Happy Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving Jesse and I wanted to stay home for the holidays. I originally started this blog to organize my recipes and to have access to them whereever I go. When we moved to Flagstaff I decided that in order to keep my family and friends in the know, I would need to turn this into a family/recipe blog. So I thought it would be fun to share my first Thanksgiving dinner with you. I have posted several of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes. We also had smoked turkey, homemade rolls and strawberry rhubarb pie. I didn't include the roll and pie recipes because I have posted them already. You can find them in the Recipe tab under desserts and breads.

CANDIED YAMS

2 large can sweet potatoes
4 teaspoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
large marshmallows

Drain most of the juice from sweet potatoes. Place in a casserole dish and dot with butter. Mix brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon together and sprinkle on top. Cover top with marshmallows. Spray aluminum foil with Pam and loosely cover casserole dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 325°F. Remove aluminum foil and let bake an additional 5 minutes or until marshmallow are golden brown.

STUFFING

1 loaf  dry bread
1 package Mrs. Wright's Seasoned Dressing
1/2 cup butter or margarine, cut into small pieces
1/2 of a large onion
3 medium carrots, grated
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons sage, or to taste
1 cup chicken broth
3 to 4 cups hot water
Salt and pepper to taste

Tear dried bread into bite-sized pieces, In a large bowl add bread, seasoned dressing and butter. Add onion, carrot, celery and sage. Toss together; mix chicken broth into bread mixture. Mix hot water into bread mixture; salt and pepper to taste. Spoon into baking dish; cover and bake at 350°F for 45 minutes. Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes

GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE

2 cans French cut green beans
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1 can French fried onions

Stir the soup, milk, 2/3 cup of  onions and beans into a casserole dish. Bake at 350°F. for 25 minutes or until the bean mixture is hot and bubbling. Stir the bean mixture. Sprinkle with remaining onions. Bake for 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown.

CRANBERRY JELL-O

1 Large package raspberry JELLO
1 can cranberry sauce, jellied
1 8 oz package cream cheese
2 cups frozen raspberries
2 cups mini marshmallows

Make JELLO as directed on package minus 1/2 cup water. Mix together cranberry sauce and and cream cheese until smooth. Add JELLO and mix thoroughly. Lightly blend frozen raspberries into JELLO mixture and pour into a bowl. If you want to keep the fruit whole, pour mixture into a bowl and gently fold in the raspberries. sprinkle marshmallows on top. Refrigerate until firm.

Busted

I'm pretty sure Landon and Travis have teamed up against me. Lately, when I am taking care of Travis, Landon will run into another room and do something naughty.

How long does it take to destroy a living room? 3 minutes. I was changing a dirty diaper and came downstairs to a disaster zone.

I just finished giving Landon a bath and getting him dressed when Travis woke up. I went to get Travis and then came back just in time to watch Landon dump a cup of water over his head and all over the floor.

Being outnumbered is hard enough but it's impossible when they team up against me. Landon is just lucky that he is so darn cute or he would spend most of his day in time out. 

German Pancakes

I've been trying to find fun ways to keep Landon occupied during the day. Baking has been one of our favorite things to do together. The first thing we ever made together was German Pancakes. He loves how tall it gets in the oven. Every time I pull it out of the oven he will point and say WOW! We half the recipe when it's just the two of us eating.

GERMAN PANCAKES

6 eggs

1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
 
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place butter in 9x13 baking dish and place in oven to melt butter, tilt to coat bottom of pan. Place remaining ingredients in a bowl and blend until smooth. Pour into buttered baking dish.  Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Serve with favorite syrup or fruit with powdered sugar.



Hash Brown Quiche

Everytime  my mom comes for a visit she makes us something new to eat. On this particular visit she made us yummy quiche. This is one of my favorite breakfast dishes.

HASH BROWN QUICHE

3 cups shredded hash brown potatoes

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 cup diced cooked ham

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

2 cups chopped fresh spinach

3 eggs

1 cup half-and -half cream

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Press hash browns onto the bottom of casserole dish. Drizzle with melted butter and bake for 20 minutes, or until it begins to brown. In a small bowl, combine ham, onion, spinach and shredded cheese. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, half-and-half, and salt and pepper. When hash browns are ready, spread ham mixture on the top then cover with egg mixture. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 25-30 minutes or until filling is puffy and golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Note : Egg mixture should cover the top of the ham mixture if it doesn't you can whisk a few more eggs and pour it on top.

Spaghetti Di Mare

I've never been a big fan of spaghetti but how can you say no to scallops and shrimp. My mom made this for me while she was staying with me in September. I couldn't believe how yummy it was.

SPAGHETTI DI MARE

1/2 lb. spaghetti

1/3 cup olive oil

4 garlic cloves, diced

1 pinch red pepper flakes

1 Can (14.5 oz) whole tomatoes, drained

1 pinch salt

3 TBSP balsamic vinegar

2 bouillon cubes, crushed

1/2 lb. scallops

1/2 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 TBSP lemon juice

3 TBSP butter

1/4 cup parsley, shopped

Cook pasta according to package direction. In a large skillet, combine olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Cook on medium for 3 minutes. Crush Whole tomatoes by hand. Add tomatoes, salt, balsamic vinegar, add bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil. Add scallops, shrimp and lemon juice. Reduce heat and simmer for 4 minutes. Add butter and parsley. Cook for 2 minutes. Serve over cooked pasta.

