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  • 24 Days of Christmas

    Every year at Christmas time our family reads, listens to and watches special messages to learn more about the life of Jesus Christ and the real meaning of Christmas. Each day listed below takes you to the place that describes what we do for that day in December.

Wise Words From the Bible

June Swanson, “Wise Words from the Bible,” Friend, Mar. 1991, 5

Nine Bible sayings are hidden in this square. To find one of them, choose a number from one to nine. Starting at the left of row A, write the letters under that number in order by rows. Next, separate the letters into words, and the saying will appear. Then choose a different number and start again.

wise words word puzzle

The easiest way to solve the puzzle above is to color each number.  Either way you need to solve the Wise Words from the Bible puzzle to solve the Crossword below.  Enjoy!

wise words criss cross

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The Books in the Book of Mormon

Y D H E H E M L T I P Q X M A L O Y R Q R W K Q R 
X G F N U G H A W X V G B O O C L E B R E J B T Y 
O G F O Z Q M W W I P B L R Q R H A Z D Q D K N W 
F X M S W O R D S Z Y D D M Q T A A L W I X X M U 
Z S K O R K D I H R A U U O E U E J G M Y Z W Q I 
O F G O S J V C Q L L Z Y N Q R K W Y V A O N P H 
B M N E V I F W N E B U S E U A H W O D Q B T P P 
K I K W D O A A C J F F D S E N X O J Y Y Q S N E 
V Q F Z U A I H W T L K U N U T X E C K R W F S N 
Y R D V C Z I M S P H E E W O J W I U D H A E B Q 
X A E N R S K C N W C D N P T T A I I B N J E O J 
Y S M T B E H F L T I Y B Y Z H A B O C A J M G P 
B G C S Z Z V H E L A M A N D H R B S V E N H W E 
E S V A Q G O C Y Y S X X O A Y B G P J I N W X L 
U B P O U B Z Q J I I G X V T O G C H G T C Y P U 

ALMA
ENOS
ETHER
HELAMAN
JACOB
JAROM
MORMON
MORONI
MOSIAH
NEPHI
OMNI
WORDS
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Our Menu for November 7th ~ November 13th

For those of you that might be following me you may notice that for the last three weeks I keep putting a few of the same meals on my menu plan for the current week.  (By the way I’m doing that again this week.)  We’ve been so busy lately that some of our planned menus were scraped for something even faster, or I forgot to go shopping, or we had WAY TOO MUCH LEFTOVERS.  I don’t like to waist food, especially when it’s good food. 

Last week we had my dad and my mom over for their birthday.  That birthday meal made a whole ton of food that also made lots of leftovers.  All together I used up my 2 big pyrex dishes, my 3 squares and Big Papa’s 2 big ones as well.  We ended up eating 3 out of 7 dishes.  But on the bright side Big Papa and Papa Bear were able to take some with them.  With all of those leftovers though I’ve been trying to not cook as much and use what we had. 

So hopefully we will actually get to eat all of this weeks menu. 

Monday ~ FFYS

Tuesday ~ Chicken Pesto Pasta

Wednesday ~ PW Shredded Pork, tortillas, PW pico de gallo and guacamole, tortillas, cheese, reverse marble cake (Papa Bear’s dad’s birthday dinner.)

Thursday ~ White Bean Chili

Friday ~ FFYS

Saturday ~Pigs n Blanket

Sunday ~ Pigs in a Bean Bag

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My lost computer

My computer is such a big part of my life that I was utterly devastated when it went and crashed on me. 

I’ll start the story now at the beginning.  Sometime in the middle of October while I was working on the computer I started having issues with it, so I had Papa Bear come and take a look at it for me.  He ended up calling our technical support company looking for more help.  That’s when we learned that my computer was attacked with Trojans and malware.  After the technical support guys cleaned my computer all up they told us that my operating system was compromised and not working right.  They then suggested reinstalling the operating system back to the factory settings and start all over. 

Papa Bear talked of doing this to my computer for awhile now any ways and thought it was a good time to do so. 

We’ve had an external hard drive for years – seven in fact – and so we started backing up all of my docs, pics, bookmarks, etc. on the external hard drive.  For the most part my stuff was already there.  We then were able to start my computer over and start the massive deluge of downloading all of the upgrades to get it back to where it should be.  Everything was going to great.  We should’ve known right then that something was going to go wrong.  And oh boy did it ever!

Papa Bear then went to plug in my external hard drive and all we heard was a clicking sound.  And the computer never recognized it as being plugged in. 

