Soup's On!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

When the weather turns cold, my palette turns to soup--the ultimate comfort food! (Unfortunately, when my palette turns to soup, my waist and hips turn to . . .well, not muscle.) But impending weight gain notwithstanding, nothing beats a good pot of soup. Am I right? (Yes, I'm right.) And I've lately been experimenting with some great recipes that are just WAY TOO GOOD not to share! So here are some of my new favs, in case you want to try them, too!


Mimi's Cafe Corn Chowder (YUM. YUM. YUM. YUM.)

Note: I left out the onions (James is allergic) and the celery (James is not a fan) and added a can of Hormel Chunk Ham instead. A triumph! Make it. Eat it. Love it.

Ingredients:

¼-cup butter, (½-stick)
6 tablespoons chopped onion
¾-cup diced celery
2-½ cups water
2 cups cubed peeled red or russet potatoes, (½-inch)
2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 can creamed corn (14 oz)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 dash of white pepper
3 tablespoons flour
3 cups half and half cream

Instructions

1. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.

2. Add in the flour and whisk until smooth and a roux forms (2 minutes).

3. Add onions and celery and saute 5 minutes until soft but not brown.

4. Add water, potatoes, corn kernels, creamed corn, sugar, salt and pepper. Using a wire whisk, whisk until smooth.

5. Cover and simmer until potatoes are barely tender, about 30 minutes.

6. Add half and half and simmer uncovered until soup has thickened to a creamy consistency, about 15 minutes.

7. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if needed.

Cafe Zupa's Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup (this is kind of a knock-off, but WAY good)

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. butter
1 med. onion, chopped (again, I just leave this out--substitute onion powder)
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
1 can (14 oz) chicken broth
1 head cauliflower, cut into 1" pieces
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup pepper-jack cheese

Instructions:

In a 4 quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook until golden. Stir in flour and salt--cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Gradually stir in milk, chicken broth and 1 1/2 cups water. Add cauliflower and heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender (about 10 minutes). In blender, remove center for steam and blend cauliflower at low speed in small batches until very smooth. Return mixture to saucepan; heat over medium heat until hot, stirring occasionally. Remove pan from heat; stir in mustard and 1 1/2 cups cheese until melted and smooth. Garnish soup with remaining cheese.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, we know why my waist thickens (right along with the soup) during the winter. But oh, so good and oh, so comforting on cold winter's nights that are so deep!

Enjoy!

The Nutcracker!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Yesterday, a dream came true for me: to take my daughter on a special mommy/daughter date to The Nutcracker, presented by The Cache Valley Civic Ballet (CVCB). You see, all growing up, ever since I was a little girl, my mom and my sister Julie and I went to The Nutcracker on Thanksgiving weekend. We'd enjoy all the magic and music of the ballet, then go for a special treat afterward. I have such fond memories of doing that! During my teenage years, Julie actually danced in the CVCB company so we'd all go to see and support her. Needless to say, I've been to many, many a production of The Nutcracker!

But never before with my own daughter. What a special, special afternoon for me! The morning started a little rocky--Bethany woke up at 5:45 a.m. with a fever. I had to substitute at the clothing rental at the temple Saturday morning, so I gave Bethany some Motrin, left her in her daddy's capable hands, and mentally wrote off our Nutcracker date. :0( But when I got home from the temple (and after her Motrin wore off) the fever never came back and she appeared completely recovered. (And she's still doing great, so who knows what that was all about?)Anyway, so we decided that the ballet was a definite go! So we "go'ed," as Bethie would say.

She insisted on wearing her tutu, and when I took her picture in the foyer during intermission, Bethany yelled, "Nutcracker!" instead of her usual "Cheese!" Here she is, yelling "Nutcracker" and waving her lollipop around like some sort of saber. You could put an eye out with that thing.



