Saturday, April 30, 2011

So Close!

The farmers market is less than a week away now!!!!!

 I'm pretty excited! I also just want the first week to be over with though.

I have lots of things to do this next week. Print off business cards, print labels, bake, go to a meeting, turn in the last of my paper work, etc. It seems like the list is endless.

I can't wait to come home on Saturday and tell you all about it! I hope I do well! I hope my post on Saturday evening will say that I sold out of everything! That would be the best!!

I can only hope for everything to go smoothly. Cross your fingers for me!!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Roses are beautiful

I miss my grandma. I think about her everyday. She used to do so much with my sister and I.

I remember whenever we would go over to her house she would have strawberries waiting for me and apples for my sister. She would take us up to heritage square to see all of the plays. She always had Cheetos on top of her fridge for when we got hungry and wanted to snack.Whenever we were in the car she would make sure to have radio Disney playing for us. Even when we got to the age where we hated listening to that radio station, we would listen to it with her. I remember when I was a little girl, I would walk to her house after school and she would always have a peanut butter and honey sandwich with a cherry coke waiting for me. We would sit on her back porch and I would tell her about my day while I ate.


She passed away in July of 2008. I miss her more than anything. She was such an amazing grandma. Its hard to imagine that I haven't seen her or heard her voice in so long. I wish I could hear her voice again.
I know the pictures are too wide but I want them to be big!



Grandma Rose I miss you. I hope you know I think about you all the time. I wish you could meet Anika. I know that she would love you.

Debt Free!!!

Yesterday at 5:00 pm my family became debt free!!!!!!!! Isn't that amazing!?!?!

It took a while to get here, we've been slowly working at it for a while now. We kind of started trying to pay everything off February of 2009. We didn't have much of a plan though. We would just randomly pay different cards off.

If my memory is right we had about $21,000 in debt in January of 2010. That number does include his car though, which is a big part of it.

We made a plan and slowly chipped away at it until it was finally GONE!!! I'm just so excited!

I wish I would have had a camera to take a picture of Gabe's face when he walked out of the bank that day. He was so happy.

Since I don't have a picture I'll just post one where we are just as happy.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Guess Who's Back!

Ok, I know I've been away for a while. It gets hard to think of something to post everyday. My life isn't that interesting. Today is going to be a picture post mostly. About Easter with my wonderful little family.

We woke up and let Anika hunt around the living room for the 'hidden' eggs (plain sight).







Then we went to the zoo!!!



They were cuddling :)







Only 8 days old!
















We had a great Easter, I hope your family did too!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Vegan Pot Pie

I feel so terrible for not posting very often. I hope I am forgiven.

Dinner tonight was amazing!!!! The best part is I get the leftovers!!!! Gabe's work is providing lunch for them tomorrow so I get it all! Not that there is much left, but enough to make me happy.

Vegan Pot Pie
I used bits and pieces from this recipe.

Crust

1 cup wheat flour
1 cup white flour
4 tbsp shortening
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp rosemary and thyme mixture

In bowl combine both flours, salt, and seasonings. Then cut in shortening. Once no large lumps remain add in just enough water to mix. When it comes together separate into two balls then wrap in plastic and set in fridge.



Filling

2 potatoes, diced
2 large carrots, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup broccoli, diced
1/4 cup onion, minced
Best life Butter
1 1/2 cups Almond Milk
Corn starch

Once all of your vegetables are chopped and minced. Add butter to a large pot, about 2 tbsp. Melt then add garlic and onion. Saute for a few minutes then add potatoes, carrots and broccoli. Saute for a few more minutes. Add almond milk and bring to a boil.




While you wait pull out one of the dough balls and roll out to where it can fit in a pie pan with about 1 inch hanging over at least. Lay flat in pie pan. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Once almond milk is boiling add corn starch according to directions. About 2 tbsp worth. Bring back to a boil, stirring constantly, it should thicken up pretty quickly. Once it is thickened fill up pie pan. Then roll out other ball of dough until it is wide enough to fit on top. Then cover pie pan. Then use your fingers to seal all edges, folding over anything that is hanging off. I have ended up with a lot of excess dough so I just have a super thick edge. It is really yummy! Then cut an x in the middle and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. It will begin to boil when it is done.




Then try not to eat it all. This meal is definitely a favorite now! One thing I forgot to add was seasonings so I need to work on that for next time!



Thursday, April 7, 2011

Serious Guilt!

I have been feeling so guilty that I haven't had a blog post in a few days. I have been so busy. I usually post when Anika is in bed but with the farmers market coming up soon I use all my free time to test recipes.

One of my awesome friends reminded me that it is quality not quantity.

I made blueberry muffins the other night, they turned out okay, but needed more sugar. Then, last night we had broccoli soup, it was pretty good. Tonight, we had an amazing dinner, vegan pot pie. I have never really had a pot pie but I will be making this a lot more often! Unfortunately I don't have pictures for any of these. Bad blogger!

Unfortunately, I don't have much time tonight either. I'm still here!! Just really busy. I hope I can post a recipe soon!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Shake It!



Anika sure knows how to shake it!! She loves dancing. If music is playing, she's dancing. Gosh I love this little girl. She lights up my world.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Pretzels

Gabe and I have decided that next time we go to the mall we are going to stand at Auntie Anne's and watch them make pretzels.



I made some tonight and while they tasted great, they didn't look so great. So I need to go watch the experts.

Pretzels
From here.

1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp yeast
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup warm water
about 4 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda
2 cup warm water

Butter
additonal toppings

In bread machine add 1/2 tsp brown sugar, 1 1/2 tsp yeast, touch of salt, 1 1/2 cup warm water. Let sit for about 5 minutes. Turn the bread machine to dough setting. Add 2 cups of flour and hit start. Add remaining flour in 1/2 cup portions until dough is no longer sticky. Run through dough setting.

Once dough is done add 2 cups of warm water and 2 tsp baking soda. Stir. Grease cookie sheet. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Take a chunk of the dough and shape it into a pretzel. This is where I was having a hard time. I'm not very good at it.





Practice makes perfect right??? I'll get it down one of these days. Bake for about 12 minutes.


Once out of the oven use a pastry brush to cover with butter and sprinkle on desired toppings.