Third times a charm

Wow. The past few days have been so crazy that I'm *just now* getting around to posting another one of my cooking experiments from last Thursday.

For my third attempt at using Jessica Seinfeld's deceptively delicious, I picked the oddly named "Tortilla Cigars."  For those of you looking for the bottom line: This one's a keeper. Try it. Your kids will eat it. Your picky husband will eat it. And they will LIKE it. Mine did! (husband... I'm not hiding any secret children...)

It was pretty easy to make. Once again, I went the lazy route and used baby food instead of puree-ing my own vegetables. Basically, you mix cheddar cheese, cream cheese, pureed chicken, a bunch of spices, pureed carrots and pureed squash altogether. You line one edge of a tortilla with the mixture and then roll them up. Then bake in the oven for about 5-7 minutes until the tortilla gets a little crispy. And done!

It was really tasty and great for taking to work. Couldn't taste the peas or squash. It was a little bland. I'd recommend adding maybe some jalepenos or serving with your favorite salsa. I'd also recommend buying one of those pre-cooked rotisserie chickens at HEB (or Safeway or what have you). It would have really cut down the prep time if I didn't have to defrost and cook the chicken.

All in all, after three attempts with this cookbook, I'd say it's a great one to pick up and try. Doooooo it.

Six months

This weekend, I am celebrating six wonderful months of marriage to my best friend.

Thank you for always making me laugh. I love you.

I said what?!

Apparently, I had some pretty vivid dreams last night. I only vaguely remember telling Hans about it this morning. In my dream, Hans and I definitely had a child, a little boy. His name was Jacob, but we called him Jake. He was old enough to talk, but not to say much. Then he started mumbling something that sounded like baby... ooo... ooo... baby.. and I said "Is my baby singing Glee songs?"

And that's all I remember. My dream babies sing Push It from Glee. Awesome.

Wise and foolish men

"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." 
~ Matthew 7:24-27

It is interesting to notice that the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew against both houses! Living the gospel does not mean that we will everlastingly escape adversity. Rather, it means that we will be prepared to face and endure adversity more confidently.

~ Elder Rafael E. Pino, "Faith in Adversity," April 2009 conference

Epic fail

Yup, that's me. Epic fail. I suck at blogging lately. Life has taken some unexpected turns. Very busy, very stressful. Hopefully it'll start to smooth out soon.

So to make up for my fail-ness of late, I leave you with this. Josh sent it to me yesterday and I laughed until I cried. It was much needed. Enjoy.

Tofu and peas?!

Today was my second experiment with Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious" cook book - Tofu Nuggets.

They're supposed to pass off as a mozarella-stick type snack. We'll see.

It was pretty easy to make, though took twice as long as the 25 minutes the book promised. Liars. You mix together bread crumbs, flaxseed meal, and paprika in one bowl. In another you put pureed peas (or spinach) and egg. You chop up some extra firm tofu, coat it in the pea/egg mix, and then the bread crumb mixture. Then you cook it on the stove.

I took someone's advice and instead of pureeing my own vegetables, I stocked up on baby food. That definitely cut down the prep time and seems to work just as well. The hardest part about this recipe was evenly cooking all the sides. It wasn't too hard to get the four main faces of the sticks, but pretty hard to brown the ends. Oh, and the batter didn't always stick to the tofu well. It would peel off some sides entirely.

I really wasn't in the mood for these for dinner (my stomach had been upset all day), but was pleasantly surprised. Dipped in marinara sauce, they're actually a decent imitation of mozarella sticks. A couple co-workers tried some too and we all three agree - you can not taste the peas. I was only able to eat a few of them, though, before my tummy started feeling weird and they started not tasting as good. I think they work well as a healthy kids snack or maybe an appetizer, but not a whole meal.

Still waiting on Hans' verdict....

Then sings my soul

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works Thy hands have made.
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee:

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee:

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee:

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!