By this time I was so frustrated thinking I put all of my stuff on the external hard drive to be a safe place and in reality it was no safer than if we just left it on my computer in the first place. 

We tried another technical support company and they still couldn’t help us.  Our next stop was to spend our “extra” $$$ from last month and send the external hard drive to a company where they have a special clean room and actually take the hard drive apart and see what they can get off. 

You may ask why bother, but too me to lose the last seven years of all of our lives together was just too much for me.  If we did just oh well and forget it we would be losing ALL of the pictures of my sweet critters.  That’s all of the birth pictures, and so much more.  We are talking about some where around 14,000 pictures in all.  I would have lost all of my recipes, which is another reason I have been posting them on my blog, and so much more.  That’s just too much for me to give up on.

Now I ‘m trying to find PLENTY of ways to back up my computer and not put all of my ducks (so to speak) in one basket.  We have been looking into online back up companies like Mozy, Carbonite, and others and external hard drives (even though they can’t be trusted), flash drives and CDs.  I’m so nervous now about losing everything. 

I always thought it would be better to have stuff on the computer rather than have papers all over the house and the file cabinet. 

When we decide what to do I will update my computer status for you. 

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Happy Birthday to the Big Papa and Grandma

My parents just happen to have a birthday a day apart from each other, who would of thunck.100_0981

I planned out a feasting meal for them a week before.  I asked my dad what he wanted for dinner and then what kind of cake he wanted for dessert and he came up with enchiladas and a marble cake.  And of course my brother told me to make a cake with a marble in it while my dad told me NOT to put marbles in it. 

When the actual time came to start cooking I had to take out 4 lbs. of ground beef and 3 pkgs. of chicken just to make up enough food for 6 adults and 6 kids.  Yes we had leftovers but I’d rather not run out of food and leftovers means I can take a break from cooking and finally get caught up on the dishes that were EVERYWHERE after that night. 

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Let’s just say I’m still working on making better pictures for my blog posts. 

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Chicken Enchiladas made my way

I already have two other chicken enchiladas recipes posted on my blog but I finally found (made) one that I really like.  I always wonder how somebody could know what to put in a recipe for themselves.  I never thought I could do it and now look at me.

I made this a quadruple batch so I start with what I did and how I will change it for my family after that. 

3 pkgs. chicken (I used thigh fillets but you can also use breasts)

16 oz. sour creamchicken enchiladas

2 cans cream of chicken soup

7 oz. can green chilies chopped

colby jack cheese (I just dumped until it looked good)

flour tortillas

1 28 oz. can + more green Chile enchilada sauce mild (or whatever heat you want)

To cut this down for my family

1 1/2 pkgs. chicken or 3 chicken breasts

8 oz. sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

7 oz. can green chilies chopped

colby jack cheese

flour tortillas

sliced olives (optional: Papa Bear doesn’t like them but the rest of us does.)

28 oz. can green Chile enchilada sauce mild (or whatever heat you want)

1. First I dumped all of the chicken into my pressure cooker (Don’t forget to put water in the bottom before you dump the chicken in.  Just to the top of the bottom plate.) Pour in a small can of green enchilada sauce to give the chicken some flavor while cooking.  Put on the stove and once the pressure cooker starts to rock (becomes very noisy) time it for 25 minutes.  Then turn off the burner.  (We tend to use tongs to take the rocker off the top.)

2. Mean while in a large bowl mix together more green enchilada sauce, cheese, sour cream, chilies, olives and chicken soup.

3. Once the chicken is done cooking shredding it should be a piece of cake.  Dump the shredded chicken into the cheese and soup mixture. 

4. Now get out your casserole dishes and start filling your tortillas.  Once all done pour on more green enchilada sauce and cheese if you want to.

5. Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 20 minutes.

6. Enjoy!

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Our Menu for Oct 31 ~ Nov 6

Monday Oct 31 ~Happy Halloween ~ Pizza

Tuesday Nov 1 ~ Leftover Pizza

Wednesday Nov 2 ~ Chicken Pesto Pasta

Thursday Nov 3 ~ Happy Birthday Dad ~ Beef and Chicken Enchiladas, PW Pico de Gallo, PW Guacamole, sour cream, Marble Cake

Friday Nov 4 ~ Tater bake & Mac n Cheese with dogs

Saturday Nov 5 ~ Pigs N a Blanket

Sunday Nov 6 ~ Leftovers/FFYS

This week will be especially busy with Halloween and my Dad’s birthday celebration at our house.  I hope everybody else has a good week.

