Mossy!

At the end of June we took a trip to New Mexico to hang out with my Nana & Papo. Nana had just had shoulder surgery and my mom and aunt were in need of some respite time since they were mainly the ones taking care of Nana and the house after the surgery.

I left a pillow on the floor...he quickly found a new bed.

Mossy is the newest member of the Elliott clan, he is a lab/pit/whatever mix. I was dead set against another dog (especially one that was part pit). Gary had been talking about getting another one for a while now. Well, when we got to New Mexico my Papo's dog had just had a litter of 12 pups, Moss was the runt and was knocking (or barking) on deaths doorstep when we arrived. Immediately Gary and I took to taking care of him. We bought milk replacement and fed him from a bottle and also introduced him to solid food. By the time we were getting ready to leave we knew that Moss had to come home with us. We also brought two of his sisters whom we found great homes for. Moss (so far) is the complete opposite from my big, lazy, ball obsessed, Ben. Moss is full of energy and is ALWAYS hungry. He is very vocal and thinks he runs the house. But he is also full of love and gives kisses all the time. He loves his big brother, and Ben is a good babysitter, always trying to keep Moss out of trouble in the yard.

After his 1st bath at Petsmart, hanging out with big bro Ben.

After lots of conversations with the Vets office, they reassured me that Pit bulls can be wonderful family dogs as long as they are brought up with rules, love, and lots of socialization. To make sure of this, we take Moss to the dog park a couple times a week and try to introduce him to as many people as possible. He has never shown any aggression towards a human but other dogs he has. So his dog park visits have been very beneficial, he even has a few friends that he loves to play with when we are there.

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Moss a couple weeks ago, he looks brown in this picture but he is still jet black.

So this was a lengthy introduction...but I just needed to introduce our little "Moss-hole" (yup, that's what i call him when he gets in trouble)

Tomato Soup

I've been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on ABC and it made me really think about what we are eating. Even before the show we have been trying to eat better, and I think we are doing a good job! But watching the show just reminded me about why we are trying to eat better. So I checked out Jamie's Food Revolution book from the library (I love it, so I'm going to buy it!). The 1st recipe I made from the book was tomato soup. I've never been a big fan of it, but I know Gary loves it so I figured I would try. To my surprise, I loved it, I ate the entire bowl (by it self!) usually I will only eat enough to soak up the bread! It is so much better than the canned stuff! In the book Jamie asks that the recipes be passed on, so I'm passing it on to the 3 people who read my blog ;0) (Mom, you can make it, it isn't that hard and doesn't take that much time)

Serves 6-8
2 carrots peeled and sliced
2 celery sticks sliced
2 medium onions peeled and roughly chopped (I used half of a large one, and it turned out good)
2 cloves of garlic peeled and roughly chopped
1 3/4 chicken or vegetable stock (I used 3 cans of chicken broth)
olive oil
2  14oz cans of plum tomatoes (I used the diced ones)
6 large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped.
a small bunch of fresh basil (I used 4 leaves and a tsp of dried)
sea salt & freshly ground pepper

Put a large sauce pan over medium heat and add 2 TBSP of olive oil. Add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Mix together and put the lid on askew. Cook for around 10 minutes until the carrots are tender but still keep their shape and the onions are lightly golden. Meanwhile, put the broth in a large pot, cover and bring to a boil. Add the veggie mix to the large pot, along with the canned tomatoes and the chopped tomatoes. Mix it with a spoon and let it come to a boil. When it comes to a boil turn it down to a simmer and cover for 10 minutes.

Turn the heat off and season with salt and pepper. Add the basil.  Using an immersion blender (or you could probably blend in batches in a blender or food processor) blend until smooth. Season again and serve.

*I paraphrased the directions.

After adding everything to big pot.

I served it with garlic sour dough bread that I brushed with olive oil and toasted.

With fresh mozzarella.

Potato Gorditas

Growing up my Nana always made "gorditas" (I really don't know what to call them in English, Gorditas, means fat girls in Spanish) with left over mashed potatoes. I look forward to these every time I make mashed potatoes I really don't have a recipe since there is always a different amount of left over potatoes but here is the gist:

Around 4 cups left over mashed potatoes
1 cup - 2 cups shredded cheese
salt
pepper
Minced onions and/or chopped green chili (optional)

2 eggs
1 1/2 tbsp flour
oil for frying (optional)

Mix the 1st 5 ingredients together and form patties.

