Friday, December 28, 2007

Making Bread


These are cinnamon swirl loafs. I was really baking up a storm...just kidding. I put them in mini-loaf pans. The recipe I followed was from the Bread Bible.

This is zucchini parmeasan loaf from the Martha Stewart recipe collection...love Martha.

Cinnamon rolls...yummy. Most cinnamon roll recipes taste the same to me. This one included, the main difference is the bread is very sweet and soft. I used buttermilk, instead of milk. I used pure maple syrup in the frosting.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Finally figured out almond gravy...yippy



There is a restaurant in Portland that sells biscuits and almond gravy, and it is so good. Ever since I have lived in Bethel I have attempted to make this gravy, and everytime was a disgusting clump of ickyness. Greg reminds me that the only meal that he did not like was my biscuit and gravy. Well last night I finally made it right, and it tasted just like the restaurant. As Martha says, "It's a good thing."

The recipe is simple..figures:

2 T butter or oil
3 T flour (white or whole wheat)
2 c milk or vegetable stock (or even water, if you don't have anything else)
1 c ground toasted nuts (cashews, almonds, pecans...)
Salt
Pepper
Directions Heat the butter or oil in the saucepan, until melted/hot. Whisk in flour and stir continuously for one minute.
Remove from heat for 2-3 minutes.

Return saucepan to stove and whisk in the milk and nuts. Simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened, 3-5 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Christmas, christmas, christmas


Greg and I got a great christmas present from our babies. They slept for a good hour or so.

Ruby got a baby doll for christmas and would feed the doll, and wipe it's mouth after it drank milk. Very funny and cute to us.

we thought for sure that grams and g-ma would get barrets or pony tail holders for Ruby, but none came. Look, she could really use one in her hair right now.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas...Got COLD!





This is outside our front door. Very beautiful Christmas morning. The sky was pink, purple, and blue. This is when Bethel is really pretty!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Spagetti squash finally


I have never baked spagetti squash, because it always went bad. I finally used this squash that came around Thanksgiving time. It was pretty good tossed with butter and basil. We ate it with some potatoe casserole, with my last onion and a can of tomatoes. Greg pretended to like this meal, but I could tell it made him sick. Just like eating a steak would make me sick :)

Peppermint candy Marshmellows


I made these marshmellows with my old fashioned kitchen aide mixer. It must be close to 50 years old and can still whip it up. I love that it has directions right on the arm. It's really an excellent little product. cost me only 3.00 dollars at a garage sale!

I cannot beleived how easy it is to make marshmellows. These have a little bit of peppermint oil in them. I used red food coloring for the swirl effect. Martha Stewarts recipe...I'm so glad she's out of jail.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Plenty of Zucchini and yams



I forgot how much I love zucchini. I have not ate it as much since I found out that Greg does not like zucchini very much. I secretely have been adding it to stuff without greg knowing. It turns out that he likes zucchini as long as he does not know it's in the meal. This was a very good meal. I julienned the zucchini and onions and added basil, mozzerella, and olives. Very yummy!



I am running out vegetables and once again only had zucchini, onions, yams, and elephant garlic. So I diced all these vegetables up and sauted them, added a can of tomato sauce and waited for them to get soft and mix nicely together. I put them in the food processor and added about 1/3 cup of milk and some parmesean cheese and threw them over whole wheat pasta.....really yummy! I didn't tell Greg what was in it, but he asked if I put yams in the sauce because it was orange. I told him that I added milk to the red sauce which really would have turned it pink but he was sufficed with this answer. He liked it end of story. Ruby liked it too! I probaly liked it the most.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Guy Guy



This was our friend Guy that past away in August of cancer. I thought this was a nice writing on him.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Ruby two shoes

Some moments in Bethel


Bethel cemetary.

This boat is over by the dump and recycling place. It's name is Snowball! I took this picture for Greg's mom. She really liked Snowball!


The river has frozen solid once again.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

baby communication

Neh --> it means: I'm hungry.

Owh --> it means: I'm sleepy.

Heh --> it mean discomfort now.

