...................~Life is all about Love, Happiness & Connections and the EXPERIENCES of 4 lil' Elton's ~.................
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Beach Baby
We had a fun night at a beach party tonight. Xander had his first beach experience. He {LOVED} it. Jace called him "Sandy Xandy".
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Quick, Yummy Dinner Bread
This is from a beautiful lady & chef, Hallie Harron. She lives half of the year in Encinitas & the other in FRANCE at her cooking school. Check out some of her cookbooks on Amazon. Tomatoes & Mozzarella
FAST FOUGASSE
This is the no fuss or muss version of the ladder bread so common in Provence. This no-knead method comes in useful when time and space are at a premium. The result is a crunchy loaf that is best eaten the day it is baked.
2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons dry yeast
4 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Optional toppings: Olive or basil oil, coarse salt, rosemary or sesame seeds
In a medium bowl, mix together the water and yeast. Stir in 2 cups flour until the batter is smooth. Add remaining flour and salt and stir until dough pulls away from the sides of the pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight or let rise until double, about 40 minutes.
If you refrigerate the dough, remove and divide into 2 portions and let rest for 10 minutes. If not, just divide the dough and proceed.
Heat the oven to 475 degrees. The dough will appear wet. Oil 2 baking sheets or line the sheets with parchment and oil the paper. Scrape the dough onto the baking sheets. Stretch each loaf into a rectangle. Let rise for 15 minutes. Cut 3 large slashes on either side of each loaf. Sprinkle with any of the additional toppings. Place loaves in oven and immediately reduce heat to 450 degrees. Using a plant mister, mist the tops of the loaves. Bake until golden and hollow sounding when tapped. Cool on a rack.
Makes 2 fougasse
** I make one large loaf...but sometimes it needs a little extra time to cook through. FYI...it's a little on the salty side. Great with pasta, fresh mozzarella or plain ole' EVOO. Please let me know if you have any questions. In our cooking class, Hallie told us to put cornmeal or oats on the pan before adding the dough. I don't mist it :)
Hallie is coming out with a FONDUE book!! Can't wait!! Hoping for another cooking class in the Fall.
Happy Eating :)
FAST FOUGASSE
This is the no fuss or muss version of the ladder bread so common in Provence. This no-knead method comes in useful when time and space are at a premium. The result is a crunchy loaf that is best eaten the day it is baked.
2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons dry yeast
4 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Optional toppings: Olive or basil oil, coarse salt, rosemary or sesame seeds
In a medium bowl, mix together the water and yeast. Stir in 2 cups flour until the batter is smooth. Add remaining flour and salt and stir until dough pulls away from the sides of the pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight or let rise until double, about 40 minutes.
If you refrigerate the dough, remove and divide into 2 portions and let rest for 10 minutes. If not, just divide the dough and proceed.
Heat the oven to 475 degrees. The dough will appear wet. Oil 2 baking sheets or line the sheets with parchment and oil the paper. Scrape the dough onto the baking sheets. Stretch each loaf into a rectangle. Let rise for 15 minutes. Cut 3 large slashes on either side of each loaf. Sprinkle with any of the additional toppings. Place loaves in oven and immediately reduce heat to 450 degrees. Using a plant mister, mist the tops of the loaves. Bake until golden and hollow sounding when tapped. Cool on a rack.
Makes 2 fougasse
** I make one large loaf...but sometimes it needs a little extra time to cook through. FYI...it's a little on the salty side. Great with pasta, fresh mozzarella or plain ole' EVOO. Please let me know if you have any questions. In our cooking class, Hallie told us to put cornmeal or oats on the pan before adding the dough. I don't mist it :)
Hallie is coming out with a FONDUE book!! Can't wait!! Hoping for another cooking class in the Fall.
Happy Eating :)
Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce & Basil
My mom found this recipe out of a magazine. Apparently it's Beyonce & JayZ's favorite from some restaurant in Florida.
{Simple, light & perfect for summer}
Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Basil
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
20 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled, halved, and seeded (**check note below, because I use canned)
Pinch of crushed pepper
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 oz. freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 1/2 cup)
6 to 8 fresh basil leaves, sliced
1 lb. spaghetti
In a wide pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add tomatoes and red pepper flakes and season lightly with salt and pepper. Let cook for a few minutes until tomatoes start to soften. Then, using a potato masher, chop the tomatoes finely. Cook 20 to 25 minutes, until sauce has thickened. (You can make the sauce, which yields about 3 cups, ahead of time. Refrigerate for up to two days or freeze for longer storage.)