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Bountiful, Utah Temple

The other day I was on checking my email when I say on a LDS Living email they said there was a father of one of the primary children made a temple completely out of legs.  I was totally shocked and in awe and couldn’t wait to open the email to see it for myself.  You can go to Deseret News to take a look at the article for yourself.

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FHE Lesson: I Am a Child of God

Behold Your Little Ones: I am a Child of God 1 (p. 8-11)
Opening Prayer:
Opening Song: I Am a Child of God (CS 2)  (God is another name for Heavenly Father.)
Scripture: You have a mom and a dad on Earth who love you very much. You also have a Heavenly Father who knows you and loves you as well. (Open the Bible and read to them Psalm 82:6 "All of you are children of [God].
Lesson:
We are spirit children of Heavenly Father
Who is Heavenly Father? (Use the children’s responses to give you direction in explaining this section of the lesson on the appropriate level.)
Show picture 1-1, The World. Explain that before we were born on earth we lived in heaven with Heavenly Father. We were spirits there. A spirit is what is inside of us that makes us alive. When we were spirits, we didn’t have flesh and bones like our bodies have now, but we looked the same.
Explain that Heavenly Father is the father of our spirits, and we are his spirit children. We don’t remember living with Heavenly Father before we came to earth, but we know we are his spirit children because we read it in the scriptures.
Show the Bible and read Psalm 82:6, explaining that the most High means Heavenly Father. Emphasize that every person on the earth is a child of Heavenly Father.
Activity:
Heavenly Father Knows Me
Heavenly Father knows me (point to self)
And what I like to do.
He knows my name and where I live (make a roof by touching fingers of both hands).
I know he loves me, too (cross arms and put hands on shoulders in hug).
He knows what makes me happy (put fingers on smiling mouth).
He knows what makes me sad (put fingers on down-turned mouth).
I know he wants to help me (point to self),
And that’s what makes me glad!
Ask a child to come to the front of the class. Using what you learned from the child’s parents, explain that Heavenly Father knows about that child’s admirable characteristics. For example, you could say, “Heavenly Father knows that Emily is a loving daughter, helps her mommy take care of her sister, and is usually cheerful and smiling.” Continue until each child has had a turn.
Explain that when we do kind and loving things, we are being like Heavenly Father.
Scripture Story:
Heavenly Father has important work for us to do
Storymoses
Show picture 1-2, Moses in the Bulrushes, and tell the story of how Pharaoh’s daughter saved Moses from danger when he was a baby, as found in Exodus 2:1–10.
Explain that Moses grew to be one of Heavenly Father’s important helpers, a prophet. Heavenly Father told Moses that Moses was his son (see Moses 1:4, 6) and that he had an important work for Moses to do. Read the first phrase of Moses 1:6 to the children. Moses did this work when he brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, where they were treated very cruelly, into another land, where Moses taught them Heavenly Father’s commandments.
Have the children come to the front of the class one at a time, and help each one repeat the first phrase of Moses 1:6, substituting his or her own name: “I have a work for thee, (child’s name), my son (daughter).”
Explain that Heavenly Father has important things for us to do while we live on the earth, such as being a mother or a father, a missionary, a teacher, a helper at church, or a helper in the community.
(Show Moses picture.). Moses was a great prophet who lived a long time ago. Moses went to a mountain to pray. Let's climb a mountain with me and pretend to pray like Moses did. (Open the Pearl of Great Price and read Moses 1:4 "God said to Moses, Behold thou art my son." Moses learned he was a Child of God too.
Picture: Show the picture on page 10 and ask if the children are A Child of God too.
Closing Prayer:
Activity Verse:
1. Help the children do the actions to the following activity verse:
If you’re very, very tall (stretch and reach arms up),
There’s a place at church for you.
If you’re very, very small (crouch down),
There’s a place at church for you.
Tall (stretch up)
Small (crouch down)
Tall (stretch up)
Small (crouch down)
Heavenly Father loves us all.
2. More Activities to do with the kids: I printed out "books" for the kids to do together at Mormon Share.
3. Make cards with a picture of each child on the card and write their name on the card too.  In addition to each child, make a few extra cards for Thomas S. Monson, Nephi, Jesus etc.  Show your family the cards of each one and ask what they each have in common.......we all have eyes, all need love, we all eat etc.  Tell them we are all - even the prophets - children of God. 
GordonHinckley3[1]-711372Thomas-S-Monson-mormonnephi
For our Treat tonight we are having Pizzookies.  They sounded absolutely delicious. 
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Cuban Sandwiches