Getting to our seats was quite a hike, seeing as how I had procrastinated buying the tickets and had to take what seats were available! We were in row MM in the balcony, clear up in the rafters. We were only a couple of rows from being by the back wall.(I'm pretty sure I passed some mountain goats on my way up to our seats.) But even though we were so far up there, we had a fantastic view of the ballet! Sure, we couldn't see their faces, but let's face it--my eyesight is terrible anyway, so I probably wouldn't have been able to see faces even on row A!

I had worried a little about Bethany being engaged in such a long ballet, but you know what? She really enjoyed it! She was completely captivated during the entire first act. It was halfway through the second act when she said, "Mom, when are they going to talk?" So I had to explain that the dancers were talking--but not with words. They were talking through dance. About three-fourths of the way through the second act, she said, "Mom, I think I'm getting tired of this movie." And then she fell plumb asleep during the grand pas de deux. (But let's face it--who doesn't get a little sleepy during the grand pas de deux? And the child had been up since 5:45 a.m., let's remember.)

So I enjoyed the very end of the ballet and the final curtain calls by myself. The trick, then, was to carry a sleeping three-year-old back down the four flights of stairs (did I mention we were sitting CLEAR up in the rafters?), out of the theater (navigating through a tremendous crowd) and safely to the car. The key word here is safely to the car, as I was wearing high heels and no one had apparently scraped the sidewalks from the recent storm, so I was basically skating to the car! I said lots of little prayers from the theater to the car to get there safely and not crash with my sleeping child. (Do you know that Carrie Underwood song, "Jesus Take the Wheel?" It was kind of like that, only I suppose it would be "Take the Heel" as my poor choice in shoe wear was really the issue, here.) But I'm glad to say that we made it safely! And then Bethany slept for the next five--I repeat, FIVE--hours, with visions of Sugar Plum Fairies dancing in her head. (That early morning fever messed up our schedule big time!)

But icy sidewalks and poor seats and sleeping children aside, I really cherished the whole experience. My favorite part? When the lights went down and Tchaikovsky's overture started and Bethany turned to me and said, "I love you, Mom."

Priceless.

Celebrating Hearth in Home!

Monday, November 22, 2010

A few months ago, we commissioned my little brother to build us a fireplace mantle for our new home. I have to admit, I was the teensiest bit nervous. (What if I didn't like it? He was my brother so I'd have to like it, even if I didn't like it, you know?) But I trusted him and . . .the result:



It's actually a lot bigger and better in person! It's made from solid cherry wood and has lots of beautiful detail, with built-in bookcases flanking the fireplace. What a relief to not have to pretend that I like it because I, in fact, LOVE it! I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER!!! And neither could Bethany. Her bedtime prayers now go something like this: "Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. And Jesus, thank you SOOOOOOOOOO much for our new fireplace and for Ben."

Amen to that! I'm foreseeing lots of snuggly coziness for years and years to come. Thank you Ben! (And if anyone needs cabinets or bookcases or desks or fireplaces mantles, I know a terrific craftsman!)

Time Out--All the Good!

This past weekend, I got sent to TIME OUT (a.k.a. Time Out for Women). And let me tell ya, this little getaway came at the perfect time for me. I had such a stressful, crazy week last week--seriously, I felt like I was ready to snap! (When Jenny bursts into tears at the end of each day, you know that Jenny really, really, really is a woman who needs time out.) So it was a tender mercy that the Lord provided me with the opportunity right when He did!