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti until just shy of al dente. Reserve alittle of the pasta cooking water. Drain pasta. Add to the sauce and cook over medium-high heat, gently tossing the pasta and the sauce together with a couple of wooden spoons until pasta is just tender. (If the sauce seems too think, add a little pasta cooking water.) Take pan off the heat and toss in butter, cheese and basil. Serve immediately. Serves 4.
**I use a large can of the San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes (they are packaged in white with red wording) or 2 regular sized cans of diced or whole tomatoes. Whatever I have on hand. I also blend mine up in my Blendtec. Winston doesn't like chunky tomatoes. It is faster than peeling, seeding & crushing!
{Simple, light & perfect for summer}
Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Basil
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
20 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled, halved, and seeded (**check note below, because I use canned)
Pinch of crushed pepper
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 oz. freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 1/2 cup)
6 to 8 fresh basil leaves, sliced
1 lb. spaghetti
In a wide pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add tomatoes and red pepper flakes and season lightly with salt and pepper. Let cook for a few minutes until tomatoes start to soften. Then, using a potato masher, chop the tomatoes finely. Cook 20 to 25 minutes, until sauce has thickened. (You can make the sauce, which yields about 3 cups, ahead of time. Refrigerate for up to two days or freeze for longer storage.)
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti until just shy of al dente. Reserve alittle of the pasta cooking water. Drain pasta. Add to the sauce and cook over medium-high heat, gently tossing the pasta and the sauce together with a couple of wooden spoons until pasta is just tender. (If the sauce seems too think, add a little pasta cooking water.) Take pan off the heat and toss in butter, cheese and basil. Serve immediately. Serves 4.
**I use a large can of the San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes (they are packaged in white with red wording) or 2 regular sized cans of diced or whole tomatoes. Whatever I have on hand. I also blend mine up in my Blendtec. Winston doesn't like chunky tomatoes. It is faster than peeling, seeding & crushing!
Chicken Fajitas
Chicken Fajitas
{Marinade Ingredients}
1/4 cup of lemon juice
Juice of two limes
1 Tablespoon dried oregano leaves
2 Tablespoons of oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoons salt and pepper
Combine lemon and lime juice, oil, oregano, cumin and salt and pepper in a
large plastic re-sealable bag. Add chicken and marinate in refrigerator
for 30 minute to several hours. Remove chicken from marinade and grill
over medium high heat 8-10 minutes, turning once, until no longer pink in
the middle. Allow chicken to cool slightly and then slice and serve with
tortillas, cheese and sour cream.
*I use 4 frozen chicken breasts.
{Marinade Ingredients}
1/4 cup of lemon juice
Juice of two limes
1 Tablespoon dried oregano leaves
2 Tablespoons of oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoons salt and pepper
Combine lemon and lime juice, oil, oregano, cumin and salt and pepper in a
large plastic re-sealable bag. Add chicken and marinate in refrigerator
for 30 minute to several hours. Remove chicken from marinade and grill
over medium high heat 8-10 minutes, turning once, until no longer pink in
the middle. Allow chicken to cool slightly and then slice and serve with
tortillas, cheese and sour cream.
*I use 4 frozen chicken breasts.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
4th of July
Our 4th of July was filled with family & friends.
bbq
eating
talking
laughing
chasing toddlers
patriotic music
panoramic FIREWORK show
(we could see 5 shows at the same time!!)
I am PROUD to be an AMERICAN!
YW Recognition
Congratulations to 2 more girls in our ward completing their Personal Progress!!
Invitation done...now on to the program. Yeah for Piece-of-cake pages.
I love freebies :)
Monday, July 5, 2010
P Party
We had a Personal Progress Pajama Pizza Party!!
The girls came in their pj's & dressed in as many things that started with a P.
We ate Pizza (simple English muffin as the crust & fruit dessert pizza), updated Personal Progress books & played a PASS game with our leftover Prizes. I also introduced our Personal Progress Summer Challenge...daily Points for scripture reading, random acts of service & daily prayer.
Want to keep these girls motivated over the summer.
