Pizza Night!

Want your kids to eat all their supper? Have them cook it! This is something we have been doing for a while and it works great. Caleb is my fussy one, and somehow every meal he makes is the best meal EVER!

Generally each child has 1 night per week that they help cook. They pick the meal (usually on Sunday’s we plan the week) then they come in the kitchen at 4:30 and unload the dishwasher and help get supper going. This time we did pizza, but it was no ones night to help, and almost everyone wanted to help! So it was a group effort.

I made the pizza dough: Recipe disclaimer, I am a fiddler, this recipe gives a nice elasticy dough, but the taste could be better. I will tell you how I did it this time and then how I would tweek it later.

This makes 3 big pizza’s… Easily cut in half or thirds.

7 1/2 cups of Flour

3 tbsp of yeast (next time I will only use 2)

3 tbsp sugar (next time I will use 1/4 cup)

3 cups warm water

1/2 cup oil

1 tbsp italian seasoning

1 tsp salt

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl (I use my trusty Empire Red Kitchen Aid) mix for a bit. Add the water and oil. Knead for 5 minutes or so. If it seems to dry add a bit more oil. (I use Olive)

When it is well mixed put it in a oiled bowl, cover and let sit 15-30 minutes. I always put the bowl somewhere warm, on the stove, under a light, near a candle… Not sure if it is necessary, but my breads and buns ALWAYS turn out.

I like to divide the dough, work onto a pizza pan and then bake for 10-15 minutes (until its just about cooked) then add toppings. Clearly I have a large family, so this makes just enough , the girls like their own, so we make 2 really large pizza’s and two individual pizza’s.

Here is the where the kids took over (Meliah the 6 year old usually is very involved in the mixing the dough, but she had more pressing things to do, like riding her scooter with Molly her Waldorf doll).

Working on crustTerann laughing at why she isn’t making hers on the pan!Caleb is a bit of a perfectionist! Of course his goal was the best Pizza ever! EVER!

Rationing the Olives.The hand print pizza…Snoopy! Pepperoni, Olive and Cheese.Meliah’s Cheese and Olive Hand Print!Caleb’s best Pepperoni Pizza Ever!Mom’s Ham and Pineapple, with a bit of Olives!Dinner is ready!Terann’s Snoopy is just so cute!

Terann’s Pizza’s past!Hello Kitty!

Cook with your kids! It’s amazing the things you can learn, they become the biggest advocates at the table to try new things, and everything tastes that much better to them!

Favourite Kid’s meals that they help cook:

Breakfast Burrito’s

Pasta

Pizza

Taco Soup

Roast Beast with mashed potatoes and gravy

Not Shake n’ Bake Chicken

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Enchilada’s

Baked potato’s and Chicken

Waffles

Have fun everyone!

10 Fabulous things about 2010!

10. Macjam, MacJam is way more fun than I imagined (I admit I thought it would be lame, but wanted to support Shane!) MacJam ROCKS!

9. Utah – we love living in Utah.

8. Moab- Tanya and her family came down and we had so much fun hiking in Arches National Park.

7. Using our Air miles for our awesome new camera. I love free. (be sure to note how fat I am in this photo)

6. Winning 4 blog contests (technically 5, but I didn’t claim one of the prizes). Winning is fun, but winning things you love is even better! I would love this trend to stay for 2011!

5. Shane! Not only are we at a great spot, but that guy ran a freaking marathon! Seriously 26.2 miles is far! (He is hot)

4. I got to go to almost everyone of the boys football games. I missed 1 of Josh’s and 1 of Caleb’s.

3. I got to see my baby sister have a baby, and then stay to teach her how to bath Ava and all that fun stuff. Even if I had to share a couch with a disgusting chicken, it was worth it.

2. Eli loves me… I love to be an Aunty, and I love that my nephew will skype me and just show me things. Sends his mom away to bake cookies and shows me all his toys… I love it!

1. I love 40 pounds in 2010! That rocks!

There is more I know, but don’t want to go on forever!

What’s your top ten?

What are your goals for 2011?

I figure if I make my goals public, I might actually keep them!

My main goals are all about self improvement! I have been feeling like I am in a spiritual rut…

Church has become work, I so miss going to Relief Society and feeling the spirit at church. In primary, I feel like I am on duty, crowd control. I have small moments of sweetness, but overall it is not very uplifting. With not being uplifted at church, and not doing much during the week to feel the spirit, I need a change! A change that starts with me!