~~~~~~4 servings~~~~~~

4 Hoagie rolls, split lengthwise
PAM olive oil
8 slices Cooked pork loin roast
16 slices Cooked ham
8 slices Swiss cheese
Honey mustard
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons spicy Dijon mustard

1. In a small bowl, mix together honey & mustard. Set aside.

2. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Lightly spray hoagies with PAM olive oil & press face down in skillet to lightly toast the rolls. Remove rolls from skillet & reduce to low heat.

3. Stack meat & cheese as follows for each hoagie: 2 pork loin slices, 2 ham slices, 2 cheese slices, 2 more ham slices. Place these in the skillet & cover for a minute or two until the cheese is melted.

4. Spread each roll with honey mustard and arrange 2 stacks of the layered pork, ham, and cheese on each hoagie.

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PW Shredded Pork AKA The Worlds BEST Shredded Pork

This last Sunday as I was packing up the trailer to get ready for our trip I was also in the kitchen periodically throughout the day flipping the best shredded pork I have ever tasted. I've made shredded pork before but it never comes out right. Usually it comes out so dry and tasteless and all of the seasoning that I put in just disappears.

Not this time. This time I was crossing my fingers and hoping that a miracle would happen. Boy did it ever happen.

I should just say right here that the credit should go to the pioneer woman That is where I found the recipe that lasted us three nights and I even put some in the freezer.

 

So here's what I did:

4 pounds (up To 7 Pounds) Pork Shoulder image

1 teaspoon Dried Oregano

1 teaspoon Ground Cumin

1 teaspoon Chili Powder

1 Tablespoon (to 2 Tablespoons) Salt

Pepper To Taste

3 cloves (to 4 Cloves) Garlic

1 Tablespoon (to 2 Tablespoons) Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons (to 3 Tablespoons) White Wine Vinegar

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 whole Onion

Lime Wedges

Preparation Instructions:

1.    Rinse and pat dry the pork shoulder.

2.    To begin, just throw the dried oregano, cumin, chili powder, salt, black pepper, garlic, olive oil, white wine vinegar and brown sugar into a food processor or blender. (I happen to love brown sugar in my cooking, but you can decrease or omit it if you like.)

3.    Cut one onion into quarters and put it in the food processor with the spices. Blend mixture until totally combined and then pour it over the pork shoulder.

4.    Now rub it into every nook and cranny of the meat, tucking it under folds and in crevices. Let no stone go unturned.

5.    Then place the pork into a roasting pan or Dutch oven and add a couple of cups of water. Cover tightly and roast pork at 300º for several hours, turning once every hour.

6.    When it is fork tender, crank up the heat, remove the lid, and roast it, skin side up for another 15 to 20 minutes to get the skin crispy. When it’s done, let it rest for 15 minutes before shredding.

7.    Shred the pork shoulder (two forks work well). When it’s all shredded be sure to pour the juices all over the meat.

8.    Serve with warm tortillas, lime wedges, sour cream, pico de gallo, guacamole, tomatillo salsa … whatever makes your skirt fly up!

We had this shredded pork for three different nights and I was able to put a container in the freezer as well. One night we ate the shredded pork with rolls, cheese and avocado. (Because i tend to think that avocados goes with just about everything.) One of our family favorites is the Kings Hawaiian sweet rolls. On the second night we ate the shredded pork with avocado (of course), cheese, tomatoes, salsa, and tortillas. And on the last night we had the shredded pork with the rest of our rolls and cheese.

Really this shredded pork is so versatile that you can eat it in so many different ways.

Now make it for yourself and enjoy!

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Sweet Visiting Teaching Poem

Dear Visiting Teacher:
You are a chosen messenger of the Relief Society
You are a link connecting each woman with her organization
To the sick you are the angel of mercy
To the shut-in you are sunlight
To the bereaved you are sympathy and understanding
To the lonely you are the hope of forgiveness
To the inactive member you are a challenge—a call to duty
To the doubtful you are the answer to questions
To the active member you are a reminder of her blessings
To all who know you, you are a symbol of love and devotion.
-Author unknown
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Master Grocery List

I finally finished our master grocery list after working on it for days, and having to type it up timagewice because I forgot to save it the first time.  Lesson learned, I saved it the second time, many times. 

You too can download our complete grocery list.

I will be using this list often to do our grocery shopping.  My plan is to circle the items that we need to purchase.

Feel free to use our grocery list any way you would like for your family. 

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Our Menu for April 4th ~ April 9th

Yay, I’m so excited I finally got around to making menus again.  This week should go much better now.