The TOFW that I attended was at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. Grandma Johnson, Aunt Sharon and I drove down on Friday and, after stopping at a shoe store in Bountiful on the way down, met Aunts Sheri and Teri and cousins Maria and Laura at the coffee shop at The Little America Hotel. There we dined on chicken quesadillas and talked and laughed and laughed and talked. I can't tell you how wonderful that laughter felt! All my stress just--POOF!!!--evaporated! After dinner, we hopped on Trax to head over to the Salt Palace for our evening of inspiration. Here's a picture of the happy little group (before Brianna joined us):



And here's a picture with me in it--Grandma didn't realize we were taking another picture so she started to head out. I thought it cute:



Anyway, we got to the Salt Palace and got pretty decent seats, given the fact that 4000 women were there! That night, we got to hear from Sister Virginia H. Pearce (former counselor in the general YW presidency and President Hinckley's daughter); Sister Heidi Swinton (who wrote President Monson's biography); and a really awesome Broadway singer, Dallin Vail Bayles (who played Hyrum Smith in that Temple Square movie about Joseph Smith). His voice was incredible (he just finished being The Phantom on tour for the past two years)and the first song he sang was "How Can I Keep from Singing?" The answer? HE SHOULDN'T.

The night was wonderful and Sister Pearce, in particular, said absolutely everything I needed to hear. Balm of Gilead. Loved it. But at the end of three hours, my backside was completely numb--we're talkin' seriously sore! So we hobbled on out of there and headed off to sleep. Brianna, Laura and I slept at Aunt Teri's house. Grandma and Aunt Sharon were at Aunt Sheri's. I slept in Aunt Teri's "Tuscany" room (Absolutely LOVE that she's named that room "Tuscany." How cool is that?) after declining Laura and Brianna's offer to stay up and have "girl's night" and play games. "Every party has a pooper, that's why they invited . . .me!" It was midnight and, let's face it, the old (mostly-brown) mare just ain't what she used to be! So I hit the sack.

The next morning, we headed back to the Salt Palace for another full day of great speakers and music! Aunt Teri had gone really early to get good seats, and she was the CAMP CHAMP!!! She got the most fabulous seats, which I greatly appreciated-- after overcoming my guilt for letting Aunt Teri wake up early to do that alone. The flesh (specifically MY flesh)was weak. But anyway, that day was amazing! Brad Wilcox gave the most powerful talk on the Atonement. And all of the other speakers were incredible, too. But the biggest highlight to me was when Hilary Weeks sang a song called "All the Good." After how I'd been feeling all week, just so stressed and so inadequate and beating myself up for all of my mistakes, this song was just for me--I'm convinced of it! I want to share the lyrics (although it's better with music):

All the Good by Hilary Weeks

The minutes tick by
Lost in the moonlight
As the day echoes through her mind.
She wasn't enough
She wonders if she ever will be
Mistakes are all she sees
In the shadows of the night.
And she forgets
When the guilt fades her memory
She forgets about

The good things she's done
The kind words she said
The tiny victories that no one sees
And the changes she's made.
When the count comes in
As she's adding up the day
In the midst of the coulds and shoulds
Help her remember
All the good.

I've given my all
I run until I'm weary
And I reach up every time I fall
I know who I am
I feel it deep within me
But the best of me hides
While my weaknesses all shine
And I forget
Until He patiently reminds me
I forget about

The good things I've done
The kind words I said
The tiny victories that no one sees
And the changes I've made
When the count comes in
As I'm adding up the day
In the midst of the coulds and shoulds
Help me remember

He looks on the heart
Fills in the missing pieces
And we can be sure that He knows and won't forget

The good things we've done
The kind words we've said
The tiny victories that no one sees
And the changes we've made
As the day comes to a close
And we've done all we could
Look through the mirror of His love
And He will show us
All the good

This is my new theme song. I bought the CD and am determined to listen to it at the end of each day! Thank you, Hilary Weeks! Anyway, after the day of being spiritually fed, we all headed back to The Little America coffee shop for some truly evil dessert. But the sad thing was, the dessert wasn't as good as we all wanted it to be--if I'm going to gain weight over a dessert, it had better be worth every calorie! But the company was terrific and we all had a wonderful visit again.
After dessert, I started getting nervous about the weather so we headed out. And the weather was truly crummy to drive in! I rode with Brianna, though, and we were able to have a really good talk and lots of laughs, which kept my anxiety-prone mind off of the fear I have of meeting an untimely death on a snowy road. We made it home just fine.