I also have a feeling that part of my hair loss issue is due to stress, my hair quit falling out for 1 week, 1 stress free week… The last 3 days I have been feeling the stress of no pay check, no money in the bank… And guess what my hair is falling out again. I got to thinking, the week it started to fall out, Shane told me his job was in the crapper and we would no longer be getting steady pay checks. I am sure the other things in my life ie. HCG and Thyroid contributed, but it seems a little too coincidental that as soon as I find out our livelihood is in jeopardy and then that the expected pay check hasn’t arrived, that I begin to shed like a sheep dog in Spring!

I have always struggled with my weight and this last year I managed to shed 40 pounds. I would still like to lose 25-35 pounds more, I had originally thought I would only ever want to be 25 pounds less than I am now, but now that I am closer to that weight, I see my body still has plenty to shed, so I think 35 is a realistic goal.

I have always wanted to be more athletic, to be able to push past the pain and keep going. I am terrible at mind over matter, when I run and my body says stop, I tend to listen! I want to learn to push myself harder and farther. To be healthy and strong. To kick Shane’s butt wake boarding maybe

So my goals are simple, quit trying to control the things I cannot control and focus on the things I can control.

I can control how I spend my time. I can control how much time I spend enriching my spirit.

I can control what I dwell on, I can stress and worry or I can let it be. I haven’t entirely figured out how to do this, but I can try!

I can control the food I eat and the beverages I drink (I still love you Diet Pepsi).

I can control how hard I push myself, I can find the athlete inside of me… Begging to escape my lazy butt!

Maybe 2011 can end with a full head of hair on a healthy fit body! Here’s to you 2011, bring it!

PS 2010 I enjoyed you too, thanks for the good times!

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Sick me!

I know I have been lazy, but me and my roll of toilet paper are tired and sick. I am hanging out with toilet paper because I used 3 boxes of kleenex… I think I need to go buy some more!

I will find something exciting to blog about soon!

Ummm, did I hear you correctly?

So most of you have heard about my new kitchen experiment… Well tonight was Caleb, who made “The Best Taco Soup in the WORLD” or so he thinks… Everyone loved it (still going bald on HCG so I never had any).

He was a eager beaver, and chatted my ear off (I know I was in Heaven).

But then he says, hey mom next week can you just leave the recipe out so I can do it all by myself?

Really like me sit and watch! You bet Caleb, but I will be in there so we can talk!

My Kitchen Experiment

With football season over, it was time to get some help in the house. Chore season! My kids are pretty good at helping out if they know what is expected of them.
While thinking of how to present the new responsibilities I decided I would implement something I have been thinking of for a long time. Getting the kids to help cook regularly, so not only do they learn essential cooking skills but we also get to spend some quality one on one time with each other. We also get the joy of setting the table and unloading the dishwasher.
The instruction is simple, be in the kitchen by 4:30 and if you want to pick what we make I have to know ahead of time – and have the ingredients.
Meliah needless to say, was ecstatic! She choose breakfast burrito, 6 year old style. Which means nothing she might  not like!

Meliah put in the first batch of bacon, but then it got dangerous for little girls, so mom finished.

First you crack the eggsThen you drop it in a bowl. Then you stir them with milk.Melt butter in your panPour in your eggs.She did 9 eggs. Dad wasn’t home.Scramble them.Wait…Cook the tortilla’sMMMMMMMRemember that mom is on HCG, so no bacon and wraps for her!Set the table.Mmmm Bacon!

Caleb was next, he opted for Enchilada’s

We like the costco tortilla’s you cook.We whip the cream cheese, add the chicken soup, mix well. Add onions, chicken and chili’s. Mix.Roll a hearty tablespoon into each tortilla.Line them up in a sprayed pan with a skiff of sauce in the bottomCover with Enchilada sauce and cheese. Cover in foil and bake at 350 for 60 to 90 minutes.

Chicken Enchilada’s

This will make 2 – 9X13 pans

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 cans diced green chili’s

6 green onions

1 package of cream cheese

4 chicken breasts cooked and diced

1 big can enchilada sauce

20-24 wraps

Cheese.

(This awesome recipe comes from Melanee, all my best ones do)

Josh was not overly impressed last week when he made pasta, but he warmed up this week.
Terann made tator tot casserole, which is her favourite.
I have to say this little experiment is going really well. Yes it takes longer to make the meals, and yes I cannot fool around on facebook instead of doing dinner prep.
What I hadn’t planned on was the kids having so much confidence and pride in their meals. Each of them think their meal is the best, and better because of their amazing skills…
We get to talk about silly things, annoying things and things they hope for. That my friends is priceless! I have MY teenagers talking to me!
This weeks menu:
Josh : Pork chops in sauce with Rice, Salad and Beans.
Meliah: Spaghetti with Chicken Orange Sauce… (Alfredo and Tomato)
Caleb: Taco Soup
Terann: Creamy Cheesy Vegetable Medley Soup
Stop over for a bite! It will be the best you’ve had!