragon books". I got this for my birthday and it was my goal to finish this 840 page book before our little boy made his debut. I was introduced to the series by my brother, it's a young adult book which is a genre I enjoy reading, typically because they are easy to read and are clean. This book, while clean, is quite gory. I feel like this final book in the series is so much more graphic than the other three.

I can't say I'd recommend this series to others. The first book was very difficult to get into for me, but the second book had an overview of what had happened in the first book which I found very helpful and the story seemed to be more interesting in books 2 and 3. Book 4 though took so long to come out that I was a bit lost again even with the overview of the previous books at the beginning.

That said, it felt good to finish and put to rest the characters whose stories were so unresolved in the 3rd book. I'm also glad I read it so I know what age it would be appropriate for our son to read...which might be never, we'll see :)

Home Canned Meyer Lemon Curd

2012-01-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

I like my practical side. Especially the practical things I ask for for Christmas and Birthdays. Plus I'm sort of a food snob, and really have a distinct palette and enjoy my recipe alterations and adjustments that I create at home. Plus, what's not to like about from scratch home food? Life's little luxury, not to mention economical.

I really like lemon curd. As a base for frosting, or as the layer in a quick lemon meringue pie or lemon bars. Fresh citrusy curd goes just about fantastic on anything. Including a slice of grilled baguette whit some ricotta, a smear of curd & some fresh chopped mint.

Zesting the meyer lemons and allowing the sugar to be scented with all the citrus oil.

Separating a plethora of organic eggs.

Lots of freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice

Incorporating the beaten yolks, scented sugar and fresh juice.

Double boiler going, as I whisk in the butter.

Cooking until thick and smooth.

Straining & prepping the curd for pressure canning.

The finished product. I broke out my first jar this past weekend and used the curd for a cream cheese-butter cream frosting for sugar cookies. Perfect lemony combination of soft & chewy sugar cookies, with the tang and richness of a citrus infused butter cream.

Seattle Snowmageddon Cinnamon rolls

2012-01-19T12:15:00.000-08:00

When the snow arrives, and it frigid cold outside, nothing is better than tried & true comfort food. After a partial day in the office yesterday due to unexpected inclement weather for Seattle city, I came home and made a batch of cinnamon rolls for Holly & I to enjoy while we watched the snow and freezing rain ice pellets ravage the region.

Dan's Cinnamon Rolls

2 1/4 cups warm water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk, sifted
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 cup granulated sugar or honey
1 tablespoon salt
6-7 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar, or more as needed
2 teaspoons cinnamon, or more as needed
1/2 cup butter, melted or softened

Bloom yeast in warm water for 15 minutes. Add vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, dry milk, sugar, salt and 3 cups of flower. Mix in mixer until sticky and combined. Continue to add flour until most is incorporated. Dough will be slightly sticky. Continue mixing and adding flour until it pulls away from side of mixer. Liberally coat in more oil and allow to raise in a warm place until triple in size.

With flour on your hands punch dough out and turn onto floured surface. Shape into a rectangle. Spread butter, then sugar than cinnamon. Roll up jelly roll style and cut. Place in liberally buttered baking dish and allow to proof until double in size. Bake 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, and add your favorite frosting or glaze.

Dan's Cinnamon Roll Glaze

1/4 C milk
Splash of fresh lemon juice
Zest of half a lemon
1 tsp vanilla
2+ C powdered sugar

Combine milk, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla. Slowly whisk in powdered sugar to desired constancy. Spread on warm cinnamon rolls. NOTE: The photo above is a half batch of the dough. A half batch will yield you 12-15 rolls depending on the size. And I use a buttered 11X17 pan for mine, not a cookie sheet.

Office Baby Shower

2012-01-17T16:30:00.001-08:00

I feel very fortunate to have so many wonderful people in my life wanting to throw us a baby shower. The first shower we had for our growing family was given by my office friends. I've worked at HA for 14 years and am thankful for all the friends I've made there over the years...and yet this is really the first time I've done anything with most of them outside the office. It's kind of sad I know. Now I see what I was missing, it was a lot of fun to be in a non-work setting with these ladies.

We had a really great brunch, it was quite the spread!

And of course we played the dreaded games. I'd heard so many people talk about playing the diaper and candy bar game at showers, but I'd never experienced it myself. Lucky me we got to play!

We had an amazing cake that was so beautiful and opened presents.

It was a great time, now to find a place for all our loot :)

Traditions!

2012-01-12T10:37:00.000-08:00

Well, it was better late than never this year. Dan and I usually go see the Bellevue Botanical Lights display every Christmas, this year it ended up being a New Years Eve activity. It was COLD, but fun as always to see the fun flowers, animals and insects created out of lights.

One of the upsides of doing this later this year is it really wasn't super crowded.

And bonus the weather may have been cold, but at least it wasn't raining!

I did have a bit of an episode using the restroom though, there were some pushy moms trying to get their little ones front in line but I wasn't going to have any of that! I had to "school" a few people on etiquette for waiting in line for 2 bathrooms. I'm pregnant, it's okay to be extra grouchy right?

The new two new cool things this year were the vertical lights in the trees simulating rain and then there was a dragon that had smoke coming out of its nostrils.

It's a fun tradition, one that I can't wait to take our son to.

OHC's Co-Ed Baby Shower

2012-01-11T08:25:00.001-08:00

This past weekend, good friends of ours hosted a co-ed baby shower for our pending kidlet. It was a very nice venue, and fantastic evening full of good food & friends. Our families even participated and sent up some fun things up in advance for us to open as well that evening.

Parting gifts for everyone.

Some custom blended rosemary sea salt.

Julie's yummy from scratch coconut-chocolate cake.

Lots of nice candlelight, and flowers everywhere.

Yummy cucumber tea sandwiches.

Orange, my FAVORITE color.

Friends mingling.

Having a good time.

Making people pose, much to their dismay. My iPhone camera sucks!

Cute Pregnant Holly...!

People's backsides.

The nice spread that Steve, Kelly & Yvonne put out for everyone.

Everyone watching us open gifts. A little overwhelming.

Amazed and very grateful for the generosity of all our friends who took the time to come celebrate with us. You truly all our loved. Holly and I appreciate everyone's thoughtfulness.

Smile for my crappy iPhone camera...AGAIN...!

The Raiders onezie's from Patrick & Noelle, became a practice run for me to see how quickly I could put it on a "practice baby." I'm going to be an awesome Dad! Cookie Monster makes a great practice baby btw...!

Pressure Canning Garbanzo Beans

2012-01-06T16:41:00.000-08:00

Like I mentioned in my last post, I've had a lot of fun with my new pressure canner. I took the opportunity over New Years long weekend to try several projects. Canning a bunch of garbanzo beans for our pantry was something I've wanted to do for a long time. I use these for my batches of hummus, and for homemade indian food or soups & salads.

Doing a quick cook of the beans after a 24 hour soak.

My new favorite kitchen gadget.

Loading up the canner for an intense steaming session...LOL.

After pressure processing, I got 12 pints of garbanzo beans. Also soaking in the background is cannellini beans. Finish one project, and move on to the next project.

Another view.

Beauty in a jar.

This will make a great addition to our pantry. I'm pretty excited to try more projects this upcoming week. I want to make some sirloin chili, and some other on-hand ready to heat from scratch organic soups.

Pressure Canning Chicken Stock

2012-01-05T12:48:00.000-08:00

I was pretty excited to get a pressure canner for Christmas. Granted it's a practical gift, and I'm a pretty practical person. Over new years weekend I had my first four pressure canning projects.

We had roast chicken for dinner one night. It was the perfect opportunity to boil the carcass down with vegetables and herbs and made a big batch of homemade chicken stock for our pantry.

It took a few moments to learn how to gauge the pressure in the canner, with the amount of gas I had burning underneath. Once regulated, the countdown begins on steam processing times.

The finished project. 7 pints of rich, dark, chicken stock chuck full of flavor. I love my new pressure canner. Simple pleasures. Nothing beats healthy, homemade food.

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T15:25:00.000-08:00

This year was a different year for us. Usually we go to visit our family out of state, but this year since I would be 34 weeks on Christmas we decided it would be cutting it a bit too close to travel. So, instead we shopped and shipped our Christmas presents to family and had the great opportunity to have my sister Linda and her daughter Amanda spend Christmas with us.

We decked out house out for the season as usual. It always makes me smile to see all our decorations out, especially the nativity, which we added the wise men to this year. I love all our white cut out candle holders and the spider on our tree from Dan's mom.

We also had out our various tins and cookie jars, Williamsburg pineapples, and new this year a pomegranate from Greece.

Christmas Eve was a little hard for Dan and I this year. We both had a bit of a cry fest missing our families, listening to Christmas music and calling to talk to everyone made us feel a bit better :) Then Linda and Amanda arrived and we headed over to our friends house for a wonderful dinner and acting out of the Nativity story. I enjoyed being around friends, family, and even a few little kids. After dinner we went home and watched movies and put out our gifts to each other. Quite a haul!

Santa came and filled our stockings and left us a few things! Looks like we were good kids this year :)

We woke up and had breakfast, Dan made yummy pancakes, roasted potatoes and chicken sausage with fruit and juice. It was just what I needed.

We opened gifts, and were totally spoiled this year (as usual!). Here's my loot:

Dan's loot:

We both got ornaments from Santa. Mine was the elephant with a peanut on his nose, Dan's was a copper pan.

Santa also left us some Christmas books to add to our future advent collection. We hope to have 25 books to wrap and open with our son the month of December as a new family tradition. We're off to a good start in the collection.

New decorations put out, plus me posing with my FAVORITE gift of all, and 11 lb tub of Nutella :)

To top off a wonderful day we opened gifts from Dan's family and found the candy cane pillow case Dan had as a child, a fun blanket sewn from fabric found in Sherry's sewing room, a silver baby spoon, and a traditional tin that held homemade candy that Dan remembers from his childhood as well. We also got the story of the Elf on the Shelf, which apparently is pretty popular now, but the idea was from back in the 60's. The modern elf was removed from the box and replaced with a Sherry creation. She made a ton of little elves that hung in garland to decorate the home, and would sometimes see the elf hiding elsewhere in the home checking in on the kids to report back to Santa. These fun traditions and memories brought tears of joy to our eyes.

Finally we had so much food and candy that day it was crazy! I've eaten myself sick the past few weeks and wanted to see if I could still see my feet...I can, but just barely :)

Christmas Project

2011-12-21T08:56:00.000-08:00

Last year for Christmas my sister-in-law gave all the siblings Christmas pillowcases. This is a tradition passed down from Dan's mom who gave the kids a new pillowcase (or got out last years if it wasn't worn out) the beginning of December to sleep on for the month. This was yet another way to make the holiday special and hype up the kids for the Christmas season :)

I thought it was such a great idea I decided right after Christmas to go out and buy fabric on sale (another Sherry tradition!) to make some for the next Christmas to give to my family. I had a lot of fun picking out fabric patterns and matching them together. It is really quite easy to do, but in my typical style I procrastinated for quite a while until I realized I need to crank these out if I was going to get them in the mail after Thanksgiving!

The original thought was to just give to my nieces, but I soon realized I had enough to give to my mom and siblings as well.

I even had enough fabric to make another set for Dan and I. I've been sleeping on mine ever since. It makes me smile every time I see it, I hope it does the same for my family.

2011 Annual Craven Candy Making

2011-12-19T13:45:00.000-08:00

One of our favorite holiday traditions is making homemade candy, chocolates and confections for Christmas gift giving. It always reminds me of my childhood and the fun food traditions we had growing up, creating in the kitchen with my Mom. This year Holly & I had a fun time mixing it up and doing different types of fudges and caramels to share with our family, colleagues at work and various friends & neighbors.

Starting a big batch of caramel and adding chocolate to make a chocolate-espresso batch.

Cooking it down and letting it bubble, adding more chocolate a handful at a time.

Adding the espresso and cooking it to soft ball stage.

Almost to temperate and ready to pour in my prepped pan.

After the batch cooled, I cut it and prepped it for wrapping in glassine paper candy cups.