That weekend was truly a gift for me. I left this house as a cranky, stressed-out old biddy. And I came back with a light heart and a song in my soul and flowers and hearts in every skipping step! James just may want to send me to TOFW once a week--too bad it's only once a year. I'll perhaps have to fall back on chocolate and haircuts to see me through. Anyway, if you're reading this, you should really go to Time Out for Women if you have the chance! Here's the link and schedule for next year!

http://deseretbook.com/time-out

Ooooo! Ooooo! THIS is Halloween!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

We really love October around our house--not just Halloween, but the whole season! And there's no better way to kick off Halloween season than with a good, old-fashioned whodunit. Yep, folks, I'm talking about murder. Intrigue. Seductions. Accusations. Suspense. Thrills. Chills. MURDER. (Now, what's better than that?)A murder mystery party is always soooooooo much fun! Our Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) group got together at the beginning of October and we actually had two games going at the same time! My parents graciously lent us their new home so one game could be upstairs, one game downstairs. I got to be the servant lady who ran back and forth between the games, waiting on the suspects hand and foot. My good friends, Rey and Dianna, helped me. Never underestimate the kitchen help. (They could always slip a little poison in the potatoes!)



James couldn't be there because darn it, he had a choir practice that night. He was bummed. So was I. But Dr. Jessop probably wouldn't have accepted a murder as a valid excuse for missing. Oh well. Anyway. Here's the "upstairs" group, playing "The Maiming of the Shrew."



Aren't they just a shifty-looking bunch? And here's the downstairs group, playing "An Affair to Dismember."



No-good hoodlums, all of them. All with a motive. All with opportunity. All with sordid pasts. So whodunit?

I'll never tell.

We do so many fun things with our FSA group. A couple of days later, after the whole murder thing, we had a fun Halloween party at the church for the kiddos. I love seeing them all in their costumes!



Cute bunch, huh? They had a good time decorating cookies and making Halloween stuff, and stuff. You know. Fun times.



Next came one of our favorite days of the season: FRIGHTMARES! We love going to Lagoon to Frightmares every year. To us, it's so much more fun than just regular old heat-of-the-summer Lagoon!

Uncle James and Ruby came along, as did Uncle Ben, Aunt Jamie and Tate. It was really fun having cousins with us this year! They had a blast. Check out these happy little faces:





Okay, so Tate was just a mite freaked out at first about the rides. Actually, he really warmed up to this ride later (like, as we were about to leave the park). But it was fun having him there!

I always enjoy a round or two of Puff The Little Fire Dragon--we laughed our heads off!



But here's the main event of the day: the swings. These are the swings that Bethany yearned to ride last year but wasn't tall enough. She's been faithfully eating her veggies so she could grow "big for the swings at the Lagoon." And this year, she MADE IT! The minimum cutoff height is 36". Bethany is close to 37" now. Hallelujah! (I did NOT have a backup plan if she wasn't tall enough this year. So YAY!)

Check out the dads. They had NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER with reaching the height requirement. In fact, they could have walked it while they sat! I think daddies and daughters are too cute!



We had so much fun at Frightmares. (How many days 'til we can go back? Dang.) On the way home, we stopped at Cafe Zupa's in Layton for some grub. And this is the state in which we found the children:



Yup, plum tuckered out. They didn't even eat, bless them. Good thing we had given them lots of healthy food at Lagoon, right? (Sheesh.)

A few days later, Bryan, Angie, Lexie and Hoyt came to see us and go to the Pumpkin Walk with us. James and I feel rather fond of the Pumpkin Walk, as we went there on our first date many years (I won't say how many--okay fine, 16) ago. We always have to pose by the old big pumpkin entrance:



We always so enjoy the whole Pumpkin Walk thing! And this Jack-o-Lantern just made me happy. Who can be sad in the face of this face? Bless you, whoever carved this one!