Sunday ~ Breakfast: waffles, Lunch: FFYS, Dinner: Fiesta Chicken Bake

Monday ~ Breakfast: waffles & cereal, Lunch turkey & cheese sands, Dinner: Ott’s House Casserole

Tuesday ~ Breakfast: Volcano Pancake, Lunch: pizza rolls, Dinner: fish stick casserole

Wednesday ~ Breakfast:muffins & sausage w/eggs, Lunch: PB&J, Dinner: chicken pillows

Thursday ~ Breakfast: Leftovers or waffles & cereal, Lunch: chicken salad sands, Dinner: Shredded Chicken sands

Friday ~ Breakfast: Dad’s choice, Lunch: turkey & cheese, Dinner: Chicken Quesadilla Pie

Saturday ~ Breakfast: pancakes, Lunch: FFYS, Dinner: taco cornbread casseroleimage

 

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Make it from scratch

One of the Relief Society’s monthly groups is called: Make it From Scratch in which some simple meals or foods are shown how they can be made at home from scratch instead of buying them. 

The March class showed us how to make hot fudge sauce, chocolate syrup (like Hershey’s), ice cream and homemade rice-a-roni.

Hot Fudge Sauce

1 cup butter

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 cups sugar

1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk

Dash salt

1 tsp. vanilla

Combine butter, cocoa powder, sugar, milk and salt in a large saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil for 7 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Carefully poor hot mixture into a blender and blend for 2-4 minutes. Serve immediately or store in refrigerator and reheat as needed. Best if used quickly as it can tend to go grainy with time.

Chocolate Syrup (like Hershey’s)

1 cup water

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups sugar

Dash salt

1/4 tsp. vanilla

Whisk water and cocoa powder in large saucepan until smooth. Add sugar and cook over medium heat until it boils. Boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add salt and vanilla. This will thicken as it cools. Store in refrigerator

*Make sure you use a large enough pot as this tends to boil over in a smaller pot.

Rich Vanilla Ice Cream

**Also known as French Vanilla**

3 cups half and half

1 cup sugar

4 egg yolks, beaten

1 cup whipping cream

1 tbl vanilla extract

In a heavy medium saucepan, combine half and half, sugar and beaten egg yolks. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture coats a spoon and is slightly thickened. Cool to room temperature. Stir in whipping cream and vanilla. Pour into ice cream canister. Freeze in ice cream maker. Makes 2 quarts.

Homemade Rice-a-roni

1 1/2 cup long grain rice (prefer jasmine)

1/2 cup vermicelli or spaghetti noodles broken into approximately 1/2" pieces

3/4 cube of butter, margarine, or 5 tbls olive oil

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp. Dehydrated minced onion

4 cups boiling water with 4 chicken or beef
bouillon cubes

4 tbs. Fresh parsley, or fresh cilantro, or 2 tsp dry Italian seasoning, or other seasonings compatible with Mexican, or oriental cuisine

OPTIONAL: red, green, or yellow bell pepper, chopped
olives, sliced or whole

Water chestnuts for oriental cuisine
chili beans for Mexican cuisine
chopped ham, chicken, turkey, or beef

In heavy skillet (that has a lid to cover tightly), melt butter or heat oil on medium high heat. When hot, add the rice, the pasta, and the garlic, stirring to prevent burning, but allowing it to brown nicely. Have hot water with melted bouillon ready to pour into the pan. Stir it into the rice and pasta. Add the dehydrated onion, the fresh herbs or veggies, or any dry seasonings, and any chopped meat, mixing well. Bring the mixture to a boil, then put on the tight lid, and turn off the burner. Let it set on the burner for 35-40 minutes before removing lid. You may stir in olives or water chestnuts before serving and garnish with any additional fresh herbs. Stir with a fork to break it up as you put it in a bowl. If you want it moister, just add a little more water the next time you prepare it. If less moist, use a little less water. 

I can’t wait to try out the Homemade rice-a-roni.  This will be a real treat. 

I wonder what awesome goodies our Relief Society sister’s have to share with us next time.

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And the rest of the Story…………

In my last post I commented on my bread making problems and how I finally was able to make a successful loaf of bread.

Then the day came when I was really ready to make bread for the family. 

Our Sunday turned into our baking day.

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I (with the help of my awesome dh and girls) made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles (my all time favorite) cinnamon rolls and 100% wheat bread.

When I decided that I was ready to try another loaf of bread I once again turned to my computer’s search engine and looked up recipes that I could use with my bosch.  I also watched a few more videos. 

Then ultimately it turned into a memory game and trail and error. 

100_0158I found a website that had a good recipe that I liked; the hardest part was finding a recipe that had all the ingredients that I had and that used ingredients that I wanted to use too.  I still want to make a buttermilk whole wheat bread but I decided for now that it was more important to get a successful loaf first.

