Saturday, February 9, 2013

Easy Microwave Omelet

I love omelets. I think they are deliciously fluffy and flavorful, and I love that you can pretty much put whatever you want in them.  When I was in Seattle visiting my awesome Bro-and-Sis-in-law we went to a place featured on Man vs Food called Beth's Cafe .  DELICIOUSLY HUGE OMELETS! Loved them.

The problem with omelets is cooking them evenly.  I try to make them, but getting them cooked thoroughly without burning the bottom seems next to impossible.  I try to flip them, which just gets messy.  I usually end up with scrambled eggs with some cheese and veggies mixed in.  Still tastes good, but just isn't the same!

So, when I found this microwave omelet maker from Tupperware, I was super excited to give it a try.  I didn't have a lot on hand, but I did what I could.  I had some canadian bacon, green pepper, tomato, and cheese that I whisked in with the eggs, along with a touch of milk, onion flakes, and celery salt.  Ooooooh was it delicious!  All it needed was some REAL bacon!


The instructions told me to cook my omelet for about 2 minutes for 2 eggs... mine wasn't cooked all the way yet (my microwave is oooold) so I did 2 more minutes and it was perfect!  Yay for an easy way to a healthy breakfast!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Easy 4 Ingredient Berry Ice Cream

So, I just got a bunch of stuff from Tupperware that I didn't even know they sold... did you know they sell things besides storage bowls?  CRAZY!  I got this Quick Chef Pro System, it's basically a hand-cranked chopper/salad spinner/ mixer in one.  And it came with a few recipes!  One of the recipes was for "Berry Quick Ice Cream."  It only had 4 ingredients and seemed like it would be relatively quick and healthier than other ice cream. There's not a ton of sugar in it, and it's made with real berries.

All you need is
1 c frozen strawberries
1 c heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp vanilla
3 tbsp powdered sugar.

You put all of the ingredients in the Quick Chef Pro System, turn the blade for about 1 1/2 minutes, and you're good to go!  The recipe says your soft serve ice cream will be ready to eat (for a thicker consistency add more strawberries).  It seemed to be about the consistency of yogurt to me, though, and I wanted it to be a little thicker and a little colder, so I stuck it in the freezer for a few hours.


Final product:  Not too bad!!!  It wasn't super sweet like most ice cream, but it was still yummy.

The Quick Chef Pro System also came with a salsa recipe.... can't wait to try it!  The blades chopped much better than I expected for being hand crank.... There must be some major gears in there to get it to turn as fast as it does and as smooth as it does.  It chops so smoothly, and with so much less noise than my electric chopper!  I may just be getting rid of my electric ones.... This holds about 3 times as much as my little electric choppers AND seems easier to use as well.  I LOVE IT!

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Creme Brûlée Fudge

A few weeks ago Olive Garden, my place of work, came out with a new Caramel Brulee Martini.  It is delicious!  Ever since trying it (Being a Mormon, I tried the non-alcoholic version my manager told the bartender to wing) I have been craving creme brûlée.  So, when my sister told me she found a creme brûlée fudge recipe on Pinterest, I just had to try it!  I went to the page and found 3 recipes all with a review alongside them.  The third recipe was the best according to the blogger, but the measurements she used were milliliters and grams... yikes!!!  So, I converted all the measurements as accurately as I could.  It called for 200g of marshmallows, which I didn't have.  I did, however, have a jar of marshmallow cream which said 198g on it, so I just used that.  Here is the recipe with the Americanized measurements.

1 can (5 oz) evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 small jar (198 grams) marshmallow cream
Most of a bag of white chocolate chips (the entire bag, minus 1/4 cup)

1. Grease a pan, I used an 8x8 cake pan and the fudge was a little thick to my liking, so a 9x13 would probably be perfect.
2. In a large, heavy based pot dissolve sugar in the butter and evaporated milk.  Increase heat to medium and, using a thermometer, heat to 238*F, stirring constantly.  It will take quite a while, so you might want to pull up a stool.
3. Remove from heat and immediately stir in white chocolate chips and marshmallow cream with a wooden spoon.  Once it is all mixed together and creamy, pour into your prepared pan.
4.  Let it set for 20 minutes or so, then sprinkle some white sugar on top and torch it.  ( I used a lighter... which took forever!  If you have a small propane torch I would recommend using that.)