In a bowl scramble the egg then add the flour and mix well (it will be thick)

If you want then fry the patties in about a 1/4" - 1/2" of oil (this is the way Nana does it).

Since we are trying to eat better, I wanted to omit the frying step and try to bake them, to my surprise they came out great!!  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and put the patties on there. Bake for 15 minutes and then turn the oven to broil and bake for another 5-10 minutes, keep checking on the gorditas so they don't burn! Take them out and enjoy!

Before I baked them. I used the cooling rack to try and make them crispier but the batter just dripped through, so I wont use it again.

Just out of the oven...and so yummy!

I can't remember who I said I would give this "recipe" too...so here it is for everyone to enjoy!

Bring out the hot-glue gun!

I have ALWAYS wanted someone to give me a mason jar filled with something, then topped with fabric and a ribbon...no such luck yet. So for my dear mom-in-laws birthday, I decided that she needed this lovely gift. I decided to fill the jar with homemade taco seasoning...but the fun part was making the top of the jar!

After about 4 sticks of glue, it was done (yes I said 4, and it's a small jar).

She hasn't received my creation yet (along with some glue-free gifts). But my hubby was supportive and when I showed him my creation he lavished me with the same praise that a 4 year old gets after making a macaroni frame.

I am still trying to figure out if that's a good or bad thing.

But I did make her some awesome taco seasoning and I made it mild, just for her, so hopefully she will ignore the strings of glue all over the jar  :0)

Onion Powder!

If you read the title you probably think I'm crazy, you wouldn't be that far off...

But the other day I had an onion that was about to spoil, and I didn't have anything planned for it, so I brought out the dehydrator and made onion powder!

The onions after they were dehydrated, it took about 5 hours on 145 degrees.

The onions in my itty-bitty food processor.

The finished product. I am guessing I got about 2 TBSP of onion powder from one onion, so I will never complain about the price of a bottle of onion powder again! But I really do like the taste of my onion powder over the bottled stuff, the one I made just tastes onion~ier.

I got the "recipe" from here

Easter with Mom!

Mom came to visit over Easter/Spring break. I loved having her here, it made having a sick hubby so much easier (more on that in a minute). Mom flew in on Wednesday night and stayed until Monday afternoon. On Friday we went to Temple Square, I have wanted to go there since I moved to Utah!!

It was cold, but sooo nice!

We were trying to get a picture of us with the temple in the background...I should have asked someone to take it for us!

The flowers at Temple Square are absolutely beautiful! We took bunches of pictures of them and sent them to my grandma, who loves flowers.

After Temple Square we went to Whole Foods, since I never go, but I love that store! I bought bread, olives, teas, and some other stuff...yogurt? Anyway, its all gone except for the bread. We also went to dinner in SLC. We had such a great day! I love having my mom here. So I'm on a mission, either she has to move up here or us down there...

So my hubby has had a cold for the past 2-3 weeks, so on Friday morning I went with him to the Dr. and he got antibiotics and a cough syrup.

innocent enough

About 10 minutes after taking the antibiotic Gary started throwing up

crazy projectile vomit

The vomiting continued Friday night and all day Saturday, in all of this crazy puke, not once did I fathom the idea that he could be allergic to the antibiotic.

I called the on call Dr and sure enough he said it sounded like he was allergic. At 10pm I was hauling butt to Harmon's to pick an anti-nausea medication.

Finally about midnight that night, he quit puking.

He is finally better...thank goodness!

So that was our Easter weekend :0)

Oh yeah, can someone tell me where spellcheck is on here? I haven't found it since blogger changed.

Shinin' the sink!

Isn't my sink shiny? For about 3 weeks now I've been using Flylady's "flight plan" and Im loving it...the sink has been shiny and dish free for 3 weeks now!

Every night the dishwasher is turned on and I empty it in the morning...I can't believe how this small habit has made my house seem more clean :0)

This is the 1st of the Flyladys steps that i have adopted, Im looking forward to adding more to my daily routine. Is it sad that I'm excited to keep my house clean?