A complete batch of white chocolate, peppermint fudge.

The white chocolate peppermint fudge all cut, wrapped and cupped.

Finished batches ready for boxing. Chocolate-espresso caramel. White chocolate peppermint fudge. And a batch of cinnamon-anise golden caramel.

Boxed and ready for lids, and custom designed labels from Holly.

The finished goodies. Have been shipping to friends across the country, making local deliveries, shipping to family, and sharing with neighbors and colleagues. A very fun tradition indeed. Grateful to have learned from my Mom, and to be able to share the talent with my many friends.

2011 Half Marathon #5 - Seattle Thanksgiving Marathon

2011-11-30T17:01:00.001-08:00

AWESOME RUN! New personal best time at 2:29:06.

A 2:10 improvement off my last race in October. And a >52:00 improvement off my first race in May of this year. Today's goal was to come in <2:30:00. I'm happy with my accomplishment today in the rain! :) WOOT!

Check it out! 5 Half Marathons (this season) & counting. I'm liking me my "Shiny Sports Bling...!" Getting active & healthy and turning into an athlete has been the best thing I ever done for myself & my future family. Excited to run a race with my son someday.

140# LOST FOREVER & COUNTING! :)

2011 Half Marathon #4 - Leavenworth Oktoberfest

2011-11-23T14:29:00.000-08:00

Nailed it...! Half Marathon #4 complete. Unofficial clock time is a 30-35 second improvement! Making a new personal best. AND most of this was trail running.

My friend Steve & I, pre-race.

2011 Leavenworth Oktoberfest Half Marathon official timing chip race results: 2:31:16. A 2:16 "official" improvement in time off of my last half marathon. I'm proud of my accomplishment high in the cascade mountains...!

Half marathon #5, the annual Seattle Marathon is slated for this upcoming weekend.

Chocolate Cake with Peppermint Buttercream

2011-11-22T15:10:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was Holly's Birthday. I really wanted to make her a diner style birthday cake. Big flavor, with multiple layers. And on an impressive cake stand. I had fun perusing a few recipes and came up with with something that I felt was moist and not overly dry for the cake after some adjusting. And some tasty peppermint buttercream with the addition of cream cheese. It turned out well.

Dan's Moist Chocolate Cake

3 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp salt
¾ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
2 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup + 2 Tbsp cocoa
1 cup + 2 Tbsp water
1 cup + 2 Tbsp canola oil
5 large or 4 extra large/jumbo eggs
¾ cup water
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 tsp espresso powder

Directions for cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, cocoa & espresso powder. Next, add 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of water and 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of canola oil. Mix for 1 minute. Then add eggs, 3/4 cup of water, vanilla. Mix 5-6 minutes with a whisk, 3-4 minutes with a hand mixer, or 2 minutes with a KitchenAid mixer.

Pour into three prepared 10" cake pans, bake at 350°F for 25-35 minutes (adjust for convection); test by placing and removing a toothpick through the center at 25 minutes. When toothpick comes out clean, loosen from and invert onto a wire cooling rack. Let cakes cool completely on the racks. Wrap in foil, and put in the freezer until firm. I find it easiest to frost a frozen cake.

Dan's Peppermint Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

1 pound (4 sticks) butter, room temperature
2 8oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
3 boxes (1 pound each) powdered sugar
1 TBS pure peppermint extract
Pink or Red food coloring

Directions for frosting:

This part is a little harder as it is really done to taste. Cream butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add 2.5 to three boxes of powdered sugar until you get desire consistency. Thin with milk as necessary or add more powdered sugar. Add food coloring to get to desired shade of pink. Add extract to desired flavor. Frost frozen cakes. Once frosted, allow frozen cake to that to room temperate for a few hours.

Carrot Ginger Soup

2011-10-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

One thing I love about autumn, is the cool brisk night time air. With that oncoming winter chill, I love making soups for dinner. Nothing beats a nice bowl full of warm comfort food after a long day of work at the office and working out at the gym. Each autumn, Holly & I also host a big open house. I make a spread of soups, chowder, stews & chili to share with all our friends. I took a few carrot-ginger soup recipes and came up with something of my own that had more spice, and tasted less dessert like.

Dan's Creamy Carrot-Ginger Soup

1 large onion, peeled & rough chopped
Grated zest of 1 large orange
5 pounds carrots, rough chopped, cut into 1-inch pieces, no need to peel
1 qt vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled
1 tsp Tabasco, or to taste
1 tsp smoked spanish paprika, or to taste
2 TBS soy sauce, or to taste
Cayenne to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste
Dried thyme to taste
Cinnamon to taste
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 C half & half

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place carrots and onion on cookie sheet. Liberally cover with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes or until charred. Once cooked, scrape vegetables into a soup / stock pot. Cover with stock, add bay leaves and ginger wedge and cook for 30 more minutes. Discard bay leaves & ginger. Use a hand-held immersion blender to purée the soup right in the pot. Taste the soup, then season with the Tabasco, orange zest, soy sauce and the spices to your liking. Add half & half (or cream). Continue to adjust spices to your liking. Serve the soup hot.

It's a Boy!

2011-10-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

Did we ever mention it's a boy? I don't think we did, but my "pregnant" brain isn't working very well these days.

We found out it was a boy right after we got back from Greece during our 20 week ultrasound. He was totally NOT shy and the tech said she was so happy we wanted to know because she wasn't sure how she would hide it from us :) Everything they look for was healthy and normal which gave us a huge relief, as did actually seeing his little hands and feet...so cute!

I just had my 24 week visit to the Dr. and took the glucose test. Basically I had to fast for 2 hours, then drink a huge sugary drink and have my blood drawn an hour after that to check to see if there is any risk of getting gestational diabetes. Side affects of the drink are nausea and vomiting, luckily I didn't have that, however it did give me a huge headache. On top of not feeling great, not having eaten for 3 hours, I really suck at giving blood. I told the tech this and he was encouraging and said he'd be quick...I guess he wasn't quick enough because next thing I knew there were 5 nurses around me helping me to the ground and putting my feet up on a stool. I honestly can't believe I fainted, I was so humiliated. Oh well, let's hope giving birth goes better than giving blood :)

Thankfully I don't have to do that test again, I passed and was told all looked good. I had to have other things checked while I was there for new health insurance rules and they discovered I was a bit anemic which I guess is normal during pregnancy as well...so I guess I need to eat more red meat and take an iron supplement.

We have also been trying to get ready for our new arrival, looking for big things like a crib, stroller and car seat. We aren't really going all out for a nursery, but did buy the print above which is guiding the way as far as colors go.

I'm getting so excited but am still so very nervous to be a mom. I can't wait for Dan and I to meet this little guy!

Tori Amos: Night of Hunters

2011-10-13T14:42:00.001-07:00

I'm thoroughly enjoying my lastest Tori Amos CD purchase. I can admit it, I've been a Tori Amos fan for DECADES. She is probably my all time favorite recording artist. I like here eclectic style, her eccentric behaviors, and her modern and traditional spin on piano. I find her piano music mesmerizing.

Sure, I listen to a lot of "skanky teeny-bopper" music, mainly when I'm working out to keep my heart rate up, and my pace up running. But when I'm in the mood to relax and enjoy good quality music, I always go for my Tori Amos, or Sarah McLachlan, or Annie Lenox type of "better quality" music.

This new album is more instrumental and traditional, like her earlier albums. She draws on themes from Satie, Granados & Chopin weaving in some Irish mythical past. I love her all acoustic tracks and am very much looking forward to seeing her in concert again in December.

NAXOS

2011-10-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

The last leg of our trip. I have to admit, I was really happy to be leaving Athens and headed to see the islands. We got up really early and took a cab (luckily cabs were no longer on strike) to the port to catch our ferry. They have 2 kinds of ferries, the slow boat and the high speed boats, we opted for the slow boat because they were more reliable and would be a bit less bumpy of a ride. The ride wasn't totally smooth, you could barely walk in a straight line which wasn't good going up or down stairs since people were camped out everywhere. I think I managed to step on a European teenager.

The ride was 5 hours long, but I think it was worth it. I enjoyed seeing some of the interesting land masses and the view of the water. On deck it was so windy you could barely stand and not get blown over, plus the water was spraying up all over the place. I felt bad for the people sitting out there.

We arrived in Naxos and for the first time in Greece my breath was truly taken away. This is what I imagined Greece would look like, white buildings built into the side of a hill. Plus right on the edge you could see the ancient ruin of Apollo's gate, so beautiful.

We were picked up by our hotel which ended up being a bit farther outside of town than we thought. But honestly, it was so lovely and the people that own the place were so kind and generous I would stay there again in a heartbeat. It was really a series of 9 villas and one main gathering area where we ate breakfast. Each had their own pool, and kitchens. They gave us an orientation of the island and offered to make us lunch and dinner that night.

Main area:

Our villa:

Around the area:

Our first day we spent hanging around the pool, napping, reading and soaking up the atmosphere. As I mentioned we were provided lunch and dinner from the woman what owns the place who is an excellent cook. We had braised beef with tomato sauce and orzo pasta which sounds so simple, but I've never had something so flavorful! The next morning breakfast did not disappoint! We were welcomed with homemade pastries, quiches, nut bread, homemade jams all of which were delightful.

We decided we should rent a car to go visit some of the small villages, and explore beaches. We took off and went to find an old Byzantine church. The road to get there was crazy, dirt and full of boulders not to mention super narrow!

There were tons of snails tucked between all the bricks.

On our way to the village of Halki we stopped at a pottery store. They had creepy animals and some adorable ceramic baby shoes :)

Halki was a very quaint village. They had great pottery and textile stores plus it was just beautiful, with a main square that had huge clusters of grapes hanging from a trellis.

After Halki we drove around a bit more. What I found amazing were the small white churches that topped each hill peak. We also saw the marble quarry, one of the main export items Naxos is known for and a cemetery demonstrating the use of marble.

After our drive in the morning, we headed to the beach to relax and find lunch. No pictures, I was honestly kind of done with the beach at this point :) We went back to the villa to relax and get changed before dinner.

That night we went into town to find dinner. Our hosts recommended we go to a small place in town. This was our first venture into town and I LOVED it! This was our view from the place we parked, just stunning!

We learned that the village was built with a labyrinth of streets to deter the pirates. Pirates would come, locals knew their way to the fortress and could escape while the pirates got lost in the maze. It really was quite a maze with something interesting to see around every corner.

Dinner was one of the better meals of the trip. I had amazing fennel pork with potatoes and Dan had a seafood risotto.

The next morning we headed back out to explore more villages. We passed some old windmills, saw Dimitra's Temple which is a mini Parthenon made of marble.

Naxos is one of the more mountainous islands, giving us amazing views from the top.

We ended up in the village of Apiranthos where we actually saw a man riding a donkey! The village was very cute. We rushed a bit through the town, but it was worth the brief visit.

We happened upon some kids playing soccer in front of the church, the interior of which was quite elaborate.

We headed back to our place and hung out by the pool for a while. That night we headed over to see Apollo's gate and take in another sunset.

The next day was our last in Naxos. We decided we'd have a leisurely morning packing and enjoying breakfast, check out of our villa and then head over to town to see things during the day.

We enjoyed some local ice cream and people watching and Dan and I found our souvenir for the trip. It was a ceramic pomegranate, which was created by a Thessaloniki artist. Pomegranates are a symbol of good luck in Greece, many homes decorate with it and it is used in a few rituals like the ground breaking for a new home. We wanted the big apple too, but didn't think we'd be able to get it home!

We flew out on a teeny tiny propeller plane to get back to Athens, spent the night right by the airport and left bright and early the next day. It was such a wonderful trip, very relaxing and so beautiful.

Orange Creamsicle Halloween Fudge

2011-10-07T12:09:00.000-07:00

So Autumn ushers in the beginning of the holiday season. A time of year I love immensely. Halloween, Harvest, Thanksgiving and Christmas have so many wonderful memories from my childhood, as well as for Holly. As we've been establishing our lives together, it's been nice to incorporate fun traditions that we had growing up from the Cravens, VanOrmans, Sansoms & Finlaysons.