Purple, pink, polka dots, pin strips, pens, pencils, pearls, pumpkin, princess, purse, plaid, pig tails, ponytail & a PINWHEEL (clever)--so many P things :)
Cousins
I wished we could spend more time with our Robinson cousins. I think a weekend trip to the Robinson Homestead will be on the calendar in the near future. We had a brief stop over in Mesa at Denten & Amberly's new home. It is a fabulous, spacious place for a growing family. I am excited to see what changes they make as they make it their own.
New Mexico 2010
I didn't take very many pictures! But I know my mom did, so I will post more pictures later.
Another FUN {I have NEVER LAUGHED so HARD}
trip to the REZ.
*HIGHLIGHTS *
- Family PHOTO slide Show & Witty commentary from ALL the relatives.(Got to have tough skin with this crowd--you WILL be humbled)
- Flea Market: 2 rings, 6 pairs of earrings, 1 stuff bag ($2), 1 fry bread, 2 lemonades :)
- 1 Trailer, 2 BIG Tents & ONE bathroom for the Robinson Clan (I think we managed just fine) Thanks, DAD!
- 3 MILE Fun Run (however, I do not find running all that fun, nor did I run the entire time, but I did run/walk 3 miles!) Yeah!!
- Baby Shower for 6 new GREAT-Grand babies.
- Dancing to the DJ
- Fireworks SHOW (although, I missed trying to get a fussy baby to sleep)
The "Yacht" Club
This sounds like a Grandpa Boyd/Grandma Jeannie story :) They would like it.
We travel to New Mexico every summer for our annual Ta'baa'hi family reunion. We usually pull our trailer & take our quads for the kids to ride out on the reservation. This year, however, we only had Friday, Saturday & Sunday, so we decided no trailer=just the Tahoe. Cheyanne was at YW Girls Camp at Camp Buckhorn in Idyllwild near Hemet. We had to pick her up, then continue on our way across the desert.
Around midnight we knew that we would have to find some place to sleep. Mesa was still 2 hours away. Using the handy dandy internet on my husband's phone I found 2 places to stay in Quartzsite, AZ--Super 8 & the Yacht Club. Hmmmm, well Super 8 had no stars & bad reviews, plus the last time I stayed at a Super 8, I got bed bug bites. So that was out of the question.
The Yacht Club had glowing reviews :) One review even said something along the lines of, "Spacious bathroom". We were out in the middle of the HOT desert...so I called the Yacht Club. It was our LUCKY night!! They had 1 room left...the Captain's Quarters. It was the "SUITE" and she could let it go for $67 compared to the normal $119. WOW, what luck, what a deal!!
WHAT a surprise to find that the "Yacht Club" was a mobile home park & our suite was a trailer!! It was spacious, very clean & the beds were new & comfortable. Cheyanne was so out of it; Winston carried her in, & laid her in bed. When she awoke the next morning, she was confused, dazed & perplexed as to our sleeping quarters! HA! She said "What is this place".
Landon was in heaven running all around & we didn't have to worry about bugging the neighbors. If you are ever driving through the Arizona desert on I-10, we recommend the Yacht Club :) I still need to write a review. Quartzsite Yacht Club
We travel to New Mexico every summer for our annual Ta'baa'hi family reunion. We usually pull our trailer & take our quads for the kids to ride out on the reservation. This year, however, we only had Friday, Saturday & Sunday, so we decided no trailer=just the Tahoe. Cheyanne was at YW Girls Camp at Camp Buckhorn in Idyllwild near Hemet. We had to pick her up, then continue on our way across the desert.
Around midnight we knew that we would have to find some place to sleep. Mesa was still 2 hours away. Using the handy dandy internet on my husband's phone I found 2 places to stay in Quartzsite, AZ--Super 8 & the Yacht Club. Hmmmm, well Super 8 had no stars & bad reviews, plus the last time I stayed at a Super 8, I got bed bug bites. So that was out of the question.
The Yacht Club had glowing reviews :) One review even said something along the lines of, "Spacious bathroom". We were out in the middle of the HOT desert...so I called the Yacht Club. It was our LUCKY night!! They had 1 room left...the Captain's Quarters. It was the "SUITE" and she could let it go for $67 compared to the normal $119. WOW, what luck, what a deal!!
WHAT a surprise to find that the "Yacht Club" was a mobile home park & our suite was a trailer!! It was spacious, very clean & the beds were new & comfortable. Cheyanne was so out of it; Winston carried her in, & laid her in bed. When she awoke the next morning, she was confused, dazed & perplexed as to our sleeping quarters! HA! She said "What is this place".
Grandma Lora
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