So I followed the directions from the recipe for the small batch and even enjoyed throwing the dough down really hard on the counter.  My Silly Girl thought I was being funny and then she wanted to help too.  It just felt good to be able to throw something down and get away with it.

I don’t know if you can tell from the picture above but the loaf on the right raised higher than the other two for some reason but by the time they went into the oven they were all pretty even.

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My other little helper made sure of that.  I turned my back on her for one minute and turn back and she’s patting my bread down.  So not only did I find a great recipe but also a durable and forgiving one too.

They were left out a little longer than needed because it took my oven longer than usual to get up to the right temperature. 

You see one of the responses that I kept getting from different videos online, from my friends on facebook and other people that I talked to was to make sure my oven was really at the temperature that it said it was.  And so I purchased an oven thermometer to put inside and be sure. 

I think more than anything that is what saved this batch of bread for me. 

And now I can really truly say that I can’t wait to make bread more and really experiment.

I was so excited to see my bread come out SOOO good.

 

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Bread 15/1 I’m Catching Up

I have been trying to make bread with my new bosch mixer ever since I treated myself with an early Christmas present around last October.  The first and really only yeast recipe that I was able to make with it was my scrumptious cinnamon rolls.

Then about a month or so ago I found what I thought was a cool website with a new bread recipe that I wanted to try out.  I made her recipe over and over for a month or so.  In a one week period of time I tried this recipe three or four times and every time the recipe came out all gooey in the middle.  So after trying the same recipe over and over I decided it was time to move on and and come back later. 

Then this last weekend I had a rare exciting moment to myself and while sitting at the computer I decided it was time to figure out my bread problem.  So first I put it on facebook as my status post: “Maybe some bread bakers out there can help me: Whenever I make bread and bake it it keeps coming out with a doughy center. How do I fix that and get great bread?”  My responses were both helpful and not so much.  I also decided to do a search on the internet for making bread in a bosch mixer and see what came up.

My search results brought up two You Tube videos and that made me really curious.  I figured it wouldn’t hurt to look take a quick look.  Then my quick look turned into watching SEVERAL videos but I learned all kinds of information out of it.  Some of the info that I absorbed was really silly while others really made the difference. 

So now you have it my awesome bread.

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Our Menu for February 6th ~ February 12

Within the last week or two my menus have become more complicated for me to make.  I took absence from making menus because my little boy has gone from being solely on formula to now eating our food too.  So I have had to stop and figure out what to cook that he can have to.  I don’t want to have to make one meal for the four of us and another one for him so instead I’ve been working on making Lil’ Man friendly dinners. 

Here is what I have put together so far:

Sunday ~ February 6
Breakfast ~ cereal
Lunch ~ pizza rolls
Dinner ~ pulled pork, Hawaiian bread & butter, cheese, banana
 
Monday ~ February 7
Breakfast ~ cereal
Lunch ~ PB&J, fruit and cucumber
Dinner ~ chicken haystacks
 
Tuesday ~ February 8
Lunch ~ pizza rolls
Dinner ~ cocktail wraps, fries, squash, fruit
 
Wednesday ~ February 9
Breakfast ~ cereal
Lunch ~ PB&J, fruit and cucumber
Dinner ~ fish stick supper, fruit, broccoli
 
Thursday ~ February 10
Breakfast ~ cereal or pancakes
Lunch ~ vienna sausages, cheese, fruit
Dinner ~ Hobo dinner, green beans
 
Friday ~ February 11
Breakfast ~ breakfast burritos
Lunch ~ Fast Food Friday w/Papa or ham & cheese sands
Dinner ~ macaroni & cheese, hot dogs
 
Saturday ~ February 12
Breakfast ~ Volcano pancakes & syrup
Lunch ~
Dinner ~ beef fiesta bake

Since my birthday is Sunday, February 13 I don’t know what we will be doing yet. But I WILL be making a very awesome cake (I hope).

Recipes will be posted and linked up soon. clip_image002


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Cocktail Sausages

You’ve all seen those little hot dogs wrapped up in crescents or bread.  I've always been so fascinated with those and just love how easy they look.  Then I always thought to myself that there must be little sausages that I could get to make those really easy to imagemake.

Guess what, I finally figured it all out and so here it is.

I bought a package of these the other day (with coupons of course) just to make for dinner and to experiment with.

Cocktail Wraps

16 Hillshire Farm® Lit’l Smokies®