I've been doing an annual Autumn Open House each year, where I make a selection of soups, chowders, stews & chili to share with all our friends. I enjoy opening our house up and just enjoying everyone's company and cooking for everyone. At this annual event, we also make a bunch of homemade Halloween treats to pass out. It's a chance for us to make something together. I'll create something food wise, and Holly will create some beautiful custom packaging for the goodies. I love that, we both love creating together. This year, I think I want to do a few types of fudge to share, along with our traditional orange and root-beer suckers we make.

I order a bunch of white, milk and dark chocolate each fall for my season of homemade candy making. I make items at Halloween, but the bulk comes from our annual tradition of making homemade chocolates at Christmas time to share. I measured out the amount of quality white chocolate that I needed and started making a batch.

Melting the butter, sugar & small amount of water together to start the fondant base.

No fudge is complete without marshmallow fluff. Sure you could make marshmallows from scratch. Been there. Done that. It's labor intensive. You could also melt whole marshmallows but that makes for a tougher texture. Marshmallow fluff is the way to go. And I love how it's back in it's retro packaging from the 50s.

Cooking the candy away, and bringing it to a full boil in preparation for cooking it to soft ball stage.

Once the right consistency is achieved, you add the chopped white chocolate and marshmallow fluff. Mix it all together, until you get a uniform dull gloss. That makes the perfect consistency.

Once the fudge was ready, I removed 1/3 of the batch and flavored it with best quality vanilla. The other 2/3 of the batch was flavored orange, and dyed a light hue. It's sets up quick, so I immediately added the orange to a prepped pan. Put the spoonfuls of the vanilla on top, then used a kitchen knife and swirled it all together to give it the marbled look.

After I let this set up for a day or two, I had a sample. Holly had a sample. We both then decided it was best to get it out of the house, so I put a platter together and brought it to work to share with all my colleagues. It was pretty much gone right after I put it out. They do like it when I cook and bring in food for them...LOL!

Melting in Athens

2011-09-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

It was travel day. We drove to the airport, dropped off the Jumpy (good riddance!) and flew to Athens. We took the subway to the closest stop to our hotel and followed the random directions to the Ava. It was a very nice boutique hotel right in the heart of the Plaka, walking distance from the Acropolis, and well many other things.

We arrived around 2pm and it was HOT. So to kill time before our ticket time at the Acropolis museum, we chose to wander through the gardens and make our way to see the changing of the guard and the tomb of the unknown soldier.

The gardens were lush and green, though absent of many flowers. We did see some turtles, oddly all stacked on top of each other...

The changing of the guard was so oppressively hot, the building was giving off so much heat. I couldn't imagine how those poor soldiers stood there, straight faced and sweating to death. They stood like statues and people went up to take their pictures with them. Then the "performance" began. They start by lifting their legs up high bending at the knee and moving a step forward. I think they must do this to get the circulation flowing again...or maybe there is some real historical significance, I like my rationale better.

After we went back to the gardens to cool off and found Steve and Kelly who had arrived to Athens a day earlier. They too were melting in the heat so it makes sense we'd run into each other. We all had tickets for the Acropolis museum at 6pm so we made our way there. On the way seeing more cool buildings and ruins.

The museum is cool because it has the actual artifacts, what is on the hill is all replica. The views from the museum were great and big bonus, it was air conditioned!!

We ended the evening at Daphne's restaurant eating more traditional greek fare. It was good, but slow service was a bit much to bear after such a long day. It was nice though to see the city light up at night.

The next day bright and early we headed over to the acropolis. We wanted to get there early enough so it wouldn't be too hot or too crowded. We failed on both counts, but it was still very enjoyable.

Just below the Acropolis is Mars Hill where Peter preached in the bible. We walked up the very slippery stairs to the top and took the time to read a few scriptures from Acts and take in the view.

From there we wondered down to the flea market, which was a major letdown. It was so touristy and crazy. We did see one little outfit for our bun in the oven and a painting that apparently Dan's Grandma had hanging in her house.

We did see some nicer neighborhoods, with fancy doors and gates with some interesting shops. I found a very cool necklace and we saw some owls we kind of liked, but not enough to buy.

We saw the ruins of Zeus' temple.

Then Dan and I hiked to the top of this mountain.

There was a lot of walking and stair climbing involved to get to the base. Then you take an underground funicular to the very top. There is a white church perched on top and a restaurant and a lovely view. We unfortunately were going to the top with a wedding party so it was majorly crowded.

That evening we found a place for hamburgers. We were Greeked out! As we wondered back to our hotel we saw tons of police and protesters in one of their main squares. We think it was probably the end of the Taxi strike, but we didn't hang around long enough to find out. Next stop, Naxos!

Θεσσαλονικη (Thessaloniki) Part II

2011-09-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

Afitos. The first quaint city we saw on the Kassandra penninsula. A quick note, every guidebook you will ever read says that the other two penninsula's are much better, less touristy, more beautiful, blah, blah, blah. We didn't go to the other two so we don't know what we missed and were pretty happy with what we got.

We cruised the town in our bathing suits and cover ups looking for the beach. The main square had a little church and some lazy pets. Everywhere we went we saw what looked like dead dogs and cats laying on the ground. The only thing we could figure is that they must be as hot as we were and had passed out.

We stopped at a bakery to tide us over until lunch. They have the best pastries! Creepy dolls outside, but really good food.

We also saw a lot of shrines, on the sides of roads, in front of peoples houses, etc. We asked and were told that they were put there in honor of someone who had been in an accident or harmed near the area. Some were really elaborate, some very simple.

We made our way to the beach which ended up being beautiful, but the water was really rocky making it difficult to get out and swim if you didn't have water shoes. It was so bad they have sand bags placed in a line to guide you through the rockiest part, but you still manage to fall off and cut your feet. I didn't love the experience so I went back to sit on a chair, read a book and get fried :)

We decided to bail and go get lunch and see the rest of the town. We lucked out and ate at the BEST place of the whole trip. We had a custom meal created for us to give a taste and flavor of traditional, but not touristy Greece. My favorite was the chicken with fennel sauce, braised beef and bulgur stew, and the tzatziki that was so creamy and thick, but with no cucumber. Yummy! We got to meet the owner and his family and really feel like we had a taste of Greece.

We toured other beaches along the penninsula as well. We stopped at one beach, I forget the town, but it was crowded and had very loud Madonna remix the whole time.

We saw many little towns one of which was Posidi which is close to the tip. Hear the beach was rocky again and it was getting late so we didn't stay long.

Another day we took off to see the actual city of Thessaloniki. I'm so glad we did, because this day was the only day of bad weather we had. We saw the white tower which used to be a prison during Turkish rule, there was a large massacre and for a while it was known as the blood tower, they white washed it after Turkish rule ended and it is what you see today. Inside wasn't so great, but the view from the top was nice to get us oriented to the city.

I loved the dense packed city, and after so many days sitting at the beach I was ready to see some culture and city life.

The market was great, I love going to markets around the world. It was also fun to see so many Ya-Ya's or Greek grannies trolling around with sour looks on their faces.

We stopped to grab some lunch. It's funny how the restaurants work, there is someone that heckles the passers by trying to get them to sit at their tables. It is fairly annoying, especially if you've already eaten. This meal was pretty good too, basic Greek fare of pork Souvlaki...and french fries which we were all craving. Dan's was the only odd dish, he ordered a hamburger which ended up just being a patty.

We saw the rest of the market, the largest byzantine church in Greece, an old roman arch, many ruins filled with cats and some bakeries. Oh, and it was raining so we found a cute little store and bought some umbrellas. I saw a cute plush elephant, I should have bought it!

Driving and parking in Thessaloniki was not super fun. They pretty much park and drive wherever they want, kind of crazy. So after a busy driving day we ended at the beach in Siviri (which by the way has crazy carnival rides, as did many of the beach towns).

Our last day in the north we spent at the beach then went to another small town and had dinner. This place was very high end, we seemed very out of place driving up in our dumpy Jumpy. There were huge Yachts and high end shopping along a man made broadwalk. It kind of felt disney-fied.

Next it was off to Athens. To be continued...

Θεσσαλονικη (Thessaloniki) Part I

2011-09-21T08:19:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Greece. We basically had 3 sections in our trip, Thessaloniki which is the second largest city in Greece located in the north, is our first stop. We chose this area because we purchased a home rental from a WACAP auction. We knew nothing about the area only that it would be a wonderful escape to relax. It did not disappoint! Relaxation is exactly what we needed after our crazy trip from Seattle to Paris to Athens to Thessaloniki to the rental van (aka the Jumpy) to the hour long drive in the dark to the rental property.

It took forever but we finally made it! The house was wonderful, it had 3 bedrooms enough space for us and our 4 friends a nice kitchen and living room and beautiful outdoor spaces. It was so nice to be able to relax there, read and enjoy the quiet landscape.

First thing we did the next morning was go check out the local grocery store and beach. Siviri was the closest town to us and had a lovely beach area with umbrellas and cafes that brought you drinks and food whenever you wanted it. We stopped at one place for lunch and I ordered a chef salad with sauce. When the salad arrived it had at least a cup of mayo mixed with catchup slathered on top, I was grossed out. But I managed to eat enough bread and tzatziki, to keep full with intermittent bites of lettuce after scrapping off the sauce. Now it was off to the beach, sunscreen applied and we got started on our first day of sun worshiping!

We also had great access to our own private beach, though there were no chairs and umbrellas to entice us to spend a lot of time there. We took the funicular down to the beach (which was an adventure on it's own...it was VERY steep!) that night and took in the beautiful sunset and the amazing smells of the trees, flowers and sea.

The next day we all piled into the Jumpy to drive seriously north and east towards Turkey (said with a fist shaking in the air like on My Big Fat Greek Wedding :) We were headed for Philippi to see the ruins where Paul and Silas preached and were imprisoned. On the way there we found this lion statue. Not sure what it was for or where it came from.

We finally got to Philippi, which was a little further away than any of us really thought. And in the Jumpy, which has no shocks, the baby and I were a little less than happy. The ruins were cool, but the place was HOT. We ate a quick lunch of "toast", which in Greece is a cheese sandwich, and ate my first bag of chips for the trip then headed for the ruins.

At this point I wasn't sure I could make it much farther. It was so unbearably hot, I'd lost my hair thing (so important), sweat was dripping from every pour. I would have NEVER made it in a time period where there was no air conditioning. But we forged on and I saw some lovely patterns that made it worth while.

We even saw ancient toilets and the road to Constantinople.

On the way back we stopped in Kavala or ancient Napoli or New City. It was a beautiful view from above the city and we found some great gelato in the city center.

In the gelato place they had these really cute shaped desserts on a stick. We ended up seeing them in a lot of places. Not only were they fun to look at the shapes and colors, they tasted wonderful!

Back to the Jumpy. It was awful. Really. I felt terrible by the time I got home. Dan and friends went to the pool by our place when we finally got home while I stayed in bed. Once rested I went out and took a few more pictures of the funicular and the view we had.

The next day we decided to discover a little more of our peninsula so we headed to Afitos. It was a very quaint walking town with some interesting buildings and beautiful beach views. Pictures in Part II.

Little Miracles / Adoption update

2011-08-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

Brace yourselves. This is long

As many know we have been in the process of adopting for the past 2.5 years. The reason we decided on this route was because we'd tried to have children for years with no luck. My cycles were far from regular and I was diagnosed with Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). PCOS basically means I have small cysts on my ovaries and have difficulty losing weight. Anything with cycsts can't be good. It is hereditary and though my mom was never diagnosed with it, it would explain her difficulty having children after her first. We tried some drugs but decided that we didn't want to do any really invasive treatments, we'd just continue not to prevent pregnancy and pursue another avenue...adoption.

The adoption process has been really hard. We ran into some complications with BMI requirements which jump started our new healthy lifestyle change. This is where the miracle began. Dan and I realized we'd really let ourselves go and wanted more than anything to get the weight off so we could qualify to be parents in China's eyes. We also wanted to be healthy so we would live long lives and be able to keep up with our future addition. So, in many posts we've already made you know that Dan has lost 135 lbs and I've lost 55 lbs. Since losing around 25 lbs I've started having regular cycles. I was pleased because I knew it meant my body was getting healthier.