I didn't take a ton of pics at the Pumpkin Walk this year. I usually do, but this time I was just caught up in the whole experience and didn't bother. But it was great!

The following week was the ward carnival, and Bethany and I decided to be a kitty cat and her witch. I talked like a Dutch uncle to get James to be the broomstick, but he just couldn't get excited about the idea! (He couldn't come to the carnival anyway, GRRRRRRR Dr. Jessop!) But he took a pic of us before we traipsed off to the ward carnival:



(We had a great time and if you ever want swarms of children to come and pet your eyelashes, you're welcome to borrow these beauties.)

The next day, we had front row tickets to the show Seussical the Musical. Grandpa and Grandma Lyman came up, and they and we went to the show and had a marvelous time! Annie, James' sister, had gotten us the tickets, as she was the big-wig set designer for the show. She spent so many hours designing, building, and painting the set--and it looked incredible! Bethany loved Seussical. She was completely enthralled and she was bent on meeting "The Hat in the Cat" after the show. So after the show, Annie took us backstage. Here is Bethany in Horton's nest, trying to hatch an "elephant bird," because, after, all, "a person's a person, no matter how small."





We've been singing the songs and reenacting scenes from Seussical ever since!

And now, NOW, we're finally to Halloween. If you've read this entire post, well, then, bless your heart. You have a lot of patience! As Halloween was on Sunday this year, all of the goings-on were on Saturday (I love Utah). We woke up bright and early, WAY before dark, and headed to the fun run.

What fun run? Glad you asked. Our FSA chapter organized a "Spook Sprint Fun Run" to raise awareness about adoption in the community. It was a lot of work, and we had to get there bright and early!



See how early? It felt like the danged middle of the night! And man, it was cold. James and I actually left Bethany at home with Grandpa and Grandma Lyman and Annie so she wouldn't be in the cold that long. My dad brought her to the race when it was time to start. The fun run was really fun, and it was great to see people in their costumes! Here's James' cousin Danielle and her kids who came out to support us:



And the cutest little kitty this world has ever known:



The race was great and we're going to do it next year again, so mark your calendars! That night we went trick-or-treating in the rain, and actually had a blast.



Bethany actually had more fun, though, answering the door when the bell rang. She'd race to the door and open it, pick up the candy bowl, and tell each kid who came, "You must take two pieces, guys." She loved it.



And the month wrapped up with me trying my hand at being Martha Stewart. (Martha doesn't have to worry one bit about me replacing her!)



We love October!!!

To Blanding We Did Go!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

"It is time!" the voice said. Actually, the voice was mine and it said something like this, "James, we really need to go to Blanding. Bethany needs to make memories at your parents' house. How about General Conference weekend?" And then another voice, James's voice, said, "Okay!" So we went! To Blanding we did go.

Now, Blanding is kinda a fur piece from here. It's a good seven-hour ride. Here's Bethany on the way down, and I really think a picture says a thousand words:



Actually, she did really well--much better than the picture implies. Our trip to Blanding was a good testing ground to see if she can handle the 12-hour trip to Anaheim that we're in the beginning stages of planning for this winter. And she passed with flying colors!

When we arrived, Bethany immediately fell in love with her attic bedroom that Grandma Lyman had worked so hard to make just right for her! She loved "her room" and playing in "her room" the whole time we were down there! It was just right. Thank you, Grandma!



Our Blanding trip was just perfect in every way, and James loved showing Bethany his old stomping grounds, including the deck outside his old bedroom window. (She must have climbed that ladder a dozen times!)





They also enjoyed the backyard (I took this picture through a window because I heard James and Bethany laughing their heads off--get a good look at their expressions!)



James also helped his dad shingle the roof of his really GREAT new shed while we were down there. Way to build 'em Dad! ("He builds a shed.") I always think James is SO especially handsome when he's wielding a nail gun!