  16 thin strips Cheddar, Swiss or hot pepper cheese
   1 pkg. (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls
   Mustard

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.  Cut a thin slit in each sausage.  Place 1 cheese strip inside slit of each sausage.

2. Separate crescent roll dough into 8 triangles.  Cut each triangle in half lengthwise to form 2 smaller triangles. Place 1 sausage on the wide end of triangle and roll towards the point.  Place wrapped sausage, point side down, on baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining sausages.

3. Bake 9-10 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve with mustard if desired.

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Our Menu for January 17th ~ January 23rd

Monday ~ chicken nuggets, fries & green beans

Tuesday ~ Chili mac

Wednesday ~ grilled ham & cheese sands, fries & broccoli

Thursday ~ chicken alfredo & pasta

Friday ~ beef enchiladas

Saturday ~ fiesta chicken bake

Sunday ~ pulled pork sands

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Why is a year supply of Food Storage important?

The prophets have said:

(Taken from the Church website under Provident Living and then Quotes and Talks from church leaders)

From President Thomas S. Monson, First Counselor, we hear: "Many more people could ride out the storm-tossed waves in their economic lives if they had their year's supply of food . . . and were debt-free. Today we find that many have followed this counsel in reverse: they have at least a year's supply of debt and are food-free."15

From President Gordon B. Hinckley, the Lord's prophet, we hear: "The best place to have some food set aside is within our homes. . . . "We can begin ever so modestly. We can begin with a one week's food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months. . . . I fear that so many feel that a long-term food supply is so far beyond their reach that they make no effort at all.”

President Spencer W. Kimball said, “The Lord will not translate one’s good hopes and desires and intentions into works. Each of us must do that for himself. Acquire and store a reserve of food and supplies that will sustain life. Obtain clothing and build a savings account on a sensible, well-planned basis that can serve well in times of emergency. As long as I can remember, we have been taught to prepare for the future and to obtain a year’s supply of necessities. I would guess that the years of plenty have almost universally caused us to set aside this counsel. I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over. With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness

Remember these words from Paul: "If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." –President Hinckley

The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah.

How do we begin to get a year supply of food?

"Begin in a small way, . . . and gradually build toward a reasonable objective."16 Inspired preparation rests on the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ, obedience, and a provident lifestyle. Members should not go to extremes, but they should begin.” -President Hinckley

Obtain at least a two week supply of water for each member of your family. Have water in all sorts of containers. An inexpensive idea is to put water in emptied, clear, plastic 2 liter pop bottles. Small water bottles are convenient incase you need to take them and go. Fifty gallon drums are good for drinking water and/or cleaning water. It is essential to have enough water—a person can only survive a few days without water. Look on the church’s website for information and safety tips for storing water. You need at least one gallon of water per person per day.

Put together a 72 hour kit of water, food, clothing and essentials for each person in your family. Make it portable in case you need to leave your home in a disaster. Tips: Buy 72 hr. backpacks at the D.I. for really inexpensive, get backpacks with handles and wheels for the children to carry themselves, put children’s 72 hr. backpacks under their beds for quick access, and put together a small car emergency kit. Put water and some basic essentials in a backpack in your car incase an emergency happens, and you (and your children) need to walk to somewhere safe. Items that might be important include water, snack food (granola bars, suck on candy, dried fruit or jerky etc.), a flashlight, poncho/umbrella, and a sweater or jacket in case of cold weather.

Make a list of the food items your family eats most often. (i.e.- macaroni & cheese, chili, tuna (mayo), peanut butter & jam, pasta & spaghetti sauce, etc.) Start building your food storage around those items. Start by getting a three month supply of these commonly eaten foods. One thing to remember is to buy all the components of each meal you eat on a regular basis. For example, oatmeal for breakfast wouldn’t be good without brown sugar, raisins, cinnamon & milk (powdered milk). Keep in mind that in a disaster, you won’t be able to run to the store to buy the “extras” for meals. You will need all items on hand to put together meals for your family. Once you have created a supply of these items, you can begin accumulating more long term food items. These items include grains, legumes, sugar, vegetables, fruit, salt, oil and powdered milk (among many others).