After waiting for 2 years for our adoption and hearing weekly that the wait time kept going from 3 years, to 4 years, now to 5 years I started to feel very discouraged. I started praying that the Lord would soften the hearts of the Chinese government to allow these babies good homes. Then I started praying that we would be able to have a child sooner rather than later, by whatever means. I guess He took that to heart, because now I'm pregnant.

It was unreal. I missed a period. I hadn't done that in years. I decided I didn't want to tell Dan because he'd just tell me I was crazy. So instead we went to the store and I told him I needed to pick up some lady business. I came back with a a pregnancy test. As the checker swiped it through Dan automatically said "What's that for?" I replied with a smart "What do you think." I'm sure the checker found this all very amusing. I wanted to wait to take the test in the morning (I've taken enough of these to know that is the most accurate time of day). That night we headed to the U2 concert and had the best time of my life. I kept thinking, this is the best weekend, U2, and possibly pregnant. We were out SUPER late due to parking issues so slept in. I got up, did my business on a stick, and immediately there was a vertical line. I've seen a lot of horizontal lines, NEVER a vertical one. I was shocked. I'm sure my mouth hung open for a second, then I did a little jump and squeal. I walked out of the bathroom and Dan was staring at me. With a grin on my face I told him it was positive. I was surprised by his response, to be honest I thought he wouldn't really be happy. But his shocked face turned to a big grin and he said, "really?". We both laughed (a bit hysterically) and went back to check the test again :) I waited until the afternoon and took another test. Still positive.

The next day I called the Dr. bright and early to get an appointment to find out for sure if I were pregnant. Luckily I was able to see someone. While I waited they came in and asked me if I was positive my last period was on May 1st. It old them yes, it was May 1st at 5:15 am to be specific, I'll never forget the day I ran my first half marathon with my period. The Dr. came back in the room and told me it was official, I was pregnant. I called Dan, he freaked again, in a good way! I called my mom on the walk back to the office and told her and all of 3rd avenue that we were expecting. She immediately called all my siblings and told them, she was so excited!

Here is the rest of the miracle. When my mom told my brother, he told her that his family had been fasting and praying for us to have a baby sooner rather than later. My exact same prayer. All the little girls prayed, and the two oldest, 9 and 8 fasted with their parents. I cried when my mom told me. I'm crying now. I'm still overwhelmed by the faith of these little girls and the love of my brother and his wife for caring about our family situation. When I finally talked to my brother and his wife I could barely get the words out of gratitude. They told me that the girls screamed with joy when they found out the news. I was glad that I got to tell each of them when we saw them over the summer thank you. I might have scared them a little as I cried getting the words out, but I wanted them to know that their prayers had been answered and I was forever thankful to them.

Here's baby's first picture. No, it's not twins :)

We are still moving forward with the adoption. We don't want to get out of line now that we've come this far since you really never know if we'll be able to carry to term. After the baby comes we'll tell the agency and get advice from them as to how to proceed since China has a rule of no children under the age of 1 in the home when you bring your new child home. I still feel like this is what we should do. I've been thinking of a Chinese girl for the past 2.5 years and feel she should be in our home too. But we will continue to pray and discover what is meant to be in our family as we move through life.

So that's it. We're so happy, and nervous, and scared, and overwhelmed, and blessed. I love Dan, I love this baby and I love my family. I know there have been countless prayers on our behalf, and I thank the Lord for answering them.

Morgan Valley Half Marathon

2011-08-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

I'm enjoying my commitment to my personal health and wellness. Pursuing activities that promote an active lifestyle. I'm grateful Holly and I, are doing this together. As well as other family members doing the same. It's never too late to be your best healthy self one day at a time.

As Holly mentioned below, I wanted to do another half marathon while we were in Utah visiting family. We specifically booked our weekend visit to accommodate one of the races in UT. I had the opportunity to get up at the BCOD (Butt Crack of Dawn), and head up to Morgan UT with Holly, my sister Rebecca and my cousin Shannon to enjoy a morning of exercise.

Rebecca, Shannon and I, getting ready to queue up at dawn, and start our half race. The full marathoners started one hour before us in the pitch black.

Another photo. Holly took photos, and opted to sit this one out. She was able to get a little bit of rest in Shannon's minivan, before my anticipated time to cross the finish line.

3rd Half Marathon for the summer complete. Was able to bang it out, and make a new improved personal best time. I shaved off 5min & 16sec. I've only ever done long distance running at sea level. This was high in the Rocky Mountains, and the air was thin. My lungs were hurting! I was able to run the entire time with the exception at being at mile marker #6 for a few minutes. It was high in the elevation climb and could NOT catch my breath and started coughing and choking. I had to stop, put my head down for a second and get some oxygen. Once I fully acclimated to running at this altitude, so long as I had some water to sip on and keep my throat moist, I was fine. And was able to run the rest of the way to the finish line.

I finished in just over 2hrs & 32mins, making this high altitude run my new personal best thus far. I was proud of my run and my accomplishment of placing 10th in my age bracket for this race. I was not expecting that. Even though I stayed thoroughly hydrated, I was covered in salt from sweating buckets and got a little light headed after I crossed the finish line. I almost fell over taking down Holly with me, but we both prevented that from happening. Once I chugged a bunch more water, gatorade and chocolate milk at the finish line, I was good to go...

Furthermore, I was very proud of Rebecca for taking on another half marathon at my persistence. Even with severe back problems, she was able to compete and briskly walk this, shaving off even more time from her last race. Additionally we were all proud of Shannon for taking this on, and doing her first half marathon. It was great to see her work towards this, enjoy her time, and wait at the finish line for her to cross. Her young children met her just before the finish line and were able to walk across with her. It as a great time together.

Looking forward to my next half marathon in October, over in Leavenworth. Another high altitude alpine run, with all the fall foliage turning. It will be beautiful and much, MUCH cooler than this last race was.

Summer in SLC

2011-08-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a fun trip visiting family in Utah. It was a jam packed weekend full of family, marathons, BBQ's and good food.

Our flight seemed super fast and had great views of Mount St. Helen.

We arrived to a wall of heat and immediately started melting as we waited for our ride. Luckily Kyle was there in no time so we didn't fully melt away. The plan was to meet up with family downtown for dinner at Em's but since we had a bit of time before our reservation we decided to drive over to Memory Grove and see where Dan and I had our wedding reception.

I love this park, the stream and the cute little house. It was fun to be back, it has been almost 12 years since we've been there. Right before we got married there was a tornado in Utah, which is so unusual, that ripped out quite a few trees. Luckily it didn't look too bad for our reception and it did nothing to the house or other structures.

The food at Em's was really good, though the service was a little slow. But it was fun to get caught up with family and just enjoy each others company.

Friday we slept in, then decided to go to Kennecot Copper Mine. Dan and I have never been and always wanted to go. We stopped by my brother's house on the way so we could see the progress on his new yard. It looks great, they have done an amazing job. The mine had a small visitor center with a movie that was pretty interesting. I mostly enjoyed being in the sun and seeing how huge the mine is, fun fact: you can put two Willis (Sears) Towers on top of each other inside the mine. Also huge are the trucks that haul out the mined material. Look at those tires! They need ladders to climb into the truck, no kidding!

Saturday was RACE DAY! Dan, Rebecca and Shannon all did the Morgan Half Marathon. Dan ran and did an amazing job shaving off 5 minutes from his last race. Rebecca and Shannon walked and also totally rocked it! They did it under 4 hours which is a huge accomplishment!

We got there an hour early so had time to laugh it up in the van, it was freezing so we stayed out of the elements up to the last minute. The morning ended up being overcast which was so great, the race would have been unbearable in the scorching sun.

Headed to the finish line! I loved that Shannon's husband and kids met her and walked to the finish line as a family. So cute.

After the marathon we went to a family BBQ. We had great food and it was so nice to be with family. While we were there we looked through the yard. It seems like we're always there in the winter so it was fun to go up by the shed and root cellar. We got a shot of the christmas lights that Dan put in a plastic bag and staple gunned to the shed years ago as a teen...I guess it was too hard to string them around any further! I'd never noticed Dan's name and hand carved into the steps.

To end the evening we drew names and went in order to pick out some of Dan's mom's cookie cutters. She used to have them nailed to the walls surrounding her kitchen. It was always pretty amazing to see. You can tell from the pictures that many haven't been used in years (look at that dust!). Everyone got the ones they wanted and had sentimental attachment too. Dan got a shamrock that he remembers making with his mom and a huge bear cookie cutter since he loved bears. He used to trace the cookie cutter and draw ties on the bears and give them to his mom as a card. How cute is that? We got many others and I can't wait to use them.

Sunday we BBQ'd with my family. The food was again amazing, but the weather...not so much. It started to lightening and thunder so we only had time to see one hula hoop extravaganza by my nieces :) It was actually kind of nice to watch the storm roll in and enjoy the cool breeze.

Monday we had a great lunch at the Copper Onion and ice cream cones from Iceberg. We had a really fun time, it was busy and full of memories and laughing...as it should be.

Spicy Fennel Relish

2011-07-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

When is is NOT canning season at our house? Seriously! I really do enjoy making everything from scratch and controlling ALL the ingredients that I put into the food that I consume. I was perusing my canning cookbooks and came across a fennel relish recipe. I decided to use this as the base and mix it up a little. The base recipe called for fennel and sweet onions. I wanted more of a kick, so I added the yellow and orange bell peppers, and much more spice then the recipe called for. The beauty of picking and canning, is pretty much you can put whatever whole types of spices you want into your base brine and experiment with flavor profiles and heat.

Slicing up the sweet onions.

Layering the sliced onions, fennel and peppers with canning salt. This was the start of the 24-hour water extraction process.

The next day, after the 24-hour salt extraction, I thoroughly rinsed the vegetables. Also in the background are yellow beets. I ended up canning this spicy fennel relish, pickled yellow beets in burgundy wine, and several jars of my take on Major Gray's spicy mango chutney.

Prepping my lids, sterilizing my jars, and starting the picking solution.

Cider and white wine vinegar mix (for best flavor)

Adding the salted "veg" to the pot to simmer down for a few minutes.

Adding poppy seeds, mustard seed, celery seed, pink peppercorns and other spices to name a few for the heat component.

Post cooking, and getting ready to ladle in to my prepared jars.

Pre water bath processing.

Post water bath processing. Yielded 11 half pints. Will make a excellent condiment to grilled meats, and probably a few holiday gifts this upcoming holiday season.

Dan's Spicy Fennel Relish

2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
2 fennel bulbs, thinly sliced
2 bell peppers, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled & thinly sliced
3 TBS pickling salt
1 cup white wine vinegar
2 cups cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Red peppercorns (I used 6 per jar)
Mustard Seeds (I added to the brined vegetables)
Celery Seeds (I added to the brined vegetables)
Poppy Seeds (I added to the brined vegetables)
Fennel Seeds (I used about 12 per jar)

Directions:

Slice onions in half lengthwise, then in very thin slices crosswise to form half circles. Cut fennel bulbs in half lengthwise and remove core; thinly slice crosswise to form half circles. Cut bell peppers in half and thinly slice. Place onion slices, fennel slices and bell pepper slices in a non-reactive bowl and sprinkle with salt. Toss and let stand for 24 hours. Rinse twice and drain thoroughly.

Prep lids and sterilize jars. Meanwhile combine vinegars, water, and sugar in a medium size pot. Bring to a boil over high heat to ensure sugar dissolves, boil about 2 minutes. Add vegetables and garlic and whole spices and return just to a boil, stirring constantly for three more minutes. Remove from heat.

In the bottom of each sterilized jar add fennel seed and peppercorns to the bottom. Remove onion / fennel / pepper mixture vegetables from liquid with a pair of tongs and pack into hot jars using a plastic spatula. Pour liquid over vegetables leaving a 1/2 inch head space. Discard the rest of the brine. Also, distribute remaining whole spices, mustard, celery and poppy seeds, equally amongst jars. Clean rims, apply lids and rings.