It took probably an hour for my fudge to completely set up, the original recipe said it set up pretty quickly so it might be because I used marshmallow cream instead of marshmallows, but it is tasty nonetheless!  My husband hates fudge and he is insisting on me making another batch of this because it will be all gone by the time his family comes to visit.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Tips and Tricks for Cloth Diapering: Week 1


Cloth Diapering Week 1

This is a lot easier than I was expecting.  I washed all diapers on Monday, and didn't have to wash them again until Friday...  That is 5 diaper covers (2 lined with fleece so you can't really reuse them and 3 that aren't so you can wipe them down and reuse them), 13 tri-fold organic inserts, and 7 microfiber "stay-dry" inserts, and 12 wipes.  There were inserts and wipes left over, but the covers really needed a washing.

I figured there are probably a lot of you out there who kinda want to try cloth diapering, but have no clue how to go about it, what you need, and what to do with the poop.  That is why it took me so long to get started, so I thought I'd blog about it.  Give advice from things I've learned along the way.

First things first:  There are 2 types of closures I've found so far: snaps and velcro (also called hook and loop?).  I only have 1 snap diaper right now.  The problem I have found with velcro is that if there is any gunk left on a dirty diaper when you throw it in the wash it is bound to get stuck in the velcro.  Velcro, as you know, sticks together.  As the diaper is rolling around in the washer, the velcro finds other velcro and sticks, trapping any gunk inside.  For that reason any additional diapers I buy will be snaps.... (I ordered 3 off of zulily.com and I'm super excited to get them).  Has anybody else come across this problem and/or have a solution?  Right now I'm thinking I'll just have to get a diaper sprayer.

So, here are my supplies so you can get a glimpse of what they look like.  

From left to right you've got the tri-folds, the microfiber inserts, the velcro diapers, and the organic re-usable wipes (which I LOVE).

Second things now: How to choose a type of insert.  I prefer the organic tri-folds personally.  There are a couple reasons for this: 1, I don't like the way the microfiber feels on my hands.  It seems to catch on every little piece of loose skin.  2, the microfiber doesn't seem to be as absorbent.  You have to use 2 or 3 microfiber inserts in one diaper for it to last more than an hour or 2, let alone overnight.  You can get the gist of what they are above.  Here is a picture of an unfolded tri-fold: It's essentially 3 inserts in one so you don't have to dirty 3 at a time.

If anybody has any questions or advice on cloth diapering, please feel free to share!!!

Monday, October 22, 2012

We are Converting to Cloth

The other day on CNN I saw a segment about a woman who started a business during the Recession and how well it's doing.  It's doing well because it's a niche market that also helps people save money: She makes cloth diapers.  She stated in her interview that using cloth diapers instead of disposables will save a family an average of $900 just on the first child.

I had considered switching to cloth before, bought a couple diapers and used them even.  But I found that if you are going to switch you really need to switch all out to make sure you have everything you need for a successful cloth diapering experience.  So I quit. But after hearing it can save $900 I decided to add up how much we spend on diapers.  Averaging 4 diapers a day, we probably go through one economy pack of Huggies a month (The bigger the size of diaper, the less in the box so that probably accounts for the newborns going through 10+ a day well enough).  That is $35 per month.  My daughter is 19 months old, which puts us at $665 we have spent on diapers so far.  You could probably add more, seeing as the size 1 diapers only hold 70 more diapers; and boy do those newborns go through them!

That is $700 that could have been spent on food, insurance, clothes, or even put in savings!  $700 that could have been put toward our food storage or a new windshield for my car!

After figuring this out I decided, enough is enough!  We are switching to cloth.  My husband is not too excited about it, but he has agreed to it.  I went to Cotton Babies and stocked up on the Flip diaper system (that is what I decided I liked best when I half-heartedly tried it before) with the organic tri-fold inserts.  While I wait for them I only have enough diapers for one day... once what I've ordered comes I'll probably have enough for 5 days or so.  I figure 2 days of the week she goes to daycare so she can stick with disposables those days.  So far she doesn't like them much.  It takes her a minute to break them in so they move with her, so she waddles around for an hour until they soften up.  It's funny... Hopefully she'll get used to them!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Women in the Mormon Church

Another problem people seem to have with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that women are treated "unequal."  Women within the church have said this, including a very public blogger and author, Joanna Brooks.  Most of these women believe in most of the doctrine of the Church, but not all of it, and are not completely active members.  From what I have noticed the people who claim this have not been to the Temple either.  I think for most of them a trip to the temple will help to ease their minds on this subject.