And our favorite part of the trip was driving over Blue Mountain and exploring the beauties therin! The fall colors were just amazing and we saw so many awesome scenes! (And I mean that in the true sense of the word "awe" some, not the usual slangish definition, because we were definitely in awe!)

This is us posing by the gold mine (a.k.a. the "Dream Mine") discovered by James' great-great grandfather, Walter C. Lyman. Walter C., who came through the Hole-in- the-Rock with that famous expedition (if you haven't read The Undaunted--do it!) was a major player in establishing Blanding. He was the driving force behind creating a water pipeline through Blue Mountain, bringing water from the Monticello side of the mountain to the Blanding side. And through a vision, in answer to prayer, he was given to know where to find a gold mine to finance that project:



And although I've always known James was worth his weight in gold, I could never, ever be a miner! Can you imagine crawling through that?



I'm just sayin' it's a little cramped and dark and dank for me down there! The real treasure of the mountain was the beauties thereon.

The vistas, the babbling brooks:



The amazing fall colors:



At the top, there was an extinct volcano that we got to climb--Bethany was big on picking up the rocks!



James and his cute mom at the top:



The view was seriously spectacular. These pictures are SO not doing this justice! And we saw so much wildlife--we even shot a deer!



(With our camera, of course, Can you imagine us shooting a deer?) And I finally got to see the cabin where James and his family spent so many fun vacations:



After we came down from the mountain (I, for one, am definitely going back--sooner rather than later!), we went and saw Grandpa Lyman. Grandpa is 94 years old, bless his heart, and in his young days actually worked in the aforementioned "Dream Mine" with his grandpa, Walter C. I couldn't resist taking a picture of three generations of Lyman men:



Good stock, those Lyman boys. After seeing Grandpa, we headed over to the local diner for some grub. When you've been traipsing over a mountain, you work up a pretty powerful hunger. And there's just something about being in Blanding that makes me eat fry bread. Must be the Navajo influence--it just gets to me!



All too soon, it was time to say goodbye to Blanding and to Grandpa and Grandma Lyman.



Goodbye, Blanding, for now! Here's a picture I took out the window on the drive home--I've always really loved this rock, "Church House Rock." Pretty impressive, yes?



We also stopped at Wilson Arch on the way home and hiked to the top. The view was breathtaking! I've decided (since going to Lake Powell almost every year since I was 14), that I need a certain amount of red rock intake to keep me sane. I need to go, often, to fill up that place in my heart reserved for red rocks. Otherwise, I may snap! (And me snapping ain't pretty.) So I just soaked up the view from the Wilson Arch!



It was very windy up there. Check out Bethie's "do." That wind was really whippin'!



And the view was AMAZING!!! I loved being right under the arch.





Wilson Arch is right off of the road and we pass it every time we drive down there. Why didn't we ever stop before? We'll definitely do that again--although next time we go down, we've got our sights set on Canyonlands and Arches--we're going to make time to really do those things. It's been years since I've hiked up to the Delicate Arch; it's time to do it again!

After leaving Wilson Arch, we traveled a bit up the road and decided we needed a pit stop. So we stopped in the store which we jokingly call "Hole-in-Quote-the-Rock." The reason we call it that is simply thus:



Is it just me, or should that be: "Hole 'N the Rock?" What's up with the quotation marks after the letter "N?" What's up with quotation marks at all? Sorry, English major griping. But we like making fun of it. And it's a fun little place to stop, despite the name.

Anyway, we used their facilities:



Since we'd been to the gold mine and all, we knew exactly which bathroom to use:



And we also stumbled upon a little crypt. Imagine, being buried at Hole-in-Quote-the-Rock! (I wonder if I could convince James to bury me at Lake Powell?)



I never did figure out why President Roosevelt's face was carved into the wall at Hole-in-Quote-the-Rock. But here he is, presiding:



I wonder if he ever knew he was memorialized that way? Anyway. We had a wonderful trip, a wonderful time. Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, for the wonderful memories! We love you!