How to store your food? The main concern is keeping insects and rodents out of your food. There are a few ways to store paper packaged food items. The first is to dry pack items at the cannery. Another is to put food items in plastic containers (Rubbermaid totes, empty plastic buckets, large plastic garbage cans etc. ) Anything will work as long as it can be shut out from surrounding bugs and damp air. Keep food in a cool place—like a cold storage room under the porch.

Keep track and rotate your food items. Use the worksheet provided, or your own system, to keep track of how much of each item you have, and to properly rotate your food. Tip: When you buy the food, put the month and date you purchased it on the container with a permanent marker. This way, you will know which items to use first. Put the newer food on the back of the shelf and move the older items forward. Keep a running total of each item so that at any moment you can look at your food storage sheet and see what you are running low on. (Creating a shelving system makes storing food easier to organize and rotate. This can be done inexpensively with cheap metal shelves, store bought food storage racks, or homemade wood shelves. You will feel so good when you begin to see your own “store” growing in the basement.)

When items are on sale—STOCK UP! It may seem like you are spending a lot of money at once, but you will actually save money in the long run. If you buy a year supply of items, you will not need to run to the store and buy it when it’s not on sale. Think BIG—for example, a year supply of sugar for one adult is 100 lbs., times that by 3-4 people in your family & that’s 300/400 lbs. of sugar. Even if you don’t use it all in one year, don’t worry---sugar will last 30 + years. That’s why it is so important to buy items when they are at their cheapest price. Watch the ads and compare prices. Doing this will save time and money!

With a little faith, effort, and time, you will feel the peace that comes by knowing you are prepared for whatever comes your family’s way. Starting is the hardest part. Once you begin and gain a testimony of the importance of food storage, you will begin to find it a rewarding hobby and understand what President Hinckley meant when he said:

"The feeling of peace and the desire to be faithful to the commandment given by the Lord through the modern prophet helps us feel the Holy Spirit, . . . to not be afraid, and to see that the signs of the time for the Second Coming of the Lord is a blessing and not something to fear. We rejoice in it. . . . It gives us the motivation to be faithful and endure to the end and to be saved and obtain eternal life."20

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FHE: I know the Scriptures are true

Opening Prayer:

Scripture: Moroni 10: 3-5

Children’s Hymn 109, Search, Ponder, and Pray

Lesson: Bring one or more objects that your family can learn about using some of their five senses. For example, you could bring a fruit or a flower, or you could play some music. Give a few family members a change to see, smell, touch, tasted, or hear what you have brought. Demonstrate that we can also see, touch, smell and hear the scriptures, but to gain a testimony of them we need to receive a witness through the Spirit. Invite the family to sing, “Search, Ponder, and Pray” again. Ask them to listen, as they sing, for three things we can do to invite the Spirit to testify that the scriptures are true. Invite the family to create hand actions for the words search, ponder, and pray. Repeat the song, using the actions in place of these words.

Display a picture of Moroni, and read Moroni 10:4-5. Invite your family to share their feelings about the scriptures. They could also share what they have been doing to read the scriptures on their own. Encourage the family to share their testimonies of the scriptures with friends, family, and church members.

If you have teenagers who go to seminary, this would be an excellent time to have them share what they have learned and how they feel about seminary and the things they are learning.

Peanut Butter Rice Krispy’s

Quantity: About 3 dozen

Storing: Store in an airtight container or canister up to 2 weeks.

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)

2 cups crisp rice cereal

Instructions: In a medium saucepan, heat sugar and corn syrup to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter until smooth. Stir in cereal and drop by tablespoon onto wax paper. Let cool completely

Closing Prayer:

This FHE is from a compilation that you can find at Sugardoodle.net.

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About Mama Bear

I'm a Stay-at-Home mom, busy firefighter wife, start up rancher and computer lover. I have three wonderful, extra special kids. My sweet kids have ADHD, Dyslexia and Autism. In order for me to be able to keep up with my firefighter's schedule, the kids' activities and their special lessons I have taken up bullet journaling. I love how I can be creative and I can make it suit my needs.

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