Process 10 minutes for half-pint jars and 15 minutes for pint jars in a rolling boil. Allow to cool for 24 hours. Check for seals. Store sealed jars in a cool place.

Use relish within 12-16 months.

Homemade Chicago Style Movie Night

2011-07-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

I like a good deal. Especially when a good deal can be had at Williams-Sonoma, one of my favorite stores. When Holly & I visited Chicago, we had world famous deep dish pizza. In my book, you pretty much can not go wrong with pizza. I like thin crust style, New York style, traditional Italian style and deep dish. When I saw these custom mini deep dish pizza pans on sale, I knew I needed a set.

I started out actually with the Williams-Sonoma test kitchen basic deep dish pizza dough recipe. I adjusted it some, replacing the refined sugar with some honey, and adding some garlic salt to the dough to give it some additional flavor. This dough turned our perfectly, and it was light and chewy, yet with a crust after the necessary proofing in the oven and placement in the well oiled pans.

I like combination, so I picked up some good organic turkey italian style sausage. I also cooked down and caramelized a bunch of onion, more garlic, red peppers and mushrooms. Holly is a straight up cheese girl, so she got some homemade "Quatro Formaggio." A healthy dose of dried herbs when in both kinds of pizza.

Homemade deep dish meat lovers.

Homemade deep dish cheese lovers. This made a nice Friday night evening in, making these with Holly, having a nice salad with it, and watching movies in our PJ's. The slightly adjusted dough recipe follows.

Deep Dish Pizza Dough:

1 T active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water (105° to 110°F)
2 T honey
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic salt

Directions:

To prepare the dough, in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the yeast, water and sugar and whisk by hand until dissolved. Let stand for 5 minutes, then add the vegetable oil, flour and salt. Place the bowl on the mixer, attach the dough hook and knead on low speed until smooth and pliable, about 5 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide into 4 equal pieces. Knead each piece by hand for 30 seconds, shaping the dough into a ball and dusting with a little flour if needed. Dust a baking sheet with flour and place the dough on the sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature for 2 hours.

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 450°F.

Divide the remaining olive oil among 4 mini deep-dish pizza pans (about 2 tsp. per pan), thoroughly greasing each pan. Place a dough ball in each pan and, using your fingers, press the dough in an even layer across the bottom and up the sides of the pans.

Place favorite cheese directly on each pressed dough round. Top with the mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and favorite toppings, dividing evenly. Using the back of a spoon, spread 1/2 cup of the tomato pizza sauce on top of each pizza. If desired, place more toppings on the sauce.

Bake the pizzas until the crusts are golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove the pizzas from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Makes 4 mini deep-dish pizzas.

Lavender!

2011-07-14T10:38:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Dan and I went to Sequim with our friend Yvonne to go see the lavender fields all in bloom. It is a long drive and ferry commute to get there only to be very disappointed if the fields have already been harvested...so we specifically chose this weekend because it is the week before their annual festival guaranteeing fewer people but with the full effect of the beauty. Unfortunately mother nature wasn't in on our plan and the fields weren't quite all in full bloom since we've had such a cold spring/early summer. But none the less, it was beautiful and so fun to be "in the country" for a day.

Here we are trying to cut some lavender and avoid getting stung by bees...

There were flowers everywhere, and quaint little houses.

I love the pattern the mounds make.

Nana is what we called my maternal grandma, and what the grandkids call my mom. This lavender is almost as lovely as my mom aka Nana :)

We ultimately saw two farms the second one had a little pond with frogs! These little guys were awfully loud for how small they were.

And finally a picture of a bee!

It was a beautiful day with great company!

Surprise Weekend Getaway!

2011-07-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

Two Friday's ago I got a cryptic email from Dan that said: "Be sure to pack your bags, we are going away somewhere fun Saturday afternoon, night and Sunday" I jumped in my seat for joy, I may have even given a little squeal! Of course I quickly replied wondering where we were going, only with a little prodding did he finally tell me we were headed to La Conner.

Of course we'd been there before for the tulip festival and other occasions, but never had we spent the night. We stayed in a fun little Bed & Breakfast with a quaint garden and views of farm fields. We spent the afternoon roaming around the town in and out of shops, eating ice cream, discovering little hidden nooks and soaking up the beautiful day.

Next time we thought we'd stay here... :)

Dan made me take a picture of this.

We went back to our room with our purchases (Dan and his cookbooks!!) and hung out for a bit until dinner time.

We ate at a great place called Nell Thorn. I had an amazing steak and homemade fries with a WONDERFULLY fresh green salad with pumpkin seed oil dressing. So yummy. Dan had crab cakes (he raved and raved over them) and a steak salad. For dessert we had a small hazelnut brownie with homemade vanilla ice cream. We were pleasantly full and ready to turn in after a fun day.

Thank you so much honey for the thoughtful getaway! Life is so much fun spending it together.

Seattle Rock N' Roll Half Marathon

2011-06-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

I'll have to admit, I approached this half marathon with some trepidation. I've been dealing with a sustained running injury since 4/14/11, and it made an impact on my first half marathon up in Vancouver BC on 5/1/11. I've been juggling strength training, physical therapy, sports medicine appointments and the gamut to finally diagnose a stress fracture and a labral tear in my right hip. Time will let it all heal over.

I decided to run this half marathon in intervals, and ease up on the impact on my hip. At the end of this race, I shaved 27:01 off the time of my last run, and improved in excess of shaving 2 minutes off each mile. I approached this entire run out the gate with running for 4 miles, then walking for 1 mile. Did that the entire time. At the end of the race. I had no leg, hip, knee, foot, shin, or calf fatigue. I was more than ecstatic with my results, and it's nice to be back running again.

New personal best time. I'll admit, I was proud of my personal accomplishment.

At the race start line, down in Tukwila / Southcenter WA. The run was gorgeous all along Lake Washington, Seward Park, 1-5 Freeway in the tunnel, and ended just south of downtown at Qwest Field.

Patrick, Noelle and I, getting ready to run.

My running and pace buddy Molly. A good friend, and former colleague of mine from when I worked at First Heritage Bank. We did the whole race together in intervals. This was her first half marathon in a very long time. Great company and conversation the entire morning.

All of us meeting up, post our individual times for a team shot. It was a fantastic morning. Looking forward to my next half marathon in a few weeks in Morgan UT with Holly, siblings, and my cousin to name a few.

Major Accomplishments!

2011-06-27T08:25:00.001-07:00

This weekend we celebrated 2 major accomplishments, 1- Dan ran his fastest half marathon 2- I finished my quilt!!! Okay, so my accomplishment isn't quite as grand as Dan's but I'm still super proud of myself for FINALLY finishing it. I don't even want to tell you when I started this, honestly I can't even remember it's so embarrassing. I want to thank Kelly and Rebecca for helping me with lessons, advice and supplies I couldn't have done it without them! Here are some photos.

Home Cooked Good Eats!

2011-06-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

Having served an LDS mission for two years myself, YEARS AGO, I find that feeding the local LDS missionaries in our home from time to time is the least I can do. I'm not at all interested in going on out missionary teaching lessons these days. But, I know how tight the purse strings are on a mission for these full time volunteers. When someone invites you over for dinner, especially when you have been working hard, biking all day, and wanting a good meal, cooking some good, from scratch food to be inhaled by six 19-21 year olds is often well received.

These days it's all about cooking healthy. No exception with these oven roasted tomatoes I served as a side.

Dan's Oven Roasted Tomatoes:

18 Roma tomatoes
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Sea salt
Fresh cracked pepper
1 tsp Thyme

Cut tomatoes in half length wise, and scoop out all the flesh. Arrange on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle liberally with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with thyme and roast at 275 degrees for 2-3 hours. Serve with chopped basil and parmesan shreds.

I caramelized a bunch of onions, garlic, leek and fennel and made a ground sirloin and chorizo meatloaf with roasted potatoes as well.

Salad and homemade green goddess, creamy italian style dressing.

Also, what's not to like about a from scratch espresso infused chocolate cake, covered in bittersweet chocolate-espresso butter cream. This got inhaled! I certainly appreciated good meals as an LDS missionary. I know these six volunteers appreciated what we were able to provide as well. I enjoy doing this for them.

Spicy Roasted Potato Salad

2011-06-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

Did some more playing around with Latin themed food this past weekend for Memorial Day. We decided to make a potato salad for our BBQ with friends. I wanted to make something that had more zip to it, and not the traditional egg and mayonnaise based potato salad. I made a roasted potato salad with some tomatillo-cilantro dressing. The warm roasted potatoes, soaked up the spicy buttermilk based dressing. This is definitely something I'll make again.

Roasted Potato Salad with Tomatillo Dressing

8 cups of cubed / diced baby red (or other) potatoes
Olive oil
Sea salt
Fresh pepper

Liberally coat uniformly diced potatoes in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in a 450 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, until roasted and crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. Allow to slightly cool. Meanwhile prepare the tomatillo dressing

Cilantro-Tomatillo Dressing

1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet
½ C buttermilk
½ C sour cream
3 large tomatillos
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 cloves garlic
1 poblano / anaheim pepper
1 lime juiced & zested
1 jalapeno seeded
Sea salt to taste
Fresh pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a food processor and thoroughly combine. If dressing is too spicy, add some more sour cream. Start with ½ cup of the tomatillo dressing, and dress potato salad to your desired creaminess, add more as needed. This dressing recipe will make more than what you need for the potatoes. The remaining dressing can be used on green salad.

A New Take On PicNic Bean Salad

2011-06-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

So this past Memorial Day weekend, we had a few parties we went to. A friend of mine from High School & Utah, shared some recipes with me. I decided to take them as base, and adjust them to my liking. I had fun coming up with this new Latin inspired bean salad for our picnic with friends.

Dan's Latin Inspired Bean Salad

1 can organic black beans drained
1 can organic garbanzo beans drained
1 can organic kidney beans drained
1 can organic white or shopeg corn
1 bunch of green onions, diced
1 small red onion, diced
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 bunch cilantro, diced
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
Zest from 1 lemon
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp cumin
salt & pepper to taste

Drain canned vegetables. Place in a large bowl with onions, cilantro and tomatoes. The tomatoes can be raw. I typically roast them off for an hour or so, once halved, as I like the concentrated & caramelized flavor of oven roasted tomatoes. Juice lemon. If not enough juice to make 1/3 cup, add red wine vinegar. Add olive oil, zest, salt, pepper and cumin and whisk to make a vinaigrette. Pour over vegetables and let marinate for an hour at room temperature. Serve at room temperature.

Poe: Haunted (Extended Mix Album)

2011-05-23T17:38:00.000-07:00

I like good music. And I always like discovering new things. Poe is not necessarily new music, but new to me. The beauty of the free Pandora app on my iPhone, is that when I play bands I like it brings in more similar bands to like. No exception here, I've enjoyed just about every song on this CD / MP3 download. I highly recommend.

Remembering My Mom On Mother's Day

2011-05-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

On this upcoming Mother's Day, I honor my mother, the vibrant & strong woman who brought me into this world along with seven other siblings. Who gave me life, and taught me to love it! Who, together with my Dad, taught me to stand on my own two feet and encouraged me every step of my way to pursue my passions. Mother's Day is always hard, but it's a good remembrance of all the happy memories I hold in my heart now that she is no longer living. I hope everyone loves their Mothers as much as I love and miss my Mom immensely...!

Me and My Mom at Grandpa & Grandma Craven's, Summer 1977. I'm just over 2 years old. Mom is expecting my younger sister Gretchen and is approaching age 37. Beautiful, healthy and vibrant. The way I will always remember her in my heart.

Miss Me – But Let Me Go
Author Unknown

When I come to the end of the road
And the sun has set for me
I want no rites in a gloom-filled room.
Why cry for a soul set free?

Miss me a little – but not too long
And not with your head bowed low.
Remember the love that we once shared,
Miss me – but let me go.