Note: We used frozen pre-cooked shrimp and scallops.

Happy Birthday Landon!!!

November 11, 2010
I can't believe Landon is 2. He is growing up so fast. I LOVE birthdays and I really wanted Landon to have a great day. So as soon as Jesse got home from school we went out and had some fun!

Landon must have been really excited for his birthday because he got up at 5:00 am. Then he called Grandma Egbert at 5:30am, oops.

We took Landon out to lunch. He was really excited to eat!

After lunch we went to Target to pick out Landon's present. It was really cold outside.

What to choose, what to choose?

Landon finally settled on a Leapfrog laptop. He wouldn't let anyone hold it.

We were going to end the day stong and go to the pet store. We never made it.

Baby Blessing

November 07, 2010

What's New with the Egberts

I was reading my journal the other morning, taking a walk down memory lane. I was taken aback by how fast life goes by. It seems like it was just yesterday Jesse and I were getting married and starting our lives together. Well, we have only been married for 3 1/2 years, but our lives have changed dramatically since May 2, 2007. We now have 2 beautiful boys, Landon and Travis. Jesse has graduated with his Bachelor's degree in Linguistics and is about to graduate with his Master's Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language.

Each year Jesse and I commit to slow down our lives, and each year we speed up. Come 2011 our lives really will slow down. This semester has been the worst it has ever been. Jesse was called to serve as an early morning seminary teacher and is also in the hardest and busiest semester of his life. To add to Jesse's already busy schedule we decided to have a baby, just to make things more exciting. Because of Jesse's hard work he will graduate a semester early and has now been given an early acceptance into the Applied Linguistics PhD program. I'm so proud of Jesse for working hard; he is such a great example for our boys!

Because of Jesse's new calling as an early morning seminary teacher our entire family now begins the day at 5:30 am. This is not by choice on my part, no matter how quiet Jesse is, Landon will use his super power hearing and wake up. I can't complain too much though, I have my apartment cleaned and my boys down for their first nap by 9:00 am. Having 2 kids is hard; I am just now getting a good, solid handle on things. This is only accomplished by both Landon and I spending several minutes a day in time-out. I firmly believe time-out is just as effective for adults as it is for children. So, when life is out of control go to time-out for 5 minutes and you will feel much better. Also, I started running this week. I can't believe how much it helps me handle the stress I face each day. If I have any more kids, though, I might find my self running several times a day.

I hadn't done laundry for a while. So their clothes don't really match.

Landon has adjusted remarkably well to being an older brother. If it wasn't for Landon's help, taking care of Travis would be more difficult. Travis throws-up a little too often and as soon as it happens Landon is running for the burp cloths and the wipes. Then when we get to the bathroom to give Travis a bath. Landon always has the toys in the bath even though Travis is too little to play with them. We make a great team. Travis is growing up way too fast. He can now roll over and is already wearing 3 month outfits. I wish my little guys would stop growing-up so fast. I love them so much!

Book of the Month

Excitement fizzes through the Bennet household at Longbourn in Hertfordshire when young, eligible Mr. Charles Bingley rents the fine house nearby. He may have sisters, but he also has male friends, and one of these the haughty, and even wealthier, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy irks the vivacious Elizabeth Bennet, the second of the Bennet girls. She annoys him. Which is how we know they must one day marry. The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and Darcy is a splendid rendition of civilized sparring. As the characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, Jane Austen's radiantly caustic wit and keen observation sparkle. (http://www.goodreads.com/).

Jane Austen is a brilliant author. As soon as I saw the movie I knew I had to read the book. At the end of my senior year in high school I finally picked this book up and it wasn't until I finished, that I put it down.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

I made these for our Halloween party. I hate making caramel apples so I thought this would be a fun replacement. When you frost them with the caramel I would suggest doing a fun drizzle rather than putting a thick coat on top.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 rome apples (about 1 pound), peeled and shredded
1 1/2 cups chewy caramel candies
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Arrange a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350°. Line a cupcake pan with baking liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a small, microwavable bowl, combine the caramels and cream. Microwave for 1 minute at medium power, then stir; repeat in 30-second intervals until melted and smooth. Let cool. Spread the frosting on the cooled cupcakes.

Happy Halloween

Growing-up I would have never imagined living in another state from my family. Well, here I am doing just that. We will establish most of our family while living here in Flagstaff and some of the most special memories we share were created right here, too. There are times when we both miss our families.  It gets lonely and sometimes we feel forgotten, but it's in those lonely times that Jesse and I become more united and grow closer together as a family. Because of our newest edition, Travis, we are going to stay home this year for the holidays. We've been married for 3 1/2 years and we are just now starting to form our own holiday traditions. We're a little late, but it's never too late to start.

For Halloween, we had a few parties that we went to on Saturday night, but the real fun started on Sunday. We had our very own family Halloween party. Landon and Travis were both sick, which was kind of a bummer, but we still had fun. We played the powdered donut game. Landon cheated and used his hands. Then we watched The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Landon normally isn't allowed to watch movies so he was pretty captivated with it. We couldn't even get him to look away from the TV.

On Saturday night we dressed Landon in his Halloween costume for the ward trunk-or-treat. He was so excited that we couldn't get him to stop running around the living room.  Landon was a pirate and Travis was a cute little baby.