Eairh -->it means:I have lower gas (upset stomach)

Eh --> it means:I need to burp (need to be burped)

This comes from Pricila Dunston an austrilian lady that has a photographic hearing memory and picked up on her own baby's communication and realized that other babies were making the same noises for the same problems right before they started to cry. I have noticed that Moxy makes these noises but it's hard to distinguish at first. This morning he was making the noises very clearly.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

organic food with wings




All of this cost 60.00, yes it's true. Seems like a lot of money. Usually I pay 44.00 but I bought some extra onions and elephant garlic. This is still cheaper than Bethel produce, and it is flown over 2000 miles by Alaska Airlines, so it gets to my house in really good shape. Our supplier is Full Circle Farms in Carnation Washington.
fullcirclefarms.com
let see, we got:
1 elephant garlic
1 regular garlic
4 kiwis
4 lbs of potatoes
spinach
carrots
cucumber
6 zucinni
6 garnet yams (I like that name)
basil
6 onions
2 green bell pepeprs
4 apples
4 really yummy red pears
4 oranges
brocolli

Mainstream Propaganda



I really dislike this magazine I honestly tried to like it. They have articles that make me angry, because they go against my ways of being a parent. God knows I am not a perfect parent, but this magazine won't help me be any better.
Here are a few things that I disagreed with:

1) One of the articles said that since there was no evidence that pesticides harm babies or children then it is okay to keep feeding your child fruits and vegetables smothered in pesticides. I wrote to the author and asked her why she would even want to take the chance with your child. Who knows when the evidence will come out. She wrote me back and told me that she understood how I felt but wrote her article to the mainstream mom.

2) They recently wrote an article explaining that co-sleeping with your child was dangerous, and babies who co-sleep are 40 times more likely to die by suffocation. Obviously, the author did not do her research because babies in beds who die often get squished by their intoxicated parent. Kids die in cribs too. Most parents that I know that co-sleep are careful and like me they wouldn't do their sleeping arrangement any other way.

3)They say, "a flu vaccine is the best way to prevent your child from getting seriously sick this winter-so why do so many parent's blow it off." They suck! They even went as far to say the vaccine is completely safe...ya right! Who are they to accuse parent's of sitting around eating bon bon's instead of getting their child a shot. I think I'll eat bon bon's today instead of taking Ruby to get her flu shot, what do you think greg? They even said that 20,000 children die per year. I want to know how many of those children were from impoverished families that did not have access to health care or the money to buy medicine. Yes in the USA. That would be a better story. you suck "parent's magazine" I wish you would stop showing up in my mailbox!

There is more but I have to cook dinner. THe author would probaly be upset to know that I am wearing Ruby while I cook.
Mainstreatm propaganda, mainstream propaganda, Mainstreatm propaganda, mainstream propaganda

My little Braveheart


Ruby is getting in touch with her Scottish roots. Now she looks like her grandfather Houston.

Mid- dinner nap

Monday, December 10, 2007

Getting ready for Christmas


Here's Ruby and Moxy's christmas picture. It was really hard getting these even. I will probaly try again.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sunday, December 9, 2007

December Birthdays

Happy Birthday to
my mom Evelyn December 3rd
Uncle Chuck December 6th
Smith Maddrey December 7th
Laura Simmons December 9th
Susan Maddrey December 11th

I am so glad that god made you!!!

Saturday, December 8, 2007

elizabeth mitchell you are my little bird


You are my bird, by elizabeth mitchell! This is the name of my new favorite cd. It is supposed to be for Ruby and Moxy but I like it too! There are two more, so I told Greg that I am going to buy Ruby and Moxy a couple of Cd's for christmas :).

Here is the website to this great music, you can listen to some of their music there!

http://youaremyflower.org/home.html

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Stuff in my lentils



This is what I found in my 1 cup of lentils...yuck, I guess that's why they are a super saver value brand.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007



So I wrote the Redvine Company a while back and asked them to make a red and black twist licorice vine. They didn't write back and or even acknowledge that I made a suggestion that could bring them in new customers. But if you look at that bag of licorice you can see that there is a whole bunch of black licorice. Thank god....I can't stand lots of red licorice, you got to have black to mix with the red. This is the first time I have ever seen that much black in a bag.


Again, I wrote to the redvine company to remind them about my red and black twist licorice idea. I still have not recieved an email from them acknowledging my idea. There must be more people like me in the world that would love a red and black twisted together. I guess I will keep emailing them.

And again, I wrote to the redvine company again but from another one of their website. Here is a fun fact. The redvine company is located in Bend Oregon. I had no idea that it was an oregon company. Maybe that's why people eat twizzlers on the east coast.

So this is the recent email I received from the Redvine Company:

"Dear Michele,
Thank you for your message on Redvines.com

Red Vines® products currently come in Original Red, Black Licorice,
Pink Strawberry and Red Cherry flavors. Please visit RedVines.com or
our online candy store, CandyCabinet.com
(http://www.candycabinet.com) for more information on the flavors we
offer.

Sincerely,
Matthew
American Licorice Consumer Relations"

This is a very dissapointing reply as I already know what flavors they offer. I am just going to keep writing back until I get a better reply. Like "gee what a great idea!"

Monday, December 3, 2007

This is a new one for our Bethel experience



The temperature has been jumping up and down. It went from the teens to the 40's and this morning it dropped to 10 degrees causing our tires to become frozen in the ground. Wouldn't even budge. These are our new tires by the way, we love them.

Ruby learns to pray


Last night, Ruby grabbed Greg and my hand at the dinner table and prayed with us. She even bowed her head. I would have taken a picture but it seemed sacreligious.

My favorite pizza dough recipe



Notice the bubbles...I love bubbly pizza

Thin-Crust Pizza Dough

1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 cup warm water (about 105°F)
1 cup cake flour
1 cup plus 3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

In a small bowl, whisk together the yeast, sugar and warm water and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the dough blade, combine the cake flour, all-purpose flour and salt and pulse 3 or 4 times.

Whisk 1 Tbs. of the olive oil into the yeast mixture. With the motor running, slowly add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding more. Pulse the machine 10 to 15 times to knead the dough. The dough should clean the insides of the bowl but will be slightly sticky.

Coat the inside of a large bowl with the remaining 1 Tbs. oil. Dust your hands with flour and remove the dough from the food processor. Form the dough into a ball and place in the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Divide the dough in half and roll out as directed in the pizza recipe. Makes two 10-inch thin-crust pizzas.

side notes:
I actually make cake flour by adding 2 tablespoons of corn starch to the flour. I also added gluten flour

Williams-Sonoma Kitchen. (Given credit where credit is due)

Saturday, December 1, 2007

halibut and sunrises



Sunrise over the kuskokwim. My mom, Ruby and I went to the river to try to catch a glimpse of the sunrise. We got this picture right before both our cameras ran out of batteries. Today it was the color of scarlet....here comes the storm.



My dad made Halibut fryed in tempera batter. He called it the chicken of the sea! Next to the halibut is purple carrots, that's why they have a purple ring around them. Yummy carrots. I didn't eat the halibut, but it did look scrumpuous.

grandparents all get to meet moxy


"This is the way the farmers ride, the farmer ride, the farmers ride....."


Kids are looking tired!






The grandparents have come and gone all getting there chance to meet moxy and love him. We hated seeing them go...makes us re-remember how important family is and how special our parent's are !

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Mom and Dad made it to Alaska just in time for Thanksgiving. They got lucky as the weather in Bethel is starting to stir up snow with wind gusts.










Grandma and Ruby loving eachother!









Grandpa was made the babysitter!















Leprechaun's Dream....oops how did that picture get in there?







Turkey before!











AFTER being cooked!




































cranberry sauce, made from scratch and so yummy. It was so good!




One can Thanksgiving. I know there is three cans but we didn't make the green bean casserole because we already had so much food. We made everything pretty much by scratch. My mom and I worked in the kitchen for 7 hours literally cooking delicious meals that my mom found on the food network channel. Thanks Giada and Ita for some awsome recipes!






This is delicious stuffing: We made it with homemade french bread loafs, apples, toasted almonds, celery and holiday spices. Oh my god this was delicious!