The reason people don't think women are equal in the Church is because they cannot hold the Priesthood (Same reason people think Blacks were discriminated against).  In my last post about Blacks and the Church I stated I believe the reason it took so long to give them the Priesthood was because white men weren't ready for it.  I am going to give a very similar explanation for the Woman problem, except slightly different.  This is something I remember being told when I was a teenager by my Seminary teacher.  This is not doctrine, but an explanation a single person came up with that I happen to think might be accurate.  Men NEED the priesthood more than women do.

Ask anybody in any religion; I think most of them will agree that women are more spiritual beings than men.  They are just more in tune to the spiritual side of things; whether that is because they can show emotion more easily or the fact that they create and care for life somehow brings them closer to their own Creator, that just seems to be how it is.  Because of that women are constantly connected to their spirituality.  Men function differently, they are very physical beings, in tune to the physical world of sports and work and providing for their families.  Women provide spiritual/emotional nurturing, men provide food and shelter (traditionally.  I know there are plenty of exceptions to this rule, especially today, but traditionally this is how it works).

Because of the different way men and women function, men need a little something extra to connect them to the spiritual side of things.  That is what the Priesthood is for.  It helps them to stay on the right path and stay connected to their spirituality.

Except there is a secret.  All those people who say women don't hold the priesthood are wrong.  Watching Rock Center: Mormon in America interview the Hunstman daughter who left the Church (Did you know the Huntsmans are Mormon Royalty?  I had no idea.... In fact the only Huntsman I really care for is Jon Huntsman Sr.... hmmmm.... weird.) she said she hoped one day women would hold the priesthood.  If she had visited the temple she would know THEY ALREADY DO!!!!

What happens inside the temple is a sacred thing, not secret.  We don't talk about it for that reason, but there really is nothing that extravagant that goes on in there that we need to tell the world about.  There are ceremonies and learning that happen.  Women actually use the Priesthood in the Temple during these ceremonies.  The women and men do their own separate things for most things, therefore it is the women performing the ordinances for the women.  The women doing the blessings and everything.  The women DO actively use the Priesthood inside the Temple.

In fact, outside the Temple women can use it too.  Sure they may not be ordained to the office of a Priest, but in the absence of a Priesthood holder women can call upon the name of Christ in their need and effectively use the Priesthood.

Women are in the clergy of the Church too.  The Relief Society and Primary Presidencies are both made up of women.  There are Branch, Ward, Stake, and General Relief Society and Primary Presidencies all over the world.

You may think, "well then what's the point in giving the Priesthood to the men if everyone can really use it anyway?"

It's kind of like the Holy Ghost.  We  believe that when we are confirmed members of the Church we are given the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  This means he will always be there to lead us and help us make decisions.  Everybody has the Holy Ghost already; most people call it your conscience.  The difference between having the Holy Ghost with you and the Gift of the Holy Ghost is the sensitivity and responsibility that comes with it.  Having the Gift of the Holy Ghost just means that he will be an active presence in everything you do if you want him to, but you have to be responsible to keep him there.  If you fall away you won't be able to hear what he is saying as well.

The same goes for the Priesthood.  When a man is given the Priesthood he is ordained into certain "offices" in the church and given certain responsibilities. In order to exercise his Priesthood he has to live worthily and fulfill the duties he has in his office of the church, otherwise the full extent of his Priesthood is inaccessible to him.

Long story short: Men and Women are equal in the eyes of God.  They are equal in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We are all children of God and He loves us all.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

The End.

So, No Spend Month is finally over!!!!  Wooo hoo!  Overall it was a success, although the last week we did spend some money because school was started and we needed a few supplies.  We spent about $300 less than we usually do.  We lived off of sandwiches and pasta for the last week or two of the month, but we did it!
There is one thing I feel I should warn anyone who wants to embark on this adventure about, however. Make sure you are completely stocked up on your food/emergency preparedness storage before you start.  We had decent food storage, but we were pretty low on toiletries by the time the month was over.  We ended up going out and spending $100 just to replenish our toiletries the first day of the month.

I hope we continue doing this every year.  August was hard because it included our anniversary and the beginning of school, so it will probably be September next year.  September we will have our garden producing in full force and we shouldn't have to spend money for textbooks and the like since that will be taken care of in August.  We'll see if we remember to do it, but I think it was really good for us and taught us a lot about what we can do with what we have.