Week #2 New Thing - Granola

I saw two new recipes for granola that I have been wanting to try - and I needed to use up some leftover dried fruit anyway. The one on the left is Blueberry -Almond and the one on the right is Maple-Nut, with a few craisins thrown in. Both are equally tasty. Recipes below from Everyday Food Magazine. Blueberry Almond Granola
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 T. oil
2 T. honey
1 cup dried blueberries
Toss together and turn into a raised edge cookie sheet sprayed with a little Pam and bake in a 350F oven for 20 mins, stirring twice. My only suggestion would be to add a little almond extract for extra flavor. Cool before storing.

Maple Nut Granola
3 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats (I used a rolled 7 grain mix that I really like)
1/2 chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1/4 t. salt
5 t. oil
5 t. pure maple syrup
1/2 t. vanilla
Toss together and turn into a raised edge cookie sheet sprayed with a tiny bit of Pam and bake at 325F for 30 mins, stirring twice. Cool before storing. Enjoy!

12 Ways to Prevent Food Waste at Home

I saw something really neat on the MSL Body + Soul website this morning. The tips were great and the pictures were so elegant. It made being frugal look so chic! Only Martha can make digging through the garbage can a near spitirual experience. Check it out here:

12 Ways to Prevent Food Waste at Home#ms-global-breadcrumbs

Happy Valentines Day and Thank you Shawn Hannity!

Shawn Hannity promo gift upgrade. I'll take chocolate from anyone, obviously. Wait til Miss Nemesis finds out! heehee The Valentine tree.

My Valentine's Day has started a little early. I got a sweet package in the mail yesterday but can't share the photo's because sugar daddy sent all the girls one as well and some have not been opened yet. Thanks to Shawn Hannity, when Dick clicked the promo key and put his name in, (like the guy is always saying to do) an extra little box of chocolates was added to the package. That much I will say - as a tease.

Lunch for tomorrow's Bush District RS Leadership Training meeting is my responsibility so there will be about 6 of us in the building and the rest are on the phone. This is my last responsibility before we go on vacation in 10 days. Lunch is Apple Butternut squash soup, a lovely salad, artisan break and mint brownies. The soup and the brownies are made and the salad and bread are compliments of Costco. I just have to figure out how to get there in the next couple of hours. Before the temple. I digress.

Dinner tomorrow night is at Kincaid Grill and I am very excited to try it out. Will take pictures of the food - some friends are joining us there. So it will be fun.

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Our Weekend in Bethel

Dick and I spent the weekend in Bethel visiting the branch. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home and only had the use of my phone so the photos aren't the best. The weather was cold (-11) and windy. It was also snowing and very foggy most of the time. Not exactly a great photo opportunity. It was also dark a lot of the time so we were unable to get as many photo's as we wanted. Here is the Alaska Airlines terminal. It's the only terminal I think.Just a view of the area from the plane.

This was the most exciting time while there - driving across the frozen lake (a shortcut) to get to the airport. It was well traveled.

An aerial photo showing the river front part of town. The river freezes during the winter and is used as a main road to the surrounding villages. We saw several vehicles and snow machines driving on the river.

We bought pizza and had a pizza party for all the youth at someones home to recruit them to attend the upcoming Bush District temple trip, attended branch council meeting, I taught a primary class and Dick presented the young men's lesson, discussed everyone seminary attendance with them, visited Young Women (one girl in attendance) and visited the RS meeting. I disliked the practice song there as well. If I am ever the RS General President (big haha) my first order of business is to get rid of the practice song. We ate some egg rolls at the Tundra Restaurant and breakfast at the "Grr8 Bear Bed and Breakfast". It was a nice room and the owner made quiche for breakfast - Dick's favorite (not so much). The flights were on time and it was a wonderful 24 hours. We came home and rested. So Super Bowl for us. Not that we care. I have no room in my life for football. Although it hear it was all about the commercials anyway. This was probably my last trip to the bush so I was a little sad coming home knowing this. But it's been a great experience.

New Thing #1

Wanting to participate in DeerHollow's "make or finish something new every week" game, I hope this counts as something new, I did use materials already in the house. Last night I made Julia Child's recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It was good and the sauce was nice without being too thick or too thin so I consider it a success. However, it didn't get the smashing reviews I had hoped for. It was merely referred to as "stew", with the same enthusiam one might use when describing something they ate the last day of scout camp. And "stew" obviously isn't a favorite. My man doesn't like his meat "stewed" or cooked too well done - he likes the sport of gnawing, tearing and ripping the flesh from the bones. Especially if there is some red juice (read: blood) involved. Joints, gristle or any other kind of connective tissue is a bonus. So, I probably don't have to worry about being asked to go through the ordeal of preparing it again after a hard days work. I am so relieved! Gosh! And to think it might have become a family favorite. I think the reason people get so worked up about this meal is that it calls for 3 cups of red wine. Mine only had 1 1/2 cups of cooking wine. So I guess the more alcohol the meal contains the better it tastes. Maybe I should try a booze free recipe the next time. I might get better reviews.

Happy February!

February is such a happy month! We have already made our Valentines Day dinner reservations for our romantic dinner. For the last couple of years we have been out of luck for procrastinating.

We are going to Bethel this weekend for the Bush District. I have never been to Bethel so I am excited to see the sights!!! Pictures to follow for sure.

It's Megan's birthday on the 24th so everyone please send her cards and flowers and presents and chocolate and mostly lots of love!!!

We are going to Kauai on the 21st so please think fondly of us as we thaw out for two weeks.

My baby brothers birthday is the 29th of this month. Yes, the 29th so I need to check and see if he gets a birthday this year or not!

The last week of this month the sun will peak over the mountains across from my front yard and we will officially have sunshine again for at least the next 6 months or so.

Our stake women's conference is this month - usually a fun and uplifting day, or at least a day that Dick bribes me with other wonderful and fun things to stay home with him - which is also fun!

I will follow up and be checking on you you as well!

Anything else? We'll see.