For this is a journey that we all must take
And each must go alone.
It's all a part of the Master's plan,
A step on the road to home.

When you are lonely and sick of heart
Go to the friends we know
And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds.
Miss Me – But Let me Go!

A candid shot of me and my Mom on mine & Holly's wedding Day, November 1999.

Happy Mother's Day Mom! We love and miss you terribly! Not a day goes by that I don't see something that reminds me of you, or think of a wonderful memory we shared. I spend more and more time in the kitchen as I get older, feeling closer to you, cooking all your recipes and sharing amazing food with my friends. Thank you for sharing all your amazing talents with your children.

Vancouver, BC Half Marathon

2011-05-04T10:01:00.001-07:00

Running a half marathon was never anything I wanted to do. A year ago the most I would run was to catch a bus, and then I was out of breath and sweating. But Dan got a bug to do a half marathon, signed me up without asking (thankfully because he knew I'd say no) and so we started training!

Most half marathon training courses train you for 12 weeks, but that is assuming you are already comfortable running 3 miles...I of course was not. Dan and I had done some 5K's but I was horrible at them, I could run maybe a little bit but only if it were downhill. So, I started training just to become comfortable running 3 miles a month before the actual 12 week training began, I would run for a few seconds, then walk, run for a few seconds more then walk. I built up to being able to run 1 mile without stopping, then 2 miles without stopping. I never did 3 without stopping, and still cant...but I decided it didn't matter because I could run more then I walked.

The training began for the marathon in February we were running 3 miles 3x a week which was a lot for me on top of the once a week training we were doing with our trainer plus boot camp workouts. When runs became longer then 6 miles on Saturdays I had to choose to take out boot camp as it was just too much for my body to handle. I was consistantly running about a 12.5 min mile during my runs and feeling really good about myself. My goal was to complete the half marathon in 3 hours, run more then I walked and not die, that felt fairly doable to me.

One thing our trainer would do was have us do sprint intervals, basically running a lot faster then I usually would for 30 seconds, resting for 30 and repeat. I found that this was helping me feel my body's abilities and realizing I could actually run a little faster which was more comfortable for my shins, muscles and joints. I couldn't sustain it very long, but I could compensate by walking fairly fast. I felt like I could push myself a little more and make my new goal to finish in 2 hours and 40 min.

Of course there was still the mental block. I had run 9.5 miles and felt really good about that run, my last run was 10 miles which didn't go very well. My course had too many hills, it was kind of hot and I just wasn't able to go as fast as I wanted. To top it off I wasn't sure I could physically move my legs anymore to do 3.1 more miles. I was losing confidence.

Race weekend. We arrived in Vancouver and found out that the start line / expo was 1.5 miles away from our hotel which is where we needed to pick up our bibs and timing chips. I also realized that we were going to have to walk 1.5 miles before the race the next day then 1.5 miles back giving us a grand total of 16.1 miles for the day. That was overwhelming. In the end it really was no big deal, it was a good warm up before the race and a much needed wind down after the race.

The morning of the race Dan, Rebecca and I got up early drank a lot of water and gatorade, tried to eat a little and stretch. Here is TMI, I happily had a BM (I was worried I wouldn't until later) but unhappily had my monthly visit (that's all I'm going to say about that). After the walk to the start I desperately had to pee, the lines were SO long!!! I waited for 10 min and was afraid the race would start without me so left still having to go. The gun started I was totally nervous but ran my heart out to the first water station that had pit toilets. The line was long, but I didn't think it would take the 15 min. that it did, how long does it take people to pee???

I was so mad, it was like I was starting the race all over again after just 2 miles. But I tried to be confident to keep running and walking with all the energy I could muster. We got to the park around mile 7 and I felt really good, even knowing that we were about to climb from 0 to 200' in another mile. My legs started to hurt as we continued up but I got a serious surge of energy as the fastest marathoner approached from behind. He zoomed by me going so fast I was totally amazed! I stood a little taller and moved a little faster it was just what I needed right then. I finally made it to the top of the hill and thought this is it, I love downhill! I thought it would be so easy, it wasn't. My aches were more pronounced as I slammed down each foot, by the time I got to the bottom I felt awful. It was there that we met up with the marathoners again and I got another surge of energy, I stood a little taller...but didn't really move much faster.

Through the last 3 miles I kept hearing my name, people kept saying "keep it up Holly, you can do it" It took me a minute to figure out that my name was on my race bib, once I did it was kind of cool realizing that these people were cheering me on which really helped me to keep going.

Once I saw the finish line I got really emotional. I couldn't believe all this hard work for 4 months was going to be over, this was the end, I had done it!! I ran as fast as I could, I didn't know my legs could move that far apart...but they did. The clock said 3 hours and 2 min. I was a little disappointed I hadn't reached even my very first goal. I was still proud of myself, and finally realized that had I not needed to go to the bathroom so bad my time would have been 2 hours and 47 min. that I could live with. It got even better when I found out my actual time was 2 hours and 59 min. making my adjusted time 2 hours and 44 min.

I'm so happy I did this, and was so happy I could do it with Dan and Rebecca. When Dan crossed the line we both got choked up again as we embraced and gave a victory kiss. I'm so proud of all of us and what we've accomplished in the last 4 months. It really is amazing.

A Goal Materializing: First Of Many

2011-05-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

If you asked me a year ago if I ever would have thought about doing a long distance run, or a half marathon for that matter, I probably would have looked at you like you were some crazy person. I decided to take up running, and reluctancy, signed up for a my first ever 5K at the 2010 Komen For The Cure race in Seattle. It wasn't pretty. However, it established a baseline for me and ignited a "bug" in my constant striving for continual self improvement. Each 5K got easier, and I took up longer distance running. With all this lifestyle change, I knew I was ready to tackle my first half marathon. Was I nervous? Of course I was. But, I knew if I trained and stuck to a rigorous program, I'd be able to do it. Holly, and my sister Rebecca joined me in this quest as well. Did it go exactly as planned? No! It never does. But at the end of the day, I learned I can do this. And the quest of doing something that rigorous and crossing the finish line proudly, was a total rush. I've learned to listen to my body and know when to slow down. Before I would have just chugged through it and sustained injuries. That in and of itself, has been a valuable lesson to learn.

Holly, Rebecca and I getting ready bright and early to run our 13.1 miles / 21.1 kilometers up in Vancouver BC. Our first of many races I'm sure. At least for me.

The signage all over the city welcoming people from all over the world to compete.

Some branded gear. As a professional marketer, I totally get into the visual aesthetics of branding and co-branding. Often times cheesy, but still fascinating to me none-the-less.

The "Sea of Humanity," getting ready to run. The half marathon alone had 14,000 +/- people or so competing. Massive bottleneck in the beginning. But fun to see all the people ready to roll.

Holly and I shivering waiting to start.

Holly, Rebecca and I at the start. All a little tired before we even started.

Holly & Rebecca. "Sisters! Sisters! There were never such devoted Sisters!" I couldn't resist throwing out that classic Irving Berlin song lyric from White Christmas. Seriously though. Rebecca, Holly and I both reached new physical abilities training for this race, and got through our own road blocks in our heads. We broke through our ceilings of athletic doubt.

Team Craven at the finish line. We all did good times. Established baselines, and can continually improve and refine from here. I was surprised how emotional we all were, knowing that we could do this, and were able to support each other along the way in the process.

Cute Holly & I, post race for our photo shoot waiting for Rebecca. We hobbled around like Grannies. But in the end, it was totally worth it. The course through downtown Vancouver BC was beautiful. Particularly the long loop up through Stanley Park. Breathtaking!

We made a goal. We worked towards that goal. We navigated our paths through this goal, even when we all had setbacks & injuries and still persevered. We were tired. We were TOTALLY sore and beat! But in the end, we did this together and have established another outlet for physical long term well being. I look forward to my next half marathon in a few weeks here in Seattle in June. As well as one in October with Holly.

Homemade Easter Eggs

2011-04-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

One thing for certain. Holly and I are deeply rooted in family traditions, particularly during the holidays. Easter is no exception to the myriad of traditions we like to carry on from generation to generation. One of Holly's favorite Easter treats has always been a peanut butter egg. She has many stories from her youth of inhaling these left and right. Combining her love of store bought Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs, with my passion of making most everything from scratch, we decided to start a new tradition of making homemade peanut butter eggs in tempered chocolate. Growing up, my family always made candy at Christmas time. Lots of flavored fondants were hand formed, hand dipped and beautifully packaged. I've carried on that tradition with Holly for our family. Additionally at Easter my Mom and her mother use to make divinity and marshmallow eggs to dip in tempered chocolate and share with the family. Since it's way to humid to make divinity in Seattle, trust me I've tried several times, we started our tradition of peanut butter fondant eggs and peppermint fondant eggs to share with friends and family for Easter.

Some good 60% dark chocolate has been melting overnight, and is ready for tempering. Right alongside that, is a batch of peanut butter fondant and a batch of peppermint fondant to roll out and shape.

Me pausing for a photo-op to take a pic of our production line in our kitchen. Hand cut, rolled out, then shaped. Holly putting some finishing touches on the "egg" shapes of our rolled out fondant.

Letting the fondant eggs dry and get a slight crust. I've learned from practice that they dip easier this way. And the tempered chocolate adheres and doesn't flow off.

All the finished eggs hand dipped, allowed to dry, and packaged up in foils. Glossy carrot orange foil for the peanut butter fondant eggs, and a pretty aqua foil for the peppermint eggs. Good Easter colors! Homemade eggs, and a continued Craven tradition have been adjusted slightly for Holly and I to carry on in our household, and with our daughter someday. Time to share these with our friends and neighbors.

Smokey Spicy Hummus

2011-04-08T13:52:00.001-07:00

Nothing beats good from scratch hummus. I've been whirling up a batch each week for work, to enjoy with raw vegetables. It's been fun playing around with different flavors. Here is one of my recipes with smoked paprika and cayenne that tastes good with the traditional lemon and cumin. Super easy and a cinch in your food processor.

Dan's Smoked Paprika Hummus

1 15oz Can Garbanzo Beans
1 15oz Can Cannellini Beans
¼ C Tahini Paste
3 Cloves Garlic
1 Lg Lemon, Zested & Juiced
1 TBS Ground Cumin
½ Tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 Tsp Smoked Paprika
Salt & Pepper to Taste
½ to ¾ Cup Olive Oil

Rinse beans. Place in food processor with all remaining ingredients. Mix to combine and check seasonings. Pulse again and add enough olive oil to desired consistency. Serve with veggies or grilled flat bread wedges.

Is it spring yet?

2011-04-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

According to the calendar it's spring, but it doesn't really feel like the weatherman is on board. In spite of the cold the flowers have been making an appearance all around our neighborhood. I've seen a lot of daffodils blooming, pansy's being planted and trees full of blossoms.

Dan noticed that the cherry trees on the University of Washington campus were in bloom so we thought we'd go on a picnic with friends. Unfortunately it was way too cold to eat outside, so we ended up just going for a walk. Apparently everyone else in Seattle had the same idea! We saw at least 2 wedding parties and hundreds of people posing in front of and in the trees.

We tried to get our friends son to interact with "nature", but he wasn't really into it. Here is Dan setting a good example for Miles.

It may have been cold and overcast, but you could still see the fluffy flowers and smell their sweet scent, plus it just felt good to be outside. The sights and smells of this time of year always feels like a fresh new start, I love spring.

Drunken Potato Salad

2011-04-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

When I cook, I like to cook healthy. I made a massive commitment to myself to eat healthy, be healthy, exercise a lot, and be happy. Watching myself change has been a invigorating and addicting thing to do. I cook with organic ingredients in everything. conventional ingredients are the exception to the rule. Recently, I made this lightened up potato salad for a side with pulled pork, and my home canned sugar-free BBQ sauce. Most potato salads are mayonnaise based. This is olive oil and wine based, and much lighter than traditional potato salads.

Dan's Drunken Potato Salad

5 Pounds Red Potatoes, cooked, partially cooled and rough chopped
1/2 C White Wine
1/2 to 3/4 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Bulbs Garlic, roasted and cooled
1 Large Lemon, zested and juiced
3 T Fresh Rosemary, chopped
3 T Fresh Dill, chopped
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. slice bulbs of garlic in half and liberally coat with olive oil, salt and pepper. Wrap in foil and roast in oven for 60-70 minutes, until soft and caramelized. Remove and allow to cool.

Boil potatoes until fork tender, remove from water and allow to cool enough to be able to handle. When cool enough to handle, rough chop and place in a bowl. Meanwhile prepare dressing by extracting (squishing) out all the caramelized garlic pulp. Add that to the wine, olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, fresh herbs and salt and pepper. Mix until thoroughly combined. Pour dressing over warm potatoes and allow them to absorb and soak up the wine/oil mixture and fresh herbs. Serve at room temperate. Can be made a day in advance, but bring to room temp for several hours before serving.

Nostalgic Casserole Comfort Food

2011-03-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

When I try new recipes, I always follow the recipe exactly once before I make any adjustments or changes to it. I really like the down to earth comfort recipes from "The Pioneer Woman" blog. Holly came across this recipe last Friday, and we decided to try it for dinner. The casserole was reminiscent of meals I had growing up prepared by my Mother, so that was a nice bit of nostalgia mixed into my time in the kitchen on Sunday. Having made this once, I will definitely be making some adjustments. The base flavor was great, but I feel like it needs much more spice or herbs. Instead of using just tomato sauce, next time I'll use my bottled marinara. And besides just chopped green onion in the sour cream / cottage cheese mixture, I'll use some fresh herbs and probably caramelize some sweet onion or shallot.

Sour Cream Noodle Bake
Recipe Courtesy: The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

1-¼ pound Ground Chuck
1 can 15-ounces Tomato Sauce
½ teaspoons Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
8 ounces, weight Egg Noodles
½ cups Sour Cream
1-¼ cup Small Curd Cottage Cheese
½ cups Sliced Green Onions (less To Taste)
1 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown ground chuck in a large skillet. Drain fat, then add tomato sauce. 1/2 teaspoon salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Stir, then simmer while you prepare the other ingredients. Cook egg noodles until al dente. Drain and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine sour cream and cottage cheese. Add plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Add to noodles and stir. Add green onions and stir. To assemble, add half of the noodles to a baking dish. Top with half the meat mixture, then sprinkle on half the grated cheddar. Repeat with noodles, meat, then a final layer of cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until all cheese is melted. Serve with crusty French bread.

Instead of regular egg noodles, I used whole wheat egg noodles for extra protein. It was a nice comfort meal on Sunday. I served this up with a nice tossed green salad, and some left over toasted soda bread we made on St. Patrick's Day.

Sky-High Savory Biscuits

2011-03-11T09:36:00.000-08:00

One thing Holly and I enjoy together, among many things, is good from scratch food. We also have a lot of talented friends as well, who enjoy cooking as much as we do. This past weekend at my birthday party, was no exception. So many people brought over some really good culinary creations. Our friend Julie made these and some orange infused honey butter to accompany. She made half a batch following this recipe, and made half a batch with some chopped fresh herbs in them. Yum!

Julie's Sky-High Biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup cold butter
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk

Sift dry ingredients together; cut in butter. Stir in egg and milk; knead to combine. Roll out and cut. Bake at 450F for 12-15 minutes. Makes 20.

Bacony-Chocolate Yumminess...!

2011-03-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

For my birthday I took a much needed "comp" day at stayed home and cooked up a bunch of savory and sweet treats to share with my friends. For one of the desserts, I made these Cooks Illustrated devils food cupcakes. I then made a batch of my salted caramel butter cream frosting. That recipe is also on our blog under a separate "Recipes-Desserts" post, and topped them all off with some crispy bacon. They were pretty tasty if I do say so myself...

Cook's Illustrated Devils Food Cupcakes

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/3 cup (1 ounce) Dutch-processed cocoa
¾ cup hot coffee
¾ cup (4 1/8 ounces) bread flour
¾ cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ cup sour cream
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-size muffin pan (cups have ½-cup capacity) with baking-cup liners. Place chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl. Pour hot coffee over mixture and whisk until smooth. Set in refrigerator to cool completely, about 20 minutes. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

2. Whisk oil, eggs, vinegar, sour cream and vanilla into cooled chocolate-cocoa mixture until smooth. Add flour mixture and whisk until smooth.

3. Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until cupcakes are set and just firm to touch, 17 to 19 minutes. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before frosting, about 1 hour.

B-Day Bash!

2011-03-08T16:41:00.000-08:00

Last week was Dan's birthday which we celebrated over 3 days. On his actual birthday morning while Dan was getting ready I put up this great little banner I found to surprise him when he came downstairs. They are letter pressed circles with a fun ribbon linking them all together. I picked this up because it reminded me of birthday's growing up in my family, we always had a "Happy Birthday" banner hanging on the window and balloons swirling from the ceiling fan.

That night we stuck to our regular routine with working out at the gym since we planned to celebrate on the weekend instead. Friday night we had friends over for an appetizer party. Dan took the day off work and cooked up a storm. He made hand pies from a Williamsburg recipe which are virginia ham, ground sirloin and traditional spices in a pie dough. They are super yummy!

He also made mediterranean shrimp salad, stuffed in endive on a tray with other chopped veggies and pastry cups filled with a moroccan couscous salad.

The best part of all the food though were the cupcakes, Dan made devil's food with salted caramel frosting topped with bacon and banana-walnut cupcakes with maple cream cheese, butter cream frosting topped with walnuts. YUMMERS!

I wanted to color coordinate the drinks and straws, with flowers etc. Orange being Dan's favorite color was the obvious choice.

Dan got lots of fun cards from family and friends.

All our friends brought appetizers to share, which were equally as yummy. We have amazingly thoughtful and talented friends.

Saturday Dan and I went out to Bick's Broadview Grill for dinner and to see a movie, Unknown. It was a great flick and a fun evening. Our big birthday celebration for this year though is going to be seeing Mary Poppins in May which is why we didn't do gifts this year.

It was a fun way to celebrate the birth of my amazing sweet husband.
Love you babe!

Yvonne's Rosemary Cashews

2011-03-07T08:32:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we had a lot of birthday celebrations for my "Big-36!" I took a comp day on Friday and stayed home and cooked up a slew of appetizers and desserts to share with a bunch of friends Friday evening. In addition to what I made, our friends also brought over some appetizers to share. Yvonne's Rosemary Cashews were super tasty! She gave us some of the leftovers, and we ended up smuggling these into the movies (via Holly's purse) on Saturday night! :) I plan to make these to have on hand to sprinkle over salads and such. Excellent flavor combination.

Rosemary Cashews

1 lb roasted cashews (I used 50% salt already-roasted Trader Joe's brand)
2 TB minced fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp light brown sugar
1 TB kosher salt
1 TB unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread cashews out on sheet pan and toast in oven until warm, about 5 minutes. In large bowl, combine rosemary, cayenne, sugar, salt and butter. Thoroughly toss the warm cashews with the spiced butter. Bake about 5 more minutes. Serve warm.

10 things I learned in Leavenworth

2011-02-22T17:19:00.000-08:00

1. An ugly illegible script means you're in Bavaria
2. A fake Bavarian town is JUST like the real thing
3. A ping-pong ball can be a lethal weapon
4. A two year old is better at ping-pong than I am
5. Ugly puzzles are just as fun as pretty ones
6. They have super ants that can withstand freezing temperatures
7. Vegetables are frozen, THEN cooked for maximum texture and taste appeal
8. A two year old thinks everything is theirs
9. "Just around the corner" means more than a few country blocks, which means over a mile
10. No one likes purple snow pants

Jokes aside, it was a fun trip. We learned that the reason we like to go away on trips is for the company and the scenery, not necessarily the quality food or shopping opportunities. We found a great cabin like home to rent on a nice quiet country street. It was the perfect place to chill out, relax, watch movies, and go for long walks (in frigid temperatures).

The house was beautiful with a nicely stocked kitchen, wood burning stove, ping-pong and foosball table...and ants. That was really the only downside to the entire place.

The town was kind of boring, but we did spend some time there...mostly mocking the place (what we do best). Luckily the weather was so beautiful we could do a lot of walking to keep us occupied.

We walked quite a few country blocks to Sleeping Lady Lodge from our place. It is a nice resort with various cabins to stay in and public art sprinkled throughout the forest. Unfortunately we were too late for brunch and too early for dinner so we walked our few country blocks back to the house.

This is my favorite picture from the trip.

A very nice and much needed getaway.

Kiva: Loans That Change Lives

2011-02-18T13:06:00.000-08:00

I really like the not-profit, Kiva. A micro-financier, who specializes in small business lending to individuals in developing countries struggling to get ahead. Having spent so many of my professional years in finance and banking, I've often seen how the small business proprietor is often overlooked. By contributing tax deductible funds to an investment pool, with Kiva, you are able to join other donors and help women and minority businesses start up. Getting the livelihood they need in financing to get ahead in life, and to provide for themselves and their families. With any loan, or financing option you run a risk, same as with a bank. However, I am pleased to report that Holly and I have just successfully finished receiving payback on our third Kiva loan. We've helped a young father in Croatia, start up a shoe company. We've also helped an older woman set up a purse making business in El Salvador, after her husband was lost unexpectedly. And, we've also helped a young woman in her 20s start up her nutrition and diet consulting business in Panama. All of these small business proprietors are on their feet, and now able to provide for their own livelihood. I'd recommend everyone take a look at this program, and assist. As Americans we live in a land of plenty. Much more so, than anyone else on the planet. Sharing your resources with those who need it, is the right thing to do. And as you get paid back, you can turn around and help someone else in need. You control how much you are putting on the table.

Espresso Infused Sugar-Free BBQ Sauce

2011-02-16T08:49:00.000-08:00

I love good BBQ, and I love healthy and lightened up versions of good BBQ. I've been making a refined sugar free version of BBQ sauce for a few years now. I recently ran out, so it was time to brew up another batch for the pantry. What I love about this recipe of mine, is that I can make this completely to my liking. Mixing up spices, sweetening the whole batch with organic honey. Making this very healthy, yet still complex with flavor.

Caramelizing the sweet red peppers, onions, garlic and chili flakes.

Adding dry mustard, Chinese 5-spice, smoked paprika, lots of espresso, bay leaves and a myriad of other spices.

Incorporating the organic tomato paste.

Adding soy sauce, liquid smoke, Tabasco and a small amount of unsulfured molasses.

After the cook down, all purred with my immersion blender, and a second cook down to get this all to ketchup consistency.

Water bath processing the first seven pints.

Post processing, cooling and ensuring the lids seal.

Holly's beautiful custom designed labels for all my canning projects. She always puts a nice touch on everything with her savvy design sense.

This batch yielded 9 pints of BBQ sauce. I water bath processed 7 pints for long term storage, and put two in the fridge. Looking forward to making some pulled pork sandwiches this weekend, with some healthy southern sides.

Balsamic Onion Marmalade Yumminess

2011-02-14T17:59:00.001-08:00

Many of you have asked me for my onion marmalade recipe. This is a fantastic savory jam that is great on crackers with goat cheese, a base for pizza, and as a spread for sandwiches. I found this recipe on a blog a year or so ago, and made it with my own variations and adjustments to make it water bath processing (canning) stable. It's fantastic to keep on hand.

Dan's Balsamic Onion Marmalade

4 lbs onions (sliced thin)
6 shallots (sliced thin)
3 slices bacon or pancetta (thick cut)
6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 cups sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups red wine
1 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 pkgs liquid pectin

Directions:

1. Place a large, non-reactive pan over medium-low heat. Add the bacon and render the fat. Once the bacon has crisped, remove.

2. Turn up the heat to high to medium-high, add the onions, salt, thyme and olive oil. Stir to make sure the onions are coated with the oil and bacon fat. Cook covered with a tight lid for about 20 minutes. Remove thyme stems. Continue to cook stirring every 5 to 10 minutes until the onions begin to turn golden brown.

3. Add the sugar, brown sugar, red wine, and balsamic vinegar. Cook over medium heat until vicious. To test if it’s the right consistency, dribble a bit of the reduction on a plate and it still liquid, but slowly slips down the plate after it cools briefly. I also look to for doneness by dragging a spoon against the bottom of the pot. If it leaves a long valley, then its done. WARNING: Do not walk away from this once it begins to get close. There is enough sugar in this that it can burn and create sugar concrete on the bottom of your pan.

4. Remove from heat and stir in liquid pectin. Return to heat and boil for one minute. Ladle into prepared glass jars and water bath process for 20 minutes.

NOTES:

This marmalade keeps in the fridge well for at least 2 months, once a jar is opened. Some of the fat may become solid at the top after water bath processing, simply scrape it off and dispose of it. Additionally, if the marmalade become too thick, reheat in the microwave for 30 seconds and I find it spreads very easily.

Radish & Ginger Tea Sandwiches

2011-02-11T16:35:00.000-08:00

I'm definitely in the mood for a light and refreshing tea sandwich of some sort this weekend. I plan to do some more canning, and use up the last of my 55# of apples, and make one more big vat of unsweetened applesauce. I'm also out of my sugar free BBQ sauce. I need to make a few more bottles of that, so I can slow roast some pulled pork and have my sauce and a bunch of healthy southern sides. Looks like I need to plan a dinner party in the next few weekends, and invite some people over to help consume the "Good Eats!"

We first had these tea sandwiches a year ago. I just stumbled across the recipe from Epicurious again in my old email archive. At a party, these hit the spot with lots of fresh fruit. Sounds like a nice Sunday afternoon light dinner again while I can.

Radish-Chive Tea Sandwiches with Sesame and Ginger

4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
3 tablespoons minced chives, divided
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
3/4 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
16 1/4-inch-thick baguette slices
10 radishes, thinly sliced

Mix butter, 2 tablespoons chives, sesame seeds, ginger, and oil in small bowl; season with salt and pepper. Spread butter mixture over each bread slice. Top with radishes, overlapping slightly. Sprinkle with remaining chives and fleur de sel, if desired.

My Moroccan Spiced Preserved Lemons

2011-02-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

When I see a fantastic deal on quality, fresh, top level organic produce, I can't resist the urge to purchase. This past weekend was no exception. I was able to pick up a load of fresh, organic lemons at Whole Foods grocery shopping on Saturday. I love the taste of preserved lemons, however they are spendy to purchase pre-made. With such a deal on bags of organic lemons, I decided to make my own batch of preserved lemons to use when I cook healthy middle eastern and Moroccan food.

Prepping the lemons after they have been washed. Getting the pickling salt, quart sized canning jar and other aspects ready. I decided to really hone in on some middle eastern inspired pantry spices.

Bay leaf, cinnamon stick, whole peppercorns, whole allspice, cloves and whole fennel was what I ultimately decided upon. These flavor combinations are typical in tagines, lamb stews and other side dishes.

Another angle.

Each lemon was trimmed on the ends, and sliced into six wedges before they were generously sprinkled with canning salt to start the preservation process.

Salted lemon wedges, sitting at room temp before they are packed into the canning jar.

Packed in the jar, with lots of fresh lemon juice. It now sits in my kitchen in a sunny window for 30 days, then can be used as needed.

I ensured I the spices were visible to add to the aesthetic beauty of home canned / processed food. This will make several tasty additions over the next six months to my stews, tagines or other middle eastern side dishes.

Dan's Preserved Moroccan Lemons

5 to 6 lemons
1/4 cup salt, more if desired

SPICE MIXTURE:

1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
6 coriander seeds
6 fennel seeds
6 cumin seeds
4 black peppercorns
1 Large Turkish bay leaf
Freshly squeezed lemon juice, if necessary

EQUIPMENT:

Shallow bowl
Quart canning jar

Slice each lemon into six to eight wedges depending on the size of the lemon. Place in shallow bowl. Sprinkle salt liberally on the exposed flesh. Meanwhile, place 1 tablespoon salt on the bottom of the clean & sterilized quart mason jar. Pack in the salted lemon wedges and push them down, extracting the juices and layering with the spices.

Continue to press the lemons down to release their juices and to make room for the remaining lemons. If the juice released from the squashed fruit does not cover them, add freshly squeezed lemon juice. Do not use chemically produced lemon juice or water, only use fresh squeezed lemon juice. Leave some air space before sealing the jar.

Let the lemons ripen in a warm place, such as your kitchen window for at least 30 days. Shaking the jar each day to distribute the salt and juice. To use, rinse the lemons, as needed, under running water, removing and discarding the pulp, if desired. There is no need to refrigerate after opening. Preserved lemons will keep up to a year, and the pickling juice can be used two or three times over the course of a year.

Wintertime Israeli Couscous

2011-01-10T12:20:00.000-08:00

We picked this recipe up at Steve & Kelly's on Thanksgiving. It was really good. I finally got around to making this for dinner this past weekend, and made some minor adjustments. Fresh lemon is easier and much cheaper than preserved lemon. Though, I do want to make my own home-canned preserved lemon, found a recipe for that. Also, I added much more dried fruit and more toasted nuts.

Israeli Couscous w/ Roasted Butternut Squash & Lemon
Gourmet | September 1999

1 preserved lemon, or juice and zest of two lemons
1 1/2 pound butternut squash, peeled and seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch dice
3 tablespoons olive oil, more possibly
1 large onion, chopped
1 3/4 cups Israeli couscous, about 1 pound
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries or cherries

Preheat oven to 475°F.

Halve lemons and scoop out flesh, keeping both flesh and peel. Cut enough peel into 1/4-inch dice to measure 1/4 cup. Put lemon flesh in a sieve set over a bowl and press with back of a spoon to extract juice. Or zest and juice lemons, reserve.

Toss squash with 1 tablespoon oil and salt to taste in a large shallow baking pan and spread in 1 layer. Roast in upper third of oven 15 minutes, or until squash is just tender, and transfer to a large bowl.

Cook onion in 1 tablespoon oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until just beginning to turn golden. Add to squash.

Cook couscous with cinnamon stick in a large pot of boiling salted water 10 minutes, or until just tender, and drain in a colander (do not rinse). Add couscous to vegetables and toss with 2 tablespoon oil to coat.

Add lemon peel and juice, parsley, nuts, raisins, ground cinnamon, and salt to taste. Toss to mix well. Best at room temperature.

Making a Dent in 50# of Apples

2011-01-10T11:37:00.000-08:00

I continue to make a dent in 50# of apples I purchased in the fall. Yesterday provided the perfect day to say home and cook, bake and can. The afternoon and early evening provided some random snow flurries. Way to cold to go outside and go for a walk. So, while I butterflied an organic chicken and roasted that off with root vegetables, I made a big vat of cooked apples which yielded several pints of unsweetened applesauce to cook and bake with.

Cooked until soft, then put through my food mill. I continued to reduce it, with some cinnamon sticks and whole nutmeg for subtle flavor.

All ladled into the jars, and ready to process.

Boiling away in sterilized jars.

More shelf stable, 100% natural, no additives, yummy goodness for our pantry!

Continual Health & Wellness

2011-01-03T18:20:00.000-08:00

I want to say how impressed I am with Holly for joining me on this lifestyle change. We've both made some amazing strides as of late. I've down 110# since I started my journey, and am down 70# from Christmas 2009 to Christmas 2010. Holly is down a significant amount as well, though I forget the statistics.

For me, life is about continual self improvement. The desire to be my best healthy self. The desire to increase my spirituality and reliance on faith. Curbing the cynical attitude and life skepticism. The desire to choose my friends who support me in my choices, and move on from some friends who seem to be parasitic in nature and one sided.

2010 was definitely a year of self improvement, and a lifestyle change that I can stick with for life. While I still have some ways to go. It's nice to stop and recognize the process along the way. I don't have "before" and "after" shots per se. But I have "before" and "current" shots. The "after" shots will come in due time, when I feel I'm at my goal.

We ran a bunch of 5K's this year, and I made a personal best time of 31:09. My goal is to get to 10 minute miles, and run a 5K in < 30 minutes. I'm almost there. Holly and I are now training for a half marathon together in Vancouver BC, in May of this year. Family is coming up, and a bunch of friends are doing this as well. Looking forward to it.

Recent "current" shot in Bavarian area of Germany.

An older "before" shot, and reminder of the amazing journey we are making together. To our health Holly. We are making fantastic progress!

2011 Goals/Resolutions

2011-01-03T12:42:00.000-08:00

It's time to review last year and make improvements/adjustments and create new goals for myself. Here are some things that are on the top of my list, in no particular order:

Be less defensive, especially with those I love
Buy things I need, not just what I want whenever I want
Volunteer more in my community
Serve in my church with a positive attitude
Have more real dates with Dan (not just run errands)
Complete a 1/2 Marathon
Start and finish the Craven family cookbook
FINISH my quilt I've been working on for far too many years
Do more projects, watch less TV
Read my scriptures with real intent to learn
Give others the benefit of the doubt more, be less judgmental
Eat sugar only on the weekends (who am I kidding, this will never happen)

Keep me accountable people! I'll need the help and motivation!

Seafood Salad Starter

2010-12-21T11:57:00.001-08:00

Baked Shrimp-Crab Salad

1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 (6-ounce) can crabmeat, picked free of any broken shells
1 (4-ounce) can medium shrimp
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup buttered cracker crumbs or bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a medium casserole dish or medium glass baking dish lightly with butter.

In a large bowl, combine the bell pepper, onion, and celery. Add the crabmeat and shrimp, and then the mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce, tossing gently with a plastic spatula to combine. Spoon the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle crumbs over top. Bake until a golden brown crust develops, about 30 minutes.

Serve with baguette or vegetables.

Puff Pastry & Cheese Starter

2010-12-21T09:32:00.000-08:00

Cheese and Spinach Puff Pastry Pockets

12 frozen puff pastry shells, unthawed
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (16-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 1/4 cups grated Fontina cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
3 to 5 green onions, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange the frozen pastry shells on the baking sheet and bake until they puff and become golden brown, about 20 minutes. Using a small knife, cut out the center of the pastry shells.

Meanwhile, stir the cream, milk, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Stir in the spinach, Fontina cheese, Parmesan, and green onions. Spoon the spinach mixture into the baked pastry shells. Bake until the pastries are golden brown and the filling is hot, about 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pastries to a platter and serve.

Tomato Kebab Starter

2010-12-21T09:30:00.001-08:00

Sun-Dried or Heirloom Tomato Kebabs

24 oil-packed sun dried tomato halves, drained, oil reserved
Alternatively, use halves organic heirloom tomatoes
24 medium basil leaves
24 small fresh mozzarella balls packed in water, drained
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Special Equipment: 12 (8-inch) wooden skewers

Alternate 1 sun-dried tomato half, 1 basil leaf, 1 mozzarella ball, 1 more basil leaf, 1 more sun-dried tomato half and 1 more mozzarella ball on each skewer. Arrange the skewers on a platter. Drizzle the reserved oil from the sun-dried tomatoes over the skewers, and or balsamic syrup. Sprinkle with flake sea salt and pepper, and serve.

Bacon Wrap Starter

2010-12-21T09:27:00.000-08:00

Craven Family Bacon Wraps

1 pound bacon, cut in half
2-3 cans whole water chestnuts, drained
1/3 C Honey
2/3 C Good BBQ sauce, preferably from scratch
Toothpicks (soaked in water at least 30 mins)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wrap half piece of bacon around each water chestnut and secure with a toothpick. Arrange on dripper pan. Bake off in oven for 30-40 minutes (sometimes sooner, sometimes later depending on oven) until bacon is cooked fully and is crisp.

Mix honey and BBQ sauce and heat gently. Dip cooked bacon wraps, lightly in sauce and arrange on platter. Sometimes I wrap bacon around a half piece of a whole water chestnut and half piece of a whole date and proceed with the recipe.

Asian hoison sauce is also good for a variation to the sauce, if you are having an Asian